West Genesee High School (colloquially referred to as West Genny or WG) is a 9–12 public high school in

Camillus, New York Camillus is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York (state), New York, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 25,346. The Town of Camillus is west of Syracuse, ...

, United States. It is part of the West Genesee Central School District.

Recognized academic programs

In addition to general and Regents level courses, the school offers a number of college-level course options for students through a variety of different programs.

Advanced Placement courses

West Genesee High School offers a wide variety of

Advanced Placement Program Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewh ...

(AP) courses to its students. These courses are generally considered "much more rigorous than the general course offerings". Courses offered include English language & composition, English literature & composition,

world history Human history or world history is the record of humankind from prehistory to the present. Early modern human, Modern humans evolved in Africa around 300,000 years ago and initially lived as hunter-gatherers. They Early expansions of hominin ...

US history The history of the present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization began and wars and epidemics largely decimated Indigenous societi ...

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

calculus Calculus is the mathematics, mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithmetic operations. Originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the ...

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

studio art An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on practice and related theory in the visual arts and design. This includes fine art – especially illustration, painting, contemporary art, sculpture, and graphic design. T ...

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

Syracuse University Project Advance

In addition to AP courses, the school offers a number of courses through the

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

Project Advance (SUPA) program. The students receive Syracuse University college credits, but the courses are taught by teachers named adjunct instructors by S.U. and are taught in classrooms at the high school as a part of a student's regular day. Courses offered through

Project Advance Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) is an educational program that provides high school students with the opportunity to take Syracuse University courses in their own schools during the regularly scheduled school day. After successful com ...

include

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

, psychology, public affairs, and sociology.

Onondaga Community College

The school also offers courses for college credit through

Onondaga Community College Onondaga Community College (OCC) is a public community college that serves Onondaga County and Central New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. OCC's 280-acre main campus is located in the Town of Onondaga, which ...

, a local community college. Like the SUPA courses, these courses are taught in classrooms at the high school. Courses include

financial accounting Financial accounting is a branch of accounting concerned with the summary, analysis and reporting of financial transactions related to a business. This involves the preparation of Financial statement audit, financial statements available for pu ...

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

computer information systems An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems comprise four components: task, people, structu ...

, introduction to business,

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

and

precalculus In mathematics education, precalculus is a course, or a set of courses, that includes algebra and trigonometry at a level that is designed to prepare students for the study of calculus, thus the name precalculus. Schools often distinguish betwe ...

West Genesee Wildcats

West Genesee High School's athletic teams are known as the "Wildcats". Their colors are Blue and gold. All of the teams compete in the NYSPHAA's Section 3. Students are able to participate in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...

, cross-country,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, track,

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, and

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

. A number of West Genesee's athletic teams have won state championships: Marching band (34), boys' lacrosse (15), girls' lacrosse (7), wrestling (5), boys' hockey (4), girls' swimming (3), boys' track (2), girls' hockey (2), football, boys' golf, and boys' swimming (1) and boys' basketball (1). The marching band has also won the national championship 5 times (most recently 2013). Additionally the marching band has participated in multiple Bands of America Regional and Grand National Finals.

Lacrosse

Hall of Fame coach Mike Messere was the head coach from 1975 to 2018. During his tenure, the Wildcats' finished the season first in the national high school rankings 8 times between 1990 and 2018. The team has won 15 New York State championships, including four consecutive between 2002 and 2005, and 34 Section III championships. As of 2011, the program has produced 52 high school

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

ns since 1971.

John Desko John Terry Desko is a retired lacrosse head coach. Desko coached the men's lacrosse team at Syracuse University for 22 seasons from 1999 to 2021. Desko took over as head coach in 1999 from Hall of Fame coach Roy Simmons Jr. Early life The Des ...

, the former head coach of

's men's lacrosse team is a former player and alumnus of the school. The girls' lacrosse team began in 1995. The team has won six state championships in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2012. Between 2001 and 2003, the Lady 'Cats won 67 consecutive games, and as of 13 October 2008 the team has won 48 consecutive games dating back to the beginning of the 2007 season.

Ice hockey

The West Genesee hockey team is a three-time New York State Champion winning in 1990, 2001, 2010 (when the team was undefeated), and most recently 2023. The Wildcats have won 12 Section 3 championships including seven straight between 2008 and 2014. Coach Frank Colabufo has an all-time record of 390-146-39. Defenseman Robert Michel, Class of 2013, went on to play in the Philadelphia Flyers organization. Michel previously played four seasons at the University of Maine, where he was named captain in his senior season.

Basketball

In the winter of 2018–2019, the boys' basketball team secured the first state championship in the team's existence, and the girls' team was runner up in the state championship.

Football

In the fall of 2007, the football team claimed its first New York State Class AA Championship. The team is coached by Joe Corley, a position he has held since May 2008.

Clubs and activities

In addition to academics and athletics, West Genesee High School also offers a number of clubs and other extracurricular activities. These include

Academic Decathlon The Academic Decathlon (also called AcDec, AcaDeca or AcaDec) is an annual Student competition, high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon (USAD). The competition consists of seven objective mult ...

, Business Club, Drama Club, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Technical Theatre club, Foreign Language Clubs,

Model UN Model United Nations, also known as Model UN (MUN), is an educational simulation of the United Nations, which teaches students about diplomacy, international relations, global issues, and how the United Nations is run. During a model UN confe ...

Honor Society In the United States, an honor society is an organization that recognizes individuals who rank above a set standard in various domains such as academics, leadership, and other personal achievements, not all of which are based on ranking systems. ...

, R² (Respect and Responsibility), Positivity Project (replacing R²), Ski Club, Student Council and Class Senates, Yearbook Club, ECOS (Environmental group), and Outdoor Club.

References

External links

* {{authority control Public high schools in New York (state) Schools in Onondaga County, New York