Colonia High School
Colonia High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades in the Colonia section of Woodbridge Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It operates as part of the Woodbridge Township School District, along with two other high schools, John F. Kennedy Memorial High School and Woodbridge High School. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1973.[3]
Colonia High School | |
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Address | |
180 East Street , , 07067 United States | |
Coordinates | 40.593189°N 74.3199°W |
Information | |
Type | Public high school |
School district | Woodbridge Township School District |
NCES School ID | 3418120[1] |
Principal | Kenneth D. Pace Sr. |
Faculty | 119.0 FTEs[1] |
Grades | 9th-12th |
Enrollment | 1,325 (as of 2018–19)[1] |
Student to teacher ratio | 11.1:1[1] |
Color(s) | Blue and Gold[2] |
Athletics conference | Greater Middlesex Conference |
Mascot | The Patriot |
Team name | Patriots[2] |
Accreditation | Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools[3] |
Newspaper | The Declaration |
Yearbook | The Arch |
Website | www |
As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,325 students and 119.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.1:1. There were 306 students (23.1% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 119 (9.0% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 127th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology.[4] The school had been ranked 182nd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 192nd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[5] The magazine ranked the school 188th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[6] The school was ranked 208th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[7] Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 93rd out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 61 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (86.2%) and language arts literacy (97.6%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[8]
Athletics
The Colonia High School Patriots[2] compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference, which includes 33 public and private high schools located in the greater Middlesex County area and operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[9] With 1,023 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 761 to 1,058 students in that grade range.[10] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV North for football for 2018–2020.[11] In the 07–08 school year, Colonia High School introduced three new sports: volleyball (boys and girls), ice hockey and swimming.
The school has operated as the host school / lead agency for a cooperative ice hockey program with John F. Kennedy Memorial High School and Woodbridge High School, under an agreement scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.[12]
The girls bowling team won the overall state championship in 1981.[13]
The boys' bowling team won the overall state championship in 1984 and won the Group II title in 2012.[14]
Dagmara Wozniak was the state sabre champion in 2005.[15]
The boys' basketball team won the 2007 North II, Group III state sectional championship, edging Union Hill High School 84–83 in the tournament final.[16] In 2008, the Patriots finished their basketball season with a record of 22–7. This included a state tournament semi-final win against the seventh-ranked team in the state of New Jersey, Rahway High School. In 2018, the team won the 2018 North II, Group III state sectional championship, with a 57-33 victory over West Morris Central High School.[17]
In 2015, the football team finished the season with an 11–1 record and went to the North II, Group III state sectional championship and lost to Phillipsburg High School in overtime by a score of 28–21 in the tournament final.[18]
Publications
Colonia High School's official newsletter is titled The Declaration.
The Arch is Colonia High School's annual yearbook. In addition to the physical yearbook, the yearbook club has worked to develop an interactive yearbook CD.
Administration
The school's principal is Kenneth D. Pace Sr. His core administration team includes the two vice principals.[19]
Notable alumni
- Antonio Alfano, American football defensive tackle for the Colorado Buffaloes.[20]
- John Gorka (born 1958), folk musician.[21]
- Tom Higgins (born 1954), NFL and Canadian football player and coach.[22]
- Stewart Krentzman (born 1951, class of 1969), business executive.[23]
- Eric LeGrand (born 1990, class of 2008), college football player who suffered a severe spinal injury during a game for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team.[24]
- Glen Mason (born 1950), sports commentator and football coach.[25]
- Zack Rosen (born 1989), basketball player for Maccabi Ashdod in the Israeli Basketball Premier League.[26]
- Dagmara Wozniak (born 1988, class of 2006), sabre fencer named to the U.S. Olympic team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in women's sabre competition as a substitute and as a competitor at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics.[27]
References
- School data for Colonia High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.
- Colonia High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
- Colonia High School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed August 7, 2019.
- Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
- Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 7, 2012.
- Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed March 26, 2011.
- "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
- New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010-2011, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 2, 2012.
- League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
- NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
- NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2018–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, finalized August 2019. Accessed October 20, 2020.
- NJSIAA Winter Cooperative Sports Programs, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 1, 2020.
- History of NJSIAA Girls Bowling Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
- History of NJSIAA Boys Bowling Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
- NJSIAA History of Girls Fencing Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
- 2007 Boys Basketball - North II, Group III, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed July 25, 2007.
- Knego, Lauren. "Boys Basketball: Colonia wins North 2 Group III title", Courier News, March 5, 2019. Accessed December 1, 2020. "Since losing Luke Valeriano to an injury in the second quarter of the North 2 Group III quarterfinals against Snyder on Feb. 28, fourth-seeded Colonia (24-4) has dominated its competition. On Tuesday night, third-seeded West Morris became the latest victim as the Patriots won its first sectional title since 2015 with a 57-33 victory."
- Hinkel, Tom. "Phillipsburg football team works overtime to defeat Colonia for second straight sectional title", The Express-Times, December 6, 2014. Accessed December 13, 2016. "Guarino scored on a 1-yard sneak in overtime and the defense then came up with a big stand as the Stateliners held on for a dramatic 28-21 victory over Colonia in the NJSIAA North 2 Group 4 title game at Rutgers University's High Point Solutions Stadium.... Colonia (11-1), which also enjoyed an outstanding season, rallied from a 21-6 halftime deficit to send the game into overtime."
- Special Pandemic Parent/Student Handbook For 2020-2021 School Year, Woodbridge Township School District. Accessed January 13, 2021.
- Hunt, Todderick. "Breaking: N.J.'s top defender Antonio Alfano transferring from Rahway to Colonia for senior year", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, February 23, 2018. Accessed November 13, 2019. "Top defensive end Antonio Alfano will transfer once again after moving to Rahway from Bergen Catholic last fall. This time, he'll go to Colonia (N.J.) following a change of residence from Rahway to Avenel -- a move that gains him no athletic advantage."
- Zane, J. Peder. "In Person; Telling Stories, Going Farther", The New York Times, July 9, 1995. Accessed August 7, 2019. "Speaking before that recent performance, Mr. Gorka, a trim man with untrimmed hair who grew up in Colonia, explained that 'I'm From New Jersey' is not simply a joke.... This passion for folk and bluegrass music isolated him a bit from his friends at Colonia High School, but when he started performing at school and at parties, it provided him with a satisfying way to reach people."
- Tom Higgins Archived February 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, database Football. Accessed November 14, 2007.
- Stewart Krentzman Video | Interviews Archived February 12, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, OVGuide. Accessed September 7, 2012. "Krentzman graduated from Colonia High School (1969) in Colonia, New Jersey and from Fairleigh Dickinson University."
- via Associated Press. "High schools to honor paralyzed Rutgers player Eric LeGrand", USA Today, October 22, 2010. Accessed March 28, 2011. "High school players around the state will pay tribute to the Rutgers University junior defensive tackle who was paralyzed from the neck down during a kickoff against Army last Saturday. Their helmets will feature Eric LeGrand's No. 52 in Rutgers' scarlet color. The idea came from LeGrand's alma mater, Colonia High School."
- Kerkhoff, Blair. "Kickoff Classic Notebook", Kansas City Star, August 28, 1993. Accessed August 7, 2019. "Mason grew up in Woodbridge, NJ, and graduated from nearby Colonia High."
- Finley, Bill. "Freshman May Give Penn a Lift It Needs", The New York Times, November 14, 2008. Accessed December 4, 2016. "After playing two years at Colonia High School in his North Jersey hometown, Rosen transferred to St. Benedict's, a Newark prep school that is a perennial power under Coach Dan Hurley."
- Chang, Kathy. "Young fencer enjoys living on the edge: Woodbridge resident hoping for a spot on 2008 Olympic team", Woodbridge Sentinel, August 16, 2006. Accessed August 10, 2017. "Wozniak graduated from Colonia High School in June. She heads to St. John's University in Queens, N.Y., this fall on a full athletic scholarship."