| Emmaus High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
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500 Macungie Avenue , 18049 United States | |
| Coordinates | 40°32′02″N75°30′24″W / 40.533870°N 75.506600°W /40.533870; -75.506600 |
| Information | |
| Type | Publichigh school |
| Established | 1955; 70 years ago (1955) |
| School district | East Penn School District |
| NCES School ID | 420855002809[1] |
| Principal | Beth Guarriello |
| Faculty | 193.35 (on anFTE basis)[1] |
| Grades | 9th–12th |
| Enrollment | 2,819[1] (2023–24) |
| Student to teacher ratio | 14.58[1] |
| Campus type | Suburb: Large |
| Color(s) | Green and gold |
| Athletics conference | Eastern Pennsylvania Conference |
| Mascot | Green Hornets |
| Rival | Parkland High School[2] |
| Newspaper | The Stinger |
| Website | www |
Emmaus High School is a largepublichigh school located inEmmaus, Pennsylvania. The school serves grades 9–12 in Pennsylvania'sEast Penn School District in theLehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania.
Emmaus High School is located immediately offCedar Crest Boulevard, at 500 Macungie Avenue in Emmaus, a borough 5 miles (8.0 km) miles south ofAllentown, Pennsylvania.
As of the 2023-24 school year, Emmaus High School had a student enrollment of 2,819 students and 193.35 classroom teachers on anFTE basis for astudent–teacher ratio of 14.58, according toNational Center for Education Statistics data.[1] There were 861 students eligible forfree lunch and 84 eligible for reduced cost lunch.[1]
Emmaus High School serves students grades nine through 12 fromEmmaus,Lower Macungie Township,Macungie,Upper Milford Township, andAlburtis, all located in theLehigh Valley, the third-largest metropolitan region of Pennsylvania.
The school ranks among the top Lehigh Valley public high schools in its percentage of graduating students who pursue post-secondary education. Among its Class of 2007, 79 percent of Emmaus High School graduates entered colleges, universities, or other post-graduate education.[3] The school also maintains a program for academically gifted students, which includes advanced classes and a mentorship program. Noting the academic quality of Emmaus High School,Money magazine named Emmaus one of the nation's "Top 100" places to live in 2007 and again in 2009.[4]
Two middle schools (Eyer Middle School and Lower Macungie Middle School), both located in Macungie, serve grades six through eight and feed into Emmaus High School. Seven elementary schools (Alburtis, Wescosville, Lincoln, Jefferson, Macungie, Shoemaker, and Willow Lane) and one elementarycharter school (Seven Generations Charter School) feed into the two middle schools and then Emmaus High School.
What today is theEast Penn School District began in the 1880s as the Emaus School District, using thePennsylvania Dutch spelling of Emmaus, named for theBiblical village ofEmmaus,[5] where, according to the Bible'sGospel of Luke,Jesus was seen by his disciplesLuke andCleopas in what is known as hisRoad to Emmaus appearance following hiscrucifixion andresurrection.[6] Upon its founding in the 1880s, Emaus School District began offering high school classes, providing education up to tenth grade in one of the rooms of a four-room school building on East Main Street in Emmaus. The first graduating class on record was the Emaus High School class of 1890 with two graduates. The following year, in 1891, the high school grades were moved to the Central Building on Emmaus's Ridge Street.
Emaus High School obtained its own home when, in 1915, the high school moved into a brand new building on North Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets in Emaus. While the building was designated the Jefferson Building, yearbooks of the era identify the school as Emaus High School. By this time, the high school was made up of tenth-grade (juniors), eleventh-grade (middlers) and twelfth-grade (seniors). The yearbook of the class of 1916 pictures 18 graduates, evenly divided between boys and girls. The Emaus High School class of 1931 had 45 graduates. One of the bygone features of Emaus High School life on North Street was open lunch where students could walk home for lunch or go across the street to a student-oriented restaurant.
The Jefferson Building was enlarged several times. By 1934, it was considered a state-of-the-art high school with 16 classrooms, a library, an auditorium, a gymnasium, a woodshop, and a home economics room. It also developed many of the activities and athletic teams that continue to this day; the 1931 yearbook lists a band, chorus, orchestra (55 student members), 16 different clubs, and teams forfootball,basketball (boys and girls), anddebate. Emaus High School's main football rival at this time was East Greenville High School (nowUpper Perkiomen High School), which met Emmaus annually onThanksgiving Day in what was referred to as the "Turkey Day" game. In the 1930s, the Emaus High School football field was located roughly a mile from the high school at the site of Emmaus's current recreational Fourth Street Field.
The Emaus School District has been operating since at least 1861. By the 1930s and 1940s, the boroughs ofMacungie andAlburtis contracted with the Emaus district to send their high school students to Emaus High School. There were no school buses, and out-of-borough students commuted to and from the high school byReading Railroad passenger train service at the Emaus train station. Located on Jubilee Street, the station was constructed in the late 19th century, decommissioned, and destroyed by fire on March 1, 1993.[7]
In 1938,Emmaus abandoned thePennsylvania Dutch spelling of its name in favor of the town's current spelling, andEast Penn School District and the high school followed suit. With Emmaus High School's population growing rapidly, the Jefferson Building could no longer accommodate the growing school's needs. The boroughs ofEmmaus,Macungie, andAlburtis and the townships ofLower Macungie, andUpper Milford merged their school districts into what was then called the East Penn Union School District and is now known as East Penn School District. The unified district combined their efforts and resources to vastly expand Emmaus High School, which was constructed at the school's current location at 500 Macungie Avenue in Emmaus. Several times since Emmaus High School has been upgraded and renovated to accommodate its growing student population.
In 1955, the first sections of the new Emmaus High School opened. The new building included an auditorium and gymnasium, which far surpassed those of the old building and included science labs, language labs, and anatatorium. After the high school moved out of the Jefferson Building, that building was briefly used as Emmaus Junior High School until a seventh and eighth-grade wing was added to the new high school building around 1960, making Emmaus High School a six-year school with a single principal but with separate assistant principals for the senior high and junior high grades. In 1965, the Emmaus Junior High School building, with its own faculty and administration, opened on the north side of the high school building to serve grades seven through nine. The Jefferson Building, in turn, was designated as one of severalEast Penn School District elementary schools.
By the early 1960s, the number of sports teams at Emmaus High School expanded to includebaseball,football, andwrestling for boys,cross country,field hockey andsoftball for girls, andbasketball,golf,rifle,swimming, andtrack and field for both boys and girls. A class play was presented annually; in 1969, Emmaus High School produced its first musical,Bye Bye Birdie.
By 1998, the school's population had grown significantly due to an influx of residents predominantly fromNew Jersey,New York City, andPhiladelphia, and Emmaus High School expanded again, taking over the junior high building, adding additional space and using the whole complex to house grades nine through twelve. The Jefferson Building, the first dedicated home of Emmaus High School, was subsequently decommissioned, demolished in 1999, and replaced by Jefferson Elementary School. In 2005, a second major expansion of Emmaus High School was completed.
In October 2015, Emmaus High School was placed onlockdown amid rumors of potential gun violence.[8][9]
In November 2018, a torrential rainstorm flooded the school, causing administrators to cancel five days of classes. Financial aid and assistance with clean up were provided by East Penn School District.[10] The main office, auxiliary gym, wrestling room, 40 classrooms, and adjacent areas were impacted by stormwater.[10]
On December 17, 2021, Emmaus High School was placed under a cautionary lockdown[11] due to a potential external threat after various threats had been made to schools across the country.[12] Several threats were made by an Emmaus High School freshman student against the school's assistant principals and another student. After almost two hours in cautionary lockdown, students were dismissed in small groups under police supervision. The suspect, a 14-year-old female Emmaus High School student, was arrested the following day, on December 18, and charged with making terrorist threats.[13]
Emmaus High School ranks in the top academic tier of Pennsylvania public high schools based on state testing results. In the 2008 Pennsylvania System of State Assessments, Emmaus High School ranked in the top five percent of all public high schools in the state inwriting, the top 20 percent inreading, and the top 25 percent inmathematics.[14] In 2007, the meanSAT score for Emmaus High School students was 1580.[15] In 2013, Emmaus High School was named the top academically performing high school inLehigh County, according to data released by thePennsylvania Department of Education.[16] As of 2022, 90% ofEast Penn School District teachers hold amaster's degree or higher.[17]
The school's academic team has made several appearances at the national level, appearing three consecutive years (2003, 2004, and 2005) in thePanasonic Academic Challenge atDisney World and placing fifth nationally in the competition in 2003. In 2015 and 2018, the school's academic team qualified for participation in theNational Academic Quiz Tournaments inAtlanta.[18][19] Emmaus High School also holds the record for the most wins of any high school in Pennsylvania'sScholastic Scrimmage contest, an advanced academic quiz game televised on PennsylvaniaPBS affiliates.
Emmaus High School competes athletically in theEastern Pennsylvania Conference (EPC) of thePennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, one of the premier high school athletic divisions in the nation. The school fields teams in all of the association's sports.
Since 1955, Emmaus has won EPC championships at least once in every one of the conference's sports, and several of its graduates have gone on to professional andOlympic-level athletics, including theNFL andNBA. Among the Emmaus High School Class of 2007, 26 Emmaus High School athletes signedletters of intent for fullNCAA athletic scholarships.[20]
Emmaus holds the record for the most Pennsylvania state championships in all sports (13 since 2002) among all EPC schools[21] and has the second most EPC conference championships in all sports, behindParkland High School.[22] In 2017,Adidas signed a four-year deal for exclusive sponsorship of Emmaus' athletic teams.[23] In 2019, the ranking and review siteNiche ranked Emmaus High School the 29th best public school in Pennsylvania for athletics.[24] Emmaus holds the record for the most recorded EPC championships in eight conference sports:baseball, boyslacrosse, boyssoccer, boysswimming, girlsfield hockey, girls soccer, girls swimming, andgolf.
Emmaus High School's mascot is the "Green Hornet." Entrances to the Emmaus High School campus prominently feature green and gold billboards and flags stating "Home of the Hornets" in the school's colors of green and gold.
Aaron Gray, an alumnus of the Emmaus High School basketball program, went on to a seven-yearNBA career from 2007 through 2014, playing for theChicago Bulls,New Orleans Hornets,Sacramento Kings, andToronto Raptors and subsequently for three seasons as an NBA coach with theDetroit Pistons from 2015 through 2018.
Emmaus High School boyssoccer has played for the EPC championship in each of the past eleven consecutive seasons (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021), winning five district titles during this period.[25]
In March 2023, Emmaus High School won its 16th consecutivePIAA District 11 boys swimming and diving championship.[26]
Emmaus High School'sMarine Corps national physical fitness team has repeatedly been among the nation's best. In 2006, its boys and girls team placed second in the Pennsylvania state competition. In 2015, its girls fitness team placed first and its boys fitness team placed second in the national high school physical fitness championships.[27]
The Emmausfootball team was co-champion of theEastern Pennsylvania Conference (EPC) in 1981. In 2008, Emmausrunning back C.J. Billera broke school football records for most all-time touchdowns and career scoring.[28] In 2010, for the first time since the 1981 season, Emmaus won Pennsylvania's Class 4A EPC championship in football. During the 2010 season, Emmaus senior tailbackJoe Williams broke three school football records: most yards in a single game (282), most touchdowns in a single game (six), and most points in a single game (36).[29] In 2016, the Emmaus football team won the East Penn Conference South division championship.[30]
In February 2020,East Penn School District approved $1.7 million in spending to construct a newAstroTurf playing surface andend zone lettering on the Emmaus High School football field, located on the school campus. Under a 10-year promotional contract withLehigh Valley Health Network, the school district is recouping $1.45 million in promotional fees associated with the field upgrades.[31] The field also features a cannon that fires when Emmaus scores a touchdown.[32]
Multiple Emmaus High School football players have gone on toNFL careers, including current NFL player,Arizona CardinalslinebackerKyzir White.[33]
Emmaus High School girlsfield hockey team has consistently ranked among the best in the nation for decades. Emmaus has won the Pennsylvania state championship in girls field hockey thirteen times in the program's history. As of 2022, Emmaus High School has won thePIAA District 11 girls field hockey championship in 34 consecutive seasons.[34] In 2016, the national sports web site topofthecircle.com ranked Emmaus the best girls field hockey team in the nation for the fourth time in the program's history.[35]The Allentown Morning Call has called the program "an organized, multifaceted machine."[36] In September 2015, Emmaus High School field hockey coach Sue Butz-Stavin set the national high school record for most victories by a girls field hockey coach when she recorded her 840th victory.[37] In the 2021 season, Butz-Stavin recorded her 1000th win.[38]
Emmaus High School is one of elevenLehigh Valley-area high schools with anice hockey team; the team is a member of the Lehigh Valley Scholastic Ice Hockey League. The team has won the LVSHL district championship twice.[39]
In the 2016-2017 winter sport season, the Emmausrifle team went undefeated, capturing the regular season championship, defeating top rivalEast Stroudsburg High School South to win the playoff championship, and going on to place second inPennsylvania states for the season.
Emmaus High School's girls swimming and diving team has proven to be one of the best in the state, winning Pennsylvania state championships in six years (2000, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009). Its boys swimming and diving team consistently has been one of the top teams in the state, dating back to the 1970s, winning Pennsylvania state championships in both 2006 and 2007 and theDistrict 11 AAA championship in nine consecutive seasons from 2007 through 2015.
Emmaus High School has won Pennsylvania state championships in girlssoccer (1997), girlssoftball (2000), and girlscross country (2007, 2008, and 2009). In 2008, Emmaus High School's boysvolleyball team won the EPC championship and advanced to the Pennsylvania state tournament. In 2012, Emmaus High School'swrestling team took first place in the United States Military Duels held inSouth Carolina.
In May 2017, the Emmaus High School computer programming team won theAmerican Computer Science League Invitational All-Star contest, a global tournament of the best high school computer programming teams from around the world held inThousand Oaks, California.[40]
In December 2007, Emmaus' men'sa cappella group, known as Fermata Nowhere, landed a brief stint onNBC'sClash of the Choirs, performing "Jingle Bells". In April 2015, Emmaus High School'schorale group under the direction of Rita Cortez performed atSt. Peter's Basilica inVatican City,Italy and has visited other locations in Europe since.[41]
Emmaus High School's official student newspaper isThe Stinger, a reference to thehornet, the school'smascot. The newspaper is produced by a staff of students who report, photograph, and write all of the newspaper's content. The newspaper was founded in 1921 asE-Hive, a name it retained until 1974 when it was changed toThe Stinger. In the 2021-22 school year,The Stinger celebrated its 100th anniversary of continuous publication.The Stinger and its staff have won several national and state-level awards since its 1921 founding.The Stingerplaced fifth in the nation in the National School Press Association (NSPA) "Best of Show" contest under Ayaan Shah, editor-in-chief during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years. This honor placesThe Stinger among the top student publications in the United States. The newspaper will publish its fifty-first volume in the 2025-26 school year under current Editor-in-Chief Jessi Hahn.[42]
The newspaper's print edition typically includes several sections related to Emmaus High School, including Emmaus High School sports, faculty, coach, and student interviews, editorials, local popular culture, and satire and jokes related to school news and events. In most issues, the final page ofThe Stinger is dedicated to student-drawn comics, which also usually deal with student-related themes.The Stinger is known to tackle controversial topics, especially Emmaus High School's problems with student fights,truancy, and widespreadrecreational drug use.[43][44][45]
In 1993, former Superintendent Alrita Morgan censored an editorial, which was seen as critical of thenEast Penn School District board member Mary Lou Stefanko.[46] The publication has not faced any notable instances of censorship since then, and works to make sure all content remains student-produced and edited.
Editors fromThe Stinger have covered many notable events, including former president Joe Biden's visit to the town of Emmaus in January 2024. That story won first place in General News in the Keystone Student News Media Contest. In September 2024, three staff members covered Gov. Josh Shapiro's visit to Emmaus High School for a ceremonial signing of the historic Pennsylvania education budget.
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