Westwood Regional High School Explained

Westwood Regional High School
Motto:Crescat Scientia (Let knowledge grow from more to more)[1]
Established:1967
Address:701 Ridgewood Road
Zipcode:07676
Country:United States
Coordinates:40.981°N -74.0623°W
Pushpin Map:USA New Jersey Bergen County#USA New Jersey#USA
Principal:Frank Connelly
Enrollment:841 (as of 2022–23)
Ratio:10.0:1
Us Nces School Id:341782000906
Teamname:Cardinals
Colors: Scarlet
Black and
white
Newspaper:The Cardinal Chronicle
Yearbook:Cardinal Chronicle[2]
Athletics:20 teams
Picture Caption:An aerial view of the school's campus

Westwood Regional High School (formerly Westwood Regional Jr./Sr. High School) is a four-year comprehensive regional public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Borough of Westwood and the Township of Washington, in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school of the Westwood Regional School District.[3] [4] Beginning in the 2019–20 school year, students in eighth grade who had previously attended the then junior-senior high school began attending the new Westwood Middle School.[5]

As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 841 students and 83.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.0:1. There were 58 students (6.9% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 28 (3.3% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[6]

Awards and recognition

The school was the 106th-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.[7] The school had been ranked 58th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 92nd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[8] The magazine ranked the school 56th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[9] The school was ranked 81st in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.[10] Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 128th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 9 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (83.8%) and language arts literacy (95.9%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[11]

Curriculum

Advanced Placement (AP) courses offered include AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Statistics, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Computer Science A, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP Physics 2, AP Environmental Science, AP United States History, AP United States Government & Politics, AP Psychology, AP Spanish, AP French, AP Italian, AP Studio Art, AP Art History.[12]

Extracurricular activities

There is a wide range of activities and clubs for students to participate in:[13]

Athletics

The Westwood Regional High School Cardinals[14] compete in the Big North Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Bergen and Passaic counties, and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[15] Before the NJSIAA's 2009 realignment, the school had previously participated in the Bergen County Scholastic League (BCSL) American Conference, which included public and private high schools located in Bergen and Hudson counties.[16] With 628 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group II for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 486 to 758 students in that grade range.[17] The football team competes in the American Red division of the North Jersey Super Football Conference, which includes 112 schools competing in 20 divisions, making it the nation's biggest football-only high school sports league.[18] [19] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group II North for football for 2022–2024, which included schools with 478 to 672 students.[20] Westwood Regional High School athletic teams are called the Cardinals. They wear school colors scarlet, white and black.[14] The school's original colors were scarlet and white, with black added later as an official school color.

The school participates in joint cooperative boys / girls swimming teams with River Dell High School as the host school / lead agency. River Dell also hosts a co-op ice hockey team that includes Emerson Jr./Sr. High School and Westwood. These co-op programs operate under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.[21]

Sports offered by the school include:[14]

The boys' basketball team finished the 1951 season with a 21–1 record after winning the Group II state championship with a 68–48 victory against runner-up Ocean City High School in the tournament final.[22] [23]

The boys cross country team won the Group II state title in 1963.[24]

The softball team won the North I state sectional championship in 1974 and 1975.[25]

The field hockey team won the North I Group II state sectional title in 1987 and won the Group II state title that year as co-champion after a 1–1 tie in the finals against Moorestown High School to finish the season with a record of 18-2-1.[26] [27]

The girls volleyball team won the Group II state championship in 1989 (defeating runner-up Lyndhurst High School in the final match of the playoffs) and 1997 (vs. New Milford High School).[28]

The boys track team won the indoor relay championship in Group I in 1998[29]

The football team won the NJSIAA North I Group II state sectional championship in 2000, 2006, 2013, 2014, 2022 and 2023 and won the North I Group I title in 2004.[30] The 2000 team won the North II Group I state sectional title with a 33–7 win against Pompton Lakes High School in the championship final played at Kean University.[31] The 2006 team went to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford where they played the Indians of Pascack Valley High School in the North I Group II finals, beating them 9–8.[32] The school has had a football rivalry since 1976 with River Dell High School called the "Bird Bowl", in which the winner receives a trophy with a football inside of a bird cage. Westwood leads the series with an overall record of 20-18 through the 2017 season. NJ.com listed the rivalry as 28th on its 2017 list "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football".[33] The team won the North I Group II sectional title in 2022, stopping a two-point conversion by Rutherford High School with seconds left on the clock to win 21-20[34] and repeated in 2023 with a 20-7 victory in the North I Group II sectional finals against Rutherford.[35]

The boys' spring track team won three consecutive Bergen County Tournament championships from 2004 to 2006. In Spring 2005 the team went undefeated in Bergen County, and won the North I Group II state championship by a record margin.

In 2007, the boys' basketball team played in the North I, Group II state championship, falling to Pascack Hills High School by 66–65 in overtime, in a game played at River Dell High School.[36] [37]

The girls spring track team was the Group I co-champion in 2010.[38]

Administration

The school's principal is Frank Connelly.[39] The administrative team includes four assistant principals.[40]

Notable alumni

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.wwrsd.org/cms/lib04/nj01000230/centricity/domain/76/open%20house%20master%20presentation.pptx.pdf#page=3 Open House Presentation - January 20, 2015
  2. https://westwoodcardinalchronicle.com Cardinal Chronicle
  3. https://rc.doe.state.nj.us/1516/03/5755/000.html Westwood Regional School District 2016 Report Card Narrative
  4. http://www.wwrsd.org/Page/457 Community and District Profiles
  5. Snyder, John. "First 8th Graders at 'True' Westwood Middle School in 2020", The Press Group, December 23, 2019. Accessed November 17, 2021. "Superintendent of School Raymond Gonzalez confirmed at the Dec. 19 meeting of the Westwood Regional Board of Education that the Regional Middle School expansion project is on track for the addition of eighth grade in September 2020.... The work will establish a grades 6–8 'true' middle school and a grades 9–12 high school, modernize and centralize middle school offerings, and improve academic and emotional supports."
  6. https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3417820&ID=341782000906 School data for Westwood Regional High School
  7. Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  8. Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed August 27, 2012.
  9. Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed February 3, 2011.
  10. http://njmonthly.com/articles/towns_and_schools/highschoolrankings/top-new-jersey-high-schools-by-rank.html "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank"
  11. http://www.schooldigger.com/schoolrank.aspx?Level=3&findschool=17820906 New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010-2011
  12. https://sites.google.com/wwrsd.org/programofstudies/academic-departments?authuser=0 Westwood Junior / Senior High School 2023 Course List
  13. https://www.wwrsd.org/o/westwood-hs Activities & Clubs Directory
  14. https://www.njsiaa.org/schools/westwood-regional-jr-sr-high-school Westwood Regional Jr-Sr High School
  15. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-10/2020-2021-lc-officers-schools.pdf League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021
  16. https://web.archive.org/web/20110724142847/http://www.njsiaa.org/NJSIAA/09leagueaffiliations.pdf New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association League Memberships – 2009-2010
  17. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-11/general-classifications-2018-2020.pdf NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020
  18. Cooper, Darren. "Here's what we know about the new Super Football Conference 2020 schedule", The Record, July 23, 2020. Accessed March 22, 2021. "The Super Football Conference (SFC) is a 112-team group, the largest high school football-only conference in America, and is comprised of teams from five different counties."
  19. Cooper, Darren. "NJ football: Super Football Conference revised schedules for 2020 regular season", The Record, July 23, 2020. Accessed March 22, 2021. "The Super Football Conference has 112 teams that will play across 20 divisions."
  20. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2022-08/Football%20%2722%20%26%20%2723.pdf NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2022–2024
  21. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-12/winter-co-ops-2020-21.pdf NJSIAA Winter Cooperative Sports Programs
  22. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-11/2020-basketball-history_0.pdf NJSIAA Boys Basketball Championship History
  23. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/491220279/ "Westwood And Englewood Capture State Basketball Championships"
  24. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2021-12/21-xc-group-team-champions_0.pdf NJSIAA Boys Cross Country Group State Group Champions
  25. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2024-02/Softball%2023.pdf Softball Championship History 1972–2023
  26. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2021-12/21-girls-field-hockey_0.pdf History of NJSIAA Field Hockey Championships
  27. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/495653433/ "Westwood, Moorestown co-champs"
  28. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2021-12/21-volleyball-history.pdf NJSIAA Girls Volleyball Group Champions
  29. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-12/20-relay-history_0.pdf History of the NJSIAA Indoor Relay Championships
  30. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2021-12/21-football.pdf NJSIAA Football Championship History 1974-2022
  31. Schutta, Gregory. "Feeling good: Westwood finally wins the big one", The Record, December 3, 2000. Accessed December 26, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "When the horn finally sounded on Westwood's 33-7 victory over Pompton Lakes at Kean University, giving the Cardinals their first NJSIAA Group 2, Section 1 title and ending three years of championship frustration, there was no stopping O'Melia."
  32. http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=188015&tclass=North%20I%2C%20Group%20II 2006 Football Tournament - North I, Group II
  33. Stypulkoski, Matt. "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, October 27, 2017, updated May 15, 2019. Accessed December 1, 2020. "28-River Dell vs. Westwood - The prize for winning the Bird Bowl Rivalry? A bird cage trophy with a football inside. This Bergen County rivalry between the Westwood Cardinals and River Dell Hawks has been played annually since 1976.... All-time series: Westwood leads, 20-18"
  34. Bove, Matt. "Westwood stops 2-point try in final seconds, edges Rutherford in wild N1G2 football final", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 12, 2022, updated February 16, 2023. Accessed November 19, 2023. "For Westwood, the one inch was the difference as Dario Mathurin combined with Yianni Constantinides to make the stop right before the goal line for Westwood to hold on for a 21-20 win over Westwood in the NJSIAA Rothman/Orthopaedics North 1, Group 2 championship game."
  35. Torres, Luis. "Westwood leaves no doubt, defeats Rutherford to win 2nd straight sectional title", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 10, 2023. Accessed November 19, 2023. "Behind its overwhelming defense and timely offense on fourth down, Westwood defeated Rutherford 20-7 on Friday to win the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 2 sectional championship of the 2023 NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics football state tournament. It’s the second consecutive sectional championship for Westwood (11-0) and the eighth overall for the Bergen County program."
  36. Roberts, Jeff. "Pascack Hills leaps for joy -- Denies Raji, Westwood in OT", The Record, March 6, 2007. Accessed December 1, 2015.
  37. http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=202502&tclass=North%20I%2C%20Group%20II 2007 Boys Basketball - North I, Group II
  38. https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2021-08/21-spring-track-group-history.pdf NJSIAA Spring Track Summary of Group Titles Girls
  39. https://sites.google.com/wwrsd.org/frankconnelly Principal
  40. https://www.wwrsd.org/o/westwood-hs/page/assistant-principals Assistant Principals
  41. Weingrad, Michael. Letters to America: Selected Poems of Reuven Ben-Yosef, p. 4. Syracuse University Press, 2015. . Accessed June 5, 2016. "Robert grew up in Manhattan, attending P.S. 187 and the High School of Music and Art before the family moved to New Jersey where he excelled as a student-athlete at Westwood High School in Bergen County."
  42. Fard, Maggie Fazeli. "Washington Township native named newest four-star general", The Record, December 31, 2009. Accessed February 3, 2011. "Johns Jr., the eldest child of Doris and Raymond Johns Sr., grew up in Township of Washington with his younger brother, Kevin, and sister, Susan. He attended Westwood High School, where he met his future wife, Diana, and discovered what he wanted to do for the rest of his life."
  43. Rispoli, Michael. "ACORN sting 'pimp' is N.J. man who attended Rutgers University", The Star-Ledger, September 17, 2009. Accessed March 31, 2015. "The younger O'Keefe, a former Eagle Scout who graduated from Westwood High School, and a friend, 20-year-old Hannah Giles, a journalism student at Florida International University, spent their summer traveling to ACORN offices across the nation."
  44. DiTrani, Vinny. "DiTrani: Westwood High's B.J. Raji makes a Super play", The Record, January 23, 2011. Accessed February 3, 2011.
  45. http://www.bceagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=585 Corey Raji
  46. Friedman, Arthur. "Randall mixes law and government but finds time tor tennis and jogging",The Ridgewood News, April 23, 1989. Accessed July 24, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Randall is a 1978 graduate of Wake Forest University School of Law. She received her BA from Smith College in 1975, after graduating from Westwood Regional High School in 1971."
  47. http://www.nflplayers.com/players/player.aspx?id=35803 Kevin Sampson player profile
  48. Feldberg, Robert. "Feldberg: Shot for Westwood's Kyle Scatliffe to show range", The Record, February 3, 2017. Accessed November 22, 2017. "Kyle Scatliffe, who grew up in Westwood and began his performing life in the borough's high school, has had a notable start to his musical-theater career."
  49. Web site: NJ.com . Dave Hutchinson NJ Advance Media for . 2017-02-07 . Ex-Assemblyman sentenced to 8 years in $5.3M ponzi scheme . 2023-08-16 . nj . en.
  50. Lauer, Evelyn. "Boy who ran to fires now chief; Childhood dream comes true in Township of Washington", The Record, February 28, 1990. Accessed July 24, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "A native of the Pascack Valley town, he graduated from Westwood High School and has a degree in business administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University."

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