Penns Grove High School

Penns Grove High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Carneys Point Township and Penns Grove in Salem County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District. A majority of students in grades 9-12 from Oldmans Township, New Jersey attend the district's high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Oldmans Township School District, with the balance attending Woodstown High School in the Woodstown-Pilesgrove Regional School District. The school is located in Carneys Point Township.

Penns Grove High school hosts the regional Academy of Chemical and Technological Engineering program, which prepares students for college majors in engineering fields. The Academy of Chemical and Technological Engineering operates in partnership with Rowan University, Salem Community College, DuPont and various other contributors.

As of the 2017-18 school year, the school had an enrollment of 492 students and 50.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.8:1. There were 301 students (61.2% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 29 (5.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 256th-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. The school had been ranked 251st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 253rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 266th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 220th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.

Athletics
The Penns Grove High School Red Devils compete as one of the member schools in the Tri-County Conference, which operates under the supervision of  the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 450 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as South Jersey, Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 78 to 478 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the Diamond Division of the 95-team West Jersey Football League superconference and was classified by the NJSIAA as South Jersey Group I for football for 2017-18.

The wrestling team won the South Jersey Group II state championship in 1981.

The boys' track team won the Group I state indoor relay championship in 1986.

The boys' cross country team won the Tri-County Diamond Division Championship in 2006 and 2007, the South Jersey Group I sectional title for outdoor track in 2007 and 2008, and a number of relays won by the Outdoor Track team.

In 1997 running back Del Wright had a 1,000 yard season. In 2000 running back James McPherson set the South Jersey single game rushing record. Despite having a losing record in 2001 senior running back Jeffery Lee averaged over 10 yards a carry in the tri-county division while earning Sunbeam player of the month. Prolific runningback Aaron Hayward posted multiple 1,000 yard seasons and earned a scholarship to Rutgers University. The football team went 9-3 in 2008 reaching the school's first state championship game before falling to rival Glassboro High School. The team was also able to win their first home playoff game in school history in the semifinals.

The 2012 Red Devils football team won the South Jersey Group I state sectional championship, the program's first, defeating Woodbury Junior-Senior High School by a score of 30-14 in the title game. The team finished the season with a perfect 12-0 record and set state records by scoring 621 points, breaking a previous record of 599 that had been set by Bergen Catholic High School in 1998, and scoring an average of 51.7 points per game, breaking the record of 51.5 set by Don Bosco Preparatory High School in 2003.. In 2018 the football team under John Emel went undefeated and won a group one championship.

In 1986, the boys' track team set the New Jersey state record for most consecutive dual meet wins with 117. That same year, the track team not only went 10-0 in its dual meets but won every relay meet entered, won the Salem County Meet (10th straight), Tri-County Conference Meet (10th straight), South Jersey Group 1 sectional meet (10th straight) and its second state group title (its first coming in 1984). The indoor track team that year also won the state Group I relay championships.

The 1988 baseball team won the South Jersey Group I state sectional championship with a 7-5 win against Pitman High School. The team lost by a score of 13-5 to Glen Ridge High School in the Group I championship game. The team had won the Group II state championship in 1958, which was the most recent time that the team had won a sectional title.

Marching band
The school's marching band was Tournament of Bands Chapter One Champions in 1973-1975, 1977 and 1979 (Group 1). The marching band was Atlantic Coast Champion in Group 1 (1975, 1977 and 1979) and Atlantic Coast Champion in Group 2 in 1976. The band also won the Cavalcade of Bands Group 1 Open Championship in 2006.

Administration
The school's principal is Lory O'Brien.

Notable alumni
 Don Bragg (born 1935), Olympic gold medalist in the pole vault at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
 William J. Hughes (1932-2019), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1975 to 1995 who was appointed by President Bill Clinton as United States Ambassador to Panama, a post he held until October 1998 leading up to the historic turnover of the Panama Canal to Panamanian control.
 Bruce Willis (born 1955), actor best known for his role of John McClane in the Die Hard series.

Notable faculty
 Curly Ogden (1901-1964), former pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and Washington Senators who coached at Penns Grove for 18 years.

References

External links
Penns Grove High School
Penns Grove - Carneys Point Regional School District

School Data for the Penns Grove - Carneys Point Regional School District, National Center for Education Statistics

Category:Carneys Point Township, New Jersey
Category:Oldmans Township, New Jersey
Category:Penns Grove, New Jersey
Category:1908 establishments in New Jersey
Category:Educational institutions established in 1908
Category:Public high schools in Salem County, New Jersey