Newtown High School (Queens)

Newtown High School
Side view of school
Address
48-01 90th Street
Elmhurst, Queens, New York 11373
United States
Coordinates 40°44′27″N 73°52′27″W / 40.740829°N 73.874168°W / 40.740829; -73.874168Coordinates: 40°44′27″N 73°52′27″W / 40.740829°N 73.874168°W / 40.740829; -73.874168
Information
Type Public secondary
Motto We tower above the rest.
Established 1897
School board New York City Department of Education
School district NYC School District 24
School number Q455
CEEB code 331815
Principal John Ficalora
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 2,162
Mascot Pioneers
Average SAT scores 400 Verbal
451 Math
398 Writing (2012)
Website newtownhighschool.org

Newtown High School is a high school in Elmhurst, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. Its multinational student body consists of approximately 2,879 students, with a large percentage of Hispanic and Asian students. Newtown High School celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2017. In 2010, Newtown High School held its graduation at York College, for the first time in over 30 years, rather than other locations such as St. John's University and Forest Park.[1][2][3][4][5]

The school offers college courses, advanced placement classes in English Language and Literature, Biology, Spanish Language and Literature, Chinese Language, Calculus BC, and Human Geography, among others; a business/technology program; a pre-engineering/technology preparation; and an art program.

Newtown High School has teams in a variety of sports, both co-ed and broken down by gender. The sports offered include wrestling, soccer, baseball, cross-country, outdoor track, softball, bowling, handball, volleyball, basketball, tennis, among others. Gymnastics once played a part, but has been discontinued.

Front of school

Newtown has a newspaper, a Key Club, the student organization, a language club, a poetry club, debate team, mediation, robotics club, photography club, several culture clubs, among others. Newtown also has a notable guitar class, which has performed for QPTV (Queens Public Television) .

The building

Newtown High School is a large secondary school in the residential neighborhood of Elmhurst, in western Queens. It is one of Queen’s most prominent buildings, and a testament to New York City’s commitment to public education. Bounded by 48th and 50th Avenues, and 90th and 91st Streets, the school occupies an entire city block. The current building is a result of several building campaigns spanning nearly four decades, three architects, and several architectural styles.

According to the Landmarks Preservation Commission's website has had a school since 1866, when a small wooden school house was built to serve the children of Newtown and neighboring farms. Due to the site's long history, and the architectural significance of the building, the City of New York designated Newtown High School a landmark in 2003.[6]

The oldest extant portions of the school are from 1921, designed by C.B.J. Snyder in a Flemish Renaissance Revival style. Snyder’s choice of this style showed his awareness of New York’s and particularly Elmhurst’s, beginnings as a Dutch colony. It is one of only a handful of public schools in New York City executed in this style.

Snyder's design was built as an addition to the now demolished Boring and Tilton school completed in 1900. His design continued the stepped gables of the original building, and features a dramatic 169-foot, centrally placed tower topped by a cupola and turrets. The tower is visible throughout the neighborhood and gives the school its slogan: "We Tower Above the Rest." The Snyder addition comprises two wings, having granite imitating terra cotta bases, and clad with buff and beige brick, limestone, glazed terra cotta, and decorative ceramic tile, corbelled cornices, multi-soldier flat arch lintels, and sculptural relief on entrance porticoes.

As soon as 1930, another addition was built to accommodate the rapidly growing student population. Architect Walter C. Martin, designed two additional three-story wings, that are stylistically similar but less ornate than the previous Snyder wings. The Martin wings are Clad with buff and beige brick and limestone detailing; one features stepped gables with ceramic tile designs.

The most recent addition was completed in 1958 and designed by Maurice E. Salo and Associates. This wing took the place of the original school building by Boring and Tilton which had been deemed by the Board of Education to be deficient and not able to be improved by renovations. Instead of echoing the motifs of the previous additions, the four-story rectangular block addition was designed in the International Style. The steel-frame structure is clad with beige-colored bricks, limestone trim and aluminum panels.

In 2012 the New York Landmarks Conservancy honored a comprehensive exterior restoration with its prestigious Lucy Moses Award to the team led by SUPERSTRUCTURES Engineers + Architect.

Athletics

Newtown has seen some success with athletics, winning numerous city championships in a variety of athletic competitions. It currently competes in the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL), and fields a wide number of teams in many different sports. They include:

Boys' teams

  • Varsity and JV basketball
  • Cross country
  • Indoor/outdoor track
  • Varsity soccer
  • Varsity and JV volleyball
  • Golf
  • Bowling
  • Varsity and JV baseball
  • Handball
  • Wrestling

Girls' teams

  • Varsity and JV softball
  • Basketball
  • Indoor/outdoor track
  • Bowling
  • Soccer
  • Cross country
  • Gymnastics

Extracurricular activities

  • Robotics Club
  • Hiking
  • Photography

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ "Newtown High School". insideschools.org. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  2. ↑ "Newtown High School". newtownhighschool.org. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  3. ↑ "Newtown High School". greatschools.org. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "Newtown High School". nycago.org. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  5. ↑ "Newtown High School". redfin.com. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  6. ↑ "Newtown High School" (PDF).
  7. ↑ "Hall of Fame," Newtown High School website. Accessed: February 28, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Biography". Shaan Shahid. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
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