Hopewell Valley Central High School

History

The district's first high school was established in 1907, with a separate high school facility constructed in Hopewell Borough in 1912 at a cost of $20,000 (equivalent to $667,000 in 2025). A second building was constructed in 1929, when a new facility was completed at a cost of $158,000 on 5 acres (2.0 ha) of land on a site in Pennington.

The current high school was built along Pennington-Titusville road in 1958. Since then, there have been multiple additions and renovations to the original building, including in 1965 and 1974 when additional classrooms and a library were built (the existing library was converted into offices for child study, guidance, and counseling). A 1997 addition added eight science classrooms and a band room, with older science rooms being renovated. In 2003, work was completed on a new 865-seat Performing Arts Center, a new gymnasium, as well as some classroom renovations as part of a referendum approved by voters in 2000. A 2016 referendum allowed for the addition of a new front entrance, a cafeteria extension, a black box theater, and an auxiliary gymnasium, along with significant HVAC improvements and roofing repairs. These were completed in 2018.

On February 16, 2017, Fried Chicken was an option on that days lunch menu. The sign that had the menu had a heading that read, "In Celebration of Black History Month we have a Special Menu Today!" The superintendent of Hopewell Valley Regional School District, Thomas A. Smith, apologized for the racial stereotypes that were being promoted by putting fried chicken on the menu. The district's food vendor, Pomptonian, stated that one of the company's directors worked with an administrator of the district to create the menu for that day. At the time, Hopewell Valley had 1,200 total students, of whom 82% of the students were white (about 984 students) and about 3.8% were black (about 46 students).

Profile

The Hopewell Valley Central High School credo is that the school is a "high-performing, high-achieving school with a soul." HVCHS encourages and fosters partnerships between teachers, students, parents, and the community. The Municipal Alliance and Healthy Communities/Healthy Youth play a key role in the "Culture of Respect." Students are involved in service organizations with community outreach programs.

Hopewell Valley Central High School provides a curriculum that is broad, diversified and comprehensive, allowing students to structure their own challenges. HVCHS encourages high expectations and achievement.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 41st-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 31st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 38th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 39th in 2008 out of 316 schools. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 101st out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 31 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (87.8%) and language arts literacy (95.4%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 57th in New Jersey and 1,666th nationwide.

In Newsweek's May 20, 2012, issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Hopewell Valley Central High School was listed in 427th place, the 39th-highest ranked school in New Jersey. In the magazine's 2007 rankings, Hopewell Valley Central High School was listed in 1239th place, the 42nd-highest ranked school in New Jersey.

In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 638th in the nation among participating public high schools and 50th among schools in New Jersey.

Academics

Hopewell Valley Central High School offers 26 different AP courses, as well as three dual-enrollment courses in conjunction with Syracuse University.

Science

The HVCHS Envirothon Team placed first in the 11th Annual New Jersey Envirothon Competition at the School of Conservation in Stokes State Forest. The team then represented the state of New Jersey and placed third in the National Envirothon held at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Performing arts

The high school music program is on an upward trend. It has been twice named a finalist in the Grammy Foundation's Grammy Signature Schools program. In 2004, the program was named to the American Music Conference's list of the "Best 100 Communities for Music Education in America". The NAMM organization has recognized the school's music program on multiple occasions, including both 2009 and 2010.

In regional and national competitions, the band, choir, and orchestra have been recognized for excellence. The choir program has received top ratings at festivals since 2002 and was selected for the 2006 National Choral Invitational Festival of Gold in New York City. The choirs were treated to a one-week workshop with choral composer Stephen Hatfield. The symphonic band has worked with several musical notables, including the Dallas Brass and Houston-based composer Michael Story.

The Marching Black and Gold, an extracurricular marching band established in 2007, has achieved top ratings in many area competitions. The band performs at varsity football games, participates in Memorial Day parades and other celebrations in Hopewell Valley, and has traveled to participate at Festival Disney in Florida and other locations across the eastern United States. Alumni of the Marching Black and Gold have gone on to join prestigious marching bands at colleges and universities across the US. Some have participated in drum and bugle corps associated with Drum Corps International and Drum Corps Associates.

The school offers a four-year, sequential, curricular program in theater arts. An 865-seat Performing Arts Center opened at the high school in 2003, and is now used by the community and music programs in the district. Graduates of Hopewell's Performing Arts programs have gone on to major in various performing arts fields in college.

Visual arts

The visual arts department is comprehensive and sequential and its curriculum culminates in the various AP art courses. Student artists have received accolades for works in various local, state, and national art shows as they successfully placed first, second, and third in these juried art show competitions.

Athletics

The Hopewell Valley Central High School Bulldogs compete in the Colonial Valley Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Mercer, Middlesex and Monmouth counties, operating under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 838 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. The football team competes in the Capitol Division of the 94-team West Jersey Football League superconference and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 695 to 882 students. Hopewell's athletic program offers 22 sports.

The school participates as the host school / lead agency for a joint ice hockey team with Montgomery High School. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.

Hopewell Valley has a longstanding rivalry with the Pennington School. Other rivals include Notre Dame High School and Lawrence High School.

After suspending the football program in 1932, the school reinstituted the program after a 70-year hiatus, due to the founding of HIKE Hopewell Involved in Kids Enrichment, a non-profit which raised the funds to bring a high School Football team back to HVRSD. Hundreds of citizens and students worked multiple fund raising events to raise money to fund the first 5 years of the football program. The first team the freshman team which was made of a combination of freshman and sophomore athletes (due to league regulations) beginning play in 2002. The re-established football program's first varsity victory came on October 17, 2005, with a 28–6 win against West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North. The Bulldogs had been able to successfully start their first Varsity level season in 2004. Although winless, the community celebrated the fact that Varsity Football was once again being played at the HVCHS. The 2006 season had the Bulldogs going 3–6, and tying for the Colonial Valley Conference Patriot Division title with Ewing High School and West Windsor Plainsboro North. The 2007 season was even more successful for the Hopewell Varsity football team, going 5–4, and again tying for the Patriot Division title. In 2008, the Bulldogs had another winning season, at 6–4. At Homecoming, the crowds number in the thousands. In 2013, the HV Bulldogs finished the program's tenth varsity season with a 10–1 record, the best season in the ten years since the re-introduction of football, and defeated Lawrence High School by a score of 31–14 before 7,500 fans at The College of New Jersey to win the program's first Central Jersey Group III state sectional championship. It was the first time that two Mercer County teams had reached the finals in the same season and Hopewell Valley became the sixth team from the county to win a football sectional title.

Clubs and organizations

Students at HVCHS are able to become involved in school clubs and organizations. Clubs and activities are focused on artistic, athletic, academic, and special interest areas. Over 60% of the 1,200 students compete in one of the 22 athletic programs or an extracurricular activity.

Administration

The school's principal is Patricia Riley. Her core administration team includes two vice principals.

Notable alumni

Val Ackerman (born 1959), class of 1977, best known for being the first president of the Women's National Basketball Association, serving from 1996 to 2005

Steve Braun (born 1948, class of 1966), former Major League Baseball player

Simon Carcagno (born 1976), rower who competed in lightweight rowing and won a gold medal in the eights at the 2008 World Rowing Championships

Danielia Cotton (born 1967), jazz singer, songwriter and guitarist

Gregory S. Glasson (born 1974), bass player who has played for Grammy Award winning artist Seal both live onstage and in studio recordings

Desiree Leigh Grace (born 1987/88), federal prosecutor

Jim Himes (born 1966), Congressman from Connecticut's 4th congressional district

Cassidy Hutchinson (born 1996, class of 2015), former aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the Trump administration who testified at a hearing of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. At the school, she was a member of the girls' track team

Liz Miele (born 1985), stand-up comedian and writer

Cal Newport (class of 2000), computer science professor and author

Mark Hsu Syers (1952–1983), Broadway actor

John Tanguay (born 1998), rower who won a silver medal at the 2019 World Rowing Championships

Colleen Williams (born 1991), former soccer forward and midfielder who played for the Washington Spirit in the National Women's Soccer League