Francis Lewis High School
Francis Lewis High School | |
---|---|
Location | |
Fresh Meadows, New York, USA | |
Information | |
Type | Public |
Established | 1960 - first graduating class 1963 |
Status | Open |
Principal | Dr. David Marmor |
Grades | 9 to 12 |
Number of students | Approx. 4200 |
Color(s) | Red , Black , and White |
Athletics | 30 sports |
Mascot | Patriots |
Nickname | Franny Lew |
Website | francislewishs.org |
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This article uses bare URLs for citations, which may be threatened by link rot. (May 2013) |
Francis Lewis High School (FLHS) is a public high school located in Fresh Meadows, Queens. It offers a number of special programs upon admission: Jacob K. Javits Law Institute (for law studies), the University Scholars Program (a highly selective program which gives its students an accelerated humanities program with a requirement of two foreign languages), and a Math and Science Research Program (advanced studies of math, science and statistics). In 1994, the US Army Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) program was established in the school.[1] The school has approximately a 91% attendance rate and 85.5% graduation rate.
Contents
Language studies[edit]
In keeping with the school's diversity, Francis Lewis offers a plethora of foreign languages: Hebrew, French, AP French, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Latin, Modern Greek, Ancient Greek, Spanish, Arabic, AP Spanish, AP Spanish literature, AP Japanese, and AP Chinese.
Honors Programs[edit]
In 1978, Francis Lewis High School was the first public high school to achieve certification to the International Baccalaureate[2][3] which supplemented the AP (Advanced Placement) courses by offering college credit for work done during high school (based on the final test score). Students may choose the full program to get a full years' college credit, or simply courses of interest (for credit towards single college courses such as math or humanities).
There are a few honors programs at Francis Lewis. They include: Math and Science Research, The University Scholars Program, The Jacob Javits Institute for Law, and the Gateway Honors Program. The Science Research Program has garnered various Siemens Competition and Intel Science Talent Search finalists.[4][5][6]
JROTC[edit]
In 1994, the US Army Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) program was established in the school by Retired First Sergeant Richard Gogarty.[1] It is the largest in the nation, with more than 800 cadets of the 1,725 high school chapters in the country.[7] There are six JROTC teams, Academic, Choir, Drum Corps, Honor Guard, Raiders, and Drill Team. Three teams compete: Academic, Drill Team (Unarmed- Patriot Pride, Armed- Patriot Guard) and Raiders (female- Patriot Strength, male- Patriot Force).[8] The Patriot Guard were national champions in 2007,[9] 2009-2011,[10] and placed second in 2012. The Patriot Pride came in second in 2006, 2008 and 2009 and first place in the 2013 National Championships in Daytona, Florida. Discouraged by their defeat at Army Nationals in Kentucky a month before the Nationals in Florida, they worked harder than ever and brought back home the national title when they swept the floor in Daytona, Florida.[11] The female Raiders have been national championships for four consecutive years. [12] The male Raiders' most recent first place title was in 2011, having come in third in the 2012 Nationals.[13] The Academic team has placed as finalists in the JROTC Leadership Academic Bowl in 2011, 2012, and 2013. They have also won their Academic Bowl first place almost every year. The battalion is an honor unit with distinction, and is considered one of the best and well-known US Army JROTC units in the nation.[14]
Notable alumni[edit]
- Steve Dorff (1968) - composer/music producer
- Rick Elice (1973) - actor, writer
- Steve Greenberg (1978) - record producer, former President of Columbia Records
- Peter Guttman (1972) - Travel journalist, lecturer, and author
- Heejun Han (2007) - Finalist on American Idol, Season 11
- Mike Jorgensen (1973) - baseball player, manager
- Jonathan Pontell - television director, producer and editor.
- Ron Shandler (1974) - national baseball analyst, author of Baseball Forecaster, founder of BaseballHQ.com, columnist for USA Today.
- Captain James Văn Thạch (1994) - First Vietnamese American military adviser to the Iraqi Army. Only US servicemember to be awarded the rank of Honorary Brigadier General in the Iraqi Army. [15][16]
- Dennis Walcott - Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education
- Chris Welty (1981) - computer scientist
- Albie Hecht - Former President of Nickelodeon, Founder of Spike TV and CEO of Worldwide Biggies
References[edit]
- ^ a b Winerip, Michael (2011-06-19). "At High School in Queens, an R.O.T.C. Program's Enduring Influence". The New York Times.
- ^ "The first IB class at Francis Lewis High School 1975-1978". Ferretronix.com. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ^ "Schools Across Frontiers: The Story of the International Baccalaureate and ... - Alexander Duncan Campbell Peterson - Google Boeken". Books.google.com. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ^ Gustafson, Anna (2010-11-10). "Francis Lewis teens win spot on Siemens list • TimesLedger". Timesledger.com. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ^ Gustafson, Anna (2009-12-09). "Francis Lewis HS team takes 3rd in Siemens contest | New York Post". Nypost.com. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ^ "2012 Semifinalists and Regional Finalists Announced in the Siemens Competition". Nycprivateschoolsblog.com. 2012-10-21. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ^ "Queens Junior ROTC Cadets Put Discipline On Display". NY1. 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ^ "FLHS PATRIOT BATTALION JROTC - Francis Lewis Patriot Battalion". Flhspatriotbattalion.com. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ^ "NHSDTC Masters Level Past Champions - 1987 through the present". Thenationals.net. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ^ http://www.thenationals.net/dt-results-2009M.pdf
- ^ "Video". NBC New York. 2013-09-26. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ^ http://www.thenationals.net/raider-results-female-all.pdf
- ^ http://www.thenationals.net/raider-results-male-all.pdf
- ^ "Francis Lewis HS JROTC is perfection - Queens Chronicle: North/Northeast Queens News". Qchron.com. 2013-02-13. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ^ "First Vietnamese-American to Serve as a Military Advisor to the New Iraqi Army". Prweb.com. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ^ "Two Years in Iraq and Honored as a General". Prweb.com. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
External links[edit]
- Francis Lewis High School
- At High School in Queens, R.O.T.C.’s Enduring Influence
- At School in Queens, Success Draws Crowd - NY TImes
- National Drill Competition- Champions Interview- NBC
Coordinates: 40°44′27″N 73°47′38″W / 40.74083°N 73.79389°W