Penn-Trafford High School

Penn-Trafford High School is a public high school located in Harrison City, Pennsylvania in Westmoreland County, and is the secondary school serving the Penn-Trafford School District. It is the result of several mergers of smaller school districts and entities. It is the successor of Penn Joint High School and Trafford High School. The school colors are green and gold. The different government entities that are incorporated into this school district are, in size order, Penn Township, Trafford Borough, Manor Borough (part), and Penn Borough. The school district is mainly in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania with a small part of Trafford Borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Penn-Trafford High School
Address
3381 Route 130

Harrison City
,
Allegheny, Westmoreland
,
Pennsylvania
15636

United States
Information
TypePublic
School districtPenn-Trafford School District
SuperintendentMatthew Harris
PrincipalTony Aquilio
Staff72.50 (FTE)[1]
Grades9-12
Enrollment1,287 (2018–19)[1]
 • OtherEnrollment is Projected to decline to 1094 by 2019[2]
Student to teacher ratio17.75[1]
Color(s)Green & Gold
MascotWarrior
Team nameWarriors or Lady Warriors
Websitehttp://pths.penntrafford.org/
Penn-Trafford School District region in Allegheny County

The school opened in the fall of 1972 and graduated its first class in June, 1973, with Reynold Peduzzi its first principal and William G. Kuznik serving as Penn-Trafford Superintendent at that time.[3]

Graduation rates

2012 - 95.3%
2011 - 95.4%
2010 - 97.3%
2009 - 97%
2008 - 97%
2007 - 97%[4]
2006 - 97%[5]

High school

Penn-Trafford High School was ranked 18th out of 123 western Pennsylvania high schools for student academic achievement by the Pittsburgh Business Times.[6]

PSSA Results:
11th Grade Reading
2009 - 78% on grade level, In Pennsylvania, 65% of 11th graders on grade level.[7]
2008 - 79%, State - 65%
2007 - 81%, State - 65%[8]

11th Grade Math
2009 - 68%, In Pennsylvania, 56% of 11th graders are on grade level.
2008 - 70%, State - 56%
2007 - 69%, State - 53%

11th Grade Science:
2009 - 48% on grade level. State: 40% of 11th graders were on grade level.
2008 - 50%, State - 39%[9]

Media Coverage

Active-Shooter Training

On May 16, 2019, Penn-Trafford High School caused national outrage when an active-shooter instructional video surfaced featuring the actor, who was playing the shooter, wearing a scarf that appeared to some as a Middle-Eastern headdress. Many people in the public eye considered this video to be racially insensitive. Penn-Trafford officials quickly apologized for the depicting the shooter in Middle-Eastern headgear, claiming there was no intent of racial discrimination.[10]

College remediation

According to a Pennsylvania Department of Education study released in January 2009, 20% of Penn-Trafford School District graduates required remediation in mathematics and or reading before they were prepared to take college level courses in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education or community colleges.[11] Less than 66% of Pennsylvania high school graduates, who enroll in a four-year college in Pennsylvania, will earn a bachelor's degree within six years. Among Pennsylvania high school graduates pursuing an associate degree, only one in three graduate in three years.[12] Per the Pennsylvania Department of Education, one in three recent high school graduates who attend Pennsylvania's public universities and community colleges takes at least one remedial course in math, reading or English.

Classroom of the Future

The Penn-Trafford School District recently accepted grants to fund "The Classroom of the Future." Each classroom is equipped with a Smart Board 600i and a projector mounted. Some teachers have portable Smart boards allowing mobility around the classroom. Selected core classes will be given a cart of laptops that teachers have to incorporate into their lessons.

Dual enrollment

The high school offers a Dual Enrollment program. This state program permits high school students to take courses, at local higher education institutions, to earn college credits. Students remain enrolled at their high school. The courses count towards both: high school graduation requirements and towards a college degree. The students continue to have full access to all clubs, activities and programs, at their high school including the graduation ceremony. The college credits are offered at a deeply discounted rate. The state offers a small grant to assist students in costs for tuition, fees and books.[13] Under the Pennsylvania Transfer and Articulation Agreement, many Pennsylvania colleges and universities accept these credits for students who transfer to their institutions.[14] For the 2009-10 funding year, the school district received a state grant of $13,378 for the program.[15]

Graduation project

By law, all Pennsylvania secondary school students must complete a project as a part of their eligibility to graduate from high school. The type of project, its rigor and its expectations are set by the individual school district.[16]

Vocational-Technical Services

Penn-Trafford High School uses the services of Central Westmoreland Career and Technology Center in New Stanton for the students there who wish to choose a vocational or technical program.

Extracurriculars

The Penn-Trafford School District offers a large variety of clubs, activities and sports. Eligibility for participation is set by school board policy. By Pennsylvania law, all K-12 students in the district, including those who attend a private nonpublic school, cyber charter school, charter school and those homeschooled, are eligible to participate in the extracurricular programs including all athletics. They must meet the same eligibility rules as the students enrolled in the district's schools.[17]

Athletics

Penn-Trafford participates in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL).[18] The colors are Dartmouth Green and Green Bay Gold. The nickname of the school's teams are the Warriors. In keeping with the Native American theme of the two high schools that merged to form Penn-Trafford, Warriors was chosen. The nickname of Penn Joint High School (a predecessor to Penn-Trafford) was the Indians. The nickname of Trafford High School (a predecessor to Penn-Trafford) was the Tomahawks. In 1971-1972, prior to the merger of the two high schools, a panel of eight students, four from each high school met to develop the new school nickname and color-schemes. The student body of each school were given the task of voting on the new school colors from three color-scheme options chosen by the student panel, Kelly Green and Green Bay Gold being one of them. The color-scheme options were selected by the panel to differentiate Penn-Trafford from the other Keystone Conference member schools. The top vote getter was Green and Gold. Dartmouth Green eventually replaced Kelly Green.[19]

The Warriors Girls Golf team won the WPIAL championships during the 2012- 2013 and the 2013-2014 seasons. In both competitive years, they proceeded to the PIAA state championships where they placed as runners- up.

The Warriors Field Hockey team won the WPIAL championships in 2011, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.[20]

The Penn-Trafford Men's Volleyball team won their first two Section Championships. They also won their first WPIAL Championship game in 2016.

Marching Band

When Penn High School and Trafford High School merged to form Penn-Trafford, the Marching Band used both the Penn and Trafford uniforms and was known as "The Big Green Machine". Later it was known as the Warrior Marching Band. In 2011 Penn-Trafford hosted a band show dedicated to the founding director, Emery Toth, who directed the band from 1972-1986.

The band competes in Class AAA in PIMBA (they originally performed in AAAA until 2013) and Class 3 Open in TOB. They hosted the PIMBA Championships in 1999, 2001, 2004, 2010, 2012, and 2014 and the TOB Chapter 8 Championships in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The band is also a BOA Regional Finalist and a three-time TOB Class 3 Open Champion.

References
  1. "Penn Trafford HS". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  2. Pennsylvania Department of Education Enrollment and projections for Penn-Trafford School District January 2009
  3. Mochnick, John W., History of Penn Township, 1982, pp.229, 231.
  4. Pennsylvania Partnership for Children - High School Graduation Rate 2007
  5. Penn-Trafford High School Academic Achievement Report Card 2006
  6. The Rankings: 11th Grades, Pittsburgh Business Times. May 15, 2009
  7. Penn-Trafford School District Academic Achievement Report Card 2009
  8. Pennsylvania Department of Education PSSA Math and Reading results by school 2007
  9. Pennsylvania Department of Education PSSA Science 2008 by school and grade
  10. Abdelkader, Rima (2019-05-16). "School criticized for using 'Middle Eastern' headdress in active shooter drill". NBC News. Retrieved 2019-05-16.
  11. Pennsylvania College Remediation Report
  12. National Center for Education Statistics
  13. Pennsylvania Department of Education - Dual Enrollment Guidelines.
  14. Pennsylvania Transfer and Articulation Agreement. site accessed March 2010. http://www.patrac.org/
  15. Pennsylvania Department of Education Dual Enrollment Fall Grants 2009-10. August 2009
  16. Pennsylvania Code §4.24 (a) High school graduation requirements
  17. Home-Schooled, Charter School Children Can Participate in School District Extracurricular Activities, Pennsylvania Office of the Governor Press Release, November 10, 2005
  18. Barnes, Keith (2007-11-16). "Penn-Trafford to play for first PIAA title". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-04-12. The Warriors were the third seed from the WPIAL after losing to Seneca Valley in the semifinals, but they recovered with victories against District 10 champion Erie McDowell, a Peters Township team that had defeated them, 9-1, in the South Park Kickoff Tournament and Mount Lebanon after losing, 1-0, to the Blue Devils in the season opener.
  19. Bucar, Paul - Date: 2010-08-18. One of the original eight student panel members representing the Trafford high school sophomore class.
  20. Love, Michael (2020-11-08). "Penn-Trafford beats Fox Chapel for WPIAL field hockey title". Trib HSSN. Retrieved 2020-11-14.

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