North Penn High School

North Penn High School is a part of the North Penn School District and is located in Towamencin Township, Pennsylvania, about a mile outside of Lansdale along Valley Forge Road (Pa. Route 363).

When North Penn High School was created in 1955 to serve a newly consolidated school district, it incorporated students from three former schools: Hatfield High School, Lansdale High School, and North Wales High School. The original North Penn High School building was the one that had served as Lansdale High School since the 1930s. The former Hatfield and North Wales buildings were eventually converted to elementary schools. The North Wales building is still used for this purpose today. The Hatfield building, later renamed the Laudenslager School, was eventually replaced by a newer building. The old school was then sold by the North Penn School District, and now serves as the home of the Biblical Theological Seminary.

The current North Penn High School was constructed in 1974 because of severe overcrowding at the original school. The former high school building, located on Penn Street in Lansdale, is now Penndale Middle School. The students of Penndale Middle School, Pennbrook Middle School, and Pennfield Middle School graduate to here.

North Penn High School is among the largest statewide, with student enrollment for the 2005-2006 school year at 3,423[1]. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors are represented at the high school, while freshmen (commonly the first year of high school) are enrolled in one of the three aforementioned middle schools.

Honors

The school will also host the National Association of Student Councils Convention in late June of this year (2006).

North Penn High School and Knapp Elementary School are both celebrating their 50th anniversaries[2] in the year of 2006.

In the media

In 2005, Sports Illustrated distinguished North Penn as the best athletic program in Pennsylvania, noting that the school has "won 45 state championships over the last 10 years" and "is a power in football and is also dominant in boys' swimming."

In 2004 the school made national news and was the subject of a show on MTV due to the elaborate senior class prank pulled by Thomas McDonald, Brendan Mulvihill, Martin Sandeen, Andrew Molholt, Jay Habre, and the 50+ participants they recruited over the course of the entire 2003-2004 academic year. On the night of June 6, the rear and cafeteria courtyards of the school's grounds were forked with over 40,000 plastic forks.

Temple University Student Newspaper Article on the Forking

Alma mater

North Penn High School's alma mater shares the same tune as that of the Pennsylvania State University. The lyrics are as follows

As Knights, who in the olden times,

Would pledge their loyalty

To keep their honor shining,

and ever true to be.

We enter here at North Penn High,

With hearts resolved to dare.

Our noblest aim to bring to fame

Our Alma Mater Fair.

Notable alumni

John Oates - Member of the musical duo Hall & Oates.
Liza Weil - Television and theater actress, Paris Geller on Gilmore Girls, with guest appearances on ER and The West Wing.
Andrew Bryniarski - Film and television actor. Appeared as "Leatherface" in the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Contact information

North Penn High School
1340 Valley Forge Road
Lansdale, PA 19446
Phone: 215-368-9800
Fax: 215-855-0632

Current administration

Principal
Burton T. Hynes

Assistant Principals
Shaun M. Dougherty
Karen R. Holmes
Sean O'Sullivan
Amy B. Schwartz
Amy L. Steinhagen
Donald J. Walsh

External links

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