Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School is a secondary school located on 500 South Broad Street in the borough of Mechanicsburg, west of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The school is part of the Mechanicsburg Area School District.

Communities Mechanicsburg Area Senior High (MASH), which accepts students ranging from grade 9–12, serves several communities, including the Boroughs of Mechanicsburg and Shiremanstown, Upper Allen Township, and the villages of Grantham and Bowmansdale.

The students begin at the Kindergarten Academy then proceed to one of the elementary schools (grades 1-3): Shepherdstown, Upper Allen, Northside, or Broad Street. All 4th and 5th graders attend Elmwood Academy, which was redesignated as only 4th and 5th graders in 2018. They then progress to Mechanicsburg Middle School (6-8), and then Mechanicsburg High School (9-12).

School information and history Mechanicsburg High School was founded and held its first commencement in 1875, with one graduate.

Mechanicsburg High School has been located in three different buildings since its foundation. The Simpson Street School (now a luxury apartment complex) was completed in 1872 and was expanded upon in 1929. In 1957, the school had expanded past capacity, and a new building was built along Elmwood Avenue. The Elmwood Avenue school served as the high school for only 12 years, as the current building on 500 South Broad Street was built and completed in 1969.Mechanicsburg Area School District Archives The Elmwood building was converted into Mechanicsburg Area Intermediate School (MAIS), and in 2005 was renovated again to be used as an Elementary School. In the mid-1980s, a wing was added to the current high school building to suit capacity needs. In 2002, the current building underwent extensive renovations. New entrances were constructed to be aesthetically consistent with the then-new middle school's entrance.

In 2019, the Wildcat Activity Center (WAC) replaced the school's outdoor basketball courts.

Two major additions were completed in 2022: a hallway in the front of the school and a 2-story wing in the rear (referred to as the "New Wing") that now houses the weight room. Along with this project, a complete overhaul of the old building changed its layout and left it stylistically consistent with the recent additions. The school's extensive 6-year renovation will be finished with the completion of a new pool and track and field area.

On July 6, 2010, then-Governor Ed Rendell publicly signed Pennsylvania's $28 billion budget at Elmwood Elementary.

The Wildcat

The school's mascot was first referenced as the "Wildcat" in a 1937 edition of the school newspaper, The Torch. Prior to this, Mechanicsburg's athletic teams were referenced as the "Steel-and-Maroon" or the "Maroon-and-Steel". No information is currently known as to why the school chose a wildcat as its mascot or the exact date when it was chosen.William J. Murray

Extracurriculars

Clubs Mechanicsburg High School sponsors a variety of extracurricular clubs and teams focusing on academic development. As of the 2012-13 school year, the high school sponsored chapters of the National Honor Society, National Art Honor Society, National French Honor Society, National German Honor Society, National Latin Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society, and Tri-M. Students also annually publish the Muse literary and arts magazine, the monthly Torch newspaper, and the annual Artisan yearbook. Students can compete with interscholastic academic teams in Quiz Bowl, Speech, Memory, and Math. In 2013, the Memory Team won the High School National Championship of the USA Memory Championship in New York City.

Mechanicsburg hosts a variety of fund-raising and social awareness events throughout the school year. Lift For Life, a charity weightlifting competition is held in early March at the High School to raise money for kidney cancer research, in honor of Don Shirley, a Mechanicsburg High School baseball coach who died of kidney cancer. Mechanicsburg also sponsors a chapter of Key Club.

In the 2018-19 school year, there was a controversy about the school's Bible club passing out Bibles to students during free time, which resulted in a federal lawsuit and an eventually compromise. The story was picked up by the national media.

Music program

Marching band The Mechanicsburg High School Marching Band is the school's marching band . They are called the Wildcats. Local residents, members, and fans associated with the group also refer to them as the "Maroon Machine."

History Mechanicsburg has a rich marching band tradition going back to 1929. They began competing in the Tournament of Bands in 1988.

1988: First win at Tournament of Bands Chapter VI championships. 1989: First appearance at Atlantic Coast Championships, placed 2nd in Group 3. The show included music from Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, Candide and Niner Two. 1992: First win at Atlantic Coast Championships, competing in Group 4. This elaborate show featured songs from Disney's Beauty and the Beast, complete with set pieces, tarps, and dancing characters. Characters included in the show were Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Chip. The band edged out Carlisle High School (Carlisle, Pennsylvania), who finished in 2nd place, to bring home this trophy. The band director at this time was Michael Snyder. 2003: This was a successful year for the band which won every competition it entered up to the Tournament of Bands Atlantic Coast championship. 2005: The 2005 show was entitled "A Suite For Winter". The band claimed 1st place prize on the night of November 12, 2005 at Lackawanna County Stadium in Moosic, Pennsylvania. The band won first place in Group 3 with a score of 98.80, the highest score ever in TOB history (tying Mechanicsburg's 98.80 Group 4 output in 1994). The show also earned the caption awards for high music, visual, and brass. 2006: The band successfully defended its title on November 12, 2006 when they again won the TOB Group 3 Atlantic Coast Championships. Their show, entitled "Flight" earned a score of 98.05. In addition to the first-place finish, they were awarded the trophies for high music, visual, percussion, and auxiliary. 2007: On November 10, 2007 the MASH band performed their 2007 show, "An Irish Heritage" and won their third title in a row at the TOB Group 3 Atlantic Coast Championships at the Delaware State University's Alumni Stadium in Dover, DE with a record-tying score of 98.80 (Set by themselves, twice). They were additionally awarded for high music, visual, auxiliary, and brass. 2008:On November 16, 2008 at J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown, PA, the band performed their show "Above the Clouds" and won their fourth straight Group 3 TOB ACC title with a score of 97.35. The class of 2009 subsequently became the first Mechanicsburg graduates to ever win four straight championships. The band also took home awards for high music, visual, brass and percussion. This was the band's final year under director Dane Hildebrand. Hildebrand finished his 10th year as Mechanicsburg's director on high note, winning for the sixth time. 2009: The band won its fifth consecutive Group 3 TOB Atlantic Coast Championship at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, PA on November 1, 2009. The Sunday night performance of their field show "Earth" earned them a score of 96.85 along with high music, visual, percussion, and auxiliary. It was their 11th ACC victory in school history, having already won Group IV in 1992, '94, '95, and '96, and Group III in '99, 2000, '05, '06, '07, and '08. They continue to hold the Group III high-score record (98.80 in 2005 and 2007) and the Group IV record (98.80 in 1994). These three 98.80s also stand as the overall highest scores received in the history of Tournament Of Bands. It was the first season with new band director Michael Drobish. 2010: Back in Group 4 competition for the first time since 1997, the 2010 MASH band were not able to stretch their winning streak to 6 years. With a score of 95.25, their show "Ice" earned them a 3rd-place finish and high auxiliary at Atlantic Coast Championships at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania. 2011: Changing back to Group 3, the MASH band also had a change of director in 2011. Ben Goldsborough, who was previously band director at nearby Cedar Cliff High School, became the new leader of the Mechanicsburg Marching Band program. In a transition year, the band placed 3rd again at Atlantic Coast Championships at Hersheypark Stadium with a score of 94.40 as well as winning the high auxiliary award for the fifth time in six years. 94.40 is the lowest Atlantic Coast Championship score ever in MASH's TOB history. 2012: In its second season under Goldsborough's direction, the 2012 MASH band performed their new-look show titled "The Factory" at Atlantic Coast Championships in Hershey, PA and regained their place at the top of TOB's Group 3, earning a score of 97.70 as well as taking home the captions for high visual, percussion, auxiliary, and brass, while sharing the high music award with local rivals Camp Hill High School. In addition to competing in Tournament of Bands, the 2012 MASH band competed in another marching band circuit, USBands (formerly known as USSBA). The band took first place at a USBands competition at Cedar Cliff High School and performed at the USBands National Championships on November 10, 2012 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The marching band took third place with a score of 96.388. 2015: Now at Group 5 Open in the USBands circuit, and Group 4 Open in TOB, the 2015 MASH band performed a new show called "Nightscapes" at the TOB Chapter 6 Championships. It was at Cedar Cliff High School in West Shore Stadium, but they lost to the West Shore Marching Band. They went to USBands National Championships, and placed 1st in Group 5 Open. Not only did the band win the Overall Group 5 Championship, but they also brought home awards for Outstanding Colorguard, High Visual, and High Music. The band was directed by Ben Goldsborough. 2016: The band's show in 2016 was entitled "Red Riding Hood." It put a dark twist on the classic fairy tale in which Red is the leader of the wolf pack. They were still in Group 4 Open in TOB and Group 5 Open in USBands. They placed first in TOB Chapter 6 Championships and USBands State Championships, then 2nd in USBands National Championships. 2017: In 2017 the band suffered a loss in numbers and was demoted to group 4-Open in USBands. The MASH Marching Band’s 2017 show was titled “The Heist.” It told the story of the Gardner Museum Heist. They placed 8th out of 16 in their MetLife performance. 2018: The 2018 show is titled "Into the Deep Unknown". It describes going out to sea and adventure away from home. At USBands State Championships, located at West Chester University, Mechanicsburg won 1st place in Group 5 Open with the title of best percussion. One week later, at Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Ijamsville, Maryland, Mechanicsburg won second in Group 5 during prelims, and went on to win 2nd out of 12 bands at finals with a score of 98.100. They finished their season at the USBands Open Class National Championships at MetLife Stadium, where they were placed 5th in Group 5 with a score of 95.438. 2019: The bands 2019 show was entitled "Tipping Point" and was inspired by the Bluecoats 2014 show "Tilt". This show performed well, winning multiple competitions in the Tournament of Bands circuit. The band tied for 2nd at TOB Atlantic Coast Championships with a score of 95.50. 2020: The bands 2020 production was entitled "Unhinged". Covid caused a large number of students to leave the band demoting the band to V-USBands (2020's virtual competitive circuit) Division 2. Despite this hardship the band took 1st overall at Nationals.