Williamstown High School (New Jersey)

Williamstown High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school located in the Williamstown section of Monroe Township in Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Monroe Township Public Schools. The school was established in 1958.2017-2018 Profile, Williamstown High School. Accessed March 7, 2018. "Established in 1958, Williamstown High School is a four-year comprehensive high school with a focus on academic excellence."

As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,773 students and 125.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.1:1. There were 468 students (26.4% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 122 (6.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Williamstown High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.

Construction The high school was designed to handle an initial enrollment of 800 students when it was to open for the 1958-59 school year and was constructed at a cost of $1.3 million (equivalent to $ million in )."Ramblin' Round", Millville Daily Republican, March 13, 1958. Accessed September 8, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Told me a very bad winter had held up operations on the Williamstown High School, now under construction and that there is doubt that it will be completed by next September. 'It is being built to accommodate 800 pupils and so constructed that rooms can be added. Cost is set at $1,300,000.'" Prior to the opening of the high school, students from Monroe Township had attended Glassboro High School. The ending of the sending/receiving relationship with the Glassboro Public Schools was expected to cut the cost of educating high-school students by almost 25%."School Levy Reduced for Monroe Twp.", Courier-Post, January 14, 1959. Accessed September 8, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Tuition in the new Williamstown High School was estimated at $522.67 per pupil for the cur rent school year, while at Glassboro High, tuition is $545. Tuition at Glassboro High School will be $600 per pupil next school year, but the cost in the local high school will drop to an estimated $464, or $58 per pupil less for 1959-60 than for 1958-59. This reduction is brought about by full utilization of the high school building with the increased enrollment. No Monroe Township pupils will be in Glassboro High School next year."

Construction on the current school building began in 1994 and was completed in 1997. Prior to 1997, Williamstown High School was located in what is currently Williamstown Middle School. The school mascot is a Brave and the school colors are Royal Blue and White.

Construction began again during the 2007-2008 school year on the high school to build an additional two wings because of overcrowding and to build a new auxiliary gym/dance studio. A few renovations in the existing building were also done to replace some old piping, wiring, and the gym and stage floor. The construction was completed between December 2008 and January 2009.

Awards, recognition and rankings The school was the 257th-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.Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014. The school had been ranked 295th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 270th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 24, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 259th in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed August 19, 2011. The school was ranked 248th out of 316 public high schools in New Jersey in the magazine's 2006 rankings."Top New Jersey High Schools 2006: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 194th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 29 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the two components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), mathematics (79.6%) and language arts literacy (91.4%).School Overview; Click on "Rankings" for 2003-11 HSPA results, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 11, 2012.

Athletics The Williamstown High School BravesWilliamstown High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete as one of the member schools in the Tri-County Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools located in Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.Member Schools, Tri-County Conference. Accessed November 18, 2020. The conference is overseen by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. With 1,426 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,060 to 5,049 students in that grade range.NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020. The football team competes in the American Division of the 94-team West Jersey Football League superconferenceWilliamstown Braves, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023.Home Page, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023. "The WJFL is a 94-school super conference that stretches from Princeton to Wildwood encompassing schools from the Colonial Valley Conference, the Burlington County Scholastic League, the Olympic Conference, the Tri-County Conference, the Colonial Conference, and the Cape Atlantic League. The WJFL is made up of sixteen divisions with divisional alignments based on school size, geography and a strength-of-program component." and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group V South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 1,333 to 2,324 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.

Sports offered at the school include: Fall Sports: Cheerleading, Cross Country, Football, Field Hockey, Boys' Soccer, Girls' Soccer, Girls' Tennis, Girls' Volleyball Winter Sports: Wrestling, Track, Swimming and Diving, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Cheerleading (Note: Ice Hockey is a separate club sport. Williamstown is a member of the South Jersey High School Ice Hockey League, and competes in Varsity Tier I) Spring Sports: Girls' and Boys' Spring Track, Boys' Baseball, Girls' Softball, Golf, Boys' Tennis and Boys' Volleyball, Girls' and Boys' Lacrosse

The girls team won the NJSIAA spring / outdoor track Group II title in 1981 and 1982, and won the Group III title in 1995 and 1996.NJSIAA Spring Track Summary of Group Titles Girls, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2022.

The boys track team won the Group III spring / outdoor track state championship in 1984 (as co-champion).NJSIAA Spring Track Summary of Group Titles Boys, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2022.

The girls volleyball team won the Group III state championship in 2006 (defeating West Morris Central High School in the final match) and won the Group IV title in 2010 (vs. Livingston High School), 2012 (vs. Hunterdon Central Regional High School) and 2019 (vs. North Hunterdon High School)NJSIAA Girls Volleyball Group Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2022. The team won the 2006 Group III state championship, two games to none (25-20 and 26-24) over West Morris Central High School.Zagone, John. "Williamstown Girls Volleyball State Champs", copy of article from The Star-Ledger, November 12, 2006, accessed April 19, 2007. "Reigning New Jersey Player of the Year Nina Camaioni's strong jump serve tipped off the net and landed in front of the West Morris Central defense for an ace to clinch a 26-24 victory for the Braves, finishing off a two-game sweep in the NJSIAA Group III state championship match at William Paterson University."2006 Olympic Conference Girls' Volleyball, accessed April 19, 2007. "Congratulations to South Jersey's own, Group III State Champion Williamstown Lady Braves!" Their victory was the team's first State title and made them only the third South Jersey team to win a girl's state title in the sport, joining Eastern High School and Cherry Hill High School East. The girls team finished the 2010 season with a record of 30-2, capped off by winning the Group IV title in two games, defeating Livingston High School to earn the program's second state title.Schnatz, Pete. "S. Jersey Girls: Williamstown sweeps Livingston for crown", The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 14, 2010. Accessed August 19, 2011. "Williamstown captured its second girls' volleyball state championship in the program's 14-year history when the Braves swept Livingston, 2-0, Saturday at William Paterson University.... Williamstown (31-2), which opened strong with a 25-13 victory, held off Livingston, 25-21, in the second game to win the Group 4 title." The 2019 team won the Group III title in two games against North Hunterdon (25-17 and 30-28) and advanced to the Tournament of Champions as the second seed, falling in the semifinals to third-seeded West Morris Mendham High School in two games (25-17 and 27-25) to finish the season with a record of 30-3.Bobal, Brian. "No. 7 Williamstown sweeps No. 3 North Hunterdon for 1st G4 title since 2012 (PHOTOS)", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 16, 2019. Accessed March 1, 2021. "Raina Hughes got the kill to seal a wild 30-28 set victory and give third-seeded Williamstown (30-2), No. 7 in the NJ.com Top 20, its first NJSIAA/Wilson’s Sporting Goods Group 4 title since 2012 with a 25-17, 30-28 win over top-seeded and reigning champ North Hunterdon (27-3) at William Paterson University in Wayne."Bobal, Brian. "Girls Volleyball: No. 7 Mendham’s epic rally sends it to the ToC final", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 23, 2019. Accessed March 1, 2021. "In its first-ever game in the Tournament of Champions, it had its back firmly against the wall against Williamstown (30-3) in the second set.... The team fought off three set points and took its first lead of the second set at 26-25 and Wilcock took care of the rest. The junior put got the final kill to seal a 25-17, 27-25 comeback victory in the semifinal round of the NJSIAA/Wilson’s Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions at William Paterson University in Wayne."