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Northwestern High School is a public comprehensive and magnet high school in Hyattsville, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. It is part of the Prince George's County Public Sc…
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Investigate this subjectNorthwestern High School is a public comprehensive and magnet high school in Hyattsville, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. It is part of the Prince George's County Public Schools system.
Northwestern High School is a public comprehensive and magnet high school in Hyattsville, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. It is part of the Prince George's County Public Schools system. Northwestern High School is located on Adelphi Road, less than a mile away from the University of Maryland, College Park. The school first opened in 1951. In 2000, the original building was demolished and replaced with the current facility, which has 386,000 square feet (35,900 m2) of land and a capacity of 2,700 students. Northwestern is the second-largest high school in the state of Maryland when measured by total square footage.
Northwestern is one of two schools in the county to host the Center for the Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) magnet program, which began at the school in the 2013–14 school year. The CVPA program is a four-year, specialized program that offers college prep and professional career prep study in the visual arts and performing arts. Admission to the program is through a competitive, two-stage application process. Northwestern's CVPA program operates as a "school-within-a-school" model, similar to a program that has been in existence at Suitland High School since 1986. Northwestern's program only draws students from a limited attendance area.
In December 2009, Northwestern was recognized as a Silver Medal School among "America's Best High Schools" by U.S. News & World Report. In 2005, The Washington Post cited Northwestern as being the second highest ranking high school, among all district high schools, for students' scores on the nationally administered AP tests.
Northwestern is accredited by the Commission on Secondary Schools, a division of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
Northwestern Senior High School was founded in 1951 as a public secondary school. It was the consolidation of three schools: Hyattsville, Greenbelt, and Mount Rainier High Schools. Beginning in the 1960s, several additions were built, in stages, including what was called the new art wing. By the year 2000, Northwestern consisted of a long main wing with three wings branching out. These were referred to as the A-wing, B-wing, and C-wing. The cafeteria was located at the rear of the school on the second floor and attached to the C-wing.
The boys' gymnasium, girls' auxiliary gymnasium, and band, choir, and orchestra rooms were all located at the rear of the building. The C-wing was accessible to the B-wing by a long suspended enclosed bridge that could only be reached from the second floor.
A large field located between wings B and C was dubbed "The Senior Courtyard." Originally reserved exclusively for seniors to converge during lunch, this courtyard was eventually opened to the entire student body. Northwestern was one of the few schools to allow students outside during lunch, as most schools didn't have the proper accommodations to allow this.
The Justice Memorial Auditorium was part of the A-wing, and was the final addition to the original building. The A-wing was the only section of the old facility that had air conditioning.
Northwestern was converted from a grades 10-12 "senior high school" to a grades 9-12 "high school" configuration in 1981.
By the mid-1990s, Northwestern was beginning to show its age. A plan to replace the structure with a brand new $45 million facility was proposed. Prince George's County Public Schools contracted the SHW Group LLP to design and build the new school. Construction began in late summer of 1998, with the new facility located directly behind the old building. Students attended classes in the old building while construction took place only yards away. The new school was physically connected to the old building at the rear (stage area) of the auditorium. The new building officially opened to students and staff in August 2000, just in time for the school year. It was the first new high school constructed in Prince George's County since Eleanor Roosevelt High School was completed in 1976.
While it took two years to construct the new facility, the building was not actually fully finished until midway through the 2001–02 school year. Classes commenced at the new Northwestern before the former facility had been torn down. The large bus lot in front of the new building, and the main parking lot, had yet to be paved prior to the opening of the new building, because the old facility stood where these new areas were to be made. A few exterior portions of the new facility weren't finalized until 2002. Except for the auditorium, which was retained from the old building and was completely overhauled and transformed into the D-Wing of the new school, the old Northwestern was razed while classes were ongoing in the new building. The main parking lot for the new school lies where the former facility once stood.
By the opening of the new building in 2000, Northwestern had over six computer labs and over 1,100 computers, the most of any high school in Maryland; each classroom had a bank of at least five computers with internet access.
On October 5, 2002, the arts building at Northwestern was renamed to the Jim Henson School of Arts, Media and Communications to honor the late Jim Henson, the creator of The Muppets, who graduated from Northwestern in 1954. The official building dedication ceremony was attended by Jane and Heather Henson (Jim's widow and daughter, respectively), as well as representatives from the Jim Henson Legacy, who had given Northwestern permission to rename the arts building after Henson.
In 2005, Northwestern was the first high school in Prince George's County to implement a mandatory school uniform policy. The uniform consists of a white polo shirt, and navy/dark blue khaki pants, shorts, or skirt. There is no restriction on footwear.
Northwestern currently houses an Evening High School for the northern half of the county, as well as a Saturday High School program. Northwestern also hosts the very popular Saturday-run ISP Flea Market, sponsore
Source: Northwestern High School (Hyattsville, Maryland) (CC BY-SA)
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Northwestern High School Alumni Jim Henson
