As of the 2022–23 school year, Emmaus High School had a student enrollment of 2,846 students and 164.7 classroom teachers on an FTE basis for a student–teacher ratio of 17.28, according to National Center for Education Statistics data.[1] There were 587 students eligible for free lunch and 88 eligible for reduced cost lunch.[1]
The school ranks among the top Lehigh Valley public high schools in its percentage of graduating students who pursue post-secondary education. Among its Class of 2007, 79 percent of Emmaus High School graduates entered colleges, universities, or other post-graduate education.[3] The school also maintains a program for academically gifted students, which includes advanced classes and a mentorship program. Noting the academic quality of Emmaus High School, Money magazine named Emmaus one of the nation's "Top 100" places to live in 2007 and again in 2009.[4]
Two middle schools (Eyer Middle School and Lower Macungie Middle School), both located in Macungie, serve grades six through eight and feed into Emmaus High School. Seven elementary schools (Alburtis, Wescosville, Lincoln, Jefferson, Macungie, Shoemaker, and Willow Lane) and one elementary charter school (Seven Generations Charter School) feed into the two middle schools and then Emmaus High School.
History
1880s to 1955
What today is the East Penn School District began in the 1880s as the Emaus School District, using the Pennsylvania Dutch spelling of Emmaus, named for the Biblical village of Emmaus,[5] where, according to the Bible's Gospel of Luke, Jesus was seen by his disciples Luke and Cleopas in what is known as his Road to Emmaus appearance following his crucifixion and resurrection.[6] Upon its founding in the 1880s, Emaus School District began offering high school classes, providing education up to tenth grade in one of the rooms of a four-room school building on East Main Street in Emmaus. The first graduating class on record was the Emaus High School class of 1890 with two graduates. The following year, in 1891, the high school grades were moved to the Central Building on Emmaus's Ridge Street.
Emaus High School obtained its own home when, in 1915, the high school moved into a brand new building on North Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets in Emaus. While the building was designated the Jefferson Building, yearbooks of the era identify the school as Emaus High School. By this time, the high school was made up of tenth-grade (juniors), eleventh-grade (middlers) and twelfth-grade (seniors). The yearbook of the class of 1916 pictures 18 graduates, evenly divided between boys and girls. The Emaus High School class of 1931 had 45 graduates. One of the bygone features of Emaus High School life on North Street was open lunch where students could walk home for lunch or go across the street to a student-oriented restaurant.
The Jefferson Building was enlarged several times. By 1934, it was considered a state-of-the-art high school with 16 classrooms, a library, an auditorium, a gymnasium, a woodshop, and a home economics room. It also developed many of the activities and athletic teams that continue to this day; the 1931 yearbook lists a band, chorus, orchestra (55 student members), 16 different clubs, and teams for football, basketball (boys and girls), and debate. Emaus High School's main football rival at this time was East Greenville High School (now Upper Perkiomen High School), which met Emmaus annually on Thanksgiving Day in what was referred to as the "Turkey Day" game. In the 1930s, the Emaus High School football field was located roughly a mile from the high school at the site of Emmaus's current recreational Fourth Street Field.
The Emaus School District has been operating since at least 1861. By the 1930s and 1940s, the boroughs of Macungie and Alburtis contracted with the Emaus district to send their high school students to Emaus High School. There were no school buses, and out-of-borough students commuted to and from the high school by Reading Railroad passenger train service at the Emaus train station. Located on Jubilee Street, the station was constructed in the late 19th century, decommissioned, and destroyed by fire on March 1, 1993.[7]
Emaus High School becomes Emmaus High School
In 1938, Emmaus abandoned the Pennsylvania Dutch spelling of its name in favor of the town's current spelling, and East Penn School District and the high school followed suit. With Emmaus High School's population growing rapidly, the Jefferson Building could no longer accommodate the growing school's needs. The boroughs of Emmaus, Macungie, and Alburtis and the townships of Lower Macungie, and Upper Milford merged their school districts into what was then called the East Penn Union School District and is now known as East Penn School District. The unified district combined their efforts and resources to vastly expand Emmaus High School, which was constructed at the school's current location at 500 Macungie Avenue in Emmaus. Several times since Emmaus High School has been upgraded and renovated to accommodate its growing student population.
1955 to current
In 1955, the first sections of the new Emmaus High School opened. The new building included an auditorium and gymnasium, which far surpassed those of the old building and included science labs, language labs, and a natatorium. After the high school moved out of the Jefferson Building, that building was briefly used as Emmaus Junior High School until a seventh and eighth-grade wing was added to the new high school building around 1960, making Emmaus High School a six-year school with a single principal but with separate assistant principals for the senior high and junior high grades. In 1965, the Emmaus Junior High School building, with its own faculty and administration, opened on the north side of the high school building to serve grades seven through nine. The Jefferson Building, in turn, was designated as one of several East Penn School District elementary schools.
By 1998, the school's population had grown significantly due to an influx of residents predominantly from New Jersey, New York City, and Philadelphia, and Emmaus High School expanded again, taking over the junior high building, adding additional space and using the whole complex to house grades nine through twelve. The Jefferson Building, the first dedicated home of Emmaus High School, was subsequently decommissioned, demolished in 1999, and replaced by Jefferson Elementary School. In 2005, a second major expansion of Emmaus High School was completed.
In October 2015, Emmaus High School was placed on lockdown amid rumors of potential gun violence.[8][9]
In November 2018, a torrential rainstorm flooded the school, causing administrators to cancel five days of classes. Financial aid and assistance with clean up were provided by East Penn School District.[10] The main office, auxiliary gym, wrestling room, 40 classrooms, and adjacent areas were impacted by stormwater.[10]
On December 17, 2021, Emmaus High School was placed under a cautionary lockdown[11] due to a potential external threat after various threats had been made to schools across the country.[12] Several threats were made by an Emmaus High School freshman student against the school's assistant principals and another student. After almost two hours in cautionary lockdown, students were dismissed in small groups under police supervision. The suspect, a 14-year-old female Emmaus High School student, was arrested the following day, on December 18, and charged with making terrorist threats.[13]
Academics
Emmaus High School ranks in the top academic tier of Pennsylvania public high schools based on state testing results. In the 2008 Pennsylvania System of State Assessments, Emmaus High School ranked in the top five percent of all public high schools in the state in writing, the top 20 percent in reading, and the top 25 percent in mathematics.[14] In 2007, the mean SAT score for Emmaus High School students was 1580.[15] In 2013, Emmaus High School was named the top academically performing high school in Lehigh County, according to data released by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.[16] As of 2022, 90% of East Penn School District teachers hold a master's degree or higher.[17]
The school's academic team has made several appearances at the national level, appearing three consecutive years (2003, 2004, and 2005) in the Panasonic Academic Challenge at Disney World and placing fifth nationally in the competition in 2003. In 2015 and 2018, the school's academic team qualified for participation in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments in Atlanta.[18][19] Emmaus High School also holds the record for the most wins of any high school in Pennsylvania's Scholastic Scrimmage contest, an advanced academic quiz game televised on Pennsylvania PBS affiliates.
Since 1955, Emmaus has won EPC championships at least once in every one of the conference's sports, and several of its graduates have gone on to professional and Olympic-level athletics, including the NFL and NBA. Among the Emmaus High School Class of 2007, 26 Emmaus High School athletes signed letters of intent for full NCAA athletic scholarships.[20]
Emmaus holds the record for the most Pennsylvania state championships in all sports (13 since 2002) among all EPC schools[21] and has the second most EPC conference championships in all sports, behind Parkland High School.[22] In 2017, Adidas signed a four-year deal for exclusive sponsorship of Emmaus' athletic teams.[23] In 2019, the ranking and review site Niche ranked Emmaus High School the 29th best public school in Pennsylvania for athletics.[24] Emmaus holds the record for the most recorded EPC championships in eight conference sports: baseball, boys lacrosse, boys soccer, boys swimming, girls field hockey, girls soccer, girls swimming, and golf.
Emmaus High School's mascot is the "Green Hornet." Entrances to the Emmaus High School campus prominently feature green and gold billboards and flags stating "Home of the Hornets" in the school's colors of green and gold.
Emmaus High School boys soccer has played for the EPC championship in each of the past eleven consecutive seasons (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021), winning five district titles during this period.[25]
Boys swimming and diving
In March 2023, Emmaus High School won its 16th consecutive PIAA District 11 boys swimming and diving championship.[26]
Fitness
Emmaus High School's Marine Corps national physical fitness team has repeatedly been among the nation's best. In 2006, its boys and girls team placed second in the Pennsylvania state competition. In 2015, its girls fitness team placed first and its boys fitness team placed second in the national high school physical fitness championships.[27]
Football
The Emmaus football team was co-champion of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (EPC) in 1981. In 2008, Emmaus running back C.J. Billera broke school football records for most all-time touchdowns and career scoring.[28] In 2010, for the first time since the 1981 season, Emmaus won Pennsylvania's Class 4A EPC championship in football. During the 2010 season, Emmaus senior tailback Joe Williams broke three school football records: most yards in a single game (282), most touchdowns in a single game (six), and most points in a single game (36).[29] In 2016, the Emmaus football team won the East Penn Conference South division championship.[30] In 2021, class of 2024 quarterback Josiah Williams broke the school's record for most passing yards in a season with 1,893 yards.
In February 2020, East Penn School District approved $1.7 million in spending to construct a new AstroTurf playing surface and end zone lettering on the Emmaus High School football field, located on the school campus. Under a 10-year promotional contract with Lehigh Valley Health Network, the school district is recouping $1.45 million in promotional fees associated with the field upgrades.[31] The field also features a cannon that fires when Emmaus scores a touchdown.[32]
Emmaus High School girls field hockey team has consistently ranked among the best in the nation for decades. Emmaus has won the Pennsylvania state championship in girls field hockey thirteen times in the program's history. As of 2022, Emmaus High School has won the PIAA District 11 girls field hockey championship in 34 consecutive seasons.[34] In 2016, the national sports web site topofthecircle.com ranked Emmaus the best girls field hockey team in the nation for the fourth time in the program's history.[35]The Allentown Morning Call has called the program "an organized, multifaceted machine."[36] In September 2015, Emmaus High School field hockey coach Sue Butz-Stavin set the national high school record for most victories by a girls field hockey coach when she recorded her 840th victory.[37] In the 2021 season, Butz-Stavin recorded her 1000th win.
Ice hockey
Emmaus High School is one of eleven Lehigh Valley-area high schools with an ice hockey team; the team is a member of the Lehigh Valley Scholastic Ice Hockey League. The team has won the LVSHL district championship twice.[38]
Rifle
In the 2016-2017 winter sport season, the Emmaus rifle team went undefeated, capturing the regular season championship, defeating top rival East Stroudsburg High School South to win the playoff championship, and going on to place second in Pennsylvania states for the season.
Other sports
Emmaus High School's girls swimming and diving team has proven to be one of the best in the state, winning Pennsylvania state championships in six years (2000, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009). Its boys swimming and diving team consistently has been one of the top teams in the state, dating back to the 1970s, winning Pennsylvania state championships in both 2006 and 2007 and the District 11 AAA championship in nine consecutive seasons from 2007 through 2015.
Emmaus High School has won Pennsylvania state championships in girls soccer (1997), girls softball (2000), and girls cross country (2007, 2008, and 2009). In 2008, Emmaus High School's boys volleyball team won the EPC championship and advanced to the Pennsylvania state tournament. In 2012, Emmaus High School's wrestling team took first place in the United States Military Duels held in South Carolina.
Activities
Computer programming team
In May 2017, the Emmaus High School computer programming team won the American Computer Science League Invitational All-Star contest, a global tournament of the best high school computer programming teams from around the world held in Thousand Oaks, California.[39]
Emmaus High School's official student newspaper is The Stinger, a reference to the hornet, the school's mascot. The newspaper is produced by a staff of students who report, photograph, and write all of the newspaper's content. The newspaper was founded in 1921 as E-Hive, a name it retained until 1974 when it was changed to The Stinger. In the 2021-22 school year, The Stinger celebrated its 100th anniversary of continuous publication. The Stinger and its staff have won several national and state-level awards since its 1921 founding.
The newspaper's print edition typically includes several sections related to Emmaus High School, including Emmaus High School sports, faculty, coach, and student interviews, editorials, local popular culture, and satire and jokes related to school news and events. In most issues, the final page of The Stinger is dedicated to student-drawn comics, which also usually deal with student-related themes. The Stinger is known to tackle controversial topics, especially Emmaus High School's problems with student fights, truancy, and widespread recreational drug use.[41]
