Penns Grove High school hosts the regional Academy of Chemical and Technological Engineering program, which prepares students for college majors in engineering fields. The Academy of Chemical and Technological Engineering operates in partnership with Rowan University, Salem Community College, DuPont and various other contributors.[6]
As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 576 students and 48.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.0:1. There were 291 students (50.5% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 54 (9.4% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 256th-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.[7] The school had been ranked 251st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 253rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[8] The magazine ranked the school 266th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[9] The school was ranked 220th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[10]
Athletics
The Penns Grove High School Red Devils[2] 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.[3] The conference is overseen by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[11] With 415 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2022–24 school years as Group I South for most athletic competition purposes.[12] The football team competes in the Diamond Division of the 94-team West Jersey Football League superconference[13][14] and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 185 to 482 students.[15]
The girls track team won the indoor track Group II state championship in 1981.[16] The boys team won the Group I title in 1986.[17]
The wrestling team won the South Jersey Group II state championship in 1981.[18]
The boys track team won the Group II spring / outdoor track state championship in 1984, and won the Group I title in 1986 and 2013-2015.[19]
The boys' track team won the Group I state indoor relay championship in 1986.[20]
In 1986, the boys' track team set the New Jersey state record for most consecutive dual meet wins with 117.[21] That same year, the track team not only went 10-0 in its dual meets but won every relay meet entered, won the Salem County Meet (10th straight), Tri-County Conference Meet (10th straight), South Jersey Group 1 sectional meet (10th straight) and its second state group title (its first coming in 1984).[22]
The 1988 baseball team won the South Jersey Group I state sectional championship with a 7-5 win against Pitman High School.[23][24] The team lost by a score of 13-5 to Glen Ridge High School in the Group I championship game.[25][26] The team had won the Group II state championship in 1958, which was the most recent time that the team had won a sectional title.
The boys' cross country team won the Tri-County Diamond Division Championship in 2006 and 2007,[27] the South Jersey Group I sectional title for outdoor track in 2007 and 2008, and a number of relays won by the Outdoor Track team.
The football team won the South Jersey Group I state sectional championship in 2012, 2018 and 2019.[28]
In 1999 running back James McPherson set the South Jersey single game rushing record. Running back Aaron Hayward posted multiple 1,000 yard seasons and earned a scholarship to Rutgers University. The football team went 9-3 in 2008 reaching the school's first state championship game before falling to rival Glassboro High School. The team was also able to win their first home playoff game in school history in the semifinals.[29][30] The 2012 Red Devils football team won the South Jersey Group I state sectional championship, the program's first, defeating Woodbury Junior-Senior High School by a score of 30-14 in the title game. The team finished the season with a perfect 12-0 record and set state records by scoring 621 points, breaking a previous record of 599 that had been set by Bergen Catholic High School in 1998, and scoring an average of 51.7 points per game, breaking the record of 51.5 set by Don Bosco Preparatory High School in 2003.[31][32]
Under Head Football Coach John Emel, Penns Grove became the first football team in South Jersey to finish a perfect 13-0. The team won the South Jersey Group I title in 2018 with a 14-7 win against Salem High School in the playoff finals[33] and went on to finish the season with a 13-0 record and win the South Central Group I title with a 35-26 win against Willingboro High School.[34] The 2019nteam won their second straight section title with a 30-0 win against Paulsboro High School in the South Jersey Group I championship game.[35]
The girls' outdoor track and field team won the Group I state championship in 2013 and 2014.[36]
Marching band
The school's marching band was Tournament of Bands Chapter One Champions in 1973–1975, 1977 and 1979 (Group 1). The marching band was Atlantic Coast Champion in Group 1 (1975, 1977 and 1979) and Atlantic Coast Champion in Group 2 in 1976.[37] The band also won the Cavalcade of Bands Group 1 Open Championship in 2006.[38]
Administration
The school's principal is Lory O'Brien. Her administration team includes two assistant principals.[39]
Roy Elsh (1892–1978), professional baseball player[42]
William J. Hughes (1932–2019), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1975 to 1995 who was appointed by President Bill Clinton as United States Ambassador to Panama[43][44]
^Bumpus, Robert L. "Salem County Report on Consolidation and Regionalization", Office of the Executive County Superintendent of Salem County, March 15, 2010, available at the website of the Asbury Park Press. Accessed July 5, 2011. "A contiguous elementary district, Oldmans Township, sends its students primarily to Penns Grove High School and a smaller number of students to Woodstown High School."
^Salem County Education, Discover Salem County. Accessed September 30, 2015. "Penns Grove High school is also home to the regional Academy of Chemical and Technological Engineering program that prepares students for engineering majors that they might seek when entering college."
^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."
^Tatum, Kevin. "State Track Titles Go To Willingboro And Penns Grove", The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 1, 1986. Accessed June 26, 2011. "Penns Grove, with 33 points in Group 1, won its second state title in three years by outlasting Tri-County Conference foe Kingsway (31). Haddonfield was third with 22 points. 'It took a really tough effort,' said Penns Grove coach Jack Ware, whose team has a state-record 117 straight dual-meet victories.... Penns Grove, which won a Group 2 state title in 1984, had 14 points after Friday's competition and received first-place finishes from discus thrower Russ Willitt and hurdler George Bland yesterday."
^Tatum, Kevin. "Penns Grove Wins Track Title For 10th Year In Row", The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 25, 1986. Accessed June 26, 2011. "The South Jersey track championships were decided yesterday afternoon at Buena High, and for the 10th straight year, Penns Grove came away with a title.For the Red Devils, winners of a state-record 117 consecutive dual meets, it was their third title in Group 1. The seven others were in Group 2."
^Narducci, Marc. "Surprising Penns Grove Wins Title", The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 4, 1988. Accessed September 30, 2015. "That was before his young team matured more quickly than expected. So, instead of thinking of next year, Gallagher's focus was very much on the present after Penns Grove defeated Pitman yesterday, 7-5, to win the South Jersey Group 1 championship at Pennsauken.... When the Red Devils got off to an inauspicious 4-6 start, Gallagher wasn't even sure his team would see any postseason action, let alone win its first sectional title since claiming the Group 2 championship in 1958."
^Carchidi, Sam. "Public Champs Shooting For Finals", The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 7, 1988. Accessed September 30, 2015. "In that game, Allen, in relief of Robinson, pitched 2 2/3 hitless innings to notch the win and give Penns Grove its first sectional crown since 1958."
^McBride, John. "Glen Ridge's Quick Start Halts Penns Grove", The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 12, 1988. Accessed September 30, 2015. "Glen Ridge added two more runs in the first and kept scoring as the Ridgers downed Penns Grove, 13-5, to collect their third Group 1 title in eight years.
^S. Jersey Scoreboard, Philly.com, October 10, 2007. Accessed October 24, 2007. "(1, Robert Konopka, PG, 17:55; Penns Grove clinched Tri-County Diamond Division.)"
^Callaway, Rob. "Despite loss, Penns Grove is on the rise", Today's Sunbeam, December 8, 2008. Accessed June 26, 2011. "The Red Devils were playing in a South Jersey final for the very first time. Although it didn't end the way they wanted it to, they're clearly a program on the rise. Penns Grove finished at 9-3 and is miles ahead of where the program was when coach Kemp Carr took over the program five years ago."
^Callaway, Rob. "Glassboro captures second consecutive S.J. Group I crown", Today's Sunbeam, December 7, 2008. Accessed June 26, 2011. "Stephen Davis isn't sure if football is in his future, so the Glassboro High School senior wanted to make the most of the present. That's exactly what he and the rest of the Bulldogs did on Saturday as they completed their second straight perfect season by beating Penns Grove, 28-8, to repeat as South Jersey Group I champions."
^Edwards, Rob. "Penns Grove High School football team wins Group I championship over Woodbury", NJ.com, December 8, 2012, updated August 22, 2013. Accessed September 30, 2015. "Behind a 36-carry, 307-yard, two touchdown performance from quarterback Nick Elmer, the top-seeded Red Devils defeated Woodbury, 30-14, at Rowan for the South Jersey Group I championship.... 'Perfect season for these guys,' Carr said, noting his team's 12-0 record....The Red Devils can also bring back the state scoring record. Needing just eight points to tie the previous mark of 599, the Red Devils now own the record at 621 points, good for almost 52 points per game."
^Anastasia, Phil. "Record-setting Penns Grove", The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 26, 2012. Accessed September 30, 2015. "The state record is 599 by Bergen Catholic in 1998. 53.8 Points per game. The South Jersey record for average points per game is 48.4 by Salem in 1996, and the state record is 51.5 by Don Bosco Prep in 2003."
^Minnick, Kevin. "Unbeaten Penns Grove holds off rival Salem to claim S.J. Group 1 crown", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 17, 2018, updated August 23, 2019. Accessed October 23, 2020. "With Tyreke Brown scoring what proved to be the game-winning touchdown and the Red Devils forcing four turnovers, top-seed Penns Grove held on down the stretch Saturday for a 14-7 victory over rival and second-seed Salem to capture the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics South Jersey Group 1 title."
^"H.S. football: Penns Grove finishes at 13-0 after Bowl win over Willingboro", Courier-Post, November 24, 2018. Accessed October 23, 2020. "The Penns Grove High School football team achieved perfection Saturday afternoon. Overcoming an early 20-point deficit, the Red Devils roared back to notch a 35-26 victory over Willingboro in the NJSIAA South/Central Group 1 Bowl Game at MetLife Stadium Penns Grove became the first football team in South Jersey history to finish 13-0."
^Administration, Penns Grove High School. Accessed May 1, 2024.
^Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, Volume 195, Part 1, p. 395. J.A. Fitzgerald., 1972. Accessed December 6, 2022. "Kenneth A. Black, Jr. (Rep., Pennsville) Assemblyman Black was born in Swedesboro, December 23, 1932. He is a Penns Grove Regional High School graduate, and Rutgers University, New Brunswick, Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science."
^Dunn, Phil. "Voices surfacing urging Penns Grove Middle School be renovated, not razed", Today's Sunbeam, January 15, 2011. Accessed June 26, 2011. "Many graduates of the school have gone on to positions of prominence on a national level, notably: Longtime U.S. Congressman and Ambassador to Panama William J. Hughes, actor Bruce Willis, and Olympic athletes Dave Romansky and Don Bragg."
^Petersen, Melody. "Bruce Willis Drops Project, Leaving Town More Troubled", The New York Times, May 9, 1997. Accessed September 5, 2012. "Mr. Willis grew up in Carneys Point, attended Penns Grove High School and even worked in one of the Du Pont factories before he found fame on the television series Moonlighting and through his Die Hard films."
