Warwick Veterans Jr. High School (also known as Warwick Veterans Memorial Jr. High School, WVMJHS, or Vets) is a 7-8th grade secondary school in Warwick, Rhode Island. The school building is two stories high and features eight wings of classrooms, mainly divided by subject (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and 900 wing). The logo for all Vets "Hurricane" teams is a reverse-rotating hurricane symbol. School colors are blue, gold, and white. The school was a high school holding grades 9-12 till 2016 when it was converted to a junior high school. The school had an enrollment of over one thousand students, and its principal when it was converted was Gerald Habershaw.
The school was opened in 1956 as a response to a booming Warwick population â€" the previous high schools (which came to be known as Samuel Gorton Junior High and Aldrich Junior High and also Lockwood Junior High which has been converted to condos) were too small for the large number of incoming students. In the late 1960s an extension ( called 900 wing) was added to the school. Two additional high schools were constructed to answer Warwick's population increase, Pilgrim High School in 1962 and Toll Gate High School in 1972. The school was closed as a high school as of June 2016 due to decreasing population and was turned into a large Junior High school for the 2016-2017 year.
Athletics
The girls' field hockey team was the 2005 division and state champions. Additionally, the boys' outdoor track team were city champions for thirteen straight years and division B champions for four years. The freshman football team reached the championship game in two consecutive years (2004-05 & 2005-06) but lost both games to cross town rivals Pilgrim High School and William E. Tolman High School of Pawtucket. The Warwick Vets Cheerleading program is very active also. The Varsity team took 1st place in the RI State competition from 1999-2007 In 2007 the boys basketball team had its first thousand-point scorer in several years. In 2008 the girls soccer team made it to the Division 1 state semi-finals. Also Warwick vets lacrosse team is an upcoming sensation, being led by senior captains Jonathan Ferreira leading the hurricanes defense and Peter Marshall, who led the team with 21 points last year; with the team being led by these two great athletes the canes should be in sure sight of bring home Warwick vets its first lacrosse state championship. In 2010, the basketball team won their first game in over 23 years. Thanks to the leading scorer, Anita Waxen, they got their first basketball championship. In 2011, the school joined in the 2nd phase of RI Unified Basketball, a collaboration with RI Special Olympics and the RI Interscholastic League [1]. This program is a national model that promotes a Varsity level co-ed team to have students with disabilities play with non disabled peers on the same team. In this first year regular season [2011], the team was undefeated. They went on to the playoffs as a Division I team and were defeated in the final championship round by 1 point at the buzzer and placed 2nd in the State out of 18 teams. ===== In the year 2000, a swim team was created. The initiators of this were Katherine McLaughlin,and Kristen Carpenter-Azeveto, Who swam Inter-murally with Pilgrim since their sophomore year. They were co-captains for their Senior year in the 2000 and 2001 season. The swim team is thriving now just completing its 10th season.
Other activities
The school features active chapters of FBLA, DECA, Student Council, Math League, Academic Decathlon, SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, and other clubs. Warwick Veterans also has a concert band that performs several concerts a year, a marching band that plays at parades on Veterans Day and Gaspee Day, and a jazz band and concert orchestra that usually perform with the concert band â€" all are taught by Danielle Prior. A chorus, chorale, and jazz chorus are also part of the school's music department and are taught by Nancy Kennedy.
Notable alumni
- Bill Almon, baseball player
- Damian Costantino, NCAA record holder with hits in 60 consecutive games.
- Fred Whittingham, NFL player and coach
Controversy
The school sparked controversy after unveiling a logo that depicts a hurricane spiraling in a clockwise direction. It is common knowledge amongst Rhode Islanders and their fishermen that have been out to sea have witnessed hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere spin in a counterclockwise direction [2]. A possible explanation points to the school outsourcing the logo creation to a logo maker in the Southern Hemisphere.
Superstitious students often blame their athletic teams' lackluster performances on the "Clockwise Curse."
References
External links
- Official Website
- Vets Chorus Website