West Warwick High School

I Attended WWHS from ''94-''98. This was an extremely unique and evolving time in high school, and even more so in our lives. I like to call it the ''Full Circle of an Education''. Allow me to explain- In 1994, as 9th graders, our class was bumped up to the high school building becoming the 1st freshman class to be in the High School building rather than the middle school building in a Long time. Now, there were some positives and some negatives with this change. No longer were we going to be the BigClassOnCampus 9th graders at Deering Middle School... we now had to adapt to being the low class on the totem poll, sharing the same building as Sophomores, juniors and OMG Seniors! Although we were back to being the youngest people in the building once again, the experience helped us All bond and definitely grow up faster than we might have otherwise. Additionally, we had our own freshman sports! Freshman football, basketball, baseball, etc; As an athlete, I really loved that concept- it was probably the only way I was making the baseball team- but hey, I didn''t make the rules. As far as the quality of the education at WWHS, it was certainly above average with Honors programs and Intensive College Preparatory classes available. These classes were well taught, challenging and rewarding. Most teachers were mentors as well as educators. I''d say there was a balanced mix of veterans, old school instructors, and new school academics which helped keep class time refreshing. Then in the summer of 1997, the summer between our junior and senior years, Construction began as an incredible addition to our High school building causing the high school to be temporarily shut down. You can guess what happened next, right? Of course! The high school kids had to use the middle school building again and Us 12th graders were about to commence our Senior year back to the place that had seemingly displaced us just 3 years prior. Since we had to share a single building with the middle schoolers, essentially doubling the number of students, we had the fortune of experiencing school in what was called Double Sessions. How this maneuver succeeded was that the 9th-12th graders attended classes from around 6:45-7am until about 12:30 in the afternoon straight through, no lunch, while 7th-8th graders had classes that started around 1-1:30pm and extended until around 6 pm! Imagine that! Getting out of school at Noon, packing up your car with five or six of your friends, and driving to McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, or anywhere we wanted to grab lunch, and kick back and relax. It was incredible freedom! If you played a fall sport you had to be back at around 3pm for practice, and game nights I''d show up later than that. If you didn''t take part in any after-school activities, then you were done for the day! A teenagers definition of Total Nirvana! Well, Construction ended in the late fall and here''s where the ''Full Circle of an Education'' I mentioned earlier comes in. Us 12th graders were able to return to our rightful home! We were able to Christen our new, renovated, bigger, better building to finish our Senior year! And as a sense of normalcy had returned, I know I''m not the only one who somewhat missed hearing that last HarmonicaRing of the final class bell at 12 in the afternoon. However, I did begin this by saying that this was an extremely unique and evolving time in our lives. Finally! Finally we were kings and queens of the hill! The Proverbial hill, and the literal hill that our school sat atop. It was a 4 year journey that saw our class thrust into a humongous building as freshmen, outnumbered 3-1 by upperclassmen. A 4 year journey that saw our class adapt and grow. A journey that took us back in time to the place that we weren''t able to rule in 1994. But maybe we weren''t meant to be stopped, and 1994 wasn''t the right time. It was actually in 1997 that we conquered that old and familiar middle school building! And most importantly, it was a journey that brought us Full Circle in our Education! Not just Our textbook education but education and evolution in life. Together We had concluded our lives at WWHS unequivocally In a Class By Ourselves!

My son has been a student in the West Warwick public schools since the first grade. It has been an amazing experience. His teachers have all been fantastic since becoming a student. I cannot say enough great things about his high school experience!