Sewanhaka High School is a six-year public high school located in Floral Park, New York. It is part of the Sewanhaka Central High School District. Sewanhaka High School was established in 1929. Its name translates from Lenape to "Island of Shells" in English. As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,669 students and 119.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.0:1. There were 675 students (40.4% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 118 (7.1% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

History

Sewanhaka High School was constructed in 1929 by architects Knappe & Morris. Additional classrooms were completed in 1936. The school was established first in the district. It is the only high school in its district to offer career vocational courses on Long Island. Those eligible to join this program include students from the other four high schools in the district.

Awards and recognition

During the 1992–93 school year, Sewanhaka High School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive.

Sports and clubs

Sewanhaka's sports teams were originally known as the Indians from the school's founding in 1929. The school was forced to change the name following a 2023 decision by the New York State Board of Regents to ban Native American-themed team names, mascots, and logos. After a selection process by a committee including students, faculty, and alumni, "Ravens" was announced as the new team name at a Board of Education meeting on May 28, 2024. The team colors are purple, gold, and white. There are many team sports, organized clubs, and student activities at Sewanhaka. The Sports Team levels are Junior High (JH), Junior Varsity (JV) and Varsity (V) for boys and girls. The sports and clubs that the school offers at this moment are:

Student government

Academic organizations

Music and performing organizations

Service organizations

Model UN

The Model United Nations Debate Team at Sewanhaka starts with participation in the 1/2 credit World Issues class, and then upon completion, the students become members of the club. The team goes on many conferences where they debate a wide variety of issues facing the real United Nations today. At the 2009 American University Model United Conference, the Sewanhaka team took home Overall Best Delegation, the prestigious first place award on the international scale. Two members of the team took home the distinguished delegation award in November 2011, continuing the team's success from the previous two years (members of the class of 2010). Recently, Senator Jack M. Martins congratulated the Model UN team from Sewanhaka High School. The team participated in the Sewanhaka Interschool District Model UN competition. More recently, in 2016, the team took home the trophy for Outstanding Small Delegation from the Rutgers University Model United Nations (RUMUN) conference.

The Chieftain

The school newspaper at Sewanhaka, The Chieftain, has been extant since the inception of the school. It has garnered many national and local awards, including the American Scholastic Press Award, Newsday High School Journalism Award, Hank Logerman Award, and an honorable mention in 2009 and 2010 during Adelphi Quill Young People's Press competition. Its editorials argue both sides to a common problem that society currently faces and the rest of the paper updates the school on its recent activities, runs special features for special news events and covers the progress of its sports teams.

Theatre

Sewanhaka students perform in one musical per year, during the spring. Recent shows include: Another play which is not a musical is performed each autumn by Sewanhaka students in the Drama Club. Recent shows include:

Notable alumni