Pilgrim High School
Pilgrim High School is a suburban high school in the Pilgrim Park neighborhood of Warwick, Rhode Island. It is a part of Warwick Public Schools. The school is single-storied and features multiple hallways for specific subjects. Multiple renovations occurred in the school, most recently in 2016, before the consolidation process began. The school logo is the shape of an American Revolution soldier head formed by the words "Pilgrim High School Patriots", although the letter "P" in the official colors is used for most athletic teams.
It opened during the middle of the 1963 school year to address overcrowding at Warwick Veterans High School, which taught almost four thousand students at the time of opening. Nevertheless, the new establishment eventually became notorious for the double session schedule to alleviate its own excess capacity problem by the late 1960s. Today, Pilgrim has an enrollment of 1,400 students thanks to a consolidation effort by the school department, after years of declining student population.
Pilgrim was historically well-known for sports, most notably the baseball team as they won multiple state championships all through a dynastic period. Most of the school's championships were won throughout the 1970s. In 2010s, the school's athletics entered a renaissance. Although the baseball team's last championship was in 1990, the boys' basketball, unified basketball, competition cheerleading, field hockey, football, gymnastics boys' ice hockey, boys' and girls' lacrosse, boys' and girls' soccer, girls' indoor and outdoor track running, and unified volleyball teams won division championships in the 2010s and 2020s. The football team, after posting only three winning seasons between 1995 and 2018, finally appeared in the state's Division III Super Bowl since their latest appearance in 1995.
History
Background and opening era (1960s)
In the early 1960s, the early baby boom population began entering high school, and the population of Warwick skyrocketed to almost 70,000 residents during the post-war era with the popularity of the suburb. To accommodate the sudden growth of families, in 1955, the city consolidated all of its then-operating high schools at the time into one building, Warwick Veterans High School. The former establishments, Aldrich, Gorton, and Lockwood, were converted into junior high schools. All of them have since closed, with Gorton becoming Warwick Public Schools' main offices in 2016, and Lockwood shuttering in June, 1979, now redeveloped into condominiums.Overcrowding was still a problem only years after Vets opened, despite serving only three grades. It experimented with staggered schedules for the tenth graders, leading towards a double session schedule shortly after. The overpopulated student body led to the construction of a new high school in the city. It is unknown how the school got its name, but it presumably originates from where the neighborhood the school is located, Pilgrim Park. On December 30, 1962, the school was officially dedicated, and Michael A. Morry was named the first principal. A month later, on January 29, the school opened without delay during a cold winter morning. The big move was efficiently managed, with the Vets secretary going as far as scheduling students in the same classes they had in their previous school. The courtyards full of landscaping were described by one student as "just beautiful", and the cafeteria was used to hold delightful dances. Sports teams were already formed, and the gymnasium was prepared to hold its first basketball game.
Still, Pilgrim's student population kept increasing. Morry implemented the double session schedule to avoid cramped conditions at the new school.
The golden era (1970–early 90s)
Despite the population peaking in the early 1970s, the number of students attending Pilgrim contributed to athletics, and they are responsible for the success of sports teams throughout the decade. In 1968, the boys' cross country team gave the school its first division championship, ushering an era of Pilgrim's dominance in athletics. The following year, the cross country team gave Pilgrim its first state title.The baseball team was still consistent when they first played in 1963, and in 1970, they won their first championship, the first of five in the decade. In the 1970s, Pilgrim's baseball team had a 110–34 record, six division titles, and five state titles starting in 1970, a threepeat from 1972 to 1974, and 1978. Pilgrim lost the championship in 1979, but their power continued until 1984, when the team finished off with a losing record. Although the baseball team in the 1980s was inconsistent with their records, they managed to win the 1980 and 1990 championships. and competed for the 1992 title.
Pilgrim also won championships with other sports teams as well. Boys' cross country continued to win titles through 1987. Ice hockey won three straight division championships from 1974 to 1976, and another in 1990. Football, wrestling, field hockey, boys' indoor track, girls' soccer, girls' tennis, and girls' volleyball were teams also associated with the "golden era".
The famed Morry had the Pilgrim football field dedicated to him. After he retired in 1983, Morry was succeeded by incumbent vice principal Ralph J. Hoffman. However, the latter was named as the school department's hearing officer, and in 1987, he left the school. Edmund B. "Smiley"Miley served as the principal of Pilgrim after Hoffman, a tenure that would last until 2002. He was derisively nicknamed "Smiley" by students due to his serious demeanor.
Post-golden era (early 90s–2014)
After years of instability, some teams began to emerge from an era where they lacked championships. The baseball team continued to appear in the playoffs, while the girls' cross country team won their first division title. The football team made two appearances in the division championship in 1992 and 1995. Boys' soccer, boys' swimming, girls' basketball, girls' cross country, girls' indoor track, softball, and wrestling are some of the notable teams that won titles in the 1990s to the early 2000s. The school's second track was installed in 1995 to replace the original cinder track, and was used frequently that it showed decrepit conditions twenty years later.When Miley retired from office, Victor Mercurio took over duties of overseeing the students of Pilgrim, until he was appointed as the school department's director of secondary education in 2004. Dennis Mullen became the first teacher in the school named principal at Pilgrim, and he won the Outstanding New Principal award by the Rhode Island Association of School Principals. He also earned Principal of the Year in 2010 by the same organization. His tenure ended in 2012 similarly to his predecessor, taking over the job as director of secondary education. Marie Cote became the school's first female principal, a position she would hold until 2015.
One notable lowlight during Pilgrim's post-golden era included a traffic accident during the 2009 school year. In April that year, fifteen-year old sophomore Kimberly Pisaturo was crossing the street while wearing headphones and looking at her phone, when a school bus transporting students to Providence struck her near the school. The driver, Rebecca Toolin, was unaware of the situation until she pulled over. The victim's family requested privacy due to the tragedy, but a YouTube video was uploaded in memory of her.
Students' disinterest in metalwork helped convert one room from a shop classroom and storage area to a media studio for audiovisual courses as a result of a $95,600 grant by The Champlin Foundations late in 2013. The plan was conceived the previous year when the faculty created a movie and screened it as a fundraising event by the Pilgrim Film Society club. Principal Cote, along with two English teachers, a music teacher, and a technology education teacher, were involved with filling out the application required to acquire the grant. With the money, the budget allowed eight iMac desktops with preloaded applications for appropriate classes, audio and camera equipment, lighting fixtures, microphones, and the like.
1989 acid incident
Around that time, drug use was rampant in the lavatories, that an incident involving numerous students occurred on April 6, 1989. The preceding evening, a student, identified as "Student Doe", met with Student A and talked about purchasing LSD. The conversation occurred at Student B's house, though the latter had no knowledge such conversation occurred, but knew Student A was going to get drugs. The next morning, Doe entered the building thirty minutes after the first bell. It was said that Doe visited the lavatory every time before classes, and has no idea why he does so. Meanwhile, Student B witnessed Student A accompanying another student. All three were spooked by a teacher approaching. The student with Student A entered first prior to Doe, and took out a cigarette. Doe went inside the bathroom after, before Students A and B entered. When two other unnamed individuals went inside, the trade commenced. It took approximately five to ten minutes to complete the deal, but out of nowhere, Principal Miley was conducting searches for students hiding in lavatories, and happened to find everyone loitering inside. They were all told to report to the office immediately. After denying that a transaction occurred in the lavatory, Doe received a suspension for tardiness.Soon after, the student walked to a nearby Mister Donut. One of the students that were with him in the lavatory offered him some acid. The group of students involved then moved on to the McDonald's located in the former Warwick Plaza, where Doe obtained thirty hits of acid after following instructions of a student that purchased the drug from another person that was part of the group in the lavatory. Doe hid the acid in his cigarette pack. Later that day, Doe returned to "B"'s house, where they found out from a classmate that "somebody flipped out at school", and "A"'s father was attempting to find the students involved or his own son. As the father knew "B" was included as part of the group, Doe fled out of the house in fear of uncertain harm.
After an investigation that found several students feeling sick from using drugs that day, Miley recommended the suspension to be extended until April 6, 1990, though the principal had no personal knowledge of Doe's involvement in the drug trade. He stated that it was the first time the student was disciplined for violating school policy on the sale, use, and/or possession of drugs. The incident was reviewed by the Rhode Island Department of Education as John M. Doe v. Warwick School Committee. The findings concluded that a drug transaction did occur in the lavatory, and that Doe lied about not witnessing it. The student was not found as a participant in a conspiracy to sell LSD that day, and was not responsible for Student A's distribution of drugs. On November 8, 1989, the case was decided to have the school expunge Student Doe's disciplinary records relating to the suspension, and to let him return to class.