Stuyvesant High School, founded in 1904, is the top math and science public high school in New York City and one of the most prestigious public high schools in the nation.
The school was named after a Dutchman named Peter Stuyvesant, who controlled New Amsterdam until it fell to the British.
Admission is open to residents of New York City entering high school. Enrollment is based on a competitive test also used by Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School. Of the 20,000 students taking the examination, about 800 per year are admitted.
Stuyvesant High School was established in 1904 as a manual training school for boys, hosting 155 students and 12 faculty. It quickly moved from its original located at 225 East 23rd Street to 345 East 15th Street in 1907, where it remained for the following 85 years. It's reputation for excellence in math and science continued to grow, and the school had to be put on a double session in the early 1920s to accomodate for the rising number of students. In the 1930s, admission tests were implemented, making it even more competitive. During the 1950s, a two million dollar renovation was done on the building to update its classrooms, shops, libraries and cafeterias. In 1969, fourteen girls enrolled, marking the first co-educational year. Basically half of the Stuyvesant population is now female.
Stuyvesant High School moved downtown to 345 Chambers Street in Battery Park City, TriBeCa in 1992. The new ten floor, multi-million dollar building has 12 laboratories, a large cafeteria overlooking the Hudson River, 12 shops, multiple gymnasia, a 25-yard, 6 lane swimming pool, over 450 computers on 13 networks, and a 26" color RCA television in essentially every room.
Known for its excellence in mathematics and science, "Stuy," as it is often known, has produced numerous nobel prize laureates and a host of accomplished alumni. It consistently leads the nation in number of National Merit Scholarships as well as Intel Talent Search Semi-Finalists and Finalists. A 1958 study found that Stuyvesant graduates earned more PhDs than those of any other high school in the nation. Stuyvesant will celebrate the graduation of its centennial class in 2004 with a many events and reunions scheduled to take place throughout the year, including an All Class Reunion on June 6, 2004.
This school is a quarter-mile from the wreckage of what was the World Trade Center, which was destroyed on September 11, 2001. The school was evacuated during the ordeal, the students were temporarily relocated to Brooklyn Tech, and the building was used as one of several bases of operations by rescue and recovery workers. The following is a list of the Stuyvesant alumni who were killed during the September 11 Attack on the World Trade Center:
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