Nashua High School South, formerly known as Nashua High School, is a public high school located in Nashua, New Hampshire. The school's current location was erected in 1975 with its first class graduating in June 1976. The school was remodeled between 2002 and 2004 when a second school, Nashua High School North, was built. The existing high school building was renamed Nashua High School South. The school serves approximately 1800 students, making it the largest public high school in New Hampshire, and the second largest high school overall, after the privatePinkerton Academy.
History
Nashua High School has been located at three different locations throughout the city, originally at a location at Spring Street, followed by the building that is now Elm Street Middle School, before finally coming to the current location on Riverside Drive. The campus, located on the southeast side of the Nashua River, is in fact located slightly farther north than Nashua High School North, located on the northwest side of the river. From the 1975/1976 school year through the 2004/2005 school year, the Nashua School District followed a non-standard system that had the high school comprising grades 10 through 12, with grade 9 being held in with the city's three junior high schools. During the 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 school years, juniors and seniors attended classes at the newly constructed Nashua High School North campus, while sophomores attended school at the South location while it was being renovated. Meanwhile, freshmen still attended class at their respective junior high schools, but received credit and report cards from Nashua High. Finally, in the 2004/2005 school year, the 9th through 12th grades were held at both high schools.
In February of 1980, the school was the chosen venue for a Republican presidential debate between Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, the top two contenders for the Republican nomination; the debate was funded by the Reagan campaign and hosted by the Nashua Telegraph, but was originally slated to have only Reagan and Bush until they both requested that all candidates be allowed to participate, which Reagan also funded. At the beginning of the debate, during a discussion over which candidates were being allowed to take part, Telegraph editor Jon Breen, acting as the moderator, ordered Reagan's microphone be turned off; Reagan rebuked him saying, "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green!" . The rebuke became a standout moment in New Hampshire primary history; the remark was wildly cheered by the audience and even applauded by most of Reagan's opponents.
2008 presidential campaign
Nashua High South briefly was in the public eye during 2007–2008 of the United States presidential campaign. Alex Chen, valedictorian of the class of 2009, wrote to all the candidates running in both the Democratic and Republican primaries and invited them to come to the school to speak. Most of the primary candidates, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain and Ron Paul, accepted his invitation. They gave speeches and answered questions from the school's auditorium as well as gave televised interviews with the Nashua Telegraph in the school's TV studio. In 2008, after his defeat in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, Barack Obama gave his famous "Yes We Can" speech in the school's gym. In 2010 President Obama returned to the Nashua School District for a public forum on job creation, but for security reasons, the forum was held at Nashua High School North instead.
Notable alumni
As of the start of the 2004/2005 school year, anyone who graduated from the school when it was simply known as Nashua High School is considered an alumnus of Nashua High School South. Notable alumni include:
