Thomas R. Proctor High School

Thomas R. Proctor High School
Front entrance to Thomas R. Proctor High School off Hilton Ave.
Address
1203 Hilton Ave. Utica, New York USA
Information
Type	Public
School district	Utica City School District
Color(s)	Red, black, white and silver
Mascot	Raiders
Website	proctor.uticacsd.org

Thomas R. Proctor High School is a public high school within the Utica City School District in Utica, New York. The school was built in the early 1930s through the U.S. Works Progress Association and Thomas R. Proctor and opened its doors in September 1936. The school is located within Oneida County and the current school principal is Steven Falchi. The school is the only public high school in Utica due to the closing of Utica Free Academy in 1990, and there are about 200 full-time teachers and around 2,600 students.

Thomas R. Proctor High School offers a variety of sports for both girls and boys to compete in at varsity and junior varsity levels. The 2007 boys varsity baseball team are class AA NYSPHSAA champions. The varsity cheerleading squad also holds a national title, and placed first in all five of their competitions in the school year of 2007-08.

Besides the core classes, Proctor High School offers various AP classes in: calculus, physics, biology, English language and composition (11th grade), English literature (12th grade), chemistry, accounting, U.S. history, and global history. Students who take AP classes are given five points on top of their final marking period grade because they took a college class, unlike those students who take regular classes. The students must maintain a grade of 65 and above in order to pass any class at Proctor High.

There is also a dual credit program given by the Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) across the hill from Proctor. It gives students a chance to take a community college class in high school and earn a college credit for it. They have to maintain a grade of 75 or above to be able to get a college credit for that class from MVCC. Dual classes include government, economics, and statistics.

There is a large immigrant population around the area that adds a colorful demographic to the high school. Many ethnicities exist at Proctor. Over 40 languages are spoken in the school by students who immigrated from Thailand, Burma, Bosnia, Russia, Ukraine, and other regions. Since so many students are immigrants, Proctor offers classes with special instruction for them. Many English as a second or foreign language students are taught by teachers who are trained specifically to instruct those students on how they may understand the material better and improve their English. Some students have never spoken English before they came to Proctor High School.