Walt Whitman High School is a four-year public secondary school located at 301 West Hills Road, in Huntington Station, New York. It is the South Huntington Union Free School District's only high school, serving students in Huntington Station, South Huntington, Melville, and West Hills. The school typically has around 2,000 students in grades 9âÂÂ12.
The need for a high school for the South Huntington Union Free School District arose with the district, as the rising population of the area caused a need for a high school. The state would not let either district in the area â South Huntington Common District #12 or West Hills Common District #13 â get one. So, they merged into one and birthed the modern district in 1924. The district (being that it was now union-free) was now able to have a high school. So, the Central School was opened in 1928 and graduated its first class in 1931. From 1924 to 1931, between the opening of the district and first Central School graduating class, South Huntington students went to Huntington High School instead. From 1928 to 1956, the Central School served as the district's high school. In 1954, a grassroots campaign was organized to approve the addition of four schools to the district, including a new high school. The additions passed, and Walt Whitman High School opened for the 1956âÂÂ57 school year and became the high school of the district, serving grades 8âÂÂ12. The Central School then shifted to serving 6th-7th graders for the year, and later became an elementary school. In the early 1970s, it became an annex and was later sold in the early 1980s. The district would replace the Central School with Walt Whitman as the district's high school.
Before the formation of the Cold Spring Harbor Central School District, students in the area would go to one of three high schools after eighth grade. Huntington High School (known as Simpson at the time), Oyster Bay High School, or Walt Whitman. Eventually, the three schools could no longer support the students from the students in the area of the modern Cold Spring Harbor Central School District. Hence, similarly to the formation of South Huntington, the districts in the area had to merge in 1958 and they gained their own high school, meaning these students no longer had to go to Whitman.
Walt Whitman High School host varsity teams in badminton, baseball, basketball, bowling, cheerleading, cross country, fencing, football, field hockey, kickline, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball and wrestling.
In 1964 and 1966, Walt Whitman High School hosted the 2nd and 4th annual NYSPHSAA state wrestling tournaments. The event didn't return to Long Island again until Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum hosted it in 2006. They won the State Championship for soccer in 2015.