Pentucket has been around for about 64 years and is rich in history. All students at Pentucket Regional High School know the school is old, but does anyone really know the history of the school they walk through every day? Pentucket High School was founded in 1954, however, there have been few people who want to investigate the history of the school. Discovering the backstory of the school is not as easy as looking it up on Google. After interviewing Pentucket alumni, there is now some insight into what Pentucket was like so long ago.

Pentucket is known for its outstanding education and wide selection of classes, but this has not always been the case. When the school was founded, only around five or six AP classes were available for students and the school lacked the innovation academy that today’s students get to experience. When Mr. Seymour, the current high school principal, started at Pentucket, the budget was tight leading to cuts of staff and classes that limited opportunity for students. According to Seymour, “when Dr. Mulqueen joined us, the district pivoted and headed in a different direction, and really started expanding and adding courses.” When Mulqueen became Superintendent of the district, Pentucket saw an expansion of classes, including double the number of AP classes as before, the development of the STEM Academy, the business academy, the music academy, and the introduction of Sports medicine I, Public Safety I, and many other classes. The Pentucket guidance teachers work with students to plan out which classes they are interested in, and as Seymour puts it: “It’s just, trying to plan your high school.” The curriculum at Pentucket Regional High has changed over the years to help students improve their high school experience and make planning their futures easier.

To say Pentucket has changed over the years would be an understatement. Since the district’s establishments, the sports fields have been relocated countless times. Before the construction of the middle school, all the fields were confined to areas near the high school. The tennis courts have changed locations many times over the years. The first location of the tennis courts was where the library is now, but they were relocated to where the football practice field is now. They were most recently moved for the third time to behind the middle school when they built the new track and soccer field a few years ago. When the school was first built, the track was behind the high school where the football field is. The baseball field was behind the middle school and was relocated to behind the high school. To the left of the school’s entrance, the field used by the field hockey team used to be the softball field. The location of the field now is behind the middle school, tucked beyond the tennis courts. The Pentucket Regional Middle School, constructed in 1968, allowed space for fields behind the building.

During the same time as the relocation of the school’s sports fields, there were some improvements and additions to the high school. From 1993-94, construction work was held to build the library. The library was easily the biggest addition to the school, but the addition of the mini gym also changed the school academically. In 2000 the school added to the cafeteria and the history wing, however, the addition in the history wing has since been removed due to floods, machine malfunctions, and bursting water pipes. One interesting aspect of the school is the pond in the front of the school. The blueprints that layout the school building plans and school grounds show that the pond was supposed to be a water drainage system for the school.

Many students today have little knowledge of what the school was like beyond their own experience. The experience of a 1960s Pentucket Regional High School student has been unknown for anybody who hasn’t talked to alumni of so long ago. Kristine Pynn, a Pentucket alumni, graduated in 1967 and was a part of the ninth Pentucket graduating class.  When Pynn attended Pentucket, the school building was made up of 7th-12th grade and there were separate wings for the “junior high” students and the high school students. To avoid having school at the same time, high schoolers went to school in the morning and middle schoolers went in the afternoon. Some clubs that were at the school in 1967 were ski club, photo club, secretary club, glee club, and foreign language clubs. The sports program has not changed drastically since the school first opened and Pentucket has always had D3 teams.