Cherokee High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of four high schools of the Lenape Regional High School District in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The communities in the district are Evesham Township, Medford Lakes, Medford, Mount Laurel Township, Shamong Township, Southampton Township, Tabernacle Township and Woodland Township.[5][6] Cherokee serves students from Evesham Township.[7] The school, located in the Marlton section of Evesham Township, has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1978 and is accredited until July 2028.[3]
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As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,179 students and 177.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.3:1. There were 153 students (7.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 74 (3.4% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
With overcrowding at both Lenape High School (with 2,400 students) and Shawnee High School (1,600) requiring split sessions, voters approved a December 1972 referendum to construct a third high school with a capacity of 1,500 students that would be built on the same model as Shawnee. The ballot item was approved by a 55-45% margin, with voters in favor in Evesham, Medford and Mount Laurel Townships, while it was rejected in Medford Lakes and Shamong, Southampton and Tabernacle Townships.[8]
With district enrollment up to nearly 5,000, Cherokee High School opened in September 1975 with 750 students in grades 9 and 10. The school was constructed at a cost of $7 million (equivalent to $39.6 million in 2023) on a site in Evesham Township covering 71 acres (29 ha).[9][10][11]
The school was known as simply Cherokee High School until the opening of the 210,000 square feet (20,000 m2) "South" building in September 2001 for 1,150 students in grades 9–10, which was constructed at a cost of $26.4 million (equivalent to $45.4 million in 2023), at which time the original building was renamed as "Cherokee High School North."[12][13] In 2018, with the retirement of the South principal, Leonard Iannelli, Cherokee eliminated the position, effectively merging the North and South building into one school.[14]
The school was the 80th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology.[15] The school had been ranked 157th in the state out of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 134th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[16] The magazine ranked the school 152nd in 2008 out of 316 schools.[17] The school was ranked 131st in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[18] Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 86th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 30 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (87.9%) and language arts literacy (97.0%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[19]
The Cherokee High School Chiefs[2] participate in the Olympic Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools located in Burlington and Camden counties, and operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.[20] With 1,616 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,060 to 5,049 students in that grade range.[21] The football team competes in the Continental Division of the 94-team West Jersey Football League superconference[22][23] and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group V South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 1,333 to 2,324 students.[24]
The football team has a rivalry with Shawnee High School that was listed at 22nd on NJ.com's 2017 list "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football". Cherokee leads the rivalry with a 28-17-1 record as of 2017.[25]
- Basketball championships
- Girls field hockey championships
- State sectional titles: South Jersey Group IV – 1997[30]
- Football championships[31]
- State champions: South Jersey Group III – 1981 (finished 11-0 after a 15–8 win vs. Deptford Township High School[32]), 1982 (finished undefeated after a 24–15 win vs. Eastern Regional High School[33]); South Jersey Group IV – 1985 (finishing 11-0 after a 16–0 win vs. Pennsauken High School[34]), 1990, 1993 (won 16-6 vs. Washington Township High School[35]), 2005 (finished 10-2 after a 32–25 overtime win against Absegami High School, after trailing 14-0[36]), 2009 (won 14–0 vs. Egg Harbor Township[37]), 2010 (33–6 win over Oakcrest); South Jersey Group V – 2013, 2014; Central Jersey Group V – 2019 (won 35–18 vs. Kingsway Regional High School)[39][40]
- Undefeated Seasons: 1981, 1982, 1985 (11-0), 2010 (12-0)
- Boys soccer
- Baseball
- Softball championships[31]
- Cross country
Girls[53]
- Nike North East Regionals 2021 - 1st, 2023 - 9th[citation needed]
- Meet of Champions 2004 - 8th, 2010 - 6th, 2020 - 5th, 2021 - 1st, 2023 9th[citation needed]
- Group IV state champions 2021
- South Jersey Group IV sectional champions 2003, 2020, 2021, 2023
Boys
- Meet of Champions: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 (ranked third in NE, eighth in nation), 2007[54]
- Group IV state champions: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2007[55]
- South Jersey Group IV sectional champions: 1988, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2011, 2016[56]
- Girls lacrosse
The school's principal is Donna Charlesworth. Her core administration team includes eight assistant principals.[58]
- Joshua Beckley, poker player who won $4.4 million after finishing second at the main event of the 2015 World Series of Poker[59]
- Jay Black (born 1976, class of 1994), stand-up comic and screenwriter[60]
- Randy Brown (born 1967), politician who was the mayor of Evesham Township and had served as a kicking coach for the Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Baltimore Ravens[61][62]
- Mike Devlin (born 1969, class of 1988), NFL football player/coach now with the Houston Texans as the offensive line coach[63][64][65]
- Doug Easlick (born 1980), NFL fullback who played for the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals[66]
- Christina Grimmie (1994–2016), YouTube celebrity and season 6 contestant on Team Adam on The Voice[67]
- Brian Herzlinger (born 1976, class of 1994), filmmaker, My Date with Drew[68]
- Pam Jenoff (born 1971, class of 1989), author of Quill award-nominated The Kommandant's Girl[69]
- Dana Kelly, reality TV star, A Double Shot at Love[70]
- Tom Knight (born 1974, class of 1992), NFL football player Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers[71]
- Liz Montague, cartoonist, who was one of the first Black cartoonists to have her work published in The New Yorker[72]
- Brit Morgan (born 1987, class of 2005), actress who has portrayed Debbie Pelt in the HBO series True Blood[73][74]
- Dennis Norman (born 1980), former NFL football player with the San Diego Chargers[75]
- Christine O'Hearn (born 1969, class of 1987), lawyer who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey[76]
- Jessica O'Rourke (born 1986), professional football manager and former midfielder and defender[77]
- Ray Rizzo (born 1992), pro-gamer, three-time Pokémon Video Game World Champion and first American to win the Pokémon Video Game World Championship[78][79]
- Richard Ruccolo (born 1972), actor, Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place[80]
- Donna Scheuren, politician who represents the 147th district in Pennsylvania House of Representatives[81]
- Michael Schoeffling (born 1960), actor / model who appeared in the 1984 film Sixteen Candles[82]
- Nicole Wood (born 1970, class of 1988), Miss April 1993 Playboy Playmate[83]
- Jessica Woodard (born 1995), track and field athlete who competes in shot put[84]
Other schools in the district (with 2022–23 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[85]) are:[13][86][87][88][89]
- Lenape High School[90] - located in Medford Township, with 1,892 students from Mount Laurel Township
- Seneca High School[91] - located in Tabernacle Township, with 1,018 students from Shamong, Southampton, Tabernacle and Woodland Townships
- Shawnee High School[92] - located in Medford Township, with 1,465 students from Medford Lakes and Medford Township
Sending Schools, Lenape Regional High School District. Accessed December 8, 2016.
Ross, Adele. "Lenape School; $7.6 Million Bond OKd By Voters", Courier-Post, December 6, 1972. Accessed March 13, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Voters in the Lenape Regional School District last night approved by a slim margin a $7,695,000 bond issue to give the district the funds to build a third high school. Voting returns showed a count of 1,623 to 1,329 in favor of the bond issue, which means the regional school board can plan on breaking ground in the spring. Although the issue passed by a 293-vote plurality, it was defeated in four of the seven municipalities served by the district.... The facility is expected to open for the 1975-76 school year. The new high school will be built on a 71-acre tract between the Marlton and Kresson sections of Evesham Township, the district's most populous area, to relieve overcrowded conditions in the district's two existing facilities. The 1,500-student school will be built on a tract off Tomlin-son Mill Road and will be constructed from the same plans as was the Shawnee High School in Medford.... Overcrowded conditions at both Shawnee and Lenape high schools will necessitate split sessions at the two facilities in the next two years, the superintendent said. Lenape's rolls now top 2,400 students with 2,600 expected next year. There are more than 1,600 students at Shawnee, where an increase of 200 is anticipated in September 1973."
Curran, Karen. "High schools in Delran, Evesham ready to open", Courier-Post, August 21, 1975. Accessed March 13, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "It is for students from Evesham, but it's also for students from the six other towns which make up the Lenape Regional High School District. The local share of the $7 million cost of Cherokee High School, the third school in the Lenape district, will be shared by the seven municipalities according to the percentage of tax ratables they have within the district as a whole. Of the district's 4,950 high school students, 750 ninth and tenth graders will go to Cherokee in the fall."
Staff. "Hall of Fame to honor Lenape High School student-athletes", Burlington County Times, July 6, 2017. Accessed January 19, 2020. "The schools of the Lenape Regional School District have produced thousands of graduates who have distinguished themselves as stellar athletes over the nearly 60 years since Lenape High School opened in 1958, Shawnee High School in 1970, Cherokee High School in 1975 and Seneca High School in 2003."
Profile, Lenape Regional High School District. Accessed April 16, 2016. "By September 1975, a third high school, Cherokee, had been built on a 71 – acre tract at Tomlinson Mill and Willow Bend roads in Evesham Township."
"Cherokee South receives A+", Courier-Post, September 9, 2001. Accessed March 13, 2022, via newspapers.com. "Education leaders from Burlington County gathered here Saturday to ceremonially throw open the doors to the new $26.4 million Cherokee High School South. It is a school within a school that is now home for 1,150 ninth and tenth-graders who live in the township.... On Tuesday, the 210,000-square-foot addition opened to freshmen with state-of-the-art laboratories, spacious corridors and natural lighting around virtually every corner. Combined with the former Cherokee High School, now called Cherokee North, the education complex stretches some 455,000 square feet."
Profile and History, Lenape Regional High School District. Accessed March 19, 2024. "The Lenape District's four high schools are: Lenape, Shawnee, Cherokee North and South and Seneca. Students from Mount Laurel attend Lenape; students from Medford, Medford Lakes attend Shawnee; students from Evesham (Marlton) attend Cherokee North and South and students from Tabernacle, Shamong, Southampton and Woodland attend Seneca."
Hatoff, Mark. "One Of Two Principal Positions To Be Eliminated At Cherokee High", Pine Barrens Tribune, May 11, 2018. Accessed January 19, 2020. "The Lenape Regional High School District (LRHSD) Board of Education will eliminate one of two Cherokee High School principal positions in the 2018-19 school year, following an Aug. 1 retirement of longtime Cherokee South Principal Leonard Iannelli, according to Finance Committee Chair David Stow. The use of separate Cherokee High School North and South designations had been used to justify having two principals at what is essentially the same school, even though a similarly redundant position was eliminated a couple years ago at Lenape High School."
Home Page, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023. "The WJFL is a 94-school super conference that stretches from Princeton to Wildwood encompassing schools from the Colonial Valley Conference, the Burlington County Scholastic League, the Olympic Conference, the Tri-County Conference, the Colonial Conference, and the Cape Atlantic League. The WJFL is made up of sixteen divisions with divisional alignments based on school size, geography and a strength-of-program component."
Stypulkoski, Matt. "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, October 27, 2017, updated May 15, 2019. Accessed December 1, 2020. "22-Cherokee vs. Shawnee... These Burlington County rivals have developed into powerhouse teams in their respective groups, Cherokee in South Jersey Group 5 and Shawnee in South Jersey Group 4.... The series started in 1976. All-time series: Cherokee leads, 28-17-1"
Viggiano, Bob. "Cherokee halts Deptford rally to win", Courier-Post, December 6, 1981. Accessed February 2, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Cherokee High School pushed across a pair of first-half touchdowns and withstood a furious rally by Deptford in the final minutes of play to defeat the Spartans 15-8 and capture the South Jersey Group 3 football championship here yesterday.... Corbi praised his own players in defeat and called Cherokee 'a great football team that belongs up there with the rest of the 11-0 teams I've seen.'"
Anastasia, Phil. "Unbeaten Cherokee sinks Eastern; Strong catches three touchdown aerials", Courier-Post, December 5, 1982. Accessed March 8, 2021. "Darryl Strong caught three touchdown passes and a tenacious defense limited Eastern High School to 27 yards rushing yesterday to lead No. 1-ranked Cherokee to a 24-15 victory over the Vikings and to the South Jersey Group 3 football championship for the second straight year on the Sterling High School field."
Anastasia, Phil. "Championship glory; Cherokee wins a wild S. Jersey Group 4 final", Courier-Post, December 4, 2005. Accessed March 7, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "The game was a summation of the season, and both of them ended the same way for the Cherokee High School football team in championship glory. Rallying from a 19-0 deficit, Cherokee completed one of the more remarkable runs in recent South Jersey football history with a 32-25 overtime victory over top-ranked Absegami Saturday in the South Jersey Group 4 championship game.... A crowd of more than 4,000 on a cold, clear and windy afternoon saw a wild game that didn't end until Cherokee linebacker Chris Henderson recovered a fumble by Absegami star running back Steve Hevalow on the Braves' overtime possession. The victory capped an amazing season for Cherokee, which lost its first two games and faced a must-win situation each week just to qualify for the playoffs. The Chiefs won their final 10 games to finish 10-2."
"Cherokee completes turnaround, tops Kingsway for CJG5 football title", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 22, 2019. Accessed November 2, 2020. "The Cherokee High School football team – long a South Jersey power – fell to 1-8 last season. The Chiefs started this year 3-5 and began the playoffs with a four-game losing streak, but three weeks later those championship years were no longer a distant memory. On Friday night, fifth-seeded Cherokee completed an improbable turnaround, rolling past sixth-seeded Kingsway – which was on its own streak of underdog wins – 35-18 to capture the NJSIAA Rothman/Orthopaedics Central Jersey Group 5 title."
Morris, Tim. "Patriots' run in tournament ends in Group IV semifinals", News Transcript, November 24, 2010. Accessed December 8, 2016. "Cherokee High School of Marlton, the South Jersey Group IV state sectional champion, ended Freehold Township's great post-season run with a 1-0 victory over the Patriots, who were the champions in Central Jersey Group IV. "
Baldwin, Mary Beth. "Cherokee wins title behind McGettigan", Courier-Post, June 18, 1980. Accessed March 14, 2021. "Catcher Elaine McGettigan, the unheralded half of Cherokee High School's 1-2 punch, hit a home run and threw out five runners to lead the Chiefs to their first state championship in school history here yesterday. Cherokee rolled to an 8-1 victory over Hanover Park to earn the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association's state Group 3 softball crown."
Chessari, Joe. "West Milford can't be beat in state final", The Record, June 12, 1994. Accessed January 24, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Right-hander Debbie Klawiter caught the attention of fans at Toms River North High School with the type of heat rarely thrown by a sophomore. She certainly caught the attention of West Milford, which fell to the Chiefs, 6-0, in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group 4 Softball final.... Cherokee (24-5) committed only one error, but it wasn't costly."
Culligan, Joey. "Klawiter's one-hitter leads Cherokee to title", The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 9, 1996. Accessed June 6, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Yesterday, the Chiefs gave the hard-throwing senior many more than that routing Montclair, 11-0, in the state Group 4 championship game at Toms River North. The game was ended after the sixth inning because of the 10-run rule.... Cherokee, coached by Mike Medrick, closed out its season with a 27-2 record."
Zagoria, Adam. "Cherokee ace stops West Milford", The Record, June 11, 2003. Accessed December 16, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "The West Milford softball team was unable to solve the most dominant pitcher in New Jersey, and Cherokee came up with an eighth-inning run to end the Highlanders' season in the Group 4 title game for the second straight season. Danielle Cohen, a senior left-hander headed to Robert Morris on a softball scholarship, limited the Highlanders to two hits and drove in the game-winning run with a single to right field, lifting the Chiefs to a 1-0 victory at Toms River North. The victory capped an undefeated season for Cohen (22-0) and Cherokee (28-0)."
"Softball: Every No. 1 team in the state from 1979 to 2015", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, June 21, 2015, updated August 24, 2019. Accessed January 4, 2021. "Following are the teams that finished as the NJ.com No. 1 softball team in the state with year and record.... 1996: Cherokee (27-2)... 2001: Cherokee (30-3)... 2003: Cherokee (28-0)"
Whittaker, Celeste E. "South Jersey man lands seat at final poker series table", Courier-Post, July 23, 2015. Accessed July 30, 2024. "Josh Beckley feels like he has the best job in the world. The Marlton native works about five days a week, including weekends and nights.... 'It feels great to have made the final table,' said Beckley, a Cherokee High School graduate, who said he'll also do some non-poker things over the next few months."
Kolumbic, Dubravka. "Once a teacher, now a comedian, Marlton's Jay Black still knows how to work a room" Archived August 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, The Central Record, February 12, 2012. Accessed November 18, 2014. "In a way, for Black, the show at Shawnee is like coming full circle. He recalls pacing the stage at Cherokee High School while he was a student there and pretending he was doing a comedy show."
Johnson, Brent. "NFL coach/mayor says he won't run for N.J. governor", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, January 12, 2017. Accessed December 2, 2017. "In addition to owning his family's title insurance company, Brown -- a former all-state place kicker at the township's Cherokee High School -- has been a kicking consultant for the Ravens since 2008. He helped the team win Super Bowl XLVII in 2012."
"Mike Devlin: coach profile". New York Jets. Archived from the original on November 17, 2006. Retrieved March 25, 2007. Devlin earned All-America honors as a high school player at Cherokee High School in Marlton, New Jersey before matriculating to the University of Iowa.
Strauss, Robert. "Worth Noting; This Could Be His Date With Destiny", The New York Times, August 7, 2005. Accessed August 4, 2019. "'I was the Prom King, but I couldn't get a date,' said Mr. Herzlinger, a 1994 Cherokee High School graduate who went on, with his childhood buddies Mr. Gunn and Mr. Winn, to Ithaca College film school."
Staff. "Tina stays mum on Sarah", Philadelphia Daily News, September 9, 2008. Accessed August 9, 2012. "Marlton native actress Brit Morgan was recently in the area visiting family. Morgan was known as Brittany Dengler while attending Cherokee High School, where she graduated in 2005."
Proko, Peter (2010). "New Blood". South Jersey Magazine. 7 (2): 52–57.
Whittaker, Celeste E. "Serious players excel at Galanis' academy", Courier-Post, July 19, 2009. Accessed December 28, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "John Galanis owns and operates the Universal Soccer Academy In Medford where he has trained many players, Including working with Carli Uoyd. trained Olympians Heather Mitts and Hope Solo; former North Carolina State star Jessica O'Rourke, a Cherokee graduate who played pro soccer for the W-League team F.C. Indiana and was drafted by the Chicago Red Stars (although she's not on the team)..."
Richard Ruccolo, South African TV Authority. Accessed October 14, 2007. "Upon finishing school at Cherokee High School, he headed straight for Los Angeles, where he slept on a friends couch until he found work acting."
About, Representative Donna Scheuren. Accessed March 25, 2023. "She was also a graduate of Cherokee High School in Marlton, New Jersey."
Staff. "Questions & Answers[dead link], The Providence Journal, June 15, 1986. Accessed February 10, 2011. "Schoeffling who was born in Chestnut Hill, Pa., attended nine different schools before graduating from Cherokee High School Marlton N.J. where he was an outstanding wrestler."