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Roy C. Ketcham was President of the Board of Education, and a member of the
Board for approximately 25 years. He was part of the centralization movement
of the Wappingers School District in 1937. As a result of the considerable
population growth of the 1950's and 1960's, a new senior high school was
built and opened to students in the fall of 1962. The new school was named
in honor of the prestigious citizen of our community.
In July of 1985, Mr. Ketcham was named in a Poughkeepsie Journal poll as one
of the ten most influential "movers and shakers" in Dutchess County. He was
the guest speaker at our class of 1987 (25th Anniversary class) graduation.
In December 1989, Mr. Ketcham passed away leaving a void in the Southern
Dutchess Community.
Our school has been characterized for years by a tradition of excellence. A
few words about a recent graduating class presents part of the picture. The
class of 2005 consisted of 340 graduates, approximately 80% of whom continued
their formal education full-time; of which 47% enrolled in four-year colleges
and universities and 33% entered two-year colleges. Graduates of the class
went on to study at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania,
Stanford, Northwestern, and NYU. Seven students were recognized by the
prestigious National Merit Scholarship program, 15 were New York State
Academic Excellence Scholarship winners, and 6 were recipients of the Thomas
J. Watson Scholarship.
Roy C. Ketcham High School was listed by MSNBC/Newsweek Magazine as 881 in
the National Challenge Index of the 1000 top schools in the Nation!
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