An aerial shot of the American Heritage School Plantation Campus.
The American Heritage Schools (AHS, Heritage) are a pair of private, college preparatory, independent, nonsectarian, and co-educational day schools for grades Pre-K 3 through 12. The two campuses together teach 4,200 students and are located in the United States in Plantation, Florida, a suburb just west of Fort LauderdaleinBroward County, and in Delray Beach, Florida, a city just north of Boca Raton in southern Palm Beach County.
The school was first established by William R. Laurie in 1965. Heritage opened its first campus in 1971 at 800 South Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In 1973, the school opened a second campus at 1725 Monroe St. in Hollywood, Florida. In 1975, Laurie opened a third campus located at 12200 W. Broward Boulevard in Plantation, Florida. The three campuses were later consolidated into the Broward Campus. Since moving to the 35-acre (14 ha) property, the campus has expanded several times.[1]
Heritage is a tuition-only school that neither asks for nor accepts donations. The school is managed by educators, and has no governing board. Children of faculty and staff receive full tuition at the school.[2] In January 1999, American Heritage Schools acquired All-Star Academy in Delray Beach, Florida, establishing it as the school's second campus, Palm Beach Campus.[3]
American Heritage has two 40-acre (16 ha) campuses: the Broward campus in Plantation[4] and the Palm Beach campus in Delray Beach.[5] Both house grades Pre-K 3 through 12 grade.[6] Facilities include investigative science labs headed by Ph.D. research scientists, engineering and robotics labs, media centers, a mock courtroom, outdoor environmental classrooms with a certified wildlife habitat, an arts center, a 25-yard short course pool, sports fields, and courtyards.[7] The Center for Fine Arts on the Broward Campus includes several performance spaces including an 800-seat main stage.[8] In March 2019, American Heritage opened the Science Research, Engineering, and Robotics building on the Palm Beach Campus. The research center includes two biosafety level 2 laboratories: a chemistry lab and a biology lab. Also home to the pre-engineering department, the building includes a robotics lab with several 3D printers.[9]
Like the South Florida area, students at American Heritage come from diverse backgrounds. About 70 countries are represented among the student body.[10]
The current president of American Heritage School is Dr. Douglas R. Laurie, M.Ed., D.C., son of founder William R. Laurie.
In the Lower School, advanced courses are offered, including the Stanford University math program for accelerated math students in grades 4–6. Fifteen elective classes are integrated into all students' daily schedules. The Upper School offers more than 300 courses, which includes 133 honors courses, 29 Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and 75 fine arts classes.[10][11] In 2015, AHS was one of five schools in the nation with three students with perfect scores in an AP exam.[12]
In 2016, 50 students at AHS were named semifinalists to the National Merit Scholarship Program, the most in Florida and ninth in the nation.[15] In September 2018, 24 students on the Delray Beach campus and 70 students on the Plantation campus were named semifinalists to the 2019 National Merit Scholarship.[16] The class of 2022 on the Plantation campus had 77 National Merit finalists and semifinalists.[17] There were also 21 Presidential Scholar candidates from the class of 2022 on the Plantation campus.[17] The school also has a competitive math team and a chapter of the Mu Alpha Theta mathematics honor society.[18] Heritage's competitive mock trial team has won several state titles.[19]
As of 2018, Heritage's Patriots football team has won three out of its last five state championship titles and ended the undefeated 2017 season with a 27-game winning streak.[20][21] The team has won the Florida High School Athletic Association's Class 5A Football Championships in 2013,[22] 2016,[23] and 2017.[24] The 2018 Patriots included two cornerbacks rated five stars by 247Sports.com, Patrick Surtain II and Tyson Campbell, both selected in the 2021 NFL Draft. Together with two other four-star prospects from American Heritage, they were collectively referred to as the "AH4".[25]
The school's second team on the Palm Beach Campus, the Stallions, have won the Class 1A Football Championships in 2007 and 2009, as well as the Class 3A Championship in 2011.[26]
American Heritage also has athletics programs for bowling, baseball, cheerleading, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball, weightlifting, and wrestling.[6][27]
In late 2018, the school faced criticism for expelling a student at the Plantation campus for allegedly verbally attacking a basketball coach. An attorney for the family of the expelled student claimed the expulsion and the incident that led to it were partly the result of either racial or socioeconomic discrimination by school staff. In response, basketball player Dwyane Wade and actress Gabrielle Union expressed support for the expelled student and claimed their children were also harassed by the same basketball coach in separate incidents.[28]
