We sat in on several classes and watched the teachers engage the kids with questions, facts and challenges. Each class seemed to be its own world — with the different learners and the teachers' different styles shaping the students' experience. Here is a snapshot of two English classes, each challenging the students in a different way. Ms. Hults' First Period General English Class Elizabeth Hults exuded energy early in the morning, as she greeted each one of her students with an affectionate smile at the door. Hults, 29, of Forked River was wearing black and orange, the vivid Barnegat Bengal …

It's just after 12:30 p.m. Students have settled into their Period 4 classes when Principal Joe Saxton begins the announcement: "Teachers with sophomore classes please bring your classes to the auditorium. If you have just a few sophomores in your class, please send them by themselves." Outside the auditorium doors, Kevin Aquilano, president of the 2012 senior class, and other senior class officers are waiting. In their hands are ballots for the election of officers for next year's junior class. P.J. Pansini keeps up a running stream of jokes to remind the students that the assembly is for …

No one quite understands what it is exactly about Chicken Wednesdays that causes such excitement at the Barnegat High School cafeteria every week. The students can't explain it either. The daily lunch menu selections, which include sandwiches, spaghetti and meatballs are OK, the students claim. But the small back room where food is served across the entrance to the cafeteria fills to the brim with an eager crowd each Wednesday, as the kids rush to get their favorite chicken varieties. "It's definitely the best day of the week at the Barnegat High School," says  Matt Cox, 18. "It's the best …

They start taking up their usual places shortly after 6:30 in the morning, about half an hour before the buses arrive. At first it's just a lone figure, sitting on the tile floors of the high school lobby with the tiny iPod earbuds stuck in her ears, then here comes a couple standing together by the door, silent. Another student leans against the wall in sleepy contemplation. The silence starts turning so slowly at first, one doesn't really notice, until words grow louder, laughter multiplies, and suddenly the observer finds herself in the middle of a crowd, having to raise her voice to be …

Over the last two weeks we have made several trips to the Barnegat High School. We have met the students, talked with teachers and watched snippets of the daily life of this town's newest school. Today the Barnegat Patch is taking its readers back to school. Barnegat's high school is so new, many of you may not have attended this one.  The Barnegat High School In response to the new trend seen in the township's growing population, Barnegat High School opened its doors in 2004 to freshmen only. Eight years later, the school services approximately 1050 students, with roughly 80 teachers and 20 …