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| Yorktown High School | |
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| Yorktown High School Logo | |
| Address | |
| 5200 Yorktown Blvd Arlington, Virginia 22207 |
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| Coordinates | 38°54′12″N 77°08′21″W / 38.903458°N 77.139151°WCoordinates: 38°54′12″N 77°08′21″W / 38.903458°N 77.139151°W |
| Information | |
| School type | Public, high school |
| Founded | 1960 |
| School board | Arlington Public Schools |
| School district | Arlington Public Schools |
| Principal | Dr. Raymond J. Pasi |
| Assistant principals | John Doll, William Lomax, Suzanne Evans, Meghan Henning |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Enrollment | 1,786 (2012) |
| Student to teacher ratio | 15.2 |
| Language | English |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Color(s) | Columbia blue/White ██ |
| Mascot | Patriots |
| Rival | Washington-Lee High School Wakefield High School |
| Average SAT scores | 1741 (2008) |
| Athletic conferences | National District Northern Region |
| Website | http://apsva.us/yhs/ |
Yorktown High School is one of three public high schools located in Arlington, Virginia. There were 123 teachers and 1786 students as of 2012.
It is a fully accredited high school based on Virginia's SOL examinations, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The school is ranked among the top 100 schools in the nation according to Newsweek.[1]
Contents |
History [edit]
The school opened for the first time for the 1960–61 school year, with only Sophomore and Junior classes. The first graduating class was in 1962. The building was originally an elementary school, which was converted into a high school to relieve crowding at Washington-Lee High School.
The school was threatened with closure in 1982 due to declining enrollment, but because of strong community support, the idea was nixed. To boost the school's population, the attendance boundary between W-L and Yorktown in the northeastern portion of the county was redrawn in 1983. Portions of the Donaldson Run, Cherrydale, Woodmont, Dover Crystal, and Old Dominion neighborhoods were transferred into a larger Yorktown district.
In the 90s its boundaries expanded once again to serve the communities of Rosslyn, Courthouse, Clarendon, Westover, Halls Hill/Highview Park, and portions of Dominion Hills. Today the school has the largest student body of the county's three comprehensive high schools. Construction has, as of 2009, begun on an entirely new Yorktown facility. The replacement campus was designed by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects. With respect to the school's progressive pedagogical underpinnings, the new facility seeks to create a flexible and sophisticated high school learning environment that will meet the needs of the community well into the 21st century.
Yorktown High School was recently reconstructed.
Building structure and location [edit]
The school building opened in January 1950, as a brand new elementary school and served the community as an elementary school until it was converted into a high school. It was named Yorktown from its opening. At that time it was a one-story building and only housed the elementary students. Greenbrier Elementary School was a different building which has since been renamed Campbell Elementary School and is located near Carlin Springs Road. Neither school building housed a public broadcasting studio.
Additions had been continually added to Yorktown over the years, making the old school much larger, but leaving many of the older sections still incorporated within the walls, often still being used as classrooms. Yorktown is placed on a small parcel of land and does not own its adjacent newly renovated athletic grounds, which instead belong to Arlington County and are known as Greenbrier Park. Construction has been completed on Greenbrier Park. Individual softball and baseball fields have been installed along with a new turf field to be used for football, field hockey, soccer, and lacrosse. A rubberized track has also been added. Greenbrier Park abuts a small playground frequented by small children and their parents.
The school is currently in its last phase of construction. First a square, three-floor building was built and connected by a hallway to the old building. Over the next summer a long section of the new building was completed and attached directly to the first phase, and most of the old building was demolished leaving only a small section of science and music classrooms. The newest wing of the new building, the pool, and the gymnasium were then opened over Winter Break of the next year and the final section of the old building was demolished. As of the 2012-2013 school year, the last wing was being completed along with the courtyard. A formal overview of the construction is below.
Renovation [edit]
In 2003, thanks to the 2000 Bond Package received by Arlington, Yorktown High School added an external wing to the school, containing classrooms and computer lab.
On May 8, 2006, the Arlington County School Board approved a preliminary design to rebuild the building. Voters approved about $25,000,000 for the project in the 2006 elections and $75,000,000 is on the ballot for next year. On February 1, 2007, the School Board unanimously approved the schematic design for the new Yorktown High School. In addition, a new building opened in September 2004 for the school and the athletic fields were recently renovated.[2]
In January 2012, Phase II of the construction was completed, including three floors of classrooms, an eight-lane pool with diving well, a wrestling room, weight room and new main gym. The facility is now on par with the quality of instruction and achievement its students, teachers and coaches have maintained over the years.
Demographics [edit]
The school's demographic breakdown of the 2006–2007 school year is as follows:[3]
- 62.8% Caucasian
- 17.6% Hispanic
- 10.7% Asian/Pacific Islander
- 8.8% African-American
- 0.1% American Indian/Alaskan Native
The vast majority of the school's students reside in the area of the county commonly called "North Arlington" which is the portion of the county north of Arlington Boulevard (US Rt. 50). The attendance area currently stretches from the high rise neighborhoods that border Washington, DC like Rosslyn, Courthouse and Clarendon in the northeastern part of the county to the more traditional neighborhoods of large single family homes in the northern and western parts of the county adjacent to the City of Falls Church, McLean and Upper Northwest (DC). The very small portion of McLean (22101) within Arlington County is under the jurisdiction of the Arlington Public Schools and its students attend Yorktown. Many of the neighborhoods in the Yorktown attendance area are also zoned to Washington-Lee High School. High school boundary changes between the two schools historically have occurred at least once every decade.
Notable alumni [edit]
- Armando Romero (born 1983), professional soccer player
- Tom Dolan (born 1975), Olympic champion swimmer
- Gregory Thomas García (born 1970), television director, producer, and writer
- Arpad Vass (born 1959), research scientist and forensic anthropologist
- Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (born 1956), politician
- Katie Couric (born 1957), American journalist and author
- Eric Schmidt (born 1955), Executive Chairman and former CEO of Google; 138th-richest person in the world in 2012
- Michael D. Leinbach (born c. 1953), Shuttle Launch Director at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center
- Heather McHugh (born 1948), poet
- Paul Wellstone (1944–2002), academic and Minnesota Senator
Academics [edit]
Performing arts [edit]
- Yorktown's winter guard has won gold medals in the Atlantic Indoor Association Championships in 2009 and 2010, with their shows "To Tame a Volcano" and "How We Used to Be."[4][5] After 2009 championships, they were promoted to the A3 class, and again in 2010 to A2. Yorktown's color guard has also won Best Color Guard at many marching band competitions, including at the 2009 and 2010 USSBA State Championships.
- Yorktown's Indoor Drumline won the Atlantic Indoor Association's (AIA) Percussion Scholastic A class (PSA) silver medal in 2009, and the AIA PSA gold medal in both 2010 and 2011 with their programs, "HYPERtension," "Boiling Point: From Ice to Steam," and "Industrious" respectively. In 2012, Yorktown Indoor Percussion was promoted to Open Class (PSO) where they finished 4th at the 2012 AIA Championships with their program, "PUSH." In the fall season, the Yorktown Drumline has consistently been awarded "Best Percussion" at US Bands regionals and at the US Bands Virginia State Championship.
Pool and stadiums [edit]
Yorktown has a public partnership with Arlington County to use the athletic facilities of Greenbrier Park for softball, baseball, and track & field events. The public is free to use the Yorktown stadium for football, soccer, and other field games.
The Yorktown swimming pool is owned by Arlington County and operated by the Parks, Recreation and Community Resources Division. During the week, it is used for the high school physical education program of Yorktown and for students of neighboring middle and elementary schools. Other times, it is used publicly for the community at large. The community does not have a team to represent the public pool, but is represented by the Patriots' swim and dive teams.
Starting in 2002, Arlington County was to spend well over $700,000 on the installation and maintenance of new Fieldturf in various athletic fields and stadiums. In 2006, Yorktown's outdoor stadium was the last of the three Arlington high schools to undergo installation. Washington-Lee High School and Wakefield High School had their fields installed in 2005 and 2004, respectively.[6]
State Champions since 2005 [edit]
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Virginia State Championships Year Sport/Competition School 2005 AAA Girls Swimming and Diving Yorktown 2006 AAA Debate Yorktown 2006 AAA Girls Swimming and Diving Yorktown 2007 AAA Girls Swimming and Diving Yorktown 2007 AAA Debate Yorktown 2008 AAA Debate Yorktown 2009 Boy's Rowing Yorktown 2010 AAA Forensics Yorktown
References [edit]
- ^ Dan Brillman and Gina Pace (2008). "The Top of the Class". Newsweek. Retrieved September 11, 2008.
- ^ "Greenbrier Park – Construction Updates". Retrieved September 6, 2007.
- ^ Find all information about Yorktown High School on the Local School Profile [1][dead link]
- ^ 2009 AIA Championships recaps[dead link]
- ^ 2010 AIA Championships recaps[dead link]
- ^ "Arlington and Synthetic Turf Fields". Arlingtonva.us. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
External links [edit]
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