- Yorktown High School is one of three public high schools located in Arlington, Virginia. There are 111 teachers and 1687 students as of 2008, 981 of whom are enrolled in AP courses. 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 50 schools in the nation according to Newsweek.
- Yorktown has a strong taste for student participation in artistic activities. Instrumental, choral, theatrical, and visual arts are prominent in the school's atmosphere.
- Yorktown's athletes participate in the Virginia High School League and are named the Patriots. The teams wear the colors colonial blue and white.
- History
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The school opened for the first time for the 1960-1961 school year, with only Sophomore and Junior classes. The first graduating class was in 1962 and included David Glenn, son of the then-astronaut and future US Senator John Glenn (D) from Ohio. 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 90 s 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.
- Alumni Hall of Fame
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Most of these distinguished alumni (and others) are honored in the school's "Hall of Fame and Inspiration, " located in the auditorium lobby. The plaques honoring the former students were made possible through the generosity of Hubert N. "Jay" Hoffman III, YHS Class of 1962.
- David McDowell Brown, U.S. Navy captain and NASA astronaut, died on board the Space Shuttle Columbia when it disintegrated during re-entry in 2003
- David Charlebois, pilot; first officer of American Airlines Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11 (deceased)
- Katie Couric, anchor of the CBS Evening News, former Today co-host
- Tom Dolan, winner of two Olympic gold medals and one silver medal in swimming, alum of the University of Michigan
- Joe Kruzel, diplomat (deceased)
- Michael D. Leinbach, Shuttle Launch Director for NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center
- Rich Lowry, editor of National Review magazine
- Charles Monroe, county board member (deceased)
- Charles Morgan, pilot
- Gregory Thomas Garcia, Emmy Award-winning producer and writer (My Name is Earl)
- Eric E. Schmidt, CEO of Google Inc. and former member of Apple Inc.'s Board of Directors
- George Varoutsos, judge/civic activist
- Paul Wellstone, Democratic U.S. senator representing Minnesota, died in a plane crash in 2002
- Building structure and location
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The school building began as a studio for a public broadcasting channel, as well as an elementary school (known as "Greenbriar Elementary"). Additions have been continually added over the years, making the school much larger, but leaving many of the older sections still incorporated within the walls, often still being used as classrooms. There are plans to rebuild the school. 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 field hockey, football, 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 was built as a three-floored square building, similar to that of Wakefield High School. The lowest level is devoted to all of the non-computer related arts and the gymnasium, with an extra wing for physics and other assorted classes. The middle level (the ground floor from the front of the school) is contains administrative offices, science classes, and various English and social studies classes. The top floor is mostly made up of language and computer classes. In the center of the building, there is a small courtyard, where the round two-floor library is located. The so-called "New Building", completed in 2004, is made up of three floors as well, with classes mixed with little concern to subject matter; however there are no science classes located in this building. This addition is only connected to the older building through the gymnasium, however the doors are only to be used during athletic events.
- Renovation
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In 2003, thanks to the 2000 Bond Package received by Arlington, Yorktown High School added an external wing to the school which houses the English and Mathematic departments, as well as some special education and language classes. Access to the building can be from either the outside or through the main gymnasium between the main building and the new wing.
- 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.
- Demographics
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Its demographic breakdown of the 2006-2007 school year is as follows: - 67.8% Caucasian
- 15.6% Hispanic
- 8.7% Asian/Pacific Islander
- 7.4% African-American
- 0.1% American Indian/Alaskan Native
- As of 2006-2007, 88 students receive ESL support and 1 students attend AP courses.
- 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 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.
- Academics
- Focus
- Other school programs and events
- ROCSfest
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ROCSfest is a thrice-yearly set of programs designed by Yorktown High School to help each student learn to Respect Others, the Community, and Self. The program was implemented at Yorktown in the 2003-2004 school year by a Social Studies teacher, Mike Palermo. Consisting of a series of teamwork and trust-building games, the days are not taken seriously and the number of cases of truancy on ROCS days are so high that the administration cannot call and notify all the parents of offenders. For the 2005-2006 school year, the program was split into three half-day session instead of the one full-day program of previous years to cut down on truancy by having classes on the same days as ROCSfest. Problems persisted and in the 2006-2007 school year the program was discontinued for reevaluation purposes. For the 2004-2005 program, sportswriter and TV show co-host, Michael Wilbon, attended the event as a motivational speaker for the student body, as did retired U. S. Army General and Secretary of State, Colin Powell for the 2006 program. ROCSfest is facilitated by students from the Leadership & Diversity Training class, which is based on the Help Increase the Peace Program (HIPP), created by a Quaker group known as the American Friends Service Committee.frame|Yorktown High School
- The Rock
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One unique feature at Yorktown is the Rock. The Rock has been at the corner of the school near the athletic fields since the late 1990s. It has been tagged by classes, sports teams, clubs, and people trying to raise awareness about certain issues every year. An inspection of a piece of fallen-off paint has revealed that the cumulative coats of paint on the rock is nearly one inch thick. The Rock has even been known to receive several new layers of spray paint in a night, by different groups of students. The rock is also a meeting place for people at Yorktown.
- Clubs and activities
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Yorktown is characterized by a large student body with most students participating heavily in several clubs and activities. Several classes also call for extensive after-school time, leaving the halls of Yorktown filled with students even after the final bell. Yorktown offers a debate team, a student newspaper (The Yorktown Sentry), an award-winning music program, and extensive theatrical activities in addition to numerous student-led clubs and sports teams. Those who cannot find a club or activity at Yorktown can usually find an activity at the Arlington Career Center by using two class periods to take a course there. If all else fails, students can work together and start their own club. This has led to the formation of clubs such as the Rock, Paper, Scissors club. Yorktown's Big Brother/Sister Program allows current juniors to pair themselves with freshman to help ease the transition from the middle to high school years.
- Theatre
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Yorktown has an award-winning theatre department currently headed by Carol Cadby, who directs all productions and is also the Theatre Arts teacher. Every year, four-year students of the theatre program compete a VHSL with a performance. In 2009, Yorktown entered with a Commedia Dell'Arte performance of The Imaginary Invalid by Molière.
- Student publications
- The Yorktown Sentry was started in 1962 as a student newspaper for the school. Its history indicates that only English teachers from the school run the paper, but there are no guidelines as to who can and cannot. In 2001, the paper was converted into HTML and can be found here.
- "The Dailies", the school's morning news announcements TV production class is a recent new media for Yorktown High School. The 5 min program often features comical promotional videos produced by popular local production team "Zone 10 Quarantine". The group produces a variety of videos for The Dailies from end of year music videos to event reminders such as tee-shirt sales. In 2008 The Dailies (led by Zone 10's efforts) famously had a "media war" with the Yorktown Sentry, featuring comical videos as well as articles bashing the respective media.
- Grenadier has been the title of the Yorktown's yearbook since the school's inception.
- Yorktown and It's Academic
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Yorktown sponsors a team of students to participate in the locally televised quiz show, It's Academic. The team's faculty adviser is Beau Obetts. The Patriots have been sending the team to Scholastic Bowl tournaments in addition to the Saturday morning program. Yorktown won the first Patriot District scholastic bowl championship in 1998 under then-faculty advisor Michael Zito.
- Senior Experience
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In a program started by Yorktown then adopted by neighboring schools, selected seniors are permitted to use the final three weeks of their senior year to involve themselves in various job experiences of interest. The student must use the hours of the school day to participate in his/her work of choice. At the end of the final week, the students gather for small group discussions to talk about the difference of school and work. All selected students for the program must complete the program in order to graduate from Yorktown High School.
- Performing Arts
- The Marching Patriots compete 3-4 times a season and consistently receive grade I and II honors, including with VBODA. During their season, they also partake in several parades including Arlington's Neighborhood Day Parade.
- All the instrumental and choral groups—including the String Orchestra, Band, and Choir—compete twice annually amongst other schools both at the District 12 level in the fall and on an out-of-state trip in the spring. The groups usually come home with grade I or II honors.
- Yorktown's Theatre Department performs in three different performances per year, including a fall drama production, a competitive One-Act production in the winter, and its more popular spring show, all of which spawn award-winning performances. The spring show competes annually amongst DC Metropolitan high schools in a formal ceremony for Cappies, awards similar to the Tonys. They also have a partnership with Arlington's Signature Theater.
- Athletics
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Yorktown's athletic department competes through the Virginia High School League and are called the Patriots. The teams wear the colors Carolina blue and white.
- List of Teams
- Boys Athletics
- Cross Country
- Golf
- Football
- Cheerleading
- Rifle Team
- Basketball
- Wrestling
- Track and Field
- Swim & Dive
- Soccer
- Lacrosse
- Ice Hockey
- Baseball
- Tennis
- Crew
- Girls Athletics
- Step Team
- Cross Country
- Cheerleading
- Volleyball
- Field Hockey
- Gymnastics
- Basketball
- Track and Field
- Swim & Dive
- Soccer
- Lacrosse
- Softball
- Tennis
- Crew
- Interscholastic
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(Scholastic)
- Debate and Speech
- It's Academic
- Math Team
- Model U. N.
- Jr. R. O. T. C.
- VJAS
- (performing arts)
- Marching Patriots
- Color Guard
- Indoor Drumline
- Instrumental Music
- Choral Music
- Theatre
- Yorktown Dance Team
- Pool and stadiums
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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.
- Yorktown High School owns and manages its own swimming pool. During the week, it is used for physical education for the students 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.
- State Champions since 2005
- External links
- Arlington County Public Schools
- Yorktown High School
- Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.
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