- Chantilly High School (CHS) is a high school located in the Chantilly CDP in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It is part of the Fairfax County Public Schools system.
- Overview
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Chantilly High School is home to four years of study, 9th-12th grade. It is organized into five different "subschools" which each provide administration for a different group of students. Subschools 1-4 are divided by student surnames. Subschool 5 consists of the Chantilly Center, a special-education co-facility which serves students from a wider geographical area than the rest of Chantilly High School. The school uses a block scheduling system.
- Chantilly was listed in Newsweek in 2003 as the 72nd best public high school in America. Chantilly has a high percentage of students enrolled in advanced placement (AP) and honors classes. Chantilly is also a member of the largest public school bus system in the nation, recently overcoming New York City and Los Angeles, with currently over 45+ buses servicing the school daily.
- Chantilly High School is also home to Chantilly Academy. Chantilly Academy offers classes for students in the FCPS school district, including culinary, engineering, Auto tech, Cisco Networking, and Cosmetology . A full listing of classes may be found at their web site. The Academy is also home to Chantilly Robotics. Chantilly Robotics is a FIRST robotics team participating in the FIRST Robotics Competition. Their team is composed from people around FCPS and not just Chantilly High School. On the off season they work to help their community .
- History
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Chantilly High School was built in 1973 as part of the "Superschool" or "consolidated high school" idea. It was also built as a temporary school, made to last for only five years or so. As such, it was built with modules(similar to the modular additions currently being constructed at other FCPS schools), and the school was built in only three months. Parts of the school were brought to the site on flatbed trucks and placed together with several cranes. As such, many of the rooms fell into disrepair because they were designed to be temporary, and so Chantilly received a renovation in the early 1990s.Initially, Chantilly was a "Secondary School" with students ranging from grades 7 through 12, with four sub schools (Red, Blue, Orange and Yellow), each having color coordinated lockers. The first graduating class was the class of 1976.
- The original school colors, as determined by a group of students selected to represent the incoming classes, were orange, white and brown, with the athletic teams named the Chantilly Crusaders. These colors and team name were rejected by the student body and prior to the opening day of the new school, a special vote was held to change the colors and team name. Out of the three options provided by the Fairfax County School Board the purple and white Chantilly Chargers were selected.
- Demographics
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As of the 2007–08 school year the school's demographic breakdown is:
- 60.78% White
- 21.95% Asian/Pacific Islander
- 7.37% Hispanic
- 6.04% African-American
- 3.86% Other
- Arts & activities
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Many of the sports teams have qualified for district, regional, and/or state competitions. Various clubs and honor societies are active throughout the school year. In December 2007, The Odyssey's adviser/teacher, Mary Kay Downes, won the National Yearbook Adviser of the Year award for her work for yearbooks all over the county.
- The string orchestra has won and placed highly in competitions among some of the top high school orchestras of North America. Each March the school hosts the Chantilly Invitational Jazz Festival which showcases middle and high school bands from across the region as well as distinguished guest performers. Chantilly Jazz won the Downbeat Magazine award for Best High School Jazz Band for 1985 that included groups from across the entire United States. Chantilly Jazz placed 2nd in the Down Beat Magazine competition in 1986.
- The Chantilly High School Fine Arts department has received many awards over the years. The CHS Mighty Marching Chargers have received many awards, including Grand Champion at the Virginia Showcase of Bands and Grand Champion between 2003 and 2006 at the JMU Parade of Champions. The Mighty Marching Chargers were undefeated in the state of Virginia from 2000 - 2005. Chantilly's indoor drumline has won the Atlantic Indoor Association championships six times (2001 - 2005, 2007). The indoor drumline has also won four Winter Guard International regionals (Nashville 2003 in PSA class; Coatesville 2006, Richmond 2007, and Dayton 2008 in PSO), and was ranked 15th in the world at the 2006 WGI Championships (in PSO class). Chantilly is also noted for having an excellent show choir program, including the award winning Touch of Class, run by Glenn Cockerell. In 2006, the choir won 2nd place at a national show choir competition in San Antonio, TX. Also, Touch of Class and Jazz Band join together every Memorial day weekend for their hit show "Jazz and Pizazz". The school also has Light Touch and Magic Touch Choirs, the beginning and middle level show choirs. These choirs are run by Mrs. Pramstaller. Who used to perform on broadway, and lived in new york for ten years. Mrs. Pramstaller also used to be a student at Chantilly High School, and she was in Touch of Class under the direction of Mr. Cockerell.
- Touch of Class was featured on fox news after the glee premiere on September 9, 2009. http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/090909_chantilly_highs_premiere_show_choir.
- Chantilly awards
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Chantilly is also renowned for its achievement in inter-scholastic competitions. In 2006, Chantilly won the VHSL AAA division's Wachovia Cup in academics, beating out rivals Westfield High School and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. The cup has competitions in 8 different areas, including Newspaper, Newsmagazine, Yearbook, Scholastic Bowl, Debate, Forensics, Literary Magazine, and Theater. This will have been the 8th time Chantilly has won the Wachovia Cup in 12 years. The Chantilly Speech and Debate team has competed on the national level, having finalists at Princeton, Harvard and UC Berkeley tournaments, as well as VHSL State winners and qualifiers for Nationals.
- The varsity golf team has been successful. They were Concorde District Champions in 2005, 2006 and 2007, Northern Region Champions in 2005 and 2007, and finished 4th, 6th and 2nd in the state tournament in 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively.
- Recently, the Chantilly HS football team won the VHSL Division 6 AAA Northern Region Finals against rival Westfield High School only two years after having a winless regular season. The Chargers fell short of the championship with a 42-20 loss to Osbourn High School. Chantilly was also the 1996 VHSL AAA State Football Champions led by future NFL player, Bhawoh Jue.
- In 2006 the theater department took second place in the One-Act play Regionals, winning a number of first and second place awards in the VHSL competition, including best duo, monologue, and readers theater. In 2007, the theater sports team won first place. Over the years, the department has won Cappies for Best actor/actress, best set, best lighting, and best cameo actor/actress. They have been the only National Capital Area high school to have been nominated for Costumes for a play and have had numerous student critics been published in The Washington Post over the years. In 2007, Chantilly was nominated for 12 Cappies awards, including featured actress, featured actor, critics team, graduating critic, costumes, hair and makeup, and more. They went on to win Comic Actor in a play, Best Set and Best Play for The Man Who Came to Dinner.
- In 2007, Chantilly won the Varsity Cheerleading Concord District Championship, the Northern Region Championship, and the AAA Virginia State Championship. Chantilly currently holds the highest score ever received in the State Championship, with a 281.
- In 2008, Chantilly won the Varsity Boy's Lacrosse Concord District Championship, the Northern Region Championship, and the AAA Virginia State Championship.
- Test scores
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Chantilly High School is a fully accredited high school based on the Standards of Learning tests in Virginia. The average SAT score in 2006 for Chantilly was 1628 (535 in Critical Reading, 565 in Math, and 528 in Writing).
- Controversies
- Learning Seminar
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Prior to the 2006-2007 school year, Chantilly High School implemented what is now known as "Learning Seminar" (LS). According to Principal James Kacur its primary purpose is to provide extra time for remediation and enrichment of students. The outlined plan established 2 rotating periods on "A" days that would be used for teachers to allow students to make up work, do activities that normally wouldn't fit in class time, and allow students to go to other classes in case they needed extra remediation. It has also been used to fit in assemblies and pep rallies that would normally take time out of the normal day. The plan, however, has been criticized by students and faculty alike for its vagueness, most notably what teachers can and can not do during "LS". As of the 2008-2009 school year, Principal James Kacur has identified the problems with LS and is looking to resolve them with a new system for the 2009-2010 school year.
- Teacher scandals
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Thomas Newlun, 53, a special education teacher gave a small amount of marijuana to a 17-year-old student about during a break between classes. Newlun was charged with distribution of marijuana to a minor, drug distribution on school property and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
- In 2003, AP English teacher Richard Tucker allegedly asked students to repeat profanity during a reading of Catcher in the Rye. One student, working for a conservative think tank, wrote an article online about the matter that gained national attention. Local news outlets covered the story extensively.
- On January 11, 2008, Spanish teacher Matthew McGuire was arrested on charges of using his computer to solicit sex with a minor. McGuire also coached track at Chantilly. Arlington County police said they arrested McGuire on Wednesday at his Alexandria home after investigating his online activities for several months. According to Alexandria court records, a detective posing as a 13-year-old girl named Jessica had several conversations with McGuire between March and December 2007.
- Notable alumni
- Bhawoh Jue ('97), NFL football player drafted by the Green Bay Packers, played for 5 teams.
- Joe Koshansky ('00), First Basemen Milwaukee Brewers
- Scott Secules ('84), was an NFL quarterback (1988–93) drafted by the Dallas Cowboys who played most of his career with the Miami Dolphins.
- Park Yoochun (Micky Yoochun) singer for Korean pop group DBSK/TVXQ Dong Bang Shin Ki
- Gina DePalma, pastry chef at Mario Battali's restaurant Babbo in NYC. Author of Dolce Italiano.
- External links
- http://www.fcps.edu/ChantillyHS/
- http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/ChantillyCenter/
- http://www.fcps.edu/ChantillyAcademy/
- http://www.chantillyband.org/
- http://www.chantillyrobotics.com/
- VHSL-Reference website
- 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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