- South Lakes High School is the primary high school for the community of Reston in Fairfax County, Virginia.The school, part of Fairfax County Public Schools, has about 1,500 students (2,000 after redistricting and current renovations are completed), in grades 9 through 12. The school was opened in 1979.
- The school's curriculum offers special education courses, remedial coursework, standard courses, and college-level advanced courses. Advanced coursework is offered in the form of the International Baccalaureate program. The Advanced Placement program was phased out at the end of the 2002-2003 school year, but returned in the 2008-2009 school year with the reinstatement of AP U.S. Government and Politics. South Lakes also has an Army JROTC program.
- The principal is Bruce Butler. The school also has 16 other administrators, including assistant administrators for each grade. Its main feeder middle school is Langston Hughes Middle School, which is located just next door. Due to redistricting, a small number of students from Rachel Carson Middle School are set to attend South Lakes from the 2008-2009 school year onwards. Additionally, a small number of students who attended Thoreau Middle School, who previously resided in the James Madison High School district, are now set to attend South Lakes.
- The school's mascot is the Seahawk. The colors are royal blue, kelly green, and white. South Lakes' cross-town rival is Herndon High School. The school newspaper is named the Sentinel.
- South Lakes was in the process of a $48.2 million renovation plan until late-August 2008, which had been estimated to take three to five years to complete. The renovation was completed in time for the 2008-2009 school year.
- Demographics
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In the 2007-2008 school year, South Lakes High School's student body was 44.11% White;, 20.78% Black, 17.04% Hispanic, 11.70% Asian, and 6.37% other.
- Test scores
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South Lakes High School is a fully accredited high school based on the Standards of Learning tests in Virginia. The average SAT score in 2006 for South Lakes was 1550 (520 in Critical Reading, 528 in Math, and 502 in Writing).
- School design
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Reflecting an educational philosophy popular in the 1970s when it was built, South Lakes High School had an "open classroom" design, laid out in a quadrant (one quadrant area for each grade level) with an upper level and a lower level. Each quadrant was referred to as a "sub-school", labeled by colors: green for freshman, blue for sophomores, yellow for juniors, and orange for seniors. Within the open area of each quadrant, classrooms were created via temporary dividers. The original design was meant for each "sub-school" to be a classroom by itself; when it was found that it was difficult for people to learn in such a way, the dividers were put up.
- Another unique characteristic of the school was that over 90 percent of the classrooms used to have no exterior windows. The school underwent renovation, however, and as of 2008, the old temporary dividers no longer exist, nor do the fireproof curtains. Now each classroom has its own door, lights, and a unit to control temperature, and the sub-schools are no longer color-coded, except for the colors of paint applied to the lockers of each sub-school.
- Athletics
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The mascot is a seahawk and the sports teams play in the AAA Liberty District and Northern Region of the Virginia High School League. It is best known for their boys basketball team which has been consistently one of the best teams in the Washington area. Former Duke guard and current Phoenix Suns forward Grant Hill also attended South Lakes. Additionally, Alan Webb, high school mile record holder and Olympian attended.
- Band
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South Lakes' band is led by Grayson Fore. The Marching Seahawks won First Place, Group IIA, at the USSBA, Northern Virginia Regional on Saturday, September 30, 2006. They also earned the distinction of Best Percussion and Best Music in their group. In March, 2007 the South Lakes Band traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana to participate in the prestigious Bands of America festival. The band traveled to Orlando, Florida in the spring of 2008 and received excellent ratings. In the fall of 2008, Marching Seahawks competed at Herndon High School and tied for 3rd place out of 9 bands and 8th place out of the overall 21 bands that played. At the Oakton Classic on October 11, 2008 they won 2nd place in their class and received caption awards in Brass, Percussion, and color guard. The South Lakes bands performed at Carnegie Hall in 2009 on special invitation.
- Orchestra
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South Lakes' orchestra is led by Brian Baldwin. The program contains two groups: Concert Orchestra and Symphonic Orchestra.The Symphonic Orchestra has received the highest score of "1" for the past 8 years at festival competition. Along with the band and chorus, the orchestra goes on a once a year spring trip to compete and display their talents. The orchestra has competed in Chicago, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, and New York. In 2008 the orchestra received top honors in Orlando, Florida where the Symphonic Orchestra was awarded superior ratings in every category and Overall Orchestra Champions. In 2009, the orchestra travelled to New York and received Superior ratings and has become a distinguished orchestra in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
- Chorus
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The South Lakes Chorus program is run by Rita Gigliotti. This program contains five groups: Mixed Chorus, South Lakes Singers, Advanced Women's Ensemble, Show Choir, and SMAC (South Lakes Men's A Cappella Choir). The Advanced Ensembles regularly receive high scores of "1"s and "2"s at Festival competitions. Every spring, the choral program goes on a trip with the band and orchestra to attend a competition. The advanced Choruses have won at these competitions every year for the past few years. The 2008 trip was to Orlando, Florida where all choirs earned first place in their categories, and South Lakes Singers took home Overall Choral Champions. South Lakes also hosts the yearly East Coast A Cappella Summit. This event showcases different A cappella groups, including Blue Jupiter and Inpulse. These groups also host seminars and workshops on different areas of performance and vocal styles.
- Theatre arts program
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Maria L. Harris is the director of the South Lakes High School Theatre Arts Department. Mrs. Harris is a veteran teacher of theatre, film, and public speaking. She has directed hundreds of productions during her 20-year tenure at the school. The South Lakes High School Theatre Arts Department has been honored with many awards, including multiple nominations and wins in the Cappies (Critics and Awards) Program. Perhaps most notably, the Theatre Arts Department performed its student production of "Phantom" at the 2000 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland as part of an international program showcasing American high school talent.
- Political science program
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South Lakes was a pioneer in the FCPS Political Science Program. A 1.5 credit class reserved for seniors, Political Science involves a one semester introduction to the discipline followed by a semester-long internship with a local government agency or organization. The class is taught by Wynndolynn Thompson, MPA who makes internship placement decisions based on student performance during the first semester classroom session. In the past, notable offices such as those of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. John Kerry have hosted interns. Students that have participated in this program have attended prestigious universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, University of Virginia, and the College of William and Mary.
- Notable alumni
- Alan Webb, Olympic runner, high school mile record holder (3:53.43), and American mile record holder.
- Grant Hill, NBA basketball player - Duke University
- Spookey Ruben, pop musician - York University
- Christy Winters-Scott, University of Maryland women's basketball Hall of Famer (and former assistant coach for five years) and current local broadcaster for WNBA Washington Mystics and Washington Wizards, and NCAA Women's Basketball (led 1986 South Lakes women's varsity basketball team to Virginia state title 29-0). She is now the head girls basketball coach at South Lakes where she turned the program around. Prior to her arrival in 2005, the team was 0-21. In 2009 season, the team was 19-4, and she was named Coach of the Year. (the mother of three was also an Assistant Coach for George Mason, and Georgetown)
- Andrew Siciliano, broadcaster for Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Net television, DirecTV Red Zone Channel, Arena Football
- Michael Hersch, composer
- Aron Kader, comedian
- Michael Jackson, basketball player, played for the 1984 Georgetown University National Championship team, Olympic team, played professionally for the Sacramento Kings
- Avail band members went to South Lakes and the band was formed while they were still attending.
- AJ Price, football player; currently on full scholarship at Penn State
- Benny Blanco, rapper, songwriter and producer
- Eddie Royal of the Denver Broncos played football at South Lakes High School for one season.
- Eddie Timanus, sportswriter for USA Today and Jeopardy! champion
- Big Pooh, MC from legendary underground Hip Hop group Little Brother, graduated from South Lakes in 1998.
- External links
- South Lakes High School Athletic Boosters website
- South Lakes Band homepage[1]
- South Lakes High School on GreatSchools.net
- South Lakes rivalry with Herndon High School
- Description of South Lakes High School renovation
- South Lakes Theatre Arts 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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