West Potomac High School

Coordinates: 38°46′29.87″N 77°4′20.55″W / 38.7749639°N 77.0723750°W / 38.7749639; -77.0723750

West Potomac High School
Address
West Potomac High School
West Potomac High School
West Potomac High School
6500 Quander Road
Alexandria, Virginia 22307
Information
School type Public, high school
Motto Excellence as a Tradition[1]
Founded 1985
School district Fairfax County Public Schools
Principal Alex Case
Staff 234 (2009)
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 2,064 (2009)
Language English
Campus Suburban
Color(s) Royal Blue and silver ██
Mascot Wolverines
Feeder schools Sandburg Middle School
Rival schools Mount Vernon High School
Athletic conferences Patriot District
Northern Region
Website http://www.fcps.edu/WestPotomacHS

West Potomac High School, formerly Groveton High School, is a public high school in Fairfax County, Virginia. It is located on 6500 Quander Road and is part of Fairfax County Public Schools.

History

West Potomac High School was formed by combining the student bodies and staff of Groveton and Fort Hunt High Schools in 1985. The Fairfax County School Board, citing costs and declining enrollment as causes, decided to close Fort Hunt and combine the schools on Groveton's site under a new name.

The school's facilities have been expanded significantly since the merger, with two wings added to the main building over the intervening years. The old Groveton High School on Popkins Lane (opened in 1956) houses the Bryant Alternative High School; the site of Fort Hunt High school (opened in 1963) became Carl Sandburg Middle School. The new Groveton High School was built on the site of the former Bryant Intermediate School and opened in 1976.

In its inaugural year, the school adopted the motto "The Tradition Begins Now". After several years, it was modified to "Excellence is a Tradition". A rivalry with neighboring Mount Vernon High School exists because of their close proximity. Historically Groveton and Ft. Hunt were rivals, Groveton also was an athletic rival with nearby TC Williams High School in Alexandria; their football games for a very long time were only scheduled on Saturday afternoons rather than Friday nights partly because the field at TC Williams had no lights. The 1971 Groveton vs TC Williams game was portrayed in the movie "Remember the Titans".

Demographics

In the 2015-16 school year, West Potomac High School's student body was 35.21% White, 30.79% Black, 27.72% Hispanic, 2.46% Asian and 3.81% Other.[2]

Sports

In the 2003 season, the Boys and Girls Crew team had their 1st and 2nd 4 man boat place 1st in the Virginia state championship.

In the 2004-05 season, the Boys Track team won the regional title. In the 2008-09 season, the Boys Track team remained the AAA Patriot District champions for the 8th year in a row, while the Girls Track team moved up to the second place standing, behind Lake Braddock Secondary School.

West Potomac won Virginia AAA football championships in 1989 and 1990.[3] The Wolverines also won state championships in Girls Cross Country in 1989 and 1990.[3] The West Potomac It's Academic team won first place in the Patriot District and fourth in the region in January 2008.

In 2011, the Girls Varsity Field Hockey team advanced to regionals for the first time in years after a victory over W.T. Woodson High School in the first round of playoffs. The Varsity Football team was the Patriot District champion and advanced several rounds into regionals before a marginal loss to Westfield High School.

In 2012, the school's Dance Team qualified for the National Dance Association competition in Orlando, Florida. The Boys Tennis team advanced to the Northern Region Quarterfinal for the first time in 20 years. The Girls Varsity Lacrosse team advanced several rounds into regionals before losing to Centreville High School in the Northern Region Quarterfinal.

In 2013, senior Will Rupp won the Virginia State AAA Wrestling Championship for the 220 lb weight class.

In 2014, West Potomac finished the reconstruction of the main football field and surrounding practice fields, which are now artificial turf.[4]

In 2015, the school's Boys Soccer team won the Patriot district for the first time.

In the 2015 rowing season, the Girls Crew team had their JV4+ boat place 1st in the Virginia Scholastic Rowing Association of America (VASRA) State Championship on May 9, 2015 in Occoquan, Virginia to become State Champions.[5]

Academic honors

The West Potomac Science Olympiad team placed 9th at the 2010 Virginia State Tournament with individual event-teams winning 3rd Place in Mission Possible and a 5th Place in Disease Detectives.[6] And since the school's founding in 1985, West Potomac has fielded 3 state championship debate teams.[7] In 2009 a student was 2nd in the AIAA/NCS Aerospace(Science Fair) awards[8] and a West Potomac sophomore won a top award at the 2010 Fairfax County Regional Science and Engineering Fair.[9] At the 2009-2010 VHSL State Debate Tournament a duo-team were named Semi-Finalists in the Virginia State Debate Tournament/Classic(AAA) Division.[10]

Music

In recent years West Potomac has been a recipient of the Virginia Honor Band award from the Virginia Band and Orchestra Director's Association for superior ratings in concert band and marching band. Also the West Potomac Symphonic Winds attended the Bands of America event in Indianapolis in March 2010, accompanied by the West Potomac Percussion Ensemble.

West Potomac's choral department includes the Bella Voce and Colonial Singers (known as the Chamber Singers as of fall 2011). Each year, West Potomac choirs participate in a competitive event known as Choral festival.

Theatre

Beyond the Page Theatre Company[11] is the name of West Potomac's theatre department. Its declared mission is "to bring the very best of high school theatre to the West Potomac community." Since its formation its productions have both been nominated and have received numerous awards[12][13] as part of the Cappies program.[14][15] Typically the Beyond the Page Theatre Company performs three mainstage shows each year, a small musical in the fall, a play in the winter, and a big musical in the spring. In addition to presenting three mainstage productions, the company also holds a non-competitive One-Acts festival every year to showcase the theatre classes. All mainstage productions are directed by the company's director, Phillip Lee Clark, and the one acts are mostly student directed. The Beyond the Page Theatre Company typically participates in the annual Virginia High School League's One-Act Festival (or VHSL) and the Virginia Theatre Association Conference (commonly known as VTAs). In the summer of 2013, the company participated in the Capital Fringe Festival and performed an original, student written piece, "Urban Legends.[16][17][18]" In 2013, the company took its production of "Avenue Q" to VTA's and received an Honorable Mention and an award for Best Ensemble. The company performed their interpretation of "The Tempest" in the annual High School Folger Festival In 2014, The Company was nominated to participate in the American High School Theatre Festival[19] as part of the highly acclaimed Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[20] In addition to presenting One Acts Festivals and mainstage productions, they hold monthly improv competitions[21] and have their own team called "The Great Whales." In the 2013-2014 season, the team was undefeated. In 2015, the school became only the second in the country to stage Green Day's American Idiot.

West Potomac Wire

West Potomac High School operates an online, student-run, newspaper entitled the West Potomac Wire.[22] The publication includes information about current events in the school and district, as well as political editorials and satire.


Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ About our school... WPHS Website
  2. ↑ "FCPS – School Profiles – West Potomac HS – Demographics". Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Virginia High School League Book of Records, Eleventh Edition" (PDF). Virginia High School League. June 2007.
  4. ↑ "TURF West Potomac". TURF West Potomac. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  5. ↑ " Crew - West Potomac Crew".  Crew. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  6. ↑ Virginia State Olympiad results
  7. ↑ West Potomac Honors Resolution
  8. ↑ AIAA NCS Selects Area’s Top Aerospace Science Fair Projects
  9. ↑ Science Fair Results
  10. ↑ Virginia VHSL Tournament Results
  11. ↑ Clark, Phillip. "Beyond the Page Theatre Company". Westpotomactheatre.org. Beyond the Page Theatre Company of West Potomac High School. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  12. ↑ Evans, Raytevia (May 31, 2013). "West Potomac's 'Young Frankenstein' Nominated for 7 Cappies Awards". Patch.com. Patch Media. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  13. ↑ "West Potomac High Earns 19 Cappie Nominations for Their Production of MONTY PYTHON's SPAMALOT". Theatreworldbackdrops.com. June 4, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Cappies homepage". Cappies.com. The Cappies, Inc. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Cappies - ShowBizRadio". ShowBiz Theater Network LLC. January 16, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  16. ↑ Clark, Drama (June 23, 2013). "Urban Legends presented by Beyond the Page Theatre Company of West Potomac High School". Patch.com. Patch Media. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  17. ↑ Cheneault, Jacqueline (July 15, 2013). "Urban Legends Review". DC Theatre Scene. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  18. ↑ Russ, JR (July 14, 2013). "Capital Fringe Review: 'Urban Legends' by JR Russ". DCMetroTheaterArts. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  19. ↑ "The American High School Theatre Festival". WorldStrides. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  20. ↑ Barton, Mary Ann (October 14, 2014). "West Potomac High Students Selected for Prestigious Performing Arts Festival". Patch.com. Patch Media. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  21. ↑ Mary Ann, Barton (November 12, 2014). "West Potomac High School's Theater Sports Highlighted". Patch.com. Patch Media. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  22. ↑ "West Potomac High School". www2.fcps.edu. Retrieved 2016-08-26.
  23. ↑ "whoislog.info". Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  24. ↑ Former Wolverine star made U.S. Olympic squad on third try in 2004., Rich Sanders, The Connection, July 20, 2006
  25. ↑ "Keeping the peace in the White House". Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  26. ↑ "Virginia House of Delegates Member Listings". virginiageneralassembly.gov. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  27. ↑ http://econ.jhu.edu/directory/laurence-m-ball/
  28. ↑ Dan Petty. "Navy.mil Leadership Biographies". Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  29. ↑ Late arrival to the sport, Pile has excelled on gridiron at West Potomac, Virginia Tech, and in the NFL, Rich Sanders, The Connection, August 3, 2006.
  30. ↑ Clarke, Liz (2014-01-12). "West Potomac grad Ashley Wagner falls twice, finishes fourth; Olympic spot in jeopardy". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
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