Yorktown High School (Virginia)

Yorktown High School is one of three public high schools located in Arlington, Virginia. There are 140 teachers and 1619 students as of 2006, 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 100 schools in the nation due to student GPAs.^{[citation needed]}

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 Columbia blue and white.

History

The school opened for the first time for the 1962-1963 school year. 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 will begin on an entirely new Yorktown facility in 2008. The replacement campus was designed by the internationally recognized architecture firm 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

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.

Building structure and location

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. 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

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. ^[1]

Demographics

Its demographic breakdown of the 2006-2007 school year is as follows:^[2]

• 67.8% White
• 15.6% Hispanic
• 8.7% Asian/Pacific Islander
• 7.4% Black
• 0.1% American Indian/Alaskan Native

As of 2006-2007, 88 students receive ESL support and 981 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

The students at Yorktown High School reflect Arlington's rich diversity. Yorktown's primary goal is to provide all students a first-rate academic education, while fostering the development of the social and emotional skills for success in life. The faculty and community commitments to this primary goal make Yorktown a challenging and unique secondary school. Over ninety percent of Yorktown graduates pursue post-secondary education; others go on to the military or join the work force after graduation. A recent Washington Post ranking of high schools placed Yorktown in the top ten most academically challenging high schools in the Washington metropolitan area. Newsweek included Yorktown in its listing of the top 25 high schools in the nation. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Education designated Yorktown a Blue Ribbon "National School of Excellence." With an emphasis on high expectations for every student, Yorktown addresses the needs of its students through a broad curriculum, a large number of special programs, and the support of a wide range of professionals and community members. Several computer labs and mini-labs throughout the building, a Yorktown television studio, and teacher technology productivity centers allow students and faculty opportunities to utilize technology for learning and instruction. Students also enrich their education with electives in foreign languages and fine arts. The high level of student involvement in these programs, and the recognition students regularly receive for their accomplishments in these areas, is a tribute to the student talent and dedication that are hallmarks of Yorktown.

– Arlington Public Schools, ^[3]

Other school programs and events

ROCSfest

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.

Yorktown High School (photo by Daniel Ryan)

The Rock

One unique feature at Yorktown is the Rock. The Rock has been at the corner of the school near the athletic fields since 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. In 2002 the Rock was buried next to its normal position, allegedly by hooligans from local rival Washington-Lee who dug a hole and then rolled the Rock in. It was not resurrected until over a year later.

Clubs and activities

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 and the Lenihan/Jack Vihstadt fan 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.

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 minute 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

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

Similar to neighboring high school, Washington-Lee, 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

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

Pool and stadiums

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.^[4]

State Champions

Virginia State Championships
Year	Sport/Competition	School
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

References

External links

• Arlington County Public Schools
• Arlington Career Center
• Yorktown High School
• Yorktown High School Alumni
• Yorktown High School Debate Team
• Yorktown High School Athletics
• Yorktown Softball
• Yorktown High School Band
• Yorktown High School Color Guard

• Yorktown High School (Virginia) is at coordinates 38°54′12″N 77°08′21″W / 38.903458, -77.139151 (Yorktown High School (Virginia))Coordinates: 38°54′12″N 77°08′21″W / 38.903458, -77.139151 (Yorktown High School (Virginia))