Yorktown High School (Virginia)

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Yorktown High School is a public high school located in Arlington, Virginia. Students grow through their involvement with each other through days like ROCSfest, although the program was halted after the 2005-2006 academic year due to lack of interest. The school is recognized by the Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon School, which is an honor shared by numerous other schools throughout the country based on overall academic and social achievement in areas such as standardized test scores, teacher/student involvement, and the number of available Advanced Placement and Honors courses. Its current principal is Dr. Raymond Pasi. All of Yorktown teams are named the "Patriots" and generally use the logo of the New England Patriots.

A recent Washington Post ranking of high schools placed Yorktown in the top ten academically challenging high schools in the Washington metropolitan area.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins 1.2 The Rock 2 ROCSfest 3 Alumni 4 Student Life 5 Activities and Clubs 5.1 The Yorktown Theatre Department 6 Population 7 External links

[edit] History

In September of 1960 the "New School" in Arlington opened its doors for the first time to students and staff. As a young biology teacher I shared with many of you the excitement of that time, something I continued to do until my retirement in 1995 as the last original staff member:

- Jim Allen reminisces on the opening of Yorktown.

[edit] Origins

The school building began as a studio for a public broadcasting channel, as well as an elementary school (known as "Yorktown 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 athletic grounds but it belongs to Arlington County, and is known as Greenbrier Park. Construction is curently being done on Greenbriar Park. Individual softball and baseball fields are being put in along with a new turf field to be used for field hockey, football, soccer, and lacrosse. A rubber track is also being added. Greenbriar Park abuts a small playground frequented by small children and their parents.

[edit] The Rock

One unique feature at Yorktown is the beloved Rock. The Rock was placed at the corner of the school near the athletic fields in 1994. Since then 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 revealed the cumulative layers 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.

[edit] 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, most of the student population does not take the day 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. Unfortunatly problems persisted and in the 2006-2007 school year the program was discontinued but the values that it represented remained to be a focal point of the school's policy. For the 2004-2005 program, sportswriter and tv show co-host, Michael Wilbon, attended the event as a motivational speaker for the student body. 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.

[edit] Alumni

Famous and notable alumni from Yorktown include TV personality Katie Couric, astronaut David M. Brown, pilot David Charlebois, olympic swimmer Tom Dolan, diplomat Joe Kruzel, former U.S. Senator from Minnesota Paul Wellstone, and judge and civic activist George Varoutsos.

Interestingly enough, from the above list and most of the alumni on the YHS Alumni site, all but five notable alumni are dead; David Brown was an astronaut aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia and was killed when it was destroyed; David Charlebois was a pilot on one of the hijacked airliners on the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks which crashed into the Pentagon; Beverly Johnson, a world-class rock climber, died in a helicopter incident; Paul Wellstone died in an airplane crash; Joe Kruzel, a U.S. diplomat, killed in an armored-vehicle attack; and Charles Monroe, a county civic leader, collapsed during a board meeting.

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.

[edit] Student Life

Students take eight periods of classes throughout every school year. Lunch periods are 4, 5, and 6. Seniors are allowed to go off-campus during lunch to eat or buy food, but many underclassmen still leave, since the administrators are relatively lax regarding this rule. On certain days the schedule is a block day, meaning that the first and seventh periods last two periods each (odd block) or their second and eighth periods take two periods each (even block). This ensures that teachers have an adequate amount of time to teach the students. Each period is roughly 45 minutes, so block classes are about 1 hour and 30 minutes long, with 10 minutes before or after, allowing students to stretch, buy food, and socialize. Between all other classes there are 6-minute breaks allowing students to move from class to class in the congested halls. The break was extended from 5 minutes after the "new building" was built, in order to allow students to navigate the extra distance, since the "old" and "new" buildings are unconnected except through the gym. Recently, the school board has moved to ban all unhealthy snacks and soda, replacing them with healthier options, but there are still soda machines in operation despite the fact that the ban was to begin Oct 31, 2005. Only the snack machines have so far been affected. All of the vending machines except those in and adjacent to the cafeteria, however, are turned off during the lunch periods in an attempt to curb the purchase of such unhealthy food and drink.

[edit] Activities and Clubs

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 that cannot find a club or activity they enjoy 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.

[edit] The Yorktown Theatre Department

• Please see the child page here

[edit] Population

-as of the Yorktown High School School Report (2004-2005)-

• Total Student Enrollment: 1618
• Students who receive English as a second language support: 91
• Asian/Pacific Islander: 9.1%
• Black: 7.5%
• Hispanic: 16.7%
• White: 66.3%
• American Indian/Alaskan Native: 0.1%
• Unspecified: 0.4%
• Enrolled in Advanced Placement Courses: 981
• Enrolled in Independent Studies: 52
• Total Teaching Faculty: 111
• Total Administrators: 6
• Teachers with a master’s degree or beyond : 95
• Average Years of Teaching Experience in Arlington: 12
• Total Average Years of Teaching Experience: 12

[edit] External links

• Yorktown High School
• Arlington County Public Schools
• Yorktown Teacher Ratings
• Yorktown Alums
• Yorktown Band

Arlington, Virginia Public Schools Middle and high schools H-B Woodlawn High schools Wakefield | Washington-Lee | Yorktown Middle schools Gunston | Thomas Jefferson | Kenmore | Swanson | Williamsburg