Thomas Dale High School

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Thomas Dale High School is a public school located in Chester, Virginia. It was named for Sir Thomas Dale, a 17th century leader in the Virginia Colony. The high school is operated by the local school division, Chesterfield County Public Schools, and is best known for its visual and performing arts programs and boys' soccer team.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Sir Thomas Dale 1.2 Buildings 2 Academic Excellence 2.1 Specialty Center for the Arts 2.1.1 Theatre 2.1.2 Dance 2.1.3 Music 2.1.4 Guests 3 Sports 3.1 Football 3.2 Soccer 3.3 Wrestling 4 Prominent Alumni 5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Sir Thomas Dale

Thomas Dale High School was named for Sir Thomas Dale, an English naval commander knighted by King James I who served as colonial deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony based at Jamestown in 1611, and from 1614-1616 under Royal Governor Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, better known in modern times as "Lord Delaware."

The colony was only 4 years old when Lord Delaware returned to England in 1611, and left Governor Dale in charge. He is best-remembered for the energy and the extreme rigour of his administration, which established order and in various ways seems to have benefited the colony. In 1614, he proposed an innovative allotment of three acres to "every man" in the colony. This first step to a free enterprise system was a radical departure from the communal approach used up to that point, and had become an accepted practice of the Virginia Company of London by 1619.

Not far from his namesake school, around 1611, in present-day Chesterfield County, Governor Dale is credited with establishing Bermuda Hundred and the water-cutoff of a meandering portion of the James River known as Dutch Gap. The latter was named for a ditching method Dale learned earlier in his career while serving in Holland. Perhaps most notably, Governor Dale established the progressive development of Henricus, which was to have the first college in Virginia. The ill-fated Henricus was destroyed during the Indian Massacre of 1622, during which a third of the colonists were killed.

Governor Dale sailed back to England in the spring of 1616 aboard the Treasurer with John Rolfe, his wife Pocahontas, and their baby son, Thomas Rolfe. Although Dale and Pocahontas were destined to never to return to Virginia, while in England, he wrote A True Relation of the State of Virginia, Left by Sir Thomas Dale, Knight, in May last, 1616. He died at sea during a military mission to the West Indies in 1619.

The Dale Magisterial District of Chesterfield County is also named in honor of Sir Thomas Dale.

See also: Thomas Dale and Jamestown, Virginia

[edit] Buildings

The original building of Thomas Dale High School has undergone many name changes. In 1906 it was named Chester High School. Then in 1917 it was renamed Chester Agricultural High School. Then in 1942, it given it's current name of Thomas Dale High School.

The original building of Thomas Dale High School, named in 1942, is located on State Route 10 in Chester and is now known as Chester Middle School. The current, newer facility with a larger campus was built a short distance away in the 1960s.

In the mid nineties, the building underwent a renovation and expansion. The student population has been growing rapidly however, and trailers as well as rooms of the stadium must now be used to house all the students.

[edit] Academic Excellence

Thomas Dale High School is fully accredited by the Virginia Department of Education for Standards of Learning. It has a strong partnership with John Tyler Community College in Chester, participating in the Dual Enrollment Program and offers many AP classes in the core areas as well as the arts.

[edit] Specialty Center for the Arts

Thomas Dale serves as the Visual and Performing Arts Specialty Center for Chesterfield County. TDHS attracts talented young musicians, artists, dancers and actors to its honors arts program. The faculty is active as performer/artists. The program is coordinated by Mrs. Pamela Barton. This program attracts nearly 200 new applicants each year.

[edit] Theatre

The Theatre department is headed by Rebecca Jones and Carol Halbert. Students in the Theatre specialty center focus on acting techniques, voice, dialects, stage movement, as well as the technical aspects of the theatre. This group performs a number of different plays many times each year, including musicals, student directed one-act plays, and popular plays such as "You Can't Take It With You" and the upcoming "Moon Over Buffalo". The Specialty Center is famed for its full scale musical productions with full pit orchestra. Students have access to a black box theatre, as well as a large and small auditorium. As part of the program, students have taken trips to view theatre as far away as London, England.

[edit] Dance

Denise Purvis is head of the dance program at Thomas Dale. She is an Alumni of the VCU Dance Department and has taught at SUNY. Her program explores many aspects of dance, such as technique, choreography, improvisation, and nutrition. Ballet and Modern dance are the main forms of dance taught, but all types of dance are explored to some degree. The students in the dance specialty center have access to a dance studio and private locker and shower facility. Guests artists include those of the Latin Ballet and the Richmond Ballet.

[edit] Music

Thomas Dale's music department was awarded the Governor's Blue Ribbon Music Department Award. The orchestra, choral groups and bands go to competitions and compete within the county, the state, and even in regional competitions. Groups have traveled to Chicago, New York and Florida recently. Music directors are Steve Barton, David Holley, Christopher Johnston, Christi Stanfield and Kira Hines. Thomas Dale hosts 12 fully instrumented music ensembles.

The Visual Arts department is strongly represented in the Scholastics Awards each year. The program offers AP Studio Art and dual enrollment (college credit) drawing, printmaking and ceramics. The students and staff maintain a large art gallery off the commons area. The program has guest artists and college staff involved. Classes are offered in photography, graphic design, 2D/3D design, art and world cultures as well as the AP and dual enrollment classes. Art staff includes Farryl Essig, Shelley Row, Patricia Fairley, Sebastian Jackson, Luke Petrey and staff from John Tyler Community College.

[edit] Guests

Guest artists of regional and national stature frequently hold seminars at Thomas Dale. Notable guests of the Specialty Center have included:

• Mark Wood of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra
• The Richmond Symphony
• The Joffrey Ballet
• The Urban Bush Women

[edit] Sports

Thomas Dale High School is also well known for its outstanding sports and other extra-curricular activities programs. The athletic teams compete as the "Knights" and wear the school colors of maroon and gray.

[edit] Football

Each year, the Knights participate in "The Battle of Chester" football game against their cross-town football rival, the "Skyhawks" of L.C. Bird High School. The Knights also have a traditional long-standing rivalry against the "Blue Devils" from Hopewell High School, of Hopewell, Virginia.

[edit] Soccer

In 2005, the Knights varsity boys soccer team won the Virginia State AAA soccer Championship. It was the first state championship for any Thomas Dale athletic team. They successfully defended that title in 2006. In the 2006 season, the Knights set Virginia state records for most shutouts, fewest goals allowed and most wins in a season. They are currently undefeated (48-0-0) in the past two seasons and defend their #1 national high school ranking.

The roster for the 2006 boys soccer team was:

• 1 - Will Bates
• 2 - Roger Bothe
• 3 - Jordan Evans
• 4 - Phillip Ellers
• 5 - Tyler Suttenfield
• 6 - Ian McClure
• 7 - Daniel Heling
• 8 - Andrew Clarke
• 9 - Shawn VanDecker
• 10 - Patrick Innes
• 11 - AJ Schuetze
• 12 - Patrick O'Connor
• 13 - Nathan Dial
• 14 - Scott Robertson
• 15 - Dustin Heling
• 16 - Daniel Comer
• 17 - Basil Alkhadra
• 18 - Matt Der
• 19 - Britt Sebastian
• 20 - Travis Elder
• 21 - Ryan McCoull
• 22 - Alex Johnston
• 23 - Matt White
• 24 - Matt Crusco
• 28 - Kolten Freeland
• 29 - Gage Robertson.

In 2006, they produced 5 Division 1 soccer prospects, and sent one player to Germany for a professional try-out:

• Tyler Suttenfield - VMI
• Roger Bothe - William & Mary
• Jordan Evans - University of Richmond
• Scott Robertson - United States Naval Academy
• Matt White - James Madison University
• Daniel Heling - Germany

[edit] Wrestling

The wrestling team, like all the other athletic teams at Thomas Dale, competes as the Knights. However, they are better known as the "Bagubas," a nickname that originated in 1982 under then Coach (and History teacher) Bob Horning and Captain Andy Weber (Class of 1983). It has consistently been one of the better sports programs at Thomas Dale, even if not the most noticed. Its 2006/07 varsity squad included:

• 103- Matt Trinkle
• 112- Ethan Massey
• 119- James White
• 125- Sam Jones
• 130- Chris Hulbert
• 135- Corbin Broach
• 140- Drew Elam
• 145- Philip White
• 152- Johnathan Pipken
• 160- John "Pee-Pee/Poo-Poo" Dommert
• 171- Mike Sims
• 189- Patrick O'Brien
• 215- Luke Slate
• Heavyweight- Bret Bartoli

Returning many members, its 2007/08 goals include Regional and State Champions.

[edit] Prominent Alumni

Rudi Johnson, Class of 1998, is a running back with the Cincinnati Bengals in the National Football League. Drafted in the 4th round out of Auburn University, Rudi has set franchise rushing records in 2004 and 2005 with the Bengals.

Kenneth Oxendine, Class of 1994, was a running back with the Atlanta Falcons in the National Football League. He was drafted in Round 7 of the 1998 NFL Draft by the Falcons.

William Henderson, Class of 1990, is a running back with the Green Bay Packers in the NFL. He was drafted as the 2nd Pick in the 3rd Round of the 1995 NFL Draft by the Packers.

Steven M. Blankfield, Class of 1982, is lead singer of the heavy metal band StevenMarque Society. He sings under the moniker StevenMarque.

[edit] External links

• Thomas Dale High School
• Thomas Dale Specialty Center for the Arts