Winston Churchill High School (Montgomery County, Maryland)
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| Winston Churchill High School |
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| Motto | School of Excellence Where Excellence Soars |
| Established | 1964 |
| Type | Public Secondary |
| Principal | Dr. Joan Benz |
| Students | 2146 (2005-2006) |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Location | Potomac, Maryland ,USA |
| District | Montgomery County Public Schools |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Colors | Kelly Green and Royal Blue |
| Mascot | Bulldog |
| Newspaper | The Churchill Observer |
| Distinctions | The Wall Street Journal-ranked among the best schools nationwide that send the most graduates to selective colleges. [1] |
| Website | http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/churchillhs/ |
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Winston Churchill High School, often referred to as WCHS or Churchill, is a high school in Potomac, Maryland.
The school's namesake is Winston Churchill, British Statesman and Prime Minister. The school was founded in 1964 and is part of the Montgomery County Public Schools system. The majority of the students come from Herbert Hoover Middle School and Cabin John Middle School. The principal is Dr. Joan Benz.
Departments at Churchill:
- Alternative Education
- Art
- Bridge
- Computer Science
- English
- Family Science
- Foreign Language
- Mathematics
- Music
- Physical Education
- Science
- Social Studies
- Theater
Churchill has a Signature Program, which allows students the opportunity to follow one of several course paths to specialize in a particular career field. The Signature Program is comprised of three academies: The Academy of Math, Science, & Technology; The Academy of International Studies; and The Academy of Creative and Performing Arts. [2]
Churchill was given the 2006-2007 Maryland Blue Ribbon Award of Excellence by the Maryland State Department of Education.
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[edit] Extracurricular Activities
[edit] Performing Arts
School instrumental ensembles include the entry-level concert band and concert orchestra, the higher-level symphonic band, wind ensemble, and awesome symphonic orchestra, and the high performance jazz ensemble. Vocal ensembles include the general chorus, Showstoppers, and Simply Irresistible. Each ensemble is assembled in an accompanying scheduled class. All ensembles typically perform at two concerts each academic year. The more advanced ensembles (namely the jazz ensemble, Showstoppers, and Simply Irresistible) perform at their own occasional concerts. Collectively, instrumental musicians participate in a pep band for rallies and football games. See the Instrumental Music Department website.
Many theater productions are put on regularly, including several nights of one-act plays every two years, in which many students are able to participate. Theater classes at two levels and a television production class are taught.
Churchill is well known for its annual Blast From the Past production, in which over 200 student singers, dancers, and musicians perform a variety of popular songs from the 1950s to today, which all relate to a selected theme for each year.
The departments of music and theater collaborate on other productions throughout each academic year.
Churchill has an excellent instrumental program, and many students successfully audition for all-county and all-state groups.
David Levin and Kristofer Sanz conduct Churchill's bands and orchestras. Levin is also the conductor of the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestra (MCYO) Symphony Orchestra.
Many students form their own bands, typically of a rock variety, and the school occasionally facilitates this by sponsoring a battle of the bands or allowing band performances or even day-long concerts (such as The Merritthon, a fundraising event for Leukemia research which occurred annually from 2002 through 2004) to take place on school grounds.
[edit] Publications
Churchill has three publications, all of which are award-winning, including its newspaper, The Churchill Observer; its yearbook, Finest Hours, and its literary magazine, Erehwon (Nowhere backwards). Each publication is accompanied by three levels of instruction in the related publishing topics.
[edit] Athletics
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Fall sports:
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Winter sports:
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Spring sports:
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Teams are usually divided into Varsity and Junior Varsity divisions. Almost all practice daily and compete with teams from other schools, primarily other schools within Montgomery County.
[edit] Clubs
The school has at least 87 faculty-sponsored student-run clubs [3]. These include many community service groups, activist groups, and interest groups.
[edit] Notable alumni
[edit] Athletics
- Mike Barrowman, 1992 Olympic gold medalist in 200m breaststroke.
- Dan Veatch, Olympian in 200m backstroke.
- Jason Bernstein, Noted sports agent.
- Travis Curtis, retired NFL defensive back.
- Jerome Dyson, Guard for the UConn Huskies. (Attended Churchill freshman and sophomore years)
- Jeff Halpern, Dallas Stars (Attended Churchill freshman year).
- Brian Holloway, retired NFL offensive lineman, three-time Pro Bowler.
- Joe Jacobi, 1992 Olympic gold medalist in Whitewater Canoe Slalom.
- Dhani Jones, linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles.
- Jeff Kemp, retired NFL and CFL quarterback.
- Alex Kim, 2000 NCAA Men's Tennis Champion, retired professional Tennis player
- Nino Marcantonio, forward for the Kansas City Comets.
- Bruce Murray, American soccer player
- Paul "Boo Boo" Palmer, running back for several teams in the NFL and WLAF.
[edit] Others
- Richard Dean, fashion and advertising photographer, model
- Ben Feldman, actor
- Sara Gay Forden, author, House of Gucci
- Michael Hardt, American literary theorist, co-author of Empire and Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire
- Leon Harris, former CNN and current ABC anchorman
- Bryant Keil, owner of Potbelly Sandwich Works
- Deborah Copaken Kogan, journalist and author of Shutterbabe (film rights for her book were purchased by Darren Star).
- Raymond J. Lee, actor, "Eddie" in the Broadway cast of Mamma Mia!
- Marti Leimbach, novelist, author of Dying Young and Daniel Isn't Talking
- Vijai Nathan, comedian.
- Rachel Nichols, reporter for ESPN
- Hal Niedzviecki, Canadian writer
- George Roth, actor, graduate of Yale and Central School of Speech and Drama in London, film credits include Batman and The Russia House, TV credits include episodes of Get a Life and Murphy Brown, stage credits include the National Theatre (London) production of Brighton Beach Memoirs. Now doing regional theatre in Cleveland.
- Brad Snyder, author of Beyond The Shadow of The Senators, a book about the Homestead Grays, and A Well-Paid Slave, a book about St. Louis Cardinals centerfielder Curt Flood
- Darren Star, television and film producer and screenwriter, best known for Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place and Sex and the City
- Clifford Taubes, mathematician (see Taubes's Gromov invariant)
- Laetitia Thompson, asked President Bill Clinton if he wore "Boxers or Briefs." [4]
- Bill Wadhams, Singer/guitar player for the band Animotion who had several hit songs in the 1980s including Obsession
- Michael Jordan, Afro-American who liked to put da ball in da hoop.
[edit] Incidents
- 26 February 1999: James A. Misenheimer, a teacher at Winston Churchill High School, is arrested on charges of one count of child abuse and two counts of third degree sexual offense. [5]
- 8 November 2002: former student Andrew Klepper (then at Walt Whitman High School) is charged, along with two others, with robbing a woman and sexually assaulting her with a baseball bat. [6]
- 3 March 2003: Robert Slack, a math teacher at Churchill, commits suicide. Two fellow math teachers visit his house to check up on him after he does not show up for work to find a note reading "Do not go upstairs. Just call the police."[citation needed]
- 2 June 2004: Two teens are arrested at Winston Churchill High two nights after their graduation for vandalism and trespassing.[citation needed]
- 13 November 2004: Sarkis "Sako" Nazarian Jr, 16, a Junior at Winston Churchill High School, is killed in a drunk-driving related accident on Travilah Rd in Potomac, MD.[citation needed]
- 11 May 2005: Alexander Chaufournier, 18, dies about a month before his high school graduation from an overdose of oxycodone at his home in Potomac, MD.[citation needed]
- 9 October 2005: Mark Makki, an alumnus of WCHS, is arrested for murdering his mother at the family home in Potomac, MD. About a month later, charges against him are dropped after DNA evidence from an unidentified male is found on his mother's body. [7]
- November 2006: Two Churchill students are arrested for cutting class and vandalizing and burglarizing area homes for laptops and other electronics between 19 October and 26 October, stealing $65,000+ worth of property. [8]
- 3 January 2007: Five Churchill students are involved in a fight; a security guard was injured as well. Churchill headlines the local news the next evening as speculations of gang-related activity arise. Hats banned from school. [9]
