Lake Braddock Secondary School

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Lake Braddock Secondary School is a combined junior-high and high school in Burke, Virginia administered by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). It is one of four secondary schools in Fairfax County, the other three are Hayfield, Robinson, and South County.

Opened in 1973, Lake Braddock has recently completed an extensive renovation project. Its mascot is the Bruin, and its school colors are purple and gold.

[edit] History

When opened in 1973, Lake Braddock drew its students from nearby Robinson Secondary School to the west and West Springfield High School to the south. Lake Braddock was built without walls in most of its educational areas, as it was believed by the administrators of the era that students would learn better in an "open" environment. When school officials realized a school without walls was distracting to teenage students, temporary walls were installed around many classrooms in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This resulted in significant climate control problems throughout the building, which were largely left unfixed until the school was renovated.

[edit] Athletics

[edit] Football

Lake Braddock has won the most games by a team in the Patriot District since their 2004 season, when they went 0-10.^{[citation needed]} In the 2007 season, the Bruins went on a 7 game winning streak after their first-week loss to Robinson. Their only other loss came to Northern Region runner-up West Springfield. The Bruins went 8-3 in the regular season in 2007 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2000.

[edit] Baseball

The Lake Braddock baseball program has won multiple district and regional championships. With a win in the 2008 regionals, they have won two of the last three regional championships.

[edit] Lake Braddock theater

The Lake Braddock theater program is currently in its 34th season, having been under the direction of R.L. Mirabal for most of that time. It has participated in the Cappie program since its inception in 1999, garnering 49 nominations and 13 awards. The theater is represented in the International Thespian Society by troupe #4807, and contributes to the ITS festival in Lincoln, Nebraska every summer.

[edit] Awards

LBT has won the Virginia High School League Patriot District One-Act Play Championship three times (1996, 2000, 2005) as well as the first ever Cappie awarded for Best Play^[1] in 2000. The theater was invited to perform at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2003^[2]. Individual students have also received awards for their performances throughout the years.

[edit] Musical accomplishments

[edit] Bands

The Lake Braddock band program consists of four concert ensembles at the high-school level: Symphonic Band, Concert One, Concert Two, and a specialty Jazz band. The high school band program is conducted by Roy Holder and Michael Luley. The Lake Braddock Middle School bands are conducted by Michael Luley and Louis Bean.

[edit] Marching Band

The Lake Braddock Marching Band is a subset of Lake Braddock Bands and is combined with the Color Guard, conducted by Roy Holder and assistant Michael Luley. The band has played the half-time show at Bruin football games for over 10 years. They have received 26 consecutive superior ratings at the Virginia Band & Orchestra Directors Association (VBODA) Marching Competition since 1981.

[edit] Orchestras

Photo of Symphony Orchestra performing at District IX Festival, on March 18, 2006 at Centreville High School.

Six ensembles comprise the Lake Braddock Orchestra program. The middle school groups are Concert Orchestra, String Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, and the high school groups are Concert Orchestra, String Ensemble, and Symphony Orchestra. The concert-level groups are currently conducted by Beth Reed, and the other groups are conducted by Stephanie Holmes.

07 Sinfonia for Strings (Quartet No.2)- III. Noturno

A selection from the winter concert in 2005.

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

[edit] Chorus

Main article: Lake Braddock Chorus

The Lake Braddock Chorus consists of 5 different choirs. The five choirs are divided by skill level, as well as by the requirement of audition. The Men's Choir, Women's Vocal Ensemble and the female Freshmen in Bel Canto make up the non-auditioned choirs, and Select Women and Lake Braddock Singers make up the auditioned choirs.

[edit] Color Guard

The Color Guard contains 21 members. Besides performing with the marching band in the fall, the guard performs an indoor performance in the spring, calling it "Spring Guard".

[edit] Lake Braddock clubs

Lake Braddock is home to over seventy clubs. The DECA Club has sent students to national level competitions.^[3] In September 2006, Lake Braddock started a boys volleyball team.^[4] The Lake Braddock Speech Team was reorganized in 2006 and began to compete in the VHSL. The Lake Braddock Model United Nations Club is an active participant in local and national conferences. The school's It's Academic team has been featured on NBC4 multiple times. Lake Braddock provides Crew (Rowing) as a club sport. Lake Braddock Crew has medaled in many regattas, including state competitions.

[edit] Renovations

A picture of Lake Braddock, during the height of renovation (April 2006).

Picture of trailers on the blacktop in 2004.

The school finished a three-year renovation in the summer of 2007 (seven months ahead of schedule). The renovations cost taxpayers around $72 million - a record for Fairfax County Public Schools^[5]. Fifty-two classroom trailers were installed on campus to accommodate the construction. Other than expanding the school and refurbishing the building, two main goals of the project were an overhaul of the ventilation system and enclose classrooms with permanent walls. Lake Braddock's renovation is now seen as a model for other renovation projects in Fairfax County, such as the renovation of nearby W.T. Woodson High School.

[edit] Notable alumni

• Yousef Abu-Taleb (class of 1998), actor
• Eric Axelson (class of 1989), musician/artist. Bass player for Dismemberment Plan and Maritime.
• Retesh Bhalla (class of 2000), Professional Wrestler "Sonjay Dutt" on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) on Spike TV.
• Julia Campbell (class of 1979), actress. Has appeared on television shows such as "Friends" and "Seinfeld" as well as many others.
• Hubert Davis (class of 1988), played 12 seasons in the NBA, now an ESPN college basketball studio analyst. The annual Hubert Davis Tournament of Champions basketball tournament is named in his honor.
• Chad Sisson (class of 1997), "Chad Dukes" from "The Big O and Dukes Show" on WJFK 106.7FM in Washington, D.C.
• Tiffany Dupont (class of 1999), actress. Former Miss University of Georgia. Principal cast member for "The Bedford Diaries" on The CW. Has also appeared in "Grounded For Life", "Yes, Dear", "Joan of Arcadia", and "Greek".
• Matthew Continetti (class of 1999), Author/Journalist. Associate editor at The Weekly Standard magazine; his book, The K-Street Gang, was published in April 2006. Also a frequent contributor on the MSNBC television show Hardball with Chris Matthews.
• Greg Eklund (class of 1988), drummer. Member of the alternative rock band Everclear 1994-2003.
• Allen Johnson (class of 1989), track and field star and Olympic gold medalist for whom the school's track and annual outdoor track and field invitational is named
• Ed Moses (class of 1998), swimmer and Olympic gold medalist
• Mia Hamm (class of 1989), professional women's soccer player
• Dave Thomas (class of 1986), current principal of the school
• Susan Williams (class of 1987), Olympic bronze medalist in the triathlon 2004
• Devraj "Dave" S. Kori (class of 2008), received media attention when he called the home of the FCPS chief operating officer asking why schools did not get a snow day, and was rebuked by the officer's wife

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Lake Braddock Secondary School
• Lake Braddock Sports
• Lake Braddock Crew
• Lake Braddock Band
• Lake Braddock Orchestra
• Lake Braddock Theatre
• Lake Braddock Chorus

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