Thomas Dale High School

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Thomas Dale High School
Address
3626 West Hundred Road
Chester, Virginia, 23832
USA
Information
School district Chesterfield County Public Schools
Superintendent Dr. Marcus Newsome
Principal Robert Stansberry
Assistant principals Gene Brown
Mark Fowler
Pam Lumsden
Michelle Lewis
Enrollment

2,454 (2006-2007)
School type Public high school
Grades 9-12
Language English
Athletics conference Virginia High School League
Central Region
Central District
Rival L. C. Bird High School
Hopewell High School
Mascot Knights
Color(s)           Maroon and Gray
Founded 1906
Homepage Official Site

Thomas Dale High School is a public school located in Chester, an unincorporated community in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States.

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 as well as its mens' football and soccer teams.

Contents

[edit] History and tradition

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

See also: Thomas Dale and Jamestown, Virginia

[edit] Buildings and Names

The school known today as Thomas Dale has undergone several building and name changes. It was built in 1906, and was known as Chester High School. In 1917, it was renamed Chester Agricultural High School. Then in 1942, it was given it's current name of Thomas Dale High School.

Also in the early 40's, a new building was constructed on the western side of the original building. This 1940's building stands today as Chester Middle School. The 1906 structure was later demolished.

In 1964, another replacement facility opened less than a mile east on State Route 10. In the mid 1980's, this building saw a small expansion, followed by some interior renovation and the addition of Air Conditioning in the early 1990's.

To alleviate overcrowding, an annex known as the Thomas Dale West Campus opened in 1997 in the former Carver Middle School building on Branders Bridge Road. This facility housed the 9th grade.

Between 1999 and 2001, the 1964 building underwent a massive expansion and a complete interior and exterior renovation. Thomas Dale West Campus closed with the completion of this project.

Though the 2001 expansion was projected to accommodate the school's population for years, the student population has been growing rapidly, and trailers and rooms in the stadium must now be used to house all the students.

[edit] Alma Mater

All hail to our alma mater
Our praise to thee we sing
Loyalty to the maroon and gray
From which we pledge to bring
When our days have ended here
And friends of old must part
We'll always cherish
THOMAS DALE
Deep within our hearts

[edit] Academics

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 "Moon Over Buffalo," with an upcoming production of an abridged version of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." 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 Alumna 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 Angela Harmon. Thomas Dale hosts 12 fully instrumented music ensembles. Willie da squid aka yung squid has yet again changed his mind about his future he has given up rapping to train to compete in G4's Unbeatable Banzuke we all wish him good luck!

[edit] Visual Arts

The Visual Arts department is strongly represented in the Scholastics Awards each year. Photography and Art students have submitted award winning portfolios on the Regional level. This year, a Photography Advanced Placement student's work was awarded a silver key and included in the National Scholastics Secondary Student Art Show. 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 F.S.Essig, photography; Patricia Fairley, Visual Arts; Sebastian Jackson, 3-D design; Shelley Row, Computer Graphics; Luke Petrey, entry level Art and Graphics and staff from John Tyler Community College. An electronic gallery is available for viewing on the School website.

[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] JROTC

The Junior Reserver Officer Training Corps entered Thomas Dale high school for the first time in 2002. The program was run by two instructors: LTC Samuel McNabb and 1SGT Terry Wiggins. The program had a great start and was very much involved with the community. The first year the program had nearly 300 students enrolled into the program. At that time, one of the largest programs in the state of Virginia. During the schools second year, the program opened up to "teams" for students to participate in. These teams consisted of raiders, rifle, drill, and color guard. Each team participated in events and brought back many awards. Again the program was overloaded with students. The third year the program lost 1SGT Terry Wiggins, but gained SFC Treon Simon. The program began to take form and develop new concepts. Road cleanups and community events are to name a few. More and more awards were won. The fourth year was meant to be a special year because of the inspection the program had to complete. However, due to extreme circumstances outside of Thomas Dale's control, the inspection was postponed until the following year.

[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] Baseball

Baseball has always been a competitive sport for Thomas Dale pitting the Knights against a closely matched Central District. Major competitors in the District include the Matoaca Warriors, Meadowbrook Monarchs, Prince George Royals, Dinwiddie Generals, and the Colonial Heights Colonials. A fierce rivalry has emerged between Thomas Dale and the Warriors of Matoaca, a long side the classic Thomas Dale - L.C. Bird rivalry. Recently a coaching change has occurred and head coach Chris Marshall had a successful 2007 season with the young team. The Knights claimed a District Title and a Regional Appearance to close a season that started on a suspect 0-5 record. Team captains Graham Sherman, Tommy Mills, and sophomore Ryan Carter were an impact force along with Kevin Curd, Chris Ostein, and underclassmen Michael Green, Andrew Coker, and Bill Cullen.

Thomas Dale graduated one collegiate baseball player from the 2007 Central District Championship team:

-Graham Sherman- United States Coast Guard Academy

[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. The Knights were once known as a perennial power in the Central District but have failed to win the district title the past two years. Currently, the Knights are 5-5, with a 4 game win streak. Next year will prove to be one of the best in Thomas Dale's long football history. The Knights play on the Edmund Karpus field at their J. Wilson Crump Stadium.

[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. Through May 2007 they won 67 consecutive matches, while defending their #1 national ranking. The winning streak set a state record. In the 2007 Virginia Central Region Semifinals, their streak came to an end, losing 0-2 to the new Cosby High School.

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

-Sophomore Richmond student Jordan Evans will transfer to University of Virginia to play soccer upon the completion of Richmond's season.

  • 2007-08 Senior Patrick Innes has committed to James Madison University to play soccer for the Dukes in 2008.
  • 2008-09 Junior William Bates committed to UVA in early 2008, joining former teammate Jordan Evans on one of the best collegiate teams in the country.
      • The Thomas Dale soccer team is saddened by the loss of defender Andrew Clarke on 1/07/08. At 17 years of age, he died in a car accident before school. During his short lifetime, he won a state title with his Richmond Kickers club team as well as two state titles with his Thomas Dale side. He will always be remembered in the Thomas Dale community.

[edit] Volleyball

The Thomas Dale 2007 boys volleyball went 26-0, losing only three sets all season, on their way to Thomas Dale's third team state title in four years (Boys soccer 2005, 2006). The 2007 season followed a longstanding tradition of domination in the Central district, proven by the fact that the team has never lost a match in district play. As the only team to go to state play the past three season, the Knights prove to have become a powerhouse volleyball team in the state of Virginia. If one word were to describe TDVB, it would be "Woosah," the word yelled after every ace. It's origins came from a lesser known player, Ian McClure, at the beginning of the 2005 season.

  • Michael Blankenbecler starred at setter for the Knights in 2007, netting all-district, region, and state teams. He was also named the VHSL State Player of the Year, joining former teammate Brandon Joyner as the two players from Thomas Dale to win this award. Michael will be attending Virginia Tech in the fall of 2008 to study biology and continue his career on the club volleyball team.

[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.

[edit] Prominent alumni