Virgil Middle School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Virgil Middle School, formerly known as Virgil Junior High School, is a middle school in Los Angeles, California. This school is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District and teaches classes to students who range from grades 6 through 8. The present enrollment of this school is approximately 2,800 students.
Several areas, including sections of Angelino Heights, are zoned to Virgil.
Virgil feeds into Belmont High School.
Contents |
[edit] Location
Virgil Middle School is located at 152 North Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, California. It was called Virgil Intermediate School before it became Virgil Junior High School. The students of this school district are predominately of Mexican-American and hispanic origin. This section of Los Angeles is bordered to the south by Los Angeles Koreatown, to the east by the Rampart section of Los Angeles and to the north by Hollywood.
[edit] History
Construction on the original school began in September of 1912. The original school stood on Virgil Avenue, a few blocks from the current location, thus the name. There were originally two hundred seventy-five students and fourteen teachers the first year of the school's operation. Construction was completed in 1916. The student body and faculty had more than doubled by that point in time.
During the World War I students from this school assisted the war effort by knitting garments for soldiers and collecting cans of food to help the Red Cross.
The school is said to be haunted by three ghosts. One is a floating clown figure that appears in the rooms beneath the auditorium and backstage, the second is of a boy who hung himself in a bathroom because he was upset with his report card and the third is of a girl who accidentally hung herself while helping to set up a haunted halloween program. The clown ghost sightings and legend has been circulated since at least the late 1950's.
Construction on the second and current location of this school was completed in November, 1931. It possesses an art deco style of architecture. It was at this time the school was given the name "Virgil Junior High School". The main building had to be rebuilt and the auditorium and annex were reinforced following the earthquake of 1933.
The first pancipal was Jay B. Millard. He was followed by Roscoe Frasher, Roy A. Arnheim, Mary Comerford, and Paul J. Schwartz during her first 50 years.
Virgil will be relieved when Liechty Middle School opens in 2007 [1].
Virgil will be relieved when Central Los Angeles Area Middle School 3 opens in 2008 [2]
[edit] Trivia
The student paper of Virgil Junior High School, the Virgil Voice, was begun in 1925.
The yearbook is called the "Virgiliad."
Several key scenes in the motion pictures Grease (1978) starring John Travolta and Halls of Anger (1970) starring Jeff Bridges were filmed at Virgil.
A comedy (short) film called "The Don of Virgil Jr. High" (2007) was filmed at Virgil.
[edit] Alumni
Many famous people have attended Virgil Middle School. Among them are:
- Richard Crenna, actor
- Melvin Gilbert, inventor
- Carole Lombard, actress
- Marilyn Monroe, actress
- Scott Shaw author, actor, filmmaker
[edit] External links
|
||||||||||||||
