Western Albemarle High School
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Western Albemarle High School is a public high school located in Crozet, Virginia and is part of the Albemarle County Public School System, serving the western and central areas of Albemarle County. Its approximate enrollment is 1,100 students. The high school is often simply referred to as Western or WAHS[1] by students and locals. The school cheer is "Go Wahs Go" after the phrase "Go Hoos Go" of the University of Virginia.
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[edit] About the school
Western Albemarle High School opened in September of 1977. It is situated at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains on a seventy-five acre site adjacent to Highway 250 and Interstate 64. The school serves the western portion of Albemarle County, and is fed into by J. T. Henley Middle School. Recently, Jack Jouett Middle School was redistricted so that its students attend Albemarle High School exclusively.
Western Albemarle High School also hosts the Destination ImagiNation tournament for the Jefferson District. Rumors are that it will host the State Finals as well.
The school won the Wachovia cup for sportsmanship for two years running, but in the spring of 2006, large numbers of Athletes were arrested for underage drinking violations on prom night. This removed WAHS from the running that year.
In January 2008, it was announced that Western was one of two schools (along with Murray Elementary) in the County that received the Governor’s Award for Educational Excellence. This was the highest honor in the new incentive program for schools and school divisions created by the Board of Education to advance Governor Kaine’s “competence to excellence” agenda.[2]
[edit] Administration
- Chris Dyer - Principal
- Anne Coughlin - Former Principal
- Greg Domecq - Associate Principal
- Bobbi Hughes - Assistant Principal
- Dave Francis - Assistant Principal
[edit] Campus
Western Albemarle enjoys a seventy-five acre campus and developed sports complex. The school hosts a track, football field, six tennis courts, a softball field, baseball field, a new workout facility, and two gymnasiums. Western's baseball field is recently constructed and is located across Route 250 adjacent to J. T. Henley Middle School and Brownsville Elementary School. It replaced an older field that was known for an imposing right field fence to offset an unusually short right field line. The construction was spurred after the varsity baseball team placed in the semi-finals of the state tournament in 1997.
[edit] Sports
Western Albemarle belongs to the Jefferson District of Region II of the Virginia High School League and has had success in multiple sports such as cross country running, baseball, tennis, and lacrosse. In 2004-2005, the school won 21 district, regional, and state tournament championships.[3] The school offers the following programs:
Winter Sports
- Boys and Girls Varsity, Junior Varsity, and 9th Grade basketball.
- Boys and Girls Indoor Track.
- Boys and Girls swimming.
- Varsity Wrestling.
Spring Sports
- Varsity and junior varsity baseball.
- Boys and Girls Varsity and Junior varsity lacrosse.
- Varsity and Junior Varsity softball.
- Boys and Girls Tennis.
- Boys and Girls varsity and junior varsity soccer.
Fall Sports
- Boys and Girls Cross Country.
- Varsity and junior varsity field hockey.
- Varsity and junior varsity football.
- Varsity and junior varsity volleyball.
- Varsity Golf.
[edit] In the news
In 2006, a 16-year-old Western Albemarle High School student and a 15-year-old Albemarle High School student were arrested after it was discovered that they were plotting to detonate explosives at their schools.[4] The students were both found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to use explosives to destroy a school house, and have been committed to the juvenile justice system.[5]
In 2006, the film Evan Almighty, sequel to Bruce Almighty, was filmed in a neighborhood immediately across from the entrance to the school.
In 2008, the school was ranked 417 of 1358 of the top 5% of U.S. high schools by Newsweek, placing it in the 98th percentile of school quality.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ This is an alphabetism of the school's abbreviated name, and would be pronounced "woz", the same as in Steve Wozniak's nickname.
- ^ Virginia Governor's site on Award for Educational Excellence.
- ^ Western Albemarle High School Athletics page
- ^ 13-year-olds guilty in bomb plot Hawranke hearing delayed, The Daily Progress, April 6, 2006.
- ^ Student convicted in bomb plot. Richmond Times-Dispatch. March 30, 2006.
- ^ America's Top Public High Schools
