| Charlottesville High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
| 1400 Melbourne Road[1] Charlottesville, Virginia 22901, |
|
| Information | |
| Motto | Embrace Diversity and Inspire Dreams |
| Opened | 1974 |
| School board | Charlottesville |
| School district | Charlottesville City Schools |
| Superintendent | Dr. Rosa S. Atkins |
| CEEB Code | 470423 |
| Principal | Dr. Thomas W. Taylor[2] |
| Vice principal | Lawrence Clarke[2] |
| Faculty | 90[2] |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Number of students | 1,350 |
| Color(s) | Orange and black |
| Sports | Baseball, basketball (boys and girls), competition cheerleading, creative writing, cross country (boys and girls), debate, field hockey, football, forensics, golf (boys and girls), indoor track (boys and girls), lacrosse (boys and girls), outdoor track and field (boys and girls), school publications, sideline cheerleading, soccer (boys and girls), softball, swimming and diving (boys and girls), tennis (boys and girls), theatre, volleyball (girls), wrestling[3] |
| Mascot | Black Knight |
| Newspaper | The Knight Time Review |
| Yearbook | CHS Chain |
| Website | http://www.ccs.k12.va.us/schools/chs/ |
Charlottesville High School (commonly called CHS) is a public high school in the independent city of Charlottesville, Virginia, serving students from 9th to 12th grade. It is a part of Charlottesville City Schools.
It is the second largest high school in the region with a student population of approximately 1,350. The school grounds include a memorial garden, a running track, ballfields, landscaped courtyards and the Martin Luther King Jr. Performing Arts Center (or "MLK PAC"). Across Melbourne Road lies Theodose Stadium, which doubles as the field hockey stadium during the fall, and soccer and lacrosse stadium during the Spring season.
University Gardens, a University of Virginia family housing unit, is zoned to Charlottesville High School.[4][5][6]
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Charlottesville High School was built in 1974 because the Lane High School building had become too small to accommodate all students within the city limits. Lane High school saw its last graduating class in June, 1974. CHS opened its doors in September, 1974. The new school inherited their school colors (black & orange) as well as their mascot (the Black Knight) from the former high school. Lane High School was never demolished and is now the Albemarle County office building. Charlottesville High School's sports complex was still located on the grounds of the Lane High School building until the 1980s, when it was moved to a site across the street from CHS. During the last 20 years of the 20th century, CHS has had some major additions including a new gym facility and a large auditorium.
Renovations started in 2004, lasting two years, and included a fresh coat of paint, updated class rooms, larger and modern restroom facilities, updated ventilation systems, new lockers, and new, asbestos-free floor tile.
"Charlottesville Onward" is played to an original tune. The lyrics are as follows:[3]
Charlottesville High School,
Onward to fame.
Push on ever forward,
Keep your good name.
Forever we'll sing out,
Shout out the cry!
Forever loyal to our school,
Charlottesville High.
The school sponsors a variety of different academic programs, including debate, forensics, quizbowl, and science fair. In 2007, CHS sent two students to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. One of them won a Mu Alpha Theta $1,000 award and a $500 4th place award in mathematics for his project on the Mathematical Modeling of the Speed of Evolution in Asexual Populations. In 2008, the quizbowl team won their 4th straight VHSL State Championship, defeating Cave Spring High School of Roanoke in the final at the College of William and Mary.
CHS's science club formed officially during the 2009-2010 school year by sponsor and physics teacher, Dr. Matthew Shields. In 2010, the club adopted the name BACON (Best All-Around Club Of Nerds). In September 2010, the club applied for MIT/NASA's Zero Robotics competition, which involved programming SPHERES satellites. BACON placed 8th in the simulation round and semi-finals round. In December, three team leads attended the finals at MIT where their code was tested aboard the International Space Station by Commander Scott Kelly. In 2011, the team competed in the Science Olympiad and Science Bowl Competitions, as well as the NASA BHALF Competition. The team won BHALF 2011 Top Team. BACON also regularly takes science-related trips, including a trip to view the launch of STS-133 and two trips to CERN.
CHS has many athletic programs, ranging from football to tennis, track and field to field hockey. Recent highlights include soccer (boys') winning a state championship in 2004 and the quizbowl team winning four straight state titles (2004–2008).
The Knight Time Review (KTR) is the school newspaper for Charlottesville High School. It is published monthly by a completely student-run staff and runs stories and opinion pieces discussing both school issues and national/worldwide issues.
CHS News is a news program that broadcasts morning announcements throughout the school. Directed and produced by students, CHS News provides sports updates, reminders, club activities, and general school information. Previous to the school year of 2010/2011 CHS News was live. However, due to unauthorized material reaching the broadcast, the news is now recorded a day in advance.
The school's Student Council Association (SCA) is in charge of organizing the homecoming dance in the fall. The 11th grade SCA is in charge of organizing a prom for the 11th and 12th grades in the spring. Each year the dances are given names playing on knight/night homonyms. Past year themes have included "A Knight in the Clouds" and "Boogie Knight" and "In The City".
In 1984, the 1,276-seat Performing Arts Center of Charlottesville (PAC) was built to address both the shortage of auditorium space for the high school as well as the area's need for a large venue to accommodate professional touring performances, such as the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Russian Ballet, and the Charlottesville performance of A Prairie Home Companion. In the fall of 2005, Charlottesville City Council decided to rechristen the Performing Arts Center of Charlottesville as "The Martin Luther King Jr. Performing Arts Center of Charlottesville" (MLK PAC), in order to honor the civil rights activist.[7] Sixty dates during the school year are reserved for school-sponsored events such as assemblies and the school's performing arts program.
The performing arts program includes chorus, orchestra, band, and theatre.
The performing arts of Charlottesville High School are internationally acclaimed, having both the band and orchestra competing in competitions all over the world. The band program has won the Virginia Honor Band award 27 times, all of them under the direction of band director Vince Tornello who has been a Virginia Honor Band Director more times than any other band director in the Commonwealth of Virginia.[8] The CHS Orchestra went with its director to London, England in April 2007 and won Grand Champion in the Heritage Festival of Music there. In the Fall of 2007, CHS's rendition of the play "How To Eat Like A Child," performed by an all-student cast and director, won second place in the state for best one-act.