Virginia High School, home of Blue Devil Athletics, educates students grades 7-12 in Virginia, Minnesota. It is a public high school with open enrollment located on scenic 5th Avenue across from the courthouse. Virginia High School has a very strong music department. The marching band, known as the Marching Blues, is the pride of the community. The high school also excels in sports, notably hockey, basketball, volleyball, tennis, football, and soccer. Despite budget problems in the past decade due to declining enrollment, Virginia Secondary has maintained success in standardized state testing, athletics, graduation rates and school pride.
Contents |
The structure consists of the Technical Building, Laboratory Annex, and Malone Hall. In the past the Roosevelt building and new gymnasium area was part of the high school, though now houses Roosevelt Elementary school.
In the summer of 2007 new windows were added to the entire building and security was increased with the addition of security cameras in every hallway. At the end of the 2007/08 school year the high school received new iMacs in every computer lab. In addition, projectors and touch sensitive white boards have been added to most classrooms.
The school day consists of 7 periods ranging from 51 to 52 minutes with 3 to 5 minutes passing time allowed. Junior high students have a closed lunch period between 3rd and 4th hours while grades 9-12 enjoy an open lunch after 4th hour. The enrollment has been at a slow decline for the last few decades as the city of Virginia does the same, though recent reports from the district show that a few new teachers have been employed in the elementary, and that those grades have seen an increase in students in the last few years.
The Virginia Marching Blues is the high school's marching band that consists of students from grades 9-12. The Virginia School District has a 6th grade band, junior high band - grades 7-8, concert band - grades 9-12, Wind Ensemble - grades 10-12 (Audition only) , and jazz band - grades 9-12. They play concerts in the Goodman Auditorium about three times a year. The junior high band is led by Mr. Rich. The other bands are led by Christine Freundschuh. Large numbers of students from each grade are in band.
Virginia is part of Minnesota's northeast region of knowledge bowl. There are competitive levels of three teams each at elementary, junior high, junior varsity, and varsity. Each level has three different teams that compete from Virginia. Varsity teams have a chance to make it to state in Brainerd, Minnesota; but all of the other teams just compete in three meets in the area at the Lake Country building in Mountain Iron. Recently, in 2009 and 2010, Virginia sent a team to state knowledge bowl.
The Urban Edge is a student-run coffee shop located in the Laboratory Annex of Virginia High School. The district owns the Urban Edge and the shop is managed by Mr. Mauston, the economics teacher. Seniors and Juniors can choose to work at the Urban Edge as part of a class on business.
Snow Week is a Homecoming-like week. It is a celebration of Blue Devil spirit during January/February. The celebrations feature performances from student bands and dance groups. A Snow Week king and queen are crowned. Either gender can be crowned as king or queen because the school is promoting gender-equality.
Concurrent enrollment with Mesabi Range Community & Technical College and Vermillion Community College is an option many juniors and seniors consider when getting ready for college. The program allows for qualified students to gain college credit without leaving the high school campus through challenging courses with collegiate formats in lectures, assignments and grading. Many of the credits earned transfer to 4 year institutions across Minnesota. Virginia Secondary also has partnerships with other Eastern Iron Range districts for vocational classes ranging from nursing to accounting.
List of high schools in Minnesota