Matoaca Middle School

Matoaca Middle School
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Location
20300 Halloway Ave. Matoaca, Virginia. 23803 6001 Hickory Rd. Matoaca, Virginia. 23803 United States Virginia
Information
Type	Public
Established	1975
School district	Chesterfield County Public Schools
Principal	Wayne Carter
Grades	6-8
Color(s)	Red, Gold
Athletics	Soccer, Basketball, Track, Cross Country, Cheerleading
Mascot	Warrior
Website	Matoaca Middle School East/ West

Matoaca Middle School is school for grades 6-8 located in Chesterfield County, Virginia. The school was built in the Fall of 1975 ^[1] The school derives its name from the Algonquian princess who was better known as Pocahontas.^[1]

School boundaries

Matoaca Middle School's attendance zones are North from Lake Chesdin to River Rd at Second Branch Rd; East on River Rd; Northeast to Woodpecker Rd at Bundle Rd. North to Newbys Bridge Rd, East to Courthouse Rd, South across Beach Rd (including Gates Bluff, Woodland Pond and The Highlands); South along Iron Bridge Rd, South at Lewis Rd across Bradley Bridge Rd, East to Branders Bridge Rd; South on Branders Bridge Rd to Colonial Heights City Limits.^[2] The school has two buildings which are both considered "Matoaca Middle School". They are divided into the East Campus, and the West Campus (see below). The location of each are the following, West Campus: 20300 Halloway Ave. Matoaca, Virginia. 23803 and East Campus:6001 Hickory Rd. Matoaca, Virginia. 23803

Administration

List of Principals

• Wayne Carter; September 2009–present ^[4]
• Carla Matthews; September 2007 - June 2009 ^[5]
• Jeff McGee; Unknown - June 2007 ^[6]

Building structuring

Unlike other schools in the county, Matoaca Middle school utilizes two separate buildings, one being the original Matoaca Middle schools and one being a discarded section of Matoaca High School.

East Campus

The East campus, the old Matoaca High School, was re-opened as a Middle School and was given 8th graders from the local school district as well as gifted 6th, 7th and 8th graders from around Chesterfield County. As an old high school, there are several advantages in the "East Campus" including a bigger wood shop as well as increased Science labs. The Matoaca Middle School language department is based in the East Campus.

West Campus

After the opening of the East campus, over-crowded was vastly reduced in the West Campus as it now only carried 6th and 7th graders living in the district. Language is offered to 7th graders at the West campus.

Clubs & Sports

At Matoaca Middle School, there are several after-school clubs, along with athletics. They include the following:

Clubs

Current Clubs

• World Languages Club- For the benefit of students who take a Foreign Language
• Crime Solvers Club- A school program about awareness and education about Crime Sovler Incorporated
• Student Council Association (SCA)- The Student Government of Matoaca Middle School. Position include President, Vice President, Historian, and more.
• Drama Club- The club that organizes and produces the school play.
• FCA - Fellowship of Christian Athletes a christian fellowship
• Pre Engineering Club- Gives the students a feel about the Engineering World, and usually participates in the annual Future City Competition.

Discontinued or Clubs on Hiatus

• Risk Club- A club dedicated for the playing of Risk, the board game (Fate undetermined)
• Chess Club- A club for the art of chess (hiatus)
• Science Olympiad - Organizes teams to compete in a national Science Olympiad.

Athletics

Boys' Sports

• Soccer
• Basketball
• Track
• Cross Country

Girls' Sports

• Soccer
• Basketball
• Track
• Cross Country
• Cheerleading

High School Course Offerings

Matoaca Middle School offers several High School Courses ^[7] The below chart is in descending level of advancement

• ^1 Algebra 2 can be taken alongside Geometry
• ^2 A Student can skip a level of language if deemed able to by the school
• ^3 The only requirement to take Earth Science is to be enrolled in 8th Grade Science

     - Math

     - Algebra (1 and 2)

     - Geometry

     - World Language

     - Spanish (3, 2 and 1)

     - French (3, 2 and 1)

     - Latin (3, 2 and 1)

     - Science

     - Earth Science

Events in the news

Matoaca Middle has periodically appeared on online and local media for an array of events.

2008 Mock Election

Matoaca Middle gained local news attention for a mock election it held which ran opposite the 2008 Presidential Election.^[8] Civics classes were divided into several "campaigns" to run a month long "get out the vote" effort which culminated in 1 Town Hall formatted debate, and 1 Normal formatted debate.

Sustainable Garden Effort

The local community also took notice as students from Matoaca Middle School took part in a project to raise a "sustainable" garden to serve to both train students in Ecology and Financing (The Financial decisions associated with maintaining any organization).^[9] Started in November 2007, the project took off to gain county support in supplying a water supply as well as helping in the acquisition of pavement and other necessary materials. Representatives of the garden, known as Matoaca's Sustainable Garden (MSG), took part in VSU's Randolph Farm Field Day.

Haunted Auditorium

At the old High School (Current East Campus), a persistent rumor of a ghost in the auditorium goes on.^[10] The story goes that, when the building was a High School, a girl who attended the High School was involved in the school's play. However, on the night of the performance, she died due to lights of the stage falling on her. The rumor has it that the auditorium has been haunted with her spirit. Recently at a matoaca middle school orchestra concert there were reports of flashing lights during the concert. everyone that attended the concert has said the same thing. The lights appeared to be flickering in beat with the music. People who visit during the night frequently report the cutting off of the lights, drop in temperature, and banging of the walls from an unknown force.^[11] However, no proof of a ghost (besides reports from a small group of people) has ever been verified. One of the school's drama productions during its middle school time, has been based on this topic, The Phantom of the Auditorium. It is based on the play Phantom of the Opera, but the same concept of having a ghost of the auditorium is still present.

School statistics

Demographics

In general, Matoaca Middle has many fewer Asian and Hispanic students than the Virginia average and has around an addition 15% Black and White population in comparison to the Virginia Average.^[12] Male-Female Breakdown

• Male - 53%
• Female - 47%

Grade Level

• 6th - 383
• 7th - 314
• 8th - 368

Ethnic Breakdown

• White - 27% (Virginia Average 56%)
• Black- 67% (Virginia Average 26%)
• Asian - 5% (Virginia Average 5%)
• Hispanic - 1% (Virginia Average 8%)

Test scores

City-data.com ranks Matoaca a 56 on a scale from 0 to 100 (100 being best; 0 being worst) in terms of SOL Testing Averages.^[13] Table Data retrieved from greatschools.net ^[14]

     90% or over passing

     61% - 89% passing

     60% or under passing

See also

• Education in the United States
• List of high schools in Virginia

References