Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School
(B-CC)

Learn, Think, Serve, Be Responsible
Address
4301 East-West Highway
Bethesda, Maryland, 20814
USA
Information
Type Public
Established 1926
School district Montgomery County Public Schools
Principal Karen Lockard
Grades 9–12
Gender Coeducational
Enrollment 1,872 (2013-14[1])
Campus Suburban
Color(s) Blue and Gold          
Athletics conference MPSSAA Montgomery County League
Mascot Battlin' Baron
Team name Barons
Rival Walt Whitman High School
Accreditation MSA, IBO
Publication Chips
Newspaper The Tattler
Yearbook The Pine Tree
Athletic Director James Tapley
Website Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (B-CC) is a Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, public school named for two of the towns it serves along with Kensington and Silver Spring, Maryland. It is located at 4301 East-West Highway, in Bethesda. In May 2012, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School was ranked #6 in the state of Maryland, and #151 in the nation. [2]

Bethesda-Chevy Chase is a part of Montgomery County Public Schools.

The school serves the Chevy Chase and Bethesda areas including the towns of Chevy Chase, Chevy Chase View, Chevy Chase Village, and Somerset; and the villages of Chevy Chase Section Three, Chevy Chase Section Five, Martin's Additions and North Chevy Chase. Schools within the Bethesda-Chevy Chase cluster include Westland Middle, Bethesda Elementary, Chevy Chase Elementary (3-6), North Chevy Chase Elementary (3-6), Rock Creek Forest Elementary, Rosemary Hills Elementary (Pre-K-2), Somerset Elementary, and Westbrook Elementary.

Academics

B-CC is a public senior high school with various academic programs, including learning and academic disabilities education and English as a Second Language. B-CC has an Honors program, an Advanced Placement program, and a signature program—the International Baccalaureate program. B-CC is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and by the Maryland State Department of Education. The school offers 28 Advanced Placement Courses, and the International Baccalaureate Middle Years and Diploma Programs.

In 1960, the school was rated "Best School in America" by Time Magazine. In 2005, the school was ranked 29th in Newsweek Magazine's top 1000 High Schools in the U.S., ranked 34th in the 2006 edition, 44th in the 2007 edition and B-CC was ranked 64th on Newsweek's Top 100 High Schools of 2008.[3] In 2010, B-CC was ranked by Newsweek as the third best public school in the state of Maryland, and as the 63rd best public school nationwide.

In May 2011, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School was ranked #1 in the state of Maryland, and #59 in the nation.

Courses

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School offers courses in many fields. They offer the International Baccalaureate program and the Advanced Placement program.

Foreign languages

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School is known as a school that offers variety of languages which include:

Mathematics

In addition to courses such as Algebra and Geometry, which are required by many colleges as well as by Montgomery County, B-CC offers a variety of upper level math courses. The Mathematics department is one of the strongest at B-CC, mainly because of the faculty which includes highly educated professors and award-winning teachers. The AP Calculus BC, IB Math (HL) and Multivariable Calculus Teacher, Christopher Orlando was given the award Teacher of the year 2009 on national level. The Mathematics department offers the following courses:

Science

B-CC offers several college-level science courses, including:

History and social sciences

In addition to the numerous electives offered by the Social Studies Department, a number of courses exploring history and the social sciences at the college level are offered, including

English

Many students in 11th and 12th grade opt to challenge themselves by taking college-level English courses offered at B-CC. These include:

Other

AP and IB courses are also offered by the Theater, Art, Music, and Technology Departments.

Music

B-CC's Music Department has earned two Grammy Foundation awards for their ensembles.

Led by Marshall White, the department boasts a Symphonic and Concert Orchestra and Band, Advanced Band, Pep Band, Jazz Band, Drumline, and a number of chamber groups such as a string quartet, brass group, string ensemble, pit orchestra (for the theatre program), and jazz combo. It also has several choral groups, and individual instrument courses such as guitar and piano. Choral groups are led by Lisa Itkin, and the concert and symphonic bands are directed by Matthew "Hoff" Hoffman. The department also offers a rigorous IB Music course as a regular period during the day.[4]

History

Begun as a two-story, 14-room facility on Wilson Lane in 1926, B-CC High School opened in its current location on East-West Highway in 1935 at 44,995 ft² in a building designed by Howard Wright Cutler. New buildings or additions to existing buildings were constructed over the years:

which made the total school area 253,242 ft².

In the summer of 1994, parents, teachers, administrators, business people and other supporters of B-CC High School formed the Community Coalition for Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. Its charge was to re-engineer and refocus the high school in an increasingly urbanized and cosmopolitan area. CC-B-CC representatives were encouraged to think broadly and innovatively to create programs that would lead B-CC High School and Montgomery County Public Schools into the next century.

Because of this effort, in February 2002, B-CC High School re-opened its doors after a two-and-a-half year, multi-million dollar, comprehensive modernization that, among other things, combined the historic 1935 and 1936 structures into one building. It had a 213,499 ft² addition, 94,716 ft² of renovations of the original 1935, 1936 and part of the 1950 buildings, and 158,526 ft² of demolitions of most of the 1950 building, 1952, 1959, 1966, 1970, 1975, and 1976 buildings. The building now encompasses 308,215 ft².

Facilities

A view of the building from East-West Highway.

The school now boasts 80 classrooms, a media center with 30 computer workstations and TV studio and media production facilities, a greenhouse, a music laboratory and choral room, 2 gymnasiums and a weight training room, a 900-seat auditorium, and a cafeteria that serves breakfast and lunch. B-CC also has two "firsts" among Montgomery County Public Schools — a Cyber Café, opened in March 2003, and a state-of-the-art Language Lab, installed in the summer of 2004.

In 2008, B-CC High School was equipped with 80 digital classroom Promethean boards.

Athletics

B-CC fields more than 25 athletic teams, known as the Barons:

Fall sports

Winter sports

Spring sports

Activities

B-CC High School offers more than 80 clubs and student organizations.

Academic

B-CC High School boasts a state championship Varsity Physics team. [11]

Publications

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School actively publishes six types of publications:

Music and Theatre

B-CC is a GRAMMY foundation signature school. In 2005, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School won the Maryland State Theatre Society's award for best musical for its production of Urinetown.

In April 2008, B-CC attended the Boston Heritage Festival. All of its music groups received golds and left with several trophies and plaques. They also received soloist awards for a number of their musicians. The 2010 music department trip went to New York City, where B-CC won multiple awards, including the "Heritage Sweepstakes" award (for being the overall best competing music department) and the "Best Individual Ensemble" Award, which went to the Symphonic Orchestra.

Previous music department trips have taken students to Montreal, Chicago, New Orleans, Boston, and Orlando. Each trip has seen B-CC's ensembles participate in the Heritage Festival, with the notable exception of the 2013 trip to New York, in which groups attended clinics and were coached by professional musicians.[12]

Administrators

Notable staff

Notable alumni

Government and politics

Chet Culver, Governor of Iowa

Business

Jonathan I. Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems

Academia

Sports

Arts and media

David Simon, creator and executive producer of the HBO series The Wire (TV series)
John Harwood, Chief White House Correspondent for CNBC
Tommy Davidson, Comedian and Actor

References

  1. ↑ B-CC At A Glance
  2. ↑ Bethesda Schools Rank Among the Best http://bethesda.patch.com/articles/county-bethesda-schools-rank-among-top-in-nation
  3. ↑ (1)
  4. ↑ B-CC HS Music
  5. ↑ http://bccfieldhockey.stackvarsity.com/history/trecords.asp''. Missing or empty |title= (help);
  6. ↑ "B-CC Crew - History". B-CC Crew. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  7. ↑ "B-CC Crew - History". B-CC Crew. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "B-CC Crew - History". B-CC Crew. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  9. ↑ "B-CC Crew - History". B-CC Crew. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  10. ↑ "2014 USAU High School State Results". USAU. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  11. ↑ 2013 Physics Olympics Results http://www.physics.umd.edu/PhysOlympics/2013scores.html
  12. ↑ Music Department Fundraisers and Volunteer Opportunities
  13. ↑ A Social History of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School 1925–1980, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, retrieved 22 December 2008.
  14. ↑ Gabriele McCormick "High School Forever" Bethesda Magazine

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/bcchs/

External links

Coordinates: 38°59′11.1″N 77°5′19.4″W / 38.986417°N 77.088722°W