Massaponax High School

Massaponax High School is a public school in Spotsylvania, VA. It is part of Spotsylvania County Public Schools and is located on 8201 Jefferson Davis Highway. Massaponax High School opened in the fall of 1998 becoming the fourth high school in Spotsylvania County. Massaponax became one of the county's largest high schools and carries a current enrollment of 1,960 students in grades 9 through 12. The school complex consists of 106 acres (0.43 km²). Its outside amenities include a 5,001 seat lighted stadium, an 8 lane rubberized track, 2 baseball fields, 2 softball fields, 2 Multi-Purpose practice fields, 1 Soccer and Field Hockey field, 6 tennis courts, and a 3.1 mile cross country course. Inside there is a 1860 seat gymnasium (3 basketball courts), 1 auxiliary gym, 2 weight rooms and 1 athletic training room. A 1270 seat auditorium and Fine Arts wing serve both the community and school with community plays, musicals, and special events, as well as school, district and state events. Off site, the school uses a 25-yard (23 m), 8 lane indoor swimming pool. Massaponax has a daily working staff of 161. The school was run by principal Joseph Rodkey, who retired after the 2009-2010 school year. Dr. Joe Pisani is the new principal for the 2010-2011 school year.

Location

Massaponax High School is located in Historic Spotsylvania County, consisting of 416.1 square miles (1,078 km²) located in eastern Virginia, midway between the nation's capital of Washington, D.C. and the state capital of Richmond; both of which are approximately 50 miles (80 km) distant. Both capital cities are readily accessible by rail and highway. Spotsylvania County is bordered by Caroline County to the south and east, Louisa to the west, and Hanover County to the southwest, along the North Anna River. Culpeper borders the northwest, and Stafford County to the north, while the City of Fredericksburg lies to the east and Orange County to the west, along the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers.

Notable alumni

• Caressa Cameron, Class of 2005, Is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Fredericksburg, Virginia, who won the title of Miss America on January 30, 2010.

Athletics

Massaponax High School is part of the AAA Commonwealth District and AAA Northwest Region, and offers soccer, tennis, cheerleading, cross country, football, golf, volleyball, basketball, field hockey, swimming, wrestling, baseball, softball, and track and field. Gymnastics recently made a return after going on hiatus due to lack of members from 2002-2006.

Massaponax's football team reached the State Finals in 2003 following an undefeated season, but lost; they would later however, win the AAA Division 5 Northwest Region Title in 2005. in 2009 they pulled through to become northwest regional champions and made it to the semi-finals against the Stone Bridge Bulldogs, but lost.

Massaponax's first State Champion, Dale Parker, won the 100 breaststroke at the 2003 VHSL Swimming and Diving Championships with a 59.98 time.

The Boys Soccer Team advanced to the state championship game in 2000 where they lost to state power Blacksburg 3-2.

In 2007, senior Josh Wine was the first wrestling State Champion in the 285 weight division.

The Massaponax Maniacs is a student organization dedicated to cheering on school teams. Although football and basketball are the main sports the Maniacs support, they can also be found at other sporting events.

In 2006 the Massaponax Softball team won the Commonwealth District regular season title, the Northwest Region title going 3-0 with zero runs scored against them in the region tournament and advanced to the quarterfinals in the state competition against Great Bridge High School.

Marching band

The marching band is known as the Marching Panther Pride (MP²), and has won numerous awards and trophies over the years, most notably the Heart of Cary, given to the band with the most spirit in the parade and fields shows during Cary Band Day in Cary, NC. The band is under the direction of Mr. Corey Koch who is the only band director in school history.

Each year, the band presents "The Matt Kreitz Spirit Award" to the most enthusatic member of the marching band. This individual must be a rising-senior and showed the most pride and spirit their first three years at Massaponax. The recipient of this award is given a mega-phone and brings it to all football games their senior year, and they lead the cheers from the stands. The award is named after Matt Kreitz from the Massaponax High School Class of 2003. After graduating, Mr. Kreitz became the school's Stadium Announcer for home football games and other major events at Massaponax High School.

Publications

• The Growl- is the high school's award winning student newspaper. It has been annually honored as one of the best high school newspapers by The Free Lance Star.

In 2004 it was a NSPA Newspaper Pacemaker winner. In 2009 The Growl won 4th place Best of Show (1-8 pages) at the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention in Phoenix, Arizona; and 9th place in Best of Show (9-12 pages) at the Fall Convention in Washington, DC.

Controversy

There was much controversy over the 2009-2010 school yearbook, titled "truth Be told." Students were allowed to submit anonymous confessions either through Facebook or the front office. There were many inappropriate secrets such as "I have sex to feel wanted" and "I got an abortion without my mom knowing." Any students who had the First edition of the yearbook were asked to return it in place for the new, revised issue. The New issue cost over $50,000 dollars to print and came out during the last week of school. The yearbook, which won multiple awards in the 2008- 2009 school year, made local and national news. The teacher in charge of the yearbook resigned and the principal, Joe Rodkey, had already planned to retire at the end of the year.

See also

• List of high schools in Virginia
• AAA Commonwealth District

External links

• School Website
• Spotsylvania County Schools Website

Coordinates: 38°10′57.8″N 77°30′40.9″W / 38.182722°N 77.511361°W / 38.182722; -77.511361