Lee-Davis High School
Lee-Davis High School | |
---|---|
Address | |
7052 Mechanicsville Turnpike Mechanicsville, VA 23111 | |
Information | |
School type | Public, high school |
Founded | 1959 |
School district | Hanover County Public Schools |
Principal | Charles E. Stevens |
Grades | 9–12 |
Enrollment | 1,580 students (2015) |
Language | English |
Campus | Suburban |
Color(s) |
Blue and Orange Additional Colors - Grey and White |
Nickname | Confederates |
Feeder schools | Stonewall Jackson Middle School |
Rival schools | Patrick Henry High School Atlee High School Hanover High School |
Athletic conferences |
Capital District Central Region |
Website | http://hcps2.hanover.k12.va.us/ldhs/ |
Lee-Davis High School is located in Mechanicsville, Virginia, United States, a suburb of Richmond. It currently has about 1700 students enrolled for the 2015-2016 school year. LDHS offers a wide range of academic and extracurricular activities for its students. Stonewall Jackson Middle school is LD's feeder school. They participate in the International Baccalaureate program and host the NJROTC.
School History
Lee-Davis was founded in 1959 along with Patrick Henry High School in Ashland, Virginia, and received students from Battlefield Park High School and Washington-Henry High School. After the construction of Lee-Davis High School was completed for the 1960-61 school year, both Battlefield Park and Washington-Henry became Elementary Schools. Lee-Davis was originally an open-campus or prairie style mid-century modern school, and shared similarities in its design with Patrick Henry High School. In the late 1960s, what is now Stonewall Jackson Middle School was erected on the northern end of the campus as Lee-Davis Junior High. Stonewall became a fully functional middle school some years later when Hanover County implemented the middle school concept.
School Architecture
Over its 50+ year history, it has been renovated several times, and features a wide variety of architectural styles. Ranging from the original prairie-style with dramatic overhangs and large windows, to what it more resembles now; a postmodernist architecture with varying elements of structural exposure throughout the inside of the building, providing interest and insight into the original design of the building. The most ambitious project by far was a complete enclosure project that started in 1986 and was finished along with Patrick Henry's enclosure in 1991. At the time of these renovations, school had to continue in a building that was extremely overcrowded to begin with, and for many students - the construction was all they knew, and the renovations lasted their entire high school career. During this time Hanover County had also completed construction of the County's third high school, Atlee High School. The enclosure of the county's two high schools and the addition of a third high school was enough to supplement the amount of student in the county, and the current student count is around 1600 compared to almost 2000 in the late 1980s. Lee-Davis' main building is now fully enclosed, and has continued to undergo numerous renovations and additions since its redesign in 1991.
Athletics
The Varsity Men's Baseball Team were the Virginia High School League group AAA state champions in both 1997 and 2001. The Wrestling Team has won numerous Central Region championships over the past several years, the last of which was won in 2005 under the coaching of Dean Shew. The Girls' Softball Team won the 2005 Central Region championship as well as the 2011 State Title. Lee-Davis is a nationally recognized Blue Ribbon School.[1] There has been recent controversy over the school's mascot. Originally called "The Confederates", a person dressed as a Confederate soldier would ride on horseback at sporting events. Many newcomers to the area found this offensive and called for a new mascot. There is not any real mascot at Lee-Davis except the two flag runners at the games, and an occasional person in a bulldog costume. In 2009, the Boys' Varsity soccer team won the Capital District, defeating Atlee, Hanover, and Henrico to secure the position. The Varsity Field Hockey team was established in 2006 and has gone on to win three district tournament championships since its installment. Out of its four years of existence, the Varsity Field Hockey team has made it to the Regional tournament every year; advancing as far as the semi-final round in both 2006 and 2008. The Girls' Track and Cross Country teams have won district titles; three in Cross Country, six in Indoor Track, and five in Outdoor Track since 2006. They also won the school's first Track & Field Central Regional title during the Outdoor season in 2006, repeating in 2007, and adding an Indoor Central Region title in 2010. Notable individuals of those teams are Kathy Howard with five AAA State titles in the Shot Put, Rachel Butler with three AAA State titles in the Triple Jump along with placing third in the overall team scoring by herself at the 2007 VHSL AAA State Meet, and Montasia Golden most recently winning the 2010 Indoor State title in the triple Jump. The football team was also host to talents such as running back Adam Burke during the 1995 Regional Runner Up performance by the school. In the years 2014 and 2015 the guy's track team won back to back Outdoor 5A State Championships while being coached by Neil Mathews, a former runner at the school.
Notable alumni
- Jock Jones '87 - Former NFL and Virginia Tech football player
- Jason Mraz '95 - singer/songwriter
- Ryan McDougle - Virginia General Assembly Senator
- Latrell Scott – current head coach of Virginia State University football and former head coach of the Richmond Spiders football team[2]
- Billy Gifford '88 - President and CEO Phillip Morris USA
References
- ↑ Lee-Davis High School website
- ↑ Spiders to name HU graduate Scott as football coach. Daily Press. Retrieved on 15 December 2009.
External links
- Lee-Davis High School website
- Hanover County Public Schools website
- Lee-Davis Alumni Reunion Website
Coordinates: 37°36′49.1″N 77°20′25.5″W / 37.613639°N 77.340417°W