Forest Park High School (Montclair, Virginia)

Coordinates: 38°36′45.13″N 77°22′4.91″W / 38.6125361°N 77.3680306°W / 38.6125361; -77.3680306

Forest Park High School

Crest of Forest Park High School

We do not learn for the school, but for life
Address
Forest Park High School
Forest Park High School
Forest Park High School
15721 Forest Park Drive
Woodbridge, Virginia 22193
Information
Type Public
Founded 2000
School district Prince William County Public Schools
School number (703) 583-3200
NCES School ID 510313002542[1]
Principal Richard Martinez
Faculty 136.64[1] (on FTE basis)
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 2,405[1] (2013–14)
Student to teacher ratio 17.60[1]
Color(s)      Royal blue
     Kelly green
Mascot Bruin
Website forestpark.groupfusion.net

Forest Park Senior High School is a public high school in Montclair, Virginia, unincorporated Prince William County, Virginia, United States. It is part of Prince William County Public Schools and is located on 15721 Forest Park Drive (formerly Spriggs Road; the name changed during 2005-2006 construction on Spriggs Road). The school's name references adjacent Prince William Forest Park, one of the largest national parks in the Washington metropolitan area.

Forest Park is the home of the first information technology (iT) specialty program in Prince William County. Forest Park Senior High School is also recognized with their Track and Cross Country Team (State Champions 2012, 2013, and 2014; as well as 15 Individual State Titles, and 55 athletes who have gone on to run at the NCAA level), Academic Scholastic Team (2003, 2006, and 2009 Cardinal District Champions), girls basketball team (the 2003-2004 and 2005-06 Virginia State Champions), and their wrestling team (3 individual Virginia AAA Wrestling State Champions).

In 2008 Newsweek magazine ranked Forest Park on its annual list of "America's Top Public High Schools" [2]

Academics

iT program

Forest Park Senior High School is a center for the iT (Information Technology) program. All interested students must apply for the program, bringing in many students around Prince William County. There are three fields that students can enter: Computer Graphics, Networking, Programming. Each year, iT students are required to take an iT core class. Students can receive a special iT Diploma if they complete six iT courses (four core), or five iT courses and an AP class.

County observatory

The Prince William County Observatory complex consists of and that are mounted to the roof of Forest Park High School. The ten-foot fiberglass dome houses a sixteen-inch Meade telescope, with a CCD camera attached. Students can remotely control the dome and telescope and images will be downloaded into the student's computer. The smaller dome, known as Robo-Dome, will house an eight-inch Meade telescope with solar screen. A video camera and computer will be attached to the telescope and launched to the moon.[3]

Demographics

The following information was provided by PWCS.edu's School Data Profiles found on their website.

In the 2011-2012 school year, Forest Park's student body was:

Test scores

Forest Park High School is an accredited high school based on its performance on the Virginia Standards of Learning tests.

Athletics

The Forest Park High School mascot and athletic emblem is the Bruin with royal blue and Kelly green serving as its school colors. The school is a member of the AAA Cardinal District of the AAA Northwest Region of the Virginia High School League (VHSL).

The Bruins compete in the following sports:

  • Fall sports
    • Cheerleading
    • Cross country (boys and girls)
    • Field hockey
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Volleyball
  • Winter sports
    • Basketball (boys and girls)
    • Indoor track (boys and girls)
    • Swimming (boys and girls)
    • Wrestling
  • Spring sports
    • Baseball
    • Softball
    • Crew (boys and girls)
    • Lacrosse (boys and girls)
    • Soccer (boys and girls)
    • Tennis (boys and girls)
    • Track and field (boys and girls)

World Champions

National

State champions

Notable athletic alumni

Clubs and other organizations

Forest Park students have the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of special interest clubs that offer activities, events and competitions, including:

  • Academic Team
  • Americas Club
  • Anime Club
  • Art Club
  • Band
  • Book Club
  • Bowling Club
  • Bronies Club
  • Chemistry Honor Society
  • Chess Club
  • Chorus
  • French Club
  • FBLA
  • Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA)
  • German Club
  • Improv Club
  • International Club
  • Jazz Club
  • JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps)
  • Key Club
  • Knitting Club
  • Latin Club & Latin Honor Society

Band

The band ensembles at Forest Park are currently under the direction of Mr. Donald Magee, the school's second band director. He succeeds Mr. J.R. Snow, who built the band into a perennial honor band by the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association.

Chorus

Forest Park's choir program has received regional, state and national recognition. In 2005, the Concert Choir was awarded Overall Grand Champion at a national music festival in Orlando. In 2006 and 2008, the Concert Choir was awarded Overall Choral Champion at an international festival in New York City. In 2009, Forest Park Choirs won the Sweepstakes Award at Heritage Festivals in Atlanta. In December 2009, the choir was featured at Epcot Center at the Candlelight Celebration Concert with celebrity narrator, Whoopi Goldberg. In 2011, the Bel Canto Women’s Choir was awarded the Adjudicator’s Award at a national choral festival in New York City, while the Concert Choir and Platinum Jazz won 1st place in their categories.[6] In 2015, Forest Park's Concert Choir was featured at Epcot Center at the Christmas Candlelight Processional with Celebrity Narrator, Chandra Wilson.

The program is directed by Ms. Lara Brittain. Ensembles in the vocal music program include:

Orchestra

The program is under the direction of Mr. Benjamin Pereyra. The previous teacher was Mrs. Mi-Young Shin. The teacher before that was Mrs. Katherine Colburn, who worked at FP after teaching for some time at Potomac High School. Before that the teacher was Mr. Casey. Orchestras include:

Drama

Forest Park High School also hosts a drama club. Sponsoring three shows a year (a musical, mainstage play, and a one-act play), the program is currently headed by Mrs. Lori Spitzer-Wilk. Forest Park has performed popular shows in the past such as Beauty and the Beast, Sweet Charity, The Wizard of Oz, Oklahoma! , Shrek The Musical, and Young Frankenstein.

Ursa Major Literary Magazine

The Forest Park literary magazine, Ursa Major, is an award winning publication[7] produced by the students of the Creative Writing classes and is sponsored by Mrs. Laura Dowling. The magazine is open to all students in the school for literary and artistic submissions. Publication of the magazine is annual in the spring. The magazine also sponsors a Coffee House in the early spring to showcase art in all forms. The magazine can be purchased each June or on-line at lulu.com.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Search for Public Schools - School Detail for Forest Park High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "The Top of the Class - Newsweek's complete list of the 1,300 top U.S. high schools". Newsweek. 16 May 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  3. ↑ PWCS Observatory
  4. ↑ http://www.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/Team-USA-Events.aspx?year=2014
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 http://www.vhsl.org/files/pub-vhsl-recordbook-jan10.pdf Virginia High School League Book of Records 2009-2010
  6. ↑ "Awards". Singing Bruins. Archived from the original on August 3, 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "Writing/Photo/Design Contest". Retrieved 8 August 2012.

External links

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