Heritage High School (Leesburg, Virginia)
Heritage High School | |
---|---|
High School | |
Founded | 2002 |
School district | Loudoun County Public Schools |
Principal | Jeff Adam |
Grades | 9–12 |
Enrollment | 1,417 (2016-17)[1] |
Language | English |
Campus | Suburban |
Color(s) | Red & Black |
Mascot | Pride |
Communities served | Potomac Station Tavistock Farms River Creek Village of Leesburg |
Feeder schools | Cool Spring Elementary, John W. Tolbert Jr. Elementary, Frances Hazel Reid Elementary, Ball's Bluff Elementary, Frederick Douglass Elementary, Harper Park Middle School |
Rival School | Loudoun County High School Tuscarora High School |
Athletic Conference | Dulles District 4A North Region – Conference 21B |
Website | http://www.loudoun.k12.va.us/hhs |
Heritage High School is a public secondary school located in Leesburg, Virginia, and is part of Loudoun County Public Schools. The principal is Jeff Adam. Its naming broke the previous tradition of naming high schools with two words prior to "High School" (Loudoun County High School, Broad Run High School, etc.).
Though Heritage is located in the southern border of Leesburg, adjacent to
History
Heritage opened in 2002 for the eastern Leesburg community, feeding most of its students from
Like other new high schools that opened in Loudoun County before it, such as Stone Bridge and Potomac Falls, Heritage opened without a senior class, and juniors were allowed to choose which school they wanted to graduate from. Most Heritage students came from the Stone Bridge attendance area, and many rising juniors (Class of 2004) at Stone Bridge chose to stay there rather than go to Heritage. This was somewhat understandable because Leesburg students at Stone Bridge in the class of 2004 attended J.L. Simpson Middle School for 6th and 7th grade (1997–1999); went to a brand new Harper Park Middle School for 8th grade (1999–2000); went to a brand new Stone Bridge for their first two years of high school (2000–2002); and then were expected to go to another new school for their last two years. Constant boundary adjustments may have contributed to the large number of rising juniors who wished to remain at Stone Bridge. Consequently, the junior class at Heritage was only about 110 members, rather than about 250 if all juniors were required to go to the new school. In 2010, Heritage switched some of its students to Tuscarora High School in order to alleviate overcrowding.
Of the 312 students in the graduating class of 2006, 112 received the governor's seal on an Advanced Studies diploma, one of the highest academic honors offered by the Commonwealth of Virginia.[2] Like other Loudoun County high schools, Heritage participates in the Advanced Placement program and offers numerous AP courses.
Mimi Groves & Jimmy Galligan
In June 2020, following the
In late 2020, this became a national news story and Heritage and Loudoun County Public Schools came under fire for being a "hostile learning environment" for students in minorities. Galligan also came under scrutiny for perpetuating cancel culture, with many seeing this as unfair treatment towards Groves.[4]
Accreditation and test scores
This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2008) |
Accreditation
Heritage High School is a fully accredited high school based on the Standards of Learning tests in Virginia.
SAT scores
The average SAT score in 2006 for Heritage was a 1,532 (518 in math; 515 in critical reading; 499 in writing).
School Year | Mathematics | Critical Reading | Writing | Total |
2003–2004 | 485 | 490 | n/a | 975 |
2004–2005 | 527 | 523 | n/a | 1,050 |
2005–2006 | 518 | 515 | 499 | 1,532 (1,033 M & CR) |
Enrollment history
School Year | Number of Students |
2002–2003 | 747 |
2003–2004 | 1,095 |
2004–2005 | 1,340 |
2005–2006 | 1,500 |
2006–2007 | 1,617 |
2007–2008 | 1,746 |
2008–2009 | 1,807 |
2009–2010 | 1,901 |
2010–2011 | 1,327 |
2011–2012 | 1,197[5] |
2012–2013 | 1,198[6] |
Athletics
The mascot is the Pride, in the shape of a Lion. Heritage's sports teams currently play in the
Basketball
The school is well known for its boys' basketball team which consistently has made it to Region II playoffs, Its 2006 team was the first undefeated team in the history of the Dulles District. The Pride boys' basketball team has won 3 consecutive Dulles District Championships: 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Soccer
The boys' soccer team did well in the 2006 season, shaking off the new school reputation, with the Pride's soccer team making it to the AA State Semifinals before falling 2–1 to AA Dulles District champion Potomac Falls.[7] A tenacious rivalry would develop between the two teams, who met five times that season with the Panthers going 4–0–1, including wins over the Pride in the Dulles District Tournament Finals, the Region II Finals, and the State Semifinals.
They finished Second place in the 2007 Regular Season after topping Potomac Falls for a period, who had suffered a tie to
Two years later in 2010, Coach Betsey Munson and a new squad would go on to make another run, finishing in Second place for the Regular Season and making it to the Post-Season Tournament Final, but this time in the AAA Cedar Run District.[8] In the Tournament Final, they narrowly missed out losing to Battlefield 1–2; Jake Flanagan scored the Pride’s lone goal unassisted.[8] Having finished Second in both competitions the Pride would advance and make an away Regional Appearance.
In 2013, Coach Munson claimed the state record for having the most wins as a female coach in Virginia High School League history for boys soccer.[9]
The Pride defeated Park View 3–0 and became Regular District Champions for the second time from a hat-trick by Gio Vasquez against Park View in 2015[10]
Lacrosse
The Heritage boys' lacrosse team did well in the 2007 and 2008 seasons, finishing 15–3 and 14–3 respectively. They were tournament champions in 2007 and regular season champions in 2008. The class of 2008 has had the strongest class in school history and graduated with the most wins in school history. The class of 2008 also had 3 members go on to play collegiately at the NCAA level.
Cross Country
In 2015, Heritage High School's Girls Cross Country Team won the Class 4A Championships at Great Meadow. A key reason for this success was a first-place individual finish by Weini Kelati, in a 5k time of 17:22.[11] Overall, the team finished with a score of 86, 17 points lower than 2nd place Loudoun Valley.[12]
Other Sports
Heritage teams did surprisingly well in the 2005–2006 year. Both the girls' and boys' track teams won their respective AA Dulles District Titles. The football team also had its first winning season in the 2005–2006 school year, with a 7–3 record, sharing the Dulles District title with
The Heritage girls' varsity swim and dive team have made a vast improvement over the season of 2014–2015. Seeing as the girls have placed first in the Conference 21 meet, taking first at regionals was an even bigger step. To finish up the season, the team placed third in the 4A Northern Virginia Annual States meet. There were also many record-breakers for swimmers on the Heritage varsity swim and dive team in the 2014–2015 season.
Arts
Marching Band
The Pride of Heritage Marching Band competes in the 2A division of USBands. They placed 2nd in the state and 8th at nationals in 2017. The band is currently under the direction of George Herrmann. In 2018 the band placed second in the state again, while winning the overall music caption award. In 2019, the band placed 6th in the state along with also receiving the overall music award.
Notable alumni
- 2019 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships
References
- ^ "Heritage High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
- ^ Heritage Graduation Marks the End of a Beginning Archived 2006-09-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "A Racial Slur, a Viral Video, and a Reckoning". nytimes.com. 2020-12-26. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
- ^ "The New York Times Helped a Vindictive Teen Destroy a Classmate Who Uttered a Racial Slur When She Was 15". reason.com. 2020-12-28. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
- ^ "SCHOOL BOARD ADOPTED FY 2013 – FY 2018 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM" (PDF). Retrieved 6 November 2012.
- ^ "Superintendent's Recommended Fiscal Year 2014–2018 Capital Improvement Program" (PDF). LCPS. Retrieved 18 November 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Lukat, Carl (2006-06-13). "Potomac Falls denies Heritage once again, 2–1". Loudoun Times-Mirror. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-08-07.
- ^ a b "Heritage boys advance to district final". Loudountimes.com. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
- ^ "Heritage coach Munson honored for record number of wins". Loudountimes.com. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
- ^ "Heritage High School Boys Varsity Soccer Spring 2015 Game Summaries & Headline". Heritagepridesports.org. 2015-05-14. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
- ^ "Virginia Girls Cross Country ROY: Weini Kelati". USA TODAY High School Sports. 2016-01-14. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
- ^ "VHSL State Cross Country Championships 2015 - 4A Girls". MileStat.com. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
- ^ Lukat, Carl (2005-11-15). "Heritage takes a lot of Pride in pigskin finale". Loudoun Times-Mirror. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-08-07.