Battlefield High School
Encyclopedia
Prince William County, Virginia
-National protected areas:* Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge* Manassas National Battlefield Park* Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge* Prince William Forest Park-Government and politics:...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and is part of the Prince William County Public Schools
Prince William County Public Schools
Prince William County Public Schools is a Virginia school division with its headquarters in the Kelly Leadership Center in unincorporated Prince William County, Virginia, United States...
. The school is located north of the town of Haymarket
Haymarket, Virginia
Haymarket is a town in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 879 at the 2000 census, but the 2009 is 1,252. Haymarket is home to the Haymarket Senators of the Valley Baseball League...
bearing a "Haymarket, Virginia" address. Battlefield is one of two Centers for Information Technology in the school division.
Name
The site, surrounded by the Toll Brothers-developed housing plan of Dominion Valley, erected a sign reading "Future Site of Dominion Valley High School" prior to groundbreaking. However, the official school naming committee ultimately elected to avoid options that included "Dominion Valley," "Haymarket," or "Gainesville" as it was felt the school name should not ostracize any of the communities or developments it would ultimately serve. Due in large part to the school's proximity to local historic Civil War sites, "Battlefield" was successfully proposed and subsequently adopted.While even some STOP school district STOP documents refer to STOP the school with the acronym "BFHS," because Battlefield is one word, the acronym "BHS" is preferred.
Communities served
The rapid construction of homes in the area surrounding Battlefield has resulted in a tremendous population increase, which guarantees that at least for now, the school will operate well over its intended capacity. Communities served by Battlefield include Bridlewood, Bristow, Bull Run Mountain Estates, Carterwood, Catharpin, Crossroads, Coverstone, Dominion Valley, Evergreen, Gainesville, Glenkirk, Heritage Hunt, Hopewell's Landing, Lake Manassas, Parks at Piedmont, Piedmont, Rocky Run, Somerset, Town of Haymarket, Oak Valley, and West Market.History
Battlefield High School was opened in September 2004 as the ninth high school in Prince William County.Prior school leaders have included Jack W. Parker (Principal 2004-2004), Natalie K. Bonshire (Assistant Principal 2005-2007), Major R. Warner, Jr. (Assistant Principal 2004-2007, now principal at Kettle Run High School in neighboring Fauquier County), L. Edward Stephenson (Assistant Principal 2006-2009, now principal at Bull Run Middle School), and Mrs. Jane Sumner (Specialty Program Coordinator 2004-2009).
Programs of study
Battlefield High School is a Center for Information Technology, and includes computer-based and computer-related coursework. Enrollment in the "iT" program is optional for both Battlefield students and for those who are zone-designated for other PWCS high schools. The program is led by Specialty Program Coordinator Joseph Huddle. The program has several branches consisting of Graphic Design, Networking, Programming, and Hardware support.In 2006–2007, the school began hosting its Air Force JROTC program, led by Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Cartee and Chief Master Sergeant Dale Woodiel.
In 2007–2008, the school began hosting its Criminal Justice program. The program is led by Mark Fletcher, a former Fairfax County SWAT commander, and serves as a "miniature police academy," instructing essential constitutional law and criminal justice practices. The program was extended in 2008–2009 to include a second instructor, Dan Evers, a former Chesterfield County Police officer, due to increased enrollment.
Student performance
Battlefield High School has been named a "School of Excellence" by Prince William County four times. According to PWCS, "a School of Excellence must be fully accredited by the state and ... must ensure that ninety-five percent of students beginning the year on or above grade level pass the SOL tests. They must also ensure that fifty percent of students beginning the year below grade level pass the SOL tests."In May 2007 Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
magazine ranked Battlefield High School 1068th in the nation on its annual list of "Best High Schools in America."
Accreditation
Battlefield High School has been a fully accredited high school based on its performance on the Standards of LearningStandards of Learning
Standards of Learning ' is a public school standardized testing program in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It sets forth learning and achievement expectations for core subjects for grades K-12 in Virginia's Public Schools...
tests in Virginia since its opening in 2004.
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Battlefield High School has made "Adequate Yearly Progress" (AYP) each year it has been open, according to the Virginia Department of Education's benchmarks set by the mandate of the No Child Left Behind Act.School seal
The school seal, illustrated in the school colors of purple, black, and silver, was designed by Carl Kielbasa of Herff-Jones, Inc. The center of the seal is a representation of "graduation" with the traditional mortarboard and rolled diploma. Around the outside of the seal are representations of "the arts" (a drama mask, a lyre, and a palette), "academics" (the traditional "torch and tome"), "Information Technology" (the words wrapping the globe), and "athletics" (the winged shoe of Hermes (stylized as a modern sneaker) and the traditional laurel). The crest of the seal is a disembodied Bobcat head superimposed upon mountains, representing the PiedmontPiedmont (United States)
The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division...
region of the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
, a prominent local geographic feature. At the base of the seal on the tasseled scroll are the keywords "Courage," "Honor," and "Integrity."
Campus
C. D. Hylton High School
C.D. Hylton Senior High School is a public high school located in Woodbridge in Prince William County, Virginia, United States, and part of the Prince William County Public Schools division....
, Forest Park High School, and Freedom High School. This "class" of high school designs has been retired as of 2011.
Many of the interior trim aspects were originally painted a salmon color, but after the selection of the school colors (purple, black, and silver), many trim sections were repainted in school colors. The floors of the school feature black tile borders along wall edges and school-colored purple lockers, configured "over-under" to provide two lockers per bay. The walls are white and power-efficient fluorescent lighting is used throughout, supplemented by natural light that enters through windows both in classrooms and in stairwells, as well as through the courtyard. Additionally, a large atrium
Atrium (architecture)
In modern architecture, an atrium is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within a larger multistory building and often located immediately beyond the main entrance doors...
at the center of the school is a functional architectural detail that allows natural light into the surrounding areas. In Summer of 2009, much of the interior trim of the school, some of which was still salmon in color since the original opening of the building, was repainted in matching Battlefield purple.
During Summer 2008, three years of effort by the Technology Committee, in tandem with the Office of Instructional Technology
Instructional technology
In education, instructional technology is "the theory and practice ofdesign, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning," according to the Association for Educational Communications and Technology Definitions and Terminology Committee...
and support from the administration, led to the installation of ceiling-mounted DLP video projector
Video projector
A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system. All video projectors use a very bright light to project the image, and most modern ones can correct any curves, blurriness, and other...
s for use in classroom teaching in almost every instructional space, with the remainder placed in the following school years as budget allowed.
As is common practice with many modern schools, corridors are labeled with "road signs," helping students to navigate the large structure. At Battlefield, "east-west" roads are numbered First, Second, and Third streets on the ground level, beginning closest to the front of the school. On the upper level, Fourth and Fifth streets follow the same pattern. "North-south" corridors are "avenue
Avenue (landscape)
__notoc__In landscaping, an avenue or allée is traditionally a straight route with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each, which is used, as its French source venir indicates, to emphasize the "coming to," or arrival at a landscape or architectural feature...
s," each beginning with an ascending letter of the alphabet and each named for something relevant to Battlefield's community. "Antioch
Antioch, Prince William County, Virginia
Antioch is an unincorporated town in Prince William County, Virginia. Antioch lies at the intersection of Antioch, Mountain, and Waterfall Roads near the Fauquier County line....
Avenue" is the first on the ground floor, followed by "Bristow
Bristow, Virginia
Bristow is an unincorporated town in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 8,910 in the 2000 census, and the 2009 estimate was 15,137....
," "Catharpin
Catharpin, Virginia
Catharpin is an unincorporated community in Prince William County, Virginia, in the United States. Catharpin lies on State Route 234 to the northwest of Manassas National Battlefield Park.-Geography:...
," and "Dominion Valley" Avenues. On the upper floor, "Evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
, "Freedom," "Gainesville
Gainesville, Virginia
-Demographics:Gainesville is currently the third-largest CDP in Prince William County. As of the census estimate of 2009, there were 28,662 people, 10,300 households, and 8,604 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,150.2 people per square mile . There were 10,300 housing units...
," and "Haymarket
Haymarket, Virginia
Haymarket is a town in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 879 at the 2000 census, but the 2009 is 1,252. Haymarket is home to the Haymarket Senators of the Valley Baseball League...
" Avenues complete the grid.
Further identifying monikers for exterior routes were published in 2007 as part of a revised traffic pattern plan. The high volume of traffic on Graduation Drive and Route 15 has been concern not only for the school but for the local department of transportation as well. (According to an administration comment during a faculty meeting, BHS school officials counted over 1,300 automobiles passing through the campus during a single morning in September.) Several of the exterior roads carry the unofficial names "Bobcat Trail," "Senior Drive," and "Spirit Way."
The on-paper capacity of the school is 2,053.
Enrollment
| School Year | Capacity | Opening (9/30) Enrollment |
|---|---|---|
| 2004–2005 | 2,053 | 1,100* |
| 2005–2006 | 2,053 | 1,750* |
| 2006–2007 | 2,053 | 2,276 |
| 2007–2008 | 2,053 | 2,698 |
| 2008–2009 | 2,137** | 2,714 |
| 2009–2010 | 2,170* | 2,750* |
| 2010–2011 | TBD | 2,990* |
(*) – Approximate figure (**) – Due to temporary classrooms ("trailers")
Dropout rates have been less than 2% since the school opened in 2004.
Faculty and staff
Battlefield High School employs over 250 total staff members, approximately 190 of whom are members of the instructional faculty with another dozen serving as paraprofessionals. The counseling center employs approximately 20 people.There are currently several committees operating at the school, including the Freshman Transition Committee, the Technology Committee, the Social Committee, the Principal's Advisory Council, and the STAR Program Committee.
Curriculum
Battlefield offers a county wide ITInformation technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
-specialized program for qualified students. The program offers courses in computer science and programming, as well as advanced certification programs including A+, Oracle
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
, Cisco
Cisco
Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
, Microsoft Certified Systems
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
, and is a certification center for the Certified Internet Web Professional program.
In 2006, the Virginia Department of Education conferred an award upon the iT team of business partners for collaboration between the iT program at Battlefield and local industry.
Extracurricular and cocurricular activities
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
is the bobcat
Bobcat
The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...
and the sports teams currently play in the AAA Cedar Run District
AAA Cedar Run District
The AAA Cedar Run District is a high school conference in the state of Virginia that includes schools stretching from Manassas to Ashburn. AAA is the largest enrollment class of the Virginia High School League and also typically the most competitive level in Virginia high school sports.The Cedar...
and Northwest Region.
The athletic team logo for Battlefield is a reproduction of the logo used by the Charlotte Bobcats
Charlotte Bobcats
The Charlotte Bobcats is a professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association. The Bobcats were established in 2004 as an expansion team, two seasons after Charlotte's previous NBA...
NBA team.
According to members of the original school naming committee, the mascot "Cannons" was seriously considered but ultimately lost to "Bobcats."
Student clubs and activities at Battlefield include:
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Field hockey Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks... Gay-straight alliance Gay–straight alliances are student organizations, found primarily in North American high schools and universities, that are intended to provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and their straight allies .-Goal:The goal of most, if not all,... High school football High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations.... Grade level Often, people are educated through a series of educational stages, such as primary school and university. They vary around the world, and not every person will attend the same stages... Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes.... Gymnastics Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body... (Boys, Girls) Guitar The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... Club Hip hop music Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted... Track and field Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area... (Boys, Girls) Grade level Often, people are educated through a series of educational stages, such as primary school and university. They vary around the world, and not every person will attend the same stages... Key Club Key Club International is the oldest and largest service program for high school students. It is a student-led organization whose goal is to teach leadership through serving others. Key Club International is a part of the Kiwanis International family of service-leadership programs... Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh... (Boys, Girls) Model United Nations Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda.... Honor society In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America... Honor society In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America... French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... Honor Society Honor society In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America... German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... Honor Society Honor society In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America... Latin Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and... Honor Society Honor society In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America... |
Spanish language Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the... Honor Society Honor society In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America... Newspaper A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a... Orchestra An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus... Track and field Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area... (Boys, Girls) Photography Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film... Club Robotics Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots... Students' union A students' union, student government, student senate, students' association, guild of students or government of student body is a student organization present in many colleges and universities, and has started appearing in some high schools... (Student Council Association) Quizbowl Quiz bowl is a family of games of questions and answers on all topics of human knowledge that is commonly played by students enrolled in high school or college, although some participants begin in middle or even elementary school... Science Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe... Club Grade level Often, people are educated through a series of educational stages, such as primary school and university. They vary around the world, and not every person will attend the same stages... Softball Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand... Grade level Often, people are educated through a series of educational stages, such as primary school and university. They vary around the world, and not every person will attend the same stages... Step dance Step dance is the generic term for dance styles where the footwork is the most important part of the dance. Body and arm movements and styling are either restricted or considered irrelevant.Step dance is one end of a spectrum of dance styles... Team Swimming (sport) Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native... (Boys, Girls) Tennis Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all... (Boys, Girls) Tri-M Tri-M Music Honor Society, formerly known as Modern Music Masters, is a high school and middle school music honor society. Each school has its own chapter, which is run by the students but supervised by an advisor or sponsor, usually a school teacher... Music Honor Society Honor society In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America... Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive... (Boys, Girls) Scholastic wrestling Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently... Yearbook A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks... |
Extracurricular accomplishments
The Battlefield Band is a Virginia Honor Band, and is affiliated with the Virginia Band and Orchestra Director's Association, or VBODA.In 2010, the football team won their first state title for any sport in school history.
Battlefield's first robotics team,, was founded in 2006 and has the support of mentors and teachers who help the students get as much hands on experience as possible. In the year on 2011-2012 Robotics was moved into the classroom(making Battlefield the first team in Prince William County to attempt such an undertaking) and will compete with 9 teams. Currently the teams are divided into two classes; one class plans on participating in the FTC division until the FRC division starts while the other plans on participating in FTC full time this year. The class is being taught by the Robotics team mentor Gail Drake and Battlefield High School's IT teacher Rebecca Conner.