Hayfield Secondary School

Infobox Education in the United States
name= Hayfield Secondary School


imagesize= 80px
motto= Birds Fly, Hawks Soar
streetaddress= 7630 Telegraph Road
city= Alexandria
state= Virginia
zipcode= 22315
url= http://www.fcps.edu/HayfieldSS
district= Fairfax County Public Schools
principal= Bill Oehrlein
associate_principal= Jean Bell
staff= approximately 260
fundingtype= Public
schooltype= secondary school
grades= 7–12
language= English
communities=
feeders= Gunston Elementary School Hayfield Elementary School Island Creek Elementary School Lane Elementary School Lorton Station Elementary School
campus= Suburban
mascot= Hawks
colors= Orange and white ██
founded= 1968
enrollment= 2,708
enrollment_as_of= 2008-2009
other_grade_label= Middle school
other_grade_enrollment= 944
other_grade_label_1= High school
other_grade_enrollment_1= 1,764
free_label_1= Rival schools
free_1= South County Secondary School T.C. Williams High School
free_label_2= Athletic conferences
free_2= Patriot District Northern Region
box_width= 26em
bgcolor_section= #BBDDBB
bgcolor_label= #BBDDBB
bgcolor_value= #EEEEEE
bgcolor_address= #EEEEEE
bgcolor_url= #EEEEEE

Hayfield Secondary School is the oldest secondary school in the Fairfax County Public Schools system of Virginia. It opened its doors in 1968 and graduated its first seniors in 1971.

History

The land that Hayfield Secondary sits on was at one time part of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. Because of a small natural spring underneath the school, the land literally served as a hay field. The land itself changed hands numerous times, until 1956 when developers constructed the nearby Hayfield Farm subdivision, the first of many housing developments in the region. Hayfield Secondary opened its doors to middle school (7th and 8th grade) students as well as 9-10th grades during the 1968-1969 school year, while still under construction. The school is erroneously mentioned in "Remember the Titans" as being "all white." While at the time the majority of students were white, the school has always been integrated. [cite web|url=http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/HayfieldSS/history/haysec1.htm|title=The History of a Field of Hay] As the region which it serves grew, overcrowding became a major issue at Hayfield, and by the late 1990s it routinely exceeded its intended capacity with 4000+ students. A renovation of the school began in 2002 and was completed in 2005. Further helping to relieve the pressure on Hayfield was the opening of South County Secondary School, also in 2005. However, due to overcrowding at South County in its second year of operation and under-utilized capacity at Hayfield, Hayfield accommodated more students again from a boundary change with South County approved for the 2007-2008 school year. [cite web|url=http://www.fcps.edu/fts/socohayfield.pdf|title=Cluster V Proposed Boundary Changes] The school is expected to continually grow substantially until the 2010-2011 school year as all grades from the rezoning settle in.

Demographics

As of the 2006-2007 school year, the high school population was 42% white, 23% black, 14% Asian, 14% Hispanic, and 7% other. [ [http://schoolprofiles.fcps.edu/schlprfl/f?p=108:13:2659732270675465::::P0_CURRENT_SCHOOL_ID:180 FCPS - School Profiles - Hayfield SS - High - Demographics ] ] [ [http://schoolprofiles.fcps.edu/schlprfl/f?p=108:13:5576715922157475::::P0_CURRENT_SCHOOL_ID:181 FCPS - School Profiles - Hayfield SS - Middle - Demographics ] ] Hayfield is noted for its diversity. [ [http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Oehrlein_William_486399699.aspx Bill Oehrlein: ZoomInfo Business People Information ] ]

Academics

Hayfield is a secondary school, meaning it serves grades 7 through 12, but the high school and middle school students are generally kept segregated. The middle school has an honors (formally GT) program and the high school offers both honors and Advanced Placement courses. As of Spring 2007, the number of exams on which a score of 3 or higher was achieved (on a scale of 1-5) rose to 57% from 46% the previous year, the best results found on record for Hayfield.

Hayfield's "It's Academic" Team has held the Patriot District title in 2000-2001, 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 school years. In 2001, the team also won in the first round on the It's Academic television show, the first time it had won in 10 years. Members of this team include Christopher Koves, Douglas Lee and Jason Loss. In 2002, the Hayfield It's Academic team placed 2nd in the District and 2nd in the Northern Region, advancing to the State Championship. In 2006, the Hayfield team placed third in the Northern region behind Langley High School and Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology while in 2007, the team placed second in the Northern Region. At the state championship Hayfield tied for 5th place.

Hayfield has a notable Robotics Team that has been in the Top 8 in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) and been invited three times in the past three years to the FRC National Competition, including the most recent competition in 2007.

Hayfield's Varsity Science Olympiad team took first place in several categories at the McLean High School Competition 2007. Hayfield's Varsity Science Olympiad team took first place in several categories, including Forensics and Write It Do It at the West Potomac High School Competition 2007.

Hayfield's current principal, Dr. Bill Oehrlein, was named an outstanding principal of the year in 2007 by the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals, sponsored by MetLife. [ [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fairfaxfocus/2007/09/hayfield_school_principal_hono.html Hayfield School Principal Honored - Fairfax Focus ] ]

Athletics

Hayfield's high school teams compete in the AAA Patriot District of the AAA Northern Region of the Virginia High School League.

The boy's varsity lacrosse team, led by coaches Jack Kendall, Jon Trullender and Matt Petrangelo, is a strong Northern Region contender, and achieved a perfect season in the 2007 regular season. [cite web|url=http://www.hawksathletics.org/index.cfm?action=team|title=Hayfield Athletics Results] The boy's wrestling team has won districts 9 years in a row, placed 3rd in the Northern Region tournament and placed 7th in the state. The school's mascot is the hawk and the school colors are orange and white (and unofficially blue).

Facility

Hayfield's Dorris Torris Field House is the largest high school gymnasium in Northern Virginia.Fact|date=February 2007

Hayfield's Rebecca S. Wilburn Auditorium is one of the largest auditoriums in Northern Virginia, and includes an orchestra pit elevator lift built into the front of the stage that allows that portion of the stage to act as either an orchestra pit or stage extension.

Technical support for the Wilburn Auditorium is supported by a student organization, the Hayfield Audio and Lighting Technicians ("HALT"). Because of the size of the Wilburn Auditorium and the non-school clientele that it serves, this group is unique within the county.

Planetarium

Hayfield Secondary's Planetarium opened its doors in 1969. The main instrument of the planetarium is the Spitz A-4 projector. Many special effect projectors are also used to demonstrate certain astronomical, and atmospheric phenomena, such as lunar and solar eclipses, different types of lightning, auroras, and the phasing of the moon. The planetarium is also equipped with three Kodak Ektograph projectors, and a slide dissolve system which is used to show previously produced slide programs and to create special slide programs on current astronomical topics. The most recent additions to the equipment list is a video projector and a special effects projector.

The planetarium at Hayfield does not just serve the surrounding elementary schools, but also serves the Secondary school itself. Most science classes find their way into the planetarium at some point during the school year. Other subjects visit the planetarium as well. In the past years, Latin, English and World Studies classes have visited the planetarium to discuss subjects of astronomy that deal directly with classroom topics (mythology, map coordinates, etc). Students may also arrange with the director to give class presentations in the planetarium when they deal directly with astronomy subject matter such as astrobiology and cosmology.

References