George C. Marshall High School

Infobox Education in the United States
name= George C. Marshall High School


imagesize= 100px
motto=
streetaddress= 7731 Leesburg Pike
city= Falls Church
state= Virginia
zipcode= 22043
url= http://www.fcps.edu/MarshallHS
district= Fairfax County Public Schools
principal= Jay Pearson
assistant_principals=
staff= approximately 180
fundingtype= Public
schooltype= high school
grades= 9–12
language= English
communities=
feeders= Kilmer Middle School Thoreau Middle School
campus= Suburban
mascot= Griffin
colors= Red, blue, and white ███
founded= 1963
enrollment= 1,370
enrollment_as_of= 2006
free_label_1= Rival schools
free_1= Madison High School McLean High School
free_label_2= Athletic conferences
free_2= Liberty District
Northern Region
bgcolor_section= #BBDDBB
bgcolor_label= #BBDDBB
bgcolor_value= #EEEEEE
bgcolor_address= #EEEEEE
bgcolor_url= #EEEEEE

George C. Marshall High School is a public school in Falls Church, Virginia and part of Fairfax County Public Schools. It is one of only two schools in the world with a high school program named after former United States Secretary of State George C. Marshall. The other, located in Ankara, Turkey, is [http://www.anka-ehs.eu.dodea.edu the George C. Marshall School] , which is part of the Department of Defense Dependents Schools system and offers a first through twelfth grade curriculum. Newsweek ranked Marshall 211th in its 2007 list of the top U.S. high schools. [cite web | title = The Top of the Class: The complete list of the 1,300 top U.S. schools | publisher = Newsweek, Inc. | url = http://www.newsweek.com/id/39380/?sort=Rank&count=1236&start=0&limit=100&year=2007&Search=undefined | accessdate = 2008-05-15]

Academics

Marshall High School is a fully accredited high school based on the Standards of Learning tests in Virginia. [cite web | title = Fairfax County Public Schools School Profiles: Marshall High School | publisher = Fairfax County Public Schools | url = http://www.fcps.edu/suptapps/schoolprofile/profile.cfm?profile_id=070 | accessdate = 2008-05-15] The average SAT score in 2008 for Marshall was 1,680 (550 in Critical Reading, 580 in Math, and 550 in Writing). [cite news | title = FCPS High School Students Again Surpass SAT Scores for the State and Nation; ACT Scores Rise | date = 2008-08-26 | publisher = Fairfax County Public Schools | url = http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=932 | accessdate = 2008-09-27; see esp. attached [http://www.fcps.edu/mediapub/pressrel/SAT_ACT_08262008_tables1to4.pdf Table 2] ] The combined SAT score places Marshall in the top five of all FCPS high schools.Fact|date=September 2008 Marshall High School has a [http://www.fcps.edu/MarshallAcademy/ Business Academy] offering specialized classes such as Automotive Technology. Marshall also offers courses through the International Baccalaureate Program. Marshall's IB program produced seventy full diploma candidates in 2008, more than any other FCPS high school.Fact|date=September 2008

Athletics

Marshall's teams are nicknamed the Statesmen, their mascot is the griffin, and their teams play in the AAA Liberty District and Northern Region of the Virginia High School League. Marshall's enrollment however is at the AA level, but chooses to petition to play in AAA to the VHSL to maintain rivalries with local schools. If Marshall plays in Group AA in the future, they would probably be in the AA Dulles District.

In the 2005-2006 school year, the field hockey team and the boys basketball teams advanced to the AAA tournaments.

Marshall girls basketball won the Liberty District tournament back to back in 2006 and 2007.

George C Marshall High School's new school motto "Small School Big Heart" was started during what is called the Cinderella season on the 05-06 Varsity Men's Basketball who advanced to the semi finals of the state tournament.

tate championships and runner-up finishes

Marshall has three state championships, which are:
*two in AAA boys cross country in 1971 and 1972
*one in AAA girls basketball in 1976

Marshall has five runner up finishes, which are:
*three in AAA baseball (1975, 1986, 1987)
*one in AAA boys cross country in 1996
*one in AAA Division 5 football in 1987

Band

The Marshall Band program has won prestigious awards. The band as a whole is divided into two subgroups: Concert Band and Wind Ensemble. Marshall's "Marching Statesmen" have come in 1st place at multiple competitions. The band program is led by director Bryan Baldwin.

The percussion ensemble, led by Timothy McKay, has also been recognized for their achievement. They were invited to the Music for All National Percussion Festival in Indianapolis , to be held in March 2009. The event is part of the Bands of America National Convert Festival.

Theater

Marshall High School is also home to an award-winning theater program. Under the direction of Mark Krikstan, they won the District level competition nine years running, advanced to the AAA State Finals of the Virginia High School League One-Act Festival eight out of the past nine years, and won the championship five times (2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007), which is the record for most wins among all Virginia high schools. There are only two other schools in the state that have won the Championship more than once, each winning it twice.

Mark Krikstan left Marshall at the end of the 2006-2007 school year and was succeeded by Valerie Karasek, who took over in autumn 2007. For the 2008 school year, Miss Karasek was replaced by Trena Weiss-Null

Notable alumni

*Lisa Collis - Wife of former Virginia governor and 2008 U.S. Senate candidate Mark Warnercite web | title = Capitol Life: First Lady Lisa Collis | work = Kids Commonwealth | publisher = Commonwealth of Virginia | url = http://www.kidscommonwealth.virginia.gov/CapitolLife/CollisBio.asp | accessdate = 2008-05-15]
*Harry Dailey - Original bass player for Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Bandcite news | title = Harry Dailey; Bass Guitarist With Buffett | work = The Washington Post | date = April 25, 2003 ]
*Keith Lyle - Played safety for the L.A. and St. Louis Rams, Washington Redskins, and San Diego Chargers in the NFL from 1994-2002
*Michael McCrary - Played defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks and Baltimore Ravens in the NFL
*Sean O'Neill - Table tennis player, 5 times US men's singles champion, 2 times US Olympic team member (1988, 1992)
*Pete Schourek - MLB pitcher from 1991-2001; second in 1995 National League Cy Young Award voting
*Nick Sorensen - Played safety for the St. Louis Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL
*Kathrine Switzer - Pioneer female distance runner; first woman to run the Boston Marathon with an official race number (1967)
*Barry Weeks - Record producer-staff writer for Universal Music Group

"Remember the Titans"

In the movie "Remember the Titans" (2000), the climax of the movie comes at the end of the 1971 AAA state championship football game between T.C. Williams High School and Marshall High School. The movie was dramatized from a true story about race relations in the high school football fishbowl of 1971, as the Hollywood-underdog T.C. Williams Titans took on the powerful Marshall Statesmen (coached by Ed Henry). The most notable dramatic license taken in the movie was to convert what was actually a regular-season matchup between Marshall and TC Williams into a made-for-Hollywood state championship. In reality, the Marshall game was the toughest game TC Williams played all year and the actual state championship (against Andrew Lewis High School of the Roanoke Valley) was a 27-0 blowout. The Titans actually did win the Marshall game on a fourth down play--coming from behind at the very end of the game. In addition to the added drama of the Marshall game, there were apparently some legal issues concerning the use of Andrew Lewis High School's name in the movie. The legendary Ed Henry was the head coach at Marshall for six seasons, from 1969-74, and is portrayed in the movie. In 1997, Coach Henry was inducted into the Virginia High School League Hall of Fame.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.marchingstatesmen.org George C. Marshall High School Bands]
* [http://www.gcmhsboosters.org George C. Marshall High School Boosters Club]
* [http://www.marshallfootball.org marshallfootball.org]