Great Bridge High School

Infobox School
name= Great Bridge High School


imagesize= 125px
motto=
motto_translation=
streetaddress= 301 West Hanbury Road
city= Chesapeake
state= Virginia
zipcode= 23322
country= USA
url= [http://eclipse.cps.k12.va.us/Schools/GBH/index.html Official site]
district= Chesapeake City Public Schools
superintendent= Dr. W. Randolph Nichols
principal= Dr. Janet M. Andrejco
assistant_principals=
staff=
type= Public
schooltype= high school
grades= 9-12
language= English
communities=
feeders=
campus=
mascot= Wildcats
colors= Green and Gold ██
founded= 1907
enrollment= 2407
enrollment_as_of= 2006-07
rival Grassfield High School
Hickory High School
conference Virginia High School League
AAA Southeastern District
AAA Eastern Region
bgcolor_section= #008000
bgcolor_label= #F0F0F0
bgcolor_value= #F0F0F0
bgcolor_

bgcolor_address= #F0F0F0
bgcolor_url= #F0F0F0

Great Bridge High School is a public secondary school in Chesapeake, Virginia, United States. It is part of Chesapeake City Public Schools and is located at 301 West Hanbury Road.

History

Great Bridge opened in 1907, holding students from 1st through 11th grade. Another larger building opened in 1924 which also housed students from 1st through 11th grade. In 1954, Great Bridge moved to another new larger building which accommodated students in 6th through 12th grade. This building has now become the site of Great Bridge Middle School. In 1983, the current site of Great Bridge opened, which accommodates students in the 9th through 12th grade.

Athletics and extracurricular activities

The mascot is a wildcat and the sports teams currently play in the AAA Southeastern District of the AAA Eastern Region. Great Bridge has been known for its wrestling team, which has won eighteen of the last twenty AAA state titles including nine straight AAA titles at one point in recent years. This is the longest streak of consecutive state titles won by any Virginia high school in any sport and enrollment classification. The wrestlers of Great Bridge are known to attend the school solely for the purpose of being on a winning wrestling team, in order to help them succeed in life.

Great Bridge also has a marching band, directed by Rob Carroll, which has participated in competitions such as the JMU Parade of Champions, and currently enrolls 203 members. The band has been asked to perform at many locations including China for the lighting of the torches ceremony in the 2008 Olympics and the inauguration of president George W. Bush.

The Great Bridge Crew Club is also nationally recognized. In 2005 the men's lightweight eight placed fifth at the Stotesbury Cup, the world's largest high school regatta. In 2007, the men's lightweight eight boat placed first in the state, sixth at the prestigious Stotesbury Cup, and fourth in the national championship in Camden, New Jersey. The men's junior 4 placed 1st in the region, 4th at states, and 6th in a national event. Other notable achievements in the club's history include the men's first eight being placed 6th at states. In 2006, the men's lightweight four placed 1st in the region, 4th at states, and 11th in a national event. Also, the women's freshmen eight placed 2nd in the region and 16th in a national event. Great Bridge Crew has won the past 6 southeastern Virginia regional championships.

In 2005, the Great Bridge High School Theatre Company traveled to the Virginia Theatre Association and won first prize with the one act play, "The Standard of the Man", written by Brian Wrestler, an alumnus of Great Bridge High School. The next year, the theatre company performed a 'showcase' play called "Rashomon", directed by William Russell Staggs. The showcased performance was notable in that its reception was considerably less than that of the previous year.

Football, indoor and outdoor track, swimming, basketball, gymnastics, baseball, soccer, ping pong, bowling, curling, badminton, golf, footbag, field hockey, lacrosse, cricket, water polo, competitive marbles, and wrestling are the sports offered at Great Bridge.

The high school also has a dance team called the RockCats, a step team and a varsity and junior varsity cheerleading squad.

Notable Alumni

*Michael Cuddyer: Minnesota Twins player; ninth overall pick in the 1997 MLB Draft
*Dave Elkins: member of the band Mae, on vocals and guitar
*Randy Forbes: U.S. Congressman
*Lora O. Hinton, Jr.: First African American to receive LSU football scholarship, and first African American varsity football letterman
*Lawrence Johnson: 2000 Olympics pole vault silver medalist; 2001 World Indoor pole vault champion
*Larry "Bud" Melman: noted actor and comedian
*Nate Parker: actor; wrestler. Attended Penn State University where he was dismissed from the wrestling team and the school after a controversy centered around sexual assault charges against Parker. [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-68424363.html]
*Carlton Powell: Denver Broncos' fifth round pick in 2008 NFL Draft
*Chris Richardson: "American Idol" season six finalist
*Justin Upton: Arizona Diamondbacks player; top pick in the 2005 MLB Draft
*Larry Griffin: NFL football player, Pittsburgh Steelers, Houston Oilers. Class of 1981

Controversy

In March 2007, the principal, Clifton Randolph, was put on administrative leave after allegedly assaulting a parent [Citation
last = Clayton
first = Cindy
author-link =
last2 = Rodrigues
first2 = Janette
author2-link =
title = Chesapeake principal charged with assault, on leave from job
newspaper = The Virginian-Pilot
pages =
year = 2007
date = March 9, 2007
url = http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=120835&ran=114009] Randolph was later absolved of all charges when the presiding judge refused to hear the case and was reinstated at the end of the 2006-2007 school year, but chose to retire. Dr. Janet M. Andrejco succeeded Randolph in 2007.

In February 2008, one of the four assistant principals, Wesley Earnest, was arrested as a suspect in the murder of his wife. [Citation
last = Coutee
first = Amy
author-link =
title = Chesapeake assistant principal charged with murder
newspaper = The Virginian-Pilot
pages =
year = 2008
date = February 28, 2008
url = http://hamptonroads.com/2008/02/chesapeake-assistant-principal-charged-murder]

External links

* [http://eclipse.cps.k12.va.us/Schools/GBH/index.html Official websie]
* [http://www.greatbridgewrestling.com/HighSchoolInformationalpage.htm Wrestling team]
* [http://www.greatbridgecrew.org Great Bridge Crew]

References

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