L. C. Bird High School

Infobox School
name= L. C. Bird High School


imagesize=
motto=
motto_translation=
streetaddress= 10301 Courthouse Road
city= Chesterfield
state= Virginia
zipcode= 23832-6616
url= [http://www.chesterfield.k12.va.us/Schools/Bird_HS/home.html Official Site]
district= Chesterfield County Public Schools
superintendent= Dr. Marcus Newsome
principal= Beth Teigen
assistant_principals= Adrienne Blanton
Angela Bragaw
Thomas Ferrell
Jim Glass
Robin Yohe
schooltype= Public high school
grades= 9-12
language= English
campus= Urban
mascot= Skyhawk
colors= colorbox|Navy colorbox|SkyBlue colorbox|white Navy Blue, Skyhawk Blue, White
founded= 1978
enrollment= 1,876
enrollment_as_of= 2006-2007
rival=
conference= Virginia High School League
AAA Central Region
AAA Dominion District
box_width= 23em
bgcolor_section= #87CEEB
bgcolor_label= #efefef
bgcolor_value= #efefef
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bgcolor_address= #efefef
bgcolor_url= #efefef

Lloyd C. Bird High School is a public secondary school in Chesterfield, an unincorporated community in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. It is part of Chesterfield County Public Schools and is located at 10301 Courthouse Road.

Accreditation

L. C. Bird High School has consistently reached AYP according to the standards of No Child Left Behind each year since the inception of the program. L.C Bird High School also is the home of the Pre-Engineering Program unique to Chesterfield County. Also, L.C. Bird is home of the Skyhawk Band. In addition, L. C. Bird High School has been competitive in sport, and have been champions of their division in many sports for multiple years. The performing arts programs puts on plays, concerts, and displays, and is notable for featuring local comedian, gay rights activist, dong salad, restaurant owner, celebrated sexual athlete, precision dancer, and radio disc jockey Jesse Stroud during his time there.

Athletics

The mascot is a skyhawk and the sports teams play in the AAA Dominion District and Central Region. The varsity football team is notable and the basketball team contained alumni such as Tyrese Rice (Boston College). The baseball team's varsity coach is Mr. Spencer and JV coach is Mr. Walker. The ultimate team has also recognized national honors and is coached by math teacher Nick Ligatti. The Lloyd C Bird soccer team is full of excellent players but often fall up short. In 2007 they came up with big wins and made it to the district tournament for the first time in school history.

L. C. Bird High School Band

The L. C. Bird High School Band, at over 200 members, is one of the largest high school bands in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The L.C. Bird Band is well known for is 19 year consecutive achievement of obtaining a "superior" rating at the VBODA State Concert Festival. The L.C. Bird Band also holds its spring concert in Richmond's Landmark Theater, the only high school band to ever hold a solo concert there. The band is also a 12 time Commonwealth of Virginia Honor band, which makes them one of only 25 bands in the state of Virginia to achieve 10 Honor Band Awards. Also part of the L. C. Bird High School Band is the Skyhawk Marching Band. The Skyhawk Marching Band is known as the "The Band With The Sound". They compete in the AAAAA group at competitions and have achieved 12 "superior" ratings at the VBODA State Marching Festival.The Skyhawk Marching Band has traveled to many places including Disney World, Atlanta, Georgia, Myrtle Beach, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Chicago, Illinois, and Ontario, Canada.

The first major director change in the band was when Earl E. Shaffer, Jr. took over the program in 1989 from Director Steven Blackstock. During his time, the band also experienced great growth. The band's size was 30-50 members large when the program was taken over by Earl Shaffer. After 17 years, the band had nearly 200 members. Many other directors came and taught with Earl Shaffer at L.C. Bird, many of which went on to take over other prestigious music programs such as Daryl W. Kinney of Ohio State University, W. Christopher McCarney of Manchester High School, Richard Huggins of Salem Church Middle School and Steven A. Barton of Thomas Dale High School.

For 17 years, Earl Shaffer stayed at Bird. In 2006 however, Earl Shaffer announced he would be leaving for newly opened Cosby High School. In 2006, Emily Marek took over the program along with Marshall Jones (who had been a Director alongside Earl Shaffer the year before). Despite the obvious difficulties of any major director change, the Band managed to maintain their excellence, and earned a Superior in Marching and Concert Band that same year (2006-2007). In 2007-2008, the Skyhawk Marching Band Received an excellent rating at the marching band contest, after performing in the dark, on a parking lot with blue lines that were difficult to see. The band was disappointed with their score, but felt that they performed extremely well under the circumstances. They plan on working really hard to achieve a great 08-09 season. The Skyhawk Concert groups fought hard to maintain their level of excellence, receiving superior ratings in the Wind Symphony (under the direction of Emily M. Marek) and Symphonic Band B under the direction of Emily Marek and Marshall Jones. The smaller Symphonic Band A received Excellent ratings under the direction of Marshall Jones. This band is one of tradition and reputation. They are known throughout Chesterfield as [THE BAND WITH THE SOUND] , and they have their eyes set on another Superior Marching season in the 08-09 season.

Pre-Engineering Program

L. C. Bird is host of the Pre-Engineering Specialty Center for Chesterfield County, a specific application of the Specialty Center System in Chesterfield County high schools which allows students to attend High Schools outside of their districts to get an education concentrating in an area they are interested in along with earning their High School diploma.

The Pre-Engineering Specialty Center at L.C. Bird is led by Mrs. Nancy Hoover, recipient of the 2005 Virginia Physics Teacher of the Year Award, and Physics teacher at L. C. Bird. She is also in the process of obtaining her PhD. from Virginia Commonwealth University.

The Pre-Engineering Program is designed to give enrolled students a taste of engineering through Engineering classes throughout a student's four years in high school. These students are also held to a higher academic standard, and risk being placed on academic probation if their grades fall below a certain level. Because of this, and to boost the outward statistical appearance of the school, enrolled students are not ranked with the rest of the student body and cannot become Valedictorian or Salutorian.

The classes these students participate in include Foundations of Engineering (9th grade) taught by Mrs. Nancy Hoover, Engineering Design (10th grade) taught by Mr. Ryan Westcott, Junior Seminar (11th grade, extracurricular after-school class) taught by Mrs. Nancy Hoover, and Senior Seminar (12th grade) taught by Mr. Helmut Thielsch, all of which are honors-level courses.

The classes start out by educating students about the Engineering concentrations, engaging them in the thought process behind design processes, and teaching them to work well and efficiently in a team. As the student is promoted to each consecutive grade-level, the classes begin to concentrate more on the specific ways engineers go about designing and proposing their ideas. Senior Seminar, though, is quite different. Instead of focusing on the design aspect of Engineering, it focuses more on the mathematical side. The class exposes students to circuit theory, statics, and dynamics (among other side-topics), three very elementary courses in most upper-level Engineering curricula in college. Alongside these courses, students are also required to take Engineering-concentrated versions of the mandatory courses required by the high school of each graduate, like Biology or Chemistry. The Engineering English and Technical Writing course was discontinued in 2004 due to poor preparation of the students for 11th and 12th grade English courses.

Mission statement from the Pre-Engineering website:

"The Lloyd C. Bird High School Pre-Engineering Specialty Center is to provide a program of studies that allows the student to explore a wide range of engineering fields while building an understanding of the core skills necessary to further his/her education in engineering. The academic curriculum that a student follows is both rigorous and centered around a lab experience to better prepare the student for a rapidly changing technologically based field.

"The goal of the center-based program is to provide an opportunity to take advanced classes in math or science, a constant utilization of integrated computer skills, a basis of practical understanding through an emphasis on design projects, a detailed overview of expectations in a variety of engineering fields, the opportunity for advanced credit for class work, field experience for an understanding of the correlation between class work and the work environment, and information to help the students make a more informed decision on their future educational and career plans.

"As a result of the center-based program, our students will graduate with a technologically enriched background, an understanding of the various fields of engineering, an appreciation for the correlation between classroom, lab, and field studies, greatly enhanced written and oral communication skills, a solid basis of problem solving and teamwork skills, and a unique background that enables them to make a more informed choice about their future goals and provides them with an advantage over other students who would be entering the engineering educational track at the college level, and taking engineering courses for the first time.