Heritage High School (Leesburg, Virginia)

Heritage High School
Address
520 Evergreen Mill Road, SE
Leesburg, Virginia 201751
Information
School type Public High School
Founded 2002
School district Loudoun County Public Schools
Principal Jeff Adam
Grades 912
Enrollment 1,356[1]
Language English
Campus Suburban
Color(s) Red & Black         
Mascot Pride
Communities served Potomac Station
River Creek
Feeder schools Cool Spring Elementary, John W. Tolbert Jr. Elementary, Frances Hazel Reid Elementary, Ball's Bluff Elementary, Fredrick Douglass Elementary, Harper Park Middle School
Rival School Loudoun County High School
Rival School Tuscarora High School
Athletic Conference Dulles District
4A North Region - Conference 21B
Website http://www.loudoun.k12.va.us/hhs

Heritage High School is a public secondary school located in Leesburg, Virginia, and is part of Loudoun County Public Schools. The principal is Jeff Adam. Its naming broke the previous tradition of naming high schools with two words prior to "High School" (Loudoun County High School, Broad Run High School, etc.).

Heritage is located in the southern border of Leesburg, adjacent to J. Lupton Simpson Middle School and Evergreen Mill Elementary School. It does not serve the southern Leesburg community however, due to the very densely populated eastern section of Leesburg, which Heritage currently serves, including the Exeter, Mayfair Commons, Sycamore Hill, Potomac Station, Tavistock Farms, Kinkaid Forest, Red Rock, Spring Lakes neighborhood and River Creek communities.

History

Heritage opened in 2002 for the eastern Leesburg community, feeding most of its students from Stone Bridge High School and the rest from Loudoun County High School. It was originally expected that Simpson's 8th graders would feed into Heritage, but instead, boundary lines were drawn to have Harper Park Middle School feed into Heritage. The lines were drawn and are still drawn to the point where students who live in communities adjacent to Heritage do not go there for high school and instead go to Loudoun County High.

Heritage High School (Front Entrance)

Like other new high schools that opened in Loudoun County before it, such as Stone Bridge and Potomac Falls, Heritage opened without a senior class, and juniors were allowed to choose which school they wanted to graduate from. Most Heritage students came from the Stone Bridge attendance area, and many rising juniors (Class of 2004) at Stone Bridge chose to stay there rather than go to Heritage. This was somewhat understandable because Leesburg students at Stone Bridge in the class of 2004 attended J.L. Simpson Middle School for 6th and 7th grade (1997–1999); went to a brand new Harper Park Middle School for 8th grade (1999–2000); went to a brand new Stone Bridge for their first two years of high school (2000–2002); and then were expected to go to another new school for their last two years. Constant boundary adjustments may have contributed to the large number of rising juniors who wished to remain at Stone Bridge. Consequently, the junior class at Heritage was only about 110 members, rather than about 250 if all juniors were required to go to the new school.

Of the 312 students in the graduating class of 2006, 112 received the governor's seal on an Advanced Studies diploma, one of the highest academic honors offered by the Commonwealth of Virginia.[2] Like other Loudoun County high schools, Heritage participates in the Advanced Placement program and offers numerous AP courses.

Accreditation and Test Scores

Accreditation

Heritage High School is a fully accredited high school based on the Standards of Learning tests in Virginia.

SAT Scores

The average SAT score in 2006 for Heritage was a 1,532 (518 in Math; 515 in Critical Reading; 499 in Writing).

School Year Mathematics Critical Reading Writing Total
2003–2004 485 490 n/a 975
2004–2005 527 523 n/a 1,050
2005–2006 518 515 499 1,532 (1,033 M & CR)

Enrollment History

School Year Number of Students
2002–2003 747
2003–2004 1,095
2004–2005 1,340
2005–2006 1,500
2006–2007 1,617
2007-2008 1,746
2008-2009 1,807
2009-2010 1,901
2010-2011 1,327
2011-2012 1,197[3]
2012-2013 1,198[4]

Athletics

The mascot is the Pride, in the shape of a Lion. Heritage's sports teams currently play in the Dulles District and Region II of the Virginia High School League. The Pride opened as a member of this district. The school is well known for its boys basketball team which consistently has made it to Region II playoffs, its 2006 team was the first undefeated team in the history of the Dulles District. The Pride boys basketball team has won 3 consecutive Dulles District Championships 2006,2007,& 2008.

Heritage teams did surprisingly well in the 2005-2006 year, in particular with the Pride's boys varsity soccer team making it to the AA semifinals before falling 2-1 to AA Dulles District champion Potomac Falls.[5] Both the girls and boys Track teams won their respective AA Dulles District Titles. The football team also had its first winning season in the 2005-2006 school year, with a 7-3 record, sharing the Dulles District title with Park View High School, but unable to make the playoffs because Park View had more power points in the Virginia High School League’s rating system.[6] in 2015, third year head coach Reed Prosser helped the Pride to a 6-4 record, after starting 6-0, and to a playoff appearance. 2016 looks to be a big season as they will bring back quarterback Alex Carlin (2017) on offense and safety Aaron Maisus (2018) to anchor the defense.

The Heritage boy's lacrosse team did exceptionally well in the 2007 and 2008 seasons, finishing 15-3 and 14-3 respectively. They were tournament champions in 2007 and regular season champions in 2008. The class of 2008 has had the strongest class in school history and graduated with the most wins in school history. The class of 2008 also had 3 members go on to play collegiately at the NCAA level.

The Heritage girls Varsity Swim & Dive team have made a vast improvement over the season of 2014-2015. Seeing as the girls have placed first in the Conference 21 meet. Taking first at regionals was an even bigger step for our Heritage girls Varsity Swim & Dive team. To finish up the season our girls team placed third in the 4A Northern Virginia Annual States meet. There were also many record breakers for swimmers on the Heritage Varsity Swim & Dive team in the season of 2014-2015.

Arts

Heritage has very successful Band, Choral, and Drama programs which perform at district and regional festivals.

Band

The Heritage Symphonic Band During the summer of 2008 was invited by well-known composer Frank Ticheli to perform in the 200-instrumentalist world premier of his new piece "Angels in the Architecture" at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. The performance took place on July 6, 2008 at 2:30 pm in the Opera House's Concert Hall, directed by Dr. Matthew George.

In addition, the band also played their own personal concert at the Opera House consisting of the songs "Into the Storm" by Robert W. Smith, "Of Dark Lords and Ancient Kings" by Roland Barrett, and an arrangement of Danse Bacchanale written by Camille Saint-Saëns and arranged by Jay Bocook.

Choir

Heritage's Choir programs consist of:

Heritage Singers: An auditioned choir composed of male and female students (grades 10 - 12) with an advanced knowledge of music. The group performs advanced literature in a variety of styles from various periods of music history. This group is the core of the choral program, performing frequently throughout the year.

TWELVE: An auditioned SATB group of juniors and seniors who sing advanced literature for small ensembles. The primary emphasis is singing jazz styles, but the group also sings holiday music for various events in the community. All members of the group must be in Heritage Singers as well as TWELVE, so that performance can be the priority of this class. In addition to training these students to hear the difficult jazz chords and be able to sing them, they work to develop a quality persona on stage.

Women’s Chorale: An auditioned choir composed of female students (grades 9 - 12) with an advanced knowledge of music. The group performs advanced literature composed and arranged for female voices.

Treble Choir: A non-auditioned choir composed of female singers (grades 9 - 12). The group performs literature composed and arranged for the female voice and appropriate for their skill level.

Men’s Choir: A non-auditioned choir composed of male singers (grades 9 - 12). The group performs literature composed and arranged for the male voices and appropriate for their skill level.

Drama

Heritage's Drama Program presents four or more productions a year including, A Fall Play, A One Act Show, A Children's Show, and The Spring Musical. They compete in The NCA Cappies division. Recent shows include:

References

  1. "STUDENT ENROLLMENT (SEPTEMBER 30, 2014)" (PDF). Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  2. Heritage Graduation Marks the End of a Beginning
  3. "SCHOOL BOARD ADOPTED FY 2013 – FY 2018 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM" (PDF). Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  4. "Superintendent’s Recommended Fiscal Year 2014-2018 Capital Improvement Program" (PDF). LCPS. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  5. Lukat, Carl (2006-06-13). "Potomac Falls denies Heritage once again, 2-1". Loudoun Times-Mirror. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-08-07.
  6. Lukat, Carl (2005-11-15). "Heritage takes a lot of Pride in pigskin finale". Loudoun Times-Mirror. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-08-07.
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