Gar-Field Senior High School

Infobox Education in the United States
name= Gar-Field Senior High School


imagesize= 100px
motto= School of Champions
streetaddress= 14000 Smoketown Road
city= Woodbridge
state= Virginia
zipcode= 22192
url= [http://www.gar-field.org/ www.gar-field.org]
schoolnumber= [phone]
principal= Brenda L. Aiken
fundingtype= Public
district= [http://www.pwcs.edu/ Prince William County Schools]
schooltype= high school
grades= 9–12
mascot= Indian
colors= Red, Dark Blue
founded= 1951
enrollment= 2,602
bgcolor_section= #E3170D
bgcolor_label= #E3170D
bgcolor_value= #BFEFFF
bgcolor_address= #FFFFFF
bgcolor_url= #FFFFFF

seealso|Garfield High School "for schools of the same name"

Gar-Field Senior High School is a Senior High School in Woodbridge in unincorporated Prince William County, Virginia, USA, with students in grades 9 through 12.

Gar-Field, established in 1951, originally was located at 15941 Cardinal Drive in until the current school opened in 1971 at 14000 Smoketown Road.

For the past several years, it has been one of the largest high schools in Virginia, with enrollment having peaked at over 3,000. Gar-Field graduates around 600 or 700 students every June, and since 2002 all graduations have taken place at the Patriot Center at nearby George Mason University in order to accommodate the large crowds. The high school's motto is "The School of Champions."

The name Gar-Field is derived from two prominent local families, the Garbers and the Manderfields, who donated the land for the original school just off of U.S. Highway #1. The comic strip "Ber-Mander", which appears on the back page of the school newspaper, utilizes the unused portions of these names. Ber-Mander was created by artist Chris Sprouse (a 1984 graduate of Gar-Field) in the early 1980s, and featured a "hippie" title character.

In the 1950s, Gar-Field was segregated, as were Virginia's other schools. However, in 1960, African-American students were enrolled without incident or acrimony.

Gar-Field is one of two high schools in Prince William County that offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program and the IB Middle Years Program ( [http://www.IBatGF.com] ). It also has the only accredited day care system of any high school in the state, with a program that allows student-parents to finish their education while learning about how to take care of their children.

In May 2007, Newsweek Magazine ranked Gar-Field 564th in the nation on its annual list of "Best High Schools in America."

In June 2007, former principal Roger Dallek announced his retirement, after over 20 years with Gar-Field. He will be succeeded by Brenda L. Aiken in the 2007-2008 school year. Mrs. Aiken is a former resident of New York state, and has served for over 20 years with the Fairfax County school system

Demographics

In 2007-2008, Gar-Field's student body was 31.8% Black;, 23.3% White, 33.4% Hispanic, 8.3% Asian/Pacific Isaldner, 2.8% Other, and 0.4% N/A

Test Scores

SAT average: 971 (verbal - 489, math - 482)

ACT average: 20.8 composite

PSAT average: 138

SAT English: 600

SAT Math: 606

Notable alumni

* Glenn F. Ivey (State's Attorney for Prince George's County, Maryland)
* Emmylou Harris (Country Western Singer)
* Jeff Nixon (Professional Football Player)
* Rossi Alston (Judge)
* Paula Girven ('76 and '80 olympian)
* John Goding (Choreographer)
* Andrew York (Grammy Winning Recording Artist)
* Dr. Larry Loomis (Researcher in Tropical Disease)
* Benita Fitzgerald ('84 gold medal Olympian)
* Susan Walvius (women's college basketball coach)
* Jeff Baker (Colorado Rockies Professional MLB player)
* Bob Malloy (Texas Rangers/Montreal Expos Professional MLB player 87' and 90')
* Sheena Tosta (nee Johnson) (Olympic Hurdler; won silver in '08, did not medal in '04)
* Chris Sprouse (Comic book artist)
* Othell Wilson (American basketball player)
* Damon Lane Smuzynski (Chief Meteorologist/KTXS-TV Texas)
*Mario Reynoso (Prince consort of The Catalan Countries)

External links

* [http://gar-field.org Official Gar-Field High School website]
* [http://www.IBatGF.com Gar-Field IB Program Website]
* [http://www.pwcs.edu Prince William County Schools website]