Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
Encyclopedia
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST, TJ, Jefferson) is a Virginia state-chartered magnet school
Magnet school
In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...

 located within Fairfax County, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, United States. It is a regional high school operated by Fairfax County Public Schools
Fairfax County Public Schools
The Fairfax County Public Schools system is a branch of the Fairfax County government which administers public schools in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax...

 (FCPS).

As a publicly funded and administered high school with selective admissions, TJHSST is often compared with notable public magnet school
Magnet school
In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...

s, although it did get rid of non-application based admission after the class of 1988. Attendance at TJ is open to students in six local jurisdictions based on an admissions test and prior academic achievement. The selective admissions program was initiated in 1985 through the cooperation of state and county governments, as well as corporate sponsorship from the defense and technology industries. TJHSST occupies the building of the previously FCPS non-selective Thomas Jefferson High School
Thomas Jefferson High School (Alexandria, Virginia)
Thomas Jefferson High School was a Fairfax County, Virginia public high school that opened in 1964 and closed in 1987.DEMOGRAPHICS:50% Asian40% Indian5% White5% Unknown0% African American...

 (constructed in 1965). TJHSST is one of 18 Virginia Governor's Schools
Governor's Schools (Virginia)
The Governor's Schools are a collection of regional magnet high schools and summer programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia intended for gifted students....

, and a founding member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology
National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology
National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology is an alliance of specialized high schools in the United States whose focus is advanced preparatory studies in mathematics, science and technology....

.

U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...

ranked the school the best public high school in the nation in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Freshmen

Each fall, the TJHSST Admissions Office accepts applications for freshman admission from eighth-graders who live in eligible areas in Northern Virginia. After paying a registration fee, all applicants take an admissions test, which consists of a standardized mathematics and reasoning test along with two essay questions. Students must be enrolled in Algebra 1 or a higher math course in order to apply, except for special instances where the student did not have the ability to have taken Algebra I in their middle school.

Using a sliding scale, the math and reasoning test score is combined with the student's middle-school GPA to form an overall, objective ranking; the Admissions office designates the top scorers as semifinalists, a group generally about three times as large as the planned freshman class. The semifinalists submit further information, including teacher recommendations, awards, previous experience in science, mathematics, and technology, and several personal statements. Two selection panels review this information, along with the student essays written during the admission test, and select the next year's freshman class.

Sophomores

Rising sophomores at other schools can still apply to Jefferson (they must live in the eligible areas in Northern Virginia), even if they applied unsuccessfully in the past, or if they have moved from another county. Even though there is no admissions test for these applicants, they usually are required to take a test, primarily the PSAT.

There is no determination of semifinalists as such, so all applicants are expected to submit further information, similar to the information that the eighth-graders submit, with a few more questions on scientific situations. By the end of June, the new entrants to the Jefferson sophomore class are decided. In the end of the 2007-2008 school year, only 15 out of the 70 students who applied were accepted. In the end of the 2009-2010 school year, only 18 out of the 95 applicants were accepted.

Juniors

Rising juniors may only apply to TJHSST if they have not already applied in the past, and they must live in an eligible part of Northern Virginia. They go through an interview process to determine selection. Usually, very few applicants are accepted.

Class size

While most local high schools base entering class size on the number of rising eighth-graders, Jefferson controls its freshman enrollment through its selective admissions process. Of the approximately 3000 freshmen who apply, only about 480 are admitted. This target class size has slowly grown since the school was founded, beginning at 400 students per class for the class of 1989. The class of 2009 contained about 450 students. For classes of 2011 and 2012, enrollment has been increased to 480 students. There are 1,812 students currently enrolled for the 2010-2011 school year. Effective from July 31, 2007, a cumulative, unweighted GPA of at least 3.0 is required for students to remain enrolled at the school. If this GPA is not attained these students will be transferred to their original base high school at the end of the school year.

Student diversity

Some in the community have argued that TJHSST should have greater minority representation, even though it has a large portion of Asians, with the class of 2014 having a majority of Asians at 57.5%. In contrast, blacks
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 and Hispanics
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...

 comprise a much smaller percentage of the student body than is present in the populace of the participating localities. In 2009−2010, Asians became the school's largest racial group, at 46.38%, while whites comprised 43.63% of the population.

In 2004, the Fairfax County School Board commissioned a study to determine what steps, if any, should be undertaken to remedy the underrepresentation of certain racial or ethnic groups, as well as low-income students, among enrollees. Prior to the study, admissions decisions were based mainly on middle school grades and students' scores on the admission examination. In 1998, attorneys working for Fairfax County Public Schools published an interpretation of law that restricted "soft affirmative action", which led to a severe decline in enrollment among black and Hispanic students. The FCSB commission concluded that a change to the admissions policy was necessary to mitigate the underrepresentation (by taking into account other factors, such as gender, ethnicity and other socio-demographic characteristics, as "plus" factors in a holistic review of applicants). Despite efforts at increasing outreach, however, the percentage of minority students only increased moderately. During the 2004/2005 school year, the black student population of TJHSST was 1.24% and the Hispanic population was 2.42%. Students admitted in that school year were 3.84% Hispanic and 2.42% African descent, although these two ethnic groups constitute more than 25% of the student population in Fairfax County. An October 31, 2010 Washington Post article once again raised the issue of diversity at TJHSST. "We thought we'd given committee members enough latitude to consider diversity as a factor," said Richard Moniuszko, deputy superintendent in Fairfax County. "But the results say otherwise."

Participating localities

While TJHSST is operated by the Fairfax County Public Schools
Fairfax County Public Schools
The Fairfax County Public Schools system is a branch of the Fairfax County government which administers public schools in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax...

 system (which serves residents of Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax
Fairfax, Virginia
The City of Fairfax is an independent city forming an enclave within the confines of Fairfax County, in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Although politically independent of the surrounding county, the City is nevertheless the county seat....

), residents of Arlington
Arlington County, Virginia
Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The land that became Arlington was originally donated by Virginia to the United States government to form part of the new federal capital district. On February 27, 1801, the United States Congress organized the area as a subdivision of...

, Loudoun
Loudoun County, Virginia
Loudoun County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the county is estimated to be home to 312,311 people, an 84 percent increase over the 2000 figure of 169,599. That increase makes the county the fourth...

, Fauquier
Fauquier County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 55,139 people, 19,842 households, and 15,139 families residing in the county. The population density was 85 people per square mile . There were 21,046 housing units at an average density of 32 per square mile...

, and Prince William
Prince William County, Virginia
-National protected areas:* Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge* Manassas National Battlefield Park* Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge* Prince William Forest Park-Government and politics:...

 counties, as well as the City of Falls Church
Falls Church, Virginia
The City of Falls Church is an independent city in Virginia, United States, in the Washington Metropolitan Area. The city population was 12,332 in 2010, up from 10,377 in 2000. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Anglican parish, Falls Church gained township status within...

 also apply to and attend the school. A particular number of admission slots is allotted to each participating locality. In March 2006, the Alexandria School Board voted 7-2 in favor of allowing a maximum of two students from Alexandria
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

 to attend the school, although a subsequent vote (5-4) in September 2006 rescinded that earlier decision. Each school district shares in the cost of operating the school. The independent cities
Independent city
An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. These type of cities should not be confused with city-states , which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other sovereign state.-Historical precursors:In the Holy Roman Empire,...

 of Manassas
Manassas, Virginia
The City of Manassas is an independent city surrounded by Prince William County and the independent city of Manassas Park in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Its population was 37,821 as of 2010. Manassas also surrounds the county seat for Prince William County but that county...

 and Manassas Park, although surrounded by Prince William County, have declined to fund spaces for their students.

Curriculum

TJHSST offers an extensive mathematics and science curriculum, including courses in organic chemistry
Organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...

, neurobiology, marine biology
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...

, DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

 science, and quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...

. All courses at TJHSST are taught at the Honors/GT, Advanced Placement, or post-Advanced Placement level. All students are required to complete Calculus
Calculus
Calculus is a branch of mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. This subject constitutes a major part of modern mathematics education. It has two major branches, differential calculus and integral calculus, which are related by the fundamental theorem...

 (AB or BC) before graduation. All students are required to complete an introductory Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

 computer science course before their junior year; a recent addition includes a single introductory Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...

 computer science class, in which students are randomly placed into. Seniors must also participate in the Senior Technology Laboratory Research program, which consists of a year-long research project or an off-campus mentorship through one of the school's research labs. These labs are devoted to numerous fields, including computer science, robotics, microelectronics
Microelectronics
Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture of very small electronic components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-scale or smaller,. These devices are made from semiconductors...

, chemistry, prototyping, optics
Optics
Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...

, computer aided design, astronomy, biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...

, and oceanography
Oceanography
Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...

. There was recently some debate over the inclusion of the Video Technology Lab, responsible among other things for producing the school's video morning announcement program. It was ultimately decided that the Video Technology Lab would be closed, despite an active letter writing campaign by students to the Board of Education. However, a similar lab taught by the same teacher, the Communications Systems Lab, has been reintroduced for the 2009 school year.

A new technology lab was recently approved in neuroscience
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...

.

The school also offers a strong humanities and foreign language curriculum. Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin), and Russian are taught in addition to the more traditional German, French, Spanish, and Latin. Every other year, Pskov State Pedagogical University students from Russia visit TJHSST. The language department celebrated the ten-year anniversary of its sister school relationship with Chiben Gakuen High School
Chiben Gakuen
Chiben Gakuen is a private academic institution with campuses in Nara Prefecture and Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. The school sends many students to the best universities and colleges in Japan, including the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University and other public and private schools.The school is...

, a Japanese high school famous for its baseball program, in 2003. Each year in March, ten exchange students and one teacher come to spend a month in the US. TJ students are given the opportunity to reciprocate during the summer with the school's Chiben Summer Program.

TJ also offers its IBET (Integrated Biology, English, and Technology) program to ninth graders. Students spend nine class periods a week with the same group of peers, and the IBET teachers work together to produce an integrated curriculum. The technology aspect of the program (formally known as Principles of Engineering and Technology) stresses drafting, CAD, and basic electronics skills. Integrated Humanities courses are offered in 10th and 11th grade, with several integrated programs available for seniors. Currently, the idea to integrate Chemistry into 10th grade humanities has been proposed as the "CHUM" concept.

All students attending TJHSST must pursue a special TJ Diploma. The TJ Diploma requirements duplicate those of the Virginia Advanced Studies Diploma with additional mathematics, computer science, earth science, and engineering requirements.

Accreditation

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is one of the six regional accreditation organizations recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation...

, the regional accrediting body
Regional accreditation
Regional accreditation is a term used in the United States to refer to educational accreditation conducted by any of several accreditation bodies established to serve six defined geographic areas of the country for accreditation of schools, colleges, and universities...

 for secondary schools in the region including Virginia, has accredited TJHSST since the magnet program was founded in 1985.

Awards and distinctions

TJHSST has fielded more National Merit Semifinalists
PSAT/NMSQT
The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test is a standardized test administered by the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation in the United States.This test is offered by the College Board....

 than any other high school in America for most of the 1990s and 2000s. From 2000 to 2005, it fielded more USAMO qualifiers than any other high school in America and has a distinguished history of U.S. Physics Olympiad Team members and medal winners. In 2007, TJHSST had more Intel Science Talent Search Semifinalists (14) than any other school. TJHSST repeated this feat in 2009 with 15 semifinalists and in 2010 with 13 semifinalists. Over the 2002-2010 period, TJHSST has produced a combined total of 75 semi-finalists, ranking 4th in the entire country, and 7 finalists, tying for 6th place nationally.

TJHSST was ranked as the top high school in the nation by PrepReview in 2004. In that year, TJHSST also had the highest average SAT score among all American high schools, both public and private.
It was also ranked #1 among "America's Best High Schools" in a study by U.S. News and World Report since 2007. Each year, over a quarter of its graduating class accepts admission to the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

. The other major schools attended by graduates are College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...

, Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

, and Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 in that order. Other graduates attend Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

 schools and high-ranking public and private schools across the nation.

For schools with more than 800 students in grades 10-12, TJHSST was cited as having the highest-performing AP
Advanced Placement Program
The Advanced Placement program is a curriculum in the United States and Canada sponsored by the College Board which offers standardized courses to high school students that are generally recognized to be equivalent to undergraduate courses in college...

 Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP French Language, AP Government and Politics: U.S., and AP U.S. History courses among all schools worldwide.

In addition, seven Rhodes Scholars have graduated from TJHSST since is inception, more than the number of Rhodes Scholars from most colleges in the United States.

Notable visitors

  • President Reagan
    Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

    's visit in 1986 consisted of a question and answer session with a select group of students.
  • Carl Sagan
    Carl Sagan
    Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books...

     visited and delivered a speech to student leaders at an organizational meeting in the spring of 1988 held at TJHSST with fifteen founding member institutions of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools in Mathematics, Science, and Technology.
  • In 1992, Valeri Kubasov
    Valeri Kubasov
    Valeri Nikolayevich Kubasov was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on two missions in the Soyuz programme as a flight engineer: Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 19 , and commanded Soyuz 36 in the Intercosmos programme. On 21 July 1975, Soviet Soyuz module landed in Kazakhstan at-5:51pm and Valeriy Kubasov was the first...

    , a Russian cosmonaut on the Apollo-Soyuz mission, visited the school. A student taking Russian served as his translator and guide as he dropped in on science classes giving brief, impromptu speeches and toured the school's tech labs.
  • Benoît Mandelbrot
    Benoît Mandelbrot
    Benoît B. Mandelbrot was a French American mathematician. Born in Poland, he moved to France with his family when he was a child...

     visited in 1996 and gave a lecture on fractals.
  • Al Gore
    Al Gore
    Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....

     visited in 1999 to provide the keynote address to the graduating class of 1999.

  • In 2000, Mandy Moore
    Mandy Moore
    Amanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore is an American singer-songwriter, actress and fashion designer. Moore became famous as a teenager in the late 1990s, after the release of her teen pop albums So Real, I Wanna Be with You, and Mandy Moore. In 2007, she took an adult pop-folk direction with the release of...

     performed a concert at TJHSST as a result of a radio contest sponsored by now-defunct local radio station WWZZ (Z104)
    WWZZ (Z104)
    WWZZ/WWVZ was the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area's largest adult rock format radio station, owned by Bonneville International. The station broadcast from Braddock Heights, Maryland at 103.9 MHz FM and from Waldorf, Maryland, at 104.1 MHz FM...

    . The contest was conducted via online voting on the Z104 website. Students were allowed to vote for their school as many times as they wanted, for the duration of the contest. However, because the voting system had no way of verifying who was voting, several TJHSST students wrote a number of various computer scripts that generated rapid, automatic votes for TJHSST, randomly choosing a member of the student body to vote as. Lake Braddock Secondary School
    Lake Braddock Secondary School
    Lake Braddock Secondary School is a combined junior-high and high school in Burke, Virginia, United States, administered by Fairfax County Public Schools . It is one of four secondary schools in Fairfax County; the other three are Hayfield, Robinson, and South County.Opened in 1973, Lake Braddock...

     students followed suit and wrote their own vote-generating script to compete with TJHSST. In an attempt to crack down on these ethically questionable attempts to manipulate the contest, Z104 announced that computer-generated voting was no longer allowed, and that any high school found violating the rule would be disqualified, removing a number of votes from TJ and several other schools that had taken a similar tack. However, when it became apparent that policing such a restriction would be nearly impossible, the organizers of the contest seemed to give up, allowing the votes to count, and giving TJ the victory by a wide margin of votes.
  • The Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshiro Mori
    Yoshiro Mori
    is a Japanese politician who served as the 85th and 86th Prime Minister of Japan starting at 5 April 2000 ending 26 April 2001. Described as having "the heart of a flea and the brain of a shark," he was an unpopular prime minister mainly remembered today for his many gaffes and situationally...

    , visited in 2001.
  • On September 27, 2001, Rev. Jesse Jackson
    Jesse Jackson
    Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...

     visited the school. He gave a speech to the entire student body about the recent 9/11 attacks and the need for unity among the people of the nation. His speech culminated in Jackson leading the student body in a chant of his famous line, "I am somebody."
  • Ian Anderson
    Ian Anderson (musician)
    Ian Scott Anderson, MBE is a Scottish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work as the leader and flautist of British rock band Jethro Tull.-Early life:...

     of the classic rock band Jethro Tull
    Jethro Tull (band)
    Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...

     visited the school on October 12, 2005, along with classical violinist Lucia Micarelli
    Lucia Micarelli
    Lucia Micarelli is an American violinist and actress best known for her collaborations with Josh Groban and classic rock band Jethro Tull, and her role as Annie in Treme.-Early Life:...

    . He answered questions from students about his work, being on tour, and illegal file sharing. The visit was the subject of articles in The Washington Post
    The Washington Post
    The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

    and The Washington Times
    The Washington Times
    The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...

  • Physicist and author Frank Close
    Frank Close
    Francis Edwin Close OBE is a noted particle physicist who is currently Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.-Early life:...

     visited the school from November 13–14, 2008, giving a speech to the freshman class on particle physics and scientific writing. He also gave a speech to the students in AP Physics, Computational Physics, and Optics about the Standard Model
    Standard Model
    The Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...

    .
  • Scott McNealy
    Scott McNealy
    Scott McNealy is an American business executive. He co-founded computer technology company Sun Microsystems in 1982 along with Vinod Khosla, Bill Joy, and Andy Bechtolsheim.-Biography:...

     of Sun Microsystems visited the school and gave a presentation to students on March 11, 2009.
  • Arne Duncan
    Arne Duncan
    Arne Duncan is an American education administrator and currently United States Secretary of Education. Duncan previously served as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.-Early years and personal:...

    , US Secretary of Education, visited TJHSST on May 28, 2009 as the keynote speaker for the inaugural tjSTAR (Symposium to Advance Research) event.
  • Lisa P. Jackson
    Lisa P. Jackson
    Lisa Perez Jackson is an American chemical engineer currently serving as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency . Previously, she worked at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for 6 years, first as an assistant commissioner and later as commissioner...

    , US Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, visited TJHSST on June 9, 2009 as a speaker for TJ's solar panel initiative kickoff event. Local media and politicians were also present at the event.
  • Stephen Chu, US Secretary of Energy, visited TJ on September 8, 2009, to speak about global warming
    Global warming
    Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

     and world population growth.
  • Chef José Andrés
    José Andrés
    José Ramón Andrés Puerta , known as José Andrés, is a Spanish chef often credited for bringing the small plates dining concept to America...

     visited TJHSST on June 2, 2010 as the keynote speaker for tjSTAR.
  • Harold Varmus, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine visited TJ on October 21, 2010 to speak to the student body.
  • Atul Jain, CEO and Chairman of TEOCO Corporation visited on October 27, 2010 to speak to members of TJ's Future Business Leaders of America Club
  • Daniel Odio, CEO and Co-founder of Socialize (previously PointAbout) visited TJ on February 9, 2011 to speak to members of TJ's Future Business Leaders of America Club
  • Barack Obama
    Barack Obama
    Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

    , 44th President of the United States, visited TJ on September 16, 2011, to sign the America Invents Act
    America Invents Act
    The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on September 16, 2011. The law represents the most significant change to the U.S...

    . He was given a tour of the school, including a special session that showcased some of the current projects, including TJ Cubesat, a mind-controlled wheelchair, a FIRST
    First
    First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one.First or 1st may also refer to:* First , minor summit below the Schwarzhorn in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland* First , mountain in Bernese Alps in Switzerland...

     robot (allegedly named Derp, rumor has it that President Obama said "Huh, Derp." after being told its name), and a bioluminescence buoy. Obama also saw a banner that said "Homecoming, Mr. President?" and replied with "Only if I can bring Michelle." At 11:10 a.m. the president entered the school Gymnasium, where he spoke about the importance of patent reform in promoting long term innovation and economic growth through the return of manufacturing to the United States. In his speech, the President also touched on his proposed American Jobs Act
    American Jobs Act
    The American Jobs Act and are bills proposed by US President Barack Obama in a nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress on September 8, 2011...

    . After giving the speech, he signed the America Invents Act into law.
  • Ken Cuccinelli
    Ken Cuccinelli
    Kenneth Thomas 'Ken' Cuccinelli II is a U.S. politician and the Attorney General of Virginia. From 2002 until January 16, 2010 he was a Republican member of the Senate of Virginia, representing the 37th district in Fairfax County...

    , Attorney General of Virginia, visited TJ's Teenage Republican Club to talk about the state's healthcare lawsuit
    Commonwealth of Virginia v. Sebelius
    Commonwealth of Virginia, Ex Rel. Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II v. Sebelius is a court case in which Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli sued Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius over the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act...

     on September 30, 2011.
  • Wes Bush, CEO and company president of Northrop Grumman
    Northrop Grumman
    Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American global aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company was the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world as of 2010, and the largest builder of naval vessels. Northrop Grumman employs over...

    , visited TJ on October 3, 2011 to speak about innovation in the STEM field and some of the company's ongoing projects.

GMU partnership

In March 2004, TJHSST announced a partnership with nearby George Mason University
George Mason University
George Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...

. Among the proposals set forth in the partnership are the relocation of TJHSST to the George Mason University campus and instruction by university professors at the high school. This proposal was scratched in 2007 when George Mason decided to build a conference center in available space. In the 2005-2006 school year, a small group of Thomas Jefferson students piloted a program in which they took college-level courses at GMU's Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering
Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering
The Volgenau School of Engineering is located in the Fairfax campus of George Mason University in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Volgenau School offers programs at the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. levels. The school will move in the first semester of 2009 to a new building, which is a LEED certified...

. Currently students are able to pursue a dual enrollment for some courses at the undergraduate level.

Retirement of Elizabeth V. Lodal

From 2000-2006, Elizabeth V. Lodal served as the principal of Thomas Jefferson. In the spring of 2006, Lodal announced her retirement after 40 years as a public school educator and principal of four Fairfax County secondary schools. The timing of her retirement closely followed a situation in which Lodal stated that the pressures Asian parents are widely perceived to place on their children to excel at TJHSST resulted in Asian students committing a disproportionally high percentage of the cheating and theft incidents uncovered by the administration. After a negative response from the Asian community, Principal Lodal wrote a letter in the Parent, Teacher and Student Association Newsletter clarifying her remarks. During her tenure, Lodal advocated an increase in the diversity of the school; she pushed for new admissions procedures designed to increase acceptance of minority students, which the school board passed in 2004. She was appointed by Governor Tim Kaine
Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael "Tim" Kaine is a Virginia politician. Kaine served as the 70th Governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, and was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011...

 to be a delegate from Virginia on The Education Commission of the States. Dr. Evan M. Glazer, former director of Roanoke Valley Governor's School for Science and Technology, was chosen as her replacement.

TJ3Sat project

TJHSST Systems Engineering Course is designing and building a CubeSat
CubeSat
A CubeSat is a type of miniaturized satellite for space research that usually has a volume of exactly one liter , has a mass of no more than 1.33 kilograms, and typically uses commercial off-the-shelf electronics components...

 which is planned to be launched in 2011. Orbital Sciences Corporation
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Orbital Sciences Corporation is an American company which specializes in the manufacturing and launch of satellites. Its Launch Systems Group is heavily involved with missile defense launch systems...

 donated the CubeSat Kit to the school on December 6, 2006 and will also provide the launch for the satellite. If successful, TJ3SAT will be the first satellite launched into space that is built by high school students. The satellite will contain a 4-watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...

 transmitter operating on amateur radio
Amateur radio
Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...

 frequencies, and a text-to-speech module to allow it to broadcast ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...

-encoded messages sent to it from Jefferson.

Embezzlement Case

TJHSST employee Susan Thanh Litwin of Woodbridge, Virginia
Woodbridge, Virginia
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 31,941 people, 10,687 households, and 7,769 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 3,047.8 people per square mile . There were 11,026 housing units at an average density of 1,052.1/sq mi...

 embezzled more than $279,000 from the school between about March 2008 and January 2010. Working as a finance technician and using her signature authority, she was able to transfer funds that were intended for school use into her personal accounts, which she then used to support a gambling addiction. She was arrested on March 5, 2010. She pleaded guilty to the charges on May 6, 2010 and was sentenced to 15 months in prison on August 13, 2010.

Criticism on Immigrant Students

There has been much criticism on immigrant students. Some immigrant students that are accepted into Thomas Jefferson haven't learned enough English in order to understand what they are learning. Some Fairfax school administrators are thinking of adding a "Must be fluent in English" requirement into the application process. They are currently trying to fit a special help class for students that need help with their English classes and skills.

School features and activities

The school maintains a schedule of eight class periods on Monday and block classes the rest of the week. Though no formal classes are offered during eighth period, it is a required part of a school day. Wednesday and Friday's eighth period is devoted to study halls, clubs and teams, and other extracurricular activities. Since the school day ends at 3:50 (an hour and a half later than other Fairfax County high schools), eighth period enables students to explore a wide variety of interests, including science, athletics, performing arts, and the humanities, without having to stay after school. Every Thursday, the school day known as Jefferson Learning Community (JLC) begins at 9:00 rather than 8:30 to allow for teacher conferences.

Computer Systems Lab

The Computer Systems Lab (CSL, often shortened to "syslab") at TJHSST is one of very few high school computing facilities with a supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...

. In 1988, a team from the school won an ETA-10P supercomputer in the SuperQuest
SuperQuest
SuperQuest is an American computational competition for high school students. Computational projects are proposed by various high school teams. An expert panel evaluates all of the entries and selects about four winning teams for each participating center...

 competition, a national science competition for high school students. The ETA-10P was damaged by a roof leak in the 1990s. Cray Inc. donated a new SV1
Cray SV1
The Cray SV1 is a vector processor supercomputer from the Cray Research division of Silicon Graphics introduced in 1998. The SV1 has since been succeeded by the Cray X1 and X1E vector supercomputers. Like its predecessor, the Cray J90, the SV1 used CMOS processors, which lowered the cost of the...

 supercomputer, known as Seymour, to the school on December 4, 2002. The supercomputers have been used in research projects by students and may be used in a course for students taking the advanced computer science class entitled Parallel Computing (formerly Supercomputer Applications).

One of the aspects of this lab is student involvement. Since the early 1990s, designated student system administrator
System administrator
A system administrator, IT systems administrator, systems administrator, or sysadmin is a person employed to maintain and operate a computer system and/or network...

s (often referred to as "sysadmins") have maintained the lab's workstations and servers, including the upkeep of the school's E-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

, web site, and intranet
Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...

, among other services. The syslab is currently running Gentoo Linux
Gentoo Linux
Gentoo Linux is a computer operating system built on top of the Linux kernel and based on the Portage package management system. It is distributed as free and open source software. Unlike a conventional software distribution, the user compiles the source code locally according to their chosen...

 on most of the CSL resources. Over the years, students in the Computer Systems Research course as well as the sysadmins have worked to improve the computer resources in the school. A system administrator understudy program is in place in order to train aspiring sysadmins. Understudies learn common tasks such as workstation maintenance and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 installation, as well as CSL-specific administration procedures.

One project developed in the "syslab" was the TJHSST Intranet. This large web application was an early venture into PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...

, and is known for bringing Rasmus Lerdorf
Rasmus Lerdorf
Rasmus Lerdorf is a Danish programmer with Canadian citizenship and is most notable as the creator of the PHP scripting language. He authored the first two versions...

, the original creator of PHP, to the school for a visit. It was made as a replacement for the aging mechanically based Eighth Period scheduling system, but now it also provides features such as access to files on the school's intranet and the student directory. In recent years, the Intranet2 project has been developed in order to redesign and reimplement the Intranet system with object-oriented programming
Object-oriented programming
Object-oriented programming is a programming paradigm using "objects" – data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions – to design applications and computer programs. Programming techniques may include features such as data abstraction,...

 and modern versions of PHP in mind. It was released on May 18, 2006, but will still continue to be developed indefinitely.

Sun Ray at TJ

The lab also supports a number of Sun
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...

 thin clients for use by students enrolled in AP Computer Science. In 2008, TJ was awarded a grant from Sun Microsystems for $388,048. The Syslab was given 7 Sun workstations, 12 Sun servers, and 145 Sun Rays for distribution throughout the school. These were placed in the existing AP Computer Science Lab and the science classrooms, support backend services, and serve as kiosks placed around the school for guests, students, and faculty. However, the Sun Rays were taken out of the AP Computer Science Lab due to teachers' objections. The grant was student-written.

Performing arts

The drama program has performed three major plays each year. One of these productions is entered as a Cappies show in the National Capital Area chapter. Another is the annual Knight of One Axe, which consists of mostly student-directed plays and occasionally has student-written plays. The independent Shakespeare Troupe student group performs Shakespeare plays throughout the year.

The choir program holds several concerts over the course of the year, the largest of which is Spring Show. Spring Show is held during second semester and involves both curricular and extracurricular singers. A Cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...

 is held during the fall and choir students participate in caroling in the winter. There are four major student-led co-curricularensembles at Jefferson sponsored by the TJ Choir program; three of which are a caappella - the mixed Madrigals, men's Manchoir, and women's Sirens - that annually sponsor an a Cappella concert during 8th Period in the winter and in the spring. Madrigals placed 1st at the East Coast A Cappella Summit in 2008, while Manchoir placed 3rd and 2nd at the similar SingStrong in 2009 and 2011. The fourth being a service choir, a non-audition choir that sings around the community.

The choir also routinely hosts its own musicals, the most recent having been Les Miserables (musical)
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....

in Spring 2011. Jefferson's choir program performed at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

 in Spring 2010.

The orchestra program consists of a symphonic orchestra, a concert ensemble, and the recently developed sinfonia. They perform four concerts each year, including the judge-evaluated Spring Festival. For the past several years, the orchestra program has achieved the rating of "superior" at this event. In addition, the symphonic orchestra won the title of "Best Overall High School Orchestra" at the 1991 International Quebec Music Festival.

TJ's band program consists of two concert band
Concert band
A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...

s and one jazz band
Jazz band
A jazz band is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands usually consist of a rhythm section and a horn section, in the early days often trumpet, trombone, and clarinet with rhythm section of piano, banjo, bass or tuba, and drums.-Eras:SwingDuring the swing era in the mid-twentieth...

 (Jazz I) in addition to a number of extracurricular ensembles. Each year, the bands has performed in several concerts, including a Fall Preview concert in conjunction with the orchestral and choral programs, and the District XI VBODA Concert Band Festival. The school's extracurricular bands include the marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...

, known as the Thomas Jefferson Marching Colonials (TJMC),a winter drumline
Indoor percussion ensemble
An indoor percussion ensemble or indoor drumline consists of the marching percussion and front ensemble sections of a marching band or drum corps. The only exceptions are in concert divisions where the marching line is absent and the ensemble consists entirely of a pit...

, a winter color guard, and a jazz ensemble. TJMC rehearsals begin in the early summer, and the band's season runs through early November. In addition to performing at football games, the marching band participates in several competitions throughout the fall, concluding the season at the USSBA National Championships. In both the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons, TJMC placed first in division 4A at the USSBA state championships, and 2nd in the State of Virginia. In the 2010-2011 season, TJMC became the USSBA Northern States Champion in class 4A. The winter guard (TJWG) and drumline (TJWDL) seasons begin in late November and end in early April. In the 2009-2010 season, TJWG took 5th at the Atlantic Indoor Association's finals, and TJWDL took 1st. In the same year, TJWDL went on to the world championships in Dayton, Ohio, and received 9th place in finals in the A-class. There were 54 groups in the class that year. They received a wild card spot after both preliminaries and semifinals in order to advance.

International programs

In addition to the Chiben Gakuen student exchange, TJHSST also hosts the annual week long Jefferson Overseas Schools Technology Institute during the summer for American-based overseas school educators. Also, guest instructors from overseas frequently teach at TJHSST for an academic year, and have hailed from countries such as Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

 over the past decade.

Academic competitions

Academic teams at TJHSST have competed at the state, national, and international levels. Teams that have maintained perennial success include those competing in debate (Public Forum, policy, and Lincoln-Douglas), chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

, the American Regions Math League competition, Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind, often called OM , is a creative problem-solving competition involving students from kindergarten through college. Team members work together at length to solve a predefined problem ; and present their solution to the problem at a competition...

, and both the Regional Virginia and National Science Bowl
Science Bowl
Science Bowl is a high school and middle school academic competition, similar to Quiz Bowl, held in the United States. Two teams of four students each compete to answer various science-related questions. In order to determine which student has the right to answer the question, a buzzer system is...

s. In certain cases, teams have held a winning streak of several years or have won multiple times. TJHSST is also known for its strong performance in the It's Academic
It's Academic
It's Academic is a televised academic quiz competition for high school students, currently airing on two NBC affiliates in Washington, D.C. and Central Virginia and one CBS affiliate Baltimore, Maryland . The show has been on the air since October 7, 1961, making it the longest...

 high school quiz tournament, which is produced and broadcast in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area
Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area
The Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area is a combined statistical area consisting of the overlapping labor market region of the cities of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.. The region includes Central Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Jefferson County in the Eastern Panhandle of West...

, as well as in national tournaments such as NAQT's High School National Championship Tournament and the PACE
Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence
The Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence is a nonprofit organization which runs the National Scholastics Championship , an end-of-year championship for North American high school quizbowl teams...

 National Scholastics Championship. The school also has a long history of supplying qualifiers for the United States Physics Olympic Team, many of whom have gone on to win gold medals for the United States. In recent years, TJ has also sent teams to the DC Regional Botball
Botball
Botball is an educational robotics program that focuses on engaging middle and high school aged students in team-oriented robotics competitions. Thousands of children and young adults participate in Botball’s program...

 competition, with multiple top-5 wins in 2008 and 2009.

Model United Nations

The Model United Nations
Model United Nations
Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda....

 club is the largest regularly meeting organization in the school, with roughly 150 regular participants. Its Officer Corps includes over 20 members, including the Secretariat (Secretary General, Under-Secretary General, Senator and Arbitrator). The club has been successful in national competitions, competing for awards at conferences hosted by University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

, William and Mary
William and Mary
The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...

, and University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 (ILMUNC
ILMUNC
The Ivy League Model United Nations Conference, or ILMUNC, is one of the largest Model UN conferences for high school students worldwide. It is hosted by the University of Pennsylvania's International Affairs Association. Penn's ILMUNC High School Conference, along with the conferences hosted by...

), and winning the Best Large Delegation award at WMHSMUN XXII and XXIII and the equivalent award at VAMUN for the two years before last. TJ Model UN also won the Outstanding Large Delegation award at ILMUNC XXVI, in 2010 TJ MUN Awards. TJMUN hosts its own conference each spring, TechMUN. TJMUN has a winning streak at local conferences that extends back to the beginning of last decade. TJMUN is known for producing a great number of incredibly successful delegates.

Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)

FBLA is the second largest regularly meeting club at Jefferson with over 100 regular participants. It is known for its annual MarketPlace event in which students sell products to other students in the school as well as for bringing in many guest speakers. Due to stringent state rules and the lack of a business class at TJ, they are not allowed to compete in state competitions. TJ's FBLA also participates in the March of Dimes
March of Dimes
The March of Dimes Foundation is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies.-Organization:...

' March for Babies
March for Babies
The March of Dimes's March for Babies, formerly WalkAmerica, began in 1970 as the first charitable walking event in the United States. The name was changed after the 2007 event....

 event held in DC every year. They regularly place in the top 3 for donations among high school organizations.

NCSSSMST

On October 18, October 19, and October 20, 2007, approximately 350 students from member schools of the National Consortium of Specialized Secondary Schools of Math, Science, and Technology (NCSSSMST) attended a three-day conference hosted by TJHSST and its university affiliate, George Mason University
George Mason University
George Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...

.

The goal was to have a conference completely student planned for the other students; a group of about 20 students planned the conference under the supervision of Milde Waterfall. The students created and maintained a website about the conference.

The conference provided opportunities for bright, dedicated students to explore innovations in math, science, and technology. Students participated in interactive presentations by professionals, GMU professors, peers, and Jefferson alumni. Events also included a dance social function on a boat down the Potomac, a trip to the International Spy Museum
International Spy Museum
The International Spy Museum is a privately owned museum dedicated to the field of espionage located within the 1875 Le Droit Building in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C., across the street from the Old Patent Office Building and one block south of the Gallery Place Metro...

, and a high-profile Climate Change panel. The collaboration aimed to motivate students to use their talent to the best of their abilities to solve diverse problems, inspiring a synergy among the students which will remain with them in college and beyond.

Athletics

The TJHSST mascot is the Colonial. Teams currently play in the AAA Liberty District
AAA Liberty District
The AAA Liberty District is a high school conference in the state of Virginia that includes schools from Northern Virginia. AAA is the largest enrollment class of the Virginia High School League and also typically the most competitive level in Virginia high school sports.The Liberty District...

 and the Northern Region
AAA Northern Region
The AAA Northern Region is one of the four AAA regions in the Virginia High School League. It is made up of four districts: the AAA Concorde District, the AAA Liberty District, the AAA National District, and the AAA Patriot District...

 of the Virginia High School League
Virginia High School League
The Virginia High School League is the arbiter of interscholastic competition among public high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Unlike similar organizations in many other states, private or religious schools are prohibited from joining. Non-public schools belong to other organizations,...

.

Highlights of Colonial athletics

The Colonials have been recognized for their strong rowing, cross country, track and field, tennis and swim and dive teams. The school's football team went to the 2004 and 2008 Division 5 Northern Region playoffs, and the boys lacrosse team consistently participates in the regional playoffs.

TJ Crew has been the dominating force in Virginia rowing, winning 11 of the last 12 boys eight varsity state titles. Both the girls and boys' teams have won medals at the prestigious Stotesbury Cup Regatta
Stotesbury Cup
The Stotesbury Cup Regatta, sponsored by the Schuylkill Navy, is "the world's oldest and largest high school rowing competition." It is held annually in mid-May over a two-day period along the Schuylkill River near Boathouse Row in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although there is no official U.S....

 and Scholastic Rowing Nationals regattas.

The tennis team has won 13 district championships in twenty seasons. In 2002, TJ became the first AAA school to win both boys' and girls' swimming state championship in the same year, capping an undefeated season. The swim teams are perennial state contenders. Other teams with notable success include the boys soccer team, who won the 2007 VHSL AAA State Championship.

A tongue-in-cheek bumper sticker associated with the school states, "We came for the sports."

VHSL state championships

The Colonials have won thirteen VHSL state titles in athletic activities, all in the AAA level:
  • Girls Swimming and Diving: 2002-2004
  • Boys Cross Country: 2002, 2004, 2007
  • Boys Swimming and Diving: 1995, 1996, 1997, 2002
  • Girls Indoor Track: 1997, 1998
  • Boys Soccer: 2007


The Colonials have been state runners up eight times, also all in the AAA level:
  • Boys Cross Country: 2003, 2005
  • Boys Tennis: 2010
  • Girls Tennis: 2008, 2009
  • Girls Cross Country: 2002
  • Girls Swimming and Diving: 2001
  • Girls Softball: 1991

Notable alumni

  • Chris Avellone
    Chris Avellone
    Chris Avellone is an American video game designer and comic book writer who worked for Interplay and currently works in Obsidian Entertainment.-Early life and education:...

    , 1989, game designer, Fallout 2
    Fallout 2
    Fallout 2 is a computer role-playing game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay in 1998. The game's story takes place in 2241, 80 years after the events of Fallout...

    and Planescape: Torment
    Planescape: Torment
    Planescape: Torment is a computer role-playing game developed for Windows by Black Isle Studios and released on December 12, 1999 by Interplay Entertainment. It takes place in Planescape, an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy campaign setting...

    .
  • Ashley Miller
    Ashley Miller
    Ashley Jordan Miller is an association football player who plays for Gillingham. He made his professional debut against Wycombe Wanderers on 2 November 2010, at the age of 16.-External links:...

    , 1989, screenwriter, "Thor
    Thor (film)
    Thor is a 2011 American superhero film based on the comic book character of the same name published by Marvel Comics. It is the fourth film released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe...

    ", X-Men: First Class
    X-Men: First Class
    X-Men: First Class is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics starring the X-Men.-Publication history:The original series was an eight-issue limited series. It began in September 2006 and ended in April 2007. It was written by Jeff Parker and penciled by Roger Cruz...

    " , and "Andromeda
    Andromeda (TV series)
    Andromeda is a Canadian-American science fiction television series, based on unused material by the late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, developed by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, and produced by Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett Roddenberry. It starred Kevin Sorbo as High Guard Captain Dylan Hunt...

    "
  • Sandra Beasley
    Sandra Beasley
    Sandra Beasley is an American poet and non-fiction writer.-Background:Beasley graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, earned a B.A. in English magna cum laude from the University of Virginia, and later received an MFA degree from American University...

    , 1998, poet, 2009 Barnard Women Poets Prize
    Barnard Women Poets Prize
    The Barnard Women Poets Prize is a major American literary award for a book of poetry in the English language.From 1986-1999 the prize was called the Barnard New Women Poets Prize...

    .
  • Ian Caldwell
    Ian Caldwell
    Ian Caldwell is an American novelist. After graduating from Princeton University in 1998, he and his childhood friend Dustin Thomason co-wrote the semi-autobiographical The Rule of Four, which was published in 2004....

    , 1994, co-author, The Rule of Four.
  • Eric Froehlich
    Eric Froehlich
    Eric Froehlich is an American professional poker player, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. As of 2009, Froehlich's total live tournament winnings exceed $1,300,000. His 16 cashes at the WSOP account for $867,783 of those winnings....

    , 2002, winner, World Series of Poker
    World Series of Poker
    The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...

    , two-time WSOP bracelet
    World Series of Poker bracelet
    The World Series of Poker bracelet is considered the most coveted non-monetary prize a poker player can win. Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP. Even if the victory occurred before 1976, WSOP championships are now counted as "bracelets". ...

     winner.
  • Ehren Kruger
    Ehren Kruger
    -Life and career:Kruger was raised in Alexandria, Virginia, and attended college at New York University. He attended the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, graduating in 1990....

    , 1990, screenwriter, Arlington Road
    Arlington Road
    Arlington Road is a 1999 American drama/mystery film, which tells the story of a widowed George Washington University professor who suspects his new neighbors are involved in terrorism and becomes obsessed with foiling their terrorist plot. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, and...

    , Reindeer Games
    Reindeer Games
    Reindeer Games is a 2000 American film, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, and Charlize Theron. It was Frankenheimer's final theatrically released film and received poor reviews.-Plot:...

    , Scream 3
    Scream 3
    Scream 3 is a 2000 American slasher film created by Kevin Williamson, directed by Wes Craven and written by Ehren Kruger, starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette, released on February 4, 2000 as the third, and originally, concluding installment in the Scream film series...

    , The Ring
    The Ring (2002 film)
    The Ring is a 2002 American psychological horror film directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson. It is a remake of the 1998 Japanese horror film Ring....

    , The Brothers Grimm, The Skeleton Key
    The Skeleton Key
    The Skeleton Key is a 2005 American supernatural horror film starring Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt, Peter Sarsgaard, and Joy Bryant. The film focuses on a young hospice nurse who acquires a job at a Terrebonne Parish plantation home, and becomes entangled in a mystery involving the house,...

    .
  • Jose Llana
    Jose Llana
    Jose Llana is a Filipino-American singer and actor known for his high tenor voice.-Biography:Born May 5, 1976, Llana, a native of Manila, Philippines, grew up in Springfield, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C...

    , 1994, Broadway actor, The King and I
    The King and I
    The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...

    , Rent
    Rent (musical)
    Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème...

    , Flower Drum Song
    Flower Drum Song
    Flower Drum Song was the eighth stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It was based on the 1957 novel, The Flower Drum Song, by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee. The piece opened in 1958 on Broadway and was afterwards presented in the West End and on tour...

    , 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
  • Michael Montemerlo, 1993, software lead on the first team ever to complete and win the DARPA Grand Challenge
    DARPA Grand Challenge
    The DARPA Grand Challenge is a prize competition for driverless vehicles, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the most prominent research organization of the United States Department of Defense...

     in 2005.
  • Anthony Myint
    Anthony Myint
    Anthony Eric Myint is a restaurateur, chef, author and food consultant based in the Mission in San Francisco, California. He is the founder of Mission Street Food, Mission Chinese Food, Mission Burger, and Commonwealth Restaurant...

    , 1995, Restaurateur, Founder of Mission Street Food, Mission Chinese Food and Commonwealth in San Francisco. Author of the book Mission Street Food: .
  • S. R. Sidarth, 2003, referred to as "Macaca" by George F. Allen in the 2006 United States Senate election
  • Dustin Thomason
    Dustin Thomason
    Dustin Thomason is an American writer. He co-wrote the 2004 novel The Rule of Four with his childhood friend Ian Caldwell.The Rule of Four reached the top of the New York Times Best Seller list, where it remained for more than six months. The book was a number-one national and international...

    , 1994, co-author, The Rule of Four, co-creator and writer for ABC TV show, The Evidence
    The Evidence (TV series)
    The Evidence is an American police procedural drama that debuted on March 22, 2006 on ABC. The series starred Rob Estes, Orlando Jones, and Martin Landau.-Summary:...

    and co-executive producer of Fox TV show, Lie to Me
    Lie to Me
    Lie to Me is a 2009-2011 American television series.Lie to Me may also refer to:* Lie to Me , a South Korean drama series* "Lie to Me" , an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer...

    .
  • Greg Tseng
    Greg Tseng
    Greg Yuchang Tseng is a controversial American Internet entrepreneur. He is co-founder and current CEO of social networking website Tagged...

    , 1997, Founder and CEO, Tagged.
  • Thao Nguyen, 2002, vocalist, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
    Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
    Thao with The Get Down Stay Down is a San Francisco, California-based alternative folk rock music group. It consists of Thao Nguyen , Adam Thompson , and Lisa Schonberg . Frank Stewart and Willis Thompson are former members of the band.-History:Thao began playing guitar at age 12...

    .
  • Sam Odio, 2003, Founded Divvyshot through Y Combinator in 2009, acquired by Facebook in 2010, now manages Facebook Photos.
  • Drew P. Balls, 2005, Founder and CEO, Comeshot.

Further reading


External links

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