Gar-Field Senior High School

Gar-Field Senior High School
Address
14000 Smoketown Road Woodbridge, Virginia 22192
Information
School type	Public, high school
Motto	School of Champions
Founded	1951
School district	Prince William County Public Schools
School number	(703) 730-7000
Principal	William Bixby
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	2,602
Color(s)	Red, White, Blue
Mascot	Indian
Website	www.gar-field.org/

For schools of the same name, see Garfield High School.

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 until the current school opened in 1972 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 between 500 and 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 ([1]). 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. Gar-Field H. S. is of similar design as nearby Woodbridge High School, which was also built in the mid-1970s.

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 at Gar-Field. He was succeeded by Dr. Brenda L. Aiken in the 2007-2008 school year. Dr. Aiken is a former resident of New York state and served for over 20 years with the Fairfax County school system. Dr. Brenda L. Aiken died of cancer at 53 years old on Saturday May 16, 2009. Former principal Roger Dallek returned to fill the position for the remainder of the 2008-2009 school year. Upon the start of the 2009-2010 school year, William Bixby took the position of principal and is currently holding that position.

Robotics Team

Gar-field High School's esteemed Robotics team started in 2006, and that same year the team won the Virginia FTC Championship and represented G-F at the World Championships in Atlanta. The following season G-F placed second in the VA Championship, and in the 2008-2009 season the Varsity team, Team 33, Leviathan, went to Dallas, TX for the VEX World Championship. They placed within the top 50 out of about 250 teams from all over the world. The G-F Robotics team has built a stellar reputation in a very short time in the robotics community. During the Robotics season of 2009-2010, the Varsity Team 33, Maverick, placed 12th in Robot Skills at the 2009-2010 VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas, TX. They also placed within the top half of their division. This past 2010-2011 season, the Gar-Field Robotics team was represented in the Prince William County Zero Robotics Team, SuperNOVA. This team consisting of students from Osbourn Park, Gar-Field, and Battlefield HS placed in the Top 5 (Semi-Finalist Standings) and ended up in 3rd place in the nation (Finals). Varsity FTC Team 33, Maverick was a member of the the VA FIRST FTC State Championship alliance and attended the 2011 VEX World Championships at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Center in FL. The team is also responsible for reaching out to the community and to provide mentorship to the surrounding middle schools in need of help and support, such as Beville Middle School and Woodbridge Middle School. The team also actively volunteers by running Qualifiers and the annual Roboticon for the middle school students. G-F Robotics members have also appeared in various functions in the community, such as the Annual Community Covenant in Manassas and National Young Readers' Day.

• 2008-2009 Season:
• ○ Excellence Award (VEX)
• 2009-2010 Season:
• ○ Community Award (FTC)
• ○ Spirit Award (VEX)
• ○ Tournament Champions (VEX)
• 2010-2011 Season:
• ○ Community Award (VEX)
• ○ Finalist Alliance (FTC)
• ○ Inspire Award (FTC)
• ○ Winning Alliance (FTC)
• ○ Think Award (FTC)
• ○ Tournament Champions (VEX)
• ○ Sportsmanship Award (VEX)
• ○ Commendation from the Prince William Board of County Supervisors for Robotics\
• The Official Gar-Field Robotics website

Demographics

In 2007-2008, Gar-Field's student body was 31.8% Black, 23.3% White, 33.4% Hispanic, 8.3% Asian/Pacific Islander, 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

IB Diploma Pass Rate: 86% (exceeds Va., US, and World average)

Notable alumni

• Jeff Baker (Colorado Rockies/Chicago Cubs Professional MLB player)
• Benita Fitzgerald ('84 gold medal Olympian)
• John Goding (Choreographer)
• Emmylou Harris (Country Western Singer)
• Bob Malloy (Texas Rangers/Montreal Expos Professional MLB player 87' and 90')
• Jeff Nixon (Professional Football Player)
• Baljinder Sekhon, II (Award-winning, Classical Composer)
• Clint Sintim (NFL Linebacker New York Giants)
• Chris Sprouse (Comic book artist)
• Sheena Tosta (née Johnson) (Olympic Hurdler; won silver in '08, did not medal in '04)
• Susan Walvius (women's college basketball coach)
• Othell Wilson (American basketball player)
• Andrew York (Grammy Winning Recording Artist)

Chris Vann (played basketball at the professional level in Korea)

External links

• Official Gar-Field High School website
• Gar-Field IB Program Website
• Prince William County Public Schools