Oxon Hill High School
Oxon Hill High School (OHHS) is a public high school located in Oxon Hill, an unincorporated area in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States.
The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Prince George's County Public Schools system.
Oxon Hill is one of three schools in the County to offer the Science & Technology program, a magnet program with selective admissions. This program is a "school within a school" with approximately 125 students in each entering class. Overall the school has approximately 2,500 students spread across four grade levels. In recent years the school has suffered persistent overcrowding because of its popular academic programs, extracurricular activities, and location in the burgeoning southern tier of the County.
The school mascot is a clipper ship, chosen in a student contest. The school motto is "Navis Semper Naviget" (The Ship Always Sails).
History
The Oxon Hill Consolidated School, a union of five elementary schools, started in 1925.[1] The school's first addition came in 1926, with three more in a period between 1928 and 1938 at the site which is currently Oxon Hill Elementary School on Livingston Road.
In 1948, the consolidated school ended and a grade 7 through 12 school was established in a new two-story building, which is currently the Education and Staff Development Center facing Highway 210. The school operated on a split session until John Hanson Junior High School opened. With an expanding suburban population, approximately 1959 the current, larger school campus opened, on Leyte Drive in the Southlawn community. (At that time the official attendance area stretched from the District of Columbia line as far south as Piscataway Creek/Bay, because Potomac, Crossland, and Friendly high schools were not yet built). In the 1990s the school was expanded by adding the magnet program Science and Technology Center building.
In addition to the external observations, Oxon Hill High has adopted a new bell schedule that alternates classes for "A days" and "B days." There are now four periods a day (1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, etc.), as opposed to the old "odd-even" periods (A days would have 1, 3, 5, and 7 while B days would have 2, 4, 6, and 8), which replaced the 8 periods a day schedule from the 04-05 school year. This change has made the schedule more uniform for all students attending, and it has allowed security to monitor the hallways with a greater authority and strictness to the school rules and county student code of conduct.
Oxon Hill is known for its somewhat rocky history, most notably the homicide of Oxon Hill student Charles Marsh.[2] in front of the school in 1995 while waiting to catch his bus ride home. Dr. Cecil Short was subsequently removed as principal under the weight of this and several prior security incidents, along with his DUI arrest. Dr. David Stofa was brought in to turn the school around, and served as principal from 1996-1999. In 1997 he was awarded "Principal of the Year"[3] Upon his departure, he was followed by the former Dean of Students, Ronald Curtis. Ronald Curtis was subsequently replaced by Gordon Libby who was principal for only one year, who was then replaced by Roney Wynn. The current principal of Oxon Hill is Mrs. Deborah Franklin.
Notable graduates
- Emily Perez, first female minority Command Sergeant in the history of the United States Military Academy at West Point; she was killed in action in 2006 in Iraq.
- Michael Sweetney, a professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls
- Lamar Butler, former starting guard for George Mason University during their 2005-2006 surprising season run to the Final Four
- Derrick Delmore, championship ice skater (World Junior Championships, National Collegiate Championships), Stanford graduate, and occasional pianist.
- Taraji P. Henson is an award winning actress and singer. She provided the vocals on the Academy Award winning Three 6 Mafia track, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp", for the film Hustle & Flow in which she stars as "Shug".
- Rebekkah Brunson, a professional basketball player for the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs
- Jaron Lockett, Coined the phrases: "No glove no love." and "Peaches wrapped in sunshine."
References
External links
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