Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (also known as TJHSST, TJ, or Jefferson) is a Virginia state-chartered magnet school in Fairfax County, Virginia. It is a regional high school operated by Fairfax County Public Schools.
As a publicly funded and administered high school with a selective admission process, it is often compared with notable public magnet schools, although it discontinued non-application based admission after the class of 1988. Attendance at the school is open to students in six local jurisdictions based on an admissions test, prior academic achievement, recommendations, and essays. 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. The school occupies the building of the previous Thomas Jefferson High School (constructed in 1965). It is one of 18 Virginia Governor's Schools, and a founding member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology. In 2016, the school placed first in Newsweek's annual "America's Top High Schools" rankings for the third consecutive year and fifth in US News & World Report's 2016 High School Rankings.
Video Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
Students
In 2015 and in 2016 the ratio of acceptances to applications was 17 and 17.9%, Students of Asian origin constitute around 60%-70% of the student population in 2013-14 and also in 2016-2017. The ethnic demographics of the students in the class of 2019 were 21.8% white, 74% Asian, 1.7% black, and 2.6% Hispanic. Hispanic and Black students make up less than four percent of student body, while the same groups constitute about thirty percent of the student population in the area.
In 2012, a civil rights complaint against the school was filed with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights by Coalition of the Silence, an advocacy group led by former county School Board member Tina Hone, and the Fairfax chapter of the NAACP. In response, the Office of Civil Rights, in September 2012, opened an investigation.
The school is part of the Fairfax County Public Schools system of Fairfax County, Virginia. Students from Fairfax, Arlington, Loudoun, and Prince William counties and from the City of Falls Church are also eligible for admission.
Maps Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
Awards and distinctions
In 2016, the school placed first in Newsweek's annual "America's Top High Schools" rankings for the third consecutive year. Previously, it ranked 8th in the 2013 rankings and 10th in the 2012 rankings, the first year it was included. It was ranked No. 1 among "America's Best High Schools" in a study by U.S. News and World Report from 2007 to 2010. In the same rankings, it placed fifth in 2016, third in 2015, fourth in 2014 and 2013, and second in 2012 and 2011. The average SAT scores for various graduating classes has consistently been above 2150.
In 2007, the school had 14 Intel Science Talent Search Semifinalists., 15 in 2009 and 13 in 2010.
In 2007, for schools with more than 800 students in grades 10-12, TJ was cited as having the highest-performing AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP French Language, AP Government and Politics, U.S., and AP U.S. History courses among all schools worldwide. In 2014, 3864 AP Exams were taken by students; over 97% earned a score of 3, 4, or 5.
President Barack Obama signed the America Invents Act into law on September 16, 2011 at the school. The law was made to reform U.S. patent laws.
Renovation
The school underwent renovation, completed in April 2017, for a cost of about $89 million, including $67.4 million for construction, plus other costs related to permits, design fees, utilities and equipment. A replica of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello dome graces the school's entrance, colloquially known as "The Dome" by students and staff. The renovation overhauled the school's aging facilities, many of which had not been updated since it was built in 1964.
Notable alumni
Activities
TJ3Sat project
The Systems Engineering Course designed and built a CubeSat which was launched on November 19, 2013 from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Orbital Sciences Corporation donated the CubeSat Kit to the school on December 6, 2006 and provided the launch for the satellite. After a successful launch at 8:15PM, TJ3SAT became the first satellite launched into space that was built by high school students. The launched satellite contained a 4-watt transmitter operating on amateur radio frequencies, and a text-to-speech module to allow it to broadcast ASCII-encoded messages sent to it from Jefferson.
Computer Systems Lab
The school's computer systems lab is one of the few high school computing facilities with a supercomputer. In 1988, a team from the school won an ETA-10P supercomputer in the SuperQuest 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 supercomputer, known as Seymour, to the school on December 4, 2002.
The lab also supported a number of Sun Microsystems thin clients for use by students enrolled in AP Computer Science. In 2008, the school received a grant from Sun Microsystems for $388,048, which was student-written. 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. By 2014, the Sun Ray clients were decommissioned, and replaced with Linux-based thin clients running LTSP.
Arts
In 2013 and 2017, the wind ensemble of the school was among fifteen high-school bands invited to the Music for All National Concert Band Festival in Indianapolis.
Athletics
School teams have won 18 VHSL state titles in athletic activities, all at the AAA level until 2013, then it moved to the newly formed 5A Division. TJ's tennis team won the state championship from 2013-2017.
Varsity Math Team
TJHSST has a math team that competes in many competitions, such as ARML and HMMT.
Physics Team
TJHSST's Physics Team competes in high school physics competitions such as the Princeton University Physics Competition (PUPC) and the United States National Physics Olympiad.
References
Further reading
- Lindsey, Drew. "Success Factory: Inside America's Best High School", Washingtonian, October 1, 2009.
Source of article : Wikipedia
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