HAYFIELD SECONDARY SCHOOL

'Hayfield Secondary School' is the oldest secondary school in the Fairfax County Public Schools system of Virginia. It opened its doors in 1968 and graduated its first seniors in 1971.

Contents

History

Academics

Athletics

Facility

Planetarium

Extra Circular Activities

History

The land that Hayfield sits on was at one time part of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. Because of a small natural spring underneath the school, the land literally served as a hay field. The land itself changed hands numerous times, until 1956 when developers constructed Hayfield Farms, the first of many housing developments in the region. Hayfield Secondary opened its doors to middle school (7th and 8th grade) students as well as 9-10th grades during the 1968-1969 school year, while still under construction. The school is erroneously mentioned in ''Remember the Titans'' as being "all white." While at the time the majority of students were white, the school has always been integrated.[1]
As the region which it serves grew, overcrowding became a major issue at Hayfield, and by the late 1990s it routinely exceeded its intended capacity. A renovation of the school began in 2002 and was completed in 2005. Further helping to relieve the pressure on Hayfield was the opening of South County Secondary School, also in 2005. However, due to overcrowding at South County in its second year of operation and under-utilized capacity at Hayfield, Hayfield will be accommodating more students again from a boundary change with South County approved for the 2007-2008 school year.[2]

Academics

Hayfield is a secondary school, meaning it serves grades 7 through 12, but the high school and middle school students are generally kept segregated. The middle school has an honors (formally GT) program and the high school offers both honors and Advanced Placement courses.
Hayfield has a notable Robotics Team that has been in the Top 8 in the 'FIRST Robotics Competition' (FRC) and been invited three times in the past three years to the FRC National Competition, including the most recent competition in 2007.
Hayfield's Varsity Science Olympiad team took first place in several categories at the McLean High School Competition 2007. Hayfield's Varsity Science Olympiad team took first place in several categories, including Forensics, Ecology and Write It Do It at the West Potomac High School Competition 2007.

Athletics

Hayfield's high school teams compete in the AAA Patriot District of the AAA Northern Region of the Virginia High School League. The school's most notable athletics programs are boy's wrestling, boy's basketball, and lacrosse.
The boy's lacrosse team was built by coaches Bob Bowman and Jack Kendall, and as of late has become a strong Northern Region Contender, having a perfect season last year in regular season play. Their mascot is the hawk and their school colors are orange and white (and unofficially blue). Prior to the 1990-91 school year the school colors where orange and brown. The student body voted to make the change feeling that the original colors were too 70's.
Hayfields Football team is very young. The 2006 Seaons did not go well losing all 10 games, but Coach Pugh is rebuilding with a Strgon Sophmore Class that could turn this football program around in the next 2 years. The Biggest football game of the year is against their Biggest Rival, South County Secondary

Facility

Hayfield's gym is the largest gym in Northern Virginia.
Hayfield has one of the largest auditoriums in Northern Virginia including an elevator lift built into the front of the stage that allows that portion of the stage to act as either an orchestra pit or stage extension.
The auditorium is supported by a student group called HALT, the Hayfield Audio and Lighting Technicians. Because of the size of the auditorium and the non-school clientele that it serves this group is unique within the county.

Planetarium

The Hayfield Planetarium opened its doors in 1969. The main instrument of the planetarium is the Spitz A-4 projector. Many special effect projectors are also used to demonstrate certain astronomical, and atmospheric phenomena, such as lunar and solar eclipses, different types of lightning, auroras, and the phasing of the moon. The planetarium is also equipped with three Kodak Ektograph projectors, and a slide dissolve system which is used to show previously produced slide programs and to create special slide programs on current astronomical topics. The most recent additions to the equipment list is a video projector and a special effects projector.
Bob McMillen, a graduate of California University of Pennsylvania, with a B.S.Ed., and The Uniiversity of Virginia, with a M.S. Ed., currently directs the Hayfield Planetarium. He has been the director here since the fall of 2000. He has taught at Warren County High School, Langley High School, and at Averett College, as an adjunct instructor. Bob has taught astronomy, physics, biology, and geosystems before arriving at Hayfield the Planetarium.
The planetarium at Hayfield does not just serve the surrounding elementary schools, but also serves the Secondary school itself. Most science classes find their way into the planetarium at some point during the school year. Other subjects visit the plantarium as well. In the past years, Latin, English and World Studies classes have visited the planetarium to discuss subjects of astronomy that deal directly with classroom topics (mythology, map coordinates, etc). Students may also arrange with the director to give class presentations in the planetarium when they deal directly with astronomy subject matter such as astrobiology and cosmology.
(the above info was taken from http://www.fcps.edu/HayfieldSS/planet/index.htm)

Extra Circular Activities

Art Club
ASL Club
Astronomy Club sponsored by Bob McMillen
Athletic Trainers
Book Club
Business Honor Society of Fairfax County
Character Education (Hayfield Advancing with Character (HAWCs)
Chorale/Madigral Singers
College Partnership
Color Guard
Dance Team
DECA
Family, Community & Career Leaders of America (FCCLA)
Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) sponsored by Ron Simms (Coach Simms), Bob Bowman, Coach Vought, & Carol Wilson Has monthly meetings and breakfast monthly
Forensics
French Club
Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)
Gay Straight Alliance (GSA)
Future Medical Professionals
Hayfield Audio & Lighting Technicians (HALT) sponsered by Meghan Nugent
History Club/History Honor Society
Host & Hostess
It's Academic sponsored by Sue Duncan
Japanese Club
Japanese National Honor Society
Junior Classical League
Jazz Lab Band
JROTC sponsored by Joe Spicer
Junior Math League
Junior Statesmen
Key Club
Lion Club
Literary Magazine - "The Meridian"
Math Team
Model UN
National Art Honor Society
National Honor Society (NHS)
Newspaper (News Magazine H2N)
Photography Club
Poetry Club
Robotics Club
Science Honor Society
Science Olympiad Club sponsored by Mary Jefferson
Skills USA
Scrapbook Club
Spanish Honor Society
Step Team
Student Council Association/Student Advisory Council (SCA/SAC) sponsored by Jihoon Shin
Tech Club sponsored by Dereck Turner
Thespian Society sponsored by Rebecca Wilburn
Tri-M Music Honor Society sponsered by Pat Burke
Yearbook (Harvester)
Young Democrats sponsered by Dottie Andrews
Young Republicans sponsered by Ginny Balsam