THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL (DALLAS)

'Thomas Jefferson High School (Dallas)' is a secondary school in Dallas, Texas that serves grades 9-12. The school is part of the Dallas Independent School District and is located at 4001 Walnut Hill Lane, Dallas, Texas 75229. The school is named after the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, and locally is known simply as "TJ."
The school's colors are Columbia blue and cardinal red and its mascot is the Patriot. Until the mid-1970s, the (Confederate) Rebel served as school mascot and the Confederate Navy Jack was a recognized school emblem. The negative associations of both symbols necessitated a change following desegregation of Dallas schools. In the 2005-06 school year, the school celebrated its 50th anniversary.^[1]
Jefferson serves several sections of Dallas, including Walnut Hill, the apartment complexes along the Webb Chapel Extension, and Love Field.

Contents

The campus

Feeder patterns

Notable alumni

Former students

Notes

External sites

Alumni sites

The campus

The class of 1965 had 962 members, the largest graduating class of any high school in Texas up to that time.^[2]
The high school shotput record was set at the Golden West Invitational in 1979 by then-senior Michael Carter, who threw the 12-pound shotput 81 feet, 31/2 inches. As of June 2006, the record had yet to be broken ''or even approached''.^[3]
In 2006, the League of United Latin American Citizens provided uniforms for all 20 members of the TJ boys' soccer team after learning that the team, which had taken second place in the athletic district, had been unable to afford to outfit the full team for the previous four years.^[4]
==School uniforms==

Students are required to wear school uniforms.^[5]
The Texas Education Agency specified that the parents and/or guardians of students zoned to a school with uniforms may apply for a waiver to opt out of the uniform policy so their children do not have to wear the uniform [1]; parents must specify "bona fide" reasons, such as religious reasons or philosophical objections.

Feeder patterns

The following elementary schools feed into Jefferson^[6]:

★ David G. Burnet

★ Leonides Cigarroa

★ Tom W. Field

★ Stephen C. Foster

★ Obadiah Knight

★ Julian T. Saldivar

★ Walnut Hill
Two middle schools, Edward H. Cary and Thomas J. Rusk (partial), feed into Jefferson.

Notable alumni

★ M. L. Aday (Meat Loaf), rock musician^[7]

★ Rhys Best, Chairman and CEO, Lone Star Technologies

★ Michael Carter, former San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman and 1984 Olympics silver medalist in shot put^[8]

★ Ron Chapman, Texas State District Judge, Court of Appeals

★ Elizabeth Dameron '71, Professor of English, Writer

★ Eddie Dominguez, former Texas A&M basketball player^[9], led TJ to state basketball championship in 1962; owner and president of Tupinamba Restaurants^[10]

★ Linda Evans, CEO, the Meadows Foundation, Dallas

★ Jan Hart, former Dallas city manager^[7]

★ Tom Hicks, investment entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Stars NHL hockey team^[12]

★ Dave Huffman, All-American football player and broadcaster, member of the 1977 Notre Dame championship team, Minnesota Vikings center, guard, and tackle

★ Jimmy Jones, played Major League baseball for the Expos, Astros, and Padres

★ Karen Katz, CEO, Neiman Marcus Stores

★ David Meyercord, Former Managing Partner, Strasburger and Price

★ Mike Nesmith, actor-musician and member of The Monkees^[13][14]

★ Elizabeth Dameron '71, Professor of English, Writer

★ Burt Solomons, Representative, Texas State House of Representatives

★ Becky Sykes, Executive Director, Dallas Women's Foundation

★ Brenda Vaccaro, Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress^[15]

Former students

★ Owen Wilson, actor (completed sophomore year at TJ after being expelled from a local private school)^[16]

Notes

1. TJ Alumni Association Main Page
2. Class of 1965 Reunion site
3. John Crumpacker. The Carter family puts its emphasis in Sacramento, ''San Francisco Chronicle'', June 6, 2006
4. LULAC Gives Uniforms to High School Soccer Team
5. Thomas Jefferson HS: Policies
6. Feeder Pattern for Thomas Jefferson HS, 2006-07 School Year
7. 1965
8. SF Chronicle
9. "Traditions in Sports," part of the exhibit ''¡Siempre! Hispanics at Texas A&M Celebrating 130 Years''
10. Mary Brown Malouf, Taco of the Town: Tupinamba deserves its spot in Tex-Metroplex history, ''Dallas Observer'', May 9, 1996
11. 1965
12. Notable People: Thomas O. Hicks, Museum of the Gulf Coast
13. Liner notes to ''Dallas' Scene, Heard - Rare and Unreleased Tracks Compiled by the Dallas Observer''
14. Mike Nesmith, profile by Rhino Records
15. Philip Wuntch. "She's in retirement, but it's all an act," ''The Dallas Morning News'', August 17, 2006. Retrieved August 4, 2007.
16. Owen Wilson bio at Wilson-brothers.com

External sites

★ Thomas Jefferson HS (official site)

Alumni sites

★ Grads of 1970

★ TJ 1978 Alumni Site