38°38′44.95″N 77°18′19.07″W / 38.6458194°N 77.3052972°W / 38.6458194; -77.3052972

Gar-Field Senior High School
Address
14000 Smoketown Road Woodbridge , Virginia 22192
Information
School type	Public, high school
Motto	School of Champions
Founded	1953
School district	Prince William County Public Schools
Principal	Matthew Mathison
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	2,403 (2017-18)[1]
Color(s)	Red   Blue
Mascot	Indians (1953–2021) Red Wolves (2021–present)
Website	Official Gar-Field High School website

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. Established in 1953, it was originally located at 15941 Cardinal Drive until the current school opened in 1972 on 14000 Smoketown Road.

It has recently been one of the largest high schools in Virginia, with enrollment peaking at over 3,000.

History

The high school's motto is "The School of Champions" and they have been rivals with Woodbridge High School for many years.

The name Gar-Field is derived from two prominent local families, the Garbers and the Manderfields. According to Prince William County Circuit Court records, the Garbers and Manderfields donated approximately 20 acres of land for the original school near Neabsco Creek that had once been part of “Round Top Farm”, just off of U.S. Highway #1. The gift to Prince William County’s School Board stipulated that this land would be used for building a public school for white children which opened to students on December 8, 1953. ^[2]

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 1962, African-American students were enrolled without incident.

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. It also has the only accredited daycare 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 is of similar design to that of 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."

The principal is Matthew Mathison. Before coming to Gar-Field, he was an assistant principal at Woodbridge Senior High School. He has been principal since 2019.^[3]

Graduation ceremonies

Gar-Field graduates between 500 and 700 students every June, and since 2002 all graduations have taken place at EagleBank Arena at nearby George Mason University in order to accommodate the large crowds. The class of 2000 was the first graduating class to have the ceremony at George Mason University.

Robotics Team

Gar-field High School's robotics team started in 2006, and that same year the team won the Virginia FTC Championship and attended the World Championships in Atlanta. The following season G-F placed second in the Virginia Championship, and in the 2008–2009 season the Varsity team, Team 33, "Leviathan", went to Dallas, Texas for the VEX World Championship. They placed within the top 50 out of about 250 teams from all over the world.

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.

In the 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 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.

Demographics

In the 2019–2020 school year, Gar-Field's 2,305 student body was:

• 59.8% Hispanic of any race
• 20.6% Black/African-American
• 8.3% Asian
• 7.4% White
• 3.6% Two or More Races
• .1% American Indian/Alaskan
• .1% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander^[4]

Notable alumni

• Jeff Baker, former MLB player (2005-2015)
• Christian Beranek, comic book writer and film producer
• Benita Fitzgerald, 1984 Olympic gold medalist, 100-meter hurdles
• Paula Girven, Olympic high jumper
• John Goding, choreographer
• Emmylou Harris, country western singer
• Bob Malloy, Texas Rangers/Montreal Expos professional MLB player 1987 and 1990
• Brian McNichol, former MLB player (1999) (Chicago Cubs)
• Jeff Nixon, professional football player
• Winston October, gridiron football player
• Clint Sintim, NFL linebacker, New York Giants
• Chris Sprouse, comic book artist
• Sheena Tosta (née Johnson), Olympic hurdler; won silver in '08
• Susan Walvius, women's college basketball coach
• Tara Wheeler, Miss Virginia 2008 and news anchor for WCAV CBS19 in Charlottesville, VA
• R. Chris White, Academy Award nominee, visual effects supervisor
• Othell Wilson, basketball player
• Andrew York, Grammy-winning recording artist

References

External links

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