Falls Church High School - Jaguar Yearbook (Falls Church, VA)

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ADMINISTRATION.Page 5 ♦ CLASSES .Page 11 ♦ ATHLETICS .Page 79 ♦ ACTIVITIES .Page 99 ADVERTISEMENTS .Page 132 - Falls Church High School Falls Church, Virginia ...

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PROPERTY OF 1T ARYOFVIRG ’ 1 OHMOND.VA o r e iaj o r It’s 19S5; another year checked off the Big Calendar; another Senior Class ready to try its collective hand on the “outside;” another Falls Church Fligh School Jaguar. Be¬ hind us are ten years of Senior Classes, ten years of Jaguars. Before us . . . who knows? We of 1955 would like to take our hats off to that past ... to all the students who experi¬ mented, made mistakes, built traditions that we today benefit by, rely on. Falls Church Fligh School has always been, and shall continue to be, as good as the students in it. The fun, the work, the study of the y ear is captured in this, Our Book, made possible not only by the work of our hands, but by the struggles of those before us. May this book stand as our salute to all that Falls Church High School, past and present, stands for.

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; Is I...- - . . i { 1 l h M ;y § 11 Ml I r--- Coulfher Bros. Photo A Decade of Progress at F. C. H. $ Ours is one of the oldest high schools in this area. It was established when Falls Church was a small village and when the only public transportation to Washington was by the Washing¬ ton and Old Dominion Railroad. By horse and buggy, it was even slower. The Thomas Jefferson Institute had been built in time for opening in 1881 as the finest school in Northern Vir¬ ginia. It had been in use as an elementary school from that time until 1902 when the first grade of high school was inaugurated. This first class, the Class of 1906 was the pilot class as freshmen, each year seeing a new class added below until in September 1905 the school was complete as a four-year high school. The school was a small one and retained the old-fashioned name “Thomas Jefferson Institute.” The original portion of the present building was occupied by the three hundred students and teachers from Thomas Jefferson Institute in September, 1945. This little group was joined by about three hundred more from Franklin Park, Chesterbrook, McLean, Dunn Loring, Merrifield and other growing communi¬ ties whose students had been attending Fairfax High School. Our first ten years have been busy ones, although somebody has always been taking away a part of our area. First, it was the School Board which in 1949 gave our McLean section to Fair¬ fax High School. Then in 1952 the City of Falls Church took back its students and in 1953 Alexandria annexed a square mile or two and took our students from the annexed area. But in spite of these losses, our enrollment has continued to grow enormously. In addition to two extensions to our building in 1948 and in 1953-54, we have used temporary expedients from time to time: the Hillwood Square Recreation Hall and the Alexander’s Play Room in 1951 and Thompson House in 1953. And now, the new McLean High School, taking about six hun¬ dred of our people, is opening just in time. Without it, we would next year have pupils crowding each other out of the windows. During these ten years we have won many athletic games and lost some while establishing ourselves as good sportsmen and earning the Babe Ruth award. We have filled our Virginia High School League plaque with forensic and dramatic winners. We have earned our “stadium” facilities and lights by ten good magazine sales drives. The Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools has accepted us into its membership. We have won scholarships galore to the best colleges in the country. We have produced a newspaper which has been judged best in the state. We have produced outstanding yearbooks and maga¬ zines. We have uniformed and equipped our band and have seen it develop into a great outfit. We have robed our choirs and enjoyed their wonderful music as they continued to pile up honors including the big Talbott Cup from the national West¬ minster festival. We have won contests and awards in essays, public speaking, science, foreign language, music and band, art, home economics, mechanical drawing and other fields. Our Student Council quickly developed into a vital factor in the school and has continued on a high level of prestige and service. The club program has developed and considerable prog¬ ress has been made. During these ten years we have secured charters and built up strong chapters in five high -prestige, na¬ tional honorary societies: the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, Key Club, Quill and Scroll and the Thes¬ pian Society. But if the reader wants to know what we are proudest of, let him go to the alcove off the main lobby and gaze up at the ten group pictures of our graduates from 1946 to 1955, fine boys and girls, now men and women, out in the world, in col¬ lege, in the military services, in the professions, in business and industry, in homes maintained by their own earnings, raising fine children — doing their part to keep America great. You, future graduates, will join them, and we will be proud of you. Page 4