T.C. Williams High School, Washington DC

T.C. captivates students with such highlights as the contemporary, colorful food court-like dining area, classrooms decked out with high-tech equipment and special lighting designed to facilitate learning, expanded visual and performing arts facilities, and a huge gymnasium that accommodates 2,800 enthusiastic Titan fans. The only public high school in Alexandria boasts a unique student body, cutting edge technology, an extensive academic curriculum, champion scholar athletes and an award-winning, environmentally friendly new building. The October 2007 Grand Opening Community Celebration unveiled the $90 million ‘New T.C. Williams’, a beautiful structure designed by Moseley Architects and built by the Hensel Phelps Construction Company.

Hundreds of Alexandrians of all ages have toured the state-of-the-art, “Green” building, from tiny “future Titans” to long-time residents whose grandchildren now attend the school. The “New T.C.” received a Green Innovation Award for Best Institutional Project from the Virginia Sustainable Building Network, as well as The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED “Green Building Rating System”. Its environmentally sound features include a rooftop garden to provide storm water management, a 450,000-gallon underground cistern to collect and store rainwater for use in restrooms’ flushing, and a permanent measurement and verification system to track water and energy usage at the facility. Natural light fills the halls and classrooms of the widely acclaimed building, named Project of the Year in the Education category of Mid-Atlantic Construction ‘BEST OF 2007 Awards’and recipient of a 2008 Honor Award for distinguished contribution to community appearance from the Community Appearance Alliance of Northern Virginia.

Titan athletics continue to play an important role at the school, which offers 18 interscholastic sports in which approximately 25 percent of the student body competes. T.C. Williams is one of only two school districts in Virginia to require a 2.0 grade point average for athletic eligibility.

More than 68 percent of the school’s student athletes achieved a 3.0 or higher grade point average last year. In addition to the school’s on-site sports facilities, the district owns and maintains a rowing facility on the Potomac River for its crew participants. T.C. Titan teams compete in the Patriot District in the Northern Region of the Virginia High School League.

The school’s rich history of success at all levels of competition includes winning the 2008 Virginia Boys’ Varsity Basketball Championship, 2007 Girls’ Varsity Basketball District Championship and 2007 Boys Tennis Team District Championship. The 2008-09 Girls’ Varsity Basketball Team includes Senior Guard Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, one of the top-ranked players in the country.

Professional athletes who graduated from T.C. Williams include former NFL linebackers Keith Burns, Carl Carr and Ratcliff Thomas and Philadelphia Eagles running back Tony Hunt.

Most T.C. faculty members hold advanced degrees, and many have been recognized for their outstanding teaching. The school’s extensive course offerings include 24 Advanced Placement classes, seven honors classes, numerous courses in 25 Career and Technical Education fields and five years of four languages. T.C.

Williams’ combination of first-rate faculty and staff and a broad academic curriculum ably prepares students for life after high school. Many students have won awards at numerous statewide and national academic, scientific and technical skills competitions, and 95 percent of the school’s graduates continue on to post-secondary education, attending such elite institutions as Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary.

The school’s distinguished alumni, representing a wide array of career fields, include such luminaries as actors Dermot and Kieran Mulroney, Jason Butler Harner, Donnell Rawlings, Diedrich Bader and Chip Esten; musicians Alexander Kerr, Tom Cunningham and Kat Mills; award-winning director Christopher Quinn; chefs Rock Harper and Carl Stanton; journalists Katherine Boo and Edward Wong; Virginia’s Assistant Secretary of Education Douglas M. Garcia; and David Bray, former information technology chief for the Bioterrorism Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Perhaps the ultimate testament to the power of a T.C. Williams education is the fact that many graduates return to Alexandria City Public Schools as teachers, principals and assistant superintendents.

Every student is issued a laptop computer for use at home and in class as part of the High School Technology Integration Project, where students can access and complete course assignments, collaborate on projects, participate in discussions and complete assessments online. At school, students use a high-speed wireless Diplomas & Curriculum network which provides
connectivity to applications, e-mail, the Internet and printing services.

Classrooms are also equipped with high-tech visual and audio presentation systems to support instruction. Away from school, each laptop computer has 56k dial-up network service which provides access to the same resources. The school celebrates its diversity through more than 55 clubs and activities, and perpetuates the legacy established by the famous 1971 Titans, whose understanding and acceptance of each other’s different races, beliefs and backgrounds set a positive example for the entire community and forged a winning team.

The T.C. Williams High School Army Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) Drill Team and Color Guard was one of only three Virginia groups selected to march in the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Parade. In 2007, T.C. Williams photography teacher (and T.C. alumnus) Taki Sidley and his students created “We Are the Titans: A Profile of Diversity at One American High School.” The book’s photos and essays showcase a mere sampling of the school’s more than 2,000 2,000 10th through 12th graders, who hail from more than 84 countries and speak more than 56 languages. Now and always, the tradition of excellence continues, and Titan Pride reigns supreme!