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Thomas Dale High School

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Thomas Dale High School
Address
Map
3626 West Hundred Road

Chester
,
Virginia
23832

United States
Information
School typePublic high school
Founded1906
School districtChesterfield County Public Schools
SuperintendentDr. Marcus Newsome
PrincipalRobert Stansberry
Grades9-12
Enrollment2,454 (2006-2007)
LanguageEnglish
Color(s)    Maroon and Gray
Athletics conferenceVirginia High School League
Central Region
Central District
MascotKnights
RivalL. C. Bird High School
Hopewell High School
WebsiteOfficial Site

Thomas Dale High School is a public school located in Chester, an unincorporated community in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States.

It was named for Sir Thomas Dale, a 17th century leader in the Virginia Colony. The high school is operated by the local school division, Chesterfield County Public Schools, and is best known for its visual and performing arts programs as well as its mens' football and soccer teams.

History and tradition

Sir Thomas Dale

Thomas Dale High School was named for Sir Thomas Dale, an English naval commander knighted by King James I who served as colonial deputy-governor of the Colony of Virginia based at Jamestown in 1611, and from 1614-1616. Thomas Dale served under Royal Governor Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, better known in modern times as "Lord Delaware."

Dales was recruited for reassignment to the troubled Colony of Virginia through the efforts of the king's elder son, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. Dale had the misfortune to be among those aboard the Sea Venture, the new flagship of the Virginia Company of London when they became shipwrecked on the abandoned archipelago which became Bermuda for 10 months before continuing on the Virginia. He is credited with later naming places in Virginia after both Prince Henry and Bermuda.

It was Sir Thomas Dale who led the development of Henricus, a progressive development (for the time) located on and about what was later known as Farrars Island in the James River. Henricus was envisioned as possible replacement capital for Jamestown, and was to have the first college in Virginia. (A few years after Dale's death in 1619, the ill-fated Henricus was destroyed during the Indian Massacre of 1622 when a third of the colonists were killed). The long-lost site of Henricus was only rediscovered in the last quarter of the 20th century by archaeologists.

In addition to creating the new settlement at Henricus, Dale also established the port town of Bermuda Hundred and "Bermuda Cittie" (sic). He began the excavation work at Dutch Gap, using methods he had learned while serving in Holland. (Chesterfield County was part of Henrico County from 1634 until 1749).

In addition to the high school in Chester, the county's Dale Magisterial District is also named in honor of Sir Thomas Dale.

See also: Thomas Dale and Jamestown, Virginia

Buildings and Names

The school known today as Thomas Dale has undergone several building and name changes. It was built in 1906, and was known as Chester High School. In 1917, it was renamed Chester Agricultural High School. Then in 1942, it was given it's current name of Thomas Dale High School.

Also in the early 40's, a new building was constructed on the western side of the original building. This 1940's building stands today as Chester Middle School. The 1906 structure was later demolished.

In 1964, another replacement facility opened less than a mile east on State Route 10. In the mid 1980's, this building saw a small expansion, followed by some interior renovation and the addition of Air Conditioning in the early 1990s.

To alleviate overcrowding, an annex known as the Thomas Dale West Campus opened in 1997 in the former Carver Middle School building on Branders Bridge Road. This facility housed the 9th grade.

Between 1999 and 2001, the 1964 building underwent a massive expansion and a complete interior and exterior renovation. Thomas Dale West Campus closed with the completion of this project.

Though the 2001 expansion was projected to accommodate the school's population for years, the student population has been growing rapidly, and trailers and rooms in the stadium must now be used to house all the students.

Alma Mater

All hail to our alma mater
Our praise to thee we sing
Loyalty to the maroon and gray
From which we pledge to bring
When our days have ended here
And friends of old must part
We'll always cherish
THOMAS DALE
Deep within our hearts

Academics

Thomas Dale High School is fully accredited by the Virginia Department of Education for Standards of Learning. The Visual and Performing Arts Specialty Center attracts students from every part of Chesterfield County who are highly interested and talented in music, theatre, dance or visual arts. Students explore and expand their creative potential in an exciting and unique arts community within a fully comprehensive high school, which offers many advantages such as a wide range of academic and arts classes, clubs, sports and service organizations. The program is designed to provide a well-rounded education with excellent core academic classes suited to each student's needs (including honors, AP, dual enrollment) coupled with a challenging honors arts curriculum in order to prepare students for excellent collegiate and professional opportunities. It has a strong partnership with John Tyler Community College in Chester, participating in the Dual Enrollment Program and offers many AP classes in the core areas as well as the arts.

Specialty Center for the Arts

Thomas Dale serves as the Visual and Performing Arts Specialty Center for Chesterfield County. The program attracts talented young musicians, artists, dancers and actors to its honors arts program. The faculty is active as performer/artists. The program is coordinated by Mrs. Pamela Barton. This program attracts nearly 200 new applicants each year and its 2007 graduates garnered $870,000 in scholarship offers.

Theatre

The Theatre department is headed by Rebecca Jones, Keri Wormald, and Carol Halbert. Students in the Theatre Specialty Center focus on acting techniques, voice, dialects, stage movement, as well as the technical aspects of the theatre. This group performs a number of different plays many times each year, including musicals, student directed one-act plays, and popular plays such as "You Can't Take It With You" and "Moon Over Buffalo," a production of an abridged version of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." The Specialty Center is famed for its full scale musical productions with full pit orchestra. Students have access to a black box theatre, as well as a large and small auditorium. As part of the program, students have taken trips to view theatre as far away as London, England.

Dance

Denise Purvis is head of the dance program at Thomas Dale. She is an Alumna of the VCU Dance Department and has taught at SUNY. Her program explores many aspects of dance, such as technique, choreography, improvisation, and nutrition. Ballet and Modern dance are the main forms of dance taught, but all types of dance are explored to some degree. The students in the dance specialty center have access to a dance studio and private locker and shower facility. Guests artists include those of the Latin Ballet and the Richmond Ballet. The Specialty Center Dance Company recently performed in NY City.

Music

Thomas Dale's music department was awarded the Governor's Blue Ribbon Music Department Award. The orchestra, choral groups and bands go to competitions and compete within the county, the state, and even in regional competitions. Groups have traveled to Chicago, New York and Florida recently. Music directors are Steve Barton, David Holley, Christopher Johnston, Christi Stanfield and Donna Gocha. Thomas Dale hosts 12 fully instrumented music ensembles.

Guests

Guest artists of regional and national stature frequently hold seminars at Thomas Dale. Notable guests of the Specialty Center have included:

  • Mark Wood of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra
  • The Richmond Symphony
  • The Joffrey Ballet
  • The Urban Bush Women
  • Musicians from Dave Matthews Band


Visual Arts

Thomas Dale High School's Visual Arts Department is represented strongly throughout statewide and national level competition, emerging as one of the top contenders in exhibitions such as the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Students have submitted award winning portfolios and individual works on all levels. In 2008, an Advanced Placement Photography student was awarded a golden key for her portfolio as well as Best In Show. Two other Photography students were awarded a golden key for their portfolios, and multiple awards were given for individual works. One student was awarded a golden key in Drawing for his portfolio, while others were awarded gold and silver keys for individual works, as well as a silver key for a portfolio.

The Visual Arts department offers Advanced Placement courses in Studio Art, as well as dual enrollment drawing and printmaking courses, and ceramics. The students and staff maintain a large art gallery in the commons area. A strong alliance with artists and arts organizations of regional, national and international prominence offers distinctive advantages for students to study with professional artists. Regular level classes are offered to all students in photography, graphic design, 2D/3D design, art and world cultures. The department staff includes a list of enthusiastic active artists: F.S.Essig, photography; Patricia Fairley, Visual Arts; Sebastian Jackson, 3-D design; Shelley Row, Visual Arts and Computer Graphics; Luke Petrey, Visual Arts and Computer Graphics and Kathy Stratton, John Tyler Community College Drawing and Printmaking. An electronic gallery is available for viewing on the Specialty Center website.


JROTC

The Junior Reserver Officer Training Corps entered Thomas Dale high school for the first time in 2002. The program was run by two instructors: LTC Samuel McNabb and 1SGT Terry Wiggins. The program had a great start and was very much involved with the community. The first year the program had nearly 300 students enrolled into the program. At that time, one of the largest programs in the state of Virginia. During the schools second year, the program opened up to "teams" for students to participate in. These teams consisted of raiders, rifle, drill, and color guard. Each team participated in events and brought back many awards. Again the program was overloaded with students. The third year the program lost 1SGT Terry Wiggins, but gained SFC Treon Simon. The program began to take form and develop new concepts. Road cleanups and community events are to name a few. More and more awards were won. The fourth year was meant to be a special year because of the inspection the program had to complete. However, due to extreme circumstances outside of Thomas Dale's control, the inspection was postponed until the following year.

Sports

Thomas Dale High School is also well known for its outstanding sports and other extracurricular activities programs. The athletic teams compete as the "Knights" and wear the school colors of maroon and gray.

Baseball

Baseball has always been a competitive sport for Thomas Dale pitting the Knights against a closely matched Central District. Major competitors in the District include the Matoaca Warriors, Meadowbrook Monarchs, Prince George Royals, Dinwiddie Generals, and the Colonial Heights Colonials. A fierce rivalry has emerged between Thomas Dale and the Warriors of Matoaca, a long side the classic Thomas Dale - L.C. Bird rivalry. Recently a coaching change has occurred and head coach Chris Marshall had a successful 2007 season with the young team. The Knights claimed a District Title and a Regional Appearance to close a season that started on a suspect 0-5 record. Team captains Graham Sherman, Tommy Mills, and sophomore Ryan Carter were an impact force along with Kevin Curd, Chris Ostein, and underclassmen Michael Green, Andrew Coker, and Bill Cullen.

Thomas Dale graduated one collegiate baseball player from the 2007 Central District Championship team:

-Graham Sherman- United States Coast Guard Academy

Collegiate players from 2008 District Championship team:

-Kirk Jennings- UVA Wise -Kevin Curd- Norfolk State

Football

Each year, the Knights participate in "The Battle of Chester" football game against their cross-town football rival, the "Skyhawks" of L. C. Bird High School. The Knights also have a traditional long-standing rivalry against the "Blue Devils" from Hopewell High School, of Hopewell, Virginia. The Knights were once known as a perennial power in the Central District but have failed to win the district title the past two years. The Knights play on the Edmund Karpus field at their J. Wilson Crump Stadium. The Thomas Dale Knights are coached by Vic Williams, a Knights alumni and former quarterback. Under Williams' leadership, the team has produced NFL players William Henderson, Rudi Johnson and Ken Oxendine.

Soccer

In 2005, the Knights varsity boys soccer team won the Virginia State AAA soccer Championship. It was the first state championship for any Thomas Dale athletic team. They successfully defended that title in 2006. In the 2006 season, the Knights set Virginia state records for most shutouts, fewest goals allowed and most wins in a season. Through May 2007 they won 67 consecutive matches, while defending their #1 national ranking. The winning streak set a state record. In the 2007 Virginia Central Region Semifinals, their streak came to an end, losing 0-2 to the new Cosby High School.

In 2006, they produced 5 Division 1 soccer prospects, and sent one player to Germany for a professional try-out:

-Sophomore Richmond student Jordan Evans will transfer to University of Virginia to play soccer upon the completion of Richmond's season.

  • 2007-08 Senior Patrick Innes has committed to James Madison University to play soccer for the Dukes in 2008.
  • 2008-09 Junior William Bates committed to UVA in early 2008, joining former teammate Jordan Evans on one of the best collegiate teams in the country.
      • The Thomas Dale soccer team is saddened by the loss of defender Andrew Clarke on 1/07/08. At 17 years of age, he died in a car accident before school. During his short lifetime, he won a state title with his Richmond Kickers club team as well as two state titles with his Thomas Dale side. He will always be remembered in the Thomas Dale community.

Volleyball

The Thomas Dale 2007 boys volleyball went 26-0, losing only three sets all season, on their way to Thomas Dale's third team state title in four years (Boys soccer 2005, 2006). The 2007 season followed a longstanding tradition of domination in the Central district, proven by the fact that the team has never lost a match in district play. As the only team to go to state play the past three season, the Knights prove to have become a powerhouse volleyball team in the state of Virginia.

Wrestling

The wrestling team, like all the other athletic teams at Thomas Dale, competes as the Knights. However, they are better known as the "Bagubas," a nickname that originated in 1982 under then Coach (and History teacher) Bob Horning and Captain Andy Weber (Class of 1983). It has consistently been one of the better sports programs at Thomas Dale, even if not the most noticed.

Prominent alumni

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