Thomas Jefferson High School is an American public secondary school located in Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania. It is a part of the West Jefferson Hills School District which includes West Elizabeth, Jefferson Hills, and Pleasant Hills. These communities have a combined population of 15,000.
| Thomas Jefferson High School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
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310 Old Clairton Road Jefferson Hills, PA 15025 40°17′50″N 79°56′21″W / 40.297129°N 79.939291°W United States | |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | July 15–18, 1957; first graduating class June 1960 |
| School district | West Jefferson Hills School District |
| Principal | Pete Murphy |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Enrollment | 889 (2016-17)[1] |
| Color(s) | |
| Mascot | Jaguar |
| Website | West Jefferson Hills School District |
History edit
As of 2015[update], the school district is designing a new building for the school. It will be a red brick building modeled off of Monticello, with an initial estimated cost of $100 million.[2]
Extracurricular activities edit
The high school offers a variety of clubs and activities. The Thomas Jefferson American football team won the WPIAL Class AAA Championships in 1980 at Pitt Stadium and in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020 at Heinz Field. In 2004, 2007, 2008, 2019, and 2020 the team won the PIAA State Championship in Hershey.[3]
The school newspaper is called the Statesman.[4] The yearbook is titled the Monticello and the literary magazine is named the Spectrum and features fictional submissions written and submitted by actual students and teachers.
Thomas Jefferson's band consists of almost 200 instrumentalists each year: saxophones, flutes, trombones, trumpets, piccolos, clarinets, drumline, tubas, majorettes, and colorguard. The band is led by James Mirabella of Steubenville, Ohio, originally from West Virginia. The band was featured as the WPXI Band of the week in 1998. The band was also featured at the half time show of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens AFC divisional playoff in 2011.
The theater program is also highly lauded, winning Gene Kelly Awards[5] in 2022.[citation needed]
Notable alumni edit
- Rich Costanzo, former professional soccer player, Pittsburgh Riverhounds
- Dom DeCicco, former professional football player, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Mark Deklin, actor and fight coordinator
- Robert F. Frazier, attorney and former Pennsylvania legislator
- Baptiste "Bap" Manzini, former professional football player, Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles
- Katie May, model, social media personality, and businesswoman
- Lucas Nix, former professional football player, Oakland Raiders
- Birgir Mikaelsson, former professional basketball player from Iceland
- Tyler Reed, former professional football player, Chicago Bears
- Guy Reschenthaler, U.S. Congressman
- Chase Winovich, professional football player, Houston Texans
- John Zeiler, former professional ice hockey player, Los Angeles Kings
Notes edit
- ^ "Thomas Jefferson HS". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
- ^ Hacke, Stephanie (2015-11-12). "New TJ High School building project under way". Triblive.com. Retrieved 2017-10-19.
- ^ Pittsburgh Live Archived 2007-01-11 at the Wayback Machine, November 25, 2006
- ^ TJ Statesman
- ^ "Pittsburgh CLO - Gene Kelly Awards". Archived from the original on 2007-02-19. Retrieved 2007-02-19.