As 161 George Mason High School seniors prepare to graduate in commencement ceremonies at the historic Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. Thursday, a stunning flood of A-List achievements poured in during the past week, smashing school records and ranking the Falls Church school among the “creme de la crème” of the nation’s public high schools.
The girls’ and boys’ soccer teams and boys’ tennis team all won Virginia Small School Group A state championships last weekend, all against their counterparts at Radford High School. For the Mason girls, it was their third championship in a row.
Meanwhile, Newsweek magazine ranked the school the 44th best in the entire U.S. in the so-called “Challenge Index,” an increasingly accepted and respected measure for how high schools challenge their students for academic excellence.
The three state championships last weekend brought to six for the school year for Mason, its best showing ever. The girls’ cross country team won the state title in the fall, the girls’ basketball team won its second straight in the winter, and the school’s Scholastic Bowl team notched its fourth championship title.
Mason Athletic Director Tom Horn said of the record sports accomplishments, “More than half of our athletes maintained a 3.5 grade point average or better during the season. Winning is outside our control, but excellence is not.”
At graduation ceremonies tonight, Mason seniors will hear 20-year veteran U.S. Rep. Jim Moran as its keynote speaker.
Last Sunday, competing at Radford University, the boys’ soccer team defeated Radford High, 2-1, to win the state title. On Saturday, the girls’ soccer team defeated Radford, 3-1. The boys’ tennis team defeated Radford in the state championship final, 5-1.
(See Sports for accounts of all three championship games, and the Editorial for comment on Mason’s overall accomplishments for the school year).
