Seneca Valley High School


Seneca Valley High School is a U.S. public high school in Germantown, Maryland. It is part of the Montgomery County Public Schools system. As of 2005, its enrollment was 1,700 but with the opening of new schools in the area it has dropped to 1,198 as of the start of the 2017-18 school year.

History

Seneca Valley High School sits on land which was once the site of a dairy farm owned by baseball player Walter Perry Johnson, having been purchased by him in 1935. Johnson lived there with his five children and his mother, as his wife died, until his death in 1946.

1970s

Seneca Valley High School opened in 1974 as the first high school in Germantown and remained the only one until 1998, when Northwest High School opened. In its first year of operation, the 1974 to 1975 school year, under Principal Nathan Pearson, Seneca Valley hosted students grades seven through ten. In the following 1975 to 1976 school year, the school operated grades nine through eleven, with 8th graders transferring to the newly opened Ridgeview Junior High School in Gaithersburg, Maryland. During the 1976 to 1977 school year, Seneca Valley transformed into what was then a senior high school, hosting grades ten through twelve, graduating its first class in June 1977.

1980s

Finally in 1988, Seneca Valley changed to the present state of full-fledged high school with grades 9-12.

1990s

The class of 1992, was the first to graduate all upper high school years in one facility.

2010s

The existing school building, built in the 1970s, is due to be demolished, with a new one to be built in its place by the end of 2020. Construction work began in September 2017.

Sports

The school colors are forest green and gold, and the mascot is the Screamin’ Eagle. Seneca Valley's football biggest rivalry is with Damascus high School.
Seneca Valley's football team is one of the most accomplished public school programs in Maryland history. They have a record 12 state football championships, with the most recent title coming in 2002. Seneca Valley won the state title in 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2002.

Notable alumni