Stone Bridge High School


Stone Bridge High School is a public secondary school in Ashburn, a community in Loudoun County, Virginia.
The school is part of Loudoun County Public Schools and is located on 43100 Hay Road in Ashburn, Virginia. Stone Bridge High School serves the northwestern part of Ashburn, including Ashburn Farm, Goose Creek Village, and Belmont Greene, The majority of the Belmont Country Club community no longer attends Stone Bridge High School and now goes to the new Riverside High School in Lansdowne because of overcrowding. ranked Stone Bridge the #4 high school in Virginia and the #1 high school in Loudoun County in 2014.

History

Stone Bridge opened in 2000, with its student body coming from Broad Run High School and Loudoun County High School. It opened the same year as two other Northern Virginia high schools, Forest Park Senior High School opened in Prince William County, and Westfield High School opened in Fairfax County; all three schools regularly played against each other in many sports in their inaugural year. The school's capacity is at around 1,600 students.
During the first year, there were nearly 1,200 students from 9th through 11th grade; seniors stayed at Broad Run or Loudoun County. There were also nearly 500 8th graders housed at Stone Bridge during the 2000–2001 school year because of overcrowding at Harper Park Middle School, the feeder middle school at that time.
In 2002, most of Stone Bridge's Leesburg student body were moved to Heritage High School, but some additional students from Broad Run were moved to Stone Bridge, dropping enrollment to roughly 1,400 students in the 2002–2003 school year.
However, by the 2004–2005 school year, the student body went up to nearly 1,900 students, the biggest enrollment at the time for a Loudoun County high school. In 2005, Briar Woods High School and Freedom High School's openings helped alleviate crowding, but its enrollment remained above 1,600 students. In 2010, the enrollment rose up to 1,800 students. To accommodate, the rest of Stone Bridge's Leesburg student body was transferred to Tuscarora High School to relieve overcrowding. Stone Bridge moved students who live inside Belmont Country Club to Riverside High School in 2015 and picked up additional students from Broad Run, then in 2018, took students from Briar Woods to accommodate for the upcoming Independence High School.

Schedule information

Stone Bridge High School is open from 9:15 AM until 4:03 PM on all school days. Loudoun County schools are open later than neighboring jurisdictions such as Fairfax County and Prince William County where most schools open considerably earlier.
Stone Bridge operates on an 8 period block schedule alternating each day, which are designated as A and B days. Periods 1-4 are on A days ; and periods 5-8 are on B days. Though there are eight periods, all students have a mandatory study hall period which is on one of these days and periods. Some students, usually seniors or juniors may obtain exemptions to leave school early or arrive late.

Academics

Accreditation

Stone Bridge High School is fully accredited based on its performance on the Standards of Learning tests in Virginia since its opening in 2000.
Stone Bridge holds the state title for the Virginia Math League, 2009-2010 being the first year entering.

Curriculum

Stone Bridge High School offers a comprehensive curriculum to all of its students. Most students take a standard curriculum, but the school is also a member of the Advanced Placement program, ESL courses for those who cannot speak English well, and special education courses for students with learning disabilities. Some students also elect to take classes at the Loudoun Academy of Science for math and science courses, the Loudoun Academy of Engineering and Technology, or the C.S. Monroe Technology Center for vocational courses.
SBHS offers a wide variety of elective courses in a wide variety of areas, including Marketing, Technology, Home Economics, Art, Music, and Advanced Physical Education. Many of the elective courses offered at Stone Bridge require a great deal of work outside the classroom and some of these groups are mentioned in further detail below.

Demographics

Stone Bridge High School's student body in 2007-2008 was 74% White; 9% Black; 9% Asian; and 7% Hispanic.

Fine Arts

Drama

Stone Bridge's drama department puts on four annual shows, which include a fall play, a winter one-act, a musical in the spring, and senior-directed one acts at the end of the year. The department is part of the National Capital Area Cappies Program. 2002 was the year Stone Bridge had won their first cappie, which was for Best Comedic Actor in a Play in their production of "Twelfth Night". In 2006, Stone Bridge took home three Cappies for their production of "Seussical the Musical." These awards were: Best Musical, Best Lead Actor, and Best Ensemble. In 2009, Stone Bridge was awarded two Cappies, one for Best Set and one for Best Comedic Actor in a Play for the play "You Can't Take it With You". In 2010, Stone Bridge won two Cappies for the musical "Merrilly We Roll Along", those being Best Supporting Actor, and Best Song. In 2011, Stone Bridge took home two Cappies for their production of "Lord of the Flies", for both Best Props and Effects and Best Play. In 2012, the award of Best Comedic Actor in a Musical was awarded to Stone Bridge for "Anything Goes". In 2014, Stone Bridge' won the award for Best Rising Critic for their production of "Macbeth". In 2016, Stone Bridge won a Cappie for Creativity for the production of "The Crucible". In 2017, the Creativity Cappie was awarded to Stone Bridge for ASL narration and interpretation in the production of "Pippin". Stone Bridge won two additional Cappies in 2018 for their production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; Creativity and Comedic Actor in a Play. In 2019, Stone Bridge won a Cappie for Best Comedic Actor in a Musical for “Legally Blonde”.
The Theater Department has also performed well in VHSL Competition, winning the Liberty District title multiple times and placing as high as 3rd in the Northern Region until 2014. In the 2014 VHSL Theater Competition, the Running Dogs performed "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind", placing first in the newly created Conference 14 Theater Festival, first in the Northern Region 5A, and first in the State of Virginia for all 5A Schools, outscoring their closest competitors by an astounding 19 points. Various individual awards were given to members of the cast. In the 2017 VHSL Theater Competition, the Running Dogs performed "Reflex Action", placing first in the Conference 14 Theater Festival, second in the Northern Region 5A, and first in the State of Virginia for all 5A Schools.

Band

Stone Bridge's band program includes two concert bands, a marching band, a jazz ensemble, and a jazz lab band, which is a full size jazz ensemble that meets before school. Stone Bridge obtained the title of "Honor Band" for 4 years, as a result of the marching band and the wind symphony getting a superior rating at the State and District assessments, respectively.
The marching band participated in the 2009, 2013, and 2017 London New Year's Day parades, where they performed in front of over 600,000 spectators who line the streets of London. On October 23, 2015, the band was extended an official invitation to the 2017 parade by Bob Bone, the parade's executive director, and its principal patron, Roger Bramble.

Orchestra

Since Loudoun County Public Schools opened a string program in the middle schools in 2002 to 7th graders, Stone Bridge and the other nine Loudoun high schools now also have string ensembles starting in the 2005–2006 school year during the school day. The string students from Stone Bridge often participate in North Central Regional Orchestra.

Chorus

The choir program is also made up of several groups, which are Bella Voce, the Men's Choir, Bel Canto, Mastersingers, and Encore, which sometimes performs with the band's Jazz Ensemble and often performs around the community. The various choirs constantly receive Superior Ratings from both District Assessments and from competitions at places such as Hershey Park and Busch Gardens. In 2010, the jazz choir and in 2012, the 745 Chorale was picked to perform at the VMEA Conference at The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia, one of the highest honors a high school choral group can achieve in the state of Virginia. In 2017, students from the department attended their first college tour, singing and visiting at Penn State University and James Madison University. The program has produced several students who went on to major in music at the college level, attending institutions such as Shenandoah University, Belmont University and the University of Miami.

Extracurricular activities

Stone Bridge competes in the Liberty District of the Northern Region for debate competitions. These are the same districts that Stone Bridge athletics are in, because debate is sponsored by the Virginia High School League. The debate program won the AA state title in 2005, and the AAA state title in 2006. The debate team participates in 3 debate events and Speech. The team participates at local tournaments hosted by the Washington-Arlington Catholic Forensics League as well as several tournaments out-of-state.
Stone Bridge's chapter of Future Business Leaders of America has been named as an Honor Chapter by the Virginia FBLA since it was chartered in 2002. In 2006, the chapter was recognized with its first award from the National FBLA organization; receiving the Business Achievement Award.
Stone Bridge has a chess club. In 2010, the Stone Bridge High School chess team came in second in the Virginia Scholastic Championships.

Athletics

The mascot is a bulldog and the sports teams play in the AAA Liberty District and Northern Region. The Bulldogs' athletic teams have won many team state and regional championships in their short history.
Stone Bridge's athletic program was established in 2000 when the high school opened. The school's mascot and colors were established in 1999 after over 1,100 students at Broad Run High School, Loudoun County High School, and Harper Park Middle School voted. Other mascots that were proposed were the Stone Bridge Knights, the Stone Bridge Sabers, and the Stone Bridge Thunderbirds. Other color combinations that were considered included Navy Blue and Orange; Purple and Gold; and Green and Silver.
Stone Bridge has won 15 state titles, which are:
The Bulldogs have been state runners-up thirteen times, which are:
Stone Bridge has also won three awards for sportsmanship, which are:
The Bulldogs have also been recognized in the Wachovia Cup standings for their overall athletic performance in the following years:

Notable alumni