Langley High School is a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

within the

Fairfax County Public Schools The Fairfax County Public Schools system (FCPS) is a school division in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. It is a branch of the Fairfax County government which administers public schools in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax. FCPS's headq ...

system in

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

. It is located in McLean, a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, suc ...

(CDP) in northern

Fairfax County Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...

.McLean CDP, Virginia
."

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

. Retrieved on September 1, 2009. The campus is located less than a mile west of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

headquarters.

History

"Langley High School" was established in 1965. The name 'Langley' came from Thomas Lee in honor of

Langley Manor Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perform ...

, which was part of the home estate in Shropshire, England. Langley means 'long open meadow'. Thomas Lee was one of the first to envision the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centu ...

as a separate nation whose capital should be on the Potomac between Great Falls and Little Falls. Keeping these things in mind (including the

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

background) the school steering committee chose the nickname 'Saxons' and the school's colors of forest green and old gold with white as a trim color in keeping with the traditional theme."

Demographics

The student body was 69.50% White, 20.87% Asian, 4.59% Hispanic, 1.18% Black, and 3.86% Other during the 2012–13 academic school year. In the 2011–12 school year, Langley High School's student body was 71.15% White, 19.20% Asian, 4.60% Hispanic, 1.70% Black and 3.35% Other. Langley’s boundaries extend west of State Route 123 (Dolley Madison Boulevard) and north of both State Route 7 (Leesburg Pike) and State Route 267 (Dulles Toll Road) from McLean to Great Falls, ending at the Loudoun County line. Small parts of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Reston, and Herndon along the south side of Route 7 are also within the school’s attendance area. Until 1994, areas west of Springvale Road in Great Falls were within the

Herndon High School Herndon High School is a fully accredited four year public high school in Herndon, Virginia, United States. Herndon serves grades 9-12 and is a part of the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) system. Herndon High School serves the town ...

boundaries. After leaving Forestville Elementary School, students attended Herndon Middle and Herndon High School. When Buzz Aldrin Elementary School was preparing to open, Langley High School was then under-enrolled, and some residents from the Forestville attendance area requested reassignment of their neighborhoods from the Herndon High to the Langley High School pyramid. As a result, school officials shifted Langley’s boundary line west from Springvale Road to the Loudoun County border. During the Fairfax County School Board elections in 2011, then School Board Chairman, Jane Strauss, took credit for having "prevented changes to the Langley High School boundaries" for 18 years and for having "fought off" attempts to redistrict "current neighborhoods out of Langley".

Academics

The LHS academic program follows standard Virginia guidelines, requiring 24 credits for graduation. Additionally provided at Langley is the

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

(AP) program. Langley offers one of the most comprehensive AP programs available, featuring more than 20 AP level classes in every discipline. Significant courses include the school's Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra classes, as well as the only Russian courses offered in a Fairfax County Public High School outside of

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (also known as TJHSST, TJ, or Jefferson) is a Virginia state-chartered magnet high school in Fairfax County, Virginia operated by Fairfax County Public Schools. The school occupies the buil ...

. Langley also used to contain a unique humanities department for the high school level. Students would enroll in paired English and History classes, where the curriculum paralleled one another. The humanities department was split for the 2012–2013 school year in favor of optional tied classes. Langley High School is ranked as one of the top high schools in the United States and in the state of

. In 2021, '' U.S. News & World Report'' listed LHS as the second best high school in Virginia, with

ranked as the first. Langley was ranked 156th in the United States in 2021.

Extracurricular activities

Relay For Life of Langley-McLean

Since 2013, Langley High School has been host to the

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more than ...

's ''Relay For Life of Langley-McLean'', an overnight fundraising event that has raised over $170,000 for the ACS since its 2013 Inaugural Event held on Saturday, April 27, 2013. The event is one of only two student-led Relay For Life fundraisers held in

and received the American Cancer Society's "''Youth Event of the Year''" Award in the South Atlantic Region for their 2013 event. In 2014 & 2015, ''Relay For Life of Langley-McLean'' partnered with McLean High School, in hopes of expanding and increasing the event's reach in the local community. The 2014 ''Relay For Life of Langley-McLean'' was held on Saturday, April 26 at 6:00 PM to Sunday, April 27 at 6:00 AM and succeeded in raising $110,366.78 for the

. The 2015 event was held on May 16, 2015, and raised over $112,000.

Model United Nations

The team from Langley High School's Model United Nations (MUN) was nationally ranked as a Top-15 high school MUN team by the Model UN consulting organization Best Delegate in the 2013–2014 school year. Since then, Langley High School has won Best Large at national conferences hosted across the East Coast. In 2017 Langley's MUN team won Best Large Delegation at the circuit's conference, ILMUNC XXXIII. In 2014, the club hosted its own inaugural high school Model UN conference, the Virginia Invitational Model United Nations Conference I (VIMUNC), attracting over 700 delegates.

South Asian Student Association

The school has an active South Asian Student Association (SASA), which holds an annual "International Night". In 2014, Langley SASA hosted its first District-Wide charity event "Bollywood Bash". CHORD, the organization the association is raising money for, promotes literacy and strengthens local government in rural India.

Student publications

Langley's award-winning student newsmagazine is ''The Saxon Scope''. Additionally, The Saxon Scope publishes a catalogue of student produced literature and artwork in an annual magazine titled “Kaleidoscope.” Langley's

yearbook A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually. A yearbook often ...

is ''The Shire''.

Music Department

Langley's music department consists of award-winning band, choral, and orchestral programs. The band program consists of six bands: Percussion Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony, Marching Band, and Jazz Band. Langley also has a marching band that performs at home football games, as well as state marching band competitions, which is accompanied by the award-winning Color Guard team. The Langley Band performed in Spain in 2014, Chicago in 2015, and Los Angeles in 2016. The Wind Symphony performed in Indianapolis in 2017 in the prestigious Music For All National Festival. In 2018, they traveled to Italy, performing in cathedrals in Rome and Florence. The choral program consists of five choirs: Treble, Women's Select, Concert, Chamber, and Madrigals. Langley Choirs have competed in competitions in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

, and domestically in

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

and

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. The orchestral program consists of three orchestras: Symphonic, Sinfonietta, and Philharmonic.

Science Fair

Langley High School participates in science fair events. Each year, first and second-place winners from the school-hosted science fair are selected to attend the Fairfax County Science and Engineering Fair. The Fairfax County Science and Engineering Fair is an Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) affiliated fair, sending around 10 projects each year to the international fair. Notable winners from the past have included: * (2009) Jun Sup Lee – 4th Place Grand Prize in Mathematics at the competition in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is th ...

. * (2010) Jong Hyuck Won – Grand Prize Winner and Best of Category in Medicine and Health Sciences at the competition in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

. * (2011) Kelly Martins – 3rd Place Grand Prize in Environmental Management at the competition in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. * (2012) Jason Cui – 4th Place Grand Prize in Medicine and Health Sciences at the competition in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Other activities

Langley's fashion department sponsors an annual fashion show that is held in Langley's auditorium. Langley's Science Olympiad team consistently receives accolades at the state and national level. In 2015, they beat out the

at the Virginia state tournament to secure a spot at the national tournament.

Athletics

Langley plays in the

AAA Liberty District The Group 6A North Region was a division of the Virginia High School League. Along with the 6A South Region, it consisted of the largest high schools in Virginia. The region was formed in 2013 when the VHSL adopted a six classification format and ...

of the Northern Region. The Langley sports teams are all referred to as the "

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

.". The football team won the Northern Region and went to the state finals in 1993. The boys' wrestling team won the Liberty District Tournament the last 11 years straight (2001–2011). In addition, they were Northern Region champions in 2007. In 2009, 2010 and 2011, Langley's AAA boys' lacrosse team won the state championship. The Boys' Swim and Dive Team won the VHSL State Championships in 2017–2018, their first State Victory in Langley history. The Girls' Tennis won the Northern Region title in 2011, then going undefeated in 2012 to sweep the district, regional, and state titles. Langley High School Boys' Soccer team won its first Virginia State Championship in 2015, second in 2017 and third in 2022. At the end of the 2014–2015 soccer year, Langley's boys' varsity team held the rank of No. 4 in the country by soccer publication TopDrawerSoccer.com. Langley High School's mascot is Otto the Saxon.

State championships

Langley has won 53 championships, which are: * Girls Volleyball 2013, 2017 * Boys Lacrosse 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 * Girls Tennis 1979, 1980, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 2012, 2022 * Girls Swim and Dive 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2011, 2015 * Boys Golf 1983, 1984, 2001, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 * Girls Gymnastics 2004 * Boys Tennis 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1994 * Softball 1992 * Girls Cross-Country 1983, 1984, 2021 * Boys Cross-Country 1979 * Scholastic Bowl 2014, 2015, 2016 * Boys Soccer 2015, 2017, 2022 * Boys Swim and Dive 2018 * Girls Lacrosse, 2019, 2021 * Field Hockey, 2019 Langley has received two sportsmanship awards, one in AAA girls soccer in 2001 and one in AAA girls volleyball in 2007. In addition, Langley won first place in the Wachovia Cup standings in 1991–1992 for athletics.

United States Congressional Baseball Game

In 1977 the Congressional Baseball Game was forced to play the annual game on Langley High School's baseball field due to two previous rain outs on Memorial Stadium.

Saxon Stage

Saxon Stage is the theatre department for Langley High School. The department produces two mainstage productions per year, one play and one musical.

VHSL One-Act Play Competition

Saxon Stage is a regular Class 6 competitor in the

Virginia High School League The Virginia High School League (VHSL) is the principal sanctioning organization for interscholastic athletic competition among public high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The VHSL first sponsored debate and also continues to sponsor sta ...

(VHSL) One-Act Play Competition. For the first time in Saxon Stage's history, Langley High School became the VHSL Liberty Conference 6A one-act competition champions in January 2014 when they won first place with its production of ''Fearful Symmetry''. The production later went on to win third place in the Region 6A North Competition, making it the highest-ranked student-directed production of the competition. In March 2019, Langley High School won first place at the VHSL Class 6 State Competition with its production of Peter Tolan's comedic ''Pillowtalk''. The two actors received Outstanding Actor commendations at the state level. In February 2020, ''A Jury of Her Peers'' placed third in the Region 6 North Competition after winning first place at the sectional competition one month prior. In 2021, ''Never Swim Alone'' placed first place in the district, regional, and state VHSL competition.

List of productions

''*Indicates Cappies Program entry'' As a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the 2020 production of ''Guys and Dolls'' was cancelled, and both ''Hey Stranger'' and ''The Party Hop'' were performed virtually.

The Cappies

Langley High School participates in the National Capital Area division of the Cappies Critics and Awards Program for High School Theatre, "a year-long program for theatre and journalism students through which students attend and discuss each other's shows, write reviews for publication, and at the end of the season decide who of their colleague student performers and technicians should be honored for awards." Below is a list of all Cappie Awards and nominations received by Saxon Stage since 2012.

List of Cappie Awards and nominations

Notable alumni

* Timothy C. May, freshman year only,

cypherpunk A cypherpunk is any individual advocating widespread use of strong cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies as a route to social and political change. Originally communicating through the Cypherpunks electronic mailing list, informal g ...

and former chief scientist at

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 ser ...

Matt Kaufmann Matt Kaufmann is a senior research scientist in the department of computer sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, United States. He was a recipient of the 2005 ACM Software System Award along with Robert S. Boyer and J Strother Moore, f ...

, 1970, computer scientist and winner of the 2005

ACM Software System Award The ACM Software System Award is an annual award that honors people or an organization "for developing a software system that has had a lasting influence, reflected in contributions to concepts, in commercial acceptance, or both". It is awarded b ...

* Richard Leigh, 1970, songwriter * Bruce Allen, 1974, former Team President of the

Washington Commanders The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) E ...

* G. David Low, 1974,

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Anne Holton Anne Bright Holton (born February 1, 1958) is an American lawyer and judge who served as the Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia from 2014 to 2016. She is married to United States Senator and former Virginia Governor Tim Kain ...

, 1976 (Junior & Senior Year), President of

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...

, Former

Secretary of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

for the

Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

(2014–2016), Former First Lady of Virginia (2006–2010) * Michael J. Hicks, 1980, economist *

Jim Hagedorn James Lee Hagedorn ( ; August 4, 1962 – February 17, 2022) was an American politician from Minnesota. A Republican, he was the U.S. Representative for from 2019 until his death. The district stretches across southern Minnesota along the bord ...

, 1981, politician *

Elizabeth Moore Aubin Elizabeth Moore Aubin is an American diplomat and United States Department of State, State Department official who has served as the List of ambassadors of the United States to Algeria, United States ambassador to Algeria since 2022. She served t ...

, 1983, United States Ambassador to Algeria *

Michael Arndt Michael Arndt is an American screenwriter. He is best known as the writer of the films ''Little Miss Sunshine'' (2006), ''Toy Story 3'' (2010), and '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (2015). Arndt won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenpl ...

, 1984, Academy Award-winning screenwriter, ''Little Miss Sunshine'' *

Lauren Graham Lauren Graham (born March 16, 1967) is an American actress and author. She is best known for her roles as Lorelai Gilmore on The WB/ CW television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2000–2007), for which she received nominations for Screen Actors Guil ...

, 1985, actress * Steve Czaban, 1986, radio personality * Juliet Huddy, 1987, '' The Morning Show'' *

Paula Cale Paula Cale (born June 2, 1970) is an American actress best known for her role as Joanie Hansen on the television series '' Providence''. Early life Cale was born Paula Korologos in Great Falls, Virginia. Her father, Tom C. Korologos, worked as ...

, 1988, actress * J. Meejin Yoon, 1990, architect, architectural educator, co-principal at Howeler + Yoon Architecture and Dean of the

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

College of Architecture, Art, and Planning *

Jeremy Stoppelman Jeremy Stoppelman (born November 10, 1977) is an American business executive. He is the CEO of Yelp, which he co-founded in 2004. Stoppelman obtained a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champai ...

, 1995, Co-Founder and CEO of

Yelp Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in San F ...

Lauren Shehadi Julia Lauren Shehadi (born May 23, 1983) is an American sportscaster for the MLB Network and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports. Career Shehadi attended Langley High School in McLean, Virginia, graduating in 2001. In college at the University of ...

, 2001, sportscaster * Jay Sborz, 2003, former professional baseball pitcher * Jack Abraham, 2004, entrepreneur and investor *

Ashley Iaconetti Ashley Nicole Iaconetti Haibon (born March 6, 1988) is an American television personality and journalist notable for being a contestant on several series in ''The Bachelor'' television franchise, including '' The Bachelor'', '' Bachelor in Paradi ...

, 2006, TV personality from '' The Bachelor'' * Ross Butler, 2008, actor *

Armin Mahbanoozadeh Armin Mahbanoozadeh (born August 15, 1991) is an Iranian American former competitive figure skater. He is the 2010 Skate America bronze medalist and the 2012 U.S. national pewter medalist. He is also a two-time ISU Junior Grand Prix Final medalis ...

, 2009, figure skater

References

{{authority control High schools in Fairfax County, Virginia Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League teams Educational institutions established in 1965 McLean, Virginia Public high schools in Virginia 1965 establishments in Virginia