Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (also known as TJHSST, Thomas Jefferson, or TJ) is a

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. With a population of 1,150,309 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most p ...

operated by

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 h ...

. The school occupies the building of the previous Thomas Jefferson High School, constructed in 1964. A selective admissions program was initiated in 1985 through the cooperation of state and county governments and corporate sponsorship from the defense and technology industries. It is one of 18 Virginia

Governor's Schools Governor's School may refer to: National organizations *National Conference of Governor's Schools, a national organization committed to establishing, supporting, and enriching summer residential governor's school programs. High schools * Governor ...

, and a founding member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology. Attendance at the school is open to students in six local jurisdictions based on academic achievement described in the Student Portrait Sheet—a compilation of 4 essays, problem-solving skills—assessed by the Problem Solving Essay, an unweighted grade-point average consisting of 7th grade final grades—8th grade first quarter grades—and summer grades, and socio-economic background. Before the 2020–21 school year, the admissions process also involved a math, reading, and science exam.

History

20th century

Thomas Jefferson High School was constructed and opened in 1964. Fairfax County Public Schools' superintendent William J. Burkholder and his staff began working on the idea of a science high school in 1983 with advice from the superintendent's business/advisory council. Burkholder announced the plans for the magnet school in January 1984. The school board chose Thomas Jefferson High School as the location for the new magnet school in June 1984 and approved the funding in February 1985. The school was originally intended to only serve Fairfax County students, but after Virginia governor Charles S. Robb chose Fairfax County as the location of a regional science and technology school, the school board voted to accept the funding from the state and allow students from Arlington,

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, and

Prince William William, Prince of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982), is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. William was born during the reign of his p ...

counties and from the Cities of Fairfax and

Falls Church Falls Church City is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is part of both Northern Virginia and the Washington metropolitan area. As of 2020, it has ...

to attend as well. The business community played a significant role in the creation of the school, providing around $3 million in contributions and advice on the school's curriculum. Hazleton Laboratories (now

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Dominion Energy Dominion Energy, Inc., commonly referred to as Dominion, is an American energy company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia that supplies electricity in parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and supplies natural gas to parts of Ut ...

Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (imaging and sensing), ...

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...

, and other companies made contributions in equipment or finances to the school before it opened. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology opened in fall 1985 with 400 ninth-graders and 125 seniors who were selected from 1,200 applicants.

21st century

From 2013 to 2017, the school underwent renovations, adding additional research labs, internet cafes, three-dimensional art galleries, a black box theater, and a dome reminiscent of President

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting l ...

. The renovations cost $90 million. In the 2020s, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) underwent three major controversies regarding its admissions process, intentionally delayed distribution of National Merit awards, and its relationship with Chinese entities. The school replaced its test-based admissions with a holistic review process in 2020, leading to significant demographic changes and legal challenges. Additionally, it was revealed that between 2014 and 2021, the school's Partnership Fund had received $3.6 million from Chinese Communist Party-linked entities in exchange for the school's intellectual property and curriculum. Amidst these controversies, Principal Ann Bonitatibus resigned in October 2024; she stated in an email to parents that she had "pursued and accepted" a "promotion" to the

' Human Resources department, which drew widespread skepticism. She was replaced by Michael Mukai, a TJHSST alumni, on January 9, 2025.

Admissions

The school is part of the

system of

. Students from Fairfax, Arlington,

, and

counties and from the Cities of Fairfax and

are eligible for admission. Students must be enrolled in Algebra 1 or a higher level math class in 8th grade and have a minimum GPA of 3.5 to be eligible. The admissions process is based on grade point average, a math or science related problem solving essay, a student portrait sheet demonstrating skills and character, and details about a student's socio-economic background including whether they are economically disadvantaged, a special education student, or an English language learner. Each public school is allocated a number of seats equal to 1.5% of that school's 8th grade student population; the remaining seats are unallocated and offered to the highest evaluated remaining students. During the admissions process, students are identified only by a number; admissions officers do not know their race, ethnicity, sex, or name. Before the 2020–21 school year, the admissions process also included a math, reading, and science exam.

Demographics and exam controversy

The admissions process and the demographics of the student body it produces, in particular the under-representation of

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

and

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

students relative to the school system overall, have been a source of controversy throughout the school's history. After the school's early graduating classes included relatively few black and Hispanic students, FCPS created a race-based

affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...

program to admit more black and Hispanic students. The program was in effect for the admissions process for the graduating classes of 1997 through 2002; the county ended it because of legal challenges to similar programs. Following the end of this program, the share of black and Hispanic students at the school decreased from 9.4 percent in 1997–98 to 3.5 percent in 2003–04. Black and Hispanic students remained significantly under-represented at the school through the 2000s and 2010s. In 2012, a civil rights complaint against the school was filed with the

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a United States Cabinet, cabinet-level department of the federal government of the United States, United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, havin ...

Office of Civil Rights by ''Coalition of the Silence,'' an advocacy group led by former county School Board member Tina Hone, and the Fairfax chapter of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

, alleging that it discriminated against black, Hispanic, and

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physica ...

students. In response, the Office of Civil Rights, in September 2012, opened an investigation. In 2020, the school board made a number of significant changes to the admissions process meant to increase the ratio of black and Hispanic students admitted. These included the elimination of the application fee; the increase of the number of admitted students from around 480 to 550; the elimination of an entrance exam; the allocation of seats to each middle school equal to 1.5% of their 8th grade student population; and the addition of "experience factors" including whether students are economically disadvantaged, English language learners, or special education students. Following these changes, the proportion of black and Hispanic students admitted increased from 4.52% to 18.36% while the proportion of

Asian Americans Asian Americans are Americans with Asian diaspora, ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are Immigration to the United States, immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). A ...

decreased from 73.05% to 54.36%. The proportion of female students admitted also increased, from 41.80% to 46.00%, and to 55.45% the next year. In March 2021, the Coalition for TJ, an advocacy group opposed to the changes and represented by the

Pacific Legal Foundation The Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) is an American nonprofit public interest law firm established for the purpose of defending and promoting individual freedom.Zumbrun, Ronald A. (2004). "Life, Liberty, and Property Rights," in ''Bringing Justice ...

, sued the Fairfax County school board, alleging that the 2020 changes to the admissions process discriminated against Asian Americans. In February 2022, judge Claude M. Hilton of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton Roa ...

ruled in ''

Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board ''Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board'', 68 F.4th 864 (4th Cir. 2023), is a United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit case about the changes to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology's admissions policy w ...

'' in the Coalition for TJ's favor and ordered the school to return to the previous admissions process. The school board appealed the decision to the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district cou ...

and in March 2022 that court issued a stay on the order that allowed the school to continue the new admissions process while the case was pending. The

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

rejected a request to vacate the stay in April 2022. The case was heard in the court of appeals on September 16, 2022, and decided on May 23, 2023. The Fourth Circuit, by a 2 to 1 vote, reversed the district court and restored the new admission plan. The Fourth Circuit's decision was appealed to the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court rejected to review the case on February 20, 2024 with Justice

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served since 1991 as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. President George H. W. Bush nominated him to succeed Thurgood Marshall. Afte ...

and Justice

Samuel Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was Samuel Alito Supreme Court ...

dissenting from the denial.

Curriculum

TJ's curriculum is focused on college preparation and provides students with the opportunity to achieve in all disciplines, with an emphasis on science and technology.

TJ3Sat and TJREVERB projects

The Systems Engineering Course designed and built a

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit,, url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5418c831e4b0fa4ecac1bacd/t/5f24997b6deea10cc52bb016/1596234122437/CDS+REV14+2020-07-3 ...

which was launched on November 19, 2013, from

Wallops Flight Facility Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and approximately north-northeast of Norfolk, VA, Norfolk. The facility is operated ...

in Virginia.

Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

donated the CubeSat Kit to the school on December 6, 2006, and provided the launch for the satellite. After a successful launch at 8:15PM EST, TJ³SAT became the first satellite launched into space that was built by high school students. The launched satellite contained a 4-watt transmitter operating on

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency radio spectrum, spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emer ...

frequencies, and a

text-to-speech Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or Computer hardware, hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system conv ...

module to allow it to broadcast

ASCII ASCII ( ), an acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for representing a particular set of 95 (English language focused) printable character, printable and 33 control character, control c ...

-encoded messages sent to it from Jefferson. TJREVERB, a 2U CubeSat, is the school's second CubeSat mission. After a 6-year period of planning, building, and testing from 2016 to 2022 that was interrupted by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, REVERB was launched aboard SpaceX's CRS-26 on November 26, 2022, at 2:20PM EST. REVERB was deployed from the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

on December 29, 2022, via

Nanoracks Nanoracks LLC is an American private in-space services company which builds space hardware and in-space repurposing tools. The company also facilitates experiments and launches of CubeSats to Low Earth Orbit. Nanoracks's main office is in H ...

. The satellite is being located through crowdsourcing, with help from

AMSAT AMSAT is a name for various amateur radio satellite organizations worldwide. In particular, it often refers to the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, headquartered in Washington, D.C. AMSAT organizations design, build, arrange launches for, a ...

. It will test the

Iridium satellite Iridium is a chemical element; it has the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ir and atomic number 77. This very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal (after osmi ...

radio and connect to the students' ground station through email.

Computer Systems Lab

The school's computer systems lab is one of the few high school computing facilities with a

supercomputer A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...

. In 1988, a team from the school won an ETA-10P supercomputer in the SuperQuest competition, a national science competition for high school students. The ETA-10P was damaged by a roof leak in the 1990s.

Cray Inc. Cray Inc., a subsidiary of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, is an American supercomputer manufacturer headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It also manufactures systems for data storage and analytics. Several Cray supercomputer systems are listed i ...

donated a new SV1 supercomputer, known as Seymour, to the school on December 4, 2002, which is on display as of 2024. The lab also supported a number of

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...

thin clients for use by students enrolled in AP Computer Science. In 2008, the school received a grant from Sun Microsystems for $388,048, which was student-written. The Syslab was given 7 Sun workstations, 12 Sun servers, and 145 Sun Rays for distribution throughout the school. These were placed in the existing AP Computer Science Lab and the science classrooms, support backend services, and serve as kiosks placed around the school for guests, students, and faculty. However, the Sun Rays were taken out of the AP Computer Science Lab due to teachers' objections. By 2014, the Sun Ray clients were decommissioned, and replaced with Linux-based thin clients running LTSP.

Awards and recognition

In 2021 and 2022, the '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked TJ as the best overall high school in the United States. It was previously ranked fourth in 2020, tenth in 2019, and sixth in 2018. In 2016, the school placed first in ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

''s annual "America's Top High Schools" rankings for the third consecutive year. The average

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

score for the graduating class of 2020 was 1528 and the average ACT score was 34.5. The school had 14 Intel Science Talent Search Semifinalists in 2007, 15 in 2009, and 13 in 2010. In 2024, 7 were named. In 2007, for schools with more than 800 students in grades 10–12, TJ was cited as having the highest-performing AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP French Language, AP Government and Politics, U.S., and AP U.S. History courses among all schools worldwide. In 2014, 3864 AP Exams were taken by students; over 97% earned a score of 3, 4, or 5. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

signed the

America Invents Act The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

into law on September 16, 2011, at the school. The law was made to reform U.S. patent laws. In 1997, 2000, 2013, and 2017, the wind ensemble of the school was among fifteen high-school bands invited to the Music for All National Concert Band Festival in Indianapolis.

Merit award controversy

In December 2022, it was reported that during the previous five years, some students at the school who had been named

National Merit Scholarship The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships. The program is managed by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded not-for-profit ...

Commended Scholars had not been notified of their achievement until several months after the school was given the awards to distribute to the students, too late for the students to include with their college applications. A lawyer named Shawnna Yashar, whose son was one of the students at the school whose commendation information had not been reported by the school, said, "Keeping these certificates from students is theft by the state." School officials stated that the issue was a "one-time human error." This led to an investigation of 17 Virginia schools and prompted Governor

Glenn Youngkin Glenn Allen Youngkin (born December 9, 1966) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 74th governor of Virginia since 2022. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he spent 25 years at the Private equi ...

to propose legislation mandating immediate notification of such opportunities to parents and students.

Notable alumni

* Yohannes Abraham, government official *

Chris Avellone Chris Avellone (/ˈævəloʊn/) is an American video game designer and comic book writer. He is known for his significant roles on a large number of video games, primarily role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRP ...

, game designer * Praveen Balakrishnan, Chess Grandmaster * Sandra Beasley, poet *

Bob Bland Mari Lynn Foulger (born December 17, 1982), better known as Bob Bland, is an American fashion designer and activist. Bland co-chaired the 2017 Women's March but later resigned from the 2019 Women's March board following accusations of antisemit ...

, fashion designer and activist * Hung Cao, Republican candidate in the

2024 United States Senate election in Virginia The 2024 United States Senate election in Virginia was held on November 5, 2024, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia. Democratic Party (United States), Democratic incumbent Tim Kain ...

and nominee for

United States Under Secretary of the Navy The under secretary of the navy is the second-highest ranking civilian official in the United States Department of the Navy. The under secretary reports to the United States Secretary of the Navy, secretary of the navy (SECNAV). Before the creati ...

. * Ian Caldwell, author * Mark Changizi, theoretical cognitive scientist *

Mike Elias Michael Elias (born December 28, 1982) is an American baseball executive. He is the executive vice president and general manager (baseball), general manager for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB). Career Elias graduated from T ...

, baseball executive * Mark Embree, mathematician and

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

Eric Froehlich Eric Froehlich (born February 9, 1984, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American professional poker player, professional Magic: The Gathering player, and member of the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with ...

, professional

poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

and '' Magic: The Gathering'' player *

Sara Goldrick-Rab Sara Youcha Goldrick-Rab is an American professor, sociologist, and author. Goldrick-Rab was most recently the Professor of Sociology and Medicine at Temple University until she resigned in August 2022, the Founding Director of The Hope Center fo ...

, sociologist * Stephanie Hannon, CTO of

Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign In 2016, Hillary Clinton ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States. Clinton ran as the Democratic Party's candidate for president, in which she became the first woman to win a presidential nomination by a major U.S. political pa ...

* Darius Kazemi, programmer, artist, and co-founder of Feel Train *

Sophia Kianni Sophia Kianni (born December 13, 2001) is an Iranian-American social entrepreneur. She is the co-founder and co-CEO of Phia, a digital fashion app and shopping tool. She is the founder and president of Climate Cardinals, the world's largest yout ...

, climate activist * Andrew Kirmse, game developer and computer programmer *

Ehren Kruger Ehren Kruger (born October 5, 1972) is an American film screenwriter and producer. He is best known for writing three of the five installments in the original ''Transformers'' film series: '' Revenge of the Fallen'', '' Dark of the Moon'', and ' ...

, screenwriter * Christo Landry, professional long-distance runner * Howard Lerman, entrepreneur, co-founder of Yext * Jose Llana, actor * Geoffrey von Maltzahn, biological engineer, founder of Indigo Agriculture * Mehret Mandefro, film/television producer, writer, physician, anthropologist * Ashley Miller, screenwriter * Kathryn Minshew, CEO and co-founder of The Muse * Anthony Myint, restaurateur * Aparna Nancherla, comedian *

Amna Nawaz Amna Nawaz (Urdu: آمنہ نواز) is an American broadcast journalist and a co-anchor of the ''PBS NewsHour'' alongside Geoff Bennett. Before joining PBS in April 2018, Nawaz was an anchor and correspondent at ABC News and NBC News. She has r ...

, broadcast journalist * Thao Nguyen, singer-songwriter * Michael Hun Park, United States circuit judge of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory covers the states of Connecticut, New York (state), New York, and Vermont, and it has ap ...

Emma Pierson Emma Jane Pierson (born 30 April 1981) is an English actress. Her appearances in television programmes include the role of Anna Thornton-Wilton in the BBC television drama ''Hotel Babylon (BBC series), Hotel Babylon'', and ''SunTrap'', ''Day ...

, computer scientist and

* Conor Russomanno, creator of OpenBCI *

Robert Sarvis Robert Christopher Sarvis (born September 15, 1976) is an American attorney. While attending law school, he was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the '' NYU Journal of Law & Liberty''; he also clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly on the U.S. Co ...

, lawyer * Monika Schleier-Smith, experimental physicist and

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and 30 individuals workin ...

(2020) * Andrew Seliskar, swimmer * Joshua Specht, author of '' Red Meat Republic'', history professor at

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

* Meagan Spooner, author *

Chris Sununu Christopher Thomas Sununu ( ; born November 5, 1974) is an American politician and engineer who served as the 82nd governor of New Hampshire from 2017 to 2025. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, Sununu is the son of former New Hamps ...

, former

Governor of New Hampshire The governor of New Hampshire is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The governor is elected during the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along w ...

* Vlad Tenev, co-founder of Robinhood * Owen Thomas, journalist * Dustin Thomason, author * Anne Toth, Head of Data Policy at the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

* Greg Tseng, entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of Tagged * Helen Wan, novelist and lawyer * Staci Wilson, soccer player, Olympian