Quince Orchard High School

Established	1988
Type	Public Secondary
Principal	Carole Working
Students	1749 (2008)
Grades	9–12
Location	Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA
District	Montgomery County Public Schools
Campus	Suburban
Colors	Red, Black and White
Mascot	Cougars
Yearbook	Tracks
Newspaper	The Prowler
Website	http://qohs.org/

Quince Orchard High School is a secondary school located on Quince Orchard Road in Gaithersburg in unincorporated Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Quince Orchard's incoming freshmen come from Lakelands Park and Ridgeview Middle School as well as Roberto Clemente Middle School magnet program. Up until the end of the 2007 school year Quince Orchard also took in freshman from Kingsview Middle School. Small portions of the city of Gaithersburg are assigned to Quince Orchard. Quince Orchard High won 4 state championships in 2007-2008, in boys cross country running, girls soccer, American football, boys indoor track.

[edit] Academics

According to materials from the school, Quince Orchard "encourages advanced studies in both the arts and books." To this end, 24 Advanced Placement courses are offered, ranging from the Arts to World History.^[1] The school also boasts higher-than-average SAT (544 verbal, 558 math, 1102 total) and ACT (22 composite) scores, and requires 60 hours of community service for graduation. From the class of 2011 on, 75 hours will be required.^[2]

The school sent 75%+ of its 2005 graduating class to two- and four-year universities.

In 2006, Quince Orchard High School was listed in the Newsweek Magazine's top 1,300 High Schools in the U.S., as the 456th highest-rated school in the country.^[3]

[edit] Athletics

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

In recent years, the girls field hockey and soccer teams have enjoyed success, along with the cross county and track teams. The girls soccer team lost in the state title game in 2007 to Leonardtown. In the state semi-final game Quince Orchard beat Eleanor Roosevelt 1-0 in the waning minutes of double-overtime after the game was completely dominated by the Raiders. The goal was actually scored on a miscommunication between University of Maryland bound goalkeeper Yewande Balogun and senior sweeper Mary Rafael. The football team, which won the state championships in 1991 and 2007, and has had successful years in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and won the 4A (Maryland's largest classification, based on enrollment) state championship in 2007. The varsity baseball team, though a perennial county powerhouse, had struggled to win a state championship until the 2005 season when they beat a tough Anne Arundel team for the state title. They followed with an undefeated season in 2006, and another trip to the state semi-final where they suffered a loss, 12-7, in 2007 to the eventual State Champions, the Eleanor Roosevelt High School Raiders at the University of Maryland's Shipley Field behind an offensive explosion from the Raiders coupled with a strong outing from starting pitcher Sean Swetnam. In 2006, the boys cross country team and the girls field hockey team won the State Championships on November 11 and November 14.

In 2007, the boys cross-country team made it to first in state championship. The girls varsity soccer team made it to the State Championship game where they lost to Leonardtown. Varsity football capped off an undefeated 2007 season with a victory over Arundel in the Division 4A state finals scoring 29 points in the final quarter to do so. The Junior Varsity football team went 9-0, boys varsity soccer team won nationals, boys basketball JV Team went 20 and 0, field hockey team placed second in the state, and the boys indoor track team won states in Winter 2008 season. The boys outdoor track team placed second in state, setting a state record in the 4 x 800 meter relay with a time of 7:44.67.

Quince Orchard's biggest rivals are Gaithersburg HS of Gaithersburg, MD and Sherwood HS of Olney, MD.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Arts

Quince Orchard has theatre and music departments. In the spring of 2008, the Quince Orchard High School Chamber Singers performed at the Kennedy Center with the Manhattan Concert Productions.^{[citation needed]} Over the years the Theatre department has staged nearly 50 productions, including recently "Up the Down Staircase" and the musical "Grease", which was critically acclaimed by the National Theatre Critics Program.^{[citation needed]}

In addition, students produce The Prowler newspaper and the yearbook Tracks.

The QOHS Marching Band went to the inaugural USSBA National Championship and achieved a record-breaking score for Montgomery County, Maryland of 90.275.^[4] The next year, the band received their second record-breaking score for Montgomery County, Maryland of 92.325, and placed 9th out of 18 groups.^[4]

[edit] Student diversity

For the 2005–2006 school year, Quince Orchard has a total enrollment of 1,910 students. The student body is an increasingly diverse group as more Hispanic and Asian families move into the area. During the 2005-2006 school year, the school's student body was 51.3% Caucasian, 17.6% African American, 15.7% Asian, 15.1% Hispanic and 0.3% American Indian.^[2]

[edit] Notable alumni

• Wale, rapper
• Paul James, actor
• Darnell Wilson, boxer

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Quince Orchard High School - Gaithersburg, MD
• Quince Orchard High School Alumni
• The Prowler, Quince Orchard student newspaper