South County High School, opened in September 2005, is a public high school in Lorton,[1] Virginia and is part of the Fairfax County Public Schools system. The school mascot is "Stan" the Stallion and the school colors are forest green, navy blue, and silver. Common nicknames include "SoCo", "SCHS", and "South County".
In 2005, South County Secondary School became the first secondary school to open in Fairfax County in 32 years. The school was built on the grounds of the decommissioned District of Columbia Department of Corrections Lorton facility. With the construction of South County Middle School next to it in 2012[2] its designation was changed to that of a high school.
South County High School serves grades 9–12. SCHS unofficially has a rivalry with Hayfield, West Springfield, and Lake Braddock, which are other schools in FCPS. South County's main building mirrors that of Westfield High School.[citation needed] In 2015, after extensive fundraising efforts led by the former Director of Student Activities, Leah Conte, the natural grass playing fields were replaced with synthetic turf.[3]
The current high school's Student Government President is Zion Nuby, elected in April of 2021.
The principal of South County High School is Samuel Khoshaba. Khoshaba was formerly the principal of Western Branch Middle School in Chesapeake City Public Schools. He was also named the 2021 Middle School Principal of the Year by the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals.[4]
In the 2018-2019 school year SCHS's student body was 40.09% White, 19.95% Black, 1.20% Asian, 15.75% Hispanic or Latino, and 5.66% other.[5]
South County (as of December 2018) has 206 full time staff, of which 142 are teachers.[7] The school also has 2,142 computers to aid in teaching. SCHS is fully accredited with rates of 92 for English, 90 for History, 87 for Math, and 89 for Science in 2017-2018 (based on 2016-2017 testing).[8]
South County uses the FCPS grading scale.
SCHS offers the following programs:
South County offers Advanced Placement programs in the following subject areas:
South County athletic teams are as follows:[9]
South County's Varsity Football team is highly skilled and has gone to the playoffs many times including a state championship appearance in 2011 where they lost 20-10. In their 2015 season, the Stallions made it to state semi-finals losing to Westfield 40-8. In 2019, the Stallions defeated Westfield 28-21 in the state semi-finals to advance to their second state title game in school history. They defeated the Oscar Smith Tigers 14-13 to capture their first football state title in school history. In 2021, the Stallions made their third state championship appearance.
The boys varsity basketball team won the 2018 VHSL 6A State Championship with a 63-47 victory over Western Branch High School. Having another remarkable season, the boys varsity basketball team went 27-3 and made it to the state finals. Due to COVID-19, the game was never played and the team was announced as 2020 VHSL 6A State co-champions with Centreville High School.
SCHS offers many different clubs and after school programs.
38°43′02″N 77°14′19″W / 38.71722°N 77.23861°W / 38.71722; -77.23861