'Thomas Dale High School'
TDHS Logo
'Thomas Dale High School' is a
public school located in
Chester, an unincorporated community in
Chesterfield County,
Virginia,
United States.
It was named for Sir
Thomas Dale, a 17th century leader in the
Virginia Colony. The
high school is operated by the local
school division,
Chesterfield County Public Schools, and is best known for its visual and performing arts programs as well as its mens' football and soccer teams.
History and Tradition
Sir Thomas Dale
Thomas Dale High School was named for Sir
Thomas Dale, an English naval commander knighted by
King James I who served as colonial deputy-governor of the
Virginia Colony based at
Jamestown in 1611, and from 1614-1616 under Royal Governor
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, better known in modern times as "Lord Delaware."
The colony was only 4 years old when Lord Delaware returned to England in 1611, and left
Governor Dale in charge. He is best-remembered for the energy and the extreme rigour of his administration, which established order and in various ways seems to have benefited the colony. In 1614, he proposed an innovative allotment of three acres to "every man" in the colony. This first step to a
free enterprise system was a radical departure from the
communal approach used up to that point, and had become an accepted practice of the
Virginia Company of London by 1619.
Not far from his namesake school, around 1611, in present-day Chesterfield County, Governor Dale is credited with establishing
Bermuda Hundred and the water-cutoff of a meandering portion of the
James River known as
Dutch Gap. The latter was named for a ditching method Dale learned earlier in his career while serving in
Holland. Perhaps most notably, Governor Dale established the progressive development of
Henricus, which was to have the first college in Virginia. The ill-fated Henricus was destroyed during the
Indian Massacre of 1622, during which a third of the colonists were killed.
Governor Dale sailed back to England in the spring of 1616 aboard the ''Treasurer'' with
John Rolfe, his wife
Pocahontas, and their baby son,
Thomas Rolfe. Although Dale and Pocahontas were destined to never to return to Virginia, while in England, he wrote ''A True Relation of the State of Virginia, Left by Sir Thomas Dale, Knight, in May last, 1616.'' He died at sea during a military mission to the
West Indies in 1619.
The Dale Magisterial District of
Chesterfield County is also named in honor of Sir Thomas Dale.
Buildings and Names
The school known today as Thomas Dale has undergone several building and name changes.
It was built in 1906, and was known as Chester High School. In 1917, it was renamed Chester Agricultural High School. Then in 1942, it was given it's current name of Thomas Dale High School.
Also in the early 40's, a new building was constructed on the western side of the original building. This 1940's building stands today as
Chester Middle School. The 1906 structure was later demolished.
In 1964, another replacement facility opened less than a mile east on
State Route 10.
In the mid 1980's, this building saw a small expansion, followed by some interior renovation and the addition of Air Conditioning in the early 1990's.
To alleviate overcrowding, an annex known as the Thomas Dale West Campus opened in 1997 in the former Carver Middle School building on Branders Bridge Road. This facility housed the 9th grade.
Between 1999 and 2001, the 1964 building underwent a massive expansion and a complete interior and exterior renovation. Thomas Dale West Campus closed with the completion of this project.
Though the 2001 expansion was projected to accommodate the school's population for years, the student population has been growing rapidly, and trailers and rooms in the stadium must now be used to house all the students.
Alma Mater
All hail to our Alma Mater
Our praise to thee we sing
Loyalty to the maroon and gray
From each we pledge to bring
When our days have ended here
And friends of old must part
We'll always cherish
THOMAS DALE
Deep within our hearts
Academic Excellence
Thomas Dale High School is fully accredited by the Virginia Department of Education for Standards of Learning. It has a strong partnership with
John Tyler Community College in Chester, participating in the Dual Enrollment Program and offers many AP classes in the core areas as well as the arts.
Specialty Center for the Arts
Thomas Dale serves as the Visual and Performing Arts Specialty Center for Chesterfield County. TDHS attracts talented young musicians, artists, dancers and actors to its honors arts program. The faculty is active as performer/artists. The program is coordinated by Mrs. Pamela Barton. This program attracts nearly 200 new applicants each year.
Theatre
The Theatre department is headed by Rebecca Jones and Carol Halbert. Students in the Theatre specialty center focus on acting techniques, voice, dialects, stage movement, as well as the technical aspects of the theatre. This group performs a number of different plays many times each year, including musicals, student directed one-act plays, and popular plays such as "You Can't Take It With You" and "
Moon Over Buffalo," with an upcoming production of an abridged version of Shakespeare's "
Much Ado About Nothing." The Specialty Center is famed for its full scale musical productions with full pit orchestra. Students have access to a black box theatre, as well as a large and small auditorium. As part of the program, students have taken trips to view theatre as far away as
London, England.
Dance
Denise Purvis is head of the dance program at Thomas Dale. She is an Alumni of the
VCU Dance Department and has taught at
SUNY. Her program explores many aspects of dance, such as technique, choreography, improvisation, and nutrition. Ballet and Modern dance are the main forms of dance taught, but all types of dance are explored to some degree. The students in the dance specialty center have access to a dance studio and private locker and shower facility. Guests artists include those of the Latin Ballet and the Richmond Ballet.
Music
Thomas Dale's music department was awarded the Governor's Blue Ribbon Music Department Award. The orchestra, choral groups and bands go to competitions and compete within the county, the state, and even in regional competitions. Groups have traveled to Chicago, New York and Florida recently. Music directors are Steve Barton, David Holley, Christopher Johnston, Christi Stanfield and Kira Hines. Thomas Dale hosts 12 fully instrumented music ensembles.
The Visual Arts department is strongly represented in the Scholastics Awards each year. The program offers AP Studio Art and dual enrollment (college credit) drawing, printmaking and ceramics. The students and staff maintain a large art gallery off the commons area. The program has guest artists and college staff involved. Classes are offered in photography, graphic design, 2D/3D design, art and world cultures as well as the AP and dual enrollment classes. Art staff includes Farryl Essig, Shelley Row, Patricia Fairley, Sebastian Jackson, Luke Petrey and staff from John Tyler Community College.
Guests
Guest artists of regional and national stature frequently hold seminars at Thomas Dale. Notable guests of the Specialty Center have included:
★ Mark Wood of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra
★ The Richmond Symphony
★ The Joffrey Ballet
★ The Urban Bush Women
JROTC
The Junior Reserver Officer Trains Corps entered Thomas Dale high school for the firs time in 2002. The program was run by two instructors: LTC Samuel McNabb and 1SGT Terry Wiggins. The program had a great start and was very much involved with the community. The first year the program had nearly 300 students enrolled into the program. At that time, one of the largest programs in the state of Virginia. During the schools second year, the program opened up to "teams" for students to participate in. These teams consisted of raiders, rifle, drill, and color guard. Each team participated in events and brought back many awards. Again the program was overloaded with students. The third year the program lost 1SGT Terry Wiggins, but gained SFC Treon Simon. The program began to take form and develop new concepts. Road cleanups and community events are to name a few. More and more awards were won. The fourth year was meant to be a special year because of the inspection the program had to complete. However, due to extreme circumstances outside of Thomas Dale's control, the inspection was postponed until the following year.
Sports
Thomas Dale High School is also well known for its outstanding sports and other extra-curricular activities programs. The athletic teams compete as the "Knights" and wear the school colors of maroon and gray.
Football
Each year, the Knights participate in "The Battle of Chester" football game against their cross-town football rival, the "Skyhawks" of
L.C. Bird High School. The Knights also have a traditional long-standing rivalry against the "Blue Devils" from Hopewell High School, of
Hopewell, Virginia. The Knights have been known for decades in the Central Region of VA to be a classy hard hitting, aggressive, and power house team that is tradionally dominant.
The Knights play on the Edmund Karpus field at their J. Wilson Crump Stadium.
Soccer
In 2005, the Knights varsity boys soccer team won the Virginia State AAA soccer Championship. It was the first state championship for any Thomas Dale athletic team. They successfully defended that title in 2006. In the 2006 season, the Knights set Virginia state records for most shutouts, fewest goals allowed and most wins in a season. Through May 2007 they won 67 consecutive matches, while defending their #1 national ranking. The winning streak set a state record. In the 2007 Virginia Central Region Semifinals, their streak came to an end, losing 0-2 to the new Cosby High School.
In 2006, they produced 5 Division 1 soccer prospects, and sent one player to
Germany for a professional try-out:
★ Tyler Suttenfield -
VMI
★ Roger Bothe -
William & Mary
★ Jordan Evans -
University of Richmond
★ Scott Robertson -
United States Naval Academy
★ Matt White -
James Madison University
★ Daniel Heling -
Germany
Wrestling
The wrestling team, like all the other athletic teams at Thomas Dale, competes as the Knights. However, they are better known as the "Bagubas," a nickname that originated in 1982 under then Coach (and History teacher) Bob Horning and Captain Andy Weber (Class of 1983). It has consistently been one of the better sports programs at Thomas Dale, even if not the most noticed.
Prominent Alumni
★
Rudi Johnson, Class of 1998, is a running back with the
Cincinnati Bengals in the
National Football League. Drafted in the 4th round out of
Auburn University, Rudi has set franchise rushing records in 2004 and 2005 with the Bengals.
★
Kenneth Oxendine, Class of 1994, was a running back with the
Atlanta Falcons in the
National Football League. He was drafted in Round 7 of the 1998 NFL Draft by the Falcons.
★
William Henderson, Class of 1990, is a running back with the
Green Bay Packers in the NFL. He was drafted as the 2nd Pick in the 3rd Round of the 1995 NFL Draft by the Packers.
★ The Rev. J. Lee Hill, Jr., Class of 1996, is the minister of youth and young adults at the historic
Riverside Church in the City of New York. He is recipient of the Outstanding Alumni award from
George Mason University .
External links
★
Thomas Dale High School
★
Thomas Dale Specialty Center for the Arts
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