Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

Episcopal High School (Alexandria, Virginia)

Prep school in Alexandria, Virginia, US From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Episcopal High School (Alexandria, Virginia)map
Remove ads

Episcopal High School (also known as the High School, Episcopal and EHS), founded in 1839, is a boarding school located in Alexandria, Virginia. The Holy Hill 130-acre (53-hectare) campus houses 440 students from 28 states, the District of Columbia and 18 countries. The school is 100-percent boarding and is the only all-boarding school of its caliber located in a major metropolitan area.

Quick facts Location, Coordinates ...
Remove ads

History

Summarize
Perspective

Episcopal High School was founded in 1839 as the first high school in Virginia by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.[6][7][8] The Rev. William N. Pendleton and three assistant heads initially taught 35 boys at the boarding facility which occupied 80 acres (32 hectares) of land in the Seminary Hill neighborhood of Alexandria. It was originally known as the Howard School, from its location at the site of an earlier school.[9][10] It became known affectionately as "The High School", as it was the only school around for another 30 years.[6][7][11] The central administration building, Hoxton House, dates to around 1805, built by Martha Washington's eldest granddaughter, Elizabeth Parke Custis Law.[12]

In 1840, Episcopal's student body tripled in size to accommodate more than 100 boys. It continued to grow until the Civil War, when it closed immediately after Union Army forces occupied Alexandria in 1861. Some 500 students served as soldiers in the war, many like Rev. Pendleton (who became a brigadier general) for the Confederacy. The Pendleton Hall at Episcopal has a memorial to the 68 student/alumni who died fighting for the Confederacy.[7] For the next five years, school buildings served as part of a large hospital for Union troops. Poet Walt Whitman served as a nurse in the hospital.[12]

The school reopened in 1866. Under the direction of Launcelot Minor Blackford (principal, 1870–1913), the school initiated a modern academic curriculum as well as pioneered interscholastic team sports in the South, including football, baseball, and track. In 1888, Episcopal adopted black and blue as school colors, but after losing few games and the visitor claiming that "EHS had been beaten black and blue", the school changed colors to maroon and black.[2] The school yearbook, Whispers, has been published since 1903.[2]

EHS competes against Woodberry Forest School in the longest-running consecutive high-school football rivalry in the South and one of the oldest in the United States.[13] Beginning in 1900, every fall the Maroon and the Woodberry Forest Tigers have competed on the football field. The location of the game alternates each year; it is either in Orange or Alexandria.[14]

Recognizing the need to improve its facilities, the school also undertook an aggressive building program that formed the foundation for the present-day campus. During this era, Episcopal also instituted its Honor Code, one of the oldest among secondary schools.[15] A committee of students and faculty members promotes understanding of the code and handles violations. The Honor Code has served as a foundation of the EHS community since its inception.[citation needed]

From the beginning, Episcopal and the neighboring Virginia Theological Seminary were governed by the same board of trustees, appointed by the Diocese. In 1923, the school broke from the diocese and has been run by an independent board of trustees since then.[8]

In 1968 the school's first two African-American students enrolled thanks to the generosity of the Stouffer Foundation which assumed an active role in the recruitment and placement of African-American students in prep schools across the South. The enrollment of Regi Burns '72 and Sam Paschall '72 fulfilled the board's 1965 resolution "Any and all applicants for admission shall be considered on an equal basis after giving due regard to their scholastic preparedness and their ability and desire to meet the standards of the school." Since then, Episcopal has continually become more diverse and is consistently ahead of the national boarding school average for student diversity.[16]

In 1991, Episcopal began a transition to coeducation by enrolling its first 48 girls, a group commonly referred to as "The First 48".[8] The first coeducational class graduated in 1993. As of 2025, the school has an enrollment of 440 students, half of whom are girls. The students come from 28 states, the District of Columbia and 18 countries.[17]

During the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, Episcopal opted not to receive loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, stating that it "should not seek this kind of support when others need it more."[18][19]

Remove ads

Campus

Thumb
Callaway Chapel and the Baker Science Center, Episcopal High School Virginia

Episcopal's 130 acre hilltop campus has 26 buildings that include seven academic buildings, ten dormitories (five for boys and five for girls), performing arts buildings, faculty housing and athletic facilities. Of the 130-acres total land, 41-acres are wooded.

In 1893, Baltimore-based architect James Crawford Neilson was commissioned to build the Liggett Hall and other building improvements.[20][21]

In 1910s, Episcopal commissioned architect Frederick H. Brooke to update the main hall, and expanded physically with addition of multiple buildings.[22][23] The Stewart Gymnasium was erected in 1913 at a cost of $30,000.[24] It was renovated in 2014.[25]

The Baker Science Center, built in 2005, is a LEED-certified, green building.[26]

Remove ads

Student activities

Summarize
Perspective

Arts programs

Episcopal offers arts courses in instrumental music, vocal music, acting, dance, ceramics, photography, videography, drawing, painting, music theory, and music recording. Every year 61% of students take arts courses.[27] All students entering as freshmen are required complete two courses in the arts during their four years, and older students must complete one course in order to graduate.[28]

Arts courses take place in the 42,000 square-foot Ainslie Arts Center, named for former headmaster Lee S. Ainslie '56. The building opened in 2003 and includes a 540-seat William N. Pendleton auditorium, 100-seat black box theater, and a 24-channel digital recording studio.[29]

The school regularly offers student and professional art shows, concerts and workshops. The National Chamber Players perform at the school several times each year, and student musicians often perform with the Youth Symphony Orchestra.[30]

Chapel and spiritual life

Thumb
The Most Rev. Michael Curry speaking at Episcopal in 2019.

Students are required to attend a 15–20-minute chapel service three times a week and a monthly evening Vespers service. There is a voluntary church service each Sunday. Though the school is an Episcopal school, students of all religions are welcomed, and Episcopal strives to include traditions of all faith backgrounds in its services. The Chaplain's Office will also work with students to take them off-campus to attend various houses of worship in the area if they are interested, including other churches, synagogues, and mosques. Through its programs, Episcopal has brought to campus a number of notable leaders in spiritual life including Archbishop Desmond Tutu,[31] the Most Rev. Michael Curry,[32] Katherine Hayhoe,[33] and David Zahl.[34]

Tuition

The comprehensive tuition fee for the 2025–2026 school year is $74,900 and includes tuition, room and board, and other expenses. In 2024–25, over 36 percent of the student body received financial assistance through over 100 endowed scholarship funds. Approximately $8 million in aid was awarded annually, with the average grant equaling about $54,619.[35][36]

Athletics

Summarize
Perspective

Episcopal fields 43 boys' and girls' interscholastic teams in 16 sports: football, field hockey, soccer, tennis, cross county, volleyball, swimming, basketball, climbing, squash, track and field, wrestling, baseball, crew, golf, lacrosse, and softball. Non-interscholastic sports, such as dance, cross training, and strength training, are also available.[3]

The boys' teams compete in the Interstate Athletic Conference (IAC). The school has won 32 IAC Championships since 1979 and seven Virginia Independent School State Championships since 1996. Episcopal's girls' teams compete in the Independent School League (ISL). They have won 21 ISL Championships since 1993.[37]

The football team won back-to-back IAC Championships in 2015 and 2016 led by head coach Panos Voulgaris. The 2016 team was consistently ranked in the Washington Post Top 10 for the first time in over 25 years. During Voulgaris' tenure the program produced numerous college football players including multiple nationally ranked recruits.

In the fall of 2008 the boys' varsity soccer team completed a perfect IAC season with a 23-0-0 record.[38] It went on to become the number one team in the state of Virginia by defeating NSCAA-nationally ranked #3 Norfolk Academy 4–0 in the VISAA Championship final.[citation needed] The team finished the season ranked as the #13 team in the country.[38] In the 2009 fall season the boys' varsity soccer team finished the year with a double overtime win over Collegiate School (Richmond, VA) which brought two consecutive state championship trophies back to Alexandria.[38] Episcopal was also the 2009 IAC champion and was ranked as the number 3 team in the country.[39]

Episcopal won their first-ever Independent School League tournament championship in 2010 in field hockey. It was the first for Episcopal since joining the ISL 1993.[40]

There are varsity, junior varsity, and, for some sports, junior-level teams. Students are expected to complete three seasons of sports as freshmen, at least two as sophomores and juniors, and at least one as seniors. However, these requirements may be met by participation in non-interscholastic sports or by serving as managers for the scholastic sports teams.

The school facilities have often been used by professional teams either on temporary basis or as a practice field. Alexandria Reds of the National Premier Soccer League split their time between the Hummel Bowl on the campus of Episcopal High School, and Limerick Field, in eastern Alexandria.[41] In 2021, Washington Spirit of the National Women's Soccer League temporarily trained at Episcopal due to disputes with D.C. United.[42]

In 2016, the United States women's national soccer team used the athletic facilities at Episcopal to train before departing for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil.[43]

In July 2025, Episcopal served as a base camp for the Al Ain FC during the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.[44][45]

Remove ads

Notable alumni

Thumb
Langhorne Bond at Episcopal High School, 1955
Thumb
John McCain at Episcopal High School, 1953
Remove ads

Notes

    1. [N 1]
      The School is a listed beneficiary in the will of Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans and receives annual grant from the independent Lettie Pate Evans Foundation.[5]

    References

    External links

    Loading related searches...

    Wikiwand - on

    Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

    Remove ads
    Remove ads