Massaponax High School

Massaponax High School is a public school in Spotsylvania County, VA. It is part of Spotsylvania County Public Schools and is located on 8201 Jefferson Davis Highway. Massaponax High School opened in the fall of 1998 becoming the fourth high school in Spotsylvania County. Massaponax became one of the county's largest high schools and carries a current enrollment of 1,960 students in grades 9 through 12. The school complex consists of 106 acres (0.43 km2). Its outside amenities include a 5,001 seat lighted stadium, an 8 lane rubberized track, 2 baseball fields, 2 softball fields, 2 Multi-Purpose practice fields, 1 Soccer and Field Hockey field, 6 tennis courts, and a 3.1 mile cross country course. Inside there is a 1860 seat gymnasium (3 basketball courts), 1 auxiliary gym, 2 weight rooms and 1 athletic training room. A 1270 seat auditorium and Fine Arts wing serve both the community and school with community plays, musicals, and special events, as well as school, district and state events. Off site, the school uses a 25-yard (23 m), 8 lane indoor swimming pool. Massaponax has a daily working staff of 161. The school was run by principal Joseph Rodkey, who retired after the 2009-2010 school year. Dr. Joe Pisani was the principal from the 2010-2011 school year to the 2018-2019 school year when he was transferred to George Wythe High School in Richmond, Virginia.[1] The new principal for the 2019-2020 school year is Dr. Joseph Gabalski.

Massaponax High School
Address
8201 Jefferson Davis Highway

Fredericksburg
,
Virginia
22407

United States
Information
Opened1998
School districtSpotsylvania County Public Schools
PrincipalJoseph Gabalski
Grades9-12
Number of students2014 (2016-17)
Color(s)Black, silver, teal      
MascotPanthers
Feeder schoolsSpotsylvania Middle School
Battlefield Middle School
Thornburg Middle School
WebsiteMassaponax High School

Location

Massaponax High School is located in Historic Spotsylvania County, consisting of 416.1 square miles (1,078 km2) located in eastern Virginia, midway between the nation's capital of Washington, D.C. and the state capital of Richmond; both of which are approximately 50 miles (80 km) distant. Both capital cities are readily accessible by rail and highway. Spotsylvania County is bordered by Caroline County to the south and east, Louisa to the west, and Hanover County to the southwest, along the North Anna River. Culpeper borders the northwest, and Stafford County to the north, while the City of Fredericksburg lies to the east and Orange County to the west, along the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers.

Athletics

Massaponax High School is part of the AAA Commonwealth District and AAA Northwest Region, and offers soccer, tennis, cheerleading, cross country, lacrosse, football, golf, volleyball, basketball, field hockey, swimming, wrestling, baseball, softball, and track and field. Gymnastics recently made a return after going on hiatus due to lack of members from 2002-2006.

Massaponax's football team reached the State Finals in 2003 following an undefeated season, but lost; they would later however, win the AAA Division 5 Northwest Region Title in 2005. in 2009 they pulled through to become northwest regional champions and made it to the semi-finals against the Stone Bridge Bulldogs, but lost.

Massaponax's first State Champion, Dale Parker, won the 100 breaststroke at the 2003 VHSL Swimming and Diving Championships with a 59.98 time.

The Boys Soccer Team advanced to the state championship game in 2000 where they lost to state power Blacksburg 3-2.

In 2007, senior Josh Wine was the first wrestling State Champion in the 285 weight division.

The Massaponax Maniacs is a student organization dedicated to cheering on school teams. Although football and basketball are the main sports the Maniacs support, they can also be found at other sporting events.

In 2006 the Massaponax Softball team won the Commonwealth District regular season title, the Northwest Region title going 3-0 with zero runs scored against them in the region tournament and advanced to the quarterfinals in the state competition against Great Bridge High School.

Marching band

The marching band is known as the Marching Panther Pride (MP²), and has won numerous awards and trophies over the years, most notably the Heart of Cary, given to the band with the most spirit in the parade and fields shows during Cary Band Day in Cary, NC. The band is under the direction of Mr. Corey Koch who is the only band director in school history.

Each year, the band presents "The Matt Kreitz Spirit Award" to the most enthusatic member of the marching band. This individual must be a rising-senior and showed the most pride and spirit their first three years at Massaponax. The recipient of this award is given a mega-phone and brings it to all football games their senior year, and they lead the cheers from the stands. The award is named after Matt Kreitz from the Massaponax High School Class of 2003. After graduating, Mr. Kreitz became the school's Stadium Announcer for home football games and other major events at Massaponax High School.

Publications
  • The Growl is the high school's award winning student newspaper. It has been annually honored as one of the best high school newspapers by The Free Lance Star.

In 2004 it was a NSPA Newspaper Pacemaker winner. In 2009 The Growl won 4th place Best of Show (1-8 pages) at the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention in Phoenix, Arizona; and 9th place in Best of Show (9-12 pages) at the Fall Convention in Washington, DC.

Notable alumni

See also

References
  1. "Richmond Public Schools announce hiring of 12 principals". WTVR.com. 2019-06-14. Retrieved 2019-07-17.

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