Chopticon High School is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

located in Morganza, Maryland,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The school serves students in grades 9–12. It offers

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

preparatory programs and programs that prepare students for business and technical occupations. It serves the community in the northern portion of St. Mary's County, Maryland, between the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...

and

Patuxent River The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast ...

. The area is mainly

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

communities, with a recent rise in suburban development. Many of the families are employed by

NAS Patuxent River Naval Air Station Patuxent River , also known as NAS Pax River, is a United States naval air station located in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Patuxent River. It is home to Headquarters, Naval Air Sys ...

, government contractors,

St. Mary's College of Maryland St. Mary's College of Maryland (SMCM) is a public liberal arts college in St. Mary's City, Maryland.Maryland State Archives, Online Manual, "St. Mary's College Of Maryland: Origin & Functions" http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/25univ/stmarys ...

, St Mary's County government, and traditional

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

and water-related businesses. Chopticon High School is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and the Maryland State Department of Education. Chopticon also offers the Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) and the Academy of Finance (AOF). Chopticon High School belongs to the St. Mary's County Public School System (or SMCPS) and is associated with two other county high schools: Great Mills High School and

Leonardtown High School Leonardtown High School is a comprehensive public high school in Leonardtown, Maryland, United States, for students in grades 9–12. It offers college preparatory programs and programs that prepare students for business and technical occupation ...

. The high school made news in 2015 when, on May 20, several students broke in at 3:40 am and released 72,000

ladybugs Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles ranging in size from . They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in Great Britain. Some entomologists prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as they ...

throughout the school. The four students, who were seniors at the school, were charged with 4th degree burglary, property destruction under $1,000 and disruption of school activities. Chopticon High School was founded in 1965, as a replacement to Margaret Brent High School (founded in 1921 – now Margaret Brent Middle School).

Music

The Chopticon marching band, also known as "The Showband of Southern Maryland," won 7 consecutive USBands Maryland State Championships from 2009 to 2015 and their 8th in 2018. Under the direction of former director Todd Burroughs, the Chopticon marching band also won the USBands 2A National Championships in 2012.

Sports

Chopticon High School Athletics belongs to the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference, and competes in Maryland Division 4A in state competitions. On March 24, 2014 the Chopticon varsity softball team ended the Northern varsity softball team's state record 77-game winning streak by a score of 5–3. The baseball team won the 2015 3A State Championship by defeating Mt. Hebron High School 1–0 in the championship game. The pitcher in that game, LJay Newsome, ended up being drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 2015 MLB Draft. In 2016, the softball program made their first state championship since 1985, however they lost 7–2 to Sherwood High School. On June 12, 2017 Chopticon saw another alumnus get selected in the

MLB Draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

. Former Catcher Robby Kidwell was drafted in the 36th round by the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

Notable alumni

Jerome Adams Jerome Michael Adams (born September 22, 1974) is an American anesthesiologist and a former vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who served as the 20th surgeon general of the United States from September 5, 2017 un ...

, Class of 1992, 20th Surgeon General of the United States. *

James Kilpatrick James Jackson Kilpatrick (November 1, 1920 – August 15, 2010) was an American newspaper journalist, columnist, author, writer and grammarian. During the 1950s and early 1960s he was editor of ''The Richmond News Leader'' in Richmond, Virginia ...

Elisa Rae Shupe Elisa Rae Shupe (formerly Jamie Shupe; born James Clifford Shupe) is a retired United States Army soldier who in 2016 became the first person in the United States to obtain legal recognition of a non-binary gender. In 2019, she released a stateme ...

* Ljay Newsome

References

External links

Chopticon High School
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1965 Public high schools in Maryland Schools in St. Mary's County, Maryland 1965 establishments in Maryland