Quince Orchard High School (QOHS), also known as Q.O. High School, is a

secondary 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 '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located on Quince Orchard Road in the Quince Orchard neighborhood of

Gaithersburg Gaithersburg ( ), officially the City of Gaithersburg, is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, making it the ninth-largest location in the state. Ga ...

in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States.

Academics

According to materials from the school, Quince Orchard "encourages advanced studies in both the arts and books." To this end, 31

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

courses are offered, ranging from the arts to world history to science and math. The school boasts higher-than-average

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...

(544 verbal, 558 math) and ACT (22 composite) scores, and requires 75 hours of community service for graduation. In 2006, Quince Orchard High School was the 456th highest-rated school according to ''

Newsweek magazine ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

''s list of the top 1,300 high schools in the United States. In 2014, Quince Orchard was ranked the sixth best high school in the state of Maryland and 176th in the United States by '' U.S. News & World Report'' on their list of best high schools.

Arts

Over the years, the theater department has staged nearly 50 productions, including ''

Up the Down Staircase ''Up the Down Staircase'' is a novel written by Bel Kaufman, published in 1964, which spent 64 weeks on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. In 1967 it was released as a film starring Sandy Dennis, Patrick Bedford, Ruth White, Jean Stapl ...

'' and the musical '' Grease'', Students produce ''The Prowler'' newspaper and the

yearbook A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually. A yearbook often ...

''Tracks''. The Quince Orchard High School

Marching Band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, ofte ...

went to the inaugural USSBA National Championship and achieved a Montgomery County-record score of 90.275. The next year, the band received their second record-breaking score for Montgomery County, Maryland, of 92.325, and placed 9th out of 18 national groups. In 2008, the marching band won the USSBA Group IV Open Maryland State Championships with the show "Jekyll and Hyde".

Student demographics

For the 2015–2016 school year, Quince Orchard had a total enrollment of 1,926 students. During the 2015–2016 school year, the school's student body was 51.3%

non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Amer ...

, 15.6%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 15.7%

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

, 17.1%

Hispanic and Latino American Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spaniards, Spanish and/or Latin Americans, Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include a ...

, and 0.3% Native American.

Zone

Quince Orchard's incoming

freshmen A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

come from

Lakelands Park Lakelands Park is a park located in the Lakelands neighborhood of the City of Gaithersburg, Montgomery County, Maryland. The park includes two baseball/softball fields, a playground, and a large grassy area usually used for soccer. This park is ...

and Ridgeview Middle School, as well as Roberto Clemente Middle School's magnet program. Until the end of the 2007 school year, Quince Orchard also enrolled students who had graduated from

Kingsview Middle School Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is a public school district that serves Montgomery County, Maryland. With 210 schools, it is the largest school district in the state of Maryland. For the 2022–2023 school year, the district has 13,994 ...

. Starting in 2010, Quince Orchard High School enrolled students who graduated from Parkland Middle School.

History

In 1984, the Montgomery County Council voted to build Quince Orchard High School in order to reduce crowding at

Gaithersburg High School Gaithersburg High School (GHS) is located in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Part of Montgomery County Public Schools, the school was founded in 1904 as "Gaithersburg School" and offered grades K-12. Since 2013, the school resides at 101 Education Blvd a ...

, and it allocated $20 million for its construction in 1984. The school was expected to have 1,680 students upon opening, and it was designed to have a capacity of 2,000 students. In 1987, a group of parents asked the Board of Education to name the school Potomac Falls High School instead, but the Board of Education decided to name it Quince Orchard High School because it was being built on Quince Orchard Road. Construction costs ended up totaling $26 million by the time the school opened on September 6, 1988.Goldstein, Amy (August 24, 1988). ''21st Century School Awaits Pupils; Montgomery County's Newest Facility Accentuates High Tech''. ''The Washington Post''. August 24, 1988. p. A1. Quince Orchard High School did not have a senior class during its first school year open, which made it difficult for its athletic teams to compete with other high schools in sports where size and experience are particularly advantageous.Brady, Jim (December 29, 1988). "Quince Orchard High Survives Growing Pains: New School Overcomes 1st-Year Challenges". ''The Washington Post''. p. DC8. Its football team's record was 1-8 in its first season. The softball field was not built in time for the first school year, and the school used the baseball field for field hockey. Despite tennis courts not being completed until midway through the first school year, the tennis team finished 5-7 that year. Quince Orchard became the first public school in the state of Maryland to have a Sports Broadcasting Network in 2019. The QO Sports Network, founded by student Adam Gotkin, broadcasts select Quince Orchard athletic events.

Notable alumni

Jason Ankrah Jason Ankrah (born February 26, 1991) is a former gridiron football linebacker. He played college football at University of Nebraska and attended Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He has been a member of the Houston Texans, Te ...

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

football player * Baiyu, singer *

Astrid Ellena Astrid Ellena Indriana Yunadi (born June 8, 1990), better known simply as Astrid Ellena, is an Indonesian model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Indonesia 2011. She was raised in Surabaya, Indonesia and Gaithersburg, Maryland, Unite ...

Miss Indonesia 2011 Miss Indonesia 2011 is the seventh edition of Miss Indonesia beauty pageant. It features the theme of ''Ragam Cantik Indonesia'' (Indonesian: Variety of Indonesian beauty).

, Indonesia's representative in

Miss World 2011 Miss World 2011, the 61st edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 6 November 2011 at the Earls Court Two in London, United Kingdom. As part of the events, the contestants also travelled to Edinburgh, Scotland between 23 and 27 October ...

(Top 15) * Paul James, actor * Zach Kerr,

football player *

John Papuchis John Papuchis (born April 23, 1978) is the special teams coordinator and defensive ends coach for the Florida State University, Florida State Seminoles Florida State Seminoles football, football team.https://umterps.com/coaches.aspx?rc=1666&path= ...

, college football coach * Wale, rapper *

Darnell Wilson Darnell Wilson (born September 22, 1974) is an American boxer. He challenged once for the WBA World Cruiserweight title in 2008. He is perhaps best remembered for his brutal left-hook knockouts of Emmanuel Nwodo and David Rodriguez. Backgro ...

, boxer * Jesse Tittsworth, DJ/Producer * Mary Wiseman, Star Trek: Discovery actress *

Jared Bush Jared Bush (born June 12, 1974) is an American screenwriter, producer and director. He is best known for co-directing and co-writing the Walt Disney Animation Studios film ''Zootopia'' (2016), writing the film '' Moana'' (2016) and directing and ...

, director & film writer

References

External links

* {{authority control Public high schools in Montgomery County, Maryland Educational institutions established in 1988 1988 establishments in Maryland