Thomas Jefferson High School (usually abbreviated as TJ or TJHS) is a public high school located in Auburn, Washington. It is the largest enrolled

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 ...

in the Federal Way School District and one of the largest in the State of Washington. The school is a member of the

Coalition of Essential Schools The Coalition of Essential Schools is a US organization created to further a type of whole-school reform originally envisioned by founder Ted Sizer in his book, ''Horace's Compromise.'' The group began in 1984 with twelve schools and grew to 600 ...

, an organization whose guiding principles are intended to bolster student achievement. The mascot of Thomas Jefferson is the Raiders. A rebuliding of the school started in Winter 2020, the new campus opened in the Fall of 2021.

Programs

International Baccalaureate (IB)

Since 1997 the school has offered the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB D ...

Program. The program can be a full-diploma choice or an option for earning certificates in specific subjects. The assessments are sent to external assessors, assuring that student work conforms to program standards. Thomas Jefferson High School also offers an honor program called MYP (Middle Years Program) which is a program that prepares students for the International Baccalaureate program.

CAPP

The Construction Apprenticeship Preparation Program (CAPP) is an integrated 4-year program for students interested in careers and apprenticeships in the construction industry. Construction, Language Arts and Math instructors team to take students through the four-year curriculum. College credit is available to enrolled students.

Emergency Response Club

Each November the Emergency Response Club sponsors a Mass Casualty Incident Drill that simulates a shallow 7.2 magnitude earthquake and simulates trapping over 35 students and staff members in 12 separate buildings.

Math Team

Thomas Jefferson "Mathletes" have been active participants in state

Mu Alpha Theta Mu Alpha Theta () is the United States mathematics honor society for high school and two-year college students. In June 2015, it served over 108,000 student members in over 2,200 chapters in the United States and in 20 foreign countries. Its mai ...

math competitions and have achieved noteworthy successes. They have placed in the Top 10 in national Mu Alpha Theta conventions for the last 14 years and many students have won individual championships. The team placed 7th in the nation at the 2018 nationals in Colorado Springs and 9th in the nation at the 2019 Mu Alpha Theta Nationals in Las Vegas Thomas Jefferson has hosted the Washington state Mu Alpha Theta contest since 2005. In 2011 TJHS was recognized for its "contributions to a history of outstanding mathematics service to its community" with the Mu Alpha Theta Rubin Award.

Puget Sound Skills Center

Students are able to receive vocational training at the Puget Sound Skills Center, formerly known as Sea-Tac Occupational Skills Center.

Raiderlinks

TJ’s Raiderlinks was an interdisciplinary program that prepares students for their preferred career path and is aligned with the Washington Assessment for Student Learning (WASL) and Federal Way Public Schools’ literacy goals. The program offered a curriculum that integrated technology into English, social studies, and science classes. Raiderlinks was a 1997

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for Excellence winner.

Running Start

Students wishing to participate in the

Running Start Running Start is a dual credit enrollment program in Washington, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Montana and Illinois which allows high school juniors and seniors to attend college courses numbered 100 or above, while completing high school. It is simila ...

program have dual enrollment at either

Highline Community College Highline College is a public community college in Des Moines, Washington. Highline was founded in 1961 as the first community college in King County, Washington. The main campus covers . , there were approximately 17,000 students and 350,000 alu ...

Green River Community College Green River College is a public community college with its main campus in Auburn, Washington. It has a student body of approximately 10,000. The college primarily awards associates degrees but also offers 9 bachelor's degrees. History Green R ...

. Students may attend classes at either college or both, and can attend classes either full-time or part-time. Students must provide their own transportation, unless they are disabled and their Individual Education Plan requires the school district to provide it.

Speech and Debate

The Thomas Jefferson Speech and Debate Team placed second in state in the Washington State IE tournament in 2018. The World Schools Debate Team took home tied for 36th place honors at the national tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Athletics

TJ, a member of the Olympic Division of the North Puget Sound League since 2016, won the WIAA Washington State Boys High School Soccer Championship 8 times (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1994, 2005 and 2013). Overall, Thomas Jefferson athletic teams finished 4th for the 2008–2009 season and 3rd in 2009–2010 for the

South Puget Sound League A high-school sports league in Washington's West Central District. The league is split into 4A and 3A schools, and the 4A schools are split into a North and South division. Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Washington (state) high ...

all sports trophy.

Notable alumni

* Tony Barnette - Pitcher for the Texas Rangers of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

Bryan Pittman Bryan S. Pittman (born January 20, 1977) is a former American football long snapper. He was signed by the Texans as an undrafted free agent in 2003. He played college football at Washington. Pittman played semi professionally for the Puget Soun ...

- Played for multiple NFL teams, including the Houston Texans. *

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– President of Zoodango, participant on ''

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'' *

Kee Wah Chung Kee may refer to: Business *Kee Games, a former arcade game manufacturer *Knowledge Engineering Environment, a frame-based development tool for Expert Systems *Kee Wah Bakery, a chain of bakery stores in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United Statesc ...

- Actor, most notably featured in 2017 Most Amazing Men in Time Magazine * Kenny Mayne – Sports personality, most notably on ESPN's SportsCenter * Lamar Neagle – Professional soccer player with

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

in Major League Soccer *

Wade Webber Wade Webber (born January 12, 1967) is an American soccer coach and former player who spent most of his career with clubs in the Pacific Northwest. However, he did see three years in Major League Soccer with the Dallas Burn and Miami Fusion be ...

– Former professional soccer player with Portland Timbers,

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

and

Dallas Burn Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

and

Miami Fusion The Miami Fusion was a professional soccer team based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They played in Major League Soccer (MLS) for four seasons, from 1998 to 2001. Announced in 1997 as one of the league's first two expansion teams, their best seas ...

of Major League Soccer (MLS); was IB history teacher at TJ * Jeff Brigham - Pitcher for the Miami Marlins of

(2018-) * Molly Schumer - Geneticist and Assistant Professor of Biology at Stanford University *Kevin Simons - Daycare facility manager. Olympic weightlifting coach competed at the

crossfit Games The CrossFit Games is an annual athletic competition owned and operated by CrossFit, LLC. Athletes compete in a series of events at the Games, which may be various standard CrossFit workouts consisting of metabolic conditioning exercises, weightl ...

References

External links

Official homepage

School Profile

OSPI School Report Card 2010–11
{{coord, 47.3446, -122.2795, display=title High schools in King County, Washington International Baccalaureate schools in Washington (state) Educational institutions established in 1968 1968 establishments in Washington (state) South Puget Sound League Public high schools in Washington (state)