Thomas Jefferson High School is an American public
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 in
Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania
Jefferson Hills is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It includes the community of Large. In the 2010 census the population was 10,619. Jefferson Hills was created as Jefferson Township, incorporating on January 22, 1828 ...
. It is a part of the
West Jefferson Hills School District
West Jefferson Hills School District is a midsized, suburban, public school system for residents of Jefferson Hills, West Elizabeth, and Pleasant Hills. Each of these South Hills communities are suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. West Jefferso ...
which includes
West Elizabeth
West Elizabeth is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 403 at the 2020 census.
Geography
West Elizabeth is located at (40.272901, -79.894918).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the boroug ...
, Jefferson Hills, and
Pleasant Hills. These communities have a combined population of 15,000.
History
, the school district is designing a new building for the school. It will be a red brick building modeled off of
Monticello
Monticello ( ) was the primary plantation of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 26. Located just outside Charlottesville, V ...
, with an initial estimated cost of $100 million.
Extracurricular activities
The high school offers a variety of clubs and activities. The Thomas Jefferson
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
team won the
WPIAL
The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) is an interscholastic athletic association in Western Pennsylvania. It is District 7 of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
The Western Pennsylvania Inte ...
Class AAA Championships in 1980 at
Pitt Stadium
Pitt Stadium was an outdoor athletic stadium in the eastern United States, located on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1925, it served primarily as the home of the univer ...
and in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020 at
Heinz Field
Acrisure Stadium is a football stadium located in the North Shore neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It primarily serves as the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) and the Pittsburgh Panth ...
. In 2004, 2007, 2008, 2019, and 2020 the team won the
PIAA State Championship in
Hershey.
The school newspaper is called the ''Statesman''. The yearbook is titled the ''Monticello'' and the literary magazine is named the ''Spectrum'' and features fictional submissions written and submitted by actual students and teachers.
Thomas Jefferson's band consists of almost 200 instrumentalists each year: saxophones, flutes, trombones, trumpets, piccolos, clarinets, drumline, tubas, majorettes, and colorguard. The band is led by James Mirabella of Steubenville, Ohio, originally from West Virginia. The band was featured as the WPXI Band of the week in 1998. The band was also featured at the half time show of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens AFC divisional playoff in 2011.
The theater program is also highly lauded, winning Gene Kelly Awards
in 2022.
Notable alumni
*
Rich Costanzo
Richard "Rich" Costanzo (born February 17, 1986 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American association football, soccer player who formerly played for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the USL Professional Division. Costanzo is currently the head c ...
, former professional
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
player,
Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1999 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American so ...
*
Dom DeCicco, former professional football player,
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...
,
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...
, and
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...
*
Mark Deklin
Mark Deklin (born December 3, 1967) is an American actor and fight coordinator. He starred in the Fox primetime drama '' Lone Star'', the ABC comedy-drama '' GCB'', the Lifetime comedy-drama ''Devious Maids'', and in 2017 joined the ABC politica ...
, actor and fight coordinator
*
Robert F. Frazier, attorney and former Pennsylvania legislator
*
Baptiste "Bap" Manzini, former professional football player,
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...
and
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...
*
Katie May
Katie Beth May (March 16, 1981 – February 4, 2016) was an American model and businesswoman. Dubbed "The Queen of Snapchat", May was known as a social media star and brand ambassador before her death from a chiropractically-induced stroke at age ...
, model,
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
personality, and businesswoman
*
Lucas Nix, former professional football player,
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...
*
Birgir Mikaelsson
Birgir Mikaelsson (born 27 September 1965) is an Icelandic former basketball player and a former member of Icelandic national team. In 1990, he won the national championships with KR. During his career, he played in four different decades.
E ...
, former professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player from
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
*
Tyler Reed, former professional football player,
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...
*
Guy Reschenthaler
Guy Lorin Reschenthaler ( ; born April 17, 1983) is an American politician, attorney, judge, and United States Navy, U.S. Navy veteran. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he is the United States House of Representatives, U.S. represe ...
, U.S. Congressman
*
Chase Winovich
Chase Winovich () (born April 19, 1995) is an American football defensive end for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Michigan. As a junior, he was a 2017 first-team (media) and second-team (c ...
, professional football player,
Houston Texans
The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...
*
John Zeiler, former professional ice hockey player,
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...
Notes
External links
Thomas Jefferson Band Patrons WebsiteWest Jefferson Hills School District WebsiteThomas Jefferson HS Football WebsiteThe Statesman Website{{authority control
Educational institutions established in 1957
Schools in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Public high schools in Pennsylvania
Education in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area
1957 establishments in Pennsylvania