Winston Churchill High School (Montgomery County, Maryland)

Winston Churchill High School, often referred to as WCHS, Churchill High School, CHS or Churchill, is a high school in Potomac, Maryland, United States, an unincorporated section of Montgomery County.

The school is named after Winston Churchill, a British statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II. Founded in 1964 as Potomac High School, the school's name was changed to "Winston Churchill High School" a year later.

Churchill is part of the Montgomery County Public Schools system. The majority of the students come from Herbert Hoover Middle School (75%) and Cabin John Middle School (25%).

Administration

The current principal of Winston Churchill High School is John W. Taylor. Before being appointed in 2021, Taylor was the principal of Cabin John Middle School

School awards and recognition

Churchill has been ranked in the top 100 high schools in the United States for years, climbing to as high as 42 in 2007 and 75 in 2017. Churchill earned the 2007 Maryland Blue Ribbon Award and was selected by the U.S. Department of Education as a 2007 National No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School. In 2012, Churchill was rated the best high school in Maryland and fifth among non-magnet schools nationally according to '' U.S. News & World Report''. In 2016, the same report ranked Winston Churchill High School 94th in national ranking, 2nd in Maryland High Schools and 146th in STEM High Schools with 83.9 (out of 100) College Readiness Index. In 2017, Churchill was ranked the best high school in Maryland and 75th in the nation by ''U.S. News''.

Departments and programs

Churchill has nine academic departments: Art, Computer Science, English, Foreign Language, Mathematics, Performing Arts, Physical Education, Science, and Social Studies.

Autism Program

The Autism Program provides a program for students with low-functioning autism. These students learn how to improve their skills at undertaking certain tasks, and also learn speech.

Signature Program

The Signature Program allows students the opportunity to follow one of several course paths to specialize in a particular career field. The program comprises three academies: the Academy of Math, Science, & Technology; the Academy of International Studies; and the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts.

Bridge Program

The Bridge Program provides a program for adolescents and young adults with learning/emotional disabilities. The program's intention is to foster academic skill development and to alter behaviors that interfere with academic learning. It is supervised by an interdisciplinary team intended to meet the needs of socially vulnerable middle and high school students who may be challenged by problem-solving abstract thinking, organizing and planning, interpreting social cues, establishing relationships with peers, coping with anxiety, changes in routine, and transitioning.

Performing arts

Many theater productions are put on regularly, including a night of one-act plays. The One Acts Festival is student-produced and directed, and is funded by the drama club. Churchill also has a choir program. Showstoppers is the mixed-gender show choir group while Jazz Ambassadors is a mixed-gender choir. Both groups regularly compete within Montgomery County, as well as regional and national competitions. Churchill also hosts its own show choir competition annually.

Churchill's choral music groups are Voice of a Generation (VOAG), Jazz Ambassadors and Showstoppers.

Voice of a Generation is a non-audition group for students who like to sing and learn about the study of music. Students learn how to sight-read and read music, as well as improve their performance skills.

Jazz Ambassadors is a coed ensemble, selected through auditions, with a focus on developing vocal technique. Most songs are challenging jazz music, but this is often stretched to arrangements of different kinds of music like pop or classical.

Showstoppers is an honors show choir group of students selected through auditions who have previously held positions in a choir at Churchill. This group features musically challenging music. Most of the music is popular, but any musical style, including sacred and secular works, are rehearsed and performed.

In 2007, Churchill's fall production of ''Singin' in the Rain'' was nominated for six Cappies High School Theater Awards, winning Best Orchestra (for the third consecutive year), Best Cameo Actor, and Best Cameo Actress. Only one other school received more awards.

In 2009, Churchill's fall production of '' Rent: School Edition'' was nominated for four Cappies High School Theater Awards: Best Male Vocalist, Best Female Vocalist, Best Orchestra, and Best Song. Churchill won awards for Best Female Vocalist as well as Best Orchestra.

Many students form their own bands, typically of a rock variety, and the school occasionally facilitates this by sponsoring a battle of the bands or band performance. The school has sponsored day-long concerts on school grounds; the Merritthon, a fundraising event for Leukemia research, occurred annually from 2002 to 2004.

In 2009, the instrumental music program won four awards at the Windy City Classic, including Best Symphonic Band, Best Orchestra, Best Classical Soloist and Best Overall Program. The jazz band received second place in that category. All three groups received a gold rating.

Publications

Churchill produces three publications, all of which have won awards: its newspaper, ''The Churchill Observer''; its yearbook, ''Finest Hours''; and its literary magazine, ''Erehwon''.

Controversies

In January 2010, a criminal investigation exposed a grade-changing scandal at Churchill.

During the 2016–2017 year, on a day with a basketball game between Winston Churchill High School and Walter Johnson High School

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