Walt Whitman 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 sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

located in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

, United States. It is named after the 19th-century American poet

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

. The school serves grades 9-12 for the Montgomery County Public Schools system.

History

The school opened in the fall of 1962 with 1,418 students. Designed by local architectural firm McLeod, Ferrara & Ensign, it was built on 17 levels, with a central courtyard and a

geodesic dome A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The rigid triangular elements of the dome distribute stress throughout the structure, making geodesic domes able to withstand very heavy ...

for its gymnasium. A

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

grant underwrote the design and construction of the dome. In 1981, the school added a 1,176-seat auditorium. In 1992, the school demolished the geodesic dome and all other buildings except the auditorium, and constructed a new school building, which opened in the fall of 1993. In 2021, the school completed a addition, including 18 new classrooms, which opened with the start of the 2021-22 school year.

Academics

Whitman students average a score of 1312 on the

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

, averaging 654 on the verbal section and 659 on the math section. As of 2024, Whitman is the 2nd-ranked high school in Maryland and the 139th-ranked nationwide, according to U.S News and World Report.

Extracurricular activities

The school has an active

FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition operated by ''FIRST''®. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work to build robots capable of competing in that year's game. Robots c ...

team.

Publications

''The Black & White'' is the school's student-run newspaper. The

National Scholastic Press Association The National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1921 for high school and secondary school publications in the United States. The association is membership-based and annually hosts high school journalism con ...

Hall of Fame inducted the paper in 1991. Whitman is also notable for having the country's only student-run psychology journal. The journal circulates to over 1,000 psych teachers around the country.

Athletics

Whitman fields sports teams in the fall, winter, and spring. The school competes as the Vikings and is part of Montgomery County public school sports. The football field is named after long-time principal Jerome Marco. The school has won 11 soccer state championships, including two back-to-back titles in 2018-2019. In 2021, the girls' soccer team won the state championship. In 2024, the girls' soccer team won their fourth-straight state championship. In 2024, the boys' wrestling team won their second state title, the first one coming in 2005, followed by a second consecutive title in 2025. In 2006, the boys' basketball team defeated Eleanor Roosevelt 39-38 to win the school's only state title. That season, Whitman leading scorer Michael Gruner was named co-gazette player of the year alongside NBA superstar

Kevin Durant Kevin Wayne Durant (born September 29, 1988), also known by his initials KD, is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Durant has won two List of NBA champions, NBA champ ...

. The boys' tennis team has also won state titles in 2009, 2014, and 2019. The girls' basketball team won the state title in 2016, their second overall. The school also has a rowing crew team that has made honorable wins in Regattas.

Rivalries

Whitman maintains rivalries with many of its neighboring schools. Its fiercest rival is Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, but Whitman is also rivals with Churchill and

Walter Johnson Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed "Barney" and "the Big Train", was an American professional baseball player and Manager (baseball), manager. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Ba ...

Areas Served

Walt Whitman High School primarily serves students in Bethesda, but also small portions of students in Potomac and Glen Echo. Whitman is fed by one middle school and five elementary schools: * Thomas W. Pyle MS ** Bannockburn ES ** Bradley Hills ES ** Burning Tree ES ** Carderock Springs ES ** Wood Acres ES

Notable alumni

* Yasmeen Abutaleb, journalist and ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' best-selling author * Chris Anderson, journalist * Charles L. Bennett, astrophysicist/cosmologist * Chris Bliss, juggler/comedian * Andrea Carroll, operatic soprano * Alex Chappell, journalist * Kahane Cooperman, filmmaker * Anthony Dilweg, NFL

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

* David Dobkin, director * Michael Dunn, NFL

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line ( ...

* Susan Dynner, filmmaker *

Michael Eisen Michael Bruce Eisen (born April 13, 1967) is an American computational biologist and the former editor-in-chief of the journal eLife. He is a professor of genetics, genomics and Developmental biology, development at University of California, Berkel ...

, biologist * Andrew Feinberg, journalist *

Debra Granik Debra Granik (born February 6, 1963) is an American filmmaker. She is most known for 2004's '' Down to the Bone,'' which starred Vera Farmiga, 2010's ''Winter's Bone,'' which starred Jennifer Lawrence in her breakout performance and for which G ...

, filmmaker *

Mark Halperin Mark Evan Halperin (born January 11, 1965)Mark Halperin. ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Biography In Context. is an American journalist, television cable host, political commentator and founder of the interactive medi ...

, journalist * Pamela Harris, federal judge *

Spike Jonze Adam Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze (), is an American Filmmaking, filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer. His work includes films, commercials, music videos, skateboard videos and television. Jonze ...

, filmmaker * Orde Kittrie, law professor * Ryan Kuehl, NFL

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

* Brooke Lierman, Maryland Comptroller * Abby Meyers, WNBA player *

Jon Miller Jon Miller (born October 11, 1951) is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball. Since 1997, he has been employed as a play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco Giants. He was also a baseball ann ...

, television executive * Melika Mohammadi, soccer player * David Moon,

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House ...

* Mark Moores, member of the

New Mexico Senate The New Mexico State Senate () is the upper house of the New Mexico State Legislature. The Senate consists of 42 members, with each senator representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts across the state. All senatorial distr ...

* David Nevins, television producer * Ashley Parker, journalist * Mi-Ai Parrish, journalist/publisher, media executive *

Eric Pierpoint Eric Pierpoint (born November 18, 1950) is an American actor and author. He is perhaps best known for his role as George Francisco on Fox Network's ''Alien Nation''. He has also notably appeared on each of the first four ''Star Trek'' televisio ...

, actor *

Mark Pryor Mark Lunsford Pryor (born January 10, 1963) is an American attorney, politician and lobbyist who served as a United States Senate, United States Senator from Arkansas from 2003 to 2015. He previously served as Arkansas Attorney General, Attorney ...

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

* Mitchell Rales, billionaire businessman * Steven Rales, billionaire businessman *

Giuliana Rancic Giuliana Rancic (; ; born August 17, 1974) is an Italian-born American Entertainment journalism, entertainment reporter and television personality. She is a co-anchor of ''E! News'' and resides in Chicago and Los Angeles. Early life Rancic was bo ...

, television personality * Alexandra Robbins, author * Kate Seelye, reporter * Dan Shanoff, sports journalist * Eric Steinberg, actor *

Jeff Tremaine Jeff Tremaine (born September 4, 1966) is an American film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for co-creating the MTV reality stunt show ''Jackass (TV series), Jackass'' with Spike Jonze and Johnny Knoxville. ...

, filmmaker

References

External links

Walt Whitman High School website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitman High School (Bethesda, Maryland) Schools in Bethesda, Maryland Public high schools in Montgomery County, Maryland Educational institutions established in 1962 1962 establishments in Maryland