Stone Bridge High School is “like a community center,” said principal James Person, who has been at the school since it opened in 2000. With growth in the Ashburn area, the school is slightly above capacity with 1,660 students in grades 9 through 12.

Person said the glue that holds this large student body together is the pride in their school.

“We really do have kids who say its pretty fluid with not so many cliques,” he said.

There are more than 50 clubs that run the gamut from Amnesty International to Key Club, Sudoku to knitting club, and language clubs. In 2007, 20 students participated in the chess club, a free after-school program.

Then there are the sports programs. The school teams have recently moved to the AAA division in Virginia High School League and have earned league and district championships over the last seven years. A number of student-athletes go on to play college sports.

More success is found in the fine arts, Person said. The drama department won a Cappie award for Best Musical honors for "Seussical" in 2006. Participation in orchestra, band and guitar are also popular.

Technology plays an important role in classroom education. Like other area schools, there is secure wireless Internet available, three computer labs, a business lab and a family consumer lab. Computer Assisted Drafting and Design (CADD), along with more than a dozen SmartBoards are used in classes. Math teacher Betty Korte used award money to buy eight SmartBoards for the math classes.

“The key to our success is a consciously dedicated group of staff. I have seen 30 to 40 teachers come in on a Saturday, on their own time without pay, to a test review day to help students,” said Person. “We do spend a lot of time with these kids, and I think for the most part, they want to be here.”

Person described the goals of the Stone Bridge staff: “Our role is to prepare students to get to the next levels. It isn’t always about the content, but their abilities to persist, to overcome problems. We want to give them the life skills that will kick in when they need them, and to give them the ability to think beyond us.”