Thomas Jefferson High School (Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania)

Thomas Jefferson High School
Thomas Jefferson High School
Location
	830 Old Clairton Rd, Jefferson Hills, PA 15025 39°17′50″N 6°56′21″W / 39.297129°N 6.939291°W; United States
Information
Type	Public
Motto	We are TJ
Established	July 15–18, 1957; first graduating class in June 1960
School district	West Jefferson Hills School District
Principal	Pete Murphy
Principal	Dr. Adam Knaresborough
Principal	Dr. Erikka Kuhse
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	1043 (2024-2025)
Color(s)
Mascot	Jaguar
Yearbook	Monticello
Website	West Jefferson Hills School District

Thomas Jefferson High School is an American public secondary school that is located in Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania. It is part of the West Jefferson Hills School District which includes West Elizabeth, Jefferson Hills, and Pleasant Hills. These communities have a combined population of 15,000.

History

Thomas Jefferson Junior High was dedicated during an opening ceremony that was officiated bt Superintendent Alfred W. Beattie. Architect Joseph Hoover designed the building.^[1] It then became a high school in 1957 with the additions of an auditorium, gymnasium, and thirty-seven new classrooms. During this time, students in grades eight through twelve were educated inside this building; this changed when a new middle school was built in 1965.

The high school building subsequently underwent multiple renovations, including an addition in 1990 and a new stadium in 2000.

In 2015, school district officials authorized the design of a new building; the new facility was slated to be a red brick building modeled in the style of Monticello. Construction costs were initially estimated at $100 million.^[2] It opened in 2019.

A mural with a large portrait of Thomas Jefferson was commissioned by TJ Arts for the building's atrium. It was created by Dennis Stocke, a local artist and art teacher at Boyce Middle School in the Upper St. Clair School District.

As of 2024, the original high school building has been demolished; it is slated to be replaced with a flexible field.

Extracurricular activities

The high school offers a variety of clubs and activities. The Thomas Jefferson American football team won the WPIAL Class AAA Championships in 1980 at Pitt Stadium and in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020 at Heinz Field. In 2004, 2007, 2008, 2019, and 2020 the team won the PIAA State Championship in Hershey.^[3]

The school newspaper is called the Statesman.^[4] 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 roughly two hundred instrumentalists, and band is directed by James Mirabella of Steubenville, Ohio, originally from West Virginia. The band was featured as the WPXI Band of the week in 1998 and at the half time show of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens AFC divisional playoff in 2011.

The theater program has also won Gene Kelly Awards^[5] in 2022, 2023 and 2024.^{[citation needed]}