This year, Woodgrove is celebrating its 15-year anniversary of being open. The school has gone through many changes in just these 15 years, from changes in principals to changes in schedules. 

In the years before Woodgrove opened, the method of school succession was different. Students would go from the usual six years in their elementary school to Blue Ridge Middle School for two years, then Harmony Middle School for two years, before finally reaching Loudoun Valley High School. The main reason for changing schools so often was overcrowding. When the schools first opened, this was not as much of an issue, but as Loudoun County grew, so did the number of students. This later changed with the opening of Woodgrove, making Blue Ridge a full three-year middle school that filters into Valley, while Harmony students filter to Woodgrove.

15 years ago, when the school just opened, the schedule looked quite different than how it does today. The two major changes from 15 years ago are the introduction of Thursday club schedules and lunch shifts. Back when the school opened and had less students, the school would have an hour of open lunch every day, compared to now, where there are 4 half-hour lunch shifts. Mr. Alex Bennett is a 14-year staff member and commented about a period that used to exist Woodgrove called “Flex.” “Flex was a period. It was like a seventh block, and during the day you would meet with your teacher…You would have extra lessons with that teacher and then you could get help,” Bennett mentioned.

In those opening years, there was much to do in creating a school identity. Ms. Georgina Bingaman, a 15-year WHS staff member, recounted all the work that had to go into the school from the students and teachers to help make it their own. “We had a really good student group that was leading a lot, from picking the colors to picking our mascot. Mr. Strictler was our band director. He wrote the Woodgrove fight song. It was just so much fun,” Bingaman exclaimed.

Ashley Granato, who was part of Woodgrove’s graduating class of 2014, was at Woodgrove in the very first year of its opening. Granato had come to Woodgrove after three years at Harmony Middle ready for her freshman year at her new high school. Granato quickly took a liking to Woodgrove’s wild spirit and even joined, and eventually became editor of,  the school’s yearbook.

Granato was also involved in student government. “I remember being in this big math classroom, and it was kids from all different grades talking about what we wanted to do,” Granato commented, discussing what student government was like back then. Granato, as part of the student government, worked on decorating the school for one homecoming. “It was themed after party rock…We decorated the hallways in the gym with black tarp. It was fun, and we probably thought it looked a lot cooler than it was,” Granato recalled. 

In her junior year of high school, Granato, with help of a friend, founded the Athletes to Athletes club. Granato was also involved in the girls tennis team during her Woodgrove career. Doing sports like tennis helped inspire Granato and her friend to start the Athletes to Athletes club, as their sport experiences led them to wanting to help others experience sports as well. Granato also went to many of the football games and, like today, tailgated before them. “Everyone would meet up and get ready and hangout before the game, and that was pretty fun,” Granato commented.

For the past fourteen years, Woodgrove has beaten Valley in Football. The first year the school was opened, however, it did not play out that way. Mr. Stephen Staneart, who has been at Woodgrove since its opening, remembers the first Woodgrove vs. Valley game. “The football team got slaughtered by Valley, and Valley hasn’t won since,” Staneart explained. This is because the first year Woodgrove was open, the senior class all stayed over at Valley, thus the Woodgrove team was out-numbered and out-skilled against them. 

Over the past fifteen years, Woodgrove has really made a name for itself in the Loudoun County community. Whether a student has been at Woodgrove for four years, or this is their first year, most, if not every Wolverine, can look forward to seeing how the school will grow, change, and improve in the next 15 years.