Bishop O'Connell High School


Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School is a private, Catholic college preparatory school founded in 1957 in Arlington County, Virginia. It was established by the Diocese of Richmond, but it has been under the direction of the Diocese of Arlington since 1974. The school is named for Bishop Denis J. O'Connell, Bishop of Richmond from 1912 to 1926.

Brief history

On September 9, 1957, under the auspices of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School opened its doors as a co-institutional college preparatory school, admitting 360 ninth-graders. Greeting the class of 1961 were Brothers of Christian Schools and Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who would guide their education. Since then, Bishop O'Connell has graduated more than 18,000 men and women. Today, the school serves the students from more than 80 different schools throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Academics

Bishop O'Connell High School holds high expectations for its students, faculty, and staff. The academic program is organized around required courses that aim to achieve desired learning goals for each student. All students follow a demanding college preparatory curriculum designed to ready them for admission to the leading colleges and universities. The Muller Academic Services Program provides support for students with documented learning disabilities. Coursework is available at the Honors and Advanced Placement levels. Dual credit and dual enrollment opportunities are also available through a partnership with Marymount University. The Global Studies Certificate Program offers optional beyond-the-classroom learning experiences focused on themes of world importance. The school also offers Expanded Services for students with intellectual and cognitive disabilities.

Advanced Placement Program

These AP Courses are offered to students:

Honors Program

Honors classes are also offered in a variety of academic areas. These courses are offered at the honors level:

Activities

Athletics

Bishop O'Connell High School participates in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference. In this league, O'Connell participates in all major sports against other Catholic high schools of the D.C. metro area.

Rivalries

Since the mid-1980s, the school's primary athletic rival has been Paul VI Catholic High School, located in Chantilly.
Bishop Ireton High School, located in Alexandria, Virginia, is another major athletic rival.
Starting in the early 2010's, DJO has had a Major Rivalry with Gonzaga High School in Washington D.C.

Basketball

Boys' Varsity Team
These are some statistics from the last five years of O'Connell Varsity Boys' Basketball:

Soccer

The Girls' Varsity Soccer team were National Champions in 2004.

Clubs

O'Connell has over 100 student-organized clubs. Their focuses are generally academic, service, and/or common interest. Some current clubs include:

Charitable events

Superdance

The O'Connell is an annual 12-hour dance-a-thon held at the school which raises money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The Superdance is organized and run by students. It was started under the administration of principal Msgr. James McMurtrie. O'Connell students began holding the Superdance in 1976 because students wanted to speed the discovery of a cure for cystic fibrosis, a fatal disease of the lungs which had claimed the life of sophomore Brenda O'Donnell on April 14, 1975. Her sister, Maura, was a senior in 1976 and also suffered from cystic fibrosis. Their brother, Sean, died of cystic fibrosis that same year.
Maura O'Donnell graduated and went on to nursing school at Marymount University, continuing to support the Superdance in hopes that a cure would be found. Her last Superdance was in 1978 when she came out of the hospital just for the event. In a speech delivered to the O'Connell community, she stated:

"All of you I know have dreams – dreams of college, of success, of love and happiness – dreams of the future. We with cystic fibrosis have dreams too. Your wonderful all-out efforts and work for this dance-a-thon may help make some of our dreams come true."

Two months later, she died of this disease.
As of 2018, O'Connell students have raised over $4,300,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for the disease.

Hearty Soup Drive and Living Rosary

The Hearty Soup Drive is held annually throughout the month of October. Students have a month to collect as many cans of hearty soup as possible. At the end of the month, cans are collected and donated to the local Catholic Charities food bank. The school collects approximately 10,000 cans of soup each year. At the end of the week, all the cans are displayed on the football field or inside the auditorium. The student body gathers to celebrate their successful event and pray a special Living Rosary, praying for those who will ultimately benefit from their soup collection.

Notable alumni

On the morning of May 7, 2002, on D.C. metro area shock jock Elliot Segal's radio program, DC101's Elliot in the Morning was conducting a contest. The winners of this contest would be cage dancers at an upcoming Kid Rock concert at George Mason University's Patriot Center. Two sixteen-year-old O'Connell pupils, claiming to be eighteen, called the show, and disclosed alleged sexual activity at O'Connell. The principal addressed pupils over the PA system and criticized the content of the radio show. The two days of broadcasting were ruled indecent by the Federal Communications Commission. As a result, in October 2003, sixteen months after the incident, DC101's parent company Clear Channel Communications was fined $55,000.