Thomas Jefferson High School (Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania)
History
As of 2015, the school district is designing a new building for the school. It will be a red brick building modeled off of Monticello, with an initial estimated cost of $100 million.
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.
The school newspaper is called the Statesman. 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 almost 200 instrumentalists each year: saxophones, flutes, trombones, trumpets, piccolos, clarinets, drumline, tubas, majorettes, and colorguard. The band is led by James Mirabella of Steubenville, Ohio, originally from West Virginia. The band was featured as the WPXI Band of the week in 1998. The band was also featured at the half time show of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens AFC divisional playoff in 2011.
The theater program is also highly lauded, winning Gene Kelly Awards in 2022.
Notable alumni
- Rich Costanzo, former professional soccer player, Pittsburgh Riverhounds
- Dom DeCicco, former professional football player, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Mark Deklin, actor and fight coordinator
- Robert F. Frazier, attorney and former Pennsylvania legislator
- Baptiste "Bap" Manzini, former professional football player, Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles
- Katie May, model, social media personality, and businesswoman
- Lucas Nix, former professional football player, Oakland Raiders
- Birgir Mikaelsson, former professional basketball player from Iceland
- Tyler Reed, former professional football player, Chicago Bears
- Guy Reschenthaler, U.S. Congressman
- Chase Winovich, professional football player, Houston Texans
- John Zeiler, former professional ice hockey player, Los Angeles Kings