Paul VI Catholic High School

Paul VI Catholic High School (known as "PVI") is a Roman Catholic college preparatory school in Fairfax, Virginia, USA.

The school is named for Pope Paul VI, and is located in southwest Fairfax. It currently competes in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference and has a high-profile athletic rivalry with Bishop O'Connell High School in Arlington.

Paul VI opened for the 1983-84 school year, accepting freshmen and sophomore students only. The next year (1984–85), the school was open to freshmen through juniors, and 1985-86 saw the first senior class. The Diocese of Arlington purchased the school building, then in a dilapidated condition, from George Mason University, which had owned it for about a decade. The structure was the original Fairfax High School, which opened in 1936 and relocated to a new facility in January 1972. One wing of the building housed Alzheimer patients until the school's third year.

During its first years, the school was ministered by five Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, who also taught classes, and one of whom (Don Heet) served as the principal. The remainder of the faculty were lay teachers. In 2000, the school selected its first principal who was not from the De Sales order, Philip Robey, who stepped down seven years later, to be replaced by Virginia Colwell, a former English teacher at Paul VI. The team name "Panthers" was chosen by a vote of the student body during the first year. The original school colors were brown and gold until the 1999-2000 school year, when the school moved away from brown in favor of black, which was considered more stylish by the students.

Mission Statement: The mission of Paul VI Catholic High School is to provide an excellent Catholic education to young men and women by affording them the means to achieve spiritual, intellectual, personal, social, and physical development according to the teachings of the Gospel and St. Francis de Sales. Paul VI Catholic High School is committed to graduating responsible, moral, service-oriented young adults who will continue to “grow in grace and wisdom”.

Read more about Paul VI Catholic High School:  2001-03 Expansion, Academics, Other Sports, Clubs, Notable Alumni, Controversy

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