Chantilly High School - History

History

Chantilly High School was built in 1973 as part of the "Superschool" or "open classroom/no wall high school" idea. It was also built as a temporary school, made to last for only five years or so. As such, it was built with modules (similar to the modular additions currently being constructed at other FCPS schools), and the school was built in only three months. Parts of the school were brought to the site on flatbed trucks and placed together with several cranes. As such, many of the rooms fell into disrepair because they were designed to be temporary, and so Chantilly received a renovation in the early 1990s. Initially, Chantilly High school opened in 1973 with students ranging from grades 7 through 10, with four sub schools (Red, Blue, Orange and Yellow), each having color coordinated lockers. The first graduating class was the class of 1976. Grades 7 and 8 were included in Chantilly High's initial student population due to overcrowding in the intermediate schools. Grades 7 and 8 were moved out when the new intermediate school was built.

The original school colors, as determined by a group of students selected to represent the incoming classes, were orange, white and brown, with the athletic teams named the Chantilly Crusaders. These colors and team name were rejected by the student body and prior to the opening day of the new school, a special vote was held to change the colors and team name. Out of the three options provided by the Fairfax County School Board the purple and white Chantilly Chargers were selected by the student body.