Tell me about South Lakes

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I graduated from SLHS back in the 90s when it was an AP school. Even back then it was a rough environment. Staying in mostly AP classes helped me avoid the riff raff. I would not send my child to a school like that now unless they really wanted IB and even then I would have hesitations.

Spoken like someone who grew up in the burbs and has zero idea what a rough school is actually like. SLHS and Herndon are not rough schools except in the minds of DCUM.

I heard the same about rough riff raff from a mid 90's SLHS grad - a George Mason soccer kid who liked to drink and fight. I liked the kid but it shows the peril of relying on anecdotal information. I am a Duke grad, and find it laughable that Grant Hill's school could be described as a rough school. His teammates would tease him over his privileged background. There is a low income population, but most are good kids. Track coach is a friend and used to coach at Oakton - he verifies mostly good kids at SL - and track is the most diverse of sports.

So in other words you don’t know because you didn’t go there. You’re relying on anecdotes from Grant Hill’s teammates, who also didn’t go there. And from a coach who teaches dedicated sports kids. Those aren’t the riff raff. The riff raff aren’t in sports. They are in gangs.

I am from Chicago, was a national champion in my diverse sport and know what a rough school is. You are not going to persuade me from your candy soft suburban existence that South Lakes is a rough school. My friend is a Division 1 coach from the south side of Chicago who recruits at Fairfax schools. South Lakes is not a rough school. He laughs atthe notion. You are another soft suburbanite who likely isn't mentally tough. I crawled out of poverty to make it. I completed against East St Louis kids and beat them. That school, junior, is a rough school. And don't play the faux intellectual game either; you couldn't have gone to the schools I went to or done as well. Your post is laughable. Enjoy your effete life

DP. I think South Lakes is fine but your “let’s step outside and settle this once and for all” act is a hoot.

It is not a hoot. I was a law review editor at a top law school with the rare advantage of coming from poverty. The effete apparatchiks don't care and do not look out for people who engage in manual labor for a living. Moreover nowhere did I suggest to step outside and settle it all. A straw man argument which conflates the assertion of an effete outlook with aggression. Then again, likely neither bright or educated.

As a fellow previously poor person who climbed their way out from *actual* poverty, I felt everything you said deep in my heart. Keep it up, call them out. It’s true most of them couldn’t do what we did.

Amen to that! I was a free lunch kid and paid my own way through college. Spouse is 1st generation immigrant who came as kid to this country with a suitcase. Both from blue collar backgrounds. You wouldn't know it by seeing us now. And my own kids won't go through that, but they have been taught that they can never underestimate someone based on their socio-economic conditions. Also, they know that barring any criminal activity or abuse, they can be friends with anyone and we will accept them. And yes, my DC goes to SLHS, and yes, he's got a friend group where one lives in a million dollar house and one lived in a hotel. All good kids, all more than worthy to sit next to any other student in this county.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:South Lakes is a solid FCPS high school, with a good reputation. The AP school is likely Herndon. The Reston area has some nice mid century modern homes and it’s nice being convenient to the Town Center. So if you like the house, go for it. Mantua and Burke also have a fair number of mid century modern homes (zoned to Woodson and Lake Braddock respectively).

It offers the same classes and curriculum as all FCPS schools. The same opportunities exist there as any FCPS HS. They even hire from the same pool of teachers. The same kid will do as well there as they would at any FCPS school.

Some of the families who were moved to SL years ago after having been falsely promised SL would add more AP courses may beg to differ with you. It definitely does not offer the same classes and curriculum as most of the top schools in the county, including Oakton and Chantilly.

That was 15 or 16 years ago. Those parents no longer have kids at SLHS. I can understand that parents back then were concerned, they knew one system and were being forced to learn another at a school that had lower test scores. Parents today seem to have a different perspective.

We live in one of those neighborhoods. Not one of my neighbors has bemoaned the lack of AP classes at SLHS. A few did mention that parents had to work to improve the math offerings once they moved to SLHS because there were more kids who had completed Algebra and Geometry in MS. It took a bit but there are now additional classes that the kids can take. I don't know every parent in my neighborhood but I have not heard anyone who is salty over being at SLHS. Walking around the neighborhood around graduation time shows a few Herndon High School signs, kids who transferred for AP, a few for TJ, and a few for private schools. The majority of the signs are SLHS.

The only people I hear bemoaning IB are people on this site.

It’s not the same classes and curriculum whether you think it’s OK or not.

No, it is different because one is IB and one is AP. The classes are going to be different.

And I don't care.

I care that DS learns about history and math and science and English. I care that he learns a foreign language. And he can do that at an AP or an IB school. He can take IB tests to earn college credits. It is different then taking AP exams and that is fine. There are a good number of kids who don't take AP or IB exams and they go to college and do just fine. AP or IB is not the end all be all. Colleges understand that there are differences in the programs.

I know kids from SLHS that are at UVA and VT and GMU and SLAC and Big ten Schools (and not just Maryland). There are a lot of great results out of SLHS. That is what I care about. And that is what my neighbors seem to care about. And our kids are at or going to SLHS. My son is in ES so we have time to move if we think that it is important to be at an AP high school. We have the money to be able to move. We love our neighborhood and the schools and are fine with DS attending SLHS. If other people move because of the high school then fine. It means that we will end up with more kids whose parents want to be there and that is better for the school.

Enjoy your AP high school, where ever that is.

Based on Instagram, the schools posted where South Lakes students are going next year are impressive. It does seem like there are a lot of top students at that school.

If you really thought the schools were that impressive you’d have posted the link.

Not the PP but here you go. https://www.instagram.com/slhsdecisions23/

Of course this is just a list of the kids that self-report. And there are only 70 or so of the like 500 in the senior class. But it's something.

Lots of VT and a nice amount of UVA. I saw a bunch of Penn State, a Rutgers and one MIT and a Rennsler (sp). LSU, Kentucky, Miami, and San Diego State. Lots of GMU. Seventy-two had been posted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from SLHS back in the 90s when it was an AP school. Even back then it was a rough environment. Staying in mostly AP classes helped me avoid the riff raff. I would not send my child to a school like that now unless they really wanted IB and even then I would have hesitations.

Spoken like someone who grew up in the burbs and has zero idea what a rough school is actually like. SLHS and Herndon are not rough schools except in the minds of DCUM.

I heard the same about rough riff raff from a mid 90's SLHS grad - a George Mason soccer kid who liked to drink and fight. I liked the kid but it shows the peril of relying on anecdotal information. I am a Duke grad, and find it laughable that Grant Hill's school could be described as a rough school. His teammates would tease him over his privileged background. There is a low income population, but most are good kids. Track coach is a friend and used to coach at Oakton - he verifies mostly good kids at SL - and track is the most diverse of sports.

So in other words you don’t know because you didn’t go there. You’re relying on anecdotes from Grant Hill’s teammates, who also didn’t go there. And from a coach who teaches dedicated sports kids. Those aren’t the riff raff. The riff raff aren’t in sports. They are in gangs.

I am from Chicago, was a national champion in my diverse sport and know what a rough school is. You are not going to persuade me from your candy soft suburban existence that South Lakes is a rough school. My friend is a Division 1 coach from the south side of Chicago who recruits at Fairfax schools. South Lakes is not a rough school. He laughs atthe notion. You are another soft suburbanite who likely isn't mentally tough. I crawled out of poverty to make it. I completed against East St Louis kids and beat them. That school, junior, is a rough school. And don't play the faux intellectual game either; you couldn't have gone to the schools I went to or done as well. Your post is laughable. Enjoy your effete life

DP. I think South Lakes is fine but your “let’s step outside and settle this once and for all” act is a hoot.

It is not a hoot. I was a law review editor at a top law school with the rare advantage of coming from poverty. The effete apparatchiks don't care and do not look out for people who engage in manual labor for a living. Moreover nowhere did I suggest to step outside and settle it all. A straw man argument which conflates the assertion of an effete outlook with aggression. Then again, likely neither bright or educated.

Are you even speaking English?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:South Lakes is a solid FCPS high school, with a good reputation. The AP school is likely Herndon. The Reston area has some nice mid century modern homes and it’s nice being convenient to the Town Center. So if you like the house, go for it. Mantua and Burke also have a fair number of mid century modern homes (zoned to Woodson and Lake Braddock respectively).

It offers the same classes and curriculum as all FCPS schools. The same opportunities exist there as any FCPS HS. They even hire from the same pool of teachers. The same kid will do as well there as they would at any FCPS school.

Some of the families who were moved to SL years ago after having been falsely promised SL would add more AP courses may beg to differ with you. It definitely does not offer the same classes and curriculum as most of the top schools in the county, including Oakton and Chantilly.

That was 15 or 16 years ago. Those parents no longer have kids at SLHS. I can understand that parents back then were concerned, they knew one system and were being forced to learn another at a school that had lower test scores. Parents today seem to have a different perspective.

We live in one of those neighborhoods. Not one of my neighbors has bemoaned the lack of AP classes at SLHS. A few did mention that parents had to work to improve the math offerings once they moved to SLHS because there were more kids who had completed Algebra and Geometry in MS. It took a bit but there are now additional classes that the kids can take. I don't know every parent in my neighborhood but I have not heard anyone who is salty over being at SLHS. Walking around the neighborhood around graduation time shows a few Herndon High School signs, kids who transferred for AP, a few for TJ, and a few for private schools. The majority of the signs are SLHS.

The only people I hear bemoaning IB are people on this site.

It’s not the same classes and curriculum whether you think it’s OK or not.

No, it is different because one is IB and one is AP. The classes are going to be different.

And I don't care.

I care that DS learns about history and math and science and English. I care that he learns a foreign language. And he can do that at an AP or an IB school. He can take IB tests to earn college credits. It is different then taking AP exams and that is fine. There are a good number of kids who don't take AP or IB exams and they go to college and do just fine. AP or IB is not the end all be all. Colleges understand that there are differences in the programs.

I know kids from SLHS that are at UVA and VT and GMU and SLAC and Big ten Schools (and not just Maryland). There are a lot of great results out of SLHS. That is what I care about. And that is what my neighbors seem to care about. And our kids are at or going to SLHS. My son is in ES so we have time to move if we think that it is important to be at an AP high school. We have the money to be able to move. We love our neighborhood and the schools and are fine with DS attending SLHS. If other people move because of the high school then fine. It means that we will end up with more kids whose parents want to be there and that is better for the school.

Enjoy your AP high school, where ever that is.

Based on Instagram, the schools posted where South Lakes students are going next year are impressive. It does seem like there are a lot of top students at that school.

If you really thought the schools were that impressive you’d have posted the link.

Not the PP but here you go. https://www.instagram.com/slhsdecisions23/

Of course this is just a list of the kids that self-report. And there are only 70 or so of the like 500 in the senior class. But it's something.

Lots of VT and a nice amount of UVA. I saw a bunch of Penn State, a Rutgers and one MIT and a Rennsler (sp). LSU, Kentucky, Miami, and San Diego State. Lots of GMU. Seventy-two had been posted.

Adding W&M, University of Pennsylvania, CU Boulder, Johns Hopkins, West Point, Swarthmore, Wellesley, Middlebury,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok people. Terraset/Hughes/SLHS parent here. I have a very low drama opinion here. My HS DC is doing fine. Even better than fine I'd say. Hitting a groove after exiting the pandemic and back to having a normal HS experience. Takes some Gen Ed, some Honors classes. Will do the same with the IB courses.

I think it's all gonna turn out ok. All of these statistics and rankings etc. mean nothing when it comes down to the individual level. Your kid will either make good choices, so-so choices, or bad choices. And their biggest influence is you and the parenting you've done for the past 14 years.

Some other things I like about SLHS:

-The adjoining campuses of all three schools. It gives a small town atmosphere in a high population suburban area. Also, it means that MS kids can take HS courses by walking next door.
-The diversity. It's important for me that my kids get exposed to people from all walks of life and and see the pros/cons of of different situations.
-The building itself is relatively newer and is in good condition, I didn't feel depressed after entering.

My two major complaints— first that the Japanese Immersion students from Fox Mill become discouraged and quit in droves after experiencing the Japanese teachers at South Lakes. My second complaint is that such a tiny portion of Carson attends South Lakes (Fox Mill Estates and a little of Floris ES neighborhoods). 🤷🏼‍♀️

The discouragement with Japanese actually starts in Carson, but both my kids who did JI at Fox Mill switched to other languages at RCMS or SLHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a Hispanic person, this thread is SO hilarious. So many dog whistles, so little time.

Yeah I’m Latina and yeah a lot of DCUM is racist and classist. A few threads in the college forum are making shake my head. My kids will end up at Marshall HS which I believe is similar to SB and also IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a Hispanic person, this thread is SO hilarious. So many dog whistles, so little time.

Yeah I’m Latina and yeah a lot of DCUM is racist and classist. A few threads in the college forum are making shake my head. My kids will end up at Marshall HS which I believe is similar to SB and also IB.

Another Hispanic parent here! I hear you, about the dog whistles. My kid is at a “lower ranked” majority Hispanic HS doing just fine. They are able to play multiple sports, gain many leadership positions, take honors/AP classes without the cut-throat environment of the higher ranked schools. I am sure there are mental health issues, but none that I know of are related to kids feeling too much pressure to get perfect SAT scores! My DC has made many friends, attends sports games, feels safe, just does not like the vaping in the bathrooms! Challenged academically? Yep! Kids from this school are going to UVA, Tech, JMU and some OOS publics and privates. Of course, fewer will attend college for multiple reasons ($$, language barrier, grades), but the kids that put in the work and had some family support will probably do well in life, and will be better off than their parents! Isn’t that what we all want for our kids? Some of thses students are just starting way behind kids in wealthier areas! Being able to attend GMU might be the jackpot for a low income URM! It’s all about perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from SLHS back in the 90s when it was an AP school. Even back then it was a rough environment. Staying in mostly AP classes helped me avoid the riff raff. I would not send my child to a school like that now unless they really wanted IB and even then I would have hesitations.

Spoken like someone who grew up in the burbs and has zero idea what a rough school is actually like. SLHS and Herndon are not rough schools except in the minds of DCUM.

I heard the same about rough riff raff from a mid 90's SLHS grad - a George Mason soccer kid who liked to drink and fight. I liked the kid but it shows the peril of relying on anecdotal information. I am a Duke grad, and find it laughable that Grant Hill's school could be described as a rough school. His teammates would tease him over his privileged background. There is a low income population, but most are good kids. Track coach is a friend and used to coach at Oakton - he verifies mostly good kids at SL - and track is the most diverse of sports.

So in other words you don’t know because you didn’t go there. You’re relying on anecdotes from Grant Hill’s teammates, who also didn’t go there. And from a coach who teaches dedicated sports kids. Those aren’t the riff raff. The riff raff aren’t in sports. They are in gangs.

I am from Chicago, was a national champion in my diverse sport and know what a rough school is. You are not going to persuade me from your candy soft suburban existence that South Lakes is a rough school. My friend is a Division 1 coach from the south side of Chicago who recruits at Fairfax schools. South Lakes is not a rough school. He laughs atthe notion. You are another soft suburbanite who likely isn't mentally tough. I crawled out of poverty to make it. I completed against East St Louis kids and beat them. That school, junior, is a rough school. And don't play the faux intellectual game either; you couldn't have gone to the schools I went to or done as well. Your post is laughable. Enjoy your effete life

DP. I think South Lakes is fine but your “let’s step outside and settle this once and for all” act is a hoot.

It is not a hoot. I was a law review editor at a top law school with the rare advantage of coming from poverty. The effete apparatchiks don't care and do not look out for people who engage in manual labor for a living. Moreover nowhere did I suggest to step outside and settle it all. A straw man argument which conflates the assertion of an effete outlook with aggression. Then again, likely neither bright or educated.

As a fellow previously poor person who climbed their way out from *actual* poverty, I felt everything you said deep in my heart. Keep it up, call them out. It’s true most of them couldn’t do what we did.

Amen to that! I was a free lunch kid and paid my own way through college. Spouse is 1st generation immigrant who came as kid to this country with a suitcase. Both from blue collar backgrounds. You wouldn't know it by seeing us now. And my own kids won't go through that, but they have been taught that they can never underestimate someone based on their socio-economic conditions. Also, they know that barring any criminal activity or abuse, they can be friends with anyone and we will accept them. And yes, my DC goes to SLHS, and yes, he's got a friend group where one lives in a million dollar house and one lived in a hotel. All good kids, all more than worthy to sit next to any other student in this county.

You are my people!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a Hispanic person, this thread is SO hilarious. So many dog whistles, so little time.

Yeah I’m Latina and yeah a lot of DCUM is racist and classist. A few threads in the college forum are making shake my head. My kids will end up at Marshall HS which I believe is similar to SB and also IB.

Another Hispanic parent here! I hear you, about the dog whistles. My kid is at a “lower ranked” majority Hispanic HS doing just fine. They are able to play multiple sports, gain many leadership positions, take honors/AP classes without the cut-throat environment of the higher ranked schools. I am sure there are mental health issues, but none that I know of are related to kids feeling too much pressure to get perfect SAT scores! My DC has made many friends, attends sports games, feels safe, just does not like the vaping in the bathrooms! Challenged academically? Yep! Kids from this school are going to UVA, Tech, JMU and some OOS publics and privates. Of course, fewer will attend college for multiple reasons ($$, language barrier, grades), but the kids that put in the work and had some family support will probably do well in life, and will be better off than their parents! Isn’t that what we all want for our kids? Some of thses students are just starting way behind kids in wealthier areas! Being able to attend GMU might be the jackpot for a low income URM! It’s all about perspective.

+1 Not a Hispanic parent, but fits my worldview/experience. DCUM has seemed to become lately infiltrated with much more dog whistling and outright racism in the past year or so--it's made it hard for me to want to stay on this site.