Paint Branch High School

Paint Branch High School is a high school located in the Fairland census-designated place, an unincorporated section of Montgomery County, Maryland; it has a Burtonsville postal address.^[2][3]

Paint Branch High School
Address
14121 Old Columbia Pike Burtonsville , Maryland 20866 United States
Coordinates	39°5′10″N 76°56′49″W / 39.08611°N 76.94694°W / 39.08611; -76.94694Coordinates: 39°5′10″N 76°56′49″W / 39.08611°N 76.94694°W / 39.08611; -76.94694
Information
Type	Public high school
Motto	“Excellence Through Effort”
Established	1969 (1969) (rebuilt 2012)
School district	Montgomery County Public Schools
Principal	Afie A Mirshah-nayar^[1]
Grades	9-12
Number of students	2,100 (2019)
Color(s)	Dark Maroon,Vegas Gold
Nickname	Panthers
Newspaper	Mainstream
Website	Paint Branch Website

It is named after the Paint Branch creek. The school was founded in 1969 and is part of the Montgomery County Public Schools System. The school lies on Old Columbia Pike, between Briggs Chaney and Greencastle Road.

Paint Branch, once a rural high school now deep in the heart of suburban sprawl, is a member of the Northeast Consortium schools in Montgomery County. As a member of the Consortium, the school's signature program focuses on Science and Media education. The panther is the school's mascot and the fight song is "Hail to the Panthers", sung to the tune of "Hail to the Commanders". The school's colors are burgundy and gold, also the same as the Washington Commanders.

Athletics

Paint Branch competes in the 4A North division in the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA). The Panthers have fielded a total of 23 state championship athletic teams, including Girls Basketball (1979, 1980, 2001, 2008), Baseball (1976, 1979, 1990, 1991), Boys' Basketball (1977, 2000), Wrestling (1978, 2001), Boys' Cross-Country (1973, 1974), Boys' Track and Field (Indoor 2003, 2019, 2020; Outdoor 2003), Girls' Track and Field (Indoor 2009, Outdoor 1989), Field Hockey (2009), Softball (1987), and Football (1975).^[4]

Notable alumni

• Darnell Dockett - Former Pro-Bowl NFL player for the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers^[5]
• Kimmy Gatewood - actress, writer and singer^[6]
• Brian Heidik - winner of Survivor: Thailand^[7]
• Tracy Jackson - NBA basketball player^[8]
• Fredricka Whitfield - news anchor for CNN^[9]
• Eun Yang - television news anchor of WRC-TV^[10]
• Rahne Jones - American television actress ^[11]

Awards

• Awarded the "Blue Ribbon Award" in 2000^[12][13]
• Awarded a "New American High School Award" from the United States Department of Education in 2000^[14]

New building

A new building is now established in the location that the woods next to the football field once occupied. As the only school at that time without a new building, Paint Branch High School was guaranteed a new building when it was asked to enter the Northeast Consortium back in 1998. The new building was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010, but budget shortfalls pushed that date until April 2012, resulting in the class of 2013 being the first class to graduate from the new building. Hess Construction Co. was awarded the contract to build the new school. Hess Construction Co. is also the builder of the Kenmore Middle School in Arlington County, Virginia. Staff moved into the new building June 18, 2012.

The old Paint Branch building, originally scheduled to be torn down in the summer of 2012 was torn down in October 2012. Sports fields were completed by the 2013–2014 school year.

References

1. "PAINT BRANCH HS". Montgomery County Public Schools. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
2. Home. Paint Branch High School. Retrieved on January 31, 2018. "14121 Old Columbia Pike Burtonsville, MD 20866"
3. "2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Fairland CDP, MD." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on January 31, 2018.
4. [1]^{[dead link]}
5. Roberts, Diane (September 24, 2015). "Paint Branch HS football team gets new cleats from NFL players". USA Today.
6. Jackson, Christine (2017-07-11). "GLOW's Kimmy Gatewood Talks Comedy, Big Hair, and the Joys of Wrestling". Washingtonian. Retrieved 2017-07-16.
7. "Survivor Cast: Brian". Survivor. CBS. 2002.
8. Wilbon, Michael (June 20, 1982). "Members of the classes of '72, '77 and '82. Three gifted athletes. Three big men on their high school campuses. Now, they share..." The Washington Post.
9. "CNN talent: 80s and today". April 6, 2016. p. 13. Once a Panther, always a Panther! In 1983, future CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield stood head and shoulders above the field as she got ready to graduate from Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, Maryland.
10. "Eun Yang". News4 Today. October 13, 2008.
11. Athletics, P. B. (2019-09-19). "Our very own.....Rahne Jones (PB Alum '05)". @pbhs_sports. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
12. "Paint Branch High School is Designated a National Blue Ribbon School and a New American High School". Montgomery County Public Schools. 22 May 2000. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
13. Sara K. Taylor (26 May 2000). "Red-letter day for Paint Branch: School wins national award". Gazette.Net. The Gazette. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
14. Hon. Constance A. Morella (16 October 2000). "CONGRATULATING PAINT BRANCH HIGH SCHOOL ON BEING DESIGNATED A NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE AND A NEW AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL". Congressional Record Online. House Of Representatives, Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Retrieved 6 December 2014.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paint Branch High School.

• Official website
• , the PBHS newspaper