Woodson High School Mission, Vision and Values

Developed by staff, students and community members, 2022

Mission Statement - why we exist

Woodson High School’s mission is to empower our community to reach their individual potential by creating a healthy environment of mutual respect, responsibility, equity, and inclusion. 

Vision Statement - the future

Woodson High School is a community that embraces diversity in a culture of improvement and success that promotes academic curiosity and individual mental and physical growth.

Values - what we value / believe in as a school

D - Diversity: We celebrate one another’s positive contributions to the common good and seek a full understanding of what it means to be human.

I - Inclusion: We prioritize providing everyone with an environment where they feel welcome, wanted, and valued.

V - Voice: We foster an environment that inspires and empowers individual creativity and uniqueness while hearing and valuing each story.

E - Engagement: We encourage students to discover and establish their academic and extra-curricular passions in individual and communal contexts.

R - Resilience: We traverse difficult journeys utilizing resources to navigate personal, physical, and academic challenges.

S - Strength: We support one another and are stronger as a group than as individuals.

E - Ethical Behavior: We hold each other in positive regard, interacting with one another ethically and uplifting those around us.

Since its beginning, Carter G. Woodson High School has had a strong tradition of student activities. Year after year, Woodson is featured in the top 100 list of U. S. public schools in Newsweek and U. S. News & World Report. Woodson ranks annually among the top in Fairfax County in the highest numbers of National Merit Scholars. Woodson's vision continues to look toward academic excellence. Woodson is home to a center for students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, and a center for students with emotional and learning disabilities. The building is one of the most used in Fairfax County, as it houses many Adult Education courses during Night School. There is more diversity in the student population, now over 2,400. Prom is still held before graduation, but now only a couple weeks before. Graduation itself is no longer held in the stadium, but at EagleBank Arena on the campus of George Mason University, and there is the All Night Grad Party, an all-night graduation celebration at a local recreation center.

The campus has a wing for the Comprehensive Services Site (CSS) which serves students with emotional disabilities. Students continue to earn remarkable honors in all endeavors, winning over 177 District titles, 65 Regional titles, and 30 state titles in all areas of athletic competition. Academic awards have included grand prizes at the county Science Fair, and numerous scholarships. The Cavalier (yearbook) and The Cavalcade (newspaper) frequently take top awards in state and national publications competitions. However, for all of these changes, there are still some things that remain the same.

Carter G. Woodson High School continues to be a spectacular school known for its great scholars, musicians, and athletes. Alumni who return to the Woodson campus often remark positively that things "look the same," as staff members and students continue to follow the outstanding tradition of the "Woodson Way."