Washington County High School is located in Sandersville, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1959 from a county-wide consolidation of small community high schools. Because segregation was still active, only white students could attend. A twin school for black students, Thomas Jefferson Elder High School, was built in 1959 on Hines Street in the Tybee neighborhood of Sandersville.
The school got its mascot by student vote among Hawks, Falcons, and Eagles. The colors are derived from the black of Tennille High School (the Tigers) and the gold of Sandersville High School (the Golden Hawks).
In 1972, the Washington County (WACO) school system fully integrated, and Washington County High started housing grades 11–12. T.J. Elder High became T.J. Junior High, and housed grades 9-10. In the 1984–85 school year, the current 9–12 format went into effect.
During the 1980–81 school year, a vocational building was built, housing a bigger library. In 1993, an extensive renovation took place on the original 1959 building, removing the numerous windows that lined the outside walls of most of the original building and enlarging the cafeteria.
In 1997, a gym, front office complex, science classrooms, and labs were built. The old gym complex was renovated into a fine arts wing, adding a larger band room, chorus room, and 300-seat theater.
The school has achieved many distinctions:
Advanced Placement courses and honors level college preparatory classesGeorgia Governor’s Honors Program participants and National Merit ScholarsWashington County STAR StudentWashington County DAR Good CitizenRotary Speech Contest and Optimist Essay Contest winnersTwo National Board-certified teachersNamed by GeorgiaEducation.org as one of the three high schools in Georgia to have moved from a low-performing school to an exemplary schoolNumerous region and state titles for SkillsUSA, HOSA, and FBLA with winners advancing to nationalsEntrepreneurship program through sponsorship by Georgia REAL StudentBusiness, Healthcare Science, and Construction programs industry certifiedPercussion consistently receives "Superior" ratings at festivals throughout the stateDistrict Honor band members as well as All-State Musicians2 state titles and 4 state runner-up titles in theater competitionRegion championships for the last six years for Debate and Literary teamsLiterary team state champions 2008 and 2009, and 3rd place in 2010Several students published in state and national publications24 students in both Latin and Spanish inducted into the International Foreign Language Honor Society, Foreign Language Alliance for International Rapport (FLAIR), FLAIR's only Latin Student of the Year 2009Governor's Honors Program participant in Communicative Arts in 2009A.C.E. (Accepting the Challenge of Excellence) Award recipients Washington County scholarship winnersGeorgia Career Student Association state champions 2010Interact — 2009 District club of the yearSpecial Olympics participation 2009, 2010 State Fall Games with multiple medal winners; hosted regional Olympics 2011Special Olympics "Face of the Year" student for State Fall GamesGeorgia All-Classification Weightlifting Champions 2001-2002; State Runner-Up 2000, 2004, 2005Area 4 All-Classification Weight-lifting Champions 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011Set the Bigger, Faster, Stronger National Power Clean Record in 2000, 2002, 2003, and has set or broken 11 National BFS recordsGirls' basketball team region champions in 2009-10 and 2010-2011 school yearsGirls' basketball team appeared in several state playoffs prior to state AAA championship in 2011Boys' basketball team appeared in several state playoffsFast-pitch softball team appeared in state playoffs 2010Varsity football team appeared in several state playoffsB-Team football achieved over 30 consecutive victories"Hawk's Nest" voted "Best Baseball Field in the Region"Girls' track team region champions 2010Boys' track team region champions 2011, three track scholarships in 2011Baseball team has several state playoff appearancesNumerous athletic scholarships awarded each yearNumerous academic scholarships awarded each year