washingtonpost.com > Photo

Diversity eludes science and math powerhouse Thomas Jefferson

Years of efforts to raise black and Hispanic enrollment at the regional school in Fairfax County have failed.

Alexandria Sutton, left, and Adrienne Ivey are students at Thomas Jefferson, where the number of black and Hispanic students is paltry. "Sometimes in class I look around and think, 'I know a lot of people who could be here, but they didn't know about it, or they didn't know how to prepare,' " Sutton said. "At my middle school, it was not advertised at all."

Alexandria Sutton, left, and Adrienne Ivey are students at Thomas Jefferson, where the number of black and Hispanic students is paltry. "Sometimes in class I look around and think, 'I know a lot of people who could be here, but they didn't know about it, or they didn't know how to prepare,' " Sutton said. "At my middle school, it was not advertised at all."

Carol Guzy-The Washington Post

Ivey, left, and Helen Li, 16, talk during a pep rally. Ninety percent of TJ's 1,764 students are of Asian descent or are non-Hispanic white.

Ivey, left, and Helen Li, 16, talk during a pep rally. Ninety percent of TJ's 1,764 students are of Asian descent or are non-Hispanic white.

Carol Guzy-The Washington Post

Ivey boards a bus at TJ, which buses students in from all over the region but has trouble attracting a diverse student. In the 1980s and '90s, TJ had a more diverse student body than it has now because Fairfax County officials were able to use affirmative action to boost the school's numbers of minority students. But since the Supreme Court's 2003 Michigan decision, the county has been unable to find another way to diversify.

Ivey boards a bus at TJ, which buses students in from all over the region but has trouble attracting a diverse student. In the 1980s and '90s, TJ had a more diverse student body than it has now because Fairfax County officials were able to use affirmative action to boost the school's numbers of minority students. But since the Supreme Court's 2003 Michigan decision, the county has been unable to find another way to diversify.

Carol Guzy-The Washington Post

"I've always been known as 'that smart black girl' -- at middle school and now at TJ," said Ivey. "It gets old."

"I've always been known as 'that smart black girl' -- at middle school and now at TJ," said Ivey. "It gets old."

Carol Guzy-The Washington Post

Sutton, left, Ivey and Li all likely will go on to high-powered colleges that are certainly likely to be more diverse than the student body at TJ.

Sutton, left, Ivey and Li all likely will go on to high-powered colleges that are certainly likely to be more diverse than the student body at TJ.

Carol Guzy-The Washington Post

Gallery Credits:

Note: Please upgrade your Flash plug-in to view our enhanced content.

More on washingtonpost.com

• More Photo News

» washingtonpost.com

Network News

X Profile

View More Activity

© 2010 www.washingtonpost.com