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Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology marked its 40th anniversary with a weekend of events that brought hundreds of alumni and former employees back to campus and concluded with plans for a new Hall of Honor.
The celebration began Friday night during the weekend of Oct. 24 with a football game recognizing alumni and former staff. Former principals Geoff Jones and Elizabeth Lodal were among those in attendance.
At halftime, the TJ Partnership Fund introduced the first members of its 1985 Club, whose future donations will support the school.
Principal Michael Mukai, a member of TJHSST’s inaugural Class of 1989, said the weekend highlighted both the school’s achievements and the worldwide impact of its graduates.
On Saturday, hundreds of former students and employees attended an open house. Current student ambassadors led building tours, while research laboratories hosted live demonstrations.
A networking session connected more than 30 alumni with 250 current students. Attendees also had an opportunity to meet nearly 50 current and former faculty and staff members.
Guests explored the school’s new Alumni Hall and Gallery of Achievement displays, which provide digital access to four decades of yearbooks, newspapers, student publications, graduation ceremonies and homecoming materials.
The displays resulted from a three-and-a-half-year preservation project that converted documents, photographs and VHS recordings previously kept in an archive room into digital records.
More than 500 alumni, employees, former staff members and relatives attended a Saturday evening banquet at the Hilton Tysons Corner. The TJ Partnership Fund hosted the event, which included remarks from Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid, Chief of Schools Geovanny Ponce, fund chair Hilary Gustave and Mukai.
The anniversary observances will extend beyond the weekend. Mukai announced the creation of TJ’s Hall of Honor, which will recognize notable accomplishments within the school community.
Selection criteria are expected to be announced during the TJ Partnership Fund’s annual Alumni Weekend in November 2025. The first induction ceremony is planned for November 2026.