Although it has been open for 10 years, the current campus of Montgomery Blair High School is still considered the New School by a vast majority of Blair graduates. The school covers forty-two acres between the Capital Beltway, U.S. Route 29, and Maryland Route 193 in Silver Spring’s Four Corners neighborhood. As of April 2008, the enrollment at Blair is 2,764 and Blair still remains Montgomery County’s largest school.
The school has baseball and softball fields to the east of the main school building as well as Blazer Stadium which serves as the home of the school’s football, soccer, and lacrosse. A large field resides south of the main building adjacent to the Capital Beltway. To the southwest of the building is a 400-meter track, which encloses another field, home to the field hockey team, as well as three basketball and eight tennis courts.
There are three courtyards located throughout the building; one is located to the east of the building and opens out to the rest of the outdoor space. The other two courtyards are located within the school building and therefore are surrounded by walls on all four sides. Traditionally, one of the courtyards is reserved for the seniors and another one for the faculty members, especially during lunch periods. A small greenhouse and accompanying patio is located on the second floor on the west side of the main building for use by horticulture classes. One of Montgomery Blair’s most recent additions came in March 2006, when the school’s astronomy class added a sundial to the east courtyard.
Instead of a typical cafeteria, Blair has a Student Activities Center (SAC) which serves as the lunchroom as well as a main site of Blair events. Connecting the auditorium and SAC, which are on two ends of the building, is a large, unique, three-story corridor entitled Blair Boulevard. Another hallway is named after Sligo Creek because it snakes through the building, much like its namesake. All other hallways in the building are given similar street names, but are seldom referred to as such, because they are also numbered by level.
Perhaps one of the building’s most unusual features is its vibrant color scheme, which include various shades of red and green throughout the school. The SAC contains numerous shades as well as a mural depicting the campus. The ceiling of Blair Boulevard is not a standard white, but “cilantro” or “poseidon” according to the administration. The front wall of each classroom is painted in a light color while the other walls are white. According to staff, the school’s designers came up with its color scheme based on research on how directed color affected learning.
Despite its physical differences from the old school, the “spirit” of Blair is instilled in many parts of the new school. The school seal, the Senior Corner of the library (media center), and the trophy case in the administration area are all carry-overs from the Wayne Ave. site, as is the steeple on the building’s roof.
Blair has been a popular stop for many politicians because of the school’s outstanding reputation in academics and athletics, as well as for its current-day diversity. On February 5, 1998, President Bill Clinton and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair stopped at Montgomery Blair High School during a state visit. Montgomery Blair has also welcomed other government officials in recent years, including United States Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and Secretary of Education Rod Paige during a visit in 2003. On June 23, 2005, President George W. Bush visited the school in order to discuss his plan to partially privatize Social Security. (Note: Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower had previously visited Blair at the Wayne Ave. location