The mission statement of Thomas Nelson Page Middle School echoes the mission statement of our district. At Page, our mission is to graduate all students as responsible citizens with the academic and social preparation to pursue higher education, join the military, or enter the work force.

          Our school unites students of diverse talents and backgrounds, and we strive to develop excellent scholarship as well as those values that impact character and integrity.  Our desire is to create excellence through knowledge, character, and service in pursuit of this goal. At Page, no child will be left behind.

History

Thomas Nelson Page (April 23, 1853 – November 1, 1922) was a lawyer and American writer. He also served as the U.S ambassador to Italy during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson, including the important period of World War 1.

A descendant of Virginia's prominent Page and Nelson families, he graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in 1874. He was admitted to the bar in 1876 and practiced in Richmond until 1893, when he moved to Washington, DC and began a career as a writer. Page popularized the "Plantation Tradition" of writing, which told a stylized, idealized version of Southern life before the Civil War, and his 1887 collection of short stories, "In Ole Virginia," is considered the quintessential work of the genre. Page's other fiction works include "Bred in the Bone," "Two Little Confederates," and "Red Rock." His nonfiction works, which encouraged sympathy for romanticized Southern ideals, included "Social Life in Old Virginia," and "Robert E. Lee: Man and Soldier." To obtain the support of Virginia's US Senators, President Wilson, a Virginia native, appointed Page Ambassador to Italy in 1913. He held the post until 1919, serving throughout World War I, and wrote a memoir of this experience, "Italy and the World War." He resigned because of failing health and relocated to Virginia, where he lived in retirement until his death. (bio by: Bill McKern)