Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology retains the No. 1 spot on our Top High Schools list in 2025. The magnet school serves students from Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, and Arlington counties and the City of Falls Church. Principal Mike Mukai, who stepped into the role this year, discusses what makes TJ the No. 1 school in the region.
You’re a TJ graduate. How does it feel to be leading the school now?
I was in that first class that went here. [I] started in 1985 and graduated in 1989. The promise was made 40 years ago to open a place where students could do something different, something new and amazing. If I am really doing what I’m supposed to do as principal, then I need to give that same opportunity now. I am so excited to see that teachers and staff and kids continue to find new paths and new opportunities that are leading to a future I could not possibly imagine. What a wonderful moment it’s going to be when they come back and tell us what they’ve discovered, and we know that we helped them get there.
How do you balance academic expectations with student well-being?
These kids are driven and have vision and passion. I think the balance is that we’re here to help them, supporting them to be able to pursue their dreams and at the same time find the other pieces that make them whole. We have performing arts, we have athletics, we have every imaginable club and activity that the kids want to pursue. We know academically they’re going to do amazing things, but the balance comes when we can help them put together the other pieces that make them whole.
Why have you stayed in education all these years?
Education is one of those fields where you get to make a difference for so many, and you really get a chance to see your impact. I think even more so for those of us who are high school educators. Oftentimes, kids come back after going through college. So we get to see it, and we get to see the impact we’ve had on the world. We get to see the difference that we’ve made. I can’t imagine that anyone has a more rewarding job than teachers do, because you get the chance to touch somebody’s life.
What is the most important thing we should know about you?
There is not another person who has been more fortunate in their life than I have. I’ve been a teacher, a coach, an administrator — and then the opportunity opens, and they give me a chance to be principal. Even back in the day, we used to have a day where you would pretend to be a different staff member. And there would be kids who would dress up as the principal for a day. Well, joke’s on them, because now I’m not leaving. They’ve let one of the kids be principal — and so here I am.
Feature photo by Emily Campos
This story originally ran in our December issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
