 Dear Westbriar Community,
We have just four weeks left of school and summer will be here before we know it. This week is our last full week of SOL testing, the upcoming weeks will be focused on retakes or make-ups. An important reminder, if your child is sick, please do not send them to school to take the SOL test, they will be included in the make-up session upon their return to school.
We had a wonderful turn-out for our International Night on Friday, May 4th. Thank you to Jennifer Sellers and the committee for organizing this annual community event. Thank you families for bringing food and sharing a piece of your culture with us. The performances by many of our students was a sight to behold, I thank them for their enthusiasm and the many hours of practice.
Thank you to room parents and Jenni Bae for organizing the appreciation shown to our school staff the week of May 7th for Staff Appreciation Week. Everyone definitely felt the love and support shared with them throughout that week and the school year. We appreciate your generosity and continued partnership.
You will read below in the PTA portion of the newsletter the achievements of many Westbriar students in Math and Science Olympiad. Thank you Crystal Petersen and parents for your support of our students and these programs.
Last Thursday, May 17th was Nancy Buscemi's (our school registrar) last day at Westbriar. We thank her for her many years of service and congratulate her on her recent promotion as Administrative Assistant at Oakton HS. I am in the process of interviewing candidates for this vacancy and will announce the new person in my June newsletter.
SOARing with you,
Mary Tam
Principal
From Our PTA
Westbriar Parents,
Now that we are
approaching the end of the school year, the PTA is busy wrapping up loose
ends and (believe it or not) planning for next year. As we balance our
2017-2018 books, we have one major announcement for May -
the renovation and expansion of the WES community garden. We will be
expanding the existing garden area this summer to be able to provide every
student with hands on learning opportunities. We have big plans to get the
program off the ground with lots of exciting future events and activities like
a Garden Club. We are looking for volunteers who would like to help build the
gardens and do light maintenance such as watering and weeding, as needed.
All questions can be directed to Amanda Aragon at amanda.l.aragon@gmail.com. Please
sign up using the following link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0f4ea4a92aa6f58-garden
In addition, here are the results for Westbriar’s 2018 Division A Science
Olympiad Team:
1st Place Virginia Herpetology: Ishan Palapra and Brandon Duan
2nd Place Build A Barge: Asha Stewart, Millie Vanstory, and Kate Petersen
3rd Place Anatomy - Immune Systems: Rebecca Chen and Chloe Giglio
4th Place Straw Egg Drop: Aadit Manivannan and Daniel Nguyen
5th Place Weather or Not: Caroline Li and Sophia Hu
5th Place Wind Power: Arnav Upadhyay and Arav Upadhyay
6th Place Astronomy Moons: Achyut Dipukumar and Blake McFalls
7th Place Dynamic Planet: Nandini Kumar and Caroline Li
7th Place Rocks and Minerals: Nandini Kumar and Quynh-Chi Phan
7th Place Build a Barge: Lee Vanstory, Elise Yashar, and Avery Ayers
8th Place Picture This: Carina Hsiao, Mira Hsiao, and Sowmya Ramesh
8th Place Balloon Car: Asha Stewart and Sophia Hu
This year's Math
Olympiad program included 33 students from WES who were among the nearly
150,000 students (6000 teams) worldwide to participate this year. The
students were taught how to problem solve difficult math problems using what
they’ve learned and to think creatively. I am pleased to announce that the
Westbriar Team was named to the National Math Olympiad Honor Roll for its score
of 221 points. The team placed in the top 10% of all teams in the
Elementary School Division and earned a plaque for the school. The cut off
score was 201 points.
* 3 students earned the prestigious Dr. George Lenchner Medallion for
earning a perfect score of 25/25pts: Ramakrishnan Gopinath, Bomsok (Justin)
Lee, and Neanth Suresh. Their names will be published in the MOEMS Honor
Roll as Perfect Scorers and they each also won a Highest Scorer
Trophy.
* 2 students earned one less than perfect scores of 24/25 pts: Gabriela
Konde and Dhruv Yelisetti.
They won an Honorable Mention trophy and their names will also be published in
the National Math Olympiad One Less Than Perfect Score Honor Roll.
* A Gold Pin is awarded to those in the top 2%. (23-25pts) 6 students on
the team earned this award: the students previously named above and Aiden
Feyerherm
* A Silver Pin is awarded to those students in rest of the top 10%.
(19-22pts). Marcus Choi and Brandon Duan earned this award.
Congratulations to all the Science and Math Olympiad students.
Upcoming Events
May 31: GRACE
Art exhibit in the cafeteria from 6:30 - 7:30. Any student may participate by
dropping off a piece of art work created during GRACE Art sessions between
6:00 - 6:30 pm. See flyer in the Wednesday folder. Thank you to all the parent
volunteers that participated in the GRACE Art program.
June 1: PTA Meeting at 9:30 am in the cafeteria. The meeting
will include a presentation about the Summit of Professional Learning
Communities attended by a group of WES teachers in Arizona. In addition, please
join us to vote for the 2018-2019 PTA Executive Board.
June 1: Box tops submission deadline for the June
contest. Please clearly label your submission with the teacher's name so the
appropriate class can get credit. The class with the most submissions will
receive a prize from the PTA.
Sincerely,
Jennifer T. Sellers
Westbriar PTA President
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