MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Fairfax County Public Schools sent this bulletin at 06/25/2019 08:59 AM EDT

Dear Parents and Guardians:

I hope you are enjoying the start of summer with your sons and daughters.  While we are looking forward to and planning for the 2019-2020 school year, below we have captured students' and staff successes from the 2018-2019. 

CAREER & TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Future Business Leaders of America:

  • 13 Regional Competitors
  • 7 students went on to compete at the State level in Reston
  • 2 students are eligible to go to the National competition San Antonio, Texas this summer

DECA

  • 23 students attended the District Leadership Conference
  • 23 students attended the state conference in Virginia Beach, Virginia
  • 6 students went to the DECA International Conference in Orlando, Florida

Technology Student Association

  • 1st Place in Structural Engineering and Design: Justice Watson and Manoj Nanduri
  • 2nd Place for Board Game Design: Anisha Patrikar, Thummala Amoolya, Nishita Cheekatamarla and Sumaja Bandreddi (This is the groups first TSA event.)

This qualifies the team for TSA Nationals - June 28-July 2

 

ENGLISH

  • The testing scores for the writing testing window are amazing.  A writing SOL pass rate of 93%. 
  • Continued 2nd year partnership with Stone MS, where our literacy lab students were peer mentors with 8th grade students.

ESOL

  • Throughout the four years, WHILE learning English, they were also required to learn content (subject) area curriculum such as Biology, Chemistry, Physics, World History, Government, Algebra, Geometry, etc.
  • Imagine learning these subjects in Urdu, Arabic, Twi, Amharic, Bengali, Dari, Farsi, Korean, Nepali, Vietnamese, Krio and Spanish -- these are just some of the languages spoken by the 2019 graduates.
  • Despite linguistic challenges, these students have persisted, pursuing their academic goals while mastering English.  These students are graduating because of their work-ethic, determination, perseverance, and ability to overcome academic and personal barriers.  
  • Our ESOL students at Westfield HS embody (represent) one of the critical skills of Fairfax County’s Portrait of a Graduate--” goal-directed and resilient individual.”   

FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS

  • Freshman Gavin Peppler installed a new raku outdoor firing 'patio' at WHS for his Eagle Scout project. He also exhibited his artwork at The Sackler/Freer gallery last weekend.
  • Congratulations to Andrew Gantzer. He is the only student in the history of the All-State Virginia Orchestra to be 1st chair Bassist 4 years in a row. Andrew will be attending the Juilliard School of Music in September.
  • At Scholastics Arts Awards, Westfield had 32 winners to include the following seniors:
  • winning Gold Keys: Parika Batas, Omar Davis, Aislinn James, Odalis Ovando, Luke Somers and Nicole Yoder.
  • winning Silver Keys: Cailin Berry, Aislinn James, Odalis Ovando, Hannah Richo, and Yogita Suryawansnshi.
  • winning Honorable Mention: Emily Alvarez, Grace Blevins, Rachel Fernandes, Alex Jollimore, Julia Kim, Paige McCallum, Odalis Ovando, Hannah Richo, Luke Somers and Nicole Yoderr
  • Senior Hannah Richo won a scholarship for her digital art work in the 15th Annual Technology in the Arts Competition.
  • 4th straight year of VA honor band (1st time in school history)
  • 27 students in all district band
  • 6 students in all state band
  • 24 Cappie Nominations for Rock of Ages; 8 winners (4 Seniors Won - Difficulty with Best Musical and Bourbon Room Employees)
  • Successful 2nd Westfield pyramid concert in March
  • Another amazing Westfield pyramid art show
  • Westfield Live continues to evolve and ensure that numerous events are highlighted, including the new student spotlight series.

HEALTH & PE

  • The HPE department is going high tech with “on-line ordering” next year with Athletic Union for all uniforms and merchandise-no more BBQ lines to purchase gear. No more money exchanges. Come to BBQ and “pick up” your order.
  • The Adaptive PE Field Day for special education was a huge success and a lot of fun for all the students
  • HPE fully integrated google classroom into every day teaching. Regardless of being in PE or the classroom, it has really made a difference in teaching, grading and communication with all the students.
  • Sports Medicine students had a successful field trip to the cadaver lab  
  • In our weight training classes, we:
  1. utilized YouTube to perform Yoga sessions
  2. exposed kids to meditation apps
  3. used Hudl as a form of instruction when teaching new lifts and as an evaluation tool (teacher-to-student, student-to-student, self-assessment)
  • Girls fitness class we:
  1. had our first field trip to Burke Lake and hiked 5 miles
  2. received a grant to purchase every student a new pair of sneakers to start the year
  3. students learned self-defense skills from the Fairfax County Police Dept.
  4. did archery as a new unit of study
  • In our personal fitness instructor elective, we had 4 students pass the National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer exam:
  1. Griffin Burrage
  2. Nick Purcell
  3. Haley Kakar
  4. Nick Martinez-Rossi

MATH

Student successes

  • We inducted 100 new members to Math Honor Society.  These students have a GPA of at least 3.5 in their math courses.
  • Students completed over 3,000 hours of peer math tutoring during Bulldog Block.
  • Over 400 students participated in Junior and Varsity Math Teams, a math competition held once a month after school.
  • 13 of the 89 seniors that participated in WeSTEP were in a mentoring program where the focus was math and/or engineering.
  • Overall, 87% of the students passed their math SOLs this year, 94% passed in Algebra 1 alone!

Teacher successes in Math

  • We maintain a sense of camaraderie and friendship and work well together as a team.
  • We build lasting relationships within our department and build great relationships with our students.
  • We sponsor different math opportunities for students such as Math Honor Society and Junior and Varsity Math Teams; and we encourage seniors to participate in WeSTEP programs where the focus is math and/or engineering.
  • We have 100% department participation in the PTSA and we won the faculty Halloween contest!

SCIENCE

  • Westfield won medals in 10 of the competitions, and won a trophy for 4th place overall.  
  • Environmental Science received a grant from FCPS Get2Green to refurbish one of the outdoor courtyards to create an outdoor learning space.
  • Environmental Club won the FCPS Reduce-Reuse-Recycle challenge.  That has resulted in over $8,000 of supplies and resources with the goal of making Westfield more eco-friendly.
  • We sent 22 projects to the Regional Science Fair from our school fair.
    • 4-first place category awards
    • 5-second place category awards
    • 4-third place category awards
    • 5-Honorable Mention category awards

 SOCIAL STUDIES

  • 2 National History Day projects are competing at the national competition
  • 202 seniors were registered to vote
  • 3 students were selected to argue in front of the Virginia Supreme Court in the Model Judiciary program, and 1 student won his case (the first win in Westfield’s history)

SPECIAL EDUCATION

  • One of our 3 World History 1 teamed classes had a 100% pass rate for the SOL. Overall, that team’s SOL average was a 458, which is a considerable accomplishment considering the learning styles and needs in a teamed environment.
  • Successful first year of our Special Olympics track program, in which students competed in four meets, including a home meet.
  • Another wonderful #choosetoinclude campaign was held throughout the year, with monthly joint events with SGA, Bulldog Buddies and other organizations within the building.
  • Bulldog Buddies program doubled in the number of general education mentors this year.

STUDENT SERVICES

  • Increased enrollment of Young Scholars in Advanced Academics by 51%.
  • Successful senior success seminar.
  • 2nd annual Job fair was a huge success.

WORLD LANGUAGE

  • Governor’s School 2019 selections include: Victoria Thomas – German Anna Mattfeld – Spanish Sharon Park – Spanish Sarah Nadasy – French
  • Paul Lee received the Laurent Clerc (pronounced Claire) medal of service from the National American Sign Language Honor Society for his service to the local Deaf community.

ATHLETIC & ACTIVITIES SUCCESSES

  • Cheer District Champions
  • Boys Indoor & Outdoor Track Championships.  
  • Football District & Region Champions
  • Baseball District & Region Champions.  

Thanks to our students and staff for all the hard work and perseverance throughout the 2018-2019 school year. 

Sincerely,

 

 

Anthony E. Copeland, PhD

Principal

Westfield HS