Awesome Atoms - Year in Review 2021

Annandale Students, Parents and Community:

Annandale High School is a special place. As 2021 comes to an end, this edition of the Annandale Insider features highlights from the “Awesome Atoms” section of my weekly newsletter over the past year.

As a staff, we are very proud of our work over the past calendar year. Over these last 12 months, we have gone through different iterations of school. The year began with virtual learning: synchronous, live, online learning. Then in March, we shifted to concurrent instruction, where teachers taught students who physically returned to the classroom while simultaneously meeting the needs of our virtual students. In August, we welcomed all students back to in-person learning, five days a week. 

One of the reasons we were successful was because of our teachers’ incredible ability to collaborate and create meaningful learning experiences for our students, regardless of the learning conditions. What's more, our students responded each and every step of the way. We worked together as one Atom Nation.

On behalf of the Annandale High School staff, thank you for all of your support and help throughout the past year. 

Happy New Year!

Shawn DeRose, Principal


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January

FCPS News Features Annie Ray and the Parent Orchestra - Annandale High School continues to make news. Over winter break, Annie Ray, Annandale’s orchestra teacher, and the Parent Orchestra program was featured on FCPS News. The Parent Orchestra program provides parents of the students in orchestras, ranging from 4th grade to senior year in high school across Fairfax County, learn how to play a string instrument for the first time or learn tips on how to practice an instrument they already know how to play. 

The group has grown to over 150 parents who signed up across FCPS and have formed their own community outside of classes where they get together on their own outside to practice, exchange practice tips and tricks on assignments, and support the fine arts programs their children are a part of. Check out Annie Ray in the following YouTube video.

 

Chairman McKay's Video Features Annandale HS Choir - Annandale High School’s Choir was featured in Fairfax County Chairman Jeff McKay’s end of year video which highlights the amazing and diverse arts Fairfax County has to offer. With the help of ArtsFairfax and Channel 16, he put together a compilation video that features the Annandale High School Choir. Check it out here.

 

Jewel Coulter, 11th Grade Student, Selected to Speak to FCPS OPLFE - Congratulations to Jewel Coulter, one of Annandale Student Equity Ambassador Leaders (SEALs) who was recently selected to speak to staff from the FCPS Office of Professional Learning and Family Engagement about the importance of adult and student partnerships. This new Student Leadership group is designed to amplify student voices and provide an increased understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion through leadership development, projects, and relevant experiences of high school students. Jewel, along with Jimmy Le, serve as Annandale’s two SEALs. 

 

Congrats Teresa Ray - JV Basketball Player - Teresa Ray, 10th grader and CAT B student, scored four points against Mount Vernon on Wednesday night. Teresa has been a valuable member of the JV team this winter. After her performance, while flexing said, “I’m coming back next year! I won the game for us!” Congratulations to Teresa and the JV Girls’ basketball team on a great effort. Special thanks to Instructional Assistant Lorraine Turner. Because of her strong relationship with Lorraine, Teresa decided to try out for the JV girls’ basketball team this school year.

 

Annandale Students Win Scholastic Art Competition -Congratulations to the winners for the Scholastic Art Competition. The level of the awards include: Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention. 

Honorable Mention Winners:

  • Noah Hush for his digital artwork “Gorgon”
  • Richard Zheng for his digital artwork “No Exit”

Silver Key Winners:

  • Anthony Bui for his digital artwork “001 – Guard”
  • Noah Hush for his digital artwork “Heartbreak”
  • Ryan Lam for his digital artwork “Eyeing the Hate”

Gold Key Winners:

  • Jasa Gellert for his digital artwork “Meditative Fresh Breeze”
  • Noah Hush for his digital artwork “Pride”
  • Ryan Lam for his digital artwork “Doomsday”

 

46 Students Earn Middle Years Program (MYP) Certificate: Congratulations to the 46 juniors who have completed all of the requirements for the IB MYP Certificate. Their hard work on the MYP Personal Project, in challenging themselves in their courses last year (and this year!), their dedication to service as action, and their reflection upon service hours have paid off. While unfortunately we are not able to celebrate in person yet, we wanted to acknowledge their accomplishments, which have not gone unnoticed. The official certificates will be distributed to students over the course of this winter. We are also still in the process of figuring out what our ceremony will look like this spring, but we are going to do our best to be able to celebrate these Awesome Atoms!

 

Former Atom Wins Mrs. Venezuela: Congratulations to Rachel Laguna, Class of 2007 who has been crowned Mrs. Venezuela. Rachel will be heading to Shenzhen, China in the spring of 2021 to represent Venezuela (her birth country) at Mrs. Globe. At the age of 10 she immigrated to Annandale, Virginia and attended Braddock ES, Poe MS and graduated from Annandale High in 2007. While at Annandale, Rachel was a yearbook editor, band member and a cheerleader. She mentioned that amongst some of her most memorable Annandale High experiences was: “Winning honor band for 4 years, going to Yearbook camp with my friends and the last quarter of senior year with my 3 girlfriends-Lisa, Andrea and Jessica!”.

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February

Jimmy Le Named Student Peace Awards Recipient: Jimmy Le, 11th Grade student, is the founder of the Annandale Equity Team—a group of students and staff who are working to reexamine procedures, create equitable opportunities for all students, and establish an anti-racist, inclusive, and transformative culture at Annandale High School. The group works on equity issues including college assistance, anti-racism, and access to advanced courses, athletics and the arts.

 

Passing of Longtime Annandale Principal, Jim Finch: The Annandale community lost an icon over the weekend, longtime Principal Jim Finch. Mr.  Finch was part of the Annandale community for over 30 years. He came to Annandale High School as a teacher in 1957. He became Assistant Principal in 1960, and served as Principal from 1966 to 1986. He was inducted into the Annandale Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018. 

When describing her father on Facebook, Dana Conlon stated, “Not only did he love his students, he loved his faculty, his support staff and parents. He considered them equal partners in the success of the AHS community. Dad loved to hire former students as teachers, coaches and support staff. Once an Atom, always an Atom!” 

 

Alex Burita Earns Good Citizenship Award - The Henry Clay Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution based in Annandale, VA has recognized Alex Burita as the recipient of the Good Citizenship Award. Recipients are selected as the school’s Good Citizen based their demonstration of Dependability (trustfulness, honesty, punctuality), Service (helpfulness, responsibility), Leadership (self-control, initiative), and Patriotism (unselfish loyalty to American ideals).

 

Abia Zahir Wins National Center for Woman and Information Technology National Honorable Mention - Abia was selected from over 4,200 applicants from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S. overseas military bases, and Canada. as 2021 NCWIT National Honorable Mention for her computing-related aspirations demonstrated interest in technology, leadership ability, persistence in pursuing her interests in computing, and plans for post-secondary education. Zahir is part of the STEM Impressionists group, an after school mentoring program that works with middle and high school minority girls interested in participating in career-related STEM activities. Through that organization, she has had the opportunity to teach other students and teachers what she has learned, and present at national conferences including ITEEA (International Technology and Engineering Educators Association) and MIT’s Scratch Conference.

 

Gaby Deleon and Brandon Cao Participate in All-FCPS Virtual Choir - AHS Choirs are so proud of seniors Gaby Deleon and Brandon Cao who participated in the first ever All-FCPS Virtual Choir! Click on the link below for more information and how to view. FCCDA – We are the Voices. The event included interviews from students and adults about the power and need for music, and a lovely message from the composer, Jim Papoulis.

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March

Atoms Writing Center Students Present at SSWCA Conference - Students from the Atoms Writing Center Sophomore, Kennedy Beal, and Juniors Andrew Nguyen and Adwoa Owusuwill be presenting at the Annual Secondary Schools Writing Center Association Conference.

 

Jen Cory Named Region 2 Outstanding Professional Employee! - Jen Cory exemplifies the collaborative leadership qualities that Annandale strives to achieve. Jen is more than our SBTS. She has stepped up to a leadership role in an unprecedented year and has done an exceptional job supporting students, parents, teachers, and administration. Her skill set, personality, and empathy has led her to success as our Academic Dean. No matter how stressful the situation, Jen remains calm and collected and is able to quickly solve tough challenges. She is always willing to lend a helping hand and make time for staff. Whether it is instructional questions, help with technology, or just needing someone to bounce ideas off, she is often the person teachers and staff turn to. She is truly an asset to Annandale and has been described as “the glue that holds our school together”. 

 

Rachel Irvin and Jewel Coulter serve as Annandale’s SEALS - Rachel Irvin and Jewel Coulter are serving as Annandale Student Equity Ambassador Leaders (SEALs). This new Student Leadership group is designed to amplify student voices and provide an increased understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion through leadership development, projects, and relevant experiences of high school students. Last week’s Insider mistakenly listed Jimmy Le instead of Rachel Irvin.

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April

IB Diploma Candidates Complete Extended Essay: Congratulations to the 31 senior IB Diploma Candidates in their completion of their Extended Essay! The Extended Essay is a 4,000 word college level academic research paper which students complete outside of any class and is required for the IB Diploma. This year’s students had the extra challenge of completing the paper during a pandemic - this was no easy feat! Click here to view the students’ topics!

 

MYP Personal Project Success! Thank you to all of our teachers, administrators, and staff members who helped to successfully score over 80 MYP Personal Projects this year! This truly is a whole-school effort, and our amazing Atoms came through. We hope that this was also an enriching experience for teachers. Several of our teachers expressed how much they learned from and enjoyed reading and listening to the Personal Projects. The quality of the projects this year was also noted. Each year, our tenth grade students show even more creativity and passion in their projects, and we are glad to be able to support their inquiry and growth. A special thank you goes out to the English 10 and English 10 Honors teams who facilitated the student’s work, our librarians who supported their research, and Ingrid St. Clair, who was our MYP Personal Project Coordinator this year. 

 

PTSA Mulch Sale a Huge Success! Annandale High School PTSA's biggest and most critical fundraiser this year was a huge success! Thank you to everyone who ordered mulch. Proceeds from the sale support the PTSA Senior Scholarships and All Night Graduation Celebration, which provides a fun, safe, alcohol and drug-free parent-chaperoned celebration for our AHS seniors the night of graduation. Special thank you to Mulch Co-Chairs Rita Zimmerman and Sharon Miller.

 

Congratulations to our Regional Science Fair Winners! Ferhan Jemal earned second place in Engineering Mechanics for “Weather Balloon Rocket.” Annandale students had 3 third place projects: Anna Peters, Francesca Gabriel, and Tejh Hardin’s “Fat Content in Potato Chips”; Saba Shaikh’s, “Do Hurricanes Cool the Ocean?”, and Armen Boghosian, Andrew Nields, and Chelsi Lilli’s “The Effect of the Ratio of Water and Resin on the Quality and Time of Which the Resin Cures.” 

Annandale students also boast several honorable mentions: Abraham Valencia in Physics in Astronomy for “The Effect of Different Propeller Sizes to the Time a Paper Helicopter Takes to Hit the Ground,” Cyrus Assadzadeh, and Kevin Tran in Engineering Mechanics for “Effects of Different Generators on Electricity Production,” and Asia Pham, and Hoai-Nam Tong in Chemistry for “The Effect of pH Levels on Enzymes.”

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May

Annandale Senior featured on The Ellen Show: Abia Zahir, a senior and IB Diploma Candidate at Annandale High School, was recently featured on the The Ellen Show with actor Chris Pratt as one of 100 Amazon Future Engineer scholarship recipients. All recipients receive $40,000 to continue their post-secondary education and will be offered a paid internship with Amazon following their freshman year. Recipients were chosen based on a variety of criteria, including their academic achievement, demonstrated leadership, participation in school and community activities, work experience, future goals, and financial need.

Abia has excelled in STEM since middle school at Glasgow when she participated in the Capital One after-school coding program. She and her teammate were awarded the Capitol One “Best Creative App.” She has also presented at the MIT Scratch Conference. Abia has volunteered to be a member of an international team of US and Indian students who created an online computer science program for young students called Starting from Scratch. She will be attending Virginia Tech next year and intends to participate in Virginia Tech’s accelerated computer science master’s program. Congratulations to Abia on her incredible achievements!'

 

Shamsia Ahmed Honored by Global Leaders of Fairfax County: Global Leaders of Fairfax County is a program aimed to prepare fellows to be global citizens and change agents in their local community and the world. Fellows undergo a rigorous application process for admission, and throughout their senior year of high school have opportunities to engage with leaders from various fields to advance their understanding of international affairs and global issues. Congratulations to Shamisa for her successful completion of the program!

 

Annandale Student Builds Computers with Boy Scouts: On Monday, six members of Boy Scout Troop 1523 worked with 8 Annandale HS English as a Second Language students to build computers. For 3 hours the scouts and students worked together to build the computers from scratch. Afterwards, the students were able to take their computers home. One student is a senior who will be turning in her school laptop, and will now have a personal computer to support her studies in nursing!

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June 

Jen Cory Recognized as Region 2 Outstanding Professional Employee: Congratulations to our School Based Technology Specialist Jen Cory, who was recognized at the FCPS Honors program as the Region 2 Outstanding Professional Employee.

Jen is committed to supporting a diverse community of learners. While the pandemic had schools scrambling to create structures and supports for their staff and students, Jen had already been building these structures for years, providing multiple professional development opportunities anchored in collaboration in teams and across subject areas, and facilitating cooperative learning among staff. When schools across the nation shut down, Jen knew that organization would be a challenge for students during virtual learning so she created a Virtual Learning Hub which allowed students to easily access all of their classes. The Hub also allowed teachers to build open communication with students and their families and was replicated by elementary and secondary schools alike.

 

Congratulations to our 45 IB Middle Years Program Certificate Recipients: Forty-five students earned the MYP Certificate. Certificates were awarded for successful completion of the MYP Personal Project, completing two consecutive years of a Language Acquisition course at Annandale High School, and completing and reflecting on Service Learning activities over the course of their 9th and 10th grade years. 

We are so proud of our students for the hard work and dedication that they have shown, and how much they have grown as IB Learners over the past three years. Earning the MYP Certificate builds the skills and attributes that set students up for even greater success in the future.

 

Annandale HS Hosts Student Vaccination Clinic - Check out the photo below of Alexandria Grant-Presser, applied behavior analysis resource teacher, who supports Annandale High School's Special Education program. She also was a volunteer at the vaccine clinic. Students who received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine were provided with a Second Dose Information Sheet which includes information on how to access their second dose of the vaccine via community-based clinics. The Health Department also disseminated the Second Dose Information Sheet via email to families of students who received their first dose at Annandale High School.

 

NBC4 and Telemundo 44 Feature Annandale HS Graduation: We were proud to host the Annandale High School graduation ceremony on our stadium field for the first time in over 50 years. The ceremony was a huge success and was featured on NBC4 Washington and Telemundo 44 Washington DC

Jimmy Le, President of the Class of 2021, spoke of some of the stereotypes that our students may face, and advised his fellow classmates to “remain critical, to always hold yourself and others accountable, and when the world is writing a story that you do not like, pick up the pen for yourself.”

Mario Ramos, the keynote speaker and classroom monitor here at Annandale, reminded our graduates that, “There are people who will judge you by skin color, the clothes you wear or how well you speak English. But here at Annandale High School things are different.” Asking each graduate to spread The Annandale Way to the world around them, never stop knocking on the doors in front of them, and “most importantly, to open any doors you can for those around you.” 

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Summer 2021

Summer School Success! Congratulations to the more than 100 students who were able to recover credit they had lost during the pandemic. Many more are working hard during this second session to earn credit and stay on track for graduation. Thank you to the summer school staff who are supporting our students!

 

Annandale Olympics Camp a Great Success: Annandale hosted All Sports Camp from rising 2nd through 9th graders on June 21-25 and it was a great success! Eleven Annandale High School students served as volunteer counselors, including 3 former campers. The campers played baseball, basketball, football, soccer, ultimate frisbee, kickball, and volleyball. Goals of our camp are to provide an affordable and active place for future Atoms, while building a relationship with their high school and getting them comfortable and excited about coming to AHS.

 

Principal Shawn DeRose Elected VASSP Region Director: Congratulations to Principal Shawn DeRose who was recently elected to the Virginia Association of Secondary Schools Principals Board of Directors. In this role, Mr. DeRose will work with prominent leaders from across the Commonwealth including the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to advocate for improving education for students, staff and principals throughout Virginia.

 

Building Improvements Continue This Summer! Special shoutout to our custodians, who are working hard to prepare for the return of staff and students. In addition to cleaning classrooms and waxing floors, we continue to make improvements throughout the building. Worn carpet was removed from several classrooms and teacher workrooms and replaced with new tile. In addition, several rooms and hallways are in the process of being repainted.

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August

Annandale High School's ESOL Program Featured on Inside NoVa and WDMV: Inside NoVa profiled two of our Afghan students, Nooria and Samiullah “Sami” in this piece showcasing the hard work and support of our AHS ESOL teachers. In the article, Nooria and Sami’s father noted that not only are his children learning English, but they have enjoyed the experience because of the enthusiasm and compassion shown by teachers. Check out the story here. The story was also picked up by WDMV TV Watch It Here.

 

Two Annandale Students Recently Published! Many of us found new interests during the pandemic. Two Annandale students spent their time creating and publishing a book. Nathan Tyler Ong is the author, and Linh Do is the illustrator of The Art of Being Asian American, a book about adversities commonly faced by Asian Americans. The book is addressed towards Asian American Youth and is available through Amazon. Check it out!

 

WJLA Visits Annandale High School on the 1st Day of School: Special thanks to WJLA (Channel 7) for visiting Annandale High School and capturing our first day of school. Throughout the morning, they interviewed staff, students and even our PTSA President. Check out the story here! In addition, you can check out the amazing things happening throughout the campus via Twitter by searching the hashtag #AtomNation.

 

Mario Villanueva Ramos, AHS Instructional Assistant, Keynotes FCPS Region 2 Leadership Conference: Mario Villanueva Ramos, a former Annandale Transitional High School alum, classroom monitor, and new full-time Instructional Assistant here at AHS, delivered the keynote address at the Region 2 Kick Off. You may remember, Mario was asked by the Class of 2021 to deliver the commencement address. Dr. Zuluaga was so impressed by his remarks that he invited Mario to speak to Region 2 School Leaders. Mario shared his experience of the impact his teachers had on building a strong foundation that supported him in the face of adversity. When speaking about the sense of belonging his teachers developed, Mario said, “They weren’t just glad to have students at their desks, they were glad that the students at those desks were us. We could count on them for support and care, and they were counting on us to finish our education and to reach our goals.”

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September

New Students Share Experience Moving From Afghanistan: Annandale Students Ahsanullah Luddin Sisters Ahsanullah, Sosan, and Khujasta and Husna Basiri and were featured in several news stories this week where they shared their experience of transitioning to school here in Fairfax after moving from Afghanistan. The story was featured in the FCPS News. You can also check out the story on Inside NoVa and The Patch.

 

Atoms Recognized by National Merit Scholarship Program - Congratulations to Danielle Dean, Eleanor Lauderdale, Andrew Nguyen, Nathan Ong, Adwoa Owusu and Jacob Perloff. These students are being commended for the exceptional academic promise demonstrated by their outstanding performance on the 2020 PSAT/NMSQT test used for entry into the National Merit Scholarship program. We hope such recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success and excellence.

 

Superintendent Brabrand and Principal Shawn DeRose Featured on ABC News: On Friday, Annandale hosted Martha Raddatz and the crew from ABC’s weekly Sunday news program, “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” She interviewed Dr. Brabrand and Principal Shawn DeRose about COVID and its impact on schools. Check out the story, which aired this morning, here.

 

NBC4 Features Annandale High School on Welcoming New Students! Meredith Hedrick, English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Department Chair here at Annandale was featured Friday on NBC4 discussing how we welcome and support new Afghan students who have recently enrolled. Check out the story: Virginia Schools Welcome Dozens of Afghan Refugees – NBC4 Washington (nbcwashington.com)

 

AHS Students Featured in County-Wide In-service: Four Annandale High School Students were featured in the presentation given during return week to the division’s World Languages Teachers. The students discussed their reasons for learning a language and how earning the biliteracy seal will help them achieve their future goals. Check out the video here.

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October

Marching Atoms Win First Place!: Congratulations to our Marching Atoms who spent Saturday competing in the Marching Band Assessment at the Navy and Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, MD. The Marching Atoms received first place with best in class in the categories of music, percussion, and overall. 

 

Congratulations Coach Cragin Eres and Students Jasmine and Ta’niyah!: Jasmine and Ta’niyah were elected to Second Team all District for their excellence in cheer. Coach Cragin Eres was named coach of the year. In addition to coaching cheer, Cragin serves on the MTSS team at Annandale High School, supporting students in their academic, behavioral, and wellness needs.

 

Boys Varsity Soccer team featured in Annandale Chamber of Commerce Newsletter: The Annandale Boys Varsity Soccer team was featured by the Annandale Chamber of Commerce in their newsletter, Endeavour this week for their work coaching a soccer camp for adults and their children. The event was hosted in collaboration with FACETS, a nonprofit that serves those affected by poverty, hunger and homelessness in Fairfax County. The four sessions concluded with shaved ice treats from Anita’s Frozen Cotton Candy.

 

Annandale Singers Perform at FCPS School Board Meeting: Last Thursday evening, the Annandale Singers were honored to be invited by the FCPS School Board to begin their meeting by singing the Star Spangled Banner. Our students represented Annandale with pride and dignity. If you happen to see any of our choir students in class or in the hallways, please congratulate them on a job well done!

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November

AHS Food Pantry Celebrates Its Third Year! The Annandale High School Food Pantry is celebrating its third year of serving the Annandale community. This success would not have been possible without the generous support of so many of you. Click out a letter of thanks and an update from Food Pantry Coordinator Norma Foti. Pantry Coordinator Letter Nov. 2021. The update includes information about community partnerships that help provide fresh eggs, milk, produce, and grocery items to 40 families as well as 150 student snack bags each week. You can help support this effort by making a donation from the Pantry’s Amazon Wish List or by making a monetary donation online.

 

Annandale Students Featured in the Washington Post: The efforts of students at Annandale to support newcomers with a buddy system to help them adjust and navigate the school was featured in this article in the Washington Post. AHS student Sosan Barakzai was quoted, “There is so much to get to know. Anything they have questions with, we want to make them feel comfortable” She and others who settled in the United States before the new arrivals say they would have liked to hear from students like themselves about how to follow class schedules and get around the school, how to ride the bus, which foods are halal, how course credits work, what is needed for graduation.

 

Toby Dienstfrey Math Teacher, Wins PTSA Sponsored Monopoly Tournament: Congratulations to Toby Dienstfrey, math teacher, who was crowned this year’s Annandale Monopoly Tournament Champion! Correne Bellem, 11th grade student at AHS, finished second and Bill Maglisceau, AHS English teacher, was third. Special thanks to Brian Valentine and the PTSA for sponsoring this awesome event. This year, we had over 40 people register for this tournament.

 

Annandale Students Featured on NBC4! Annandale students enrolled in Medical Assistance were recently featured on NBC4 as they supported eye, ear exams at Annandale High School. Here is a link and description of the story: "With kids stuck at home during the pandemic, a lot of students fell behind on the eye and ear exams they normally get in school. News4’s Aimee Cho reports Fairfax County Public Schools says it’s solving the problem with help from other students."

 

Annandale HS Students Earn International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma! Annandale High School students were among the 408 FCPS students who earned the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. In addition, 58 students earned the IB Career-related Certificate during the 2020-21 school year. The IB Diploma Program (IB DP) is a two-year program for juniors and seniors that comprises the DP core curriculum and six subject groups. Students complete internal and external assessments as well as exams, community service, and a 4,000-word extended essay. Students who earned the IB diploma attended Annandale, Edison, Justice, Lewis, Marshall, Mount Vernon, and South Lakes high schools and Robinson Secondary School.

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December

Annandale High School Featured in National School Board Journal - Annandale students, and Assistant Principal, Dr. Sarah Eqab were featured in the December issue of the National School Boards Association Journal for their work on our Newcomer program. Check out the article to see the amazing things our staff and students are doing to support newly arrived students.

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