MHS PTSA eNews, January 5, 2022

Mark Your Calendar!
PTSA General Membership Meeting

Wednesday, January 12, 2022, at 8:30am.

Special Guest Elaine Tholen, School Board Member- Fairfax County Public Schools representing Dranesville District in Virginia, will join our meeting to tell us what the school board is working on and answer any questions you may have during this moderated session.

Parents, guardians, family members, and students are invited and encouraged to use this link to submit questions, so they can be addressed during the meeting.

The meeting will be in person at the school and for those who are unable to attend a Zoom link will be distributed an hour before the meeting.

If you have any questions, please email president@mcleanptsa.org.

Free College Credit for Juniors and Seniors through NOVA!

The Early Online College program at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) allows FCPS juniors or seniors the opportunity to take up to two tuition-free college courses this spring. Textbook and other course material purchases may be required. Early Online College courses begin on February 1, 2022, and end on April 25, 2022.

Minimum qualifications apply. The deadline to submit a completed application is January 14, 2022. 

For detailed information visit here and here.

MHS Parents
Mark Your Calendars!

Hidden in Plain Sight is a community awareness program to educate parents through a hands-on learning experience that covers current trends and signs of risky behavior. The program will be presented and run by the Fairfax County Police Department’s Crime Prevention Unit on February 2nd in the MHS cafeteria at 7:00pm. 

This 1.5-hour program will explain, show possible “red flag” items to parents and it is going to open your eyes to signs of risky behaviors such as alcohol, drugs, tobacco use, vaping, sexual behaviors, over-the-counter medicines, mental health and more. 

This event is open to adult audiences only and masks must be worn at all times in the school.

Upcoming 2022 Virtual
Student Arts Showcase 

The annual National PTA Reflections Student Arts Showcase honors over 200 national awardees, with showcase performances from select student artists. 

Join the National PTSA to celebrate on their YouTube Channel on January 25th. The event will feature artworks from the 2020-2021 program, which was based on the theme: I Matter Because... RSVP to join the event, and the PTA will send you a few fun art activities and event reminders.

Find more information here.

Call for eNews Content

The MHS PTSA eNews team is glad to publish reports and announcements about the school and our amazing students and staff to the McLean community.

The newsletter is put together by a small and dedicated group of volunteers that source and compile submissions from administrators, teachers, other MHS volunteer organizations, FCPS sources, and parents and students into a weekly publication that we trust you all find useful. 

We encourage you to send reports of students' individual or team achievements. The PTSA wants to know if students are representing MHS in any venue. We would appreciate knowing about it to celebrate  and let the entire community know it.

Contact us at enews@mcleanptsa.org.

Remember that the accomplishment should be significant and that the PTSA is not able to promote a business or an outside organization. 

Earn Money for the PTSA When You Purchase through our Amazon Link

Simply bookmark: Amazon 

And use the link to access Amazon BEFORE you add items to your cart and check out promptly. 

Items that are left in your cart for 24 hours or more do not qualify. To save items to purchase later, please use your Wish List.

Every Purchase Counts! Thank you!

PTSA Sponsored
Mock ACT/SAT Tests

EC Tutoring is offering mock ACT and SAT tests in January and February. These tests are available to students at area schools for $20.

*** Please remember to indicate your status as an MHS student on the registration form to ensure that the PTSA receives credit; the fees support our programs.

Mock SAT Test - January 8th, 9:00am-1:00pm      Registration Form

Mock ACT Test - January 22nd, 9:00am-1:00pm   Registration Form

Mock SAT Test - February 5th, 9:00am-1:00pm    Registration Form

Mock ACT Test - February 26nd, 9:00am-1:00pm  Registration Form

These tests are available to students at area schools for $20.

*** Please remember to indicate your status as an MHS student on the registration form to ensure that the PTSA receives credit;
the fees support our programs.

Local Restaurant Fundraisers

Show Highlander Spirit and Support Your Community

While Dining In or Carrying Out

The McLean PTSA is an all-volunteer organization. Whether you have the time and energy to chair a committee or prefer to volunteer an hour at an occasional event.

Please consider the following open position:

President-Elect

Serve our Highlander community before stepping into the role of President. Share your valuable insights and contributions and shape the following year, while allowing time to learn on the job.

All open positions can be found here.

PTSA Board Nominations for
2022-2023

Are you interested in being on our PTSA Board or do you know someone who would be great in a Board position next year?

Please take a quick look at the Board positions and their related job descriptions on our website  and let us know who would fit any of these positions. If you know of someone who would generally be a great Board member, but you are not sure in which specific position, we also want to hear from you!

Starting in late January, the Nominating Committee will be collecting the names to slate for our 2022-2023 PTSA Board and we always want to get a diverse group of members from our broad community on the Board. 

Please contact Sandra P. Buteau at president@mcleanptsa.org or with any names and ideas you have for us.

Thank you in advance.

CLASS OF 2022
If You Haven't Yet Taken Your Senior Portrait, You are Running Out of Time!

There are no more appointments at MHS. You can do one of the following:

1) Schedule an appointment at Lifetouch’s Annandale Studio location.

That studio is located at the John G. Fox Memorial Hall, 7128 Columbia Pike, Annandale, VA 22003.  You can schedule a studio appointment by going to prestigeportraits.com/studio. 

No need to login to the website, just click the blue 'Book Appointment' button to get started. Then select the Virginia - Northern Virginia location and enter McLean High School in the search bar.  Select McLean High School when it comes up and you can select your sitting level and appointment date and time from there.   

2) Submit your own photo.

Submit to the Yearbook Staff:

Go to - https://hjeshare.com/eShare/ (use school code mcyearbook). After filling in the general information, make sure to select - "PORTRAIT" and upload your photo.

Background: Photos must be shot on a solid background. (we recommend blue)

Pose: Head and shoulder shots ONLY. Hands should not be visible. No hats. No sport team logos. No props (i.e., sports equipment, toys, wigs, benches, chairs, etc.).

Dress: Senior portraits are a more formal picture. Solid colored dress shirts/tops work well for the camera; jackets and ties are optional.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO RENT SPECIAL CLOTHING.

Very little of the top shows so what's important is the neckline (nothing too low cut or busy - a simple solid colored top will look great and sleeve length doesn’t matter).

Alll pictures must be submitted by January 10th to be included in the yearbook.

Free Student Bus Pass Program

Students can sign up for the Free Student Bus Pass Program at all FCPS high schools: 

Visit the Fairfax Connector website for more information and to download the application. 

Freshman Transition to High School

Do you remember what it was like to begin high school?

If you do, chances are likely that the experience you had as an adolescent passing through the doors of your high school for the first time is different today than they were in your youth.

Listen to the first McLean Parent Podcast for parents of freshmen, hosted by Ashley Lowry featuring the MHS school's experts in the Student Services Office: 

• Paul Stansbery, Director of Student Services
• Kathleen Otal, MHS School Counselor and 2020 VSCA Secondary Counselor of the Year 

They offer their wisdom and guidance about the transition from middle school to high school and how to support your student toward a successful high school experience. 

SPJ/JEA High School Essay Contest

The Sigma Delta Chi Foundation of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Journalism Education Association (SPJ/JEA) want to increase high school students' knowledge and understanding of the importance of independent media to our lives.

Hamilton Relay is Offering a $500 Scholarship!

The goal of the Hamilton Relay Scholarship is to support students who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind or have difficulty speaking in their post-secondary education.

The Hamilton Relay Scholarship is extended to qualifying high school students living within each of the states where Hamilton Relay is the contracted Telecommunications Relay and/or Captioned Telephone service provider.

Hamilton Relay selects one recipient from each state annually.

Scholarship recipients will be determined on or before March 1, 2022, and the deadline is January 31st, 2022.

For information about the application guidelines click here and for the application click here.

National Cyber Cup

A free, 100% online Jeopardy-style Capture the Flag competition for students in grades 4-12 to sharpen their problem-solving skills through cyber-based challenges. 

 For more information, please look here. 

Registration opens on March 1, 2022. 

Scholarship Information

You can access here a comprehensive list of scholarships for high school students to help pay for school their freshman year of college and beyond.

A list of 70 academic competitions and contests selected by the College Transitions.

Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is Open? 

Parents of high school seniors are encouraged to work with their students to complete the FAFSA as early as possible, but before March 1st, as you prepare for your child to begin college in the fall of 2022. 

Parents and students should start by creating an FSA ID and then begin the FAFSA.

College Access Fairfax, an FCPS partner, will be offering sveral webinars on completing the FAFSA and finding and applying for scholarships on January 8th. Information on these programs and how to access them can be found at the College Access Fairfax website.

In addition, College Access Fairfax staff are available for virtual one-on-one help sessions to complete the FAFSA. Interested families should email appointments@collegeaccessfairfax.org to request an appointment.

Inclement Weather Reminder 

The first five inclement weather days will be traditional inclement weather days. These five days may occur consecutively due to a single weather event or may take place as several individual events. 

Make sure you are familiar with how decisions about school schedules are communicated.

Weather Cancellation Procedures

Be informed in the case of inclement weather or other emergency situations.          

Visit this site for more information.

FCPS Parent Resource Center Workshops

The FCPS Parent Resource Center is offering workshops, information and resources to support the success of all students, including those with learning challenges, special needs, and disabilities.

For a list of upcoming events click here. 

Guidelines for School Visitors, Volunteers and Guests

FCPS asks guests to follow a few guidelines to help keep our schools safe and healthy. If you are visiting, please review the health and safety guidelines for visitors in advance to prepare.

Multilingual Parent Podcast

Listen and subscribe to an FCPS multilingual family podcast to hear timely, important information related to school news. The podcasts are produced in conjunction with the Office for English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Services and the Office of Professional Learning and Family Engagement.

Listen and subscribe: https://www.fcps.edu/blog/multilingual-family-podcast-arabic-korean-spanish

Get Your Child’s Online
Activity Report 

FCPS has tools to help parents and guardians know more about their child’s activity on any FCPS device. These tools are provided by Lightspeed, their internet content filtering service, at no cost to families. 

You may sign up for a weekly Parent Report, which will provide a list of the top sites your child visited. If you want more detailed information, sign up for the Internet Use Parent portal and log in anytime to see more details about your child’s browsing and “pause” access to the internet during non-school hours. 

Find out more and sign up for these services on the FCPS website.