Message from the Principal

Greetings Saxons,

After a brief hiatus, we’re back with our weekly message. During the time away, our students have been busy!

Congratulations to Medha Chhetri who won one of the top national awards for the writing competition, sponsored by the National English Honor Society.

A shout out is in order for members of the Forensics team who competed in the VHSL State Championship. We are so proud of these students! 

Talia-Rose Diorio – 3^rd place Storytelling

Sebastian Ghersi – 3^rd place Extemporaneous Speaking

Ashley Headrick – 5^th place Impromptu Speaking

Ava Arvand – 6^th place Original Oratory

Last month, seventeen (17) Langley Russian students took part in the annual Olympiada of Spoken Russian. During the competition, the students of four different levels had to speak in Russian in a personal narrative, a reading comprehension, a poetry recitation and responses to questions about the culture and history of Russia. Langley students received 9 Gold medals which amounts to over 50% of all Langley students. The remaining medals were Silver with only one Bronze.

Please join me in congratulating our Gold medalists.

Level 1: Melania Kolcio, Chinmayee Lanka, Nathaniel McDonnell, Vishva Rakasi, Ian Sautters 

Level 2: Alexander Arends, Arielle Virnik 

Level 3: Caitlin Kry, Anand Vinod 

Level 4: Sahra Gabdulina, Timur Kuanyshev, Ella Smolgowsky 

Recently, Langley’s Science Olympiad team competed at the State Science Olympiad at UVA and finished 3^rd overall. This is was quite a feat and our students are to be commended.

The following students medaled in their events:

1^st place medals

Jason Zhang and Bright Liu in “It’s About Time”

Kacy Lee, Maya Hall, and Claire Kim in “Codebusters”

Samantha Ritchie and Zach Baker in “Gravity Vehicle”

2^nd place medals

Sankrith Ramani and Zelmay Jan in “Cell Biology”

Arnav Ketineni, Zahra Izzi, and Bright Liu in “Experiment and Data Analysis”

Samantha Ritchie and Erika Li in “Rocks & Minerals”

Bright Liu and Claire Kim in “”Astronomy”

3^rd place medals

Zach Baker and Zelmay Jan in “Dynamic Planet”

Sankrith Ramani and Maya Hall in “Chemistry Lab”

Kacy Lee and Maya Hall in “Forensics”

Sankrith Ramani and Zelmay Jan in “Anatomy and Physiology”

Claire Kim and Nik Polyakov in “Wright Stuff”

Zach Baker and Bright Liu in “Bridge Building”

4^th place medals

Erika Li and Scarlett Adams in “Ornithology”

Samantha Ritchie and Zach Baker in “Trajectory”

5^th place medals

Samantha Ritchie and Nik Polyakov in “Remote Sensing” 

6^th place medals

John Rieling and Zahra Izzi in “Green Generation”

Jason Zhang and Scarlett Adams in “WiFi Lab”

Congratulations to the artists who submitted 62 pieces of outstanding work to our DIVERSEartLANGLEY exhibit. Many thanks to our amazing presenters, Daniel Singh and Joshua Jenkins, for moderating a thoughtful and lively conversation about how art reflects our values and has a transformational effect on communities and culture. The Langley PTSA DEI committee is grateful for their time and energy and for the support all of you who joined us.

1st Place: Zachary Ulman

2nd Place: Pengrui Chen

3rd Place Tie: Bree Yagana and Zejia Song

Our final Saxon Service event  of the year was held yesterday. Students participated in new crafts that included knitting scarves for local shelter residents and creating plush toys for children in African refugee camps, as well as previous favorites like decorating note cards for active military and ironing colorful pillowcases for hospitalized children. Thank you to Ms. Zimmerman Hohl and the numerous parent volunteers who worked to make this opportunity available to our students over the course of this school year.

Congratulations to senior members of our girls’ tennis team.

Congratulations to senior members of our girls’ lacrosse team.

Congratulations to senior members of our boys’ lacrosse team.

As I have previously shared, I strongly believe that educators and parents are partners in the work of supporting children. Our school epitomizes what’s possible when there is a strong partnership. I often remark that parental involvement is the secret sauce that makes Langley special. I thank each of you for your engagement and daily support. Here are just a few of latest ways parents have supported our school community.  

Thank you to everyone who helped make Senior Ethics Day a meaningful experience for our Langley seniors. Thank you to all of the volunteers who served as table leaders and to those who helped with lunch, set up and clean up duties.

A huge thank you goes out to our Senior Ethics Day committee members Danica Alink, Margaret Brown, Jill Farah, Kim Finch, Joy Hohenthaner and Kelly Wilson who were able to bring this opportunity to our seniors, despite the many obstacles caused by the pandemic. Another big thank you goes out to Senior Ethics Day facilitators June Jeffries, Judge Brad Stetson and Vice Admiral Rick Snyder, along with their room monitors, Jill Farah, Joyce Porter and Christina Cain, for sharing their time and talents in support of this impactful event.

A huge shout out to the parent volunteers who assisted with making this week’s popcorn activity a huge success. This was held as part of the school’s Wellness Week initiative.

May each of you have restful and blessed weekend!

Fondly,