 Year in Review 2022
Annandale Students, Parents and Community:
As 2022 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.
Reflecting on these highlights, it is clear that Annandale is a special place. Our success is a result of our unrelenting focus on our priorities: relationships & support, high quality instruction, and strong collaboration.
We are very proud of our work over the past calendar year. We also know that we don't do this work alone. On behalf of the Annandale High School staff, thank you for the many ways you have supported our students, our staff, and our community throughout the year.
Happy New Year!
Shawn DeRose, Principal
January
Annie Ray, Orchestra Teacher, Featured in the Washington Post: High quality instruction, strong collaboration and relationships and support continue to be our priority as a school. This past week, our staff’s commitment to these priorities was featured in the Washington Post. The article spotlights the dedication and commitment of Annie Ray, orchestra teacher, who teaches music to our severely disbled (Category B) students. Below are just some of the highlights from the article:
- “… what she appreciates most about Ray is how the teacher tailors her lessons to meet the student’s needs, but without underestimating them.”
- “She is assuming competence, and the students are rising to expectations. If they assume little [the student] is going to give them little. If they assume more, [they are] going to give them more.”
- “I’m so grateful to Miss Ray for this opportunity. She was able to see that he was capable of more than was immediately obvious.”
ESOL Department Receives $3000 Grant: Annandale’s English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) department has been awarded a grant of $3,000 from The Community Foundation of Northern Virginia through their Afghan Relief and Resettlement Fund. As we welcome newcomers from Afghanistan, Annandale will have additional resources from this grant to aid students making the transition to life in our community. At this critical moment for so many Afghan refugees, we are grateful to CFNV for their support. Special thanks to Nick Brown for authoring the grant and spearheading the effort!
PTSA Pantry Continues to Serve the Community! On Friday, the Annandale PTSA Pantry served over 50 families, benefiting 226 people in need. Special thanks to Norma Foti and the core group of individuals who continue to positively impact our school community!
Annandale Student Artists Recognized in 2022 Regional Scholastic Art Awards: Congratulations to Annandale students Abbie Lee-Pappas, Samuel Ceballos Loaiza, Richard Zheng, Laura Escobar Chanez, and Noah Hush who were recently recognized by the Regional Scholastic Art Awards program. A distinguished panel of judges awarded winners in the following categories: Honorable Mention, Silver Key and Gold Key. Visit this website for a complete list of winners including work category and award information.
The Gold Key and Silver Key artworks will be displayed at Northern Virginia Community College’s Ernst Community Cultural Center in Annandale from February 11 to March 24, with an award ceremony on February 23. Updates and announcements about the exhibition and award ceremony are available at the affiliate website for the Fairfax County Art Region.
Boys Basketball Wins George Long Holiday Tournament! Congratulations to the Boys Varsity Basketball team who defeated South County, Madison and Woodson to win the George Long Holiday Tournament at Wakefield High School. Andrew Nields and Leoule Yared were named to the All Tournament team and Max Lanham was named the Most Valuable Player! Check out the Washington Post article: "Amid a sparse holiday tournament landscape, Annandale basketball earns a trophy."
February
Annandale Students Participate in World-Wide Locura de Marzo Hype Video: Spanish 1 & 2 classes are participating in Locura de Marzo, a world-wide Spanish-language song contest in which top-rated songs compete in a bracket style competition for the chance to be named Campeón among Spanish classes world-wide. Students at Annandale made two appearances in the video featuring students from across the world in the event’s hype video. Learn more about the event, and view the Annandale participants in the official hype video. Check out minute markers 0:18 & 2:58 for Annandale students. To see the participating songs and vote every day, check out the bracket and QR codes in the World Language hallway between M19 and M21.
Miles Lanham - VHSL 6A State Triple Jump Champion! Congrats to Miles Lanham who won the VHSL 6A State Triple Jump Championship this weekend. Miles also won the District and Regional Championship as well.
Three Annandale Students Selected for All-Virginia Chorus! Annandale placed three students in the SATB choir and two alternates for the All-Virginia Chorus. This prestigious choir selects the top vocal students from across the entire state of Virginia. Once selected, the students will attend the state event at the end of April, prepare repertoire and present a concert in Richmond.
Congratulations to the following students: Jessup Gravitt (2nd Chair – Tenor Section), Tim Hurd (1st Alternate – Tenor Section), Esteban Rambal-Pinero (1st Chair – Tenor Section), Jasson Rodriguez-Regalado (4th Chair – Tenor Section) and Ramzy Tabbah (1st Alternate – Bass Section).
Annandale Atoms Girls’ Basketball Volunteers at Braddock Elementary: The Lady Atoms Girls’ Basketball team volunteers once a week at Braddock Elementary through the Readers are Leaders nonprofit organization. This organization provides free books to elementary students enrolled in the program. This year, the Lady Atoms are working on reading and leadership development with second graders at Braddock Elementary. We are very proud of the Lady Atoms for giving back to the community!
Jewel Coulter Named Student Peace Awards Recipient: Annandale Senior Jewel Coulter will be honored this March at the The Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County. The Student Peace Awards recognize young people who work as peacemakers. Jewel will be recognized for her work as a volunteer for the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) on their 2020 civic engagement campaign, where she worked to educate the community about important issues leading up to the 2020 election. In addition to her work with NAKASEC, Jewel partnered with former Annandale High Senior, and 2021 Peace Awards Recipient, Jimmy Lee, to create the Annandale High School Equity Team. From there, Jewel was asked to serve as a Student Equity Ambassador Leader for the school division, where she worked with students across Fairfax County to increase equity in schools. Congratulations, Jewel!
Shalini Vlcan Earns First Chair Viola in District Orchestra: Congratulations to Shalini Vlcan, for earning first chair Viola in District Orchestra.
Seven AHS Students Make District Band: Congratulations to the following Band students who made District Band: Danielle Dean, Dylan Mercado, Tyler Perez, Andrew Zurita, Denis Coca Hernandez, Shane Gomez, Reena Vasudevan.
March
Annandale Students Honored at FCPS Science Fair! Congratulations to our regional science fair award winners from Annandale High School! These students worked hard over the course of a few months to design, implement, and present their experiments at both the school and regional levels.
Sage Nagle – “Is Bamboo More Effective Than Plastic When Used in Oil Booms?” – 3rd place in the category of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Honorable Mention for Clean Fairfax Sustainable Swag, & 2nd place Stockholm Junior Water Prize & Certificate
Noor Ansari, Elyana Rodriguez, & Uswa Tariq – “The Effect of Different Concentrations of Hydrochloric Acid on the Photosynthesis of an Elodea Plant” – 3rd place in the category of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Safa Touri – “The Correlation Between the Number of Layers of an Oyster and its Rate of Disintegration in Hydrochloric Acid” – Honorable Mention in the category of Chemistry
Kent Lam – “Paper Airplanes and Aerodynamics” – 1st place Lakeshore Learning Materials
Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras received Superior in District Assessment: On March 18-19, District X hosted High School Orchestra Assessment at Annandale High School. A huge thank you to everyone who supported the event, whether by sharing your spaces, volunteering, or coming out to watch our students perform. Both Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras received Superior ratings (I) from all judges in both their on stage performance and sight reading! Congratulations to these hard working students!
Jae Lee, Special Education Teacher, Featured Special Olympics Video: Jae Lee, Special Education teacher at Annandale High School was recently featured in the official special Olympics "champion of change" video. Check it out: https://youtu.be/IY5IN3mpqOM
Annandale Students Place at TSA Regional Fair: Annandale High School's Technology Student Association chapter recently participated in the TSA Regional Fair hosted at TJHSST. The seven members that placed in the events were Espy Christian, Clark Allison, Alex Ing, Crystina Ing, Alison Coria Tarazona, Aisha Ismael, and Keira Dalrymple. In System Control Technology, Espy Christian, Clark Allison, and Alex Ing placed 4th. In Extemporaneous Presentation, Crystina Ing placed 5th, Alison Coria Tarazona placed 7th, and Aisha Ismael placed 10th. In Debating Technological Issues, Keira Dalrymple and Alison Coria Tarazona placed 9th. Lastly, Crystina Ing placed 10th in Essays on Technology and 10th in Prepared Presentation.
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.
April
Future Business Leaders of America Place in Regional Competition: Several Annandale Students earned gold, silver, and bronze medals at the regional FBLA competition. Five students went on to compete in the State Championship. Adnan Masri earned first place in the state for Data Analysis, 4 of the 5 students who competed in FBLA States qualified for nationals, placing 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place in their categories. Thank you to Stephanie Holt, for her support of all of FCPS Business students!
Autism Awareness Night Brings AHS Community Together: One of the highlights from this past week was Autism Awareness Night at our varsity baseball and softball games. Robert Williams and Kevin Jaramillo threw out the first pitch before the games started. It was a wonderful night as the community came together to celebrate Robert, Kevin, and the rest of our students.
AHS Students Recognized at Edison Academy: Annandale students were recently recognized at Edison Academy for their scholarship and achievement. Dilan Honor Perez earned Student of the Quarter in Cyber Network Administration, and Osmin Leon Patzan received the Achievement Award for HVACR-1. Please congratulate them on their accomplishment when you see them. A photo album of all Third Quarter Award Winners can be found on Edison Academy’s Facebook page.
Amir Abu-El-Hawa, Staff Aide to Fairfax County Chairman Jeff McKay, Visits AHS: On Friday, Amir Abu-El-Hawa, Staff Aide to Fairfax County Chairman Jeff McKay and AHS Class of 2005, visited Annandale High School. During his visit, Mr. Abu-El-Hawa toured the building, and visited with one of his former teachers. After the visit, Mr. Abu-El-Hawa expressed his gratitude and shared how wonderful it was to visit his alma mater and hear and see all the things we have been doing to serve our students.
Congratulations, Jae Lee, Special Education Teacher! Congratulations to Jae Lee for his acceptance into the Accelerated Certification Cohort (ACC). The AAC enrolls motivated and experienced FCPS educators to work toward a Virginia endorsement in Educational Administration and Supervision. This highly competitive program is managed in collaboration with the University of Virginia, and licensure is granted by the Virginia Department of Education based on successful completion of this one year, non-credit university experience.
Herb Eggert, Social Studies Teacher, Earns March FCPS Cares Recognition: Congratulations to Mr. Herb Eggert who has been recognized as an employee who shows that FCPS Cares. “Mr. Eggert, even though I don't go to Annandale anymore I would say you're one of the best teachers I've had. You knew I had some problems happening with my personal life and you were there to help me. I wish I could go back to your class because you always helped me with my work. Hopefully I can go back and visit you.” This information is posted on the March 2022 FCPS CARES webpage. To recognize an Annandale employee with an FCPS Cares, please visit the submission page.
Senior Jasmeen Linares Selected for GMU University Scholar Scholarship: Congrats to Jasmeen Linares, who has been selected for the University Scholar Scholarship through Mason’s Honors College. This is the highest academic distinction students can attain at Mason. It is a 4 year full tuition scholarship. University Scholar applicants undergo a nationally competitive, two day interview process with personnel from the Office of Admissions and the Honors College.
Annie Ray Featured in “FCPS This Week e-Newsletter”: Check out Annie Ray, who was featured in this week’s FCPS Newsletter. Here is the overview: It's Never Too Late: Parent Orchestra Teaches New Skills and Brings Families Closer. The Parent Orchestra is the brainchild of Annandale High School orchestra teacher Annie Ray, who started the group four years ago. It’s grown every year, and it’s now so popular there’s a waitlist to join. The idea is to give parents an experience that will help them relate to their children's musical schoolwork and experience. Watch the video.
May
Annabelle Lee and Katya Pribram District Tennis Champions! Congratulations to sophomore Annabelle Lee, who after an undefeated season at the number one singles spot, went on to earn the number one district seed. Annabelle and her partner, freshman, Katya Pribram, also went undefeated all season as the number one doubles team, earning the number one doubles seed at districts. Both players will continue representing the Atoms at regionals on Monday.
Annandale Students Visit 5th Graders at ATES: Lauryn Mills, Sereene Darwiesh, Jenna Saykamphone, Jewel Coulter, & Kenneth Anderson presented to Annandale Terrace Elementary School’s 5th grade classes on their experiences in middle and high school and the importance of prioritizing school and being kind and respectful to others. The soon-to-be middle schoolers were excited and eager to learn from our juniors and seniors!
Senior Jasa Gellert a Finalist in the Tech Arts Competition at ArtSpace Herndon: Congratulations to senior Jasa Gellert for being named a finalist in the Tech Arts Competition at ArtSpace Herndon and receiving an Honorable Mention for her digital artwork Taking a Break this past Sunday at the show opening. The Tech Arts Competition was created by Senator Gerry Connolly in 2005 and selects 15 FCPS artists in the categories of digital photography, digital artwork, animation, and mixed media digital works for their annual show and scholarship opportunity. Jasa has been a Digital Art student at Annandale for her entire high school career taking digital art, animation, and IB Art, and is the former president of NAHS, and an accomplished young artist.
PTSA Elects Officers for 2022-23:The PTSA is pleased to announce its officers for the 2022-2023 school year, elected at the May general membership meeting. President - Annamaria Nields, Vice President, Membership - Thurraya (Rai) Kent, Vice President, Programs - Angeleah Jamison, Treasurer - José Mercado, Secretary - André McGinity. A huge thank you to the PTSA board and members for all of their support!
Celebrating our English Learner Student Volunteers: On Thursday, our ESOL Department celebrated with our 36 student leaders who supported our 8th grade transition program and our Peer Helper program. During this time we highlighted our seniors! All the students are poised to be future leaders in the school and broader community! The event was funded by a Community Foundation grant and refreshments were provided by our Culinary Arts program. Congratulations to this group of students who go beyond and help their fellow students.
Laura Escobar Chanez Wins Scholastics Gold Medal! Congrats to Laura Escobar Chanez, senior at Annandale High School and currently enrolled in Animation 2 with Ms. Lucas. Her short film is part of a collection of works submitted for the 2022 Scholastics Art and Writing Awards, winning a gold medal, along with one other gold and two silver medals. Check out the video: https://youtu.be/EXtGJG-ZG-0
Annandale Theatre Company Receives Cappies Nominations: The ATC has been nominated for two Cappies for their musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee! The following students were voted among the top 5 in their category by a panel of their peers from across the National Capitol Area. Aiden Scarborough is nominated for Comic Actor in a Musical for his role of Panch. Kaya Thomas for her Hair and Makeup Design and her makeup crew, Amelia Mongold and Thanh Tuyen Tran.
Paul Misener, Class of 1982, Inducted into FCPS Hall of Fame: Annandale High School is thrilled to recognize Paul Misener, Annandale High Class of 1981 graduate, as one of the eight members of inaugural class of distinguished alumni into the FCPS Hall of Fame. Learn more about Paul and the entire inaugural class on the FCPS website.
Meredith Hedrick Featured on Fox 5 Morning Show: This Friday Meredith Hedrick, was featured on ABC 7’s Good Morning Washington for her impact not only here in Annandale, but across the world. Meredith left yesterday for Poland where she will be distributing food to Ukrainian Refugees. As the leader of several community support programs here at Annandale, she is continuing her work abroad. We are so proud of the many ways she impacts the lives of the people around her.
Over 100 Students Attend Career RoundTable Event at AHS: In an effort to help students prepare for their futures we hosted an event called “A Career RoundTable: Plan Your Future The Right Way.” The event consisted of four meetings with professionals during the school day. The roundtable gave students an opportunity to speak directly to workers in their fields. This opportunity for students to connect with someone in a career field they are interested in could be something they look back on in the future as the moment they realized what path they wanted to pursue! AHS hosted guest speakers from various fields - culinary, cosmetology, auto tech, real estate, finance, medical, health and fitness, veterinarian, law enforcement and military.
Anna Peters, 11th Grade Student, Selected for VA Governor’s School French Program: Congratulations to Anna Peters for being selected as an alternate for the Virginia Governor’s School French Program. Anna is an IB Diploma candidate and has a dream of becoming fluent in French.
June
Ten Seniors Graduate from George Mason’s EIP Program: The Early Identification Program (EIP) serves as the college preparatory program at George Mason University. With over 1,600 graduates, EIP provides access to educational resources for middle and high school students who will be the first in their families to attend a college or university. This year, Annandale had 10 seniors graduate from George Mason University’s Early Identification Program. Additionally, Abdulai Bangura and Daniel Soto were awarded the Mason Virginia Promise Scholarship, and Jasmeen Linares was awarded the University Scholars Scholarship, which is the highest academic distinction a student can attain at GMU! Congratulations to these scholarship winners, and all the EIP graduates!
Annandale Ethiopian Eritrean Alliance Wins First Place in Dance Competition: The Annandale Ethiopian Eritrean Alliance won first place in a five-school EEA dance showcase and competition last Friday! AHS Heritage Night has always been very near and dear to the Ethiopian and Eritrean communities here at Annandale, and this year, they took it to the next level by entering this competition immediately after Heritage Night concluded. Students worked hard to prepare for the competition, choreographing, arranging, and rehearsing their 16-minute dance routine, complete with costumes and props. Their efforts really paid off. Thank you to Mr. Ellenberger and all of the others at AHS who made these rehearsals possible; their patience and support was hugely appreciated!
Annie Ray Announced as a Quarterfinalist 2023 Music Educator Award: Annie Ray was recently named a quarterfinalist for the 2023 Music Educator Award. A total of 207 music teachers from 180 cities have been announced as quarterfinalists for the 2023 Music Educator Award, a joint partnership and presentation of the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum. In total, nearly 1,500 initial nominations were submitted. The semifinalists will be announced in September.
Orchestra Teacher Annie Ray Receives FACE Award: Congrats to Annie Ray who received the Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education Award in the category of Service for her work bringing music education to members of our community not typically reached by high school programming. When presenting her with the award, Mary Wagner highlighted the work Annie has done to bring music into the lives of students participating in the CAT B orchestra. In addition, Annie, with the support of her colleagues, has grown the Parent Orchestra to four locations. In both cases she is recognized for bringing music to those who might not otherwise have the opportunity.
Annandale Wrestler Marcelo Pozo Captures National Attention: Annandale High School rising senior Marcelo Pozo recently captured first place in the Freestyle and Greco Virginia state wrestling tournaments. As a result, he qualified to represent Virginia at the National Duals in Oklahoma and Fargo Nationals in North Dakota. Pozo, who wrestles at 120 pounds, takes pride in seeing how his parents and two brothers show their joy in his competitions. Check out the full story here.
Summer 2022
Class of 1971 Celebrates 50 Year Reunion: Recently, the Annandale High School Class of 1971 gathered locally for their COVID-delayed 50th Reunion celebration. Over sixty classmates and guests were provided a tour of AHS by followed by a picnic lunch in the cafeteria. The campus event ended with a class picture on the football stadium bleachers; a recreation of their class graduation photo back in June of 1971.
The AHS class of 1971 raised $1,275 as a donation to the AHS Choral Department in honor of their recently lost classmate, Paul Peters. Paul for many years maintained the class website and communications among the AHS 1971 alums and was an active member of the choir. Paul Rowson, Maureen Hackert, and Mike Gassman of the reunion committee expressed their deepest appreciation to AHS for hosting the class picnic and their classmates' trip down memory lane. Their parting words were, “Go Atoms!”
IB Students Graduate from the Diploma Program with Honors: Congratulations to our IB Diploma Class of 2022 as 40 of our seniors earned the prestigious IB Diploma. The diploma candidates had a 100% pass rate on their Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge and Service requirements. We earned our highest ever number of A’s and B’s in our Extended essays (4,000 word research papers) in the following subjects: English, Business, Global Politics, History, Anthropology, and Visual Arts.
Four subjects earned scores that beat the world average which include Spanish, French, Arabic and Film. IB scores range from 1 to 7 with 7 being the highest. This year we had scores of 7 in the following subjects: Literature, Arabic, Spanish, French, Geography, Math Applications and Math Analysis. Kudos to the students for all their hard work and the dedication of our talented IB teachers!
At Annandale, 485 students took 1,443 exams and IB scores were released on July 6. Information on how to obtain IB scores was mailed to students in May. Results can be found at https://candidates.ibo.org. Graduates that filled out the Senior Survey will have an IB transcript sent to the college that was listed in the survey.
English Language Learners’ Growth Surpassed Pre-Pandemic Rates! English Learners at Annandale made tremendous growth this school year, as measured on the WIDA Assessment, the state-mandated test for English Language Learners. Over 71% of our ELs made some language growth which is an increase prior to COVID of 68%. In addition, the percentage of English Learners who reached the state benchmark for required growth nearly doubled from pre-pandemic rates, to reach 60%. As a school, we have done a lot of great work collectively supporting our students. Huge shout out to our ESOL department for all their advocacy and continued support of our ELs and their language development needs, and to Sarah Eqab for leading the department in this work.
Class of 2012 Celebrates 10 Year Reunion: The Annandale Class of 2012 recently celebrated their 10 year high school reunion. Many of those who gathered have known each other since middle school. Classmates reported that they got back together “without skipping a beat.” Plans are already underway for the 20-year reunion.
Annandale Grad Moves from Local Stage to Columbia University’s Theater Program: Kyle Dalsimer of the Class of 2019, stars as Spongebob in Spongebob the Musical at Toby’s Dinner Theater. The show was featured in the Independence Day edition of the Falls Church News Press & the Severna Park Voice. After the show’s run ends this summer, Kyle is headed to New York’s Columbia University to study theatre.
Annandale Staff Attend AVID Path to Schoolwide Training in Baltimore: Laura Wells, our AVID Coordinator, along with AVID Elective Teachers Jeff Smith and Erica Rivers, and counselor Jessica Benitez attended the AVID Path to Schoolwide Training in Baltimore July 26-27. Educators from all over the country attend AVID summer trainings to get the latest AVID methodologies and strategies to take back and implement in their schools. The team was sent to three different strands of focus. Laura Wells and Jeff Smith participated in the advanced implementation strand which focused on engaging students and building relationships to improve the efficacy of AVID tutorials. Erica Rivers, as our newest elective teacher, participated in the beginning implementation strand to learn how to teach the AVID elective class. Jessica Benitez participated in the counseling strand to learn how to better support students during academic advising and throughout high school. We are all looking forward to implementing the AVID strategies and hope to lead our students to success here at AHS and beyond.
SOL Boot Camp A Success! This past week 59 students attended an SOL Remediation Bootcamp for Algebra or Biology. Over 52% of these students made significant progress towards graduation by earning a verified credit or qualifying for the potential use of a locally awarded verified credit in science or math. Students who did not meet the criteria for verified credits will continue to receive remediation support when we return to school next month and have the opportunity to test again in September. We are proud of all the students who participated in SOL remediation and appreciate the hard work and determination they have shown this week.
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. Padding was recently added to the doors in the upper gym and many of the hallways and stairwells have been repainted, some of which include new red accent walls. See photos below.
August
Band and Orchestra Hold Annual Elementary Recruitment Tour! On Thursday, students from the Annandale Orchestra and Band programs held their annual Elementary Recruitment Tour. They visited all the elementary schools in the Annandale Pyramid to encourage students to join Band and Strings! The students showed off what each of the instruments sounded like with fun movie tunes and shared why they love being a part of a musical elective.
Atom Alum, Sara Kugler, Publishes Book! We are excited to celebrate Sara Kugler, Class of 1996, who recently published a book: Better Book Clubs: Deepening Comprehension and Elevating Conversation. Sara currently serves as an instructional coach at Woodburn Elementary and has been a helpful thought partner to many of us here at Annandale. Congratulations to Sara!
Class of 2011 Celebrates 10 Year Reunion! The AHS Class of 2011 celebrated their 10th reunion this summer at “The Lot” in Arlington after being postponed a year due to COVID. But they were so excited to reunite with 90 of their classmates and catch up on the past 11 years since graduation. The evening was filled with stories, reminiscing the times we all had at Annandale, searching through yearbooks, raffles and a little downpour of rain that didn't stop the excitement.
Christiana Edinborough, New Math Teacher, Featured on ABC 7 WJLA: "I just loved the kids, I loved interacting with them, loved making math fun for them, so I decided after I graduated to go back to George Mason and do their teacher program, their teacher prep masters program." - Christiana Edinborough, new math teacher at Annandale featured on ABC 7 WJLA.
September
Student-Created Lesson Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month: From September 15 to October 15, FCPS recognizes and celebrates the histories, cultures, and contributions of the members of our community whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Here at Annandale, our Leadership class created a W4 Advisory lesson educating our students on the history and importance of this month-long celebration. They also shared interviews of staff members and students of Hispanic heritage in which they shared their favorite traditions, music, and foods.
Annie Ray, Orchestra Director, Publishes TEDx Talk: Last year, Orchestra Director Annie Ray delivered a TED Talk, “The Sound of Success,” at the TEDx event, Reverb, in Washington D.C. Annie’s talk has been published on the TED website. Check it out to see the incredible work she has done to make music accessible to all of our students!
October
Ramzy Tabbah Places Eighth Chair in VA Senior Honors Choir! Senior member of Annandale Singers, Ramzy Tabbah has placed in the Bass 2 section as the eighth chair in the state of Virginia for the Senior Honors Choir! This is a huge honor and a wonderful testament to Ramzy’s determination. Ramzy will be performing with the Senior Honors Choir in Richmond on November 17-19, 2023 with over 300 other seniors from across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Annandale HS Partners With Volunteer Fairfax and Braddock ES! On Monday, October 17, representatives from Volunteer Fairfax, in conjunction with NavApp, came to Annandale High School to talk about their respective organizations and to share their resources which included a half dozen robots. Students from our Electronics and Robotics classes were in attendance, as were a small group of ESOL students. We were also fortunate enough to have students from Braddock ES join in the fun and learn a little about robotics. The “MC” of the event was none other than our own Phil Harris. He did a great job of talking to all the students and preparing them leading up to the event and closing out the event. We look forward to expanding our relationship with Volunteer Fairfax in the future especially for students looking for service opportunities.
Students Attend Belgian Embassy’s International Day of the Girl: Last week, Meredith Hedrick, ESOL Coach, accompanied two of our students to the Belgian Embassy to recognize International Day of the Girl. The three had the opportunity to shadow and talk with a Belgian Head of Mission, a “truly inspiring experience,” Meredith shares. Check out more on this story: Belgian Embassy International Day of the Girl; Twitter; Facebook; Instagram
Atoms Field Hockey National District Champs! The Atoms Field Hockey team completed a successful undefeated regular season and followed it up by winning the National District Championship with a 2-0 win over Justice! They will move on and face the winner of West Springfield vs Robinson in the Occoquan Region Quarterfinals on Thursday.
Annandale Orchestra Awarded Grant! The Annandale Orchestra, led by Annie Ray, was awarded a $4,900 educational grant through Wolf Trap to have GRAMMY artist Christylez Bacon be an artist-in-residence at Annandale High School and to compose a piece for our program. At the end of this project, our orchestra students have been invited to perform at Wolf Trap. What an incredible opportunity for our students. Congratulations to Annie Ray for this honor!
Marching Atoms Earn First Place at Oakton Classic: Congrats to the Marching Atoms on their stellar performance at the Oakton Classic last weekend. The Marching Atoms received 1st Place in Division 1 as well as winning caption awards for Best Music, Best Colorguard, Best Visual Effect, and Best General Effect.
November
W4 Activities Day Creates Connection to AHS! We held our second W4 Activities Day last Monday. It was so fun to see students connect with each other and staff through activities such as making slime, playing games and sports, learning Japanese, creating watercolor paintings, or just relaxing. Very few other schools the size of Annandale manage to organize an event like this, which we will offer once a month. A huge thank you to our Activities Department for taking on this complex planning! Our next W4 Activities Day will be on Monday, December 5. We look forward to continuing to embed opportunities for our students to deepen their sense of connection and belonging at school.
Annandale High School Awarded Two Educate Fairfax Teacher Grants! Educate Fairfax and FCPS have awarded 52 grants totaling more than $82,000 in grades K-12 across the county! These grants fund innovative classroom initiatives that focus on developing career-connected experiences for students. These projects enable students to reinforce and deepen their classroom learning, explore future career fields, and demonstrate their acquired Portrait of a Graduate (POG) skills. Annandale Teachers were awarded two grants. The first will support the PACE Independent Living Skills Lab, which provides daily access for intellectually disabled students ages 18 to 22 at Annandale to become more independent citizens and learn basic job functions. The other will provide students the opportunity to visit the Nova Medical Education campus, where students will gain hands-on experience and learn how to launch their future Medical Careers.
Annandale Students Featured in FCPS Digital Citizenship Week Video: Annandale students shared their ideas about Digital Citizenship in a video created by FCPS in celebration of Digital Citizenship Week. Check out the video on Instagram!
Annandale High School Selected as a Global Navigator School: Annandale has partnered with the Council on International Education and Exchange (CIEE). This allows Annandale High School students the unique opportunity to gain access to $25,000 worth of scholarships for students to study abroad this summer. The programs and scholarships are intended to open the world to students, helping them navigate across languages, connect with other cultures, and impact global/local issues in today’s interconnected world.
Fairfax Times Features Field Hockey Team’s District Title: The Annandale Varsity Field Hockey team recently took the district title over Justice with a final score of 2-0. It was Annandale’s first district title in field hockey since 2015. Check out the article in the Fairfax Times.
Annandale Alum Galilea Sejas-Machado Featured on Cover of Mason Magazine: Check out Galilea Sejas-Machado, Class of 2019, on the cover of GMU's Mason Magazine. Galilea earned an IB Diploma at Annandale and took journalism and French as her primary electives.
December
Annual Holiday Toy Giveaway - Annandale Parent Liaisons, Gisela Sanchez and Rosario Carrasco, led our yearly tradition of providing toys, gifts, food, and coats to over 100 Annandale students and families. Special thanks to the PTSA and Annandale staff for donating items for this event.
AHS Students Earn District Honor Orchestra Recognition: Congratulations to four members of the Annandale Orchestra program who were selected for District Honor Orchestra this fall: Shalini Vlcan - Viola; Jazzy Tang - Viola; Thein Phan - Viola; Jenna Saykhamphone - Bass; Melanie Lam - Violin.
Annandale Senior Mariamawit Endalkachew Awarded (NABSEF) Scholarship: At the recent National Alliance of Black School Educators Conference, Mariamawit Endalkachew was awarded the NABSEF Scholarship. Students who receive this scholarship must be involved with a local community based program, have completed at least 20 hours of community service, and submit a typed essay of 450-500 words on the topic: “The Legacy I Will Leave.” Congratulations to Mariamawit!
Annandale Basketball and NHS Kickoff “Readers are Leaders” Program: Shoutout to the Boys and Girls Basketball programs, along with members of the National Honor Society for "Kicking Off" the 5th year of the “Readers Are Leaders” program. Students visited 2nd grade classes at Braddock Elementary School to read with our future Atoms.
Annandale High School Hosts Student Equity Ambassador Leaders: Annandale recently hosted the FCPS Student Equity Ambassador Leaders (SEALs) meeting. The meeting included 80 SEALs across FCPS 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.
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