Year in Review 2023

Annandale Students, Parents and Community:

As 2023 come to a close, this special edition of the Annandale Insider highlights this year's most "Awesome Atoms" moments, originally featured in our weekly newsletter.

Reliving these highlights reinforces a profound truth: Annandale is truly 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. From academic achievements, to moments of inspiring displays of school spirit, Atom Nation has shown its talent and dedication in so many ways.

But all of this wouldn't be possible without each and every one of you. On behalf of the entire Annandale High School staff, I extend a heartfelt thank you for your unwavering support throughout the year. Whether it's volunteering your time, cheering on our teams, or simply believing in our students, your contributions make all the difference.

Looking forward to 2024!

Shawn DeRose, Principal

January

Ten Annandale Students Advance to Regional Science Fair: A huge shout-out to all of the teachers who guided students through the science fair project process. Over the last few months our science teams have been working to support students as they prepare their Science Fair Projects. On Monday, January 23, Annandale held our in-school science fair. From there, Annandale will send 10 projects to the Regional Science Fair that will take place the weekend of March 17-19. A big thank you to all of our students and staff members who participated in making this year’s science fair a success!

Annandale Students Selected to Participate in All-District: Congratulations to the following band students for winning their audition to participate in the All-District Band for District 10: Shane Gomez (Trumpet), Tyler Perez (Euphonium), Vincent Vuong (Bass Clarinet).

Annandale Singers Perform National Anthem at FCPS School Board Meeting: Members of the Annandale Singers performed an amazing rendition of the National Anthem before the School Board Meeting on Thursday night. Huge shout out to Pat Vaughn and the members of the Annandale Singers for a job well done.

Annandale Students Win 'STEM for Her Day' Competition at GMU: Congratulations to Annandale students Esperanza Christian, Sage Nagle, Crystina Ing, and Sadiksha Gurung, who placed 1st at the first ever 'STEM For Her Day' at George Mason. Their Audi Drive: Like a Girl presentation gave them the opportunity to work alongside Audi mentors to create a presentation in response to the prompt, “What are the barriers potential Electric Vehicle customers face and how can they be solved?” Great job ladies!

Five Annandale Students Perform at District X Senior Regional Orchestra: On Friday and Saturday, Melanie Lam (violin 1), Jazlyn Tang (Viola), Thien Phan (Viola), Shalini Vlcan (Viola), and Jenna Saykhamphone (Bass) represented Annandale HS at the District X Senior Regional Orchestra event hosted by South County HS. We are incredibly proud of these students' accomplishments and the hard work of all that auditioned!

Annandale Students Participate in Virginia Governor’s School for Humanities: Congratulations to juniors Christina Abouzeki and Shane Gomez for attending the Virginia Governor’s School for Humanities at Radford University last summer! After applying last winter and making it past the school, county, and state levels, they were two of approximately 150 students throughout the entire state of Virginia selected for the prestigious four-week residential program. The program is described as “extremely competitive, [with] most students selected ranking in the top 10% of their class”. The two took collegiate level classes taught by renowned professors from various educational backgrounds. They had the opportunity to conduct hands-on research on a discipline of their choosing, and for their final “Gov-Stock” project, the two compiled a presentation analyzing statistics on political polarization and self-censorship.

February

Annandale Students Recognized in Scholastic Art Awards: Annandale Students Recognized in Scholastic Art Awards: Congratulations to Lindsay Garcia-Cajina and Maya Kim for their Honorable Mention in the categories of Painting and Mixed Media. Lindsay’s piece, "In My Head,” and Maya’s, “New Beginnings,” were honored at the 2023 Regional Scholastic Art Awards Program. The program, presented by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, is the largest, longest-running recognition program of its kind in the United States. Established in 1923 and celebrating 100 years, the awards have recognized teens who have become some of our nation’s most celebrated artists, including Richard Avedon, Robert Indiana, Phillip Pearlstein, and Andy Warhol.

Annandale Awarded Grant to Continue Afghan Relief and Resettlement Program: Annandale High School has been awarded another grant to continue to support our Afghan Relief and Resettlement Efforts. This program funds initiatives during the school day and after school. At school, we work on language and academic support. The students are eager to learn more about the United States and post-secondary educational options, so we have planned college visits and a cultural field trip. We also have a member of our staff who works with student-leaders to run an after-school club specifically for Afghans which meets on Wednesdays from 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm and during monthly activity days. Another staff member, and volunteers, provide English Club once a week after school with learning materials and refreshments. If you would like to be involved in our efforts please contact Laura Rothe or Meredith Hedrick.

CAT B PACE Program Receives $1500 Grant: Our awesome Annandale CAT B PACE (Pathways to Accessing Community Environments) Program was awarded $1500 through the Perkins Grant to purchase furniture and equipment for a life skills lab. Staff and students worked hard to build everything together! The lab will support students in the areas of independent living, fitness and health, creative arts, and career exploration.

Annandale Students Place in All-Virginia Choir: By securing a chair in District Chorus, students had the opportunity to audition for the prestigious All-Virginia Chorus composed of students from all over the Commonwealth of Virginia. Two Annandale students have been selected and will perform with the Mixed Ensemble of the All Virginia Choir Weekend at the end of April in Richmond, VA. Ramzy Tabbah placed first chair in the Bass 2 section and Tyler Miller placed second chair. In addition, Jessup Gravitt placed as first alternate in the Tenor 2 section, Nick Ong as the first alternate in the Bass 1 section, and Sean Visperas as second alternate in the Tenor 1 section. Please join us in congratulating these students on this incredible achievement!

March

Heritage Night Celebrates AHS Diversity and Belonging! Friday night, Annandale hosted our Annual Heritage Night Performance. Students had an opportunity to showcase their culture through music, dance, fashion, and more. Audience members had the opportunity to enjoy an incredible array of performances by students in which the appreciation of our diversity shined. Special thanks to all of our performers who worked so hard to practice their showpieces, our fantastic MCs Sergio Chambi, Kayla Pham, and Sarah Bakhtiar as well as our leadership teachers, Willa Boothe and Bryan Harris for their hard work in making the show a success!

FanQuest Featured on FCPS YouTube Channel! On Thursday, March 9, the Annandale Special Olympics Basketball team hosted the Lewis Lancers for our annual FanQuest. FanQuest is an event that promotes inclusion and respect for students with disabilities through sports. 

The event was an incredible experience as our students were able to watch our Special Olympics athletes showcase their basketball skills. The crowd went wild when the first basket was made, and the cheering didn’t stop. The support and appreciation our students had for both the Lancers and their fellow Atoms was overwhelming. Special thanks to Jae Lee and Janan Gokturk for coordinating this incredible event and to the Lewis Lancers for an amazing game. Any student that would like to get involved with Special Olympics or Best buddies can reach out to Mr. Lee or stop by room 22! Also our Inclusion Revolution shirts designed by one of our Cat-B students are still on sale and they can be purchased here or in room 22, all proceeds go to our Special Olympics program!

GRAMMY Nominated Artist Visits Annandale Orchestra Classes: This week, Orchestra was joined by GRAMMY nominated artist Christylez Bacon for our Artist-in-Residence program. You can check out photos here - thank you to Joyce Boghosian for donating her time and talents to document this week! This is the second part of our Wolf Trap Educator Grant we were awarded back in the Fall, which will culminate with a performance with Christylez at our Spring Concert on May 18.

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. 

Third Place: Jalon McInnis, Krish Seth, and Abel Webshet - “The Effect of the Material of Protection on the Surface Area of Damage on a Tomato”. In Biomedical and Health Sciences and Engineering.

Sage Nagle - “The Effect of Aquatic Pond Plant Type on Nitrogen and Phosphorus Absorption”. In Earth and Environmental Sciences. 

Honorable Mention: Cooper Holtz - “The Effect of Substances and Preservation Methods on the Enzymatic Browning of Avocados”  in Chemistry.

Zoe Ligairi - “The Effect of Textile Dye Waste on the Growth of an Elodea Plant”, in Environmental Engineering.

Andrew McGee - “The Effect of Fertilizers with Different Amount of Nitrogen and Phosphorus on a Radish’s Height '', in Plant Sciences.

Organizational Awards: Sage Nagle - “The Effect of Aquatic Pond Plant Type on Nitrogen and Phosphorus Absorption”. - Society of Women Engineers, Baltimore Washington Section (SWE-BWS). Promising Engineer; ($20 Amazon Gift Card) in Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Sara Nagle - “How the Distance from DC Affects the Measure of Microplastics in Local Water Sources”.Society of Women Engineers, Baltimore Washington Section (SWE-BWS). Outstanding Engineer; ($30 Amazon Gift Card) In Earth and Environmental Sciences 

Sara Nagle - “How the Distance from DC Affects the Measure of Microplastics in Local Water Sources”.  Northern Virginia Soil Water Conservation District (NVSWCD) - 2nd place; $75 gift card in Earth and Environmental Sciences. 

April

Jae Lee, Special Education Lead Teacher, Selected First Class Award Recipient: Please join me in congratulating Jae Lee for being selected as a recipient of the 2023 First Class Award for Excellence in Special Education. The First-Class Awards are an annual celebration of individuals in Fairfax County who support, implement, or design programs and activities which include students with disabilities that result in improving outcomes for all students. This award was presented virtually during the Annual Special Education Conference's opening ceremonies this past Saturday.

Annandale High School Recognized in FCPS Inclusive School Hall! The FCPS Inclusive Schools Hall features schools who have highlighted and shared the ways in which they support a culture of inclusion. Annandale was recognized for the Best Buddies program which focuses on creating strong friendships between students with and without disabilities, and making our school a more inclusive place for each student. Best Buddies is an organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Yearbook & Journalism Students Attend The National High School Journalism Convention: Last week Julia Hanneman and Alan Weintraut took students from their Journalism and Yearbook classes to San Francisco to attend the JEA/NSPA Journalism Convention, the nation’s largest gathering of high school journalists, advisers and journalism teachers. Students had the opportunity to attend instructional sessions and speeches from national newsmakers. The group also had the opportunity to tour San Francisco, including visiting Muir Woods, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the Painted Ladies.

Ros McClendon accepted to Japanese Governor’s School! Spanish student Ros McClendon recently accepted a spot at the VA World Language Governor’s Academy for Japanese. This program is 3 weeks of partial immersion for new and beginner Japanese speakers. We are so proud and excited for Ros to participate!

Aisha Ismael Awarded Horatio Alger Scholarship! Congratulations to Aisha Ismael who has been selected as a 2023 Horatio Alger State Scholar. The Horatio Alger Association scholarship programs provide financial assistance to students who have financial need and have exhibited integrity and perseverance in overcoming personal adversity. The scholarship program aims to recognize high school students that are thriving despite adversity, and pursuing higher education.

Annandale Hosts Love Like Adam Foundation - Annandale High School recently hosted the Love Like Adam foundation to the Class of 2023. Love Like Adam is a non-profit established with the goal to “support, educate, and equip graduating seniors and their families with the transition from high school to higher education,” particularly around the dangers of hazing and alcohol intoxication. It was established in honor of Adam Oakes, a recent hazing victim, who died in a hazing incident while attending VCU during his freshman year of college.

Pyramid Art Show Success! On Tuesday, March 28, Annandale hosted the Pyramid Art Show. This show is an opportunity to showcase student art work from our feeder elementary and middle schools alongside the work of Annandale students.This is a unique event in which our high school students have the opportunity to reconnect with their elementary and middle school Art teachers, and our future Atoms can see the many paths they can take to explore the Arts when they come to Annandale. Special thanks to Carmen Lucas, Jackie Pappas, Todd Diamond, and Megan Mooney for mounting this fabulous display of the talent in our community.

May

Annandale Study Abroad Scholarships Featured in Northern Virginia Magazine! From Paris for $50 to K-Pop Immersion in Seoul, 19 Annandale High School Students Go Abroad on Summer Scholarships! Barcelona. Berlin. Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Ghana. Rome. These are some of the places where nineteen Annandale High School students will be spending their summer, aided by a collective $75,085 in scholarship funding they won after being encouraged to apply for the grants by their teachers. Check out the feature story here.

Annandale Theater Company Nominated for Four Cappies Awards: The Cappies (Critics and Awards Program) is an international program which was launched in FCPS. It recognizes, celebrates, and provides learning experiences for high school theater and journalism students, and teenage playwrights. In the National Capital Area, a Gala awards ceremony is held at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. every June. This year, the Annandale Theatre Company received 4 Cappies Nominations for our Fall Play, Argonautika. These nominations are a testament to and a reflection of what the ATC prides itself on - excellence in acting and quality technical theatre on a budget. Nominations were made for the following categories: Props: Zach Dilworth, Atlas Martindale, Featured Actor in a Female Role in a Play: Amina Ahmed, Comic Actor in a Female Role in a Play: Macy Best, Supporting Actor in a Female Role in a Play: Kaya Thomas. Congratulations to the all of the nominees!

Atoms Accepted Into Girls & Boys State: We are proud to announce two of our juniors will be representing Annandale at these long-standing summer enrichment programs. Christina Abouzeki was selected to attend Virginia Girls State at Longwood University. Semir Ali was selected to attend Virginia Boys State at Radford University. These students were selected based on their character, achievements and interest in government, laws and procedures of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Congratulations Semir and Christina!

Annandale Students Awarded Get2Green Grant: Students in Stefanie Kline's Biology class were awarded the Get2Green Grant for their project of making seed paper to enhance the carbon storages around their homes and help to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The grant was used to purchase outdoor learning supplies including wireless digital microscopes, soil samplers, macroinvertebrate identification cards, and a large folding work table!

AHS Social Emotional Program Featured in SEL Monthly: Annandale High School was featured in the April issue of SEL Weekly for the work we have been doing to support students’ social-emotional learning and growth. During W4 (advisory), staff and students have been using evidence based programs like Wayfinder to practice life long skills. In the featured lesson, students learned about what is in and out of their control using practical scenarios!

June 

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.  Please reach out to Linda Bradshaw, IB Diploma coordinator, at Linda.Bradshaw@fcps.edu if you need login information or have questions.

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.

Annie Ray, Annandale Orchestra Teacher, Awarded FCPS Outstanding Secondary Teacher! Annandale Orchestra Teacher, Annie Ray, was named the FCPS Secondary Teacher of the Year for her outstanding work serving Atom Nation and the broader FCPS community. Annie is known for her passion, skill, and belief that every student can achieve greatness. During the pandemic, she went above and beyond to keep her students engaged by leading orchestra curriculum development and providing drive-through support and outdoor practices. Her dedication paid off as Annandale's orchestra program flourished. During this time, Annie founded Crescendo Orchestra, which serves students in our CAT B program. In addition, she was a founder of the FCPS Parent Orchestra. Her impact and dedication have made a positive difference in the school community.

We have highlighted Annie’s incredible impact many times, especially her work with our students with severe disabilities. If you have not seen her Ted Talk, The Sound of Success, or read this Washington Post article, take a few minutes to check them out. She truly is an inspiration, and we are so proud of her.

Annandale Senior Graduates with Dual Diplomas: A few years ago, Grace Rai could never have imagined that she would have back-to-back graduations, or that she would be graduating from a two-year college before finishing high school. Grace confides that, when she started her NOVA dual enrollment journey, she didn't want to get her hopes up and tell everyone that she would complete it all in two years. But now, this brand-new NOVA graduate is so very proud that she did it! On May 15, she graduated from NOVA, with an Associates degree, then on June 5, she graduated from Annandale High School. Grace admits that people were a bit baffled when they learned she was graduating from a two-year college before graduating from high school. But once she explained it to them, their reaction was the same--that's really smart. 

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.

Atoms Featured on Telemundo: From Paris for $50 to K-Pop Immersion in Seoul, 19 Annandale High School Students Go Abroad on Summer Scholarships! Barcelona. Berlin. Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Ghana. Rome. These are some of the places where nineteen Annandale High School students will be spending their summer, aided by a collective $75,085 in scholarship funding they won after being encouraged to apply for the grants by their teachers. Check out the feature story here.

Summer 2023

Reading WorkKeys and Algebra 1 SOL Bootcamps a Success! This past week, we had over 35 students in the building working with teachers to prepare for standardized exams they need to earn verified credits.

Rising seniors who still needed a verified reading credit to graduate were invited to attend our Reading WorkKeys Bootcamp. During the week they worked in small groups targeting vocabulary, reading comprehension skills, and test taking strategies. On Friday, 16 students took the Reading WorkKeys and 5 passed! Thank you to our students and families for encouraging students to participate and to our wonderful teachers: Charles Clay, Emily Lockwood, Mary Johnson and Jasmine Welgoss for making this week such a success!

Students who failed the Algebra 1 SOL were invited to attend the remediation session. Of the 20 students who tested, 13 passed the exam and 6 scored high enough to qualify for an expedited retake July 25. Many thanks to Karen Olarinde, Glenn Loup, and Jen Kirk for taking time out of their summer vacation to come in and help our students towards graduation!

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. Exterior doors and the pillars in the front of the building were recently repainted. Push button locks were installed on all classroom doors, instructional room doors, and other identified “lockable” spaces such as offices/conference rooms.

August

Spanish Teacher, Miles Meijer Accepted for Publication: Spanish teacher, Miles Meijer's article, “Using Data to Create a Student-Centered Language Classroom: A First-Year Teacher’s Journey”, was accepted for publication in the Fall issue of ACTFL’s quarterly magazine called The Language Educator! ACTFL is the primary professional organization for world language teachers in the United States. We congratulations to Miles for this incredible accomplishment, and thank him for sharing his learning with the wider community.

Annandale Staff Attend AVID Summer Institute in Baltimore: Our new AVID Elective Teacher, Michelle Lukacs, and Social Studies teachers Andrew Butts and Herb Eggert attended the AVID Summer Institute in Baltimore July 17-19. 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. Michelle Lukacs participated in the advanced implementation strand which focused on engaging students and building relationships to improve the efficacy of AVID tutorials. Andrew Butts and Herb Eggert participated in the Social Science strand which focused on developing engaging, inquiry-based strategies that will increase students’ ability to think, read, and write like a historian. We are all looking forward to implementing the AVID strategies and hope to lead our students to success here at AHS and beyond.

ESOL Teachers Participate in CIEE Study Abroad Program: In partnership with the CIEE Global Navigators program for high school study abroad, Meredith Hedrick, Tricia Kapuscinski, and Kaitlin Clarke traveled to Monteverde, Costa Rica. They spent the week developing curriculum and collaborating with teachers from around the US on interdisciplinary units and global studies. While there, they also had the opportunity to shadow students participating in the Climate Change Mitigation program on campus and hear firsthand from the students what a life-changing experience the CIEE study abroad has been. Stay tuned for AHS student stories of their time abroad!

September

On Time Graduation Team Recognized in the 2023 FCPS Team Excellence Award: Congratulations to the On-Time Graduation Dashboard Team on receiving the 2023 FCPS Team Excellence Award! This award recognizes a team's commitment to serving FCPS with the highest degree of dedication and professionalism. The On-Time Graduation Dashboard Team is responsible for developing and maintaining a system that tracks student progress towards graduation. Lead by our Director of Student Services, Erik Healey, the team's work has helped to improve graduation rates in FCPS. We are proud of our OTG team's accomplishments!

Super Bowl Winner, Malcolm Mitchell, Visits Annandale High School: This past week, freshman Health & PE classes were treated to a conversation with Super Bowl Winner, Malcolm Mitchell on the importance of reading and how success is about how hard you work and what you know.

Seven Students Recognized by College Board: Congrats to Alison Coria Tarazona, Anthony Rodriguez, Maaz Fidail, Ronald Parada, Semir Ali, Tsion Teklebirhan for being recognized nationally by College Board. Your hard work and dedication are truly inspiring!

October

Marching Atoms Lead the Annandale Parade: The Marching Atoms led the Annandale Parade this past weekend along Columbia Pike. The Annual Parade has been a favorite tradition since 1950. It promotes community involvement and neighborhood camaraderie while celebrating the rich diversity of Annandale. 

Annandale High Hosts Ribbon Cutting for New Salad Bar Program: Annandale High School hosted the FCPS Food and Nutrition Services salad bar launch and ribbon-cutting ceremony. The event was featured on WJLA. Check out the story here!

Students Attend Belgian Embassy’s International Day of the Girl: Last week, Meredith Hedrick, ESOL Coach, accompanied Alison Coria Tarazona, Meilhi Leon Terceros and Sarah Mai to the Belgian Embassy to recognize International Day of the Girl. During their visit, they explained how they aim to make a difference as female leaders at school, in their communities, and in their future endeavors. The students also shared their intercultural experiences this summer as part of an exchange program abroad.

Erik Healey Receives Team Excellence Award: As a member of the On-Time Graduation Dashboard Team, Annandale's Director of Student Services, Erik Healey, has earned the 2023 FCPS Team Excellence Award! This honor recognizes and celebrates the team’s commitment to serve FCPS with the highest degree of dedication and professionalism. We commend Erik’s personal efforts and achievements that led the team to produce exceptional results while supporting our school system’s mission and vision. Erik and the rest of the team were recognized in a ceremony on Wednesday evening.

Congratulations, Annie Ray - GRAMMY Award Nominee: Annandale Orchestra Teacher, Annie Ray is one of twenty-five music teachers nation-wide to be nominated as a semifinalist for the Music Educator Award, an annual award, presented by the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum. The award supports and celebrates music education and music educators across the U.S. The 25 semifinalists, who hail from 25 cities across 17 states, were selected from a pool of more than 2,000 initial nominations from across all 50 U.S. states. Finalists will be announced in December, and the ultimate recipient of the 2024 Music Educator Award will be recognized during GRAMMY Week 2024, days ahead of the 2024 GRAMMYs. Congratulations, Annie, and good luck!

Seven AHS Students Commended by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation: Congratulations to Annandale students Semir Ali, Bram Johnson, Adam Michelman, Bridget Murray, Keane Byron Ong, Anh Tim Phan, and Jazlyn Tang for their outstanding achievement on the PSAT/NMSQT and recently being names as a Commended Scholar by the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Norma Foti, AHS PTSA Pantry Coordinator, Featured in Patch.com Article! Norma Foti and the Annandale PTSA Pantry was recently featured in a Patch.com article, “Annandale Area Students Need Your Help!” The AHS Pantry is partnering with Food for Neighbors to help stock their shelves. Please sign up to be a red bag donor. It is as easy as 1, 2, 3! Just sign up to be a red bag donor. Fill the red bag with the list provided by email of full-sized items needed. Then, put the red bag outside your door by 8:30am on the donation days. 

Paula Prettyman, Food For Neighbors' Falls Church Area Manager, is equally excited about the partnership. "I've been amazed by the commitment of the Annandale High School PTSA in recent years to support their food insecure students and families," shared Prettyman. "Even through the pandemic, the Annandale HS Food Pantry was open. I'm looking forward to working with the PTSA and Annandale HS Principal, Shawn DeRose, to bring even more of the community in to support their high school. I hope every household who can will become an FFN Red Bag Donor."

Kathleen Mathis Receives Fulbright Award: Kathleen Mathis of Annandale High School in Virginia has received a Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program award. As a Fulbright recipient, Mathis will share knowledge and foster meaningful connections across communities in the United States and abroad. Fulbrighters engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions. Upon returning to their classrooms in the United States, they share their stories and often become active supporters of international exchange, inviting foreign scholars and educators to their school or campus and encouraging their colleagues and students to go abroad. Fulbright alumni include 60 Nobel Prize laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize recipients, and 40 who have served as a head of state or government. The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world.

Congratulations to Sage Nagle, Special Olympics Youth Leader: Congratulations to Annandale Junior Sage Nagle who has been named to the Special Olympics of Virginia Youth Leadership Council. As a member of the council, Sage will advocate for her peers at the state level, through social media platforms and by helping with Special Olympics Virginia resources and initiatives. Sage will also have the opportunity to participate in training to extend her leadership skills and public speaking while promoting equality and respect for those with intellectual disabilities across Virginia. Way to represent Atom Nation, Sage!

Annandale SEALs Attend FCPS Kickoff Celebration: Congratulations to Sage Nagle, Christina Abouzeki, Sosan Barakzai, and Husna Basiri, Annandale’s Student Equity Ambassador Leaders (SEALs). SEALs amplify student voices and provide an increased understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion through leadership development, projects, and relevant experiences of high school students. This week our SEALs attended the FCPS Kickoff Celebration at Lewis High School.

November

Annandale Hosts Strengthening Family Program For Spanish Speaking Parents: The Strengthening the Family program for youth ages 10-14 (SFP 10-14) was recently held, offered by one of our community partners SCAN, this is a class developed by the University of IOWA as one of the more effective and better studied prevention methods. Although many prevention programs only involve youth, SFP 10-14 focuses on the family, so parents and youth learn together. The objective of the program is to reduce the use of addictive substances and behavioral problems in young people during their adolescence. The program improves parenting skills and develops peer pressure resistance capabilities in youth. In seven two-hour sessions, parents and youth attend separate groups to develop skills during the first hour and spend the second hour together in family activities that allow them to deepen connections within the family.

97% of English 11 Students Earn Verified Credit: This week 430 students enrolled in English 11, IB Lang & Lit, and IB Literature took the WorkKeys Business Writing test. This test is a substitute assessment for the Writing SOL. 97% of our Junior Class passed and are eligible for their Writing Verified Credit! This success is the result of our English 11 team working collaboratively to plan and prepare their students and our student’s hard work to practice for this assessment. 

Annandale Awarded Educate Fairfax Grant To Promote Career Development in International Business: Annandale was awarded a grant from Educate Fairfax to support students interested in launching careers in international development around the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This experience will allow students to analyze career options in international development with large organizations such as the World Bank and a hands-on opportunity to volunteer with DC Central Kitchen. Both organizations thrive on innovative solutions to respond to humanitarian needs. The trip benefits students of the Annandale Equity team for ELs, Alumni of the Center for International Education and Exchange (CIEE), and Just World. These students have shown an interest in this field and have already taken actionable steps to be changemakers. Now, they can talk with career professionals and program recipients to deepen their knowledge.

Annandale Students Win Engineering First Place at Innovation Contest: Annandale Atoms Carolina Valenzuela Rodriguez, Ava Sweall, Fatmata Musa, and An Pham presented their work for the Audi of America DRIVE: Drive Like a Girl engineering innovation contest. The Audi of America DRIVE: Like a Girl program is an annual STEM competition in which high school girls identify, design, and present a project focused on the automotive industry. The Annandale team was judged by a panel of engineers and employees from Audi and the Stem for Her organization. Their continued preparation and hard work led them to win first place!

Front Hall Upgraded with New Mural: At Annandale, we continue to invest in upgrading our campus. The front hallway recently received an upgrade that included a TV and new mural that showcases our diversity and school spirit! Special thanks to Capitol Murals for their great work! 

AVID Teacher, Ms. Wells, Awarded Grant for “Launching Careers at NOVA” Program: Educate Fairfax has awarded AHS $1885 to provide transportation for AHS students to visit career programs on NOVA campuses. Students will visit the NOVA Medical Education Campus, NOVA Automotive Technology campus, and NOVA Information and Engineering Technology campus to gain hands-on experiences and learn how to launch their careers. Any questions email Laura Wells.

December

NPR’s Morning Edition Host, Michel Martin, Visits AHS Students: This week, students had an opportunity to work with Journalists Michel Martin and Al Hunt in Ms. Crowley’s class. They workshopped story ideas for publication in print, podcast, and video. Special thanks to Ms. Crawley, English Teacher, for all of her hard work coordinating the visit. 

#Winning4giving Competition Winners: A huge thank you to Mr. Henceroth’s marketing students for leading a school-wide food drive to benefit the AHS PTSA Pantry. Shoutout to all students who brought items into their W4 class and thank you to W4 teachers who entered the donations into the form. Congratulations to the winning W4 classes who collected the most items. They will be recognized with a donut breakfast when we return from break. The winners are Ms. Kline’s class who collected 62 items, Mr. Maglisceau’s class who collected 83, Ms. Hernandez’s class who collected 98 items, Mr. Henceroth’s class with 117 items, and Ms. Bustamante’s class with 129 items!

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.

Fifty-Two Students Earn IB Middle Years Programme Certificate: Congratulations to the more than 52 students who have earned the FCPS International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme Certificate! Their commitment to the IB tenets of global-mindedness, critical thinking, service, and reflection represents the very best of who we send out into the world beyond Annandale High School. 

Student Mentoring Program Nearly Doubles: At Annandale, we have both staff and community mentors who provide overall support to our students with overall support and guide them through their high school journey. Annandale High School was recently recognized as a school that displayed tremendous growth in our mentoring program. Huge shout out to our amazing Student Support Coordinators, staff, and community mentors and special thanks to our mentoring coordinator, Jae Lee for leading the program. Our mentoring program grew from just a few mentors and mentees to a whole community working to support one another!

Adapted Art Class Begin At Annandale! Annandale High School is now offering an adaptive art class to CAT B students. Taught by Art Teacher Megan Mooney, this class is a space where creativity and artistic expression flourishes in an inclusive environment for all. In this class, the curriculum is tailored to accommodate diverse needs and abilities. Projects are thoughtfully crafted to ensure every student can participate and succeed. From sensory experiences to mixed media work, the class engages students in a variety of artistic experiences that inspire imagination and self-expression and fosters. Throughout the year, the class will build a sense of belonging and empowerment through art, providing a platform for personal growth, creativity, and self-confidence.

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