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freshmen
Come to the Freshmen Parent Coffee on Dec 8, 1-3 pm, at Great Falls Library, 9830 Georgetown Pike. Sonya Williams, Director of Student Services, and Vice Principal Mark Penn will be there to address any questions or concerns. If you would like to help with the Coffee, please sign up here.
Please join us at the next Class Coffee Dec 9 at 9 am. Join fellow parents and administrators to discuss the latest news for the sophomore class. Coffee and breakfast items will be served at the Joostema home, 10509 Wynfield Woods Dr, Great Falls. If you can volunteer to bring something, please sign up here.
The next Junior Class Coffee is Dec 10 at Cooper MS (use back entrance; meeting in room 130).
Jessica Statz
(class of 2017 AP) will update us on Langley news and will present stats from the
FCPS Youth Survey.
The PTSA Family Network has invited a guest speaker to discuss substance abuse/teen drinking. Sgt. Daniel Pang, an SRO Supervisor in the Fairfax County Police Dept with extensive experience with high school students, will share his knowledge and observations regarding underage drinking and drug use, and the consequences of abuse. He will also provide advice for parents as we try to encourage our students to make good decisions. We hope you can join us!
Friendly reminder: Fri, Dec 4 is the regular decision
deadline
for college application submissions
to Student Services.
Our next Senior Class Coffee will be held Jan 7 at Trinity United Methodist Church. We are looking for a few volunteers to help with refreshments. If you are able to help, please sign up here.
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quick links
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Activities
703.287.2750
Attendance Line
703.287.2727
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message from the principal
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December begins a very busy and hectic time for many of us. Students will have many activities and events from athletics, clubs, performing arts, family obligations, and, of course, academics.
The teachers continue to work on ways to inspire and motivate our students
.
I have seen some varied and innovative lessons occurring in our classrooms. Mr. Foley had an interesting lab involving airplanes. Mr. Nachawati did one with parachutes. Mr. Kissling
'
s class was interpreting historical scenes, people, and issues. The tenth grade English teachers had acting companies strewn throughout the building performing scenes from The Scottish Play. Our ESOL teachers showed some of our newest students what Thanksgiving is. Ms. Douglas
's
calculus students were cooperatively reimagining problems and providing some conjecture for where they could go. Ms. Layman
'
s Spanish students were holding numerous conversations in Spanish. Coach Freeman
'
s health students were discussing mental health and the warning signs for adolescents in an engaging conversation. Ms. Poythress
's
fashion students were working on blogs and service projects.
T
hese types of activities occur daily and will continue all month, but we will definitely be giving students a break during the holiday. Ask your children what interesting things they're doing in class, and I think you
'
ll have a
good conversation starter!
~ Fred Amico, principal
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Guidance counselor Jess Omasta grew up in Newtown, CT.
In high school, she was involved in activities ranging from field hockey, softball and basketball to student govt and community service.
After graduation, Ms. Omasta attended St. Bonaventure Univ in New York and studied
journalis
m
and
mass communications.
Following college, she worked in
advertising and marketing for General Motors for five years. The experience was often exhausting, and though she was good at it, it wasn't something she enjoyed.
Ms. Omasta loved her high school counselor and stayed in touch. This led her to study school counseling in graduate school at GW. While finishing school, she interned at Langley under
Timothy Ready. One year later, she took a full position and has now been here for five years. Ms. Omasta says
counseling is an occupation that comes more easily to her, and
she enjoys coming to work every day.
Ms. Omasta loves her relationship with the students, especially the fact that they're comfortable coming in to talk and getting to know her. She enjoys the open communication among students, counselors and teachers when they're working through problems.
As a counselor, Ms. Omasta advises students to be open-minded, meet new people, give everything a chance and
not make assumptions about something before trying it. Most of all, she hopes students will connect with the many wonderful people within the Langley family.
~ Karelia Stoddard,
Saxon Scope
reporter
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 Where You Go Is Not Who You
'
ll Be goes against everything you
'
ve heard at cocktail parties: do anything to get your son or daughter into the absolute best university you can; take practice SAT tests and hire tutors; talk to alumni; in short, do everything!
But instead, our goal as parents and educators should be to build authentic discovery and self-esteem for students, and help them find a best-fit, transformative, affordable college where they will thrive and grow. It
'
s not where they go to school that's important -- it
'
s what they do with the experience when they get there!
Join the PTSA Book Club, Director of Student Services Sonya Williams, and Career Center Specialist Hannah Wolff on Thurs, Jan 14 at 9 am (location TBA) to discuss Frank Bruni's book Where You Go is Not Who You'll Be.
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As a complement to this year's Langley Read theme (Everybody Has A Story), on Nov 24 students had the opportunity to hear from former Langley student Chris Bennett as he shared his story and experiences at LHS.
He was an all-American kid who excelled in athletics and academics, but during high school he struggled with depression, drug and alcohol addiction, and the law.
His journey led him to become a behavioral health interventionist.
Using his own experiences as a starting point, Chris engaged the students in an interactive conversation about the overlap of stress, mental health, and drug and alcohol use. Space was limited but a video of his presentation will be made available to all students this week.
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The Langley WAT (
Work, A
wareness
& Transition
) class had a great time working on their fall project. They created a shopping list and a budget, then shopped for food for a Thanksgiving feast. Students prepared the food and served it to their classmates, teachers and administrators.
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During the week of Dec 7, we are providing depression awareness and suicide prevention training as part of the SOS (Signs of Suicide) Prevention Program to our freshmen. The program has proven successful at increasing students
'
awareness of mental health concerns, and with creating strategies students can use when concerned about themselves or a friend.
Our goals are to
help our students understand that depression is treatable;
provide our students training in identifying signs of potential depression and suicidality in themselves or a friend;
help our students know to whom in the school they can turn for help.
We will implement the SOS program via Health/PE 9 classes. Students will view the SOS Friends for Life video and complete a brief questionnaire. Student Services will review questionnaires and follow up with students and parents when necessary. Questions? Email snwilliams1@fcps.edu.
~ Sonya Williams, Director of Student Services
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freshmen stem opportunity
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9th grade students are welcome to apply for a free program for the summer of 2016 that will allow them to spend three exciting days on the campus of Old Dominion, UVA, or Virginia Tech. Students will engage in hands-on STEM activities and attend demonstrations led by experienced faculty members. The online application is available here, and the application deadline is Feb 1.
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 The Leadership Honor Society snack food drive for the Walter Reed-USO Warrior and Family Center in Bethesda was a huge success! Here they are at the USO after the
deliver
y.
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LHS math teacher Neil Holcomb was the lucky winner of tickets to the
Washington Ballet's performance of
The Nutcracker
at the Warner Theater. Thank you to Langley parent Karen Main (senior Katie Satterfield's mom), who donated the tickets to the PTSA.
Do you have vouchers for a service (salon, dinner, weekend getaway) or theater tickets you are unable to use? If so, donate them to the PTSA and we will host a drawing so that one of our awesome Langley teachers can enjoy an unexpected trea
t!
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holiday shopping on amazon
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As you are shopping for the holidays, please take 5 extra seconds and click through the PTSA website to make purchases on Amazon. LHS typically earns 6-8% of purchases made immediately after clicking into Amazon from the PTSA Website. If your family spends $1,000 in purchases for your home/family over the holidays, LHS would earn about $70 for LHS - just because you clicked first on the Amazon link on the PTSA Website and completed your purchase in that session.
Please note that LHS does not receive credit for purchases made from shopping carts, gift registries, or direct access to Amazon.
If you have any questions or would like to know specifics
to ensure large purchases generate revenue for LHS
, please email:
lhs.ptsa.fundraising@gmail.com
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speech & debate club wins
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The LHS Speech & D
ebate club brought home four awards on Nov 21 from tournaments
at Ashburn
'
s Rock Ridge High School. Langley's
Speech & Debate Club delivered a truly stand-out performance. Two of the four
awards earned were for first
place in their events. Congratulations to Katherine, Matt, Elena, Swetha, Michael and the rest of the team!
Elena Marcovici, 1st place, Origi
nal Orator
y
Swetha Ramesh, 1st place, Poetry and Prose
Michael Kim, 6th place, Lincoln/Douglass debate, Novice Division
Katherine Carris and Matt Reichenbach,
6th place - Duo Interpretation
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Clare DaBaldo is a kind, thoughtful and passionate young lady. Her list of leadership qualities is apparent by her involvement in
soccer, Relay for Life, co-president of Leadership Honor Society and
Girl Scouts. This is a student who is involved in everything. But it is not only these traits that make her an exceptional leader; it is
her compassion and desire to help those around her. You can find her supporting classmates who are experiencing difficulties; stopping by to see if a teacher needs help in the classroom; as well as organizing a drive for the USO.
Clare goes above and beyond what a typical high school student will do.
Sahara Shrestha becomes fully immersed in her activities. She is the
president of the Interact Club, which carries out two service projects a year. This year she was awarded the
Youth Recognition Award for her work with the Interact Club.
Outside of school Sahara sets even bigger goals for herself. This past summer she worked with
The Daya Foundation
, a non-profit that helps uplift education, health and culture in Nepal. Sahara traveled to Nepal by herself and
volunteered at the Metta Center
(an orphanage for girls ages 11-22) located in Banepa, a village in Kathmandu. Sahara developed a close relationship with the eldest girl at the Center and through her
fundraising efforts was able to send that girl to the University of Kathmandu
.
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ice hockey: The Saxons Ice Hockey team tied Yorktown 2-2 in their second game of the season. Our next game is against the Highlanders of McLean High School on
Fri, Dec 4 at
6:10 pm at Skatequest in Reston.
Please come out and cheer on your fellow Saxons!
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This month, LHS added a new service learning opportunity during the monthly activity period. For the past several years, students have been working with Case for Smiles (formerly ConKerr) to make pillowcases for children hospitalized with cancer. This month students began working with A Million Thanks, an organization which provides support and appreciation to our active and veteran military men and women. Langley students colored postcards and wrote touching notes of thanks. For more information about this organization, visit
here
.
The next activity period is Dec 9.
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science fair needs volunteers
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The science fair each year needs adult volunteers to support the students' hard work. To make it easier for everyone, this year we're using a Google form to organize all the volunteers (you can find the link here with more info on our needs). We are seeking
judges, food donations and hospitality helpers
.
The science fair will be Wed, Jan 20, 3:15-7:30 pm. If you are able to volunteer, we would greatly appreciate it.
If you have any questions about judging, please contact Sarah Ell at
slell@fcps.edu
. No experience is needed; if you have any type of science background we would love to have you as a judge! If you have questions about bringing treats for the judges' hospitality room, please
contact Betsy Jones
SEJones3@fcps.edu
.
We wouldn't be able to make the science fair work without all of the parent volunteers. If you know of anyone in the community who might be interested to judge or help with hospitality, please feel free to forward them the link, or have them email Ms. Ell directly.
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Please join the Langley High School Orchestra and event host Susan Poliquin for a special event!
Take 10%
off your purchase while Vineyard Vines gives 10% back to support Langley Orchestra's performances and music education. This event is TODAY, Dec 3 from 5-8 pm at the Tyson's Galleria store. More information can be found on the LHS Orchestra
website
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confirm your grocery cards earn money for lhs
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Please double-check your receipts to be sure LHS is designated to receive educational support funds from Giant, Harris Teeter, and Target Red Card. So far, we have 454 families registered with Giant, 244 with Harris Teeter, and 42 with Target Red Card. To meet our fundraising goals this year, we need to have at least 50 additional families register NOW! For signup details, click here. Questions, please email: lhs.ptsa.fundraising@gmail.com.
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last-minute contributions
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Thinking about making a year-end, tax-deductible donation? Consider making a gift to Langley. Our PTSA will use your dollars to enhance your child's education. Collectively, parent contributions go a long way toward improving the quality of our students' learning experience. Thanks to the generosity of Langley parents,
here's what
we were able to purchase for students and teachers in our first round of appropriations:
Skeleton for science classes
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Math Software
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AP Atlases
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Laser pointers for humanities
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Calculators for math
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Licensing rights for Chicago
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Orchestra Accompanist
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Choral Accompanist
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Band Uniforms Timers
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AP language laser pointers
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Mac for broadcast journalism
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To make a donation online click here. If you've already made a donation, thank you! Email PTSA Treasurer
Matt Haley
at matt@2haley.com if you would like a receipt. Don't forget about Corporate Matching!
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FCPS is going to Peru!
Interested in global travel and service learning? Come to a parent/student information meeting Wed, Dec 9 at 6:30 pm in the McLean HS cafeteria. This opportunity is open to all FCPS students in grades 9-12 (as of Sept 2015) and there are only eight spots left. Interested students (and their parents) should contact contact Allison Gaynor, Woodson biology teacher, at agaynor@fcps.edu
if they are interested in the service trip but unable to make the meeting. Parents/students ready to register before the meeting may do so here.
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Orders for yearbooks are ongoing. The current price is $85.85. Click
here
to visit the Yearbook Order Center and enter Langley's order code 4159 to buy a yearbook.
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Dec 8
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Freshman parent coffee
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Dec 9
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Sophomore class coffee
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Dec 10
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Junior class coffee
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Dec 16
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Band concert
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Dec 17
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Choral concert
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Dec 18
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Two-hour early dismissal
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Dec 19-Jan 3
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Winter break!
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| Jan 7 |
Senior coffee |
| Jan 12 |
Financial aid night |
| Jan 13 |
Curriculum night |
| Jan 18 |
Martin Luther King Day - school holiday |
| Jan 19 |
Touching Bases - parent/teacher conferences
Staff development day
Student holiday |
| Jan 20 |
Science fair |
For additional details about these events, visit the Langley calendar.
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