McLean High School Winter Concert
At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 18, the McLean High School Orchestra is performing its Holiday Concert in the McLean Auditorium (1633 Davidson Road, McLean). 
The concert will include an array of classical music pieces as well as favorites for the holidays. Refreshments will be provided after the concert.
Poe Middle School Honor Roll
Poe Middle School released its First Quarter 2008-09 Honor Roll.
Sixth grade All A students were: Peter Baek, Adrian Castro Avelar, Rhys Drewyer, Umar Farooq, Mubeen Farukh, Doreen Joseph, Rahat Kamal, Mohammad Khan, Hillary Leersnyder, Emily Lien, TraMi Ly, Emily Sanborn and Katie Tieu.
Seventh grade All A students were: Roberto Alcocer, Fatima Aldana Chavez, Shareen Arshad, Florencia Davila Prado, Destiny Gammon, Marina Gomez, Haley Grant, Angely Christine Jomuad, Yoojin Kook, Kevin Lam, Grace McGuire, Kristina Nguyen, Ahyeong Park, Seung Hee Park, Jenna Rosenthal, Joseph Sehrer and Sangya Shrestha.
Eighth grade students were: Sahil Chawla, Suzanne Johnson, Huiwen Ju, Julie Jung, Deanna Leersynder, Byung Eun Shin and Christina Uglietta.
J.E.B. Stuart Teachers Earn Certification
J.E.B. Stuart High School MYP coordinator Dana Cable and band director Douglas Martin joined a list of 60 Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) teachers who earned certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in 2008.
Candidates for certification devote 200 – 400 hours of work, including creating four portfolio entries that showcase student work and videotapes of the candidates instructing students. Candidates must also complete six 30-minute assessment center exercises. Cable and Martin earned the distinction in a single academic year.
There are five core tenets to board certification: commitment to students and the learning process; knowing the subjects taught and how to teach those subjects; being responsible for managing and monitoring student learning; thinking and learning about one’s practice; and serving as a member of one’s learning community.
For more information on NBPTS certification, visit www.nbpts.org.
McLean H.S. Community Members Collection Drive
The Student Government Association (SGA) of McLean High School reached their goal of collecting more than 1,800 toys for the “Toys for Tots” campaign. The school congratulates the combined efforts of the SGA, Lori Wagoner, Erin Truesdell and the McLean community, including faculty, students, parents and beyond.
F.C.H.S. AVID Program a National Success
The Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program at Falls Church, which aims to increase student self-discipline and educational performance, was selected by the national Blue Ribbons Demonstration School Committee as one of AVID’s “Five Schoolwide Superstars.” Twenty-five schools made the first cut as finalists. As an honoree Falls Church will receive a $250 check, as well as a possibility of its success story being published in a new publication this coming spring.
Marshall H.S. Model UN Returns as Champions
Last weekend George C. Marshall High School’s Model United Nations team was presented with two major awards at the 56th annual Harvard University Model UN Conference in Boston, the first ever awards won by Marshall at the Harvard conference.
Senior Jessica Levine won the Outstanding Journalist Award for working on the conference’s daily newspaper published during the program, and senior Alex Blomme won First Honorable Mention in the General Assembly’s Legal Committee representing the country of Afghanistan on the issue of terrorism.
Seniors Samantha Plotner, Michael Martz and Adina Sulemane; juniors Hannah Goldberger, Faisal Orainan and Max O’Beirne; and sophomores Philip Grudier and Rumen Hutchinson were also considered for awards.
Overall, 3,000 students from 21 states and 19 foreign countries attended the four-day conference in Boston.
