Meridian High School Solar Rooftop Ribbon Cutting December 5

FCCPS invites the community to join a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the rooftop solar array project at Meridian High School (121 Mustang Alley, Falls Church), at 3:30 p.m. December 5 in the 5th floor stairwell. RSVP at bit.ly/FCNP1123sa.

United States Navy Band Visits Mount Daniel

Mount Daniel students had a musical treat last week with a performance by Country Current, the United States Navy Band’s premier country music ensemble, with instruments including the banjo, fiddle, and guitar. Students enjoyed clapping and singing along with the band; some even got to join in the performance!

Meridian Jazz Band Dazzles Virginia School Board Assn. Meeting

Last week’s Virginia School Board Association meeting in Williamsburg featured the Meridian Jazz Band, directed by Mary Jo West, which had the honor of being selected to play the closing session.

Meridian High School Sustainability in Action Fall Festival

Meridian’s Sustainability in Action program hosted its first-ever Fall Festival on November 13 to celebrate the season while giving back to the community. The festival featured stations hosted by multiple clubs: music from Meridian’s Tri-M Music Honor Society, recycled plastic art with the Art Club, a seasonal depression educational station from the Meridian Minds Matter Club, bee hotels, daffodil planting and harvesting from the Environmental Club. Students attending the festival were able to participate in activities while learning about different student initiatives. As the festival’s main event, the outdoor gardens’ harvest produced freshly picked beets, radishes, squash, spinach, potatoes, and dill. Along with the club’s hydroponics harvest, the gardens had 19.25 lbs of fresh vegetables donated to the local food bank, Food for Others.

Henderson Students Sustainable Design and Engineering

In Dr. Wu-Rorrer’s Sustainable Design and Engineering class, 8th graders designed CO2 dragster racers. The goal of the unit is to allow students to apply concepts from physics with actual world application. Furthermore, the students learn new skills and techniques involved in project construction.

The unit comprises four main areas: theory of physics involved with dragster, design of the vehicle, construction of the vehicle, and racing of the vehicle. Students worked with a partner for the unit. Concepts from math and physics were employed during the dragster unit. They included measurement, multiplication and division, use of formulas, graphing, and estimation. This activity allowed students to use academic concepts in a “real world” situation.

The design process is a significant component of the CO2 dragster unit, and helped students understand the relationship between friction, drag, and weight.