School news
The following news items are from Fairfax County Public Schools and the School Board.
A Tiger welcome – The Tiger Team at Mason Crest Elementary School welcomes new kids to school and shows them the ropes.
Mason Crest sees a lot of changes in their student population every year, notes a story about the Tiger Team on the FCPS website. During the 2023-24 school year, Mason Crest had a 21.7 percent mobility rate, nearly double the average 13.25 percent across all FCPS schools.
A year ago, fifth-grade teacher Monica Buckhorn and multilingual learner teachers Ellyn Pearson and Kimberley Mathews came up with the idea of creating a student-led welcome committee to help incoming students adapt to their school.
In November, Tiger Team members led newly enrolled first-grader Abdias Gomes on a tour of Mason Crest. Sawyer Clark pointed out the counselor’s office, explaining it’s a place “to express your feelings. If you’re sad you can go here and tell them and they’ll help.”
Abdias liked seeing a flag from Guatemala, where he was born, among the flags adorning the gym. “When we saw the library, I saw Dog Man, my favorite books, and now I know where to find those ones here,” he says.
When asked why he wanted to join the team, Sawyer said, “Sometimes I feel a little embarrassed when I walk into a room and I don’t know anybody or what they’re playing. I thought that I don’t want others to feel that way.”
“Team members brainstormed ways to make students feel more comfortable, devised surveys to give to new students to see if they’re being effective, worked on conversational skills like how to introduce yourself, how to make someone feel welcome,” Buckhorn says. “These are all skills that will benefit the Tiger Team students themselves in the future, too.”
Commended scholars – The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has designated 93 FCPS students as National Merit Commended Scholars, including the following students from Mason District:
- Annandale High School – Joshua Stein and Safa Touri.
- Edison High School – Victoria Bujoreanu.
- Falls Church High School – Christopher Haase, Minh-Vien Nguyen, and Isabella Phillips.
- Justice High School – Sofia Hemmens, Grace Rutherford, Katherine Bille, and Tucker Trissell.
- Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology – Jarin Earle, Tona Otoro. Malati Pandey, Michael Rodriguez, Elizabeth Thakuri, Chloe Toda, and Ryan Wells.
- Woodson High School – Rylan Cave.
A slam dunk – Students at Braddock Elementary School get a little extra help with their schoolwork thanks to members of the Annandale High School boys and girls basketball teams.
Every Wednesday afternoon during the winter, the Atoms athletes walk to Braddock to mentor third-graders on literacy skills in collaboration with Readers Are Leaders, the FCPS communications staff reports in a story posted online. The partnership has been going on since 2018.
The tutoring reinforces what the Braddock students are learning with their classroom teacher. “The impact is huge,” says Adriana Vela, a literacy teacher at Braddock. “We want to develop that love of reading.”
“Our students are so excited to be taught by the teenagers,” says reading resource teacher Jacquelyne Vereen. “The players take their roles very seriously; they know the need is great.”
The Annandale mentors earn service hours and $1,000 for their team. Some of the Atoms are former students of Braddock Elementary.
Annandale senior Tyson Perkins says, “The first time I came here it was hard for the kids even to learn vowels. And now they are reading books by themselves. It’s fun to see them learn and grow.”
“I am learning to read a lot better,” says third-grader Leonardo Gramajo Mayorga. “They read to me and ask me questions and I read to them. I am getting respected by a basketball player!”
Readers Are Leaders donates books and school supplies to the Braddock students. At the end of the 10-week program, the third-graders are invited to a basketball game at AHS, where they thank their mentors. The next day, the students present medals to the athletes.
Happy anniversary – The school board issued a proclamation at its Dec. 19 meeting honoring Annandale Terrace Elementary School on its 60th anniversary.
Annandale Terrace “has supported the growth and development of generations of young learners for six decades, adapting to changing times while honoring a legacy of inclusion, diversity, and educational excellence,” the proclamation states.
In 1999, Annandale Terrace was among the first FCPS schools to implement full-day kindergarten. And in 2024, the school earned a Silver EcoSchool Certification by integrating environmental education into the curriculum.
A life in band – Luis Perez, the band director at Holmes Middle School for the past 28 years, leads a double life. He’s also been a trumpet player with the Washington NFL team for 27 years.
Perez plays the trumpet in the Washington Commanders band. The band plays before and during every home game and sometimes during halftime. Every time the team scores a goal, they play “Hail to the Commanders.”
A story about Perez on the FCPS website says he’s been a fan of the Washington football team since he was a student at Kilmer Middle School.
He says the band directors at Kilmer and Marshall High School inspired him to seek a career in music. “They taught me about leadership and life skills through music,” he says. Now, he hopes to inspire his students to see “the many opportunities that are possible because of band.”
He’s had many memorable moments with the Washington football team’s band, including being on the field for Darrell Green’s last game in 2003, when Green’s number was retired in October, and when the band appeared on the Today Show in December.
Perez wants his students at Holmes to know that excelling in band will help lead them to a successful life. “Band – or any of the arts – is where we can all excel. It’s where we can work together for others.”
