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Poolesville High School17501 Willard RoadPoolesville, Maryland 20837-2006301-972-7900

October 2010

Dear Poolesville Families,

Although the leaves are falling, our spirits are defi nitely soaring as we head into PSAT testing mode and prep for our imminent homecoming activities. On October 13, students in grades 9, 10, and 11 will all be participating in either the offi cial PSAT or a practice version of the exam, and seniors will be given time to work on their college essays and career applications and resumes. Our homecoming theme this year is “Planet Earth,” and, just as our students will be focusing on ways to nurture the environment, our staff has been working earnestly on nourishing our students academically, emotionally, and socially since the fi rst day of school.

We had a record breaking crowd on Back-to-School Night on Tuesday, September 21st I know you experienced the type of high quality education your children encounter every day at Poolesville High School! One of my most rewarding activities is visiting classes. Our teachers challenge and inspire our students. Our parents send us students who are ready and eager to learn and our staff meets that standard of delivering rigorous and engaging lessons every day to our enthusiastic learners. Thank you to our outstanding PTSA for hosting our second “Pasta and Pizza Extravaganza” dinner to welcome our new 9th grade students and new students to PHS.

Congratulations to the Semifi nalists in the 2011 National Achievement Scholarship Competition, Aminata Keita, daughter of Abdoul Keita and Mariama Kaba, Maeva Nyandjo, daughter of Francois and Marquise Nyandjo.

Congratulations to our 2011 National Merit Commended Students, Rama Atitkar, son of Rajesh and Madhura Atitkar; Daniel Barotti, son of John and Beth Barotti; Janhvi Barthwal, son of Vinay and Sadhana Bathwal; David Casas-Mao, son of Jose Casa-Finet and Sy-Yau Mao; Wesley Chan, son of Denny and Bo Chan; Allen Chang, son of Eric Chang and Elsa Chu; Chen Dou, son of BenLan Dou and Jane Zhao; Erik Fisher, son of David Fisher and Susan Yeh; Michael Gao, son of Jun Gao and Qin Xu; Hannah Giles, daughter of David and Nanette Giles; Alayna Hendrix, daughter of David and Michelle Hendrix; Eric Holmstead, son of Jeffrey and Elizabeth Holmstead; Daniel Hyde, son of David and Eileen Hyde; Parakh Jain, son of Praveen and Sunita Jain; Kelly Kaler, daughter of James Kaler Jr. and Sheila Cahill; Siobhan Kibbey, daughter of Tim and Marua Kibbey; Simon Kou, son of Siaohui He; Peter Luu, son of Vo Luu and Luu Anh; Jessica Man, daughter of Wai and Jenny Man; Emily Moore, daughter of Mike and Mary Ann Moore; Maeva Nyandjo, daughter of Francois and Marquise Nyandjo; Ashley O’Keefe, daughter of John and Loir O’Keefe; Shivani Patel, daughter of Jayesh Patel; Eugene Perelshteyn, son of Michael and Sima Perelshteyn; Andrew Pollack, son of David and Leslie Pollack; Walter Potmesil, son of Ken and Jean Potsmesil; Saumya Rajvanshi, daughter of Sanyoy and Niti Rajvanshi; Melanie Shapiro, daughter of Michael and Hilary Shapiro; Robert Skoll, son of Harry and Janet Skoll; Cory Thomas, son of Chris and Sharon Thomas; Katherine Tran, daughter of Kha and Mai Tran; Matthew Tran, son of Son Tran and Nguyen Tram; Ashish Uppala, son of Venkateswara and Anuradha Uppala; Duan Wang, son of Kan Wang and Qing Chen; Manda Ward, daughter of Steve and Annette Ward; Megan Weaver, daughter of Ken and Kim Weaver; Alexander Yee, son of Benny Yee and Judie Fechter; Grace Zhang, daughter of Giho Zhang and Jing Duo; Cindy Zhou, daughter of Ed Zhou, and Lily Yu and Tia Zhou, daughter of Li Zhou and Yu Mei. They were selected from over 1.4 million students who took the PSAT last October. Their high PSAT scores as juniors qualifi ed them for this distinction.

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Congratulations to our 2011 National Achievement Program Outstanding Participants Referred to Colleges, Diamond Ewell, daughter of Dora Chapman; Christopher Henry, son of Michael and Constance Henry and Sahara Saasta, daughter of Tim Saasta and May O’Connor Saasta.

The PSAT will be given to all 10th and 11th grade students on Wednesday, October 13, 2010. There will be no charge for this test for the sophomores. Montgomery County Public Schools is committed to offering this test because of the benefi ts it provides our students in preparing for the SAT as well as the opportunity for honors and scholarships.

The more students practice and become familiar with these high stakes tests, the better skilled they are in taking them. In addition, we use the results for diagnostic and prescriptive purposes to work with students on strengthening specifi c skills areas. The tests are administered during the school day and all students are expected to attend school and take the tests. All 9th graders will be taking a practice PSAT that day. If a 9th grader wants to take the PSAT that is given to the 10th and 11th grades, the cost is $13.00. Checks should be made payable to Poolesville High School and given directly to Ms. Rosalie DeOto in the Career Center. For fee waiver information, please, contact counseling services at (301) 972-7909.

We are thrilled to offer an on-line SAT, ACT, PSAT, prep course entitled TRIUMPH. This on-line tutorial is free to all MCPS students and from the reports that have been shared with me, students who use the tutorial raise their scores considerably. We shared this information with our students and we are also able to monitor the usage. Again, this site is easy to access from the MCPS home page and will give your child an edge when taking these high stakes tests for college entrance.

Please, remind your child to use the services of our College and Career Center. We have over 20 colleges visiting us this month including: Robert Morris University, Frostburg State University, Rider University, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Salisbury University, Fairleigh Dickerson University, James Madison University, Manhattan College, Elon University, University of Delaware, Christopher Newport University, Radford University, Colorado State University, University of Southern California, Johns Hopkins University, Eastern University, High Point University, York College of Pennsylvania, Allegheny College, Junita College, Montgomery College, Germantown, McDaniel College, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, Vanderbilt University, Stonehill College, University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Western New England College, Mount Saint Mary’s University and Tulane. We offer excellent support and guidance for our students and our teachers and counselors provide outstanding letters of recommendation for colleges since they know our students so well.

Homecoming 2010 begins with Spirit Week on Monday, October 11, 2010. The halls are decorated, "creative" attire is worn and the entire school is involved with our famous Falcon Fever! We especially look forward to the Homecoming football game on Friday night because so many of our alumni return to cheer for PHS. The Homecoming Dance is Saturday, October 16 from 7:30-11:00 p.m. We are in a sea of Black and Gold for one entire week!

Please, join me on Thursday, October 28, 2009, for my Principal's Breakfast from 7:30-8:30 a.m. PHS has limited parking available this year on our property; please, park in the Baptist Church across the street. These gatherings give me an opportunity to listen to your ideas, share PHS information, and respond to any questions you may have.

We are having a magnifi cent school year because we have the most exceptional students in Montgomery County Public Schools.

Sincerely,

Deena LevinePrincipal

DL:ch