Letter from the President

ACCESS oakton high school ptsa • vienna va • www.oaktonhsptsa.org Oakton June 2013 OHS MISSION STATEMENT Letter from the President Oakton High School will prepare all students for Kirsten Rucker, PTSA President•[email protected] productive and ethical e are rapidly coming to the end of the and see what this is all about so you can help plan living, life-long learning, and school year. Thank you to all of the this for your children. Tremendous thanks to the innovative and responsible Wvolunteers who have helped the PTSA chairperson, Liane Carlstrom MacDowell for all her to support Oakton High School in its efforts to effort on behalf of our graduating seniors. leadership. educate and prepare our children for their next Thanks are also due to Susan Bartosic who has steps in life. over-served as PTSA Treasurer. We are still seeking OHS VISION STATEMENT Congratulations to our graduating seniors and a new Treasurer for this coming year and welcome their parents. We hope you carry good memories suggestions to this position. With the addition Through a culture of of your time here and we wish you all the very of PayPal, the work required has been reduced, collaboration, continuous best as you embark on your next adventure! but not eliminated. Come join in all the fun to improvement, accountability, It’s been another successful year for the PTSA be had as a member of the PTSA Board! If you as we have been able to fund and support a wide are interested, please contact me on president@ and community variety of activities and programs throughout the oaktonhsptsa.org. We also wish to thank Carol involvement, Oakton High year for students and teachers thanks to your Byrne for her countless years as our Baccalaureate membership funds and donations. Highlights Service chairperson and wish her well as she School will provide rigorous, this year include our first year of the online moves on from the high school “scene.” We relevant, and well-rounded directory, which has been very successful thanks welcome Nancy Evans as our new Baccalaureate education for all students. to the great effort by Brooks Moran. Brooks will chairperson. Thanks, too, to Linda Meyers who continue in her capacity as Directory Chair next served as our Hospitality chair. She will be year and will also assume the role of PTSA Vice replaced by Shirl Sayadian. I would also like to A SPECIAL THANK YOU President of your PTSA. We have also had great thank Cheri Turner, Suzanne Brandt, Sue Weaver, On behalf of the Oakton success with the addition of the PayPal option for Marcia Pickett, Cathy Jaquette and all of the other PTSA membership and All Night Grad registration volunteers who donated their time to make the PTSA I would like to thank thanks to efforts by Susan Bartosic and our PTSA work and will continue with us in the coming the Oakton Media group Webmaster, Brian Evans. year. We welcome any and all interested whether The PTSA’s Academic Boosters under Pam it be just being a voice at our monthly meetings, for helping me produce the Burke’s guidance accomplished great things, too, volunteering at PTSA sponsored events or chairing Online Access Newsletters including helping to fund endeavors by various a committee. Or becoming PTSA President! There this school year. A special clubs including Model UN and Robotics. Boosters will be an opening soon! also helped the Oakton Writing Center to pay for We also extend our thanks to the Oakton thank you to Lauren its successful trip to a conference in Chicago in High School administration for their support of Luna for her leadership addition to providing snacks for students during the PTSA and willingness to come early to our AP and SOL testing periods. meetings to answer questions that the parent and to Marilyn Yang and Your PTSA showed our parents’ appreciation community may have. Special thanks to Dr. Madlin Mekelburg for their for our staff and teachers at a Welcome Back Banbury for his support of the parents’ efforts diligent work putting each breakfast in August and a luncheon in May. We to get hardcopy textbooks to our students for also host the Baccalaureate Service and the All their math classes. Over the next couple of newsletter together. Night Grad party for seniors. The All Night Grad years, digital education will become a greater -Marcia Pickett party is a fun, safe way to celebrate graduation. It component of our children’s school day. FCPS is held graduation night, June 14 from 10:30 pm has held Community Engagement meetings to June 15, 5 am. There have been many Keep In and is moving forward with a strategic plan to Touch notices about this event and how desperate implement broad and efficient use of individual we are for volunteers to make this happen. The technology in the classroom. It has been shown PTSA has always considered this so important that the use of technology greatly increases for the safety of our students that we make this student engagement and deepens the learning happen. We hope to be able to continue this process if managed correctly. Please stay abreast effort, but it depends upon our getting support of this issue as it unfolds so that our students have from the parent community. Please go to http:// a safe and enriching technology experience. www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0949ACA72AA20- Again, congratulations to our graduates and their club1 to see what needs are still unmet. It is parents. Have a fun and safe summer. critical that parents of all grades help. Senior Newsleter designed by Marilyn parents need to be sure this happens for their Kirsten Kunkler Rucker Yang and Madlin Mekelburg, children. Parents of other classes need to come PTSA President Oakton Outlook Editors-in-chief Oakton Access Administration Page 2

Letter from the Principal: Latest Oakton Updates John A. Banbury, Principal •[email protected] June 3, 2013

Dear Oakton parents, teachers, and students, the second year in a row. Go Cougars! Beyond athletics, members our competitive n a few days at the Patriot Center, we will Oakton Debate team took first place in the gather as a school community to honor Oak- regional tournament and advanced to state and Iton’s graduating class of 2013. Students, you national championships this year. Among many have much to celebrate. Your diploma from impressive honors and awards in the world of Oakton High School represents one of the most Oakton publications, one of our student writers, rigorous and comprehensive educational pro- Aline Dolinh, won the National Scholastic Writ- grams in the United States, and you should be ing Gold Key Award (first-place) for her poetry proud to be an Oakton Cougar. As a result of and was honored at Carnegie Hall last month. your hard work in high school, many doors will Congratulations, Aline! What an awesome open for your future. I look forward to hear- honor. There is no doubt that the students of ing of your various pursuits and successes in Oakton High School are among the best com- postsecondary life. As you celebrate your ac- municators and creative thinkers in the nation. complishment, do not forget to thank those who Bravo! have supported you along the way, particularly As we transition to summer, take a moment to your parents and your teachers. When you walk review your course selections for next year, and across the stage, take a moment to absorb the if you desire any changes, contact your school love and joy in the eyes of the audience. We are counselor this month. In addition, I encourage so proud of you. Congratulations, class of 2013! you to buy or borrow a copy of this year’s all- Along with the class of 2013, several of our school summer reading assignment, The Boy beloved teachers will be graduating this year as Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamk- they pursue a well-earned retirement. Sue Anna wamba. It is the story of innovation in the midst Clark, Fran Jones, Jacqui Talton, Jay Stratouda- of adversity, of a young man who chose to make kis, and Lou Harkness have invested many years a difference in his community despite the obsta- of their lives in the students of Oakton High cles. I trust that you will be inspired to consider School. We are so grateful for you, and we wish how you might use your talents and hard work you many new joys and adventures in your post- to make a difference in your own life and in the Oakton years. lives of others. See Oakton’s webpage for more Although the end of the year is a time for fare- details. wells, it is also a time to celebrate the victories I hope that you find time to enjoy the upcoming of 2012-2013. We have enjoyed unprecedented summer vacation with loved ones. I will see you success in athletics this year: sports teams have in the fall, refreshed and ready to continue our won a record 11 district championships in argu- shared commitment to the PTSA community. ably the toughest district in the state. With four regional titles, four region runner-ups, one state Sincerely, runner-up, and one state championship, Oakton Dr. John Banbury is in the lead for the coveted Wells Fargo Cup for Oakton High School Principal Oakton Updates Page 3 Fall Sports Tryouts Fall Sports Tryouts will begin on Monday, August 5 for Golf, Field Hockey, Football, Volleyball, Cross Country and Cheerleading. All athletes must have an emergency care form for the fall sports coach AND a doctor’s physical dated after May 1, 2013 on file in the Activities Office in order to do preseason conditioning and tryouts. If you have a physical on file from 2012-13, it is valid through the end of this school year for preseason conditioning. You must have another one done to do summer conditioning and tryouts. The physical must be recorded on the NEW official Virginia High School League Physical Form (marked “Revised March 2013”). All forms are available in the Activities Office and the athletic website, www.oaktonathletics.org under Files and Links. Physicals should be turned in to or mailed to the Activities Office. MAKE A COPY FOR YOUR RECORDS. (OHS Activities, 2900 Sutton Rd., Vienna, VA 22181) If you mail in the emergency care form with the physical, write the sport(s) in the upper right hand corner so we can give it directly to the coaches. Athletes will not be permitted to condition/tryout without these forms. Again this year, all athletes and one parent must view an on-line concussion power point before tryouts but this should not be done until June – the data base is cleared out in May every year. The link to view it is posted at www.fcps.edu/sports. Athletes should go to www.oaktonathletics.org, click on the sport they want to try out for and email the head varsity coach to get on the team email distribution list. There is a drop-in “registration” for all fall athletes on Thursday, Au- gust 1st, 5:00-6:00 in the cafeteria to check to make sure all your paperwork is on file for the tryouts on August 5th.

Remember, Parents Who Host, Lose the Most une is traditionally a time of great celebration for high school seniors, as well as their families and friends. Now that prom season is underway and graduation is fast approaching, it is essential for teens and their parents alike to keep in mind the Jimportance of having fun and celebrating their achievements in a safe and responsible way. In light of this, Supervisor Cook would like to reiterate his support of the “Parents Who Host Lose the Most: Don’t be a party to teenage drinking” message. Parents planning on hosting an event should take care to ensure that they are providing an alcohol and drug-free environment for underage guests. Make sure that you know who is on the guest list and monitor the celebration to ensure that there are no unwelcome visitors and that all attendees are behaving in a safe way. Keeping a good supply of food and plenty of non-alcoholic beverages is essential, as is planning activities ahead of time to keep everyone engaged. If you are going out of town, please make sure to set and communicate rules and standards to be followed in your absence and ask a neighbor or family member to check up on your teen to make sure that no unsupervised parties or gatherings are taking place. If your child is attending a party, make sure that you know where he or she will be and call the host parents ahead of time to verify the location and the presence of adult supervision at the event. Set a curfew for your teen to be home and stress the importance of never accepting a ride from anyone under the influence of alcohol or drugs and make it clear that you will pick up your teen if he or she is in a dangerous situation. To make this season safe, law enforcement officials will increase their monitoring to make sure that illegal parties aren’t taking place, and your vigilance is requested to stop these events from allowing teens to put themselves in hazardous situations. If you have reason to believe that underage teens are being served alcohol at an event, please do not hesitate to contact your local police department. FCPS, Fairfax County Designate May as Parents Who Host, Lose the Most Month ay has been proclaimed Parents Who Host, Lose the and modeling appropriate behavior are critical, particularly Most Month by the Fairfax County School Board and during prom and graduation season,” the school board resolu- Mthe Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in support of tion notes. the Unified Prevention Coalition’s (UPC) countywide initiative In the 2011-12 Fairfax County Youth Survey, 37.1 percent of that aims to reduce underage drinking as prom and graduation high school seniors reported they had consumed alcohol in the season approaches. last 30 days, and 20.7 percent of seniors had engaged in binge The Parents Who Host, Lose the Most: Don’t Be a Party to drinking in the last two weeks. The survey also revealed that Teenage Drinking public awareness campaign informs par- 21.1 percent of 10th grade students consumed alcohol in the ents and other adults about the legal ramifications and health last 30 days. Alcohol is the most commonly used illegal drug and safety risks of serving alcohol to teens. This year marks by Fairfax County students. the seventh year Fairfax County officials have supported this The Unified Prevention Coalition of Fairfax County is a non- campaign. More than 300,000 fact cards with the Virginia law profit organization that partners with more than 50 community on one side and tips for parents on the other have been dis- organizations to keep youth and young adults safe and drug tributed throughout the county. UPC and its high school Youth free. Council also urges parents and county residents to report Parents Who Host, Lose the Most is a program of the Drug- underage drinking parties by calling the police department’s Free Action Alliance. non-emergency number, 703-691-2131. For more information, contact Sara Freund, UPC deputy ex- “Prevention efforts, including parents talking to their teens ecutive director, at [email protected]. Oakton Updates Page 4 News from Theatre Arts www.oaktondrama.org hat an end to an amaz- writing please see Mrs. Gelinas for Brennan is nominated for Return- ing school year and the- details and how to apply. ing Critic. The cast gets to per- Watrical season! Thank you And we can’t close out the year form a 4 minute segment of the to everyone who came out to see JUST yet because we are going to play on the Kennedy Center stage GREASE. It was our most success- the CAPPIES Gala on Sunday, June and the awards will be shown on ful musical to date and Mrs. Pow- 9th to celebrate our 11 nomina- local TV this summer. What an ell, Dr. VanValkenburg and I were tions. Our First show of the sea- exciting way to close out our year. so pleased with the end results. son, SUITE SURRENDER has been Keep your fingers crossed! It’ll be hard to top next year! nominated for Best Play, Best Ac- We are so grateful for all your Congratulations to Caroline tor (Spencer Waters), Best Actress support as parents and as audi- Werenskjold who not only is the (Christine Cox), Best Supporting ence members. Thank you for recipient of our 2nd annual $1000 Actress (Savannah Hemmig), Best helping us to have such a fun and KT SMITH SCHOLARSHIP, but was Supporting Actor (Raphy Ortiz), successful year. Enjoy your sum- also given the Theatre Arts De- Best Comic Actor (Justin Piroc- mer break, support local theatre in partment award for the year. She chi), Best Comic Actress (Maddy the DC area and we look forward has been invaluable to our pro- DeFreece) Best Make-up (Melina to seeing you in September! gram and we know she’ll do great Smith) and Best Props crew (Pau- things at UVA! line Henenlotter, Anne Sperow & Vanessa Gelinas Our CAPPIES Critic team will have Jess Farhan). Our Critics team has [email protected] 2 openings for the 2013-2014 sea- been nominated again for most son. If you love theatre and enjoy publications and our own Emilia

News from the Oakton HS orchestra By Ms. Mezvinsky, Orchestra teacher am very proud to report all the great feats the orches- We had a guest conductor from New York, who worked tra has accomplished this year! with all the OHS orchestra students for 3 days: May 28- I The students performed 5 school concerts during 30. Dr. Lantz performed a recital, gave workshops, led the year: Halloween, Holiday, Pre-festival, Music and Art rehearsals, and shared the podium at the spring concert. Symposium, and Senior Farewell. It was an inspiring way to end the year! Oakton HS Orchestra students were represented at the After having auditions, the upcoming 9th grade class District XII Assessment, District Orchestra Festival, Senior will be a marvelous addition to Oakton High School’s or- Regional Orchestra Festival, Solo and Ensemble Festival chestra program. Those students who are continuing, we and All Virginia Orchestra Festival. We had performances admire your dedication and look forward to next year. at the Oakton Public Library, Barnes and Noble Book- Au revoir, Adios, Good bye Seniors! The banquet was store, Church, Mosby Woods Elementary School, Luther awesome because of you. Your contribution to the Jackson Middle School, and Rachel Carson Middle school. orchestra program will always be cherished. Don’t forget We had sectionals with local musicians in the area: Nan- Mendelssohn, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Hindemith and cy Kredel, Maribeth Frank, Kenneth Law, Laura Kobayashi, all the others who influenced your life in the OHS orches- and Jim Donahue. tra. Senior Survey All Fairfax County seniors are required to complete a senior survey. In addition to providing data to the school system about its students, it provides Oakton HS with the information we need to send final transcripts to col- leges. Students who complete their survey do not have to submit a transcript request form; student who do not complete their survey will have to come over the summer, fill out a form and pay the $5 fee! In addition, there are reduced office hours over the summer. Save yourself time and money - see Mrs. Marks in the Career Center or Mrs. Weir in the Counseling Office to complete your Senior Survey. Oakton Writing Awards Page 5

Oakton Students Win Major Writing Awards Oakton’s talented writers garnered major national and regional honors during the 2012-13 school year, including participation and recognition at Carnegie Hall in New York City and at several competitive capital region award ceremonies. Among the recognitions was Oakton’s Finalist place for a second consecutive year at both the prestigious National Scholastic Writing Awards and also at the Gaithersburg Book Festival, both juried by the nation’s top writers. Listed below are the top Oakton writers and their awards, prizes, and publications:

2013 National Scholastic Writing Award Aline Dolinh, National Gold Key/first place winner for poetry 2013 Regional Scholastic Writing Award: Aline Dolinh, Gold Key Award for poetry, also published in American Voices, and D.C. Teen Voices Elysee Hoang, Silver Key Award for poetry Emily Yaremchuk, Gold Key Award for poetry, also published in D.C. Teen Voices Hayley Johnson, Honorable Mention for poetry Anna Jordan, Honorable Mention for poetry Marriya Schwarz, Honorable Mention for short story Heidi Tubbs, Honorable Mention for persuasive writing 2013 Gaithersburg Short Story Contest hosted by Gaithersburg Book Festival Joey Vaughn, Finalist for short story 2013 American Legion Auxiliary Contest on American Freedoms Soyun Joo, First place for essay for 9th-10th graders: “The Essence of Freedom” (cash award $100) 2013 Fairfax County Housing Contest Sofia Crutchfield, First Place for essay (cash award of $125) Virginia High School League Opus 2012 Staff, Trophy Class for Oakton High School’s literary magazines (top honor) National Scholastic Press Association Madlin Mekelburg, National Honorable Mention for graphic design, Opus 2012 issue Oakton Updates Page 6

Cougar Calendar

Find it all @ your OHS Library

It’s Time to Resolve Library Obligations! All student library obligations for lost and overdue books and printing fines should be resolved as soon as possible. Please ask your student to check with Ms. Cappel or Ms. Boccetti if he is unsure of his account status.

Library Resources Available Online Online library resources will be available to students over the summer. Required passwords are available in the @Oakton HS Library Blackboard course under the “Online Databases” button. Da- tabases are web-based collections that support curriculum and are purchased by the library. They have been filtered and evaluated by publishers, editors, and authors.

Books Are Brain Candy Looking for a good book? Browse ReadersLink on the Fairfax County Public Library website @ http:// www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/reading/ or Indie Bestseller Lists @ http://www.indiebound.org/indie-bestsellers to locate your next favorite book. Oakton Summer Reading Page 7 ALL SCHOOL SUMMER READING The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba

What does it take to make a difference? Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William How might someone enact personal Kamkwamba as our all-school summer change? How might an individual impact reading. You can find a copy at your local his or her community? Through Oakton library, online, or a bookstore. Read ac- High School’s summer reading assignment tively by taking notes in the margins or on for 2013, students will reflect on this year’s your paper so that you will be able to re- theme: people who make a difference. call and discuss what you have read when In our recent online vote, Oakton stu- you arrive at Oakton in September. dents, parents, and faculty selected The

Here are some ideas to prompt your annotation of the book:

•Connect—How can you personally relate to particular passages of the book and aspects of William’s life? •Predict—Think ahead. What are the implications of the details in a particular passage or chapter? •Visualize and Respond—What images does the author conjure in your mind? What effect do those images have on you as a reader? •Question and Clarify—What confuses you or does not seem to make sense? Can you clarify later? •Summarize—What are the main ideas in each chapter and the themes in the book as a whole? •Analyze—How does the author construct his story? What key details and stylistic features contribute to his central themes? •Evaluate—What is your opinion of the author’s perspective?How might you apply lessons learned in the book to your life today?

Ultimately, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind should help you to reflect personally: how might you make a difference in high school and beyond? Compare or contrast your own ex- periences and values with William Kamkwamba’s story. Your reactions and notes will contribute to school-wide discussions at the beginning of September.

If you have any questions about Oakton’s all-school reading assignment, you may contact Colleen Eddy, English Department Chair, at [email protected].