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Kudos & Accomplishments
National Merit scholarships awarded
Seniors Alex Dalzell, Christie Freund, Kevin Huo, Andrew Jiang, Raynor Kuang, Mayank Mahajan, Arjun Nandra, Chloe Siebach and Ye Tao received corporate-sponsored scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Seniors Dhruv Bansal, Laura Brouckman, Amy Chen, Sarah Eltinge, Amani Farooque, Suhas Gondi, Lauren Huang, Katherine Lee, Yash Maniar, Seung Young Park, Jennifer Peng, Kalki Seksaria, Cody Silverman, Nalini Singh and Robert Wharton each won a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship.
Jefferson wins VHSL Creative Writing Championship
The Jefferson overall folder submission to the VHSL Creative Writing Championship won in the AAA division. Juniors Emma Hastings and Anwar Omeish and sophomore Pooja Chandrashekar took first place in their individual categories.
Science Olympiad team wins at States
The Jefferson Science Olympiad team won first place at the Virginia State competition on April 27 at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Team members include seniors Amy Chen, Katie Hsia (team captain) and Austin Ralls, juniors Sparsh Gupta, Avand Lakmazaheri, Christine Nguyen and Emma Puranen, sophomore Billie Males and freshmen Jake Cui, Ryan Gottwald, Ava Lakmazaheri, Jonathan Lee, Sunlee Stechuk, Sashank Thupukari and Andy Zhao. The team will travel to Dayton, Ohio for the National Science Olympiad on May 18.
Student publications take home honors
At the NSPA/JEA Spring Journalism Convention in San Francisco from April 25-28, Threshold was named the first place Best of Show literary magazine; Techniques was named the fourth place Best of Show 275-324 page yearbook; and tjTODAY was named the sixth place Best of Show 13-16 broadsheet newspaper. In the write-offs, sophomore Ellen Kan earned a Superior rating, junior Shayna Hume and sophomore Alexis Williams earned Excellent ratings, and senior Sunny Kim and sophomore Sandy Cho earned Honorable Mentions.
Economics students win Governor’s Challenge
The team of senior Scott Gibson, juniors Catherine Shi and Robert Wang and sophomore Hamil Shah won first place at the 2013 Governor’s Challenge Champions in Economics and Personal Finance competition, which was held at Virginia Commonwealth University on April 17.
Five win Quill and Scroll awards
In the 2013 Quill and Scroll International Writing and Photo Contest, five tjTODAY reporters won awards. Students include seniors Tahmina Achekzai and Amy Ahn, sophomore Ellen Kan and Class of 2012 graduates Joshua Baquedano and Colleen Marshall.
Three seniors win National Achievement Scholarships
Seniors Morgan Cheatham, Kleo Greenwood and Howard Small are three of the 800 black high school students nationwide who won National Achievement Scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
DuPont winners selected
Junior Nikhil Bhattasali placed in the top three of the 2013 DuPont Challenge Essay Contest. Seniors Gordon Hart and Jisu Park and sophomore Hanna Carolina Hatanpaa won honorable mentions.
tjTODAY Online
To see more news, visit our website at tjhsst.edu/studentlife/ publications/tjTODAY
may 17, 2013
Major construction to Garza joins commence after delay FCPS as new by Tahmina Achekzai News Editor Jefferson’s beloved ceiling tiles have been removed. Protective fences are set up around courtyard trees. The practice field is waiting for an influx of trailers. And on May 20, students will be moving to the outdoor eating area. While the renovation team waits for its permit approval, contractors and FCPS employees are taking on several tasks in preparation for major construction. “The work being done right now does not require a building permit,” Director of Student Services Brandon Kosatka said. “When the permit comes through, they can focus on the larger work.” Because the Henley Construction Company, Inc. (HCC), whose contract was approved on April 3, was late in submitting a proposed schedule, some of the renovation procedures have been delayed. The first phase of the proposed plans, which will continue until September 2014, involves clearing space for research labs. The Kiss and Ride route will be modified starting on May 20 with signs directing parents around the building. Door 9 will close and Door 8 will take its place. Natalie Goldring, mother of sophomore Rebecca and senior Rachel Merriman-Goldring, attended a town hall meeting on April 25 held by the renovation team. “History suggests they’ll encounter unanticipated problems as they continue with the renovation. I hope – and assume – they’ve left time for that in the construction timeline,” she said. “My main concerns are about the process, and how the renovation is going to affect students.” The renovation team intends to pause construction during standardized testing. Currently, the only major construction before the end of the year is the demolition of the cafeteria. A service line will be created by the Chemical Analysis Research lab. New eating areas will be set up in Rooms 203-205. After the first phase, the second phase will follow beginning in either mid-August or in the beginning of September 2014, lasting until November 2015. After a very short phase three, phase four will begin in December 2015 and finish in 2016.
superintendent
photo by Jenny Chen
photo by Jenny Chen
Tiles have been removed from the ceiling.
In order to minimize disturbances, the renovation team will be working at night for demolition purposes. In addition, construction workers and contractors will be separated from students in walled-off designated “zones,” to ensure there is no unnecessary interference with the regular school day. Shanti Khanna, a junior at Marshall High School, has experience navigating through her school day during renovation. Marshall has been undergoing renovation since 2011. “I don’t think it affects how well we do in school. Most of the work and loud noises tend to happen after we go home,” she said. Since most major construction and demolition will be left for breaks, summer school will be at Woodson High School. When students return, over 1,000 lockers will be taken out, and more trailers will be added on the field adjacent to Weyanoke. “Cottage City,” as Glazer calls it, is expected to hit its peak during phase two, when 64 total trailers will be available for classroom use. Classes will start moving back into the building after phase two. “To keep the contractors on track and keep them focused, we’ve set dates with financial penalties if they go over,” FCPS Construction Manager Jay Zayas said. “The goal is to be done on time.”
Facebook maintains strong presence continued from p. 1 the class groups are a great place to fill in Not all students thought the invectives missing information that someone else were funny or appropriate. might have,” junior Jordan Goodson said. “When did this thing become about Among other high schools in the bashing people? Seriously…what the f*** Northern Virginia area, Jefferson appears to guys?” a submitter to TJ Confessionals said. be somewhat of an anomaly because of the TJ Salaries posted the salaries of Jefferson large presence of Facebook in students’ lives. faculty and staff at the request of anonymous “I use Twitter more. It’s more current and submission forms that included fields for the there are more active people,” Annandale request as well as the question: “If you could High School junior Melissa Pratt said. fire one faculty member, who would it be?” “There have been Twitter fights that have English teacher Emily Orser was the led to suspensions as well as Twitter fights target of one salary causing real-life request. fights which have “Since public school led to expulsions.” teacher salaries are R o b i n s o n public information Secondary School if people know the senior Anagha number of years and Srikanth is in the education level of a IB program and teacher, I don’t mind has noticed that IB that it has been posted,” students use social she said. “It does make media a lot more. me rather curious why “The thing photo courtesy of Facebook someone would with Facebook is want to know.” someone has to Anonymous submission pages began requestAdministrators ing students to add them as friends in March. take the initiative to did not ask this start a group, invite page to be removed people and make the because faculty and staff salaries are page useful,” she said. “Twitter isn’t really accurately represented on TJ Salaries. organized, but people use it if they just have Once these new pages sprang up, TJ a question or to make quick announcements Compliments started posting less frequently. they want a lot of people to see.” “During all that hullabaloo, we decreased Junior Carrie Murton observed the same the amount we posted because we wanted connection between students’ social media to make sure it was OK for us to continue and academic habits. posting,” the TJ Compliments creators, “I mentioned a class Facebook group to who asked to remain anonymous for now, one of my friends at another school, and he said. Their identities will be revealed in thought that was really strange and said that Techniques, the Jefferson yearbook. his school has nothing like that,” Murton The negative pages temporarily obscured said. “TJ kids are so caught up in school and some of Facebook’s more positive functions. obsess over grades and homework to the “A lot of times assignments aren’t really point it factors into their entire social life, made clear in class or on Blackboard, and including social media.”
continued from p. 1 When her term begins on July 1, Garza will be a key player in current Jefferson issues, including the evolving admissions process and Jefferson’s status as a regional Governor’s School. “That’s essentially a hot potato thrown into her lap,” Principal Evan Glazer said, “and I don’t think she even realizes that yet.” Garza worked as the Chief Academic Officer for Houston ISD. In both Lubbock and Houston, each high school has specialized programs in various subject areas. When asked about the magnet program in FCPS, Garza responded that she is in favor of largescale magnet schools. “I would support them as long as Fairfax County has resources to support that and as long as kids from FCPS are not turned away,” Garza said.
Renovation limits class fundraising by Tahmina Achekzai News Editor In a few weeks, the senior class will enjoy prom at the Key Bridge Marriot and receive their diplomas at the Patriot Center. For the Classes of 2014, 2015 and 2016, fundraising for graduation and prom isn’t easy because the renovation is interfering with plans. The Patriot Center is charging over $11,000 for graduation bookings this year. With a country club for prom at about $20,000, the cost can easily add up to more than $30,000. “We’ve been worrying a lot more about prom,” junior Tiffney Kathir said. The freshman class held the Lock-Out at Camp High Road in Middleburg. Because the renovation was expected to be well underway at this point, the freshmen had to find an alternative to an event held inside the building. The class made half of what they expected. According to class treasurer Andrew Howard, Lock-Ins usually make around $10,000. The junior class was planning to hold the Camp Out at Burke Lake Park, but the event will not be overnight. “We’ve had little to no access to the school. In the beginning of the year, there was a flat out rule that there were a lot of areas we couldn’t use,” Class of 2014 president Christine Mayuga said. This year, they juniors hosted a fundraiser at Menchie’s and a “Reston Town Center Hangout,” where a portion of proceeds from the ice-skating rink and various restaurants in its vicinity went to the Class of 2014. However, fundraisers outside of school can be an inconvenience. “There weren’t too many people at the Reston Town Center event,” junior Sonia Thakur said. The sophomore class didn’t make as much as they hoped from the Pi-Miler because of fees related to police and security. They anticipate that by next year there may be too much construction to have it on school grounds. The Class of 2016 is spreading out their senior dues so that members of their class pay $25 each year instead of $100 senior year. Junior class treasurer Joey Valery says the Class of 2014 officers aim to charge senior dues between $25 and $30. “We currently have no plans to raise them,” he said. The cost depends on Camp-Out success. “Last year, we did a lot of thinking and planning, but when it didn’t work out, we didn’t do much,” Mayuga said. “This year, we’ve had to be more creative.”
April Issue Corrections: •
In the Kudos “InvenTeam wins historic first at innovation competition,” team members were incorrectly identified. The team included seniors Yash Bhatnagar, Ben Hsu, Max Kanwal and Anand Prasanna.