Students earn awards at regional science fair

Congratulations to all of our regional science fair award winners!

Category Awards:

• Tiffany Chen; Nandini Shine – Grand Prize Nominee; First Place for Chemistry (Project: The Effect of Temperatures on Luminol Chemiluminescence Reaction)
• Ryan Chou – First Place for Chemistry (Project: The Effect of Activated Charcoal Quantity on its Absorption Ability)
• Amelia Hsu; Katie Kim – First Place for Energy Physical (Project: The Effect of Different Hydroelectric Generator Designs on the Average Volts Produced)
• Samir Chowdhury; Finn Marks – Honorable Mention for Energy: Chemical (Project: The Effect of Different Bases on the Efficiency of Carbon Sequestration)
• Emily Hunter; Hayden Birchfield – Honorable Mention for Materials Science (Project: Tampon Prices are Outrageous. Period.)
• Rachel Kulp; Varun Sathyanarayanan; Arianna Safire – Honorable Mention for Physics and Astronomy (Project: The Effect of Parachute Design on Descent Speed)

Organization Awards:

• Ryan Chou – Honorable Mention (Certificate of Merit) from the Virginia Dental Association (Project: The Effect of Activated Charcoal Quantity on its Absorption Ability)

Eighteen students qualify for DECA nationals

DECA students had a great showing at the competition in Virginia Beach last weekend. Here are the 18 students who made it to the national level of DECA competition:

• Evan Bremser & Mason Davis, 1^st Place, Sports & Entertainment Marketing Team
• Philena Sun, 1^st Place, Entrepreneurship Individual Event
• Zoe Mallus, 2^nd Place, Principles of Hospitality Management
• Maha Baig & Asia Kurtalic, 3^rd Place, Entrepreneurship Team Decision Making
• Lily Cooper, 3^rd Place, Quick Service Restaurant Management
• Josh Brown, Janine Dimatulac & Julia Roberton, 3^rd Place, Hospitality & Tourism Operations
• Kyle Creeser & Carter Robertson, Finalist, Sports & Entertainment Marketing Team
• Cayla Davis & Kaitlyn Merritt, Finalist, Marketing Management Team
• Camron Khaliq & Adam Lampal, Finalist, Hospitality Services Team Decision Making
• Jana Kral, Finalist, Entrepreneurship Individual Event
• Paige Pilewski, Finalist, Retail Merchandising

These students were awarded medals based on finishing in the top 10 in their event for the test:

• Kate Conklin, Sports & Entertainment Promotion
• Benjamin Jeannot, Principles of Finance
• Anna Karl, Advertising Campaign
• Bryce Liquerman, Hotel & Lodging
• Sydney Wang, Principles of Marketing

Dance team concludes winning competition season

The varsity dance team won first place awards for both large varsity pom and large varsity jazz at the Gar-Field Sweetheart Invitational in mid-February. Eleven high school dance teams from six local counties participated in the all-day event. In addition, junior captain Isabella Swigart placed first in the solo division out of 23 soloists. In January, the team also won two first place awards at the Brooke Point High School Dance Invitational. Congratulations to the dance team on a fantastic competition season!

McLean High School wins First Amendment Press Freedom Award

McLean High School is one of just 11 schools nationwide selected as a recipient of the 2018 First Amendment Press Freedom Award from the Journalism Education Association, the National Scholastic Press Association, and the Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society.

The First Amendment Press Freedom Award recognizes private and public high schools that actively support, teach, and protect First Amendment rights and responsibilities of students and teachers, with an emphasis on student run media where students make all final decisions of content.

I am proud to support our talented student journalists in McLean’s excellent journalism programs, advised by Lindsay Benedict and Meghan Percival.

Winning schools will be honored at the opening ceremony of the JEA-NSPA spring National High School Journalism Convention in April in San Francisco.

Junior receives Student Peace Award

Bryce Liquerman was named a recipient of the 2018 Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County for his work as a Special Olympics coach and with our Sources of Strength group that helps students deal with pressure and anxiety related to school and home. We are thankful for his contributions to our McLean community!

Sophomore wins Gold Key in 2018 Regional Scholastic Writing Awards

Congratulations to Ally Liu, who won a Gold Key in the 2018 Regional Scholastic Writing Awards competition for her flash fiction piece.