Welcome to the start of second quarter! While the first part of the year can be a time of adjustment, by November most students have settled into a routine and are comfortable with their courses. If your student is struggling in a course, encourage them to seek academic support from their teachers during Langley Links or teacher office hours on Monday mornings. The counselors also can direct them to resources, and PTSA programming offers information for parents on how to assist our students as well. I’m glad that so many were able to join us earlier today for the PTSA-sponsored forum, Parenting During the Pandemic, with McLean-based psychotherapist Jennifer Weaver.

Looking ahead, the PTSA has two more parent programs coming up in November and December. Join us for the next virtual PTSA General Membership Meeting on Wed, Nov 18 at 9:30 am. Click here for the link (also posted on the PTSA website calendar). The guest speaker will be our LHS Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist Kelly Rankin, who’ll share the latest findings from the FCPS Youth Survey and talk about substance abuse trends among teens during the pandemic. We’ll also present updates from the PTSA and the latest happenings at Langley.

Another topic of high interest for parents and students alike is the college admissions process. Mark your calendars for Dec 8 at 7 pm for a live webinar with best selling author and college admissions expert Jeff Selingo, moderated by LHS College and Career Center Specialist Hannah Wolff. Read below for more.

~ Kitty Gonzalez, PTSA President

Parents and students are invited to spend a virtual evening with Jeff Selingo, a best-selling author, engaging speaker, college admissions expert and former editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education. Mr. Selingo immersed himself in the world of college admissions for a year to answer a question on the minds of students and parents alike: how do colleges select their freshman class? The result is his latest book, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions.

Mr. Selingo will dispel entrenched notions of how to compete and win at the admissions game, discuss why families have much to gain by broadening their notion of what qualifies as a “good college", and explain how the pandemic will impact admissions. Langley's College and Career Counselor Hannah Wolff will moderate the evening, including audience Q&As.

The webinar is hosted by the LHS PTSA and is free and open to parents and students in all FCPS high schools. Click here to register.

Look for an announcement in December, when Ms. Wolff will host a discussion group for the Langley community on Mr. Selingo’s book. 

Despite this period of virtual learning, Langley’s Saxon Stage isn’t dark! Plan to enjoy a broadcast of its first virtual production, “Hey Stranger,” tomorrow, Fri, Nov 13 at 7 pm or Sat, Nov 14 at 7 pm. The short (18 minute) play is a virtual romantic comedy about mixed signals, bad internet and a surprise Zoom caller. Click here for the flyer.

Tickets are $5. To order, click here. After your purchase you’ll receive an e-ticket with the streaming link to view the show on the digital device of your choice. Enjoy!

Congratulations to Saxon Stage’s Hannah Toronto, Cole Sitilides and Claire Stephenson! The three received superior ratings across the board from adjudicators at the 2020 Virginia Theatre Association Conference, held virtually in October, for their performance of “Hey Stranger.” Hannah also received a best actress award for her performance. Bravo to all three!

During this holiday season, would you like your charitable donations to help those close to home? Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the PTSA's Langley Cares Fund! This fund assists LHS students and their families who are experiencing acute financial need. 

In this time of economic uncertainty due to the pandemic, we hope to aid everyone in our Langley community who needs assistance. To donate, please click here. Thank you for helping your fellow Langley students and families!

There’s one more day for taking underclassman pictures! Click here to sign up for a time slot for next Mon, Nov 16, 8:30 am-4 pm. On picture day, masks are required except when seated for pictures and students will enter and exit Langley through separate doors.

Photos can be ordered online both before and after picture day at mylifetouch. Use ID code EVT9F8SVT. (Camera cards or picture tickets aren’t required, and no orders will be taken on the picture days.) Students will get a photo ID on site and photos will be mailed to their homes. Questions? Contact Kelly Mulligan at kjmulligan@fcps.edu.

Come stroll around the LHS track to meet and connect with Langley parents! Meet up for the next Walk & Talk (11-12 gr) on Tues, Nov 17, 1:30-2:30 pm. Park in the rear of the Langley parking lot and head to the track (masks required). 

Additional walks are slated for:  Walk & Talk (9-10 gr) on Tues, Dec 1 and Walk & Talk (11-12 gr) on Tues, Dec 8. All walks are at 1:30-2:30 pm. 

Coordinated by the Family Network Committee, these get-togethers are loosely designated by grade, but attend any that fit your schedule! Check the PTSA Twitter feed for any weather-related cancellations @LangleyHS_PTSA.

Help Langley’s band program — please donate to its Virtual Tag Day campaign! Families might have noticed that band and color guard members haven’t come by this year as part of their annual fall fundraiser. Students normally go door-to-door for Tag Day, the band’s largest fundraiser of the year, but it wasn’t possible this year due to covid-19.

Family and community support for the band is needed even during distance learning. For example, the band program is still providing sectionals virtually, where professional musicians work with students. With the largest number of LHS band students ever this year, it needs additional instruments and equipment. Once school is back in-person, the band will need to outfit more Marching Saxons with uniforms. 

hockey news: Congratulations to the varsity hockey team! The Saxons won its season opener at home, 8 goals to 3, against Fauquier/Highlands varsity on Oct 30. Sophomore Kam Khazai led the scoring with a hat trick (three goals), senior Callie Cahill put in two goals, and juniors Mike Kuligowski, Max Moser and Ethan Slamowitz each got the puck in the net.  

Trying to repeat its opener, the varsity squad lost a fast-paced second home game 4-7 against Kettle Run/Liberty on Nov 6. The Veretenov brothers led the scoring, with Max netting two goals and Daniel one, and Mike Kuligowski finished with one goal.

In a hard-fought and close match, the JV team lost its opening game, 4-5, against Briar Woods/Independence JV on Oct 31.  Sophomore Gino Colabatistto and freshmen Pete Kuligowski, Aidan Jacques and Brady Nicholas each put a puck in the back of the net. 

Covid-19 restrictions at the rinks severely limit the number of spectators allowed at games, and Langley hockey misses the intensity of its fans. The fans are cheering on the Saxons in spirit!

vhsl sports are back: Following Governor Northam’s order, FCPS announced last week that high school league sports can resume. Click here for the Guidelines for Return to Participation, which has summary info and details by each sport. Basketball starts on Dec 7 and other winter sports start on Dec 14.

Mark your calendars for a meeting about winter sports with LHS Director of Student Activities Geoff Noto on Dec 3 at 6 pm. A link will be sent out the day of the meeting.

All forms need to be turned in prior to tryouts. Click here for forms and email them to langleyactivities@fcps.edu. To tryout, students also must be registered at Langley's new sports registration site. Questions? View this contacts list of coaches and Student Activities staff.

Don't forget! You can send a shoutout to our Langley teachers and staff at any time. Use this form to write a note saying thank you. Then, the PTSA will transfer your note onto a larger, eye-catching Super Saxon Shoutout template and will deliver it to the recipient within a week to 10 days after your submission. There's no deadline. Send as many as you like!

Drugs are an issue that will always be present in high school environments, but Kelly Rankin, Langley’s substance abuse counselor and a licensed clinical social worker, is here to guide students along the right path. 

Substance abuse counselors are a recently-added resource to FCPS. “In 2017, the School Board looked at the data from heroin overdoses, and it was a horrible year,” Mrs. Rankin explained. As a result, FCPS hired substance abuse counselors to help students combat drug use, and Mrs. Rankin joined LHS in 2018.

Working in FCPS isn’t Mrs. Rankin’s first exposure to the field of substance abuse, but rather a continuation of her previous career. After college, Mrs. Rankin earned her MA in social work, specializing in substance abuse, at George Mason University. As a Program Director for several years at the women’s residential treatment program and the outpatient program of Phoenix House, a non-profit substance abuse center in Arlington, Mrs. Rankin said “the biggest lesson I got from the adults is that they all started [substance abuse] in high school.” 

Mrs. Rankin enjoys being able to help high school students. Instead of telling students plainly not to do drugs, she uses approaches to try to open up their minds about the grim realities of substance abuse. “It’s really about prevention and understanding,” she said. When giving presentations or counseling individuals, Mrs. Rankin has “an arrow that starts out at the experimental phase and then it gets to the dependence phase … the common thinking pattern is that it won’t happen to “me,” so I work with students to figure out what they can do to prevent themselves from crossing that line.” 

A big part of Mrs. Rankin’s job is helping students or parents one-on-one, who may have concerns pertaining to drug use. “If a student comes to me, I have to get permission from the parent, too,” she noted. Although parental permission is required to initiate meetings, students may opt to keep their conversations with Mrs. Rankin completely private. In addition, meetings with Mrs. Rankin are strictly confidential and do not get reported to Langley or FCPS.  “I think a lot of parents and kids think that it is somehow going to end up on their school [record] if they reach out to me, but that is not the case.”

As well as counseling students or parents individually, Mrs. Rankin is an expert resource for the Langley community regarding news and education on substance abuse. She makes presentations to class parent forums and PTSA meetings, summarizes information such as the FCPS Youth Survey, contributes facts and statistics to the “Did You Know?” features of eNews and the LHS News You Choose, and speaks at FCPS and other seminars and conferences. To hear Mrs. Rankin and the latest from the FCPS Youth Survey, make sure to attend the virtual PTSA meeting on Nov 18 at 9:30 am. For a confidential conversation or to even just ask a question, Mrs. Rankin welcomes any student or parent to reach out to her at krankin@fcps.edu.

… the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicle’s crash investigations unit reports on driver, vehicle and environmental factors affecting car crashes. In 2019 in Fairfax County, there were 1,444 crashes among drivers aged 15-20. Thirty-five were alcohol-related and one of those was fatal. As of August this year, there have been 739 crashes in that age group, with 26 related to alcohol. What are rules in your house regarding drinking and distracted driving?

FCPS recently created a summary regarding how the return to school process will work, and also made a video of the concurrent pilot at West Springfield HS. Click here for the Family Guide to Return to School and here for the video. Superintendent Brabrand will brief the School Board in its working session this evening at 6 pm on the pilot schools that have returned. You can view the session on the FCPS live stream link.

antiracism seminar: The Northern Virginia District PTSA is hosting an antiracism seminar featuring several info sessions and panel discussions on Sat, Nov 14 from 1-5:30 pm. You can attend any of the sessions, all with one registration link. View the flyer or go here to register. Questions? Email Mike Woltz at diversity@novadistrictpta.org. 

safe community coalition videos: The McLean-based group, Safe Community Coalition, recently launched a series of six short (10 minute) videos aimed at helping both parents and students “manage the moments” during the pandemic. Click here for more info and to view the videos. 

girls on the run: Are you looking for a fun chance to get outside this month? Are you in track or XC or did you participate in Girls on the Run in elementary school? Over a dozen Girls on the Run 5Ks are being held this month (most over the weekend of Nov 21-22) and they’re looking for volunteers to help at water stations and cheer on the girls at the events. Sign up here! Questions, or want to help at a location but the slots are filled? Email Christina Lambacher at clambacher@gotrnova.org.

landscape cleanup: Spring Hill ES is asking for help with its fall landscape clean up tomorrow, Fri, Nov 13, 3:30-5:30 pm. The weather is perfect so bring a water bottle, rake and gloves and pitch in! Masks required. Questions? Email Kim Saxenian at kas2100@aol.com.

upcoming events

Join the LHS PTSA! Click Here.