1.The Langley High School PTSA is rolling out the Green & Gold Carpet for our new principal, Larry Stroud!  Please join us on Wed, Dec 11, at 9 am in the Lecture Hall for breakfast and an opportunity to welcome Mr. Stroud to Saxon Country.  RSVP and submit a question here. See below for more details.

2. Hot off the press: Reflections winners announced! See below for details on the winning entries.

3. With so many organizations asking for your charitable dollars this time of year, the PTSA asks that you consider spending money closer to home where your funds directly support your child's education! The PTSA supports professional development for teachers, classroom aids, opportunities for students to explore careers and more! Donate here. 

Read below for class news. Click the green class buttons to go to each class's webpage.

The Reflections Art Contest 2024-25 is now concluded on the local level.

Many thanks to the LHS office, Student Activities, Teachers and LHS PTSA for their help and support. 

We are grateful and thankful to the Reflections volunteer judges for their professional evaluation, expertise and contribution to the LHS community. Applause and Bravo! to the super-talented participating students, who graciously shared their inspiration, talent … and perfect imperfections, by creating their wonderful and unique works of art. The first place entries are moving onto the Regional level FCCPTA.

PTSA Reflections Art Contest Winners, Langley High School 2024-25,

“Accepting Imperfection”

Note: Click on student names to see their winning entries.

Literature

1st Place: Outstanding Interpretation award - Alejandro Wick 11th, Essay “Embracing Ourselves: Defeating the Tyranny of Imperfection”

2nd place: Award of Excellence - Audrey Thoreson 9th, Poem “Accepting My Brain”

3rd place: Award of Merit - Inger Logan 10th, Poem “(I’m) Perfection”

Photography

1st Place: Outstanding Interpretation Award - Alyssa Sun 11th, “Weathered Wisdom”

2nd Place: Award of Excellence - Aryana Molaiy 12th, “Fractured Yet Whole”

3rd Place: Award of Merit - William Newburn 9th, “Photogram Self-Portrait”

Honorable Mention - Ethan Osurman 11th, “Tell Her You Love Her”

Honorable Mention - Quyen Nguyen 11th, “Fractured Resilience”

Visual Arts

1st Place: Outstanding Interpretation Award - Kristen Han 10th, “Gaze”

2nd Place: Award of Excellence - Riley Seewer 12th, “Enemy of the Good”

3rd Place: Award of Merit - Emily Tang 12th, “Appetite”

Honorable Mention - Minh Nguyen 9th, “I’m Perfect”

Music Composition

1st Place: Outstanding Interpretation Award - Chloe Stuckey 12th, “Fault”

2nd Place: Award of Excellence - Johnny Center 11th, “The Pieces Don’t Have to Fit”

3rd Place: Award Merit - Brendan Wheeler 9th, “Perfectly Real”

Honorable Mention - Rajin Braynard 12th, “Miss Anemone”

Film Production

Honorable Mention - Shriya Gubbi 10th, “Dear Me”

The Saxon Stage Cappies Critics, also known as the Saxon Scribes, have officially kicked off their new season of reviewing high school theatre productions!

Our team had a fantastic start two weeks ago, attending two outstanding performances. Each critic (around 50-75 per show) has just 24 hours to write and submit a review. From those submissions, the Cappies Mentors select 5-7 reviews to be published across various media outlets, including newspapers, websites and social media.

We are proud to announce that the following students had their reviews selected for publication:

Jenny Mears: Review to be featured in FCPS Community News

Sophia Christiano: Review to be featured in the Fairfax County Times



The Saxon Scribes are excited for the rest of the season and are cheering on all the incredible high school theatre productions ahead!

The Langley High School PTSA is rolling out the Green & Gold Carpet for our new principal, Larry Stroud!

Join PTSA leadership, volunteers, representatives of our various boosters organizations and most importantly, our new principal, Mr. Stroud, for a breakfast reception on Wed, Dec 11, at 9 am in the Lecture Hall. The parent community will welcome Mr. Stroud to Langley and then turn over the mic, as we invite him to share his vision and priorities for our students and school.

Let us know you’re coming as well as submit your questions in advance here. RSVPs are appreciated, but not required. Langley Hall can be accessed through Door 9, beginning at 8:45 am on Dec 11. See you there!

Share your feedback on the PTSA website! We are in the process of redesigning the Langley High School PTSA website and need your input. Please take the survey to help us improve the website and make it more functional for you! Survey closes Dec 31.

Join us for an evening of music and merriment at the Langley Chorus Renaissance Feaste on Dec 6 and 7. Feaste stadium seats (no dinner) on the steps of Langley Hall are still available. Cookies and cider will be provided to our stadium viewers. Tickets are available via ThunderTix or can be purchased at the door for just $10.

Join Langley’s new principal, Larry Stroud, for an international potluck lunch social in the LHS Career Center from 11:30 am-1:30 pm tomorrow Fri, Dec 6. We hope all transfer families (whose kids did not attend Cooper) and transfer family alumni will come for a chance to reconnect and welcome new families to the community. Bring a favorite international dish to share. This will be the final Transfer Family event this year.

RSVP to LHS Family Liaison Julie Zimmerman Hohl at jbzimmerman@fcps.edu if you can attend.

It’s chilly out, Saxons! Stay warm and show your spirit with our large selection of sweatshirts, pants, flannels and coats! Visit the Langley Boosters website and scroll to click on Shop to see the selection. We deliver!

This is the last week for our Wreaths Across America fundraiser! This event honors our nation's veterans while raising much-needed funds for the graduation night party. The event is on National Wreaths Across America Day, and for every $17 wreath sponsorship made here ANGP receives $5.

Sponsoring a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery is a personal gift of gratitude for a veteran, and it takes just five minutes. Your sponsorship ensures a wreath will be placed at a grave site on National Wreaths Across America Day on Dec 14 and supports our seniors at the same time!

Save the date! The 8th Grade Langley Open House will be held on Sun, Jan 26, 2025, from 2-4 pm. Eighth-grade students and their families are invited to attend an information session presented by administrators, tour the building and chat with experienced parents, students and faculty. Come and see all of the reasons that Langley is an incredible community with amazing opportunities for our students to thrive. 

Register here if you are interested in joining us, and forward to any local families who might be interested.

Do you want to have input into the analysis of school boundaries? FCPS is holding Boundary Review Committee Meetings. Our region's meeting is Wed, Dec 18, at 6:30 pm at Madison HS in Vienna. Details and registration can be found here.  

Missing a jacket, sweatshirt, lunchbox and/or water bottle? It may be in Langley’s very large lost and found collection. Stop by the lost and found box located in the Cafeteria! Items not collected will be donated after Dec 20.

Grace Kim, who is teaching Geometry Honors and Algebra 2 Honors at Langley this year, expresses a drive to help students and make their high school experience as good as possible. Ms. Kim first discovered her passion for teaching in high school. “I really appreciated teachers that made it fun and exciting to learn, so I was really sad when I learned other people had different [learning] experiences than I did,” Ms. Kim said. “I wanted to become a teacher that gave [students] a good experience.”

This is Ms. Kim’s first year teaching since graduating. She decided to teach at Langley because she wanted a competitive environment, and Langley fit that bill perfectly.

“Since I’m a very math oriented person, I looked up a lot of data concerning math test scores and academic achievement in general,” Ms. Kim said. “I wanted to put myself in an environment that was really reaching for excellence… [and] try to match up with it.”

Additionally, Ms. Kim enjoys teaching because it allows her to meet new people and discover new perspectives. “I think that teaching is a really social job where you not only interact with other teachers, but obviously with students,” Ms. Kim said. “I think it kind of helps to keep a fresh perspective and it keeps life interesting.”

In her free time, Ms. Kim enjoys hiking with her dog. She also enjoys baking because she used to work in a bakery, and occasionally does small baking projects.

Reflecting back on her high school days, Ms. Kim stresses the importance of communication in her advice to her students.“Communication is key. I feel like the lack of communication is why you fall behind, and why drama may start. I think that between teachers and students, and students to students,communication is just really important,” Kim said.

~ Elakshi Nedungottil, Saxon Scope Reporter

~ Photo by Elakshi Nedungottil

Winter Sports Yard Signs are still available! Ordering deadline is extended to tomorrow Fri, Dec 6!

These durable signs look great and can be used both indoors and outside! Yard signs are a great way to show school spirit, support your athlete and the Langley Athletic Boosters! 

Click here to order. Questions? Contact Alyson Samburg at alycoffey@yahoo.com.

Looking for volunteer or other opportunities? PTSA volunteers maintain this running list of opportunities for our students. The Service and Jobs Opportunities Committee's goal is to help connect students to summer internships, jobs and volunteer opportunities to fulfill community service requirements, gain job experience and explore career paths.

Dec 6: Transfer Family Potluck Lunch, 11:30 am, Career Center

Dec 6-7: Renaissance Feaste, 7 pm, Langley Hall

Dec 10: Orchestra Concert, 7 pm, Auditorium

Dec 11: Principal Q&A/PTSA General Membership Meeting, 9 am, Lecture Hall

Dec 12: LHS Jazz Band/Cooper MS Band Concert, 7 pm, Auditorium

Dec 17: Band Concert, 7 pm, Auditorium 

Dec 18-19: Senior Photos

Dec 19: Choral Concert, 7 pm, Auditorium 

Dec 23-Jan 5: Winter Break