Greetings From Principal William Bates
Dear Herndon Community,
Spring is here! Spring is a magnificent time of the year and Herndon High School is full of excitement. Our spring activities are well underway. Daily, our track, and our baseball, softball and lacrosse fields are buzzing with young Hornets who are preparing for the upcoming season. Our students and teachers who participate in our Fine and Performing Arts programs are equally as busy. Just today I had an opportunity to stop by our auditorium to see our choir get in one last rehearsal before boarding their buses to head out to New York City for their spring trip. After leaving the auditorium I visited an Art 3 classroom and viewed some amazing pieces of art that some of the students will enter in an upcoming art show. We are proud of our Concord district champion men’s basketball team. Senior Will Ferguson was named as the Northern Region Player of the Year. Additionally, we had state qualifiers in swim and dive and indoor track. Two of our students, Cierra Artis and Rebekah Soliday were selected to the Governor’s School for visual arts. And Molly Nuss and Jessica Homet were selected to the Virginia All State Choir. Additional All State selections included Dasha Bradfield, Tiberui Baicoianu, and Adrian Ahn for their performances in band. Naturally, there are too many events occurring in March and April to list but some additional school events will include the Most Improved Breakfast, the College Stinger series, ASVAB testing, and an important drug and alcohol seminar for our parents.
Our students, teachers and counselors have been working very hard and we are witnessing great results. Even though colleges and universities recently received student’s 7 semester grades, many of our seniors are already receiving acceptances from the colleges of their choice. Just like in years past, many of our students plan to attend UVA, Virginia Tech, William and Mary, James Madison, Yale, Cornell, Penn State, Georgetown, Cornell, and various other fine educational institutions.
Spring also brings the season of testing to FCPS schools. Over the next two months we will administer thousands of SOL and AP exams. Although we strive to promote creativity and student engagement in the classroom and not have teachers “teach to the test” one cannot help but feel some level of anxiety when it comes to the SOL’s and AP’s. As you are aware our students need to earn a minimum of 6 verified credits, including 1 in English and math in order to graduate with a standard diploma and score a 3 on their AP exam for most colleges to accept the course as a college credit. We are confident that our students will be prepared for these upcoming exams and will perform well on them.
On a final note, I would like to solicit every Herndon community member to continue providing their support and encouragement to the students and faculty at Herndon High School. A great deal needs to be accomplished between now and June and our students are bound to experience times of stress. If we work together we can overcome any hurdles and achieve much success as we wind down the 2012-2013 school year.
Sincerely,
William L. Bates