PRINCIPAL’S REPORT Dr. Nelson McLeod, Principal April/May 2014 Richard Montgomery High School

Montgomery County Public Schools

Dear Richard Montgomery High School Community:

With the start of April, 2014, let me update you on the following:

On Wednesday, March 12, 2014, the combined Concert Choir, Lunch Choir, and Madrigals were adjudicated in the MMEA/MCPS Festival at Seneca Valley High School and received all “1’s” (Superior) ratings This qualifies them to participate in the state festivals in late April.

Congratulations to the Richard Montgomery High School It's Academic A team for its victory at the 2014 Virginia Commonwealth University Spring Tournament VI at New Kent High School in New Kent County, Virginia. The team, consisting of senior Roy Liu, and juniors Gabe Guedes, Farah Kabir and Ben Koppel prevailed over a field of 18 teams from across the region.

Trinish Chatterjee, junior, won third prize in the Biology category in the Montgomery County Science fair (www.sciencemontgomery.org). His project was entitled "Hypervariable Regions and Mutations of Viral Neuraminidase in H1N1 Influenza as Predictors of Oseltamivir Resistance"

Our amazing Richard Montgomery High School Senior Robotics Team 5421 RM-ED AND DANGEROUS won three prestigious awards (Inspire Award, Connect Award, and Promote Award) at the Maryland FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. They are now advancing to the East Super-Regional tournament in April at York, Pennsylvania! Congratulations to the team members: seniors (Milka Piszczek, Sasha Maldonado, Jon Xia, Julia Di, and Pavel Piliptchak), juniors (Lisa Mena and Sarah Flaherty), sophomores (Declan Rickards-

Blauer and Elan Naideck), and freshmen (Peter Maldonado, Frederick Xu, and

Théo Goltzman)!

The Mock Trial Team captured the Judicial Circuit No. 6 championship by defeating Frederick’s Oakdale High School. The team now advances to the state-quarterfinals. They were led in victory by Elaine Montgomery, Sylvia Regan, Sarah Krosnick, Camden Ostrander, Alyssa Hu and Nikita Sardana.

Congratulations to the Model Congress team for a fantastic showing in March. Spe-cial congratulations go to Dash Yeatts-Lonske for winning best delegate, Raja Ramesh for winning best delegate and outstanding delegate in full session, and Will Simon for winning an honorable mention.

Congratulations to junior Jordan Sherman, who won the first place medal from the junior United States Open Race for kayaking. Not only did Jordan qualify for the jun-

ior national team, but he is the top ranked junior kayak racer in the country! Next month, Jordan will travel to Australia to compete in the Junior World Champion-ships.

The Richard Montgomery High School DECA Club Team won in every category they competed. John Marsten won first place in International Business Plan; Devin Ba-jaj won first place in Principles of Business Management and Administration; Shub-hankar Viragi won first place in Professional Selling and Rachit Agarwal won first place in Entrepreneurship Participating Event -Creating an Independent Busi-ness. They all qualify to compete in the DECA Nationals Competition in Atlanta,

Georgia in May! Thank you for your continued support of Richard Montgomery High School. —Nelson McLeod, PhD Principal

RM Rocket Pride!

School Updates

Included in this Issue:

School Updates 1

Counseling Services Up-

dates 2

Safe or Sorry Update 2

Senior Information 3

AP/IB Exam Schedule 5

2013-2014 May HSA &

Senior Exam Schedule 6

Students of the Month 7

More School Updates 8

Important Upcoming Dates:

4/9: Report Card

Distribution

4/9: Senior Banquet

4/12: ACT Administered

4/14-4/17: Spring Break

4/18 4/21: Holiday, Easter

4/29: Instrumental Spring

Showcase, 7:00pm

5/3: SAT Administered

5/15: RMHS Student

Awards Night, Auditorium

5/16: RMHS Prom, Rockville

Hilton

5/20: Parent Series-College

101: What is College Really Like?, 6:30pm, Cafeteria

5/20: PTSA Meeting,

7:30pm, Cafeteria

5/22: Spring Choral Concert,

7:30pm

5/23: Last day for seniors

5/26:: Holiday—Memorial

Day

6/7: SAT Administered

6/11: Graduation, 10:00am,

DAR Constitution Hall, no school for students

6/12: Last Day School for

Students

6/19: Report Cards Mailed

6/23: First day Summer

School, 1st session

7/4: Holiday—

Independence Day

7/11: Last day Summer

School, 1st session

7/15 First day Summer

School, 2nd session

8/1: Last day Summer

School, 2nd session

Page 2 PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Counseling Services Updates Junior Student Parent Meetings

The Junior Student and Parent meetings were held

during the month of March. The purpose of the meet-

ings was to introduce both parents and students to

post-secondary options and the college application

process. All junior students attended along with their parents. The power point used for the presentation is

posted on the school web page under the counseling

tab along with other resources for juniors. Both par-

ents and students are urged to review this information

and contact their counselor, as needed, for additional

information. The next step for juniors is to complete

their student brag sheet and then schedule an inter-

view with their counselor to obtain a college letter of

recommendation.

Registration for Courses for Next School Year

Counselors finished registering students for courses

for the 2014-2015 school year. The master course

schedule will be built and students will be tentatively assigned to courses. Summer months will be devoted

to balancing class sizes. If you know of any student

who is considering registering at Richard Montgomery

High School for the 2014-2015 school year, please en-

courage them to enroll at Richard Montgomery as

soon as possible. If parents wait until the end of the

summer to enroll their children the courses available

will be limited.

Summer School Registration Registration for MCPS summer school is now

open. Registration is completed at the student’s home

school and starts with students downloading the ap-

plication and presenting it to the school counselor for

processing. The deadline for registering for session 1 is

June 9, the deadline for registering for session 2

courses is June 25. Please do not wait until the last

day to register; classes are filled on a first-come first-

serve basis. Tuition waivers are available for qualified

students. You can find summer school registration

information and forms on the MCPS web page at:

h t t p : / / w w w . m o n t g o m e r y s c h o o l s m d . o r g /

departments/extendedhours/summerschool/

high.aspx.

For additional information, please contact your child’s

counselor.

2013-2014 Safe Or Sorry Update The 2013-2014 Safe Or Sorry (S.O.S.) campaign is in

full swing at Richard Montgomery High School. The

S.O.S. campaign is a student safety program focused

on different aspects of safety issues impacting young

adults such as pedestrian safety, texting and driving,

impaired driving, and internet safety and bully-ing. The S.O.S. student committee partners with staff

to create programs and giveaways to promote safety.

For the 2013-2014 school year, the S.O.S. committee

has completed the following:

Students viewed two safety videos, one for internet

safety and one for texting and driving, during an

extended RMBC period with a discussion follow-

ing.

To promote reminders to never text and drive, stu-

dent members of the S.O.S. committee distributed

thumb bands reminding students to never text and drive.

The S.O.S. student committee applied for and re-

ceived a $2000 grant from the Montgomery Coun-

ty Government Walk Your Way program to help

promote pedestrian safety.

To promote pedestrian safety, student members of

the S.O.S. committee ordered reflective bracelets

with the Richard Montgomery High School logo for

students to wear on their person or backpack.

The Safe Or Sorry assembly is scheduled for Friday,

May 2, 2014 in the auditorium. The assembly is the

culminating activity for this year’s campaign and will

include all 11th and 12th grade students. Speakers will

include Dr. Snashall from the Shady Grove Hospital

ER, Chief Treschuk of the City of Rockville police, and Anna Torres-Davis, a former Richard Montgomery

High School parent. Scheduled right before prom, the

assembly focuses on keeping students safe and pre-

pared as they move to the big events of senior year

and graduation.

The 2013-2014 S.O.S. t-shirts will be available to se-

lect students following the assembly. This year’s t-

shirt was designed by Mr. McDermott’s Digital Art

class.

The S.O.S. student committee is continuing to partner

with local groups to further expand our pedestrian

safety push. If you have any questions about this year’s Safe Or Sorry campaign, please contact Jon

G a r r i c k , a s s i s t a n t p r i n c i p a l , a t

Jonathan_L_Garrick@mcpsmd.org

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT Page 3

RMHS—Main Office 301-610-8000

Counseling Office: 301-610-8050

Registrar: 301-610-8055

Athletic Director: 301-610-8075

Career Center: 301-610-8064

Business Manager: 301-610-8011

Financial Office: 301-610-8012

Attendance Office: 301-610-8010

Important Phone Numbers

Seniors “Class of 2014” - Important Information Below is an update on important dates for seniors.

Additional information will be posted on the school

web site:

SSL Graduation Requirement

Student Service Learning Hours (SSL) must be com-pleted by Friday, May 2, 2014.

Senior Exams

Class attendance is mandatory in every class up

through the final examination period. On Monday,

May 19, seniors must attend periods 1–4; Tuesday,

May 20, seniors must attend periods 3–7; Wednesday,

May 21, seniors must attend periods 6-8 Thursday,

May 22, seniors must attend period 8; and Friday,

May 23, seniors must attend only if they are making

up exams.

Senior Exam Schedule

Monday, May 19, 2014 Periods 1 and 2

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 Periods 3 and 4

Wednesday, May 21, 2014 Periods 6 and 7

Thursday, May 22, 2014 Period 8

Friday, May 23, 2014 Make-Ups

Graduation Rehearsal

All graduates are required to attend rehearsal,

Monday, June 9th at 7:00 a.m. (auditorium) in order

to be able to walk during the ceremony. Tickets will

be distributed at the end of rehearsal. Students must

be on time for the rehearsal and stay until the end to

receive their cap and gown.

Graduation Tickets

Each senior will be allotted five tickets. Notification by

email of extra ticket requests was done in the last

week of March.

Senior Banquet

The senior banquet will be held on Wednesday, April

9, 2014, at the Lakewood Country Club from 7:00

p.m. until 9:30 p.m. The cost is $35 and may only be

purchased in advance.

Senior Picnic

The senior picnic will be held at Smokey Glen, located in Gaithersburg, and follows the graduation rehearsal.

Students must provide their own transportation to the

picnic and home.

Graduation Transportation to the Event

Bus option is $25 per person. The bus will depart

from Richard Montgomery High School at 7:30 a.m.

The bus departs from DAR Constitution Hall to return

to RMHS approximately 30 minutes from the close of

the ceremony. Ticket sales will begin Monday, April 7,

2014, and run through Friday, May 16. Tickets are

first come first serve. Checks are payable to RMHS

and may be dropped off at the main office or to Ms.

Weaver in room 45 before or after school. Parking is

very limited at DAR Constitution Hall. There is a metro

stop within a few blocks as well.

Graduation Ceremony:

Wednesday, June 11, 2014 at 10:00 a.m.

DAR Constitution Hall

Graduates must arrive at 9:00 a.m.

All graduates should be dressed in their gradua-

tion robes when they arrive

Professional photographs of your graduate will be

available to purchase online. Graduates, parents and

family members can view those students crossing the

stage and receiving a diploma online at

www.candidcolor.net with a login code. All of the in-

formation needed to login is online at the RM home

page under the graduation tab.

Get Morning Announcements by Email

The school’s web site posts the morning announce-

ments each day from the RMBC daily broadcasts.

Parents can also receive the daily announcements of

activities and opportunities on email.

To sign up for email announcements

and for more information, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rmhs_announcements/

Page 4 PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Richard Montgomery High School

COLLEGE READINESS WORKSHOPS

SUMMER 2014

Wednesday, July 9, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. – College Essay Workshop – Part I

Monday, July 14, 8:50 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Mock SAT given by C2Education

Wednesday, July 23, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. – College Essay Workshop – Part II

Monday, July 28, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. – The Common Application and Family Connection

Wednesday, July 30, 8:50 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Mock ACT given by C2Education

Monday, August 4, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. – How to get the most out of high

school

For Ninth graders:

Wednesday, August 6, 8:50 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Mock SAT given by C2Education

Monday, August 11, 8:50 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Mock ACT given by C2Education

Wednesday, August 13, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. - Scholarships and the FAFSA

All workshops will be held at Richard Montgomery High School.

The essay workshop will have

limited seating—reserve your seat early!

Interested in attending any or all of these workshops? Please rsvp to Ms. Hull

at Mary_F_Hull@mcpsmd.org

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT Page 5

May 2014 AP/IB Exam Schedule

Page 6 PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

2013-2014 May H.S.A. and Senior Exam Schedule

Monday, May 19, 2014

Periods Event Time Attendees

Morning NSL H.S.A. 7:25 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. H.S.A. test takers

Lunch Lunch 10:50 a.m. – 11:20 a.m.

Afternoon NSL H.S.A. (if needed) 11:20 a.m. – 2:10 p.m.

H.S.A. test takers

1 Senior Exam/Regular Class 11:25 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. Seniors/all students

2 Senior Exam/Regular Class 12:15 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Seniors/all students

3 Regular Class 1:05 p.m. – 1:35 p.m. All students

4 Regular class 1:40 p.m. – 2:10 p.m. All students

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Periods Event Time Attendees

Morning Biology H.S.A. 7:25 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. H.S.A. test takers

Lunch Lunch 10:50 a.m. – 11:20 a.m.

Afternoon Biology H.S.A. 11:20 a.m. – 2:10 p.m. H.S.A. test takers

3 Senior Exam/Regular Class 11:25 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. Seniors/all students

4 Senior Exam/Regular Class 12:15 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Seniors/all students

6 Regular Class 1:05 p.m. – 1:35 p.m. All students

7 Regular class 1:40 p.m. – 2:10 p.m. All students

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Periods Event Time Attendees

Morning Algebra H.S.A. 7:25 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. H.S.A. test takers

Lunch Lunch 10:50 a.m. – 11:20 a.m.

Afternoon Algebra H.S.A. 11:20 a.m. – 2:10 p.m. H.S.A. test takers

6 Senior Exam/Regular Class 11:25 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. Seniors/all students

7 Senior Exam/Regular Class 12:15 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Seniors/all students

8 Regular Class 1:05 p.m. – 1:35 p.m. All students

1 Regular class 1:40 p.m. – 2:10 p.m. All students

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Periods Event Time Attendees

Morning English H.S.A. 7:25 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. H.S.A. test takers

Lunch Lunch 10:50 a.m. – 11:20 a.m.

Afternoon English H.S.A. (if needed) 11:20 a.m. – 2:10 p.m. H.S.A. test takers

8 Senior Exam/Regular Class 11:25 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. Seniors/all students

1 Regular Class 12:15 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. All students

2 Regular Class 1:05 p.m. – 1:35 p.m. All students

3 Regular class 1:40 p.m. – 2:10 p.m. All students

Friday, May 23, 2014

Periods Event Time Attendees

1-4 H.S.A. make ups(as needed) 7:25 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. H.S.A. takers only

1-8 Regular classes/Senior Exam Make

ups 7:25 a.m. – 2:10 p.m. All students

Page 7 PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

STUDENTS OF THE MONTH — February

The following students were celebrated during our Monthly Student Recognition Program. Each month, depart-

ments are asked to nominate students who demonstrate academic excellence in the classroom. These nomina-

tions include students who have shown improvement, great effort while tackling challenging content, or other ex-

ceptional qualities. Students selected come from all grade levels and courses. These students receive a certificate

of recognition and donuts with the Principal; their photos are also posted in the Student of the Month display lo-

cated in the main lobby.

English: Matthew Chazin Patricia Mendez-Villalta Afolabi Oshunremi Asanne Pearce Oscar Saywell Anthony Taylor

ESOL: Rosa Brioso Tareeq Giadala Mostava Yuming Huang Binhui Liu Juliana Parada Chau Bao Minh Trinh

Fine Arts: Hayley Abramowitz Ethan Cheng “Mo” Fadillah

Eric Goldstein Sindhu Iyer Halle Phillips Emma Rogers Hanna Savoie Rachel Terry

Internship: Justin Adams Sergio Barrientos Djabril Burton

Internship (cont’d): Giovanny Carranza Marcell Hebron Sergio Lemus Luiz Luchi

Math Azharuddin Ansari

Sara Bagheri Hamaneh Kimia Dokhaee Yvan Ebiketie Kayleigh Ewart Kathleen Frejoles Parmida Ghasemi Faraji Brayan Herrera Ramos Jessica Hom

Amber Jones Andre Lakanu Jamal Middleton Evangelia Papathanasiou Nur Rachmadiyanti Ariane Uwase Martial Yamuremye

Science: Tomer Albo Autumn Barber Clayton Cole Olivia Gongombe Ouyema Karen Lou Kelly Lou

Students of the Month for February

Alexa Perry Yenifer Protillo Uzma Rabbani Nanka Silue Anika Yardi Sergine-Cindy Zeufack Heavenly Zheng

Social Studies: Wilfredo Diazcedillo Seth Eisenberg Rachel Gold Malcolm Mitchem

Nathaniel Peterman Leyi Shi Nicole Spouge Lauren Sukri Anthony Tedder Joseph Van Dyke Richard Yarrow

World Languages: Stuti Ganatra Eileen Liu Daiduong Nguyen Katherine Payson

Congratulations!!

Congratulations to the student editors of Fine Lines on being awarded a Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Gold Crown Award. Fine Lines was one of 15 student magazines from the United States and around the world to

receive this highest honor, bestowed by the CSPA. Editors in Chiefs: Amy Wu, Helen Tan; Art Editors: Alyssa

Achacoso, Eleonora Sadikova, Sophia Chang; Assistant Editors: Susanqi Jiang, Katie Wang; Photo Editors:

Galina Belolipetski, Meg Giitter, Isabella Huang; Assistant Editors: Kelley Lou, Leah Dighe; Music Editors:

Jinsol Kim, Zoe Williams; Assistant Editor: Isabella Negro; Writing Editors: Chloe Stavrianos, Tristan Paige,

Marlena Nothwehr, Nick Greco; Assistant Editor: Joni Keaton; Publicity Editors: Emilia Kuentz, Wendy Ris-

so; Assistant Editors: Eszter Janossy, Sara Migler; Business Editors: Mihret Zemedkun, Ross Berman, Assis-tant Editor: Nicole Cunningham; CD Editors: James Yao, Jana Lu; Copy Editors: Christina Xu, Kate Payson;

Assistant Editor: Adrianna Adirim; and Film Editors: Jalen Jones, Ivana Wakidi.

Fine Lines Wins Gold Crown Award

Richard Montgomery High School

250 Richard Montgomery Drive

Rockville, Maryland 20852

Non-Profit Organization

U.S. Postage

PAID

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Page 8 PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Please Note: The Principal’s Report is posted monthly on the Richard Montgomery High School web site

(http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/rmhs/). Printed copies are available in the Main Office.

Mrs. Aryn Wheeler, physical education teacher, was named the Gazette Boys Swim Coach of the year. The

Richard Montgomery Boys Swim Team won the Maryland 4A State Championship last month.

This winter, Richard Montgomery High School received the highest building inspection rating for Montgomery

County Public Schools. A special thanks to the wonderful staff: Rene Aguilar-Corea, Michelle Alonso, Maria Aroni, Garland Davis, Tilak Dhall, Judy Estep, Rosa Fuentes, Ernest Matthews, Edhit Mercado, Victor Molina,

Asaad Obeid, Guilermo Palacios, Americo Silva, John Slater, Collin Smith, Jonathan Upp, Devika We-

erasinghe, Vilma Zurita, and Building Service Manager Robert Tarpley.

The 2014 MCPS GIVE BACKpacks campaign is under way. The campaign was created in 2013 to coordinate

the donation and distribution of backpacks and school supplies to students in need. Last year, MCPS parents,

staff, and community members generously donated more than $100,000 to the GIVE BACKpacks campaign,

and nearly 15,000 students at 41 schools received backpacks filled with school supplies. Backpacks will once

again be delivered directly to schools for distribution to students. Information is available at

www.mcpsgivebackpacks.org,.

A free College Preparation and Scholarship Fair will be held 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, at the Universities at Shady Grove, 9630 Gudelsky Drive in Rockville. The fair is intended for students in grades 6–10 and their

parents. Attendees will have an opportunity to meet various colleges and universities, learn about financial aid

and scholarship opportunities and attend informative breakout sessions. There also will be a tour of the USG

campus. Space is limited, so be sure to register early! Registration can be completed at

www.mcpsparentacademy.org. Call 301-279-3100 for more information.

More School Updates