Potomac Stories

This week, the Class of 2024 completed and presented their senior projects. The students worked on these during the month of May, sharing their progress in small groups once a week. At the conclusion of their projects, all of our graduates shared their work with their peers and faculty, effectively communicating what they learned, the challenges they overcame, and their hopes for future endeavors in presentations earlier this week. Lola Monroe, Laith Weimer, Nat Estes, Rachel Robbins, Mackenzie Fulgham, and Cole Griswold were selected to present at this year's Senior Project Showcase. Their projects included teaching in the Lower School, internships on Capitol Hill, research for a synagogue, and music production.

The Class of 2024 is an accomplished, creative, and hard-working group. Their diversity of skills and interests was reflected in their projects and included interning at a real estate development firm, creating unique works of art, supporting repairs and improvements to our campus, filming a documentary on the spring musical – Hairspray, coaching various teams on and off campus, training as a guide at Manassas Battlefield, shadowing health care providers, contributing to the work of a number of community partners, and running and writing about an experiment documenting the switch from a smart to a flip phone. Great job, class of 2024! You have so much to offer. 

SERC 10 students recently presented their research proposals. Students spent the past few months reading peer-reviewed journal articles, learning about their topics, and developing a research question to address a scientific issue that has yet to be answered. Proposals covered topics such as dietary changes to prevent colorectal cancer; the creation of apps and devices to enrich the lives of people with such ailments as lung disease, heart arrhythmia or apraxia of speech; the use of AI to study topics such as autoimmune diseases, upper limb prosthetics and antibiotic resistance; and designing enzymes, hydrogels or nanoparticles that can treat such issues as diabetes, degradation of plastics and the prevention of skin cancer. 

YouToo Tennis hosted its last session on Sunday, culminating a month-long spring program in partnership with the Autism Society of Northern Virginia (ASNV). The reciprocity between participating youth from ASNV and Upper School student volunteers was visible in each session, with all students benefiting from the meaningful experience together. A special thanks to YouToo leaders junios Anaahita Kaashyap, Sonali Sachdeva, and Cooper Schirmeier for their dedication throughout the year to help this 12-year service program continue to thrive. Thank you also to the US volunteers and the faculty chaperones, for their commitment, dedication, and engagement with our participants, making it a positive and meaningful experience for all.