Skip To Main Content

School News

State Champs…Again!
State Champs…Again!

Potomac’s Speech and Debate team swept the Virginia NSDA State Qualifying Tournament this past weekend, winning their fifth consecutive state speech championship. Twelve students qualified for the June national tournament in Phoenix, AZ, and 17 of 25 Potomac entries were place winners. State individual championships went to Hannah de Souza ’25 in Program Oral Interpretation, Isabella Sequar ’24 in Original Oratory, Taylor Burris ’25 in International Extemp, and Meredith Vorndran ’25 in U.S. Extemp. This was a repeat championship for Meredith. The team also scored four runner-up placements. View the full results. Congratulations to the entire team and our Speech and Debate program!

Search Stories

Recent news

Potomac Celebrates Music in Our Schools Month
Potomac Celebrates Music in Our Schools Month

As part of Music in Our Schools Month®, students in Potomac’s Upper School recently organized a concert titled “Celebrating Composers of Color,” which was conducted by guest conductor Dr. Steven Cunningham of Hampton University and resident musician and composer Greg Holloway.

AI Assembly Tackles Hot Topics
AI Assembly Tackles Hot Topics

On Tuesday, the newly formed Upper School AI student committee hosted an assembly focused on the potential benefits and challenges of generative artificial intelligence. Students moderated a panel of three leaders in AI – U.S. Congressman Don Beyer, Professor Brian Hall, and Dr. Sarah Murphy Gray (Google) – who spoke to this technology's influence in politics, sports, defense, business, social media, and beyond. All three described themselves as "AI optimists," with a real sense of how AI could transform the world positively, but they guided students not to lose touch with the humanities as we learn these tools. Student moderators Kasim K. '25, India C. '25, and Arav B. '24 demonstrated real leadership in facilitating a discussion with the panelists and soliciting questions from the audience. This assembly was first and foremost student-generated, and it was exciting to watch their work over several months pay off. View photos from the discussion.

SERC Student Earns Top Honors in Regeneron Science Competition
SERC Student Earns Top Honors in Regeneron Science Competition

Imagine a world where all amputees have access to affordable, life-changing prosthetics. That's the future that senior and SERC student Arav Bhargava is working towards; tackling complex problems with ingenuity and compassion. His low-cost, 3D-printed prosthetics aren't just devices; they are tickets to a world of possibility. This isn't a science project; it's a revolution in accessibility.

Two Seniors Named Regeneron Science Scholars
Two Seniors Named Regeneron Science Scholars

Congratulations to seniors Arav Bhargava and Max Zeldes, who were named Top 300 Scholars in the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2024! Both are students in Potomac's Science and Engineering Research Center (SERC) program. This contest is the nation's oldest and most prestigious science/math competition for high school seniors. Under the mentorship of Dr. Isabelle Cohen and others, they've spent the past two years researching their projects.

  • Bhargava is recognized for his research: "Low-Cost, 3D-Printed, Universal-Fit, Transradial Socket for Amputees in Developing Countries."
  • Zeldes is recognized for his research: “Improvement to Electroencephalography-Based Imagined Speech Brain-Computer Interfaces Using a Targeted, Dense Array of Electrodes With Scalp Current Density Calculations.”

Amazing work, Arav and Max!