Harmony Newsletter

This week we experienced several meaningful activities that make middle schools a wonderful place to be. On Tuesday, our 7th graders had their annual Career Day where they saw possibilities and visions of their futures. What a fine example of our parents and first responders and entrepreneurs and other adults modeling and sharing what they do in their jobs with tomorrow's first responders and entrepreneurs and adults.

On Wednesday, our 8th graders took buses to Woodgrove High School and spent the day touring the building, learning about their programs, and hearing from high school students. Dr. Shipp purchased them all T-shirts and in addition to academics, they heard from many of the sports teams. For me, the best news was hearing that they behaved and represented their families, school, and themselves in a positive light. Simple as that. We are always so proud of them when they make a positive impression on others. Ours did at WHS.

Finally, Family Arts Night was Wednesday night. The night was busy with local artists, former student artist (at Woodgrove and beyond), our Newsies musical cast performing a few songs, our Guitar students playing in the library, and our "rock band" performing songs I first heard in high school. The night was a wonderful, community success.

I loved this week for our students' future. I love this school.

March 25 - "Shelter in Place" Practice (PM)

March 26 - Bus Evacuation Drills (AM)

March 27 - Bus Evacuation Drills (AM)

April 3 - UMHT Wellness Activity

April 3 - End of Quarter 3

April 4 - Student Holiday / Teacher Planning

April 4 - School Musical (7 PM)

April 5 - School Musical (2 PM)

April 5 - School Musical (7 PM)

April 6 - School Musical (2 PM)

April 7 - Student Holiday / Teacher Workday

April 14 to 18 - Spring Break

School Website Link

Please periodically review these "Safety Scenarios" with your children. Our most recent Fire Drill was March 14. We completed a Lock Down drill the week of February 24. A "Shelter in Place" is coming up at the end of March. Contact names are below for any questions.

• School Security Officer, (SSO), Josh Stillwell (joshua.stillwell@lcps.org)
• School Resource Office (SRO), Loudoun County Deputy Chris Salter (christopher.salter@loudoun.gov)
• 7th Grade Dean and School Safety Contact, Justin Dailey (justin.dailey@lcps.org)
• Principal, Eric Stewart (eric.stewart@lcps.org)

School Phone is 540-751-2500 (then dial zero to reach the main office)

Our SOL testing season will be here before we know it. More information will follow in the coming weeks, but here is a heads up about important testing dates to help you plan appointments around testing whenever possible.

May 8- Integrated Reading and Writing (IRW) SOL- 8th grade only

May 13- Civics SOL- 8th grade only

May 15- Reading SOL- grades 6,7,8

May 20- Science SOL- 8th grade only

May 22- Math SOL- grades 6,7,8

Testing Updates for Spring MAP testing:

Math- April 8 and 9 (out of math classes)

Reading- April 21 and 22 (out of English classes)

Please reach out to Kristen Hepner at khepner@lcps.org with any questions.

6th Grader Natalie Johnson's middle school "KidWind" wind team came in second place in the Winchester Regional KidWind Challenge.

Because of this, her team qualifies to go on to the state challenge on April 12 at JMU. Good luck Natalie!!

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Week of: March 10

We wanted to send a big SHOUT-OUT and THANK YOU to all of our chorus members and their families for their support in the successful performance of both The Harmonettes and iNHarmony at the District Choral Assessment on Friday evening. BOTH ensembles received a SUPERIOR rating from all 3 of the judges!

Below you will find a link to audio recording of the actual Assessment Performances, photos and a link to the pre-assessment concert. See you in May at the spring concert!

District Choral Assessment 2025

Congratulations to the Harmony Hornet Strings on their amazing performance at assessment. The judges were really happy with their performance!

Please join us in wishing 8th graders Alannah Treadwell, Stella Wilcox, and Cole Wilkinson well today as they travel to Trailside Middle School to perform at the 2025 LCPS All-District Middle School Guitar Ensemble. Their concert is tonight at 6:00 p.m.

Congratulations to our Band students.

Their assessment was successful and Mr. Fairchild was quite pleased with their efforts, behavior, and performance.

"I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU for being part of our Career Day! Your time and candor truly made a difference for our students. I, along with the teachers and administrators, have heard nothing but great feedback. The students were really excited about what they learned from you, and many said they felt inspired and more confident about exploring different career paths.

I know how busy you all are, so we really appreciate you taking the time to share your stories, presentations, props, and even your furry friends. It meant a lot to our school community, and I hope you’ll consider coming back one day…but take a break for a bit, you’ve earned it!

Thank you again for helping make Career Day such a success — we couldn’t have done it without you!"

Bryan A. Pecoraro, Ph.D.

School Counselor and Career Day Organizer

Congratulations again to our travel 7th grade and 8th grade boys team for winning the LCPS Travel Basketball Championship!

Ben Gorlaski, Liam Lynch, Chance Sly, Jackie Lucas, Beckett Barlow, Ben Hill, Porter Kight, Tyler Burgoyne, Stewart Morrison, Kye Berg, John Marsh, and Owen Oliver.

1. Congrats to Ms. Karen Grubbs, winner of the Staff Chili Cookoff. We previously sent her info but today she was awarded the coveted Chili Prize Trophy.

2. From a 6th grade student, "Can we put Miss Fincham (6th grade dean) on the wonderful women thing (Famous American Women display) in front of House C. I think we should because she Is very nice, always smiling, and has to deal with us for 3 years. She works as a teacher (dean) who tells other teachers and students what to do. Being a teacher is hard but telling teachers and students must be even harder. That is why I think Miss Fincham should be on the wonderful women list in the front of House C."

3. Congratulations to School Counselor, Ms. Ashley Warfield. She completed the New York City Half Marathon last weekend. She said, "The race went great! I PRed by ten minutes and ran a 2:30."

4. Congratulations to our LCPS SEAC (Special Education Advisory Counsel) Excellent Educators Award nominees; Ms. Gretchen Hatch, Ms. Brenda Dowdy, and Mr. Brian O"Neill. Good luck.

5. And a BIG congrats to Ms. Anastasia's Kim’s family. Her dad will be receiving an important award from Marymount University this week! https://marymount.edu/blog/celebrate-excellence-and-purpose-at-marymounts-2025-halo-awards-gala/

The champions of our recent Intramural School Championship are the team called, Drizzy Elite. Team members are Stefan Gerlach, Colson Comienski, Matt Hill, Nathan Mull, and Jax Boehner (also but not pictured, Matt Hill).

Good luck to them in the LCPS competition next Saturday against all other LCPS middle school champions.

We are requesting parent volunteers to help our UMHT run a Mental Health and Wellness Event for our students on Thursday, April 3rd. Parent volunteers will be helping our UMHT run various outdoor station activities as well as provide supervision.

The event will run through 3 blocks of the day with specific grade levels going out during the following times.

6th grade from 1:55-3:15

7th grade from 8:50-10:15

8th grade from 10:25-11:45

If you are interested in volunteering, please complete this form. Any questions, please contact Mrs. Sharp at 540-751-2500 or Jamie.sharp@lcps.org