At Seneca Ridge we build relationships and empower students
to become responsible citizens who value learning as a
lifelong process.
Seneca Ridge is proud to
be one of the most
diverse middle schools in
Loudoun County. This
year, we educated 931
students from various
economic, cultural, and
religious backgrounds.
At Seneca Ridge we build relationships and empower students
to become responsible citizens who value learning as a
lifelong process.
Seneca staff is committed to going the extra mile for our students.
In order to realize our vision and fulfill our commitment, our staff
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works after hours to provide extra help.
provides individualized instruction.
maintains regular communication with parents.
treats students with respect.
sponsors after school activities and clubs for students.
creates an environment of success and fairness.
looks for new solutions and strategies to increase student success and
development.
Grading
Homework
Grading for mastery is a term used to
describe the new grading policies at Seneca
Ridge. Simply put, students are graded based
on their mastery of the curriculum. Extra
credit, behavior, work habits, homework and
class practice do not count toward a
student’s final grade. Students’ performance
on assessments of their knowledge are
included in the final grade. Teachers are
responsible for communicating students’
work habits and classroom behavior. The
purpose of this policy is to ensure that
student grades reflect their mastery of
content and therefore cannot be inflated or
deflated by teacher or students attitudes,
perceptions or other items not related to
academic performance.
Homework is assigned to students to provide
practice for a skill learned during the day.
Therefore it is not graded or used toward the
calculation of a student’s final grade. This
year teachers indeed assigned homework,
reviewed the work with students, assessed
their progress, and provided feedback to
students and their families. So,
students were given the opportunity to
practice, review their work and track their
progress. However, a student’s grade does
not suffer if he or she is not successful with
each night’s practice. Teachers use students’
Students performance on homework
To decide if additional instruction is
necessary. Homework becomes a tool for
teachers and students instead of a potential
trap. The final grade reflects students’
knowledge at the time of assessment.
Second Chance
Retakes
While homework is not a part of the final
grade at Seneca, teachers and families
understand its importance. In order to remind
students of the importance of homework,
Seneca began the Second Chance program this
year. The program was a non-punitive, after
school session where students are given a
second chance to complete they failed to turn in
earlier that day. Students worked during
resource classes and lunch to complete missing
assignments. All homework assigned is
important and completion of work is
mandatory.
This year students were given an opportunity to
retake exams if their teachers felt it was
appropriate. Retakes are solely a teacher’s
decision based on a particular student’s
performance in class. Teachers use student class
work, homework, warm ups and quizzes to
determine the level of student learning.
Sometimes a student’s daily performance is not
demonstrated in his or her performance on an
exam. In this case, a student may be given
another opportunity to showcase their
knowledge. Likewise, if a teacher reviews
an assessment and determines that a child
simply needs more instruction on a certain topic,
the teacher may also decide to offer the student
a retake. Seneca teachers use this method to
be sure the students are learning to their full
potential.
Assessments
Beginning this year, teachers were required to
categorize their assessments by formative and
summative assessments. Formative assessments
are daily assessments that teachers use to
measure student progress throughout a unit.
Most likely they are class practice, quizzes,
homework or warm-ups. These assessments do
not count toward a student’s final grade.
Summative assessments are broader assessments
that test students’ comprehensive knowledge of
concepts. They are normally portfolios, projects,
presentations or tests. Only these assessments
count toward a student’s final grade because
they test a student’s complete knowledge after
instruction, practice and reteaching.
Using this system, all work turned into a teacher
is evidence of that student’s comprehension. If a
teacher sees that a student’s performance does not
match their classroom performance, teachers are
obligated to allow students to re-take the
assessment.
Teacher Collaboration
Teachers have always worked together at Seneca
Ridge. In the past, teachers have worked
together in inter-disciplinary teams to ensure the
academic and social success of students. Last
year, the teachers formed Collaborative Planning
Teams (CPTs). Teachers work in teams grouped by
grade level and content area. This year, the CPTs
worked to plan common lessons and
assessments. This type of collaboration helps
teachers determine the best methods of
instruction and assessment.
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Andrea Weiskopf (Latin), presented a
workshop, Teaching Cambridge Latin
Course Unit Two: What Happens When
Two Cultures Collide, for fellow Latin
teachers in the County for staff
development. She was also the
assistant coach for the Virginia
National Certamen Novice team which
placed 2nd in at the National Junior
Classical League’s annual convention.
She also assisted the Virginia State
Intermediate Certamen team coach.
Donna Russel, (6th grade Language
Arts), and Katherine Dalland (6th grade
Language Arts), completed master’s
degrees in New Professionalism from
George Mason University.
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Liz Diamond (8th grade counselor), was
selected to present at a national
convention in Delaware about the New
Beginnings Program in the Dominion
Cluster.
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Jill Kimball, Jay Raines, Jennifer
Efigenio, Bill Gulgert and Cynthia Lewis
received training in SIOP strategies.
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Sheryl Dufour, (8th grade math), won a
fellowship from Northup Grumman to
participate in an experimental
education expedition organized by
Earthwatch institute. She will be
traveling to the edge of the Arctic
Circle in Manitoba, Canada to study
climate change this summer.
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Catherine Messerly (8th grade),
received the President’s Volunteer
Service Award for her work in the
Seneca Ridge community.
Ally Sarkis (8th grade) was selected
through competitive state auditions
to be in the Virginia Honors Choir.
Zach Stultz, Shennie Yao, Sindy Hou
and Kaitlyn Senchak were this year’s
recipients of the Malone Foundation
Awards in art, science, math and
music.
Meena Nayagam was this year’s
recipient of the Seneca Ridge award.
Matt Szelc earned the Ruritan Award
for outstanding students in Loudoun
County.
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Allyson Foster won a gold medal in
tennis skills at the Special Olympics.
Devon Tinius has volunteered at
many Girl Scout functions through
Loudoun Volunteer. She has worked
at Girl Scout summer camps, hosted
a dance for Girl Scouts, worked at
"Barktoberfest," and she also helped
at a Thanksgiving dinner at a local
senior citizen home. We are very
proud of her generosity and
selflessness to our community!
Thanks to a grant from Loudoun Soil and
Water Conservation, Mr. Peck’s 6th grade
science classes were able to plant 200
willow rods on the banks of the Seneca
Branch of Sugarland Run on school property.
The project addressed the erosion of the
stream banks and loss of soil, caused in part
by the soil impermeability that is a
consequence of development. Students
planted the willow rods, watered them
during two dry spells, and inspected the
growth over the spring time. Planting the
rods was an action that students supported
as a way of improving the environment.
They also look forward to the opportunity,
when they are seniors about to graduate
from high school, to return to the willow
tree they planted, and to stand under the
canopy of the willow tree along with
relatives invited to the graduation.
Bryce Hartzel next to his healthy willow rod.
The seventh grade Spartan team invited
Kate Campbell Stevenson to share her
presentation on "Women in History" as
a way to prepare for the history SOL .
Ms. Stevenson is a local actress/singer
who uses live educational theater to
entertain, educate and motivate
students. She tailors her presentation
to focus on women that teachers
suggest best suits the needs of their
group, and includes character building
lessons to complete her stories.
In the 7th grade Life Science, there are two
moments when the students really feel like they
are completing high school work.
The Genetics project asks the students to
“create” a life form using predetermined
characteristics from a set of genome from made-up
life forms. They choose which genes are dominant
and recessive, and also which traits are visible
in the offspring. The students then have to “create”
or build their creatures. Aside from the artistic
brilliance of some of our students, the creatures
End up looking very different despite the fact that
They are all working from the same data. This helps
them understand why we have so many varieties of
People and species on the planet.
The second challenging opportunity is in the
Frog Dissection lesson. Frogs and humans have
many of the same anatomical structures. The
students learn about the methods, procedures and
the locations involved in proper dissection, and
identify the locations of the major organs within the
body cavity of a frog. After the initial shock and
smell (which isn‘t as bad anymore), the students
dive in and do amazing work. Some future surgeons
and coroners do emerge at this time.
Mrs. Moussaoui ‘s eighth
grade students participated
in "Shakespearience" this year.
They read and performed
Richard II with a teaching
artist from The Shakespeare
Theater. Later, they traveled to
downtown DC to watch a
matinee performance of the
play with other students who
had also participated in the
program.
As a collaboration between 8th grade
English and science, students developed
a creative story about molecules going
through phase changes. Within the
story, they demonstrated knowledge of
how molecules move when they are
solid, liquids or gas. Students also
imagined what happens to the energy of
the molecules and they ways they move
as they go from one state of matter to
another. This project required that they
effectively develop a character with a
personality and utilized correct grammar
and punctuation for dialogue between
characters. Their projects were either
typed stories or detailed cartoons.
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The Seneca Ridge Step Team won first
place in the Stomp competition held at
Dominion High School this year.
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Seneca sent its team to the first annual
Middle School Academic Competition at
Smart’s Mill Middle School and made it
to the second round of competition.
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Olivia Sorto • Danny Hoerauf •
• Anastasia Chobany •
Crystal Gong • Shenni Yao • Meena Nayagam •
Matthew Zhou • Abby Rose
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8th Grade Band received all Superior
Ratings at the District Band Festival.
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7th Grade Band received an Excellent
rating and the District Band Festival. No
other 7th Grade Band in the county
competed at this level.
Once again, Seneca’s chorus was
personally invited to sing the
National Anthem at the Verizon
Center at an official NBA game.
Dip-Set, Seneca’s proud step team
performed at several venues and
competed in four local competitions
and won $400 in cash prizes. Most
impressive was their first prize win
at the Dominion Stomp Fest in May
2010 they place 2nd at other
competitions
Alayah Wood • Estefany Peredo • Elizabeth Paz •
Jennifer Paz • Ivana Robinson • Evelyn Reyes •
Hannah Lewis • Mona Zitoun • Kaitlyn Kocher •
Shawna Brown • Haley Halcrow • Evie Graves •
Dayana Cosme
Congratulations to all of the Seneca Ridge Odyssey of the Mind teams. We had four teams competing in five
problems at the regional tournament held on February 27, 2009 at Park View High School. The Nature Trail‘R
team (Nicole Lidyard, Rachel Tao, Renata Wilson, Sarah Yang, and Thor Keller) had to build and drive a
human powered vehicle that among other things had to clean up the environment. The team placed fourth
in their division. The Return to Flight team (Steven Stallings, Sagar Govani, Bill Tang, Nelson Chen, and Kelvin
Bryant) had to make and operate a series of aircraft that completed variety of flight plans. The team placed
fourth in their division. The Discovered Treasures team (Aly Kamis, Audrey Newman, Jillian Kazmierczak,
Ginny Ledwell, Lauren Musa, Katherine Armstrong and Emily Saldanha) had to create and present an
original performance portraying the discovery of two archaeological treasures. The team placed second in
their division. Jake Browning, Matthew Gibbs, Taaj Davis, Meera Chauhan, Morgan Chugg, Meghan Kelly,
and Megan DiDomenico competed in two problems: Column Structure and Food Court. The Column
Structure team placed second in their division. The Food Court team placed first in its division and
competed at the Virginia Odyssey of the Mind State Finals held in Newport News, Virginia.
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Knitting – Toula Mitrakas
German Club – Karen Plummer
Soccer – Bill Gulgert
Basketball – Liz Diamond and Beth Carter
TAP – Chris Souther
Dance – Lauren McChesney
Bollywood Club – Amanda Patel
Rocket Club – Ron Stocking
Ranger Steve – Jerome Peck
Chess Club – Larry DeSimone
Tennis Club – Andrea Moussaoui & Lynne Austin
Math Counts – Sheryl Dufour
Study Skills Sessions
Me Time
Seneca Ridge realized that students coming
into middle school needed additional training
and support with developing important study
skills. A team of teachers using researched
Based data and strategies, developed a study
Skills seminar for the in-coming sixth graders
and their parents. All parents and students
were invited to attend a two hour session
where teachers, counselors and
administration shared the research,
strategies and then modeled those study
strategies for parents and students. Although
students were still grappling with the
importance and value of those skills, parents
were overwhelmingly pleased and relieved to
have tools and strategies, they could use at
home to help their child be successful.
Several sessions were offered to
accommodate family schedules.
Me Time is a program run through Loudoun
Diversity, a local, non-profit, community
advocacy group. The program offers
tutoring and mentoring to students who have
been identified by the school. Community
volunteers and members of the Loudoun
Diversity work with students on Saturday to
work with students. The structure of the
program is to improve academic skills and
abilities through the use of direct instruction
and teacher input. The major focus of the
Seneca program was math. Bill Gulgert
(assistant principal), worked with Loudoun
Diversity throughout the second semester.
Eight students consistently took advantage of
the Saturday program and they met 7 times.
• Cynthia Lewis and Lauren
• This year Seneca switched
McChesney continued to
the newsletter format from
work with the parents of
paper copies to an all onELL students and the
line format.
Parents as Educational
• Mr. McDermott began
Partners (PEP), program.
hosting “Principal Coffees”.
The program met 4 times
Parents were invited in once
this year with topics that
a month to meet with the
included college
principal and discuss items
preparedness, pre-teen
based on parent feedback.
development, study skills
Questions and discussion
and Seneca Ridge policies.
was encouraged.
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This year’s music production, High School
Musical Junior was a huge success
featuring two awesome casts.
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The Seneca staff worked extra hard this
year to prepare students for the SOL’s
and to get them excited about doing their
best. Deans and counselors organized
Seneca’s first “Prep” Rally in May as one
part of these efforts. The rally featured
Seneca’s step team, a group of student
actors, and a dance performed by
volunteer members of the staff. The 8th
graders had a special treat, Dominion
High School’s drum line!
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The SGA led by Howard Goldberg (7th grade
history), organized the yearly switch day.
Students got permission to switch
places with the
adults in the
building and
worked hard at
being an education
professional for the
day!
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The annual back to school community picnic
featured games and activities for the whole
family.
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Seneca’s guidance counselors, Liz
Diamond, Lauren McChesney, and
Amanda Patel worked with Dominion
High School staff as well as parent
liaisons, Duke Butkovich and Taryn
Simms to welcome new families to the
Dominion cluster. The New Beginnings
Dinner featured food, prizes, a free
yard sale, and information for these
families.
The Seneca staff worked extra hard
this year to prepare students for the
SOL’s and to get them excited about
doing their best. Deans and
counselors organized Seneca’s first
“Prep” Rally in May. The rally
featured Seneca’s step team, student
actors, and a dance performed by staff
members. The 8th graders had a
special treat, Dominion High School’s
drum line!
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Liz Diamond (8th grade counselor),
Freddie Martin (8th grade Language
Arts), Madelyn Hetherington (8th grade
Language Arts), and Diane Scott (ELL),
organized the first Black History Poetry
Café during Black History Month. 12
students were selected by their
Language Arts teachers to memorize
and perform a dramatic reading of
their poem for the friends and family
who were invited to hear them. The
readers were accompanied by 8th
grade drummers on African drums.
The annual back to school community
picnic featured games and activities for
the whole family.
Once again, the Seneca Ridge PTO
organized and sponsored a fun-filled
night for our 8th graders. The annual
beach blast was a successful and
celebratory evening for our 8th graders.
The Seneca Ridge staff took special efforts to make our school decorations as
meaningful as they are beautiful. Mrs. Liz Diamond added a wonderful bolt
character to our front lobby and worked with Ms. Denise McKenna to add a
complete mural to the House A lobby. Mr. Crews, our resident artist and cafeteria
worker kept students entertained with his daily artwork on the cafeteria
blackboard. His gorgeous drawings reminded kids about healthy nutrition as well
as reviewing the middle school curriculum.
Kids looked forward to the new
drawing each day.
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Tanya Larriva sponsored the 2010
Pennies for Patients campaign and
was recognized by the county for her
efforts. Seneca students raised
$1222.70 for cancer patients.
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Kathy Dunkin organized the
Women’s Heart Health Awareness at
Seneca for the American Heart
Association. Seneca staff and
students wore red for the day and
raised $103 for the cause.