Kilmer MUN Wins Awards at Hylton HS Conference

The Kilmer Model UN Club did really well this past weekend (December 5 & 6) at the PWMUN Conference held at Hylton High School in Woodbridge. Students earning awards:

• Outstanding Awards:  Alex, Greg, and Nick
• Honorable Awards: Jenna, Oksana, Vicka, and Kelly
• Verbal Commendations: Caleb, Zach, Katie, Gabby, Aditya, Keon, Shivane, and Kyle.

Great work Kilmer MUN and sponsors, Ellie O'Connor, Kara Tichoc, and Leigh O'Dell!

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Kilmer WordMasters Challenge Teams are FIRST in the NATION!

Two teams representing Kilmer Middle School, Vienna, Virginia competed in the recent WordMasters Challenge™—a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 150,000 students annually.  The grade 7 team scored an impressive 577 points out of a possible 600 in three meets this year. In addition, the grade 8 team scored 572 points out of 600 in three meets this year.  Both teams captured an impressive first place in the Nation.

Competing in the difficult Blue Division of the WordMasters Challenge™, grade 7 Araj Vij achieved Highest Honors for an outstanding individual score of 60/60 on the challenge. Tim Marcille, Grace Grossman, and Michelle Xu received High Honors for their scores.  The students were coached in preparation for the WordMasters Challenge™ by Mrs. Folk, Ms. Outland, and Ms. Rotchford.

Competing in the difficult Blue Division of the WordMasters Challenge™, grade 8 Samantha Kelly, Tracey Mills, and Kaitlyn Pham received Highest Honors for outstanding individual scores.  Students who received High Honors are Sarah Buckingham, Sophia Divone, Emily Buckingham, Jisu Kang, Jessica York, and Holly Waters.  Honorable Mention was received by Meenakshi Balan.   The students were coached in preparation for the WordMasters Challenge™ by Mrs. Steiner.

The WordMasters Challenge™ is an exercise in critical thinking that first encourages students to become familiar with a set of interesting new words (considerably harder than grade level), and then challenges them to use those words to complete analogies expressing various kinds of logical relationships.  Working to solve the analogies helps students learn to think both analytically and metaphorically.  Although most vocabulary enrichment and analogy-solving programs are designed for use by high school students, WordMasters Challenge™ materials have been specifically created for younger students in grades three through eight.  They are particularly well-suited for children who are motivated by the challenge of learning new words and enjoy the logical puzzles posed by analogies.

The WordMasters Challenge™ program is administered by a company based in Indianapolis, Indiana, which is dedicated to inspiring high achievement in American schools.  Further information is available at the company’s website:  http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com.

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Kilmer Students Earn Honoable Mention in 2014 Scholastic Kids Are Authors Contest

Kilmer 7th graders, Jessica Maebius, Elaine Zen, and Lindsay Park, wrote and illustrated a picture book as part of Schoalstic's Kids Are Authors contest. They received an honorable mention for their story titled The Magic Shovel.

Kids Are Authors is an annual competition open to students in grades K–8 in the United States and U.S. international schools and is designed to encourage students to use their reading, writing, and artistic skills.

Under the guidance of a project coordinator, children work in teams of three or more students to write and illustrate their own book. The creative process of working in teams helps provide a natural environment to practice editing, teamwork, and communication skills necessary for future success. All students involved get a sense of pride and accomplishment from submitting the team project.

Congratulations to Jessica, Elaine, and Lindsay! We are so proud of your work! Kudos also go out to 7th grade English teacher Mary Kay Folk and Creative Writing teacher Barbara Appling for supporting these students!

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Students Excel in Fairfax County Band Directors Association Solo Competition

Congratulations to Eliza Pastore, Travis Jeong, Diego Stine, and Forrest Johnston for participating in the Fairfax County Band Directors Association Solo Competition. 84 students, county-wide, competed.

For their performances, Travis Jeong received Honorable Mention, Diego Stine placed 3rd, and Forrest Johnston placed 1st. Great job!

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Model UN conference delegates rock WASHMUN!

Kudos to the delegates at theWASHMUN conference held on Saturday, May 10.  Verbal commendations went to Arsh G, SJ K, Aaraj V, Jun C, Shreya R, Lizzie H, and Otilia D.  Reza Z received the Award for Most Prepared.  Most Eloquent went to Yash S and Chris H.  Most Diplomatic went to Rohan S and Lexa H.  Best Delegate Awards went to Misha T and Krishna D.  Congrats to all!

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Kilmer Students Receive Letters from Authors, Personalities, and the PRESIDENT!

In the early spring 2014 Ms. Suchodolski's Computer Solutions students were tasked with creating and sending a business letter to someone they admire.  Students sent letters to celebrities, CEO’s, musicians, actors, sports figures, authors, and politicians.  Guess what Kilmer….WE GOT MAIL!  This semester we have received replies from:

Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten who is a famous chef CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Gus Malzahan, Auburn Tigers Football head coach Christopher Paolini, Author President Obama

Great job on this fun assignment!

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Kilmer Model UN Club Wins Best Middle School at TECHMUN conference

Kilmer's  Model UN Club  won the award for Best Middle School at this past weekend's TECHMUN conference at Robinson HS.  Gavels were won by Reza Z, Carolyn N and Rohan S;   Outstanding Delegates went to Mithra D and Nick H;  Honorable Mention went to Megan B,  Amelia P and Yash S ; and Mihir P and Travis J won Verbal commendations

Great job to all participating students and to Kilmer MUN sponsors, Ms. Ellie Altman, Ms. Kara Tichoc, and Ms. Leigh O'Dell.

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Aaraj Vij Wins 1st Place at TJHSST Invitational Science Fair

Aaraj Vij, a 7th grade Kilmer student, won the 1st place Grand Prize award at the Thomas Jefferson Invitational Science Fair held on Saturday, March 22. The science fair was open to all middle school students; each project was judged three times by three different judges.

Aaraj's project was on Microfluidics which involves Physics, Chemistry, Math and Nanotechnology and he plans to continue his research into this topic after this science fair as well.

We congratulate Aaraj for his hard work and dedication!

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Kilmer Science Olympiad Team Wins 2nd Place at State Tournament

The Kilmer Science Olympiad team took home the 2nd place overall trophy in the Virginia state Science Olympiad tournament held on Saturday, March 22, 2014 at Madison High School in Vienna, VA.

Many students won medals across the various divisions and it is clear that every participant worked hard preparing for the tournament.

• Crime Busters: 2nd -  Yash Shekar and Daniel Zou
• Disease Detectives:  1st -  Brian Merski and Nikhil Sardana
• Dynamic Planet:  3rd - Brian Merski and Nikhil Sardana
• Entomology: 3rd - Dan Ni and Yash Shekar
• Experiemental Design:  1st - Arsh Ganjoo, SJ Kachru and Aaraj Vij
• Heredity:  3rd - Brian Merski and Anish Karpurapu
• Road Scholar: 5th - Christopher Yuan and Daniel Zou
• Rotor Egg Drop: 2nd - Rohan Puvvada and Justin Zhou
• Shock Value: 1st - Nikhil Sardana and Justin Zhou
• Simple Machines: 3rd - Yash Shekar and Christopher Yuan
• Solar Systems: 6th - Arsh Ganjoo and Lawrence Wang
• Sounds of Music: 3rd - Christopher Yuan and Justin Zhou
• Water Quality: 4th - Anish Karpurapu and Rohan Puvvada
• Write It Do It: 1st - Dan Ni and Aaraj Vij
• BioSphere: 6th - Joshua O'Cain and Frank Tian 
• Codebreakers: 1st - Nathan Chow and Mathew Harrington

A huge thanks goes out to the Science Olympiad Coordinators and the parent volunteers who helped support the team's efforts throughout the season.

Great job to all for representing yourselves and your school so well!

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Kilmer Middle School K8 Team Wins 1st in VA State Chess Championship 2014

The VA Chess Federation held its annual state championship tournament in Roanoke, Virginia March 15 & 16th. Nine players represented Kilmer Middle School team and claimed top honors by placing 1st in the K8 division. Winning team consisted of Christian Aliferis, Bennett Jackins, Max Lee, Grant Li, Nathan Moskowitz, Shreeyas Satishkumar, Yash Shekar, Andrew Song and Camden Wiseman.

Their coach - Greg Acholonu - was named Chess Coach of the Year, K8 Team 2014.

CONGRATULATIONS!

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Kilmer Student and Kilmer's PTA President Speak at the White House

On Tuesday, February 25, 2014, First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled a new wellness proposal targeted at school-aged children.

Sam Hammermaster, 8th grader at Kilmer Middle School, was asked to speak at this media event at the White House regarding healthy fitness and nutrition changes that are happening in Fairfax County Public Schools.

Sam's mother, Kilmer PTA President and Executive Director of Real Food For Kids which advocates for healthy school means, has been working to impact wellness within the school system.

This was an incredible opportunity for the the Hammermaster team and a moment that made the whole Kilmer community proud!

More info on the First Lady's initiative is available from Edweek.com.

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Two Kilmer Students Named to 2014 Middle School Honors Chorus

Fifty-four middle school students from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) have been named to the 2014 Virginia American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Middle School Honors Chorus. The group will perform on Saturday, April 27, in Harrisonburg. Ten FCPS students were selected as alternates.

Two of the fifty-four students selected are Kilmer Middle School students: 8th graders Brendan Dudding and Will Morrison will be part of the April 27 performance!

Congratulations to Brendan, Will, and to Kilmer's fantastic Choral Director, Mr. Kevin Sapp forh is instruction, support and guidance.

Read the full press release from FCPS.

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