| Middle school of Rachel Carson | |
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Greater by the dozen.
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| Location | |
| Herndon, Virginia 20171 |
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| Information | |
| School type | Public, middle school |
| Founded | 1998 |
| School district | Fairfax County Public Schools |
| Principal | Marissa sekora |
| Assistant principals | Tamara Ballou, Shawn Brown |
| Grades | 7-8 |
| Enrollment | 1,140 (2007) |
| Color(s) | Teal and Black |
| Mascot | dog |
| Feeds into | Westfield High School, Oakton High School, and South Lakes High School |
| Website | http://www.fcps.edu/RachelCarsonMS |
Rachel Carson Middle School is a middle school in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, southwest of Herndon. The school is part of Fairfax County Public Schools. Its principal is August Frattali. Opened in the 1998-1999 school year, it is named after the biologist Rachel Carson and was a School To Watch in Virginia in 2004, 2007, and 2010.[1][2]
Due to its location, and the fact that it has a AAP (Advanced Academics Program) program[3], students come from an assortment of elementary schools, and graduate to a variety of high schools. Students attend either Westfield High School, Chantilly High School, Oakton High School, South Lakes High School, or other private schools as their high school. If they qualify, they may go to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia. Elementary school feeders include Floris, Crossfield, McNair, Fox Mill, Hunters Woods, Coates,[4] Poplar Tree, Hunters Woods, Lee's Corner, Oak Hill, Waples Mill, Navy, and Dogwood.
In November 2008, volunteers helped plant more than one thousand trees around the school.[5]
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There are a handful of electives offered at Rachel Carson, with most varying slightly by grade. Current electives include technology exploration, drama (both beginning and advanced), men and women's chorus, orchestra, band, art, a computer solutions class and home economics classes. For 8th graders, Spanish and French are available as high school-level electives. For the 7th grade, a class called "Introduction to Foreign Languages" (IFL) provides a brief introduction either Spanish or French. It should be noted however, that this is just a very basic course with students learning little more than basic phrases in each of those languages. [6] There will be an addition of an Broadcasting elective where the students will replace the volunteer Morning Announcements crew.
The school offers a Japanese language immersion program and features the AAP program.
Rachel Carson offers an assortment of extracurricular activities, including but not limited to: Astronomy Club, Intramurals, International Club, Homework Club, and Jazz Ensemble (Jazz Band). [7] In addition, two school plays are held each year; one is for advanced drama students only, the other is open to all students.
With the exception of an annual Faculty vs. Student Sports game, Rachel Carson Middle School has no organized sports leagues.
The school has partnerships with EDS, Scitor Corporation[3] and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The school is divided into ten "teams" (also referred to as "pods"), which are very similar to the idea of high school sub-schools. The pods are as follows: [8]
Each team has its own set of locker pods and core classrooms (Science, English, History/Civics, and Mathematics — unless students are taking Math 7 Honors, Math 8 Honors, Algebra I Honors, or Geometry Honors (occasionally Algebra 2, now removed due to new restrictions).
Rachel Carson Middle School actively participates in several national competitions, including Odyssey of the Mind, MATHCOUNTS, American Computer Science League (ACSL),Technology Student Associacion(TSA), Science Olympiad, First Lego League (FLL) and the American Mathematics Competition(AMC). Carson also usually sends a representative to the state Mathcounts competition.[9][10]
|title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". Schools to Watch. http://www.schoolstowatch.org/StateProgram/Virginia/tabid/175/Default.aspx. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
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