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Woodson Weekly -  March 14

Woodson Weekly is usually published every Friday to provide the community with important information about school life at Woodson High School.

Mission Statement

Woodson High School’s mission is to empower our community to reach their individual potential by creating a healthy environment of mutual respect, responsibility, equity, and inclusion. 

Weekly Wrap-up Check out our Weekly Wrap-up on Spotify or Apple! Spotify  Apple

Woodson Boys Varsity Basketball and Unified Basketball are both ready for their big games this weekend! 

Important Dates

Friday, March 14, 5:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. - FanQuest

Monday, March 24 - INOVA Spring Blood Drive Hosted by Woodson Key Club

March 28 - End of 3rd Quarter; Full School Day for Students

Monday, March 31 - Eid al-Fitr; All FCPS Schools and Offices Closed

Tuesday, April 1 -  No School for Students; Teacher Workday

Friday, April 4 - Prom at Westwood Country Club

Wednesday, April 9 - NOVA Field Trip With Student Services

Wednesday, April 9 - Purple Up! Day

Monday, April 14 - Friday, April 18 - Spring Break

Woodson Calendar

See the complete 24-25 FCPS school year calendar

2025-2026 FCPS calendar

Message from Mr. Greata

The sound of booming drums and cheering crowds filled the air this morning, and it was thrilling to hear both as we celebrated our FanQuest Unified Team and our state championship-bound boys' basketball team! It’s going to be an exciting weekend of hoops for Carter G. Woodson High School, starting with our FanQuest tailgate tonight at 5:00 PM, followed by the game at 6:30 PM, and culminating with the boys' state basketball championship Saturday at VCU.

If you haven’t purchased your tickets for the state championship game, you can purchase them here. I want to extend a huge thank you to Will Cogan, Jack Blevins, Warren Williams, Blair Smith and our Athletic Boosters for their hard work and support in coordinating buses and transportation for our students.

I hope you were able to attend our production of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee last weekend. I was inspired by the amazing performances by our talented students! I don’t know what I was more impressed by, the acting, the singing, or the spelling.

The achievements of our students this week have been truly incredible and we have a lot to celebrate!

• National Honor Society Induction: Last night, we inducted 200 new members into the National Honor Society. We literally filled the stage—twice—to fit all the inductees! This is a testament to our entire community’s commitment to excellence and to these students' dedication to scholarship, service, leadership, and character.
• Student Peace Award: Woodson senior Harun Khan won the prestigious Student Peace Award for using technology to help people achieve their goals, as well as helping benefit humanity as a whole. More information about Harun’s award can be found here.
• Science Olympiad Regional Win: Last weekend, our Science Olympiad team took 1st place at the Nationals-Ready Regional Competition, outperforming 26 other top teams! The competition was fierce, and we can’t wait to see how they perform at States later this month at UVA.
• CAVBOTICS: Our robotics team excelled in the Chesapeake District Week 2 Event—placing 8th out of 57 teams and earning the Rising Star Award, celebrating the team that has persisted through challenges. 
• Academic Bowl Team: Our Academic Bowl team competed in the regional competition last weekend, placing 3rd and earning a spot to advance to the national competition in April. Congratulations!
• Cavs for a Cure: A special shoutout to Caroline Avera, Catherine Hunter, and Lyla Devlin for raising over $60,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. What an incredible achievement!

Be on the lookout for two important emails today from the school. One will have information about the Principal’s Evaluation Survey for families and the other includes important reminders about Kiss and Ride procedures.

With the arrival of Spring, we are reviewing safety procedures for arrival and dismissal at our Kiss and Ride and encouraging families to arrive at the school prior to 7:55 am to ensure students are getting to class on time. Over 40% of tardies occur during 1st or 2nd period and the heaviest traffic in our Kiss and Ride at 8:05 am, an earlier arrival will help ease congestion and improve on-time arrival.

Next week we are looking forward to our faculty’s Annual Chili Cookoff and the 70th Annual Regional Science Fair March 21-March 23.  Check out our recognition page for the names of Woodson Science Fair winners who will advance to the Regional round. 

I hope to see you all at the school tonight and down in Richmond tomorrow! Wherever you’ll be, have a wonderful weekend!

Kevin Greata
Principal

Student and Group Recognition Webpage

Woodson Drumline got the staff and students hyped up today during our hallway parade. Thank you, Cavs!

Kiss and Ride

Safety is our number one priority with morning drop off and afternoon pick up, and maintaining that safety is dependent on timely arrival to school and following our traffic flow procedures. We strongly encourage families to arrive at the Kiss and Ride prior to 8:00 am. Arriving prior to 8:00 am is the most important factor to ensuring safety and on time arrival to class. Arrival prior to 7:55 am will be a quick Kiss and Ride experience for you. Our building is open to students at 7:30 am.

In addition to arriving before 8:00 am, we ask that families review the traffic flow procedures below. Each of our entrances has a dedicated purpose. Delays and safety issues occur when the traffic flow procedures are not followed. Thank you for your assisting us in keeping our arrival and dismissal safe for our students.

Whitacre Entrances

All entrances are counted starting from Main St., e.g., the second entrance refers to the second entrance from Main St.

• The first entrance off Whitacre is for Buses and Staff ONLY. 
• The second entrance off Whitacre is the Senior Parking Lot and is for Seniors ONLY
• The third entrance off Whitacre is Kiss and Ride at Door 9 and is for student drop off ONLY
• The fourth entrance off Whitacre  (also known as the stadium entrance) is the Junior Parking Lot and is for Juniors ONLY

Picket Rd. Entrance

• The Picket Rd Entrance is for the Kiss and Ride at Door 1 and is for student drop off ONLY

Additional Reminders

• DO NOT park at the shopping center across the street; they will tow your car. 
• DO NOT drop off or pick up students at Door 5 side of the building. This is staff parking only and also an afternoon bus location. 
• If your student has planned to work with a teacher or coach prior to 7:30 am, we require the staff member to be at the door to meet the student. Otherwise, students and visitors will not be let in.

All FCPS schools and offices are closed on Monday, March 31, for Eid al-Fitr. Tuesday, April 1, is a student holiday and teacher workday. See the complete school year calendar.

Underclass Students - Will You Be Returning to Woodson Next Year?

If you will not be attending Woodson this fall, please let Woodson Student Services know now by clicking here to complete the student intent form.

If your student will be returning to Woodson next year, there is no need to complete or return the form.

If your student will not be returning to Woodson next year, please complete the fields at the top of the form (you may leave the Teacher Name field blank). Then check the box that says “No” when asked if the student will be returning to this school next year. Then check the appropriate box from the options listed regarding where your student will be attending school next year. Lastly, please sign and date the form. You may either scan and email the form to return it, or have your student bring it to school and drop it off in Student Services.

Student Services will make sure all transcripts and records are forwarded to your child’s new school so his/her file is complete.  If you have any questions, please contact Woodson registrar Darlene Sheppard at 703-503-4622 or dmsheppard@fcps.edu.

Congratulations Woodson Science Olympiad! On Saturday March 1^st Science Olympiad fought hard and earned the 1st place trophy out of 26 teams at the Nationals-Ready Regional tournament at Mary Washington University. This was a big win for Woodson SciOly as we placed ahead of all the other top teams in Virginia including TJ!

On to States on March 29th at UVA where they plan to do it all over again!

Counselor Corner

Now that we have completed Academic Advising and the deadline has passed for students to change course requests, Woodson administration begins the large task of assessing instructional needs and hiring for next school year. Students who created a plan to take a Dual Enrollment course for next year have until March 24 to complete the Dual Enrollment process. This is a firm NOVA deadline. Students taking the class through FCPS online campus should have returned their registration form to their counselor or do so immediately. (Students will not be added to a DE course unless the form is received.)

Reminder for Juniors to mark their calendar for April 3, Junior Focus Day! They will choose 3 sessions to assist them to reach their post-secondary goals. More information will be shared with Juniors soon.

Sophomore information night was a huge success this week! Please refer to the Sophomore padlet for the presentation as needed. School counselors visited 10th grade HPE classes this week to deliver the Wellness presentation. Students can find support on both our Woodson Wellness site and our Social/Emotional Supports padlet.

As we finish Q3, we want to remind students to finish strong and seek academic support as needed. Our Academic Support padlet has resources like test-taking tips and guarding against procrastination.

Financial Aid Webinar for Military Families

FCPS partner College Access Fairfax will host two virtual presentations on Financial Aid information for military families. The session will be presented by the Lead Financial Educator and Military Benefits Liaison from Navy Mutual Aid Association. 

Topics covered:

• Residency Requirements 
• Using the GI Bill
• The Yellow Ribbon Program
• Using Chapter 35 (DEA benefits)
• Military scholarships and grants
• Virginia Education Programs

Military families are invited to attend one of two sessions:

• Tuesday, March 18 at 7:30 PM
• Saturday, March 22 at 10:00 AM

To attend, simply click on the links above to join the desired session.

70th Annual Regional Science Fair

The 70th Annual Regional Science Fair will take place at Robinson Secondary School the weekend of March 21-23. 

The fair is open to the public on Sunday, March 23, 1-3 p.m., during the Open House. Community members are invited to see the project displays and congratulate our high school student participants.

Visit the science fair webpage for more information.

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