Take a minute to recognize the achievements of our students for the 2024-2025 school year!

  • Congratulations to the Poolesville teams that placed in the MCPS High School Forensics Competition at Montgomery College on Tuesday.  Teams were challenged to find a trail of digital evidence, draw logical conclusions, and present their findings in an organized technical report.  A 9th grade team of Lihang Ye, Shivum Arora, and Jasraj Singh Bhatia took first place in the Intro Division.  Three 10th grade teams earned awards in the advanced division.  Crest Highfill and Cailyn Farrell earned a special Honorable Mention for their excellent Forensic writeup.  Jennifer Lee, Vivian She and Christine Wang took third place.  William Park, Akash Saran, and Aryan Singh won first place.  Special thanks to upperclassmen Agneya Tharun, Ben Ross, Eric Huang and Sankeerth Reddy Korisepati who assisted in running the competition.

  • Congratulations to the PHS MESA Team (Ashkar Ali, Lemar Chehab, Ravindra Lakkireddy, Denis Motuzenko, Anish Mulukutla, Gianluca Radice, and Mohammad Taariq) who came second in Montgomery County for the NEDC Challenge for their application called “Neighborhood Watch.”  This success included individual second-place honors for Lemar, Anish, and Ravindra.  Note: This is a repeated celebration due to an unintended omission last week. 

  • Congratulations to Eric Huang, Pranav Karthikeyan, and other students involved in the development of the Ripple App, which has recently been featured on WTOP and Fox5!

  • Congratulations to Krish Putta, junior, for his election as the First Vice President of the Maryland Association of Student Councils (MASC) to represent high school students from across the state for the 2025-2026 school year.  Krish was elected at the MASC annual convention, which included nearly 1,000 students who participated in leadership workshops, debated legislation, and elected officers for the next school year.  

  • Congratulations to the PHS MESA Team (Ashkar Ali, Lemar Chehab, Ravindra Lakkireddy, Denis Motuzenko, Anish Mulukutla, Gianluca Radice, and Mohammad Taariq) who came second in Montgomery County for the NEDC Challenge for their application called “Neighborhood Watch.”  This success included individual second-place honors for Lemar and Ravindra.  

  • Congratulations to Agneya Tharun for his designation as a Coca-Cola Scholar-select!  After attending Scholars Weekend in Atlanta in April, Agneya will be named an official Coca-Cola Scholar, recognized as a student that exemplifies superior leadership, service, and academics, while also being a change agent that positively affects others in our community.  Less than ⅙ of 1% of applicants are selected for this extremely competitive award, which includes a $20,000 college scholarship.  You can read more about Agneya’s achievement at this link.

  • Congratulations to Jonathan Shan for his 1st place finish in the 2025 Maryland Aviation Art Contest!  Jonathan’s original artwork, “Women Who Redrew the Sky,” has been forwarded to the National Association of State Officials for judging in the national contest.  

  • Congratulations to all Falcons who participated in the Montgomery County National History Day competition.  Poolesville High School dominated the Senior Category across the board.  All students will be advancing to the Maryland State Competition in a few weeks.  Please be sure to congratulate these students for their outstanding performance. 

  • Congratulations to Ms. Gomer, Grace Guo, and Asher Lyons for their recognition in Annapolis at the State House in both the House and the Senate for their accomplishments in National History Day!     

  • Congratulations to the PHS Debate Team!  Last Wednesday and Thursday the Debate Team sent forth four pairs into the playoff elimination and then subsequent championship bracket. 

    • Sankeerth Korisepati & Atharv Shete
    • Megan Stallard & Hyunbee Cho
    • Aanshi Patel & Jeff Hou 
    • Alessandro Bazzano-Zeldin & Abraham Klemek 

    Out of 12 matches and over three hours of discussing Federal Corn Subsidies, PHS walked out with 7 wins, with each pair scoring at least one victory. Finally, a huge call for celebrating Megan & Hyunbee who made it into the Final Four to cement their place as one of the top four debate pairs out of over 300 in the county.

  • Congratulations to Anna Yegorova!  Anna was one of 18 students across the state and one of two students in MCPS to be selected as a National Semifinalist for the NASSP 2025 National Honor Society Scholarships.  You can find out more at this link.  

  • Congratulations to the PHS History Bowl Team(s)!  Michael Fayer won the individual Varsity History Bee, and PHS had seven different teams qualify for the National Competition.  This ties the IAC record, which was set by PHS last year, for the most teams to ever qualify.  Congratulations to all the Falcons who participated!

  • Congratulations to the PHS Model United Nations for their success at last weekend’s North American Invitational Model United Nations (NAIMUN) competition.  Vickie Mo and Saayui Nair both earned Honorable Mentions, and Hyunbee Cho and Ravi Iyer earned Verbal Commendations.  Congratulations to all Falcons who competed.  

     

  • Congratulations to the PHS indoor track, wrestling, and swim & dive teams for an amazing weekend of school spirit and success.  PHS indoor track had many students place in the Top 10 at the 2A MD State Championships.  Our wrestling team placed fifth in the MCPS County Championship with multiple individual county champions.  Our boys and girls swim and dive teams had several state champions in individual events, as well as an overall State Championship for the boys team.  The girls team were state finalists, finishing second in the state in a thrilling team effort.  Please see the Athletic Updates below for complete details.  

  • Congratulations to all Falcons who earned Straight A report cards (299 students) and/or Honor Roll distinction (714 students) for the second marking period! 

  • Congratulations to Coach Hand, Coach Nagy, and the PHS Bocce Team (Darren Booth, Eleanor Breeden, Erica Frazin, Amelia Gough, Lily Gough, Jocelyn Gu, Ben Hagley, Logan Lamb, Sopia Li, Hargun Malhorta, Avery Savino, and Adam Wolfson) for their second-place finish at the MCPS County Championship on Thursday, February 13.  

  • Congratulations to the PHS Science Olympiad team for their success at the regional competition.  Overall, our Falcons placed 7th out of approximately 40 teams and have likely qualified for the state competition.  You can find individual event results for our students at this link. 

  • Congratulations to Jordan Go (3 points), Anderson Preis (perfect 5 points), and Douglas Schwartz (3 points) for their success in the three-day 62nd Baltimore Open Chess Tournament!  You can read more about the tournament here.  

  • Congratulations to Brainy Akpala, as a previous Gold Medalist, for being a featured performer at the 10th Annual ACT-SO Poetry Read-In at the BlackRock Center for the Arts.

  • Congratulations to the following winners from the PHS National History Day competition!  These Falcons will be competing in the MCPS National History Day Competition in early March:

    • Group Exhibit - Melanie Guo, Honna Trinkl, & Selena Zhang and Mia Ballam and Cam Sosna
    • Individual Exhibit - Isa Rincon-Noble and Skylar Dash
    • Group Website - Livy Lawrence, Hadley Miller, & Clara Park and Jacob Frias, Emmanuel Getahun, Nuaimaan Tewfik, and Nikhil Pandey
    • Individual Website - Chloe Chang and Daniya Osman
    • Group Doc - Lauren Miller & Amelia Lancaster and Melody Chen & Keira Lee
    • Individual Doc - Laura Civillico and Tanvi De
    • Individual Performance - Victoria Lu and Imani Lovelace
    • Individual Paper - Leela Desai and Ishita Singh

  • Congratulations to the PHS Model UN Team for their success in AMERICMUNC, American University's international high school Model UN Conference.  Team members represented various countries and historical figures, debating a variety of topics from press freedoms, women's rights, and Puerto Rican nationalism. Poolesville had an amazing performance,  with 9 out of 20 attendees winning awards  See below for the PHS winners:

    • Adi Arunkumar - Best Delegate representing Horace Chang in the Cabinet of Jamaica
    • Shreyas Sasanakoti - Outstanding Delegate representing Samuel R. Quiñones in the 1949 Puerto Rican Cabinet of Luis Muñoz Marín 
    • Ravi Iyer - Outstanding Delegate representing Sixto Ichaustegui in the Cabinet of the Dominican Republic
    • Mohammad Taariq Ashkar Ali - Honourable Mention representing Indonesia in the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
    • Guru Jayaprakash - Honourable Mention representing Ireland in the UN Commission for the Status of Women
    • Aarush Kandukoori - Verbal Commendation representing Kenya in the UN Commission for the Status of Women
    • Neil Panchal - Verbal Commendation representing Guinea-Bissau in the UN Office of Drugs and Crime
    • Alessandro Bazzano-Zeldin and Vibhi Maniar - Verbal Commendation representing Ireland in the World Health Organization and the Diplomacy Award, given to delegates who embody the diplomatic and collaborative spirit of Model UN.
  • Congratulations to Kyle Chang (Alto Saxophone), Jemimah Lee (Violin), Aniruddh Ravishankar (French Horn), Claire Shen (Bass Clarinet), Matthew Wing-Lok Wong (Viola) and Bryan Yung (Violin) for their acceptance into the 2025 Maryland All State ensemble.  All State ensembles represent the best of the best 7th through 12th grade student musicians from across the state of Maryland.  For ticket links and more information about All State ensembles, you can visit their website.
  • Congratulations to the PHS Quiz Bowl Team (Nicholas Cabrera, Sayan Chandaroy, Asher Lyons, Liam Slattery, and Logan Van Pelt for advancing to the Finals in the Montgomery Academic Beltway League after their third place performance at their recent competition.  They are one of eight teams to advance to the Finals held at B-CC High School on February 20.

  • Congratulations to the Poolesville High School DECA team for their success at their recent DECA SCDC competition.  PHS had 52 students qualify for the international DECA competition held in April in Orlando, Florida.  In addition to our 52 qualifiers, Sarthak Pal Mahajan and Krish Putta have been elected to the Maryland DECA State Board.  

  • Congratulations to Jiaxin Jiang and Eugene Kim for being highlighted in the MCPS Press Release and two of the three Falcons who earned a full-tuition scholarship from QuestBridge.  PHS had three of the 13 MCPS students who were awarded this incredible opportunity out of more than 25,500 who applied nationally.   
  • Congratulations to Sandrienne Wiggins for being awarded a full-tuition, four-year college scholarship from the Posse Foundation.  Sandrienne was one of fifteen MCPS students selected and was honored at a ceremony at the Lincoln Theatre on January 8.  You can find more information in the official MCPS Press Release.

  • Congratulations to Joseph Garrison and Jiaxin Jiang for their selection to the Maryland General Assembly Student Page Program.  These Falcons will have the opportunity to spend multiple weeks in Annapolis assisting in the chambers of the general assembly for our state government.  I know they will positively represent PHS with pride.  

  • Congratulations to Jordan Go, Jainavaneeth Kumarashankar, Anderson Preis, and Douglas Schwartz for the PHS Chess Team’s 3-1 win against Jackson-Reed High School this past week!

  • Congratulations to the PHS Science Olympiad Team for earning one gold medal and five bronze medals at their competition on Saturday!

  • Congratulations to Bryan Yung for being named as one of only 300 national Regeneron STS Scholars.  The Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.  Bryan was named a Regeneron Scholar for his project, titled Brain Region and Frequency Band Contributions in EEG Classification of Frontotemporal Dementia.  You can read more about STS and the honored students at this link. 

  • Congratulations to the Chess team for winning against Bishop McNamara 4-0. Jordan Go, Jainavaneeth Kumarashankar, Anderson Preis, and Douglas Schwartz all came out with wins in their individual matches.

  • Congratulations to the PHS It’s Academic Team. On Sunday, December 15, the team, comprised of Asher Lyons (captain), Claire Barsness, and Alex Wang, defeated La Plata and St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes. The episode will air on April 5 on WETA at 10:00 a.m. Congrats, Falcons, and good luck in the playoffs!

  • Congratulations to the PHS Debate Team, who competed at Montgomery Blair High School on December 18 for the fourth meet of the season against schools all across Montgomery County. The resolution for this month's meet was: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its investment in domestic nuclear energy. Through 26 rounds of debate PHS came up big with 18 wins and only 8 losses. The team continues to build momentum as we move towards the end of the season; over the last four meets Poolesville is posting a 53 - 32 win/loss ratio. We have one more regular season meet to work towards in January followed by the playoffs and championship in February.  

  • Congratulations to Gene Park for his victory in the annual BrookCodes Hackathon! Gene worked with a team of students to create “Genie’s Magic,” an app that helps people solve their problems of indecisiveness by providing insight on what to do with advice and realistic choice-making. “Genie’s Magic” won “The Ultimate Desk Buddy” challenge category.  

  • Congratulations to Falcon Khandaker Wasi, Class of 2025) for being named to Forbes Magazine’s “30 Under 30” in the “Education” category.  Khandaker is celebrated for his founding of and work with the nonprofit company, 504 Found, to raise awareness about 504 Plans and support neurodivergent learners.  Congratulations, Khandaker!!  In addition, Class of 2017 graduate, Kahlil Greene, was honored in the “Social Media” category.  

  • Congratulations to the PHS Model United Nations (UN) Team for their performance at this weekend’s Model UN Conference at Mt. Hebron High School.  Delegates from Poolesville High School debated in a variety of committees, from geopolitical issues like conflict in the South China Sea, to historical events like WW1, and even a Harry Potter fictional committee.  Our Falcons won 11 different awards!  Congratulations to Ms. Snavely, the students below, and all students who participated.
    • Neil Panchal - Best Delegate in 2050 UN Space Council
    • Saayuj Nair - Outstanding Delegate in Ad Hoc (World War 1)
    • Clara Park - Outstanding Delegate in South China Sea General Assembly
    • Heewon Seo - Honourable Delegate AND Best Position Paper in South China Sea General Assembly
    • Adi Arunkumar - Honourable Delegate in Harry Potter: Ministry of Magic
    • Shreyas Sasanakoti - Honourable Delegate in Ad Hoc (World War 1)
    • Mohammad Taariq Ashkar Ali - Best Position Paper AND Verbal Commendation in 2050 UN Space Council
    • Nuha Razak - Best Position Paper in UN Security Council
    • Ravi Iyer - Verbal Commendation in Ad Hoc (World War 1)
  • Congratulations to ninth grade Falcons Grace Chi and Leela Ramanathan!  They were honored as the Student Spotlight by the MCPS Division of Career and Postsecondary Partnerships and Career Advising for their collaborative efforts with Ms. Clement and the MocoCAP program.

  • Congratulations to seniors Jacob Lee and Bryan Yung!  This week, they were presented with a proclamation from the County Council in recognition of their development of the Runway app.  This app provides daily STEM lessons and quizzes, and it's surpassed 1000 downloads in 90 countries in less than two months.  You can find it in the App Store for iPhone users.  And if you have an Android, hold tight...they're working on it!

  • Congratulations to the PHS Debate Team!!  At their most recent meet against all MCPS schools, they ended the 22 rounds of debate with an 18-4 record, with many pairs ending the night with a perfect record.  Good luck to these Falcons at their next meet on November 20.

  • Congratulations to Anthony and Christian Yoon on the publication of their children’s book, A Better Home, which focuses on environmental sustainability and accountability.  They were recently recognized with a Silver Medal in the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards for “Best Book by Youth” and Honorable Mentions in two categories (Green Books and Environmental and Youth Author Fiction) in the 2024 Purple Dragonfly Awards.  You can check out their website and a professional book review to learn more about their work.  

  • Poolesville High School has been recognized by College Board as a Platinum school, the highest level of the AP Honor Roll. Specifically, 87% of our current senior class will experience at least one AP class before they graduate, 77% of our seniors have earned a score (3) that can qualify for college credit in at least one class, and 67% of our seniors have taken five AP classes or more during their time at Poolesville. Moreover, our school has also been recognized with the AP Access Award for “providing all students the chance to participate in Advanced Placement classes, including students  of underrepresented populations.”

  • Poolesville High School has been named the Number 1 Best Public High School in Maryland in the annual Niche Best Public High Schools in Maryland rankings for 2025.  Through their data collection process, PHS was assigned an overall grade of A+.  BIG congratulations to all the students, staff members, families, and community support that make Poolesville High School a wonderful place for teaching and learning!  Our Falcons truly Fly High!

  • Congratulations to Jacob Lee!  Jacob’s video has been selected as one of 30 finalists in this year’s Breakthrough Junior Challenge, an annual global science video competition for high school students all over the world.  If Jacob’s video wins the competition, he and PHS will be honored with financial prizes.  Please watch and “like” Jacob’s video; the video with the most “likes” as of September 20 wins!  Great job, Jacob.

  • Congratulations to Neel Bhattacharyya and Jay Wakhede, as well as Mr. Kingman.  With Mr. Kingman’s support, Neel and Jay’s manuscript, “AntiBloom: A Novel Deep Learning-Powered Device to Predict Harmful Algal Blooms” was published in The Journal of Student Research.  

  • Senior Spread - The Poolesville Pulse: Our student journalists have published their Senior Spread to celebrate the next steps of our Class of 2024.  You can follow the link to read the Class of 2024: Future Plans from The Poolesville Pulse.  Great work, Falcons, and congratulations to the Class of 2024!

  • Please see below for past years Student Success

Staff Success

  • Congratulations to Mr. Sparrow for winning the MCPS Paraeducator of the Year Award!  The MCPS press release states, “John Sparrow has dedicated nearly all of his 39 years with MCPS to the Global Ecology Program, becoming the ‘heart and soul’ of the program at Poolesville High School. He is deeply involved in every aspect of the program, from driving the bus and planning itineraries to setting up tents, preparing meals and managing equipment. He works closely with multiple agencies to ensure that each field trip connects classroom learning to real-world environmental experiences. Beyond the logistics, he fosters meaningful relationships with the 400 students in the program, supporting their growth by arranging mentors, coaching sports, and seeking out programs and internships to guide students in their next steps.”  We are extremely fortunate to have Mr. Sparrow as not only a member of our Falcon Family but also a member of our overall Poolesville Cluster and community.  

  • Congratulations to Mr. Kingman for being the recipient of the 2025 Excellence in Mentoring Award from ScienceMONTGOMERY.  Mr. Kingman will be honored with this award at the Montgomery County Science Fair Awards Ceremony on Sunday, April 6.  

  • Congratulations to Mr. Rogoza and the PHS Orchestra!  Our Orchestra earned perfect 1 ratings in every single category, which is extremely rare.  This achievement is even more impressive considering this is the first year of an orchestra-only class for Mr. Rogoza.  Their perfect score earns them a place at the state-level competition.  Great job, Falcons!

  • Congratulations to Ms. Clowe, Mr. Kingman, Mr. Leong, Mr. Morrell, Mr. Nowell, and Ms. Speirs for achieving National Board Certification (NBC) in December.  They will join other MCPS staff on Monday, May 5, to be recognized during the Annual NBC Pinning Ceremony.  Congrats to this most recent group of PHS National Board Certified teachers for their commitment to their professional growth in serving our students.  

Click to see Super Student Successes for the 2023-2024, 2022-2023, 2020-2021, 2019-2020, 2018-2019, 2017-2018, 2016-2017, 2015-2016, 2014-2015, 2013-2014, 2012-2013, 2011-2012 school years.