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

  • 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 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.