April 2012
Happy Spring Robinson Community!
This has truly been a great start to Spring 2012! Hopefully, you’ve been able to enjoy some of the beautiful weather!
I would like to begin my message this month with a big thank you to Terri Snyder Min and our fabulous presenters at the Distracted Driving session held on March 27th. This was an outstanding session; I hope you were able to attend!
As I’ve mentioned several times in this space, we have been working hard with the Academic Booster Club in preparation for our first Meet a Professional Night. I hope your calendar is marked for April 19th. It will be an ideal opportunity for our students to hear directly from professionals representing a wide variety of industries. All interested must sign-up.
I am also very excited to inform you that the PTSA has decided to host our 2nd Annual Fall Marketplace on Saturday, November 10. As I reported in the fall, this was a huge success for both attendees and the participating vendors. This is more than a craft fair since, in addition to crafters, there will be home-based businesses as well as a variety of vendors from the Robinson community. Please look for a call for vendors in the near future. And thank you to Ingrid Calarco for agree to chair this event once again. It's a huge undertaking, but we are all looking forward to offering this to the Robinson community!
As the end of the school year quickly approaches, we are now actively seeking nominations for the PTSA Executive Committee and chairs of several committees. Please let Terri Snyder Min (nomination committee chair) or any PTSA Officer know if you are interested in serving.
Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations for the People's Choice Awards which recognizes members of the Robinson school community who have done an outstanding job promoting positive human relations in school. Laura Lewis, and her committee are carefully reviewing all submissions and will be selecting the recipients later in the month. The PTSA will host a reception honoring each award winner on May 29 at 3pm in the Blue Cafeteria.
Seniors - remember you have until April 13 to submit your applications for two Robinson PTSA scholarships: the Elaine Heenan Memorial Scholarship for Volunteerism and the Friends Scholarship for Involvement in Activities at Robinson. We also will be awarding a Delta scholarship for a member of our special education community. For additional information about all these scholarships, please see:
http://robinsonptsa.org/programs/scholarships.html
Finally, please join us at our last PTSA General Membership meeting of the year on May 10 in the Media Center. We will be electing the PTSA officers for next year and providing additional information regarding several of our programs, including the PTSA fall Marketplace. Keep your eyes open for an announcement of our featured speaker for that meeting.
As always, it is my pleasure to serve the entire Robinson community!
Suzanne Tsacoumis
Robinson PTSA President
March 2012
Greetings Robinson Community!
Although it may not be readily apparent, your PTSA continues to be very busy on a variety of fronts. Once again, on February 14th, Terri Min Snyder orchestrated This Is For You! during which a large group of parent volunteers surprised the student body with lunchtime treats. This is a great opportunity to for the PTSA to do a little something special for the students. Thank you to all bakers, volunteers, and to Terri!
Please join us on March 27 from 8pm - 9pm in the Recital Hall for a very informative session on Distracted Driving presented by members of the George Mason University community. This promises to be a very engaging session!
As you may recall, each year the Robinson PTSA presents the People’s Choice Awards to those members of the Robinson school community who have done an outstanding job promoting positive human relations in the school. Please consider nominating a worthy recipient. Additional information can be found at: http://robinsonptsa.org/programs/peopleschoiceawards.html Nominations are due March 30.
Last month, I mentioned that we will be sponsoring a Spring Into Fitness program on March 31. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, that program is cancelled.
The Meet A Professional Night, which we are cosponsoring with the Academic Booster Club, will be an ideal opportunity for our students to hear directly from professionals representing a wide variety of industries. Be sure to encourage attendance – April 19.
Finally, please note that the Robinson PTSA offers Seniors the opportunity to apply for two scholarships: the Elaine Heenan Memorial Scholarship for Volunteerism and the Friends Scholarship for Involvement in Activities at Robinson. Applications are due April 13. For additional information, please see: http://robinsonptsa.org/programs/scholarships.html
It is my pleasure working with such a wonderful group of volunteers! As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Best regards,
Suzanne Tsacoumis
Robinson PTSA President
February 2012
Hello Robinson Community!
First, I would like to extend a big thank you to Donna Piscitelli, Robinson Director of Student Services, who was our featured speaker at our January General Membership meeting. She provided detailed information about how to take advantage of the various communication vehicles available to Robinson families. The session was rich with information, engaging, and very relevant. I’m sure Donna will be glad to share her slidedeck if you were not able to attend.
Please mark your calendars for several outstanding upcoming PTSA events. First on March 31, at 10am we will host our first Spring Into Fitness program. Come and learn the fundamentals of fitness and nutrition facts that lead your family to making lifestyle changes for a lifetime! In partnership with the President’s Challenge, Box Tops for Education will provide prizes!
Then, in collaboration with the Academic Booster Club, we are sponsoring Meet a Professional Night on April 19. This promises to be an exceptionally informative evening during which student can interact with professionals representing a wide variety of industries. Look for more detailed information elsewhere in the RamGram. We could still use a few more professionals. Please contact Heather Gillies (hngillies@yahoo.com) if you are interested in sharing information about your career with our students.
We are also finalizing plans to host Saturday Night in the Suburbs which always is a very popular event. And, for the first time, we hope to sponsor a session on the dangers of texting and driving. Please look for announcements regarding the planned dates for these events.
Our numerous PTSA volunteers continue to be hard at work. I remain so impressed with their initiative and dedication to serve – thank you! I also want to thank each PTSA member. As you know, without you, we would not be able to provide the broad range of services and programs for our community.
All the best,
Suzanne Tsacoumis
Robinson PTSA President
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January 2012
Happy New Year!
I hope you and your family had a safe and happy holiday season! In several recent conversations, it dawned on me that we may not be effectively conveying everything that the Robinson PTSA does for our community. Therefore, I am proud to share with you the diverse nature of our programs, services, and monetary contributions. Here is a sample of what we do:
- Funding for faculty and staff development
- Faculty and staff appreciation luncheon
- Scholarships for graduating seniors
- Student Leadership Grants (Boys and Girls State)
- Ram Gardens – beautification of the Robinson grounds
- RamGram – award winning newsletter
- Student directories
- Reflections Program: arts recognition and achievement program
- Annual Meet the Candidate Night
- People’s Choice Awards
- Health and Safety programs
- Educational programs
- Funding for many student groups, such as: DECA, Partner’s Club, Odyssey of the Mind, Black History Bowl, Science Olympiad, FBLA, Chorus
- Funding for student publications: Valor Dictus, Medallion, and Carousel
- Maintain an informative website
There are over 40 volunteers who make all of this, and more, happen. I am also happy to announce that we have officially added a student representative to our Executive Board to ensure all members of our community have a voice and to facilitate communication among the various parties.
Clearly, we need a significant amount of funds to be able to provide this level of support and services. Rather than implementing a variety of funding raising activities throughout the year, we have two primary sources of funds: membership dues and the fall Marketplace. The Marketplace was a huge success; however the net proceeds from that event are not sufficient to sustain us. So, thank you to everyone who is currently a PTSA member! If you are not, I hope you consider supporting the PTSA. I was surprised to learn that our membership has drastically and steadily decreased over time (from over 1700 parent/adult members in 2004 to 899 this year). If you are interested in joining, click here!
December 2011
Hello Robinson!
The PTSA has had another busy and successful month. Hopefully, you were able to attend the first annual Marketplace on November 12. It seems as though it often takes several years for a new event to establish traction, however I couldn’t have been more impressed with the Marketplace! There were over 70 vendors lining the main hallway and more than 1000 people visited the various booths! We had numerous student and adult volunteers both the evening prior to the event, as well as all throughout the day. It was the epitome of a true community event, made possible by the generous efforts of so many! A huge thank you to Ingrid Calcaro, the event Chair, and her committee: Lisa Chandler, Rina Hafiz, Amy Riddick, Cheryl Miller, Rachel Schreiman, Many Mangahas, Tamira Pouncil, Hannie Gonzalez, and Terri Min Snyder. Keep your eyes open in the spring for an announcement of the fall date for our next Marketplace.
I am absolutely thrilled that we had 19 entries in PTA Reflections program, which is one of the largest student arts recognition programs in the country. Nine of our students are moving to the next level (Cluster)! Sandra Otero de Solares, the Reflections chair, will be recognizing all 19 participants at an awards ceremony on December 15 in the Recital Hall. Please read more about this year’s entries elsewhere in the RamGram.
As I mentioned last month, we are looking forward to formally including a student on the PTSA Board, and if possible, having student assistance on some of our committees. Several students submitted completed applications for serving as our student representative and at press time, our committee is reviewing their applications.
We sponsored our first in a series of health and safety programs in November: a drug and alcohol awareness night. As always, Sam Wagner, from the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board, did an outstanding job sharing information about substance abuse in teens. Our next event will be an evening focused on family fitness which will be held on December 13 at 6:30pm in the Recital Hall. Keep an eye open for announcements of other informative sessions throughout the school year. Also, please mark your calendar for our next General Membership meeting which will be held on January 12 at 7pm in the Media Center. Our featured presentation will be announced in the very near future. <BR
Please visit our website, robinsonptsa.org for additional information. You can also visit our website to pay for your PTSA membership on-line.
I hope this holiday season brings you much happiness! As always, please let me know if there is anything the Robinson PTSA can do for the Robinson community.
Suzanne Tsacoumis
Robinson PTSA President
November 2011
Happy Fall Robinson!
I hope you were able to attend our annual Meet the Candidate evening on October 19th. The Gold Cafeteria was brimming with members of our Robinson and neighboring communities who gained additional insight into the opinions of 15 of the candidates running for office in our area, including the Board of Supervisors, State House of Delegates, State Senate, and Sheriff positions. It was a very informative evening. We greatly appreciate each candidate taking the time to participate. And a big shout-out to Lynn Horton, the PTSA Legislative Chair and her co-chair for this event, Bonnie Foreman, for all their hard work organizing this event.
One new PTSA initiative is to actively encourage additional student participation in the PTSA. Look elsewhere in the RamGram for a call for nominations for a student representative to the PTSA Executive Board. Deadline for submitting nomination material is November 18th. We also welcome student volunteers to support our committee work or special events. For that matter, we are always searching for help, so all members of the Robinson community interested in volunteering, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Terri Min at volunteercoordinator@robinsonptsa.org
I hope you’ve marked your calendar for November 12, 10am – 4pm when we’ll be sponsoring our first Marketplace. Plan to complete some of your early holiday shopping by visiting the booths of over 70 hand-crafters, home businesses, boutique shops, and school groups. You’ll also find specialty food vendors, as well as student entertainment and a variety of crafting activities.
Also, please don’t forget about our two health and safety programs occurring in November:
November 15, 6:30pm: Drug and Alcohol Awareness Night
November 29, 6:30pm: Fit Families for the Holidays
Please visit our website, robinsonptsa.org for additional information. You can also visit our website to pay for your PTSA membership on-line.
Please let me know if there is anything the PTSA can do for the Robinson community!
October 2011
Hello Robinson Community!
I hope you have settled into the school year routine after the flurry of back-to-school activities.
I am once again honored to be working alongside so many dedicated volunteers who have been doing an outstanding job of managing the many parts associated with the Robinson PTSA. For example, with amazing speed, the middle school and high school directories were compiled, printed, and on-sale at both back-to-school nights.
Our membership drive is in full force, we’re already producing our second edition of the RamGram, and our grocery receipt program is up and running. Please be sure to sign up!
We held our first General Membership meeting on September 15, which featured Rina Hafiz who presented on Success Principles; it was an outstanding, well-attended program. Our next general membership meeting is January 12 at 7pm.
We have a number of terrific events scheduled during the next few months, so please mark your calendars. First, on October 19 we will sponsor the annual Meet the Candidates Night, during which time many of the candidates running for elected office will respond to questions. Make sure you are informed before you vote!
We are also thrilled to announce the first Robinson PTSA Marketplace on Saturday, November 12, from 10am to 4pm. This event will include a unique blend of over 70 hand crafters, home businesses, boutique shops, and specialty food vendors, as well as student entertainment and a variety of crafting activities.
Students, please consider participating in the National PTA Reflections Program, which is an arts recognition and achievement program that focuses on the areas of literature, dance choreography, film/video production, musical composition, photography, and visual arts. Information is available on the Robinson PTSA website. The submission deadline is October 21. Last year, two of our students placed at the district level!
We also have several health and safety programs on our calendar:
November 15, 6:30pm: Drug and Alcohol Awareness Night (formerly The Bong Show)
November 29, 6:30pm: Fit Families for the Holidays
March 31, 10am: Spring into Fitness
Finally, if you haven’t done so already, please join the PTSA!
Our membership was down last year which impacts our ability to sponsor events for the community, to support school programs and groups, teacher development, and student scholarships. The cost for adult membership is just $15/year and it’s just $5 for students, faculty and staff. You can find the membership form on our website, of if you prefer, for the first time, you can pay for your membership online.
We have expanded our online capabilities to include purchasing student directories, raffle tickets for the Marketplace and for making donations. All of this is readily available by visiting our website: robinsonptsa.org.
As always, it is my pleasure to serve the entire Robinson community!
Suzanne Tsacoumis
Robinson PTSA President
September 2011
Welcome, and Welcome Back!
I hope you and your family enjoyed a funfilled and safe summer. As we start this new school year, we hope we can count on your support by joining the PTSA - it costs only $15.00! You can find the membership form in the RamGram, as well as some examples of what your PTSA can do for you. Please mark your calendar for September 8 at 7pm for our first General Membership meeting in the Robinson Media Center, we have a special presentation on Success for parents and students; don’t miss out! Also, please check out the Robinson PTSA website: http://robinsonptsa.org/ for more information on upcoming events. Hope you enjoy the new school year!
Suzanne Tsacoumis, PTSA President
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