A note from the Kilmer PTA BoardWhen we began our roles this year, we were a little overwhelmed because our oldest children were 7th graders - meaning that we were brand new to Kilmer. Several people warned us that middle school is very different from elementary school and therefore it would be difficult to get families engaged and volunteering. Thankfully, that couldn’t have been further from the truth! We have been so impressed and honored by the level of family engagement and the number of people who have been so generous with their time and money this year – enabling us as the PTA board to do so much! We would like to thank everyone who volunteered this year to help support our Kilmer students, staff and community. Additionally, we would like to thank everyone who joined the PTA and/or came out to any of our events this year:
|
|
Thank you so much to everyone who donated money and/or items to the PTA, Teacher & Staff Appreciation/Hospitality and/or the Food Pantry. Because of the generosity of the Kilmer community, we were able to end the year under budget, leaving a small surplus! Thank you also to all of the teachers, staff and administrators who supported the PTA and our events! The administrative team at Kilmer Middle School includes Steven McFarlane, Principal; Emily Castro, Assistant Principal; Erin Kestler, Assistant Principal; and Melissa Smith, Assistant Principal. Supporting them is Sarah Groh, Director of Student Services. The Leadership Support Team comprises Kimberly Kardelis, After-School Specialist; Kimberly Gilmore, Safety and Security Assistant; and Jason Edminster, School Resource Officer. The Main Office staff includes Toni Michelle Pierce, Administrative Assistant II; Maria Yeager, Office Assistant; Jessica Rosas Diego, Office Assistant; and Daniela Oliveros, Office Assistant. As it took a large number of people to make this year so successful, we would like to thank our many family volunteers by name. We have done our best to try to include everyone – and sincerely apologize if we accidentally left anyone off our list. First, we would like to thank the amazing Carrie Cassinelli, who ran our Facebook page and created these incredible newsletters! Carrie was an unofficial member of our PTA board, supporting us in so many ways. Thank you Carrie! Thank you to the wonderful team of Sarah Bareis, Jocelyn Holguin and Dan Ruecking for their tireless efforts in running the Kilmer Food Pantry this year! The Kilmer Food Pantry supports over 40 members of our community and we are so grateful for all Sarah, Jocelyn and Dan did this year to keep the food pantry funded, donations coming in and food going out to those who really need it. Next, we would like to thank our incredible Hospitality & Teacher Appreciation Chair Kadie Blaney, along with her entire dedicated team! These amazing women donated their time to show our fabulous Kilmer teachers & staff how much we appreciate them throughout the year – from stock-the-pantry events to lunches to a home-run week of appreciation last month!
Our next thank you goes out to the impressive Andrea Dahl who worked tirelessly to arrange so many Dining for Dollars opportunities for us! The Dining for Dollars program was a great way for us to raise PTA revenue while providing community-building opportunities! When we took over in our roles this year, we realized that the technology systems needed a major revamp. Thank you to the amazing Christine Harney, who stepped in to help us upgrade the entire Kilmer PTA system and also serve as our webmaster! Things ran so smoothly due to Chris’s know-how and support! Thank you to the incredible Kassi Klinefelter for leading Crosstown Hoops this year! It was Kilmer’s year to host and Kassi stepped up and organized a slam-dunk event! Thank you to Michelle Scalise and Brooke Edwards for volunteering their professional talents to decorate Marshall - making the event even more special. Thanks to Lena Zein for being the point person for Crosstown Hoops and the PTA. Finally, thank you to everyone else who signed up to volunteer their time to help out on this special night!
Our next thank you goes out to Phuong Smith who bravely and awesomely stepped up to lead this year’s PTA Reflections contest! It was the first year that Kilmer was able to participate in a while – and we had four students place at the Fairfax County PTA Level and one student, Phoung’s son, make it all the way to the national level! The School Store was a favorite among many Kilmer students this year. Thank you to our many School Store Volunteers who generously donated their time to sell snacks to these hungry students staying after school! The school store raised a lot of money for the PTA and we could not have done it without you!
Thank you also to Gemma and Phil Stokoe who not only had the idea for a Kilmer night at DC United – but they actually made it happen! Thank you so much for organizing a great event! We would be remiss not to give a shout out to Kerry and Ryan Lombard, who so generously donated beautiful new custom branded tablecloths for Kilmer events! Our next thank you goes to all of our Fall Festival volunteers! Thank you to everyone who donated their time to make it run so smoothly!
Finally, thank you to everyone who volunteered to make Skate Night happen! That was a new event for Kilmer this year and a very successful one – so thank you to everyone who made that night possible!
Thank you all again for an incredible year! We are excited to come back and do it again next year! We will have all three positions (President, Treasurer and Secretary) available the year after – so if you know someone who might be interested, please let us know! And if you would like to get more involved with the PTA next year, we definitely want to know that as well! Have an amazing summer! Best, Wendy, Laura & Mandy |
