Harrisonburg High School is home to the finest students, athletes, and staff. 
Below are some of the awards and recognitions that our Blue Streaks have earned during the 2020-21 school year. 

June 11, 2021
Excellence Awards
Though we were unable to do so in person, we could not miss the opportunity to recognize each department's most outstanding students. Please enjoy the 2021 Harrisonburg High School Recognition of Excellence Ceremony. 

June 8, 2021
HHS Band Awards
The Blue Streak Band is proud to announce their 2020-2021 Award and Scholarship winners!

June 4, 2021
Watch the Annual Math Department Awards
The Math Awards for the 2020/2021 School year were announced virtually.  Watch the recording of the ceremony by clicking on the video below
 

June 3, 2021
HHS STEM Healthcare students graduate from Sentara/RMH Phlebotomy course
This year the HHS Governor's STEM Academy and Sentara/RMH hospital partnered to offer students the Phlebotomy Technician course. This 18 week course occurred during the second semester and included an 8-week clinical rotation. At the completion of the course, students sat for the National Certification exam to become licensed Phlebotomy Technicians. 

The STEM academy is proud to recognize Emily Nguyen , Makayla Runion , Viktoria Katykhin , and Michael Pacheco as the first graduates from this partnership!

June 1, 2021
Blue Streak Boy's Tennis Doubles Team are Region 5 Champs
Boy's Tennis Double Team of Keenan Glago and Corey Beshoar were crowned Region 5 Doubles Champs. They defeated Albemarle 6-2 and 6-3 to earn to earn their spot in the VHSL Class 5 Doubles State Championship on Thursday, June 10 at Huntington Park in Newport News. Start time is 3pm. 

Keenan also advanced to the Region 5D Individual Championship match to held Thursday, June 3, at 10:30. Best of luck to these players!

May 19, 2021
HHS Teacher authors chapter in book on Teacher Leadership 
Erich Sneller (STEM Chemistry, Ciencias Ambientales) recently published a book chapter on Teacher Leadership.  Mr. Sneller was offered the opportunity by the Associate Dean of JMU's College of Education, Dr. Byran Zugelder.  Dr. Zugelder taught a course during Fall 2020 and invited all students to submit a chapter.  Mr. Sneller and Mrs. Kimberly Dove from Rockingham City Public Schools were honored to be included in Dr. Zugelder's book.  Mr. Sneller's chapter focuses on teacher-generated student goals, clarity of student learning, soliciting student feedback, and well-being practices for teachers.  Copies of the chapter can be read by contacting Mr. Sneller.
  

May 17, 2021
HHS One Act play placed 2nd in Regional Competition.  Watch on the  Fine Arts Youtube Channel. 
This year's performance is based on Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology, and includes new material from student Nina Alabanza and friend of the community Bri Madden. All of the original music was conceived and played by Azalea Twining. The performance also includes a 'Best Acting' performance from Ellie Velker, 'Outstanding Acting Performances' from Emma Gibson, Aiyana Thornton, as well as 'Honorable Mentions" for Azalea Twining and Syndey Ganoe. 

The entire cast are superstars who endured a month of online rehearsals, before moving to a safe in person format in the HHS courtyard, where our play was filmed in late April, during a crazy cold snap featuring snow!  The production maintains the integrity of a one-act play by being shot in 1 uninterrupted take from 1 angle. No editing was done to the performance. 
 

May 10, 2021
Junior Maya Waid accepted to Global Pre-Med Study Abroad Program
Maya is the first Blue Streak to apply and interview for this program sponsored by HOSA - Future Health Professionals Inc. She will spend 2+ weeks this July in the Dominican Republic shadowing health care providers at a local hospital with other high school students from around the world. Congratulations Maya!
 

April 24, 2021
City Schools Receive Music Education Recognition: 
https://www.dnronline.com/news/harrisonburg/city-schools-receive-music-education-recognition/article_3efad2fc-2714-5548-b7c6-3b8303857e4e.html

April 20, 2021
Congratulations to Ellie Velker, 10th grade, on her acceptance to All-Virginia Chorus! Ellie will participate in the Virtual All-State Chorus Event April 24 . She'll attend virtual performances, workshops, and rehearsals with the guest conductor, and the All-Virginia Chorus Virtual Choir performance video will be released in June. Congrats, Ellie!

 

April 16, 2021
HHS Boys Country Headed to State Tournament.
The HHS boys cross country team has qualified for the state cross country championships by finishing second in the Region 5 Championship Meet. In a tightly contested race that came down to the very end, the boys were able to finish a close second behind North Stafford.  Their second place finish marks the first time the boys cross country team has qualified for the State Championships since 2008.  The boys placed four athletes on the All-Region team (Hayden Kirwan - 7th, David Beck - 8th, Jack Haverty - 12th, and Liam Wightman - 15th).  Also scoring for the Streaks were Micah Tongen, Matthew Rush, Owen Tompkins, Nathaniel Bunn, and Evan Neufeld.

The girls were led by Annie Poriot who placed 8th overall and qualified to the State Championships as an individual.  Dara Showalter, Lena Blagg, Ty Brino-Dean, Holly Bill, Anna Campillo, and Isabel Campillo all scored for the Lady Streaks as well.  As a team, the girls placed 4th and just missed qualifying for the State Championships.

These athletes return to action next week at the 5A State Championships at the Oatlands Historic House and Gardens in Leesburg on Friday, April 23rd at 1:00pm. 

April 14, 2021
Congratulations to HHS golfer Toby Corriston for his performance in the Region 5 Golf Tournament held on Tuesday, April 14 at Heritage Oaks Golf Course. Toby tied for first place with a score of 77 and then competed in an 8 hole playoff.  His performance earned him a spot in the VHSL State Golf Tournament on April 19 at Williamsburg National Golf Club. 

March 31, 2021
Congratulations to HHS senior David Beck who was chosen as the WHSV Pepsi-Cola Student Athlete of the Week. Click on the image below to watch the video shown on the WHSV news broadcast. 

 

March 29, 2021
All-Virginia Band & Orchestra Results
We are pleased to announce that 4 of our Harrisonburg High School band students have won a seat in the prestigious All-Virginia Ensembles made up of the most talented instrumental music students throughout the state! 

Jesyln Liu (Junior), Percussion, All-VA Orchestra
Ethan Malcolm (Senior), Percussion, All-VA Symphonic Band
Johanna Mayfield (Freshman), Piano, All-VA Concert Band
Miguel (Mikey) Paniagua, (Junior), Clarinet, All-VA Concert Band 

2 of our students were named alternates:
Cindy Liu (Freshman), Oboe AND English Horn
Sam Rooker (Junior), Contra Clarinet

This is the highest honor a Virginia instrumental student can achieve!  These students qualified to audition from either high placements in the Senior Regional Orchestra or All-District Band this year. 

State Forensics Results

A Big Congratulations goes out to Anish Aradhey for placing 3rd at today's State Forensics Speech Tournament.

Anish has put in many hours staying up-to-date on global current events and continues to impress the judges.  He was able to create 3 speeches today answering the following questions, with only 30 minutes of prep between receiving the question and his performance using only pre-collected resources.   

Governor's School Model United Nations

On Friday and Saturday, 18 members of the HHS Model United Nations Club participated in the virtual Governor's School Model United Nations (GSMUN), hosted by Maggie L. Walker Governor's School of Richmond, Virginia.

At GSMUN, our HHS group did exceptionally well!  HHS was recognized as the school delegation which donated the most money towards the GSMUN charity fundraiser, Comfort Zone Camp, a nonprofit that supports children who grieve the loss of a loved one. Way to go, Streaks!

Also, four individuals of our delegation won awards for excellent work on their committees.  Here are the students, the award, and their GSMUN committee:

Illana Mattson:  Honorable Mention, Silicon Valley Tech Giants
Henry Matter:  Honorable Mention, Banana Republic War, Fruit Companies
Jeslyn Liu:  Outstanding Delegate, Head Delegate--Brazil
Stella Alexiou: Best Delegate (top award), Gulf Cooperation Council

Choral Department Success!

Back in the fall, seniors Michaela Brino-Dean and Cecelia Thomas auditioned for and were accepted to the VMEA Senior Honors Choir. They had virtual rehearsals in January, and the VMEA Seniors Honors Choir Virtual Choir Performance was released last week. You can watch the performance at this link. 

Earlier this month, THREE of our HHS singers auditioned for and were accepted to the VMEA District 5 Chorus. These 3 singers will have their virtual District Choir rehearsals in April, and their Virtual Choir Performance will be released in May.

March 22, 2021
2nd place in States!  Congratulations to the HHS Academic Team for their amazing performance on Saturday, March 20 at the Class 5 Scholastic Bowl State Tournament.  

March 15, 2021
Members of the Harrisonburg High School Chapter of HOSA, the national organization for future health professionals participated in the Virginia State Leadership Conference on March 13.
Awards/Recognitions
Maya Waid - Elected as the 2021-2022 VA HOSA State President and 2nd Place in Prepared Speaking....she qualifies for the virtual International Leadership Conference (ILC)
Julienne Butler - Elected as the 2021-2022 VA HOSA Region 5 Vice President and 3rd Place in Human Growth & Development....she qualifies for the virtual ILC.
Chloe Nichols - 5th Place Extemporaneous Writing.  She is our first ever chapter member to place in the top 5 two years in a row and in 2 different events.
Alyssa Sutton & Makayla Runion - Top 10 for Health Career Display on the career of Neonatal Surgery.

Other HHS HOSA members participated in the event and served in leadership roles throughout the year. 
Chloe Nichols (12th, Chapter President) Alyssa Sutton (12th, Chapter Vice President). Julienne Butler (11th, Chapter Reporter). Helen Rivera Rivas (12th, Chapter Secretary). Marelyn Rivera Rivas (11th, Chapter Historian). Maya Waid (12th). Makayla Runion (12th, State Secretary/Reporter). Leslie Mondragon (12th, State Region 5 VP)

March 5, 2021
Harrisonburg High School is pleased to announce that Mr. Erich Sneller, has been awarded the Recognition In Science Education (RISE) Award in Chemistry by the Virginia Association of Science Teachers (VAST). Mr. Sneller teaches Chemistry to HHS Governor’s STEM Academy students and has also been central in the planning of summer STEM experiences. Read more about the award. 

Feb 26, 2021
The Journalism Education Association (JEA) has named 14 schools in the country as recipients of the 2021 First Amendment Press Freedom Award.  Harrisonburg High School is one of the 14---placing our journalists and journalism programs among the nation's top programs.  

Congratulations to Ms. Kibler, Ms. Hussack, and all of the students involved in the journalism program at HHS!  We are excited to celebrate this outstanding accomplishment with all of you!!  Read all about it in the official press release from the JEA. 

Feb 20, 2021
HHS Academic Team advances to the Class 5 State Finals to be held on March 13!
The Region 5D tournament started at 9:00 am and concluded at around 5:30 pm.  The HHS team went undefeated on the day (6-0), winning all three matches during the morning round-robin and then three straight matches in the afternoon to win the title. In the clinching match, the Blue Streaks defeated defending-Region 5D champs Albemarle High School by the score of 225-220.  Wow!  That was the third consecutive win over AHS of the day.

HHS A Team members today were Henry Hermes, Mary El Vaughan, Josiah Leach, and Corrine Mayfield. Johanna Mayfield filled in for the last round of the final match when Josiah had to leave the match. Congratulations to the competitors and our coaches Lawson Yoder and Ryan Henschel!

HHS Robotics team claims the Collins Aerospace Innovate Award for second year in a row and moves on to States! 

This is 2 years in a row for this group to make it to states! Congrats to team members Anish Aradhey, Carlo Mehegan, Niranjan Aradhey, Thomas Shulgan and coaches Geoff Estes, Jon Stapleton and Seth Shantz!

Feb 10, 2021
This past weekend, our HHS Robotics Team competed in their first regional event in the Yellow Barn at Shenandoah Caverns.This year's team consists of seniors Thomas Shulgan and Carlo Mehegan and Sophomores Anish Aradhey and Niranjan Aradhey.
These team members started the design of their competition bot in September in preparation for the spring competitions.  Their journey started with online collaboration sessions where they learned how to incorporate project management skills using online PM software and developed fluency in collaborative development of CAD designed solutions to their design challenge.  Once we had reached the point where it was time to get some hands-on time building their design, they helped to formulate a pandemic driven meeting plan so that they could gain access to HHS shop space to see their design come to life.  Their hard work and dedication paid off as the team was awarded two high level recognitions from the judges this past weekend.

Awards: Collins Aerospace Innovate Award - 1st place    Design Award - 2nd place

They are scheduled to compete again in a couple of weeks.  Congrats as well to the Team Mentors Geoff Estes, Jon Stapleton, and Seth Shantz (Team Mentors). Check of the video of their robot below!
 

Feb 3, 2021
Our Blue Streak Band students have achieved success at the district level

January 26, 2021

Harrisonburg High School has earned the College Board's AP® Computer Science Female Diversity Award for expanding young women’s access to AP Computer Science Principles (CSP). HHS is one of only 831 schools to be recognized for achieving this important result in CSP. This honor recognizes the outstanding work Harrisonburg High School is doing to engage more female students in computer science.

Jan. 4  
Congratulations to Michaela Brino-Dean and Cecelia Thomas for being selected to the 2020-2021 VMEA Senior Honors Choir! Michaela and Cece will participate in choral rehearsals held virtually on Saturdays during January, and then make individual recordings of themselves performing their choral pieces. Recordings from VMEA Honors Choir seniors will be compiled and produced as the VMEA Honors Choir Virtual Choir, with a performance debut in March for Music in Our Schools Month. Hundreds of seniors in Virginia audition for this choir; it's a very big honor to rank in the top 20-25 singers in your section and be accepted. Hooray, Michaela and Cece! 

Dec 21-Module UN. Congratulations to the members of the HHS MUN Club for your outstanding participation in the first online HHS mini-MUN simulation which was held on Saturday, Dec. 12!  This is the first time that HHS hosted an MUN simulation. The Simulation was split into two committees, SPECPOL, chaired by Stella Alexiou, and UNHRC, chaired by Henry Matter.  Congrats to Stella and Henry for your tremendous leadership!  The day was a great success as our delegates debated, collaborated, and created resolutions to address the issues of decolonization and human rights.  The following students earned individual awards:
Jeslyn Liu                Best Delegate  SPECPOL
Hayden Kirwan        Outstanding Delegate SPECPOL
Anish Aradhey         Honorable Mention  SPECPOL
Micah Tongen          Honorable Mention  SPECPOL
Yaseen Mousa         Honorable Mention  SPECPOL
Lydia Brown             Best Delegate  UNHRC
KIm Portillo             Outstanding Delegate UNHRC
Isabella Guzman      Honorable Mention  UNHRC
Nathan Henderson    Honorable Mention UNHRC
Cindy Liu                 Honorable Mention  UNHRC

Dec 9: Over 20 HHS HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America) members attended the virtual fall leadership conference.  They listened to 2 keynote speakers and participated in 4 other breakout sessions with guest speakers.  Leslie Mondragon and Makayla Runion (seniors) are VA HOSA State Officers and held their speaking roles in the virtual conference. We had multiple students also participate in online competitive events testing their knowledge on specific healthcare topics and 2 students placed in the top 5! 
Medical Terminology - 5th Place - Chloe Nichols (also our Chapter President)
Nutrition - 3rd Pace - Makayla Runion

Nov 20-Music Teacher Claire Leeper is the JMU School of Music's 2020 recipient of the Dr. Alice M. Hammel Inclusion in Music Education Award.

Nov 19.  It is with great pride that we announce that three Harrisonburg High School students have been accepted by audition into the South Central Senior Regional Orchestra! 
Only three other District 5 (our VBODA District) students were selected to this honor.  HHS is in the top 2 schools in the entire region with the most wind/percussion students accepted! 

Nov 19.  The Shenandoah Valley Forensics/Debate League hosted its second tournament of the season. In the 15-team Public Forum division, HHS was #1 (Henry Hermes and Micah Tongen) and #2 (Stella Alexiou and Emma Lankford). These two narrowly missed tying for first place. In the 15-entry Lincoln-Douglas division, Henry Matter won both his rounds and placed 5th, and Nathan Henderson (who went 1-1) placed 8th.   

Nov 11. In honor of Veterans Day, the Harrisonburg High School Blue Streak Band program would like to thank all who have served our country! This virtual band experience reflects on previous Harrisonburg Downtown Veterans Day Parades and recognizes Harrisonburg High School faculty and staff who have served. The audio heard in this video is a compilation of individual student submissions of our traditional Veterans Salute arrangement into a full ensemble virtual band experience.