Young (Ms. Robinson's Early Child Education class) and old (Powhatan High School students) celebrated Black History Month together in style with a prize-winning wheel spin after viewing documentaries and QR code videos featuring influential figures in U.S. history. The event was made possible with the help of the PHS Readers and Writers Club and the high school library's new iPads, which were provided by a Powhatan Education Foundation grant. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
Monday, March 4 kicks off Kindergarten Registration in Powhatan and around the region. Registration forms and parent sign-up for appointments and screening go live on this date. Appointments will begin April 11 and 12. We are asking for your help in reminding anyone with a child that will be age 5 by September 30, 2024, to begin enrolling now. This is a special time for schools to welcome their newest students. It is also important to get students screened and on the rosters as soon as possible to be better prepared for the start of the new school year.
In addition, the preschool (VPI/ Head Start) application process for children turning age 3 and 4 by September 30, 2024, is also now available online.
Check the Powhatan County Public Schools website for information or contact your local school with Kindergarten Registration or Preschool Application questions. We are so excited and cannot wait to get these students on the PCPS team! #wearepcps #teampowhatan
Virginia Preschool Initiative and Head Start Applications for the 2024-2025 school year are available on the PCPS homepage as of March 4, 2024. When considering applying for these programs, children must be 3 or 4 years of age by September 30, 2024. See the division website for additional information. If you have any questions, please reach out to Dr. Prince at 804-598-5700. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
Today is National Maintenance Worker Appreciation Day. We are so very grateful for all of our facilities staff here at Powhatan County Public Schools. PCPS is fortunate to have such a dedicated team working to keep our buildings running and ready for students, staff, and community members. Not pictured is Director of Facilities Bob Benway, who leads this amazing crew. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
For its fourth year, PCPS’s biggest pop culture event, the PCPS Comicon, was a huge success. In addition to being the largest event yet, the Comicon held on Feb. 24 at Powhatan High School also had the highest turnout of patrons and cosplay contestants. The exciting costume contest drew a wide variety of entrants recreating their favorite characters in pop culture. A total of $400 earned for PCPS’s five school libraries came from attendees and donations. It was a great day for literacy! #wearepcps #teampowhatan
Youth Art Month kicks off today, and to celebrate, PCPS is holding a Youth Art Month Art Exhibit opening from 2 to 4 p.m. this Sunday, March 3 at the Pocahontas Landmark Center. Come see beautiful artwork created by students from all five schools and curated for this year’s show, Experience PCPS. This exhibit, which shows the new generation of artists and creatives, will be on display through April 30 and is open to the public during PLC hours. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
We are back again with another installment of the Powhatan County School Board Recap. As always, the goal of this newsletter is to help people who don't have the time to come to or watch full school board meetings still stay abreast of what is going on in our school division. The newsletter link is in the first comment.
We are back again with another installment of the Powhatan County School Board Recap. As always, the goal of this newsletter is to help people who don't have the time to come to or watch full school board meetings still stay abreast of what is going on in our school division. The newsletter can be found at https://www.smore.com/13sxz.
This is National FFA Week, and PCPS wants to recognize the hardworking students and advisors of the Powhatan FFA Chapter and the positive impact that this program has in their lives. Please join us in honoring their outstanding work. #wearepcps #teampowhatan #ffaweek
It’s time to gear up for PCPS’s biggest Pop Culture event. PCPS Comicon is only two days away! This awesome family event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, February 24 in the Commons area at Powhatan High School, 1800 Judes Ferry Road. This is a NEW LOCATION. Admission is only $1! All ages welcome. The Costume Contest begins at 2 p.m.
Goochland Powhatan Community services is hiring open positions for School-based clinicians. CSB, a partner of Powhatan County Public School, has openings for several school-based mental health clinicians. To apply, click the link in the first comment.
The Powhatan School Board is seeking volunteers from Districts 1 and 3 to serve on a Book Review Committee that will serve on a five-member committee to assist with the review of specific books from the secondary school libraries that may contain sexually explicit content. Each of the five members of the assigned Book Review Committee will have one vote, and a strong majority vote (5-0 or 4-1) is required to remove a book from the library/media center(s). Applications are due by 5 p.m. on March 4, 2024. School Board members will review applications and make the final selections.
To fill out an application, scan the QR code, follow the link in the first comment, or find the link on the PCPS homepage.
Just a reminder that Monday, February 19, 2024, is a student holiday/staff work day. We hope our PCPS have a great three-day weekend!
Today is School Resource Officer Appreciation Day. PCPS appreciates the support of the Powhatan County Sheriff’s Office and especially our own SROs:
Powhatan High School: Jason Homer and Bridget Withers
Powhatan Middle: Foster Miles
Pocahontas Elementary: Ron Sadler
Powhatan Elementary: Maurice Tovar
Flat Rock Elementary: Tim Wright
Mr. Payne’s Electricity 2 Honors students at Powhatan High School recently wrapped up a project where they added solar power to the Agricultural Science Department’s small animal barn to add lights to the building. The school purchased a solar panel kit with a recent donation to the Electricity Program. The students learned how it works and how to install it. The program is also looking into the possibility of using the same panels for a future project to heat the barn’s water containers so the water doesn’t freeze in the winter. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
@backpacksofloveinc is holding a Food Drive through Feb. 23, 2024. Backpacks of Love, Inc. is a local charity that was formed to provide food for school children over the weekend. Children who need such food receive a small bag of food and snacks on the last day of the school week. Our partners at Backpacks of Love are asking for our help! They need food donations. Below is a list of what they need. Please bring donations to your child’s school through Feb. 23. If you have any questions, please reach out to Kelly Sarkees at 804-598-5700 ext 116. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
Mrs. Barnes’ AP Physics 1 students at Powhatan High School study simple harmonic motion with pendulums. They determine the effect of mass and length on the time period of a pendulum to swing back and forth. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
Powhatan County Public Schools’ Adult Education spring offerings are listed on our website! Thanks to your attendance and interest, the program has grown, from 9 classes when we started a year ago to 17 this spring. The quickest way to get into a course is to go directly to our website (check the first comment for link) and click on "course listing overview" for times/dates, and then go to "indicate your interest." Spread the word about our tour of Fine Creek experience, our CPR/AED/First Aide training, Serv Safe managers training, plate welding, a brewery business tour, project management training, arbory, painting and more! Feel free to share our website on your social media pages and groups. Thank you for helping Powhatan residents enrich lives and expand opportunities.
Powhatan teacher’s first novel embraces magic and joy
POWHATAN, VA – When Nashae Jones decided to incorporate Greek mythology into her first novel, “Courtesy of Cupid,” she took a special approach.
While she knows the concept of being a demi-god – not just a human but being extra special and chosen for something – appeals to kids, she wasn’t interested in characters completing a grand quest. Instead, she wanted a story about life and relationships that was filled with joy and magic. She wanted a story that would explore the topic of love – crushes, familial love, and friendship bonds – in a way that was appropriate for middle schoolers.
Most importantly, Jones, who is a Powhatan High School English teacher, wanted something she missed all too much while growing up as an avid reader – a heartwarming story centered around a person of color as the main character.
“A lot of my favorite stories were centered around people who didn’t look like me. The first time in elementary school I read a book with a character of color, it was ‘Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry,’ ” Jones said. “I remember being devastated by the story. It was so impactful, but it was so sad. It was very much a story of resilience and violence against this black family. I remember thinking I would really like to see more books of joy with people of color in it. I really wanted something that centered on joy and happiness with characters that everybody can relate to.”
With the January 2 release of “Courtesy of Cupid” through Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, Jones is thrilled she has met all of those goals.
Jones’ first novel centers on a girl named Erin Johnson – an overachiever with lofty academic and extracurricular goals, a quirky mom, and a fierce rival in classmate Trevor Jin. As her 13th birthday unfolds, Erin discovers that her mysterious father is actually the love god Cupid – and she’s inherited his knack for romance! Her new magical powers don’t seem like the most useful abilities at first, but when the girl who doesn’t believe in love starts to embrace her magical pedigree in her race to beat her nemesis, she begins to learn that love is much more complicated than she realized.
“She had to learn magic isn’t the thing that controls these bonds; love and relationships take a lot of hard work,” Jones said.
Hard work is a concept the Powhatan author knows well. She wrote the book in 2021 while juggling writing with taking care of her family and teaching full-time at the high school. A teacher for 12 years, she has been with Powhatan County Public Schools since 2016 and still loves to help shape young minds in the small, rural county.
As much as she adores teaching, becoming a published author is a life-long dream come true for Jones. “Before the internet, I used to write fanfiction for books I loved. I used to rewrite the ‘Boxcar Children’ and ‘Nancy Drew.’ I always imagined it would be something I would be able to make a career of out of someday.”
Despite getting a pre-empt publishing offer two weeks after taking the novel out for submission and going through about 19 months of the editing and publishing process, Jones said the situation didn’t feel real to her until two days before Christmas, when she opened a box holding the first 25 published copies of her book.
“That is when it really hit me. Actually holding the book and knowing it was going to be on bookshelves, that is when I really hit me,” she said with a huge grin.
The book launch for “Courtesy of Cupid” was held January 2 at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, where Jones noted an incredibly supportive group of PHS co-workers showed up in specially printed “Courtesy of Cupid” sweatshirts to buy her book and cheer her success.
“That is what Powhatan is really about. That is what this school system has been about – the love and support I get from my work family and the community,” Jones said. “It is not just people at work – the Powhatan community itself has been so largely supportive.”
Nashae Jones lives in Powhatan with her husband, T.J., and her children, Chase and Nia.
“Courtesy of Cupid” is for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Books-A-Million, and Fountain Bookstore.
National School Counseling Week 2024 (#NSCW24) is being recognized from Feb. 5-9, 2024, to focus public attention on the unique contribution of school counselors within U.S. school systems. National School Counseling Week, sponsored by the American School Counselor Association, highlights the tremendous impact school counselors can have in helping students achieve school success and plan for a career. PCPS continues National School Counseling Week by recognizing the counseling staff of Powhatan High School: Doug Reimondo, Sarah Baltimore, Chrissie Holley, Kelyn Captain, Kyla Monie-Huss, and Caryn Rehme. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
