Congratulations to Music Teacher Olivia Dowd who was recognized as the FCPS 2021 Region 4 Outstanding Elementary New Teacher and one of the five finalists for the FCPS Outstanding Elementary New Teacher at this year's FCPS Honors event, held at Jiffy Lube Live on June 9th.

Olivia’s core values are fostering relationships with students and colleagues, centering on equity and inclusion, and modeling empathy. Each morning she greets students by name from kindergarten to sixth grade, engaging them and welcoming them to our school community. She continues this engagement throughout the school day by creating a caring culture with each class she sees, providing students a space to be enthusiastically themselves and to take risks. She has been focusing on teaching music through an antiracist lens and celebrating the diverse world of music. Olivia remains a lifelong learner—she is an active researcher and presenter on the ethic of care in music education and has presented at multiple domestic and international conferences.

• View Ms. Dowd's page on the FCPS website

Congratulations to our following staff members who were also recognized at this year's FCPS Honors Ceremony!

Outstanding School-Based Operational Employee School-Level Recipient

• Kim Federico, Instructional Assistant

Outstanding Elementary Teacher School-Level Recipient

• Erika Peterson, Spanish Immersion Teacher

Thank you to Rebecca Gibson for all of her hard work with the nomination process by serving as this year's awards liaison.