It is with great pleasure to announce our 2021 Outstanding Employees for Stone Middle School. We applaud Mrs. Terry Gregory, special education teacher, for being named Outstanding Teacher, and Ms. Katie Mareffi, school counselor, for Outstanding Professional Employee. Both staff members contribute tremendously to the caring culture and focus on student success and we are excited to honor them and thank them for their dedication.

Nomination Letter for Ms. Katie Marrefi

"We have had the privilege of working closely with Katie for two years and have seen her embody what it means to be a school counselor and a FCPS employee -- she is beyond worthy of receiving the Outstanding Professional Employee award and represents what it means to be a true Stone Panther. She exceptionally contributes to FCPS, excels in working with the school community, is a leader in her field, and celebrates diversity in all forms. She contributes to all Ignite Goals in the FCPS Strategic Plan but especially the areas of Student Success and Caring Culture. Katie does everything in her power to ensure her students are well-rounded and enrolled in appropriate courses that will set them up for success in high school and keep them on track to be college or career ready upon graduation. She is fully in the moment when working with each student on her caseload and excels at demonstrating open-mindedness and fairness -- all while holding students accountable and challenging them to be the best version of themselves. Katie assists at creating student needs assessments and analyzes data to identify the highest areas of student need and builds initiatives to ensure students are receiving adequate support and intervention. For example, at Stone she leads/has led anxiety small groups, a group on resiliency, attendance circles and a group on college/career readiness. She consistently checks in on her students in-need and validates her students’ points of view by empathizing with their situations, developing strategies to help them meet their goals, and connecting them to building and community resources. Katie naturally has a calm, kind demeanor and works hard to establish trust and respect with students. She is a successful leader as a school counselor, in addition to being the CT lead of her department, because she demonstrates strong time management skills, organization, and effectively balances unscheduled needs/situations as they arise during the school day."

Nomination Letter for Mrs. Terry Gregory

"Terry is my son's SPED case manager and always seeks to understand his unique needs and does whatever she can to help him succeed. He struggles with self image and she makes sure he receives vital positive input. She is his greatest cheerleader in school, and she does a wonderful job of keeping in contact with me concerning his progress. My son is a student who has often "slipped through the cracks" and she has made sure this does not happen to him in middle school. She contributes strongly to a caring culture. When she calls me about my son, I can feel through the phone that she really cares. She makes all the difference and her kindness and warmth truly brighten our days :)"