Here are the bios of the nominees for PTA Officers during the 2022-2023 school year:
🦸 Sharon Burd — President #
Hi, I am humbled to announce my candidacy for President of the Abingdon PTA. It would be an honor to advocate for our children. As an Events Committee Co-Chair, I am thankful for the opportunities to help our diverse Abingdon family by planning social events, coordinating service drives, and building community inside and outside the classroom. To that end, I also enjoy working with fellow garden volunteers and partnering with local organizations to support the Abingdon Community Garden. I hope to weave in the strength of our volunteers and foster community connections to build a multilingual PTA reflective of our school’s demographics. A strong family-school partnership will enhance student achievement and propel our flock of cardinals to soar. Prior to being a stay at home parent, I worked in the U.S. Senate for about 10 years. I am conversationally fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin, and occasionally wear the Cardinal mascot costume. My husband Dan and I are blessed to be parents to two children who love Abingdon too.
🎓 Ken Venable — VP for Educational Programs #
I am originally from Oxford, North Carolina currently residing in Arlington Virginia. I am a twenty-two-year veteran of the Marine Corps. While serving in the Marine Corps I was an infantryman and nuclear, biological, and chemical officer. I taught critical thinking and criminal justice at Crave County Community College. I served as a contractor in support of Naval Aviation human system integration. Currently serve as a senior analyst for the Marine Corps in support of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD). I have served four years as Abingdon Elementary school representative to the Academic Council for Teaching and Learning (ACTL). I am married to Lorin Venable, and we have two children. We have a fourth and second grader attending Abingdon. My goal is to serve the students at Abingdon Elementary School educational needs.
💵 Clare Rosenberger — VP for Fundraising #
Thank you for the nomination to be the VP of Fundraising for the Abingdon PTA for the 2022-2023 school year. I live in South Fairlington with my husband and two sons - Henry is in fifth grade this year and will be headed to Gunston in the fall, and Charlie is in Kindergarten. During the 2021-2022 school year, I was able to support some fundraising activities for Abingdon, including leading the Read-a-thon and the Boon Supply (formerly Mixed Bags) fundraiser. This year’s Read-a-thon was a great learning experience and I look forward to taking many of those lessons and working to improve the event next year. While I was able to increase our take-home dollars by running our own prize system, I am also interested in researching other platforms that would provide a greater percentage of the donations back to Abingdon. Next year, I look forward to engaging more community businesses to support the Read-a-thon, establishing more consistent partnerships with these local business leaders. I was so energized by the activation of the entire school community through this event - partnering with the Events team to host the first Book Swap was a wonderful way to launch the Read-a-thon, and I hope to do that again next year. Aside from the fundraising events themselves, I will work to elevate the visibility of how our PTA invests in Abingdon, to better make the case for donations during any of our fundraising events - I expect that the more that our community knows about the important support we provide to the school and the students, the more support we can build.
I have been a part of the Abingdon community for six years, and I still have five more to go. I am very invested in the success of our school and our students, and see this role on the PTA board as an opportunity to help others become invested in it as well.
🏘️ Megan Miller — VP for Community Relations #
Thank you for the nomination for VP of Community Relations for the 2022-2023 School Year! I am excited to work with an amazing community of parents and teachers at Abingdon. I am mom to Grace in 3rd Grade and Hunter in 1st grade and we reside in Claremont. I have enjoyed my experience with the PTA Sponsored events here at Abingdon, which sparked my interest in further engaging with the PTA. In my “day job” I am a Global Program Manager for Schneider Electric, an energy management corporation. I have lived in Arlington for over 15 years and look forward to serving Abingdon and our students in the endeavors to support our community.
🎉 Meredith Greene — VP for Events #
Thank you for the nomination to be the VP of Events for 2022-2023!
I am a mom of a kindergartner at Abingdon and have enjoyed volunteering at school this year.
I live in Fairlington and love the sense of community here.
My career has been in events and hospitality, so it’s very familiar (and fun) to me.
Abingdon teachers and staff have so much to offer our students, so supporting them has been a joy this year with helping with staff appreciation and events at the school, like co-chairing Winter Wonderland, and re-stocking the staff with supplies.
I look forward to being able to plan events that enrich the students, staff, and families at Abingdon next year and get our families involved and feeling the sense of community that Abingdon has to offer.
🙏 Ashley Farrugia — VP for Staff Appreciation #
Thank you so much for the nomination of VP for Staff Appreciation for the 22-23 school year. I am excited to continue to serve in the role for our fantastic Abingdon Staff. This year, I joined the PTA as a volunteer specifically focusing on Teacher Appreciation. Throughout the year, the role has blossomed from showing appreciation to solely teachers to showering our entire staff with gratitude and creating engaging events to support their sense of appreciation and community amongst one another and with our PTA and Abingdon community. Some of my favorite events this year have been honoring the staff with a Friday breakfast gathering and supply buffet and putting together, putting together a week of exciting and creative events for Teacher Appreciation Week, and seeing staff light up when they receive small gifts to recognize their tireless support of kiddos and families. I am excited to continue to grow the love at Abingdon and find creative ways to continue to support our staff and bring them new and unique opportunities to build their community and connection to our children’s families.
I am a mom of a first grader, Stella, who has had a fantastic two years at Abingdon. We live in Claremont and are always excited in engaging with our community. I am an educator, myself, working as a Literacy Specialist for FCPS, and understand the great need for teachers and staff to feel loved and appreciated by the community they support.
💰 Christian Lindstrom — Treasurer #
I’m excited for the chance to serve as Abingdon PTA Treasurer next year, after learning so much this first year in the position. I live in Fairlington Villages with my wife, Lisa, and our daughter, Lilah, who’s in second grade at Abingdon. For over 25 years I’ve worked at WETA producing video and websites about education, including ReadingRockets.org and ColorinColorado.org. I’ve had the chance to visit schools all across the country, and I’ve been inspired by what robust PTAs can do for families, students, and staff at Title I schools. My job has also included overseeing many grants and budgets of millions of dollars in funding for our work. That experience has prepared me well to continue on as PTA treasurer, as steward of generously donated funds from our families and our community. I’m hoping we can equitably leverage those funds to engage as many families as possible in making Abingdon an even better place to learn. With thoughtful planning, we can provide ongoing enrichment for our wonderful students and significant support for our amazing staff. I’ve really enjoyed collaborating with the PTA board this year and getting to meet many new families. It makes me excited about what we can accomplish together next year for Abingdon!
✍️ Dan Burd — Secretary #
I am delighted to announce my candidacy for Secretary of the Abingdon PTA. As Secretary, I will strive to ensure that the PTA operates efficiently and effectively. I am excited to expand our membership and to inform members about how the PTA supports our school community. I work at USAID and I am conversationally fluent in Spanish. My wife Sharon and I are parents to a kindergartener and a preschooler.