Send announcements to The Loudoun Connection, 7913 Westpark Drive, McLean, VA 22102, e-mail to loudoun@connectionnewspapers.com or fax to 703-917-0991. Deadline is Friday, two weeks before the event. Photos/artwork encouraged. For more information, call Jennifer Lesinski at 703-917-6454.
This free listing is reserved for activities and events that are open to the public at no or minimal cost.
Wanting to help displaced students from Hurricane Katrina, Algonkian Elementary began a school supplies drive to aid Caddo Parish schools in Shreveport, La. Students, parents and staff responded by bringing in school supplies and other items to help more than 200 students get back to school. Parent volunteers came into school and packed and shipped more than 70 boxes of donated items. Many boxes filled with paperback books were donated from AlgonkianÕs library. And on day one of the drive, Sugarland Run Elementary donated six cases of brand new backpacks Ñ at least 100 backpacks more than what was collected from our families. Spearheaded by Algonkian parent Gail Itschner, the drive began after her search on the Internet for school systems in need. The only Web site up was the one for Caddo Parish, serving 74 schools. After reaching the parish, she learned of their extreme need for school supplies in order to assist children, from kindergarten-12th grade, get back to learning. Teachers are being called out of retirement to help meet the needs of all the new students they are receiving each day. In addition to this drive that ended Sept. 16, Algonkian Elementary students will be holding a PTA-sponsored Toy & Clothing Flea Market, Saturday, Oct. 8, from 8 a.m.-1 p.m., in the Algonkian Activity Room and on the lawn to aid Hurricane Katrina children. Students will see firsthand what they can individually do to help others in need by selling their outgrown toys and clothes at their own booth. Then they will donate all or a portion of their proceeds by placing their money into a big glass bottle and literally see their accomplishments grow. A tally board will also be kept current as monies are added.
The Potomac Falls High School, 46400 Algonkian Parkway, Sterling, presents "Alice in Wonderland," Oct. 13-15, at 7:30 p.m.; and Oct. 15-16, 2 p.m., at the school. tickets are $5. Call 703-444-7542.
Dates for SAT and ACT testing for 2005-2006 have been established for Loudoun County Public Schools. The tests are administered on nationally standardized dates and require advanced registration.
Students may register online or may obtain paper registration materials from the guidance office of each high school. Registration and study information is available at www.collegeboard.org for the SAT and at www.act.org for the ACT. Students should register at least six weeks in advance of the tests.
Most colleges require SAT or ACT for college admissions. Some colleges also require certain SAT II subject tests for admissions or placement. Students should check with all of the colleges to which they plan to apply to determine which tests are required and preferred.
Students usually register for the SAT or ACT in their junior year and repeat the test in the senior year. Some students elect to take both the SAT and ACT.
The SAT test dates are:
* Oct. 8: SAT and SAT II subject tests, Stone Bridge High School.
* Nov. 5: SAT and SAT II subject tests, Potomac Falls High School.
* Dec. 3: SAT and SAT II subject tests, Loudoun County High School.
* Jan. 28: SAT and SAT II subject tests, Loudoun Valley High School.
* April 1: SAT only, Loudoun County High School.
* May 6: SAT and SAT II subject tests, Broad Run High School.
* June 3: SAT and SAT II subject tests, Park View High School.
The ACT test date is April 8, Broad Run High School.
South Lakes Class of 1985 is looking for class members for a 20-year reunion, Oct. 22, at the Reston Sheraton. Class members are asked to e-mail their names and mailing address to slhs1985@yahoo.com. See the Web site at slhs1985.org. Anyone interested in helping with the planning, indicate interest in the e-mail or contact Melanie Kirsch Colston at 703-476-0579.
Freyja Bergthorson, an eighth-grade English teacher at Farmwell Station Middle School, was recently appointed to serve as a judge in the Program to Recognize Excellence in Student Literary Magazines for the National Council of Teachers of English.
The program is an NCTE-sponsored competition designed to honor quality literary magazines from middle schools, junior-high schools and high schools in the United States and Canada and American schools abroad for excellence in writing. Each judge evaluates magazines submitted in their state.
Alice Foltz, the Social Science Department chair at Potomac Falls High School, will travel to Tokyo Nov. 20 as a participant in the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program.
Foltz was selected by a panel of educators from a group of more than 2,500 applicants from across the U.S.
The Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund enables distinguished primary- and secondary-school teachers in the United States to travel to Japan for three weeks in an effort to promote greater intercultural understanding between the two nations.
Foltz will join 200 other American teachers who will visit Japan in November. They will begin their visit in Tokyo with a practical orientation of Japanese life and culture, followed by meetings with Japanese government officials and educators. The group will then travel in groups of 20 to selected host cities outside of Tokyo where they will have direct contact with Japanese teachers and students.
Foltz will be hosted in the city of Okinawa. In Okinawa, Foltz will visit primary and secondary schools as well as a teachersÕ college. The group will visit cultural sites and local industries in addition to a brief stay with a Japanese family.
Upon her return, Foltz, will share the outcome of her Japanese study and experiences with students and the community through a variety of teacher training workshops and outreach projects.
The Stone Bridge High School Project Graduation Committee is sponsoring its Third Annual ÒSBHS Car or Cash Sweepstakes.Ó Tickets are $30, with the winner Ñ selected Dec. 16 Ñ having a choice of winning a 2006 Nissan Sentra from BrownÕs Sterling Nissan or $10,000 cash. Only 600 tickets will be sold. All proceeds go toward the all-night, alcohol-free, drug-free, tobacco-free party for SBHSÕs graduating seniors on graduation night, June 14.
To purchase tickets, call 703-729-5717 or download a form from links on the SBHS Web site at www.loudoun.k12.va.us/schools/sbhs. Tickets will also be sold at home SBHS athletic events and at Ashburn Starbucks.