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.
Del. David Poisson (D-32) and Sen. Mark Herring (D-33) will presented commending resolutions to Elizabeth ÒBettyÓ Korte and Mickey Thompson in an awards ceremony scheduled June 6, at Stone Bridge High School. Korte is head of the mathematics department at Stone Bridge while Thompson is the schoolÕs head football coach.
The resolutions commending Thompson (House Joint Resolution No. 451) and Korte (House Joint Resolution No. 452) were introduced by Poisson and Herring to recognize the Stone Bridge educators for their extraordinary contributions to the Loudoun County Public Schools.
Korte earlier this year was named Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher of the Year in Loudoun County for 2006. The Washington Post sponsors the award in honor of Agnes Meyer, longtime supporter of public education and wife of Eugene Meyer, who bought the Post in 1933.
Thompson was chosen 2005 All-Gameday Coach of the Year for four consecutive years, leading the Bulldogs to the Virginia High School League championship against Hampton after winning the Liberty District and Northern Region championship at the triple-A level.
The team of Kurt Fawkes, Greg Martinez, Cole Martinez and Bob Lawrence won the inaugural Dominion Classic Golf Tournament May 17, benefiting ATLAS, the parent organization at Dominion High School in Sterling.
More than 40 golfers turned out for the tournament on the River Course at Lowes Island Country Club. Fawkes' team took top honors, matching cards in a playoff against the team led by Steve Skinner from BE&K Construction.
ÒExcellence in the Arts,Ó LoudounÕs arts competition for student artists, was held May 6. The Loudoun Arts Council awarded cash prizes to first-, second- and third-place winners in the following seven categories Winners were: in theater, first place, Erin Rust, home school; second place, Alexandra Miheala Wicker, Broad Run High School;third place, Catherine Oliver, Loudoun Valley High School. In literary, first place, Abe Annis, Heritage High School; second place, Lydia Smith, Notre Dame Academy; third place, Whitney Cavin, Potomac Falls High School. In dance, first place, Laurel Snyder, Loudoun Valley High School; second place, Lindsey Miller, Stone Bridge High School; third place, Brittney Miller, Broad Run High School. In instrumental, first place, Ana Rosario Quijano, Notre Dame Academy; second place, Christian Rippe, Stone Bridge High School; third place, Raashi Kulkarni, Stone Bridge High School; honorable mention, Annelise Harder, home school; honorable mention, William Keran, home school. In piano, first place, Kulkarni; second place, Michelle Eve Laurent, Broad Run High School; third place, Phillip Roberts, Dominion High School; honorable mention, Matthew Mennickelly, Dominion High School. In visual, first place, Dane Cozens, Stone Bridge High School; second place, Annis; third place, Stacey Swann, Potomac Falls High School; honorable mention, Shea Carney, Notre Dame Academy. In voice, first place, Jacob X. Mason, home school; second place, Katie Skinner, Stone Bridge High School; third place, Heather Vereb, Park View High School; honorable mention, Rippe.
Oatlands has hired Carla Johnston as its new head gardener. Johnston, a resident of White Post, Va., has been a landscape gardener and designer for over a decade.
With her background as a landscape gardener and designer at Greystone Gardens in White Post, Va., and Highland Gardens in Boyce, Va., Johnston specializes in garden design, garden installation and garden maintenance. She also developed a curriculum for classes at the State Arboretum of Virginia. Johnston received her bachelorÕs degree at Shepherd University, in Shepherdstown, W.Va. She also earned a landscape design certificate from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Brian Colleran of Ashburn a junior majoring in marketing in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, received the Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Starr Jr. Award. The two merit-based scholarships are awarded each spring to business majors.
Loudoun Youth Inc. board members Dale Polen Myers and Kristina Kalinas presented a check in the amount of $50,000 to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, with the funds designated for the Loudoun Youth Initiative, to support the Youth After School (YAS) program. Loudoun Youth Inc. is a nonprofit organization that was formed to provide financial support and fund-raising activities on behalf of the Loudoun Youth Initiative.
Cub Scout Bear Den 3, Pack 1152, from Lowes Island Elementary School toured the Loudoun County Solid Waste Management Facility recently to see how a landfill works and to learn about recycling.
While visiting the landfill and the Recycling Drop-off Center, the group learned how recycling of bottles, cans and paper contributes to thousands of new products from pencils to planes. The Scouts also had the opportunity to see 60-ton equipment smash trash in what is known as the "pit," and how "rain coats" are used to keep water out of the buried waste.
Gregory J. Sagstetter of Sterling was named, by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, as its undergraduate student representative for the 2006-2007 academic year. He will serve as a liaison between Virginia Tech's student population and the board.
The student representative is appointed to a one-year term and sits on a committee of the governing board and serve as an ex-officio member on the Commission of Student Affairs. Student representatives are nonvoting members and are required to maintain contact with university administrators as well as Tech students.
Sagstetter, an undergraduate student in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, will be graduating in the spring of 2007 with a dual degree in philosophy and political science, along with a minor in African American studies. As an undergraduate, Sagstetter is actively involved with The Virginia Tech Office of Judicial Affairs, and serves as an associate justice with the Virginia Tech Honor System. He is also a peer educator for the women's resource center, a college ambassador, the treasurer of the Virginia Tech Student Alliance and a mentor with the Virginia Tech Leadership Experience for Achievement Development (LEAD).
Christina Vu of Ashburn, a rising senior majoring in management in the Pamplin College of Business, has received the John W. Hansen Memorial Scholarship.
This merit-based scholarship is awarded annually to an undergraduate student enrolled in the Pamplin College of Business.
Victoria Wilson of Potomac Falls, a student majoring in English in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, was recently inducted into the university's chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa Society, the national leadership honor society for college students and recognizes and encourages superior scholarship, leadership, and exemplary character. The society recognizes achievement in scholarship, athletics, campus or community service, social and religious activities, campus government, journalism, speech and mass media, and the creative and performing arts.
Christine Baranowski of Ashburn, a graduate student studying marketing education in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences' School of Education at Virginia Tech, has received the Outstanding Student Teacher in Marketing Education Award.
Recipients of this award have or are completing the student teaching component of their program and who have consistently received high evaluations from university supervisors and who are endorsed by their cooperating teacher.
Ryan Clairmont and Meagan Graydon, both of Ashburn are recipients of the 2006 American Roentgen Ray Society Young Scholar Award, a $1,000-scholarship awarded each year to two high-school seniors from Loudoun County who are interested in pursuing a career in medicine, science or research.
Clairmont is one of the top-10 students in his class with a GPA of 4.23. He has received numerous awards including a USAA Mathematics Award. He is a member of the Math Club and National Honor Society and was named WhoÕs Who Among American High School Students as well as an All-American Scholar. He decided to go into the medical field when he began working as a pharmacy technician at a local CVS Pharmacy. He plans to attend the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and wants to major in biomedical engineering.
Graydon is one of the top-10 students of her class with a GPA of 4.16. She has received numerous awards including the Excellence in Academics Award and the Outstanding Community Service Award. She is a member of the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine and a volunteer at Loudoun Hospital. Graydon decided in her fourth-grade colonial fair, where she studied colonial medicine and apothecaries, that she wanted to pursue a career in medicine. She was pointed in that direction even further when a close relative of hers was diagnosed with breast cancer and passed away. She plans to attend the University of Virginia and wants to major in biology and become a pediatric oncologist.
Ashley Castor of Sterling, a student in the College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech recently received the A.E. Evans Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to undergraduate students.
The Loudoun Crime Commission presented its third and final Outstanding Loudoun Youth award of the 2005-2006 school year to Michael Cliett, a Belmont Ridge Middle School eighth-grade student, in connection with the Commission's "Cruisin' in the Right Lane" Program.
Michael's nomination came from Maria O'Brien, eighth-grade guidance counselor at Belmont Ridge Middle School, who described Michael as a young man dedicated to his school, his family, and his community. He is responsible, self-directed, motivated, compassionate and unaffected by peer pressures. His energy and enthusiasm for helping others and improving himself is infectious, according to O'Brien.
Kristen Claeys of Sterling, a student in the Department of Art and Art History in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech, has been named a recipient of the Derek Myers Endowed Scholarship, given annually to a student based on academic achievement.
Keep Loudoun Beautiful sponsored its annual essay and poster contest in the elementary schools with themes of recycling, composting, ecology, beautification and clean up. One essay and one poster winner from each participating school were chosen in two age groups, kindergarten-second grade and third-fifth grades.
Essay winners were Belmont Station, Molly McCabe; Cool Spring, Bridgitte Lieu and Kaitlyn Lease; Evergreen Mill, Troy Sweeney and Grace Wu; Leesburg, Brittany McCullock; Lovettsville, Ben Hughes; Lucketts, Thomas Enright; Middleburg, Hannah All; Mountain View, Courtney Powell-Schollian; Newton-Lee, Makenzie Conklin and J.W. Tolbert, Gia Ferrara. Each essay winner won a gift certificate from Books A Million bookstore in Leesburg.
Poster winners were Algonkian, Caroline Dunn; Catoctin, Bruce Martinez and Michael Rexrode; Cool Spring, Janelly Ariza-Castro and Melissa Meyers; Emerick, Kathy Bui and Grace Redding; Evergreen Mill, Nicole Balavage and Preston Womack; Hillsboro, Taileigh Testerman Hough; Lincoln, Jonathan Connor Barrett and Brianna Tyler; Leesburg, Brianna McLaine and Caileigh McLaine; Lovettsville, Joseph Keim and Indigo McLaughlin; Lucketts, Jenna Knoell; Middleburg, Grant Chungo and Henry Feil; Mountain View, James McCray and Abby Taylor; Newton-Lee, Anna Ngai and Aliya Qureshi; Sugarland, Katerina Banks and Lucia Caraballo and J.W. Tolbert, Matthew Kim and Tyler Frank. Each poster winner had their posters framed and returned to them.
All winners will receive a KLB T-shirt and all participating students will receive KLB pencils. All winning essays and posters will be displayed over the summer on the Web site www.keeploudounbeautiful.org.
Gary Fry of Sterling a student majoring in building construction in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech, was recently awarded the Hazel-Pruitt Scholarship, which is awarded to students based upon merit and financial need.
Loudoun County Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services announces the hiring of Steve Sawyer as parks division manager. He joined the department effective May 8, after retiring as a captain with the U.S. Coast Guard.
Sawyer earned a bachelor of science degree in outdoor recreation from Bowling Green State University and a master's degree in instructional systems from Florida State University. During his 28 years with the Coast Guard, he was assigned to several operational command cadre billets where he had overall responsibility for facilities and unit morale programs including all recreational activities for multiple shore and afloat units across the country.
Allison Jarnagin of Sterling, a student in the Department of Art and Art History in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Vriginia Tech, has been named a recipient of the Derek Myers Endowed Scholarship, which is given annually to a student based on academic achievement.
The Loudoun Volunteer Services Board has selected the 2006 Student Volunteer Scholarship recipients. Through the Student Scholarship Program, graduating seniors in each Loudoun County public school and the C.S. Monroe Technology Center, as well as private school and home-schooled seniors, are eligible for at least a $500 scholarship. The program is funded each year by donations from Loudoun County businesses, civic groups and individuals.
The award recipients are selected based on their volunteer service to the Loudoun Community. The 2006 Student Volunteer Scholarship recipients are:
* Broad Run High School, Mackenzie Dickson and Katherine Peterson.
* C.S. Monroe Technology Center, Ashley Jones (Stone Bridge High School).
* Dominion High School, Natasha Amirhadji and Megan Meidlinger.
* Heritage High School, Christie Cerimele, Caitlin Krueger and Brittany Rose.
* Home-schooled, Joshua Brown.
* Loudoun County High School, Andrew Cypher, Christina Dawson, Bianca Garramone and Victoria Stevens.
* Loudoun Valley High School, Philip Harper, Kevin Hayba and Jacqueline Lewis.
* Park View High School, Laura Jones.
* Potomac Falls High School, Catherine Krips and Jeong "Evan" Oh.
* Stone Bridge High School, Jennifer Borman and Melissa Muir.
For the second year in a row, Loudoun Volunteer Services was able to award a $4,000 scholarship to an overall, outstanding Loudoun County student who demonstrated exceptional community service above and beyond the call of duty. This year's scholarship has been awarded to Kevin Hayba, who mentors children with special needs at Mountain View Elementary School.