People

Distance Learning: Both Stress and Relief in Springfield

West Springfield High School students on handling the switch to online learning.

Since March 13, Fairfax County Public Schools have been closed and converted to online classes in response to COVID-19. Like many other FCPS high schools, West Springfield High School classes are now held twice per week through Blackboard Collaborate, an online video conferencing platform.

Fairfax County Park Authority Makes Partial Reopening Play

After a surprise late Tuesday afternoon announcement from the Fairfax County Park Authority, maintenance operations crews were at work Wednesday morning, May 20, removing barriers from park parking lot entrances and returning them to storage sites.

‘It Felt Good to Be Recognized and Appreciated’ in Fairfax County

County thanks its Public Works employees with food.

National Public Works Week was May 17-23; and as COVID-19 has revealed whose labor is essential – not just in a crisis, but every day – Fairfax County celebrated workers in a category that doesn’t immediately spring to mind.

Chantilly High Grad Is New Firefighter

Chantilly High grad Christopher Wolf is among 53 new recruits who recently graduated from Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department (FCFRD) Basic Training.

Potomac Author Uses Novel Approach for Book Launch

Just in time for a good summer read, Potomac author Aimee Agresti planned to introduce her new novel, The Summer Set, in all the usual ways.

Parents Rally to Fill Arlington Food Gaps

It began with the discussions at the regular Wednesday morning mom’s meeting at Kenmore Elementary and morphed into an effort to provide food to needy families in Arlington.

Potomac High School and College Seniors Please Share

High school and college seniors are invited to tell their graduation story for the Potomac Almanac’s June 10 issue.

Potomac Community Village Offers Programs Open to Public

Potomac Community Village is sponsoring two programs for the community in early June.

Potomac’s Week in Coronavirus

200,000: Maryland surpassed 200,000 tests and completing testing of 3.5 percent of the state’s population, and now has the capacity and supplies to offer testing to Marylanders who may have been exposed to the disease even if they do not have symptoms.

Mourning Amid COVID-19 in Arlington

Arlington National Cemetery restricts Memorial Day observances.

Masks were worn. Distances were kept. At Arlington National Cemetery, only those with family passes were allowed to enter the hallowed grounds May 25 to observe Memorial Day and pay tribute to fallen veterans.

Arlington Graduates: Can’t Rain on Their Parade

Graduates cobble together a memorable event despite virus.

A few ebullient graduates, keeping social distance, came to the Marymount campus on Saturday to pose for “graduation pictures,” even going so far as to throw their mortar boards in the air and catch them to simulate one of the great joys of finally receiving a degree.

Claudia Morales Is Arlington’s 2020 Foster Parent of the Year

Arlington's foster parent program will face major need post-pandemic.

How often does a young, single, professional person have the desire and capacity to become a foster parent? Claudia Morales of Arlington did. Nine times. Morales was officially approved in 2015 to become a foster parent, and since then she has had 9 children join her family.

Honoring Fallen ‘in a Smaller Way’ in Herndon, Reston Area

Memorial Day 2020

Michael Cutler is 2nd Vice Commander and Avenue of Flags coordinator at The Wayne M. Kidwell American Legion Post 184 Herndon-Reston. In preparation for Memorial Day Observances, he and others usually gathered at dawn at Chestnut Grove Cemetery in the Town of Herndon. In two-person teams, in all types of weather, Veterans and volunteers dropped poles into the ground. Then they raised the 64 casket flags in their care donated by families of interred veterans, creating an Avenue of Flags, a patriotic feature flanking the entrance into the cemetery: 2020 was different.

Lake Anne House Senior Housing Project in Reston Closes

Long-awaited $86 million project commences this summer.

Christy Zeitz is CEO of the Fellowship Square Foundation (Fellowship). The nonprofit organization owns and operates the two aging 1970s era buildings that make up the Lake Anne Fellowship House on North Shore Drive in Reston. On Friday, May 22, Fellowship and Enterprise Community Development (Enterprise) announced they closed on the innovative $86 million development plan for the New Lake Anne House in Reston, built along North Shore Drive near the intersection with Village Road.

Al Fresco Pandemic

Restaurants eye parking lots and sidewalks as potential outdoor dining spots.

In normal times, the parking lot behind the Del Ray Cafe gives the restaurant a competitive advantage. Drivers can turn off East Howell Avenue and pull into one of the dozen spaces behind the 1925 house that’s been repurposed into a thriving restaurant. These days, the parking lot is giving the restaurant a different competitive advantage, one that nobody saw coming a few months ago.

The Connection