July 17, 2002
<lst>Send your organization's announcement to The Loudoun Connection, 7913 Westpark Drive, McLean, VA 22102, e-mail to loudoun@connectionnewspapers.com or fax to 703-917-0991. Deadline is two weeks before publication. Photos/artwork encouraged. Questions? Call Michael O'Connell at 703-917-6449.
<sh>Area Martial Artists Win 11 Gold Medals
<lst>Martial artists from Reston and Ashburn brought back gold from Salt Lake City, Utah, after competing in the Amateur Athletic Union's 2002 National Karate Championship.
Over 1,500 karate students from across the U.S. participated in the event, which took place last week at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Participants included boys and girls of all ages and men and women, who competed in traditional Karate Kata (forms), Kobudo (weapons Kata) and Kumite (free sparring).
Competitors from Northern Virginia included 35 members of Williams Martial Arts and fitness of Reston and Ashburn. Williams students won 11 gold medals, 26 silver medals, and 14 bronze medals. In addition, 11 Williams' students were 2002 AAU Karate National Champions. They were Marita Grover,. Connor Locklin, Christopher Petty, Chris Elder, Lisa Codella, Shannon Stout, Miles Davis, Dwight Grover, Doug Toppin and James Petty.
Carmen Howell, the director of the Loudoun Academy of the Arts Foundation in Leesburg, has resigned her position with the school so that she can devote more time and energy to her art career.
Howell began her affiliation with the Loudoun Academy of the Arts in 1994, when she became an instructor in drawing, sculpture, and woodcarving, teaching both adults and children. She became the director of the Academy in 1998.
Howell will continue to teach classes at the school and monitor open studio sessions.
Peggy King and Gale Waldron were named the interim co-directors of
the Academy.
Robina Seng, a Virginia Tech student and daughter of Rithy Seng, chief building engineer at the Orbital Sciences Corporation campus in Sterling, won a college scholarship from Boston Properties, Inc., a publicly held full-service real estate development and property management company with 47 commercial buildings in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Loudoun County's Senior and Junior 4-H Poultry Judging Teams both took First Place at the state level 4-H Poultry Judging Contest last week at Virginia Tech. Members of the Senior Team include Michelle Jenkins, Tim Dunlap, and Dane Wence while members of the Junior Team include Sarah Dunlap, Colleen Cook, and Kelby Sengpiehl. The Senior Team will face upcoming additional intense training by Dr. Novak, an assistant professor of Poultry Nutrition and Management at Virginia Tech, to prepare for the National contest in November 2002.