The Arlington School Board is seeking volunteers for service on the Advisory Council on School Facilities and Capital Programs. Advisory group members work with school and/or county staff to develop funding priority recommendations, evaluate and develop related programming, gather community input on proposed school and/or county policies, and communicate established policies and program objectives to the community. Only Arlington County residents are eligible for the two-year appointments. Download a copy of the application for Facilities Council appointments from the “Advisory Council on School Facilities and Capital Programs” icon on the “School Board” section of the Arlington Public Schools Web site, or call the School Board Office at 703-228-6015.
FocusFest 2002 at Kenmore Middle School, 200 S. Carlin Springs Road, features students performing music, dancing, telling stories, a coffeehouse and bookfair, demonstrating the potter’s wheel and more, from 6-9:30 p.m. on Friday, May 31. Hands-on arts and technology activities include crafts from recycled materials and digital photos. Entertainment will include the Kenmore Step Team, the Kenmore Jazz Band, the Kenmore Orchestra Ensemble and the Show Choir. A Super Mileage Challenge Car will be created by students, as well as a bridge using straws and paper clips. For families with children 5-14. Call 703-228-6800.
School Superintendent Robert G. Smith will spend “15 Minutes” with the Arlington community several times a week through a new television program on Arlington Channel 30. During the new program, Smith explores a wide variety of education-related topics with experts from throughout the Arlington school system and the surrounding community. Topics will include tips for parents on various education issues, district programs and procedures, and interviews with many school-system staff and community members. Each broadcast begins with an English version of the program, followed immediately by a repeat broadcast with Spanish translation.
An interview with staff members Neil Heinekamp and Beth Reese on Arlington Public Schools outdoor education programs will begin airing on Wednesday, May 29. Upcoming programs will feature interviews with Arlington Partners in Education committee chair Gordon Thrall and partner representatives Jim Whitaker of Marasco-Newton and Florence Taylor of the Rock Spring Garden Club. For a programming schedule, visit the Arlington Public Schools Web site or call 703-228-6004.
The Arlington Community Foundation Board of Trustees announced recipients of $116,000 in scholarships from the Foundation’s 22 scholarship funds, including five new scholarship funds. The scholarships range from $500 to $5,000 and will be awarded at a Scholarship Awards Reception on Thursday, May 30, from 5-6:30 p.m., at the Arlington Central Library, 1015 N. Quincy St.
Here is a partial list of scholarship winners:
Scholarships are being awarded for the first time from the following funds: The Ben Burdetsky Youth-In-Action Scholarship, to Washington-Lee High School seniors An Bui and Karla Perez; the Civic Federation 911 Scholarship, to Yorktown High School seniors Adam Reardon and Soraya Carrig, and to Jon Paul Blankenship; the Jerome Evenson Scholarship, to Washington-Lee senior Sarah Sanjakdar; the New Americans Scholarship, to Yorktown senior Litza Amurrio; and the Wakefield Goals Scholarship, to Wakefield High School seniors Meron Berhane and Marvin Bonilla.
The Arlington Achievers Scholarship will be awarded to Yorktown senior Shannon Southard and renewed for Chee Hur, a 2001 Wakefield graduate now attending Virginia Tech. Arlington American Legion Post No. 139 Scholarships will be awarded to Wakefield senior Nickolay Mollov and Yorktown senior Claudia De La Via and will be renewed for Lisa Day, a University of Maryland sophomore; Lauren Edgar, a Brown University sophomore; Rebecca Gibbs, a Marymount University freshman; Inge Osman, a freshman at Duke University; and Brian St. Andre, a sophomore at George Mason University.
Yorktown senior Julie Noble will receive the Arlington Gay and Lesbian Alliance Scholarship, and the R. Scott Bates Memorial Scholarship will be awarded to Yorktown senior Kathleen Conway. Washington-Lee senior Ariel Peters will receive the Elizabeth P. and Edmund D. Campbell/Verizon Scholarship. The Community Foundation’s Community Scholarships will be awarded to Philip Park, a senior in the HB Woodlawn program; Gena Aycock, a Washington-Lee 2001 graduate now attending the University of Alabama; Nydia Shahjahan, a 2000 Bishop O’Connell High School graduate attending Georgetown University; Luisa Suarez, a 2000 Yorktown graduate attending Virginia Tech; Glenda Torres, a 1999 Wakefield graduate to attend George Mason University; and Selma Woldemichael, a 2000 Wakefield graduate now attending Virginia Tech.