Know something that should be featured in School Notes? Awards? Special events? School fairs? Fax a brief write-up to 703-917-0991 or write an e-mail to Joy Allen at mclean@connectionnewspapers.com
<lst>The artwork of more than 250 Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) students will be featured in a multimedia, live orchestral performance of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Children’s Suite for Orchestra," performed by the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, June 13, at the Schlesinger Concert Hall on the Alexandria Campus of Northern Virginia Community College. The children’s work, part of the Children’s Arts Festival and inspired by composer John Williams’ music, will be used in choreographed videography and projected behind the orchestra during the performance, and will also be exhibited in the hall prior to the performance.
FCPS elementary school art teachers attended workshops with symphony maestro and music director Kim Allen Kluge last fall to learn about the project. They each received a CD of the symphony orchestra performing the piece. Back in the classroom, the teachers played the music for their students and had them respond with paint, pastel, or cut and torn paper. Student work was then selected and submitted for the exhibit and videography.
The work of students from Franklin Sherman and Haycock Elementary Schools, among others, will be dsplayed.
On June 13, the Children’s Arts Festival begins at 1 p.m. and the concert begins at 2 p.m.
The Great Falls Art Center is registering now for its annual Summer Art Camp, which takes place throughout the months of July and August for children over age 6. Parents may choose the weeks they want their children to participate.
Instruction is different for each week and the campers attend Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Art learning includes drawing, painting, sculpture, pottery and appreciation of great artists through the ages. The program includes daily lunches, games and swimming on the hot days until pick-up time at 3 p.m. All staff members are professionally trained and experienced with degrees in education, art and child development.
For an application, call 703-759-3867.
The Great Falls Art Center holds regular, once-a-week classes in drawing, oil painting, pottery, sculpture and art history for children ages 6 and older, as well as for teenagers, adults and seniors. GFAC teachers are experiences, professional art educators.
For directions to the studio on Walker Road or for a schedule of classes, call 703-759-3867 or e-mail greatfallsart@yahoo.com.
McLean Project for the Arts presents Creative Art Studio, 10 week-long art workshops for children 6-11. Each session is planned to be fun and creative and has its own theme, including puppets and masks, nature, 3-D art adventures, and more. Morning sessions for rising first- through third-graders meet Mondays-Fridays, 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m. Afternoon sessions for rising third- through sixth-graders are 1-3:30 p.m. Tuition is $100 ($110 nonresidents). Some sessions have already filled. To check on availability or for more information, call McLean Project for the Arts, 703-790-1953, or the McLean Community Center, 703-790-0123.
McLean High School summer camp applications are available on the MHS Athletic Booster Web site, www.mcleanboosters.org, and in the main office of the high school, 703-714-5700.
For students 7-18 of all skill levels, the football programs are Lineman Camp, June 29 -July 1, 6-8 p.m., $25; and All-Around Skills Camp, Aug. 2, 6-8 p.m., $35. Attending both camps costs $50. Call Rick Rivera, varsity coach, at 703- 847-0148.
On July 12 -16, Field Hockey Session I, for sixth- through ninth-graders, is 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., $128, and Session 2, for advanced players, is 5:30-8 p.m., $80. Contact Demby Banbury, varsity coach, at 703-714-5785.
For boys basketball, Session 1 is July 12-16, and Session 2 is July 19-23, 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., for third- through 10th-graders, all skill levels, $115 per session. Contact Drew Murphy, varsity coach, for more information.
Junior Ranger Summer Camp. This fun-filled, two-day program for children 8-11 allows children to participate in a variety of activities such as hikes and nature-related projects that educate young people about Great Falls Park and the natural environment they live in. There is no fee to attend the program, but preregistration is required. Sessions are June 29 and 30, July 13 and 14, July 27 and 28, and Aug. 10 and 11. Each session runs from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Openings are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Space is limited. For more information or to register, call 703-285-2965.
The Old Firehouse Teen Center (OFTC) will again offer its After-School Adventure Program this fall. OFTC is a satellite program of the McLean Community Center. The cost of the program is $375 per quarter for McLean district residents, $400 per quarter for others. Payment for the first quarter and OFTC membership ($25 per year for McLean district residents/$30 for others) will be due at registration. Parents may register their children at the OFTC during regular business hours.
The After School Adventure Program is held Monday through Friday, 2:30–6 p.m., and includes transportation from Cooper and Longfellow middle schools, snacks, tutors, transportation to off-site events and a daily activity. Each day there will be a structured, supervised event; tutoring; community service projects; movies; and more. There also will be off-site trips and activities such as bowling, indoor swimming and Build-A-Bear.
The Old Firehouse has secured a set of textbooks from Cooper and Longfellow middle schools, which are kept on-site. Students attending other schools or who are being home-schooled are welcome to register for this program, but there will be no transportation provided from their schools. The program is not held when Fairfax County Public Schools are closed or have an early-release day. On these days, the center will be open from 8 a.m.–6 p.m. for member “drop-ins.”
For more information, call the Old Firehouse Teen Center, 703-448-TEEN (8336); McLean Community Center, 703-790-0123; or visit www.mcleancenter.org.
Registration for summer classes offered by the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Office of Adult and Community Education (ACE) is now under way. "Classes, Etc.," the ACE course catalog, is in the mail to Fairfax County residents.
ACE provides high-quality, convenient and affordable education to the community with a wide continuum of courses that help individuals meet educational, career and life-enrichment goals. A sampling of course offerings includes home and personal improvement; computer courses at many levels of experience; fine and creative arts and crafts; apprenticeship-related instruction; foreign language courses; English for international travelers; adult high-school completion programs; certification in trades and the medical and business areas; business and entrepreneurial training; basic skills in reading, writing and math; workforce training for local businesses; and K-12 extended-day enrichment and remediation programs.
Most classes offered to the public are supported by user fees and grants and are not funded from the school system’s operations budget. Class information is also available at www.fcps.edu/adult.htm by clicking on Classes, Etc.
World Heritage, a nonprofit student exchange program, is seeking families, couples or single parents to host a high-school-age foreign-exchange student for a semester or year. For more information, call area representative Judith Henderson at 1-800-888-9040, or visit www.world-heritage.org.
The McLean High School Boys Basketball Program is hosting two sessions of Highlander Basketball Camp this summer. Camp takes place July 12-16 and July 19-23, at McLean High School. Camp tuition is $115 per session. Camp times are 8:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Contact Coach Drew Murphy at 703-714-5899, or at andrew.murphy@fcps.edu, for more information.
Photography II students from Langley High School have been sharing their photo skills - from composition to exhibition - with fifth-grade students at Parklawn Elementary School during the spring 2004 semester.
Students in Nory Diaz's fifth-grade class at Parklawn began studying photography and writing in March, learning ways to express their ideas on family, home and culture. After discussing composition, the students received disposable black-and-white cameras with which to photograph their own families.
In April, the Parklawn students visited the photography classroom and darkroom at Langley High School. Twenty-one Langley Photography II students served as mentors for the Parklawn students, teaching them how to print contact sheets from their negatives. The Parklawn students analyzed their contact sheets to select the images that most effectively communicated their thoughts and feelings about their families, then learned to print and mount their black-and-white prints.
The two groups of students also took a joint field trip to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., at the end of April to see an exhibit of the photography of Muriel Hasbun. Parklawn students completed a reflective writing activity about the exhibit and were able to compare and contrast their own photographs with those of Hasbun.
The student photos will be on display at Parklawn during May.
The Virginia PTA recognized the Marshall High School PTSA's newsletter with a bronze award for exceptional design and readability with good overall content.
Construction Industry Scholarships. Seven students from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) have been selected to participate in a new six-week internship program with the construction industry to learn about the opportunities available to them in the field. The interns are Michael Cruz and Daniel Hettema of Lake Braddock Secondary School; Glen Keith of Woodson High School; Juliet Leonard of Woodson High School; Bryan Kobick of Madison High School; Luis Luendo of Pimmit Hills Alternative High School; and Anna Pham of Chantilly High School.
The internships offer students the opportunity to learn about career options in the construction industry. Hosting companies are Manhattan Construction, HITT Contracting Inc., Scott-Long Construction, R. W. Murray, M. C. Dean Electrical Contracting, Virginia Concrete Construction, and L. F. Jennings.