Mount Vernon High School, in partnership with several community organizations, sponsors "Beauty Comes From Within" on Saturday, April 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Mount Vernon High School, 8515 Old Mount Vernon Road. Open to students and their parents from Lee High School. Attendees can participate in four workshops during the forum, which is designed to combat the media-driven, negative images that young people may have about women. Professional women from the community will run the workshops, which include sessions on healthy vs. unhealthy relationships, career exploration, money management, body image and self-esteem, communications and date rape prevention.
West Springfield High School’s Class of 1980 celebrates its 25-year reunion on June 25, at the Hyatt Arlington. For more information, visit www.greatreunions.com.
Springfield’s Hidden Pond Nature Center offers various summer camps for youngsters. Registration opens on April 13, at 9 a.m. For more, call 703-451-9588.
* Pond Pals, open to ages 4-5; children explore Hidden Pond Park’s forest and wetlands through hands-on activities, nature crafts and games. The session takes place from July 6 to July 8, from 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $60 per child.
* Pohick Peepers Camp, open to ages 5-6; children take part in field study, crafts, games and stories. Session takes place Aug. 1 to Aug. 3 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Cost per child is $60 for the three-day session.
* At the five-day Junior Naturalist camp, open to ages 9 to 11, children can participate in a variety of outdoor activities designed to stimulate their interest in the natural world and breathe life into history. The camp takes place July 11 to July 15, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Cost is $85 per child.
* Pohick Ranger camp allows children ages 9 -12 to explore the park’s wetlands and forests in search of all that lives there. This will be an active, hands-on program, with the emphasis on outdoor field study. This camp takes place from July 25 to July 29, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Cost is $85 per child.
St. John's Center for Early Childhood Education is taking registrations for the 2005-06 school year. St. John's offers classes for 2,3 and Pre-K 4 year olds, and before and after school care for K-5. St. John's is located at 5312 Backlick Road, Springfield. Call 703-256-7748.
Nick Peterson, Daniel Paris, Latham Gunn and Catherine Arthur of Hayfield Secondary were recently chosen to the All-State Chorus. Kristine Garaffo and Michael Hollister were selected as alternates.
The Reflections program, which encourages students to sponsor artistic expression, is sponsored by the national PTA. This year's Reflection program winners from Hayfield Secondary are Laura Spurlock, who won the Outstanding Interpretation Reflections' award at the district level, and Kimberly Healy, who received an Award of Merit for Visual Arts.
Debbie Gordon, a family & consumer sciences teacher and coordinator of peer mediation, peer helping and the teacher cadet programs at Hayfield Secondary, was recently selected for inclusion in the ninth edition of Who's Who Among America's Teachers 2004-05. Gordon, who was nominated by a former student as an influential educator, has been recognized and honored in several previous editions of this publication.
Washington Irving Middle School's Concert I, Concert II and Symphonic bands received the highest overall "Superior" rating at the Virginia Band and Orchestra Director's Association Band Festival. Also, all three bands got straight "A's" in the sight-reading section.
Lee High School Marketing DECA Club members Michael Bertha and Ryan Paxton have recently won places in the DECA nationals competition.
Twenty nine third-year students of German at Lee High School participated in the national testing program of the American Association of Teachers of German in January. Candace Muramoto and Sanga Aryoubi qualified for national recognition from the American Association of Teachers of German. Patrick Escalambre, Kristen Buchanan, Asheq Imran, Stefanie Winn, Sean Camperson, Christoph Koch, Robert Atwell, Karin Christenson and Amanda Hansen scored well above the top half of Virginia students taking the test and have been recognized by the Washington D.C. Goethe Institute.
Ten students from Lee High School and a teacher chaperone is traveling to Paris and Albi, France for an exchange with students in Albi. They are visiting a French school and staying with French families.
The following Lee students competed in the Virginia State Science Olympiad against 20 other high schools and took top 5 honors:
* Physics Lab: Irtiza Rizvi and Justin Wong — 2nd place
* Chemistry: Irtiza Rizvi and Justin Wong — 2nd place
* Chemistry Lab: Irtiza Rizvi and Justin Wong — 4th place
* Lab Data Gathering: Irtiza Rizvi and David Schuster — 5th place
* Experimental Design: Justin Wong, David Schuster and Jorge Morales — 4th place
* Fermi Questions (estimating): Irtiza Rizvi and John French — 5th place
* Forensics: Irtiza Rizvi and David Schuster — 2nd place
* Remote Sensing: John French and Medeeha Hamid — 5th place
* Robotics: Jorge Morales — 4th place
Lee High School hosted an IB Social Studies networking session on Thursday, March 3. Eighteen teachers, some from as far as York and Hampton, came up to Lee to get fresh ideas for their IB history classes.
Corey Illes and Susan Cox were recently chosen by FCPS's Online Campus to teach online classes this summer.
Lee High School's Odyssey of the Mind team went to the regional tournament on Saturday March 12. Their long-term problem solution went off without a hitch and they came in second place for style. Their overall ranking was fourth place. Team members include Betel Aklilu, Vidhika Bansal, Aida Bengussie, Margaret Dang, Elyse Dunstan, Tiyon Solomon and Tsiga Solomon.
The Symphonic and Chamber Orchestras of Lee High School both received scores of Superior at the District Ten Orchestra Festival.
Lee High School senior Asim Baig was presented with a $1,500 grant from the Virginia Lions Eye Institute.
The Lee High School Choral Department participated in the District 10 Choral Festival recently at Stuart High School. Treble Choir and Men's Ensemble received ratings of Excellent, and Ladies' Chamber Choir and Madrigals received Superior. Junior Julie Crego was selected by audition to participate in the 2005 All-Virginia Chorus. Junior Jimmy Nguyen is an alternate.
Lee High School Performing Arts Department is the recipient of the 2005 Blue Ribbon Award, an accolade signifying that each of Lee's premier performing ensembles received a rating of Superior at their district festival adjudications.