Send announcements, which are open to the public at no or minimal cost, to The Loudoun Connection, 7913 Westpark Drive, McLean, VA 22102 or e-mail to loudoun@connectionnewspapers.com. Deadline is Friday, two weeks before the event. Photos/artwork encouraged. For more information, call Jennifer Lesinski at 703-917-6454. For additional listings, visit www.connectionnewspapers.com.
Sarah E. Shaw has been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force after completing the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program and graduating with a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame, Ind.
ROTC is an educational program designed to provide college students an opportunity to be Air Force officers after completing military study courses and bachelor's degree requirements at a host college or university.
She is the daughter of Michael T. Shaw of Deerfield Trace, Burlington, Conn., and Nancy C. Shaw of Golden Meadow Circle, Ashburn. Shaw is a 2003 graduate of Broad Run High School, Ashburn.
Nearly 20 Loudoun County Sanitation Authority (LCSA) customers sent in more than 40 photos vying for the Brownest Lawn title. The photo with the most votes belonged to Asher Roth of Broadlands. Roth sent two photos of his lawn, one taken in May and another taken in August. Customers sent photos by e-mail, regular mail or they posted them to Flickr.com, which is a photo-sharing Web site. LCSA’s employees voted for the winner.
The Loudoun County Industrial Development Authority has elected Betsy E. Self as chairman and Robert Compton as secretary of the authority. Self and Compton were elected at the July meeting of the authority, at which time former long-time chairman, John Harris, tendered his resignation as chairman. Harris will remain in the region, but is no longer eligible for membership on the authority since he has moved his residence to Frederick County.
After a two-year period of interim ministry, the Unitarian Universalists of Sterling congregation welcomes the Rev. Anya Sammler as full-time, settled minister this September.
Sammler attended the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., where she earned degrees in philosophy and fine arts, concentrating on Wittgenstein and photography. She has also worked as a chef and cafe manager. She has a masters of divinity degree from Meadville Lombard Seminary in Chicago and has served as chaplain at Swedish Hospital in Seattle and as intern minister in Sunnyvale, Calif. Recently she has served as youth minister at the Community Unitarian Church in White Plains, N.Y. She is an avid runner, practices yoga and was married to Scott Michael, a UU intern minister, Aug. 18.