Send announcements to the Alexandria Gazette Packet, by e-mail to gazette@connectionnewspapers.com. Deadline is Thursday at noon for the following week’s paper. Photos are encouraged. Call Rebecca Halik at 703-917-6407 with questions.
Jefferson-Houston School will hold two after-school sports programs this spring. The Khary Stockton Soccer program will hold a Kicks for Kids class for students in kindergarten through fifth grade April 30 through June 6. In partnership with the Northern Virginia Urban League, the school will host a free six-week after-school golf program, open to all fifth-grade students. Interested students will learn the basic fundamentals of golf starting on May 15. For registration information, contact the school at 703-706-4400.
A special blood drive run by the American Red Cross in memory of Greg Berry was held April 19 at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Community in Alexandria. Greg died a year ago during his senior year at T.C. Williams High School. Because Greg was given a fighting chance for his life thanks to anonymous blood donors in our area, his family wanted to give back to the community and help others who need blood. The slogan for this drive was “We need each other so please give blood!”
The successful community turnout included over 75 participants, 66 usable units, and significantly, 24 first time donors, including family and friends from out of town and Greg’s classmates and parents. Kevin and Laura Berry donate blood during American Red Cross Drive on April 19 at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Community.
The Howard Gardner School, is hosting an open house on Monday, June 16 from 6-7:30 p.m. The school is located at 4913 Franconia Road in Alexandria. RSVP 703-822-9300. Visit www.thehowardgardnerschool.org
The 2008 Summer Technology Institute for students completing the 7th or 8th grade (rising 8th and 9th graders) will be held at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST), 6560 Braddock Road, July 7 through Aug. 1. Students may attend the TJHSST Summer Tech Institute regardless of where they are enrolled in school. TJHSST is a Fairfax County public school. Complete information regarding all course offerings, dates, and descriptions is available at http://information.tjhsst.edu/sumtechins.html
Alexandria Archaeology will be hosting an archaeology camp for kids this summer, and registrations are being accepted now. Campers will learn professional excavating, recording, and artifact-processing methods as they help uncover Alexandria's buried past while protecting historical resources. The camp is open to children ages 12 through 15. There are two one-week sessions, which run from Monday, July 21 through Friday, July 25, and from Monday, July 28 through Friday, Aug. 1. The camp day starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 3:30 p.m., and campers supply their own drinks, snacks and lunch. Camp costs $350 per session and some scholarships are available. Space is limited to just 15 campers per session and a non-refundable deposit of $100 is required to hold a slot. Each camper will receive a commemorative T-shirt. For more information or to register for camp, visit www.AlexandriaArchaeology.org or call 703-838-4399.
Volunteer Fairfax and the ExxonMobil Foundation selected 60 Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., nonprofit organizations as participants for the 2008 ExxonMobil Community Summer Jobs Program (CSJP). The ExxonMobil Community Summer Jobs Program provides full-time, undergraduate-level college students with an eight-week, paid internship to experience operations in a nonprofit community environment. College students interested in the ExxonMobil-funded internship may visit the Volunteer Fairfax Web site, www.volunteerfairfax.org, to obtain a list of participating local agencies, internship descriptions and agency contacts. Interested college students should apply directly to the selected agencies.
Three T.C. Williams High School seniors earned Gold Key Awards for their artworks in the 2008 Scholastic Art and Writing Award Competition. Abigail Dillingham earned two Gold Key Awards for a painting titled "Self Portrait" and a mixed media work titled "Found Landscape." Claire Ennslin received a Gold Key Award for her drawing "Still Life with Books," and Sarah Zuidema garnered a Gold Key Award for her drawing titled "Nude Study." The students received lapel pins and certificates.
Students can register for “Summer Music Camp” through May 2. Camps are June 30-July 25 from 9:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. at Douglas MacArthur Elementary School, 1101 Janneys Lane. Information and registration forms are available on line at http://www.acps.k12.va.us/summer/music_camp.php .
Songserea Wood, a student at T.C. Williams High School, is a finalist in Safeway’s Lucerne® Art of Diary™ “Cows & History” Art Contest. Wood, a senior from Alexandria, is a student who takes art under the instruction of teacher Holly Langenfeld. The title of her submission is “Bovine Ends an Epidemic.”
T.C. Williams High School seniors Kierra L. Gambrell and Wasim Abdurahman Kabir, are among nine local students who received Northern Virginia Urban League scholarships during the organization’s 18th annual Community Service Scholarship Awards Dinner, held April 4.
George Mason Elementary School received a $1,000 grant from Washington Capitals Charities during the final installment of the hockey team’s Caps Care Click to Win promotion. The school won the award for boasting the highest attendance percentage rate among the Caps Care Click to Win schools attending the Capitals game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, April 3.
Six T.C. Williams High School world language students will participate in the “2008 Governor's Summer Residential Foreign Language Academies: A Global Village,” a highly competitive summer program. The selected students include Kamila Benzina, French Academy; Thomas Lynam and Katherine Jones, German Academy; Ariel Ardura, Japanese Academy; Michael Montiel, Latin Academy; and Rebekka Laird, Russian Academy.
Five T.C. Williams High School Documentary Studies students — Tim Mannel, Nick Greco, Sarah Allison, Katie Parkinson and Michael Baber — are finalists in the Photographer's Forum Magazine Contest. Their work will be published in Photographer’s Forum Magazine’s Best of College Photography Annual 2008, due out in June.
Two Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) volunteers received recognition at the recent Northern Virginia District PTA Meeting and Awards Dinner. Mimi Carter, immediate past president and current fundraising co-chairperson of the Mount Vernon Community School PTA, received the 2008 Northern Virginia District PTA Volunteer of the Year award at the annual event, which took place on April 17.
T.C. Williams High School volunteer Brooksie Koopman was nominated for the Secondary Volunteer of the Year award for her dedication to the T.C. Williams PTSA over the past 11 years. Koopman has served as co-editor of the Parent Handbook and co-chair for the Committee on Community Programs. A familiar face on the All Night Grad Committee, she is appreciated for her efforts to improve lighting around the perimeter of the school.
Michael Reynolds, a senior at T.C. Williams High School, won first place in Automotive Services Marketing at the DECA International Career Development Conference 2008, held April 26 through 29 in Atlanta, Ga. T.C. Williams senior Alia Elnahs, who placed in the state competition’s Marketing Management event, also participated in the international competition.
The Alexandria Youth Council (AYC), Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) and Alexandria Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy will sponsor the third annual Teen Summit from noon to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, at Minnie Howard School, 3801 West Braddock Road. “Speak Up! Speak Now! Be Heard! -- Let it Out, Tell the World!,” open to students in ninth- through 12th-grades, will provide a way for teens to voice their opinions, learn new information and have fun. Free lunch and free bus transportation will be provided. Visit http://www.acps.k12.va.us/getinvolved/teen_summit.pdf for a bus schedule and additional information.
Three Minnie Howard School students each won $2,000 for being regional winners in the annual eCYBERMISSION science and technology competition. Erfanul Islam, Arvind Mohanan and Daniel Wolfe, and their fourth team member from New Jersey, Shekinah-Glory Dhanie-Beepat, received the Criterion Award for earning the highest score in the "Team Collaboration and Communication" judging category. Two other teams of three students from Minnie Howard also competed. Jennice Bonilla, Diego Gonzalez-Cruz and Nelson Majano investigated which fruits yield the most DNA in a DNA extraction experiment. Corrine Conn, Nora Elnahas and Alexis Gabon investigated budding hormones' effects on cloning plants.
Wesley H. Schmidt of Alexandria, was induced into Lynchburg College's chapter of Beta Beta Beta, the National Honor Society for biological science. Schmidt is a senior environmental science major at Lynchburg College.
T.C. Williams High School senior Meg Glassco received a Best Comic Actress in a Play nomination in the annual Critics and Awards Program, better known as the Cappies, the local high-school equivalent of Broadway’s Tony Awards.
Glassco received the nomination for her role as the Nurse in the T.C. Williams Drama Department’s fall production of “Romeo and Juliet.” She performed in nine shows during her four years at T.C. Williams, and she served as student director of the spring musical, Disney’s “Aida.”
Awards will be presented at the Cappies Gala at 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, in the Concert Hall at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW, Washington, D.C. Tickets cost $30 per person and may be ordered through Leslie Jones at T.C. Williams, 703-824-6800.
Paul Piontkowski has been inducted into the German National Honor Society (GNHS) at Randolph-Macon Academy in Front Royal. Paul, a junior at R-MA, is the son of Paul and Karen Piontkowski of Alexandria.
Laura Lloyd-Braff of Alexandria, a member of the James Madison University Speech Team, was a national finalist and placed fifth in Communication Analysis in the American Forensic Association National Individual Event Tournament.
Yoonji Um of Alexandria, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in hotel and restaurant management from The University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Christina Shiroma, a graduate of Saint Stephens and Saint Agnes School, received a bachelor of arts degree from The College of Wooster during commencement exercises on May 12. While at Wooster, Shiroma was a member of Judicial Board, Student Government Association, and the varsity lacrosse team. She also was named to Phi Alpha Theta history honor society, Phi Sigma Tau philosophy honor society, and the Dean’s List. In addition, she received a Robert M. Bruce Memorial Scholarship for writing, an Endowed Faculty Scholarship, and a Woman’s Advisory Board Scholarship. She also won the Philosophy Roundtable Book Prize, earned Academic All-America honors in lacrosse, and received a Lilly Foundation Azimuth Grant to explore history, photography, and philosophical truth.