Words, music, images and more from Jim Barnes
The Canadian Brass, widely acclaimed as one of the most popular brass ensembles in the world, visited John Champe High School in Aldie recently to conduct a workshop for Loudoun County band students.
About 700 students from 10 middle and high schools attended the May 29 workshop, where the ensemble demonstrated diverse musical styles, including early Renaissance music and a Peruvian tango.
Washington Post, June 7, 2015
The Round Hill Aquatic Center at Woodgrove Park opened last week, almost 24 years after it was proffered to Loudoun County in a rezoning that allowed development of the Villages of Round Hill, Mountain Valley and Lake Point.
The opening was the culmination of a decades-long process that included public meetings, shifting plans for the facility, an appeal by the developer and rulings by the county’s zoning administrator.
The indoor facility has drawn criticism because of its size and operational costs. With four 25-yard lap lanes, it will provide space for swim team practices but is too small to host meets. The facility was built with private funds, but it will cost the county about $400,000 annually to operate. About one-third of the cost will be recovered by user fees in the first year, county officials said.
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Washington Post, May 31, 2015
Hundreds of walkers took part in a six-mile trek along Spriggs Road in the mid-county area last weekend to raise awareness about teen suicide.
Prince William County school officials estimated that more than 400 people participated in the walk, a round trip between Forest Park and Hylton high schools. Although most of the walkers were high school students, participants included young children, adults — some pushing strollers — and even a few dogs.
Students in Advanced Placement government classes at Forest Park organized the event as their final project, which their teacher, Shannon Geraghty, allowed them to do in place of a final exam.
Washington Post, May 31, 2015
For two hours on a recent Wednesday, a corner of the Potomac High School library was transformed into a setting for a fine dining experience. A group of 18 guests sat at tables draped with blue cloths and decorated with colorful centerpieces. They were served a four-course meal featuring cuisine from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean.
The hosts were a team of students from the school’s culinary arts program. They organized the meal as the final project for their senior-level class. The students coordinated everything, from developing the guest list, invitations and menu, to preparing and serving the food, their teachers said.
Washington Post, May 10, 2015
It’s called going over the cliff. When students with autism leave the public school system — and the network of support and therapy it provides — they often graduate to the couch. They struggle to find meaningful employment and to live independently, even though the majority have average to above-average intelligence.
Some special education teachers and parents in Loudoun County have been trying to change that. They created Legacy Farms, a nonprofit organization that introduces young adults with autism to farming. The goal is to help ease the transition from public school to the community.
Washington Post, May 3, 2015
Concern about the plight of the honeybee has sparked a surge of interest in backyard beekeeping in Northern Virginia.
Interest is so high that two local beekeeping clubs say they are being stretched to keep up with the demand. Introductory beekeeping classes offered in Loudoun and Prince William counties fill up quickly every year, and waiting lists carry over from one year to the next, beekeepers in both counties said.
Washington Post, April 30, 2015
After receiving heavy pushback from mid-county residents, Prince William County Schools Superintendent Steven L. Walts backed down from a proposal to move the Mary G. Porter Traditional School from its location in Woodbridge to a site known as the Ferlazzo property, at Spriggs and Minnieville roads.
Instead, the school system will proceed with its original plan to build a facility that will serve local residents at the Ferlazzo site, Walts said…
Washington Post, April 26, 2015
The Prince William County Board of Supervisors is using the power of persuasion and its control of purse strings to try to defuse a controversy that has erupted in recent weeks over plans for an elementary school that is scheduled to be built in the mid-county area.
The school board is considering a staff recommendation to move the Mary G. Porter Traditional School from its current location in Woodbridge to a site at the intersection of Spriggs and Minnieville roads. That site, on land previously owned by the Ferlazzo family, had been planned for an elementary school for children who live in the mid-county area, scheduled to open in 2016.
Washington Post, April 19, 2015
It feels like death is being shoved in my face today.
I’ve been reading a book called Listening to Your Life, a compilation of daily meditations by Frederick Buechner. The reading for today was about Jesus’s death on the cross, and how that was a good thing for humanity. This is a concept that, try as I might, I have never been able to fully understand or appreciate.
This awakened memories of the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech that occurred exactly eight years ago, a murderous spree that hit very close to home. I would like to think that something good came from that awful tragedy, but for the life of me I am coming up empty.
I opened the Washington Post and read about the suicide of a sophomore at William and Mary, my son’s alma mater. The young man, Paul Soutter, was to have appeared in a play about the stresses of college life. He was the fourth W & M student to take his own life this year.
On Instagram, I saw freshly posted images of my friend Lacey, who took her life almost two years ago. Her friends still regularly send messages through social media saying how much they loved and miss her. She had seemingly been unaware of how many people cared about her.
I circle back to the reading from Buechner, and try again to understand how anything good can come from the death of young people. If anything, for me, it is this awareness: Life is precious. Protect it, cherish it.
Three years ago, on the 5th anniversary of the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech, I wrote this column for Leesburg Patch. Three more years have passed, and countless more people have been killed, and we still haven’t learned.
Leesburg Patch, April 2012