BRVGS in the News!

A local newspaper has featured several Blue Ridge Virtual Governor’s School students recently for a variety of activities and accomplishments. New stories about five BRVGS students at Madison County High School have appeared in The Eagle, which serves the Madison area.

Katy Sorrell, Drew Kelliher, and Sam Young were highlighted in a Lifestyles section article about their senior internships. View the entire story at MCHS Trio Excels.

Junior Chelsea Colvin was crowned the winner of the 2013 Miss Madison Scholarship Pageant. Read the details at 2013 Miss Madison.

Courtney Pooton received a lifetime 4-H All-Star award, the organization’s highest honor, in a ceremony at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. See the complete article at 4-H All-Star.

Congratulations to all of our BRVGS students in the news!

(Photo by COURTNEY GRIFFIN / Madison Eagle)

Regional Science Fair Selects Winners

BRVGS students were the recipients of numerous awards at the 32nd Annual Virginia Piedmont Regional Science Fair held March 13 at UVA’s John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville.

David Woods took the First Place honor in Physics and Astronomy for his project titled The Piezoelectric Effect. He received the Physical Sciences Award from the United States Army, and the Naval Science Award, as well. The Biophysical Society Award, which includes a monetary gift of $100, was also given to the Orange County High School junior. David lives in Somerset, and is the son of Evelyn and Kent Woods. His sponsoring teacher at OCHS is Nick Budziszewski.

William Monroe High School sophomore Joey Rodriguez was awarded Second Place in the Plant Sciences category for his project, Arabidopsis Thaliana in Response to Potassium Nitrate and the Modification of the AADL Gene. Joey lives in Barboursville and is the son of Heather Arquitt and Frank Flaschenriem.

About 300 students from Piedmont Virginia representing more than thirty different schools from over a dozen school divisions participate in the regional fair. Senior Division entries are judged in each of 17 science and engineering categories. Schools within Albemarle, Culpeper, Fluvanna, Greene, King George, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, Orange, Rappahannock, Spotsylvania, and Stafford counties comprise the Science Fair region.

These are outstanding science achievements, and BRVGS is proud to recognize our students’ efforts and performance!

Senior Service Projects Benefit Local Communities

BRVGS Seniors spend many hours giving back to localities through the community service facet of their Senior Projects. Student contributions are provided in the form of volunteer hours, item collections, fund raising, information distribution, promotion, and teaching.  This year’s Seniors are supporting such organizations as Habitat for Humanity, YMCA, public television, Chamber of Commerce, The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Help Portrait Charlottesville, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology Robotics), UVa Children’s Hospital, and Greene County Rescue Squad, among others. They are also helping local schools, public libraries, local governments, parks, and an airport.  Examples of service projects include:

• Conducting recreational therapy with hospital patients
• Presenting information regarding online safety
• Teaching Spanish to first graders
• Teaching Math and problem-solving skills to young people
• Mentoring in an ESL (English as a Second Language) program
• Teaching computer/electronics classes at a public library
• Performing music therapy with senior citizens
• Planting and maintenance of park trees
• Mentoring a robotics team
• Creating a website for a Civil War battle 150th anniversary
• Working to establish a town’s single-stream recycling program
• Building homes for low-income families
• Conducting food and toy-drive programs

Considerable time is being donated by the Seniors on projects benefitting many organizations. The contributions listed above are only a partial list, but recognition goes out to all BRVGS students working on these worthwhile endeavors.

Spring and Summer Opportunities Open to BRVGS Students

Are you interested in a stimulating experience for spring or summer? Want to connect with mentors in your areas of interest? Want to work alongside professors and research assistants in university labs? Learn Chinese? Applications to these, and other opportunities, are open to BRVGS students, and many of the programs are free. Check out the offerings below, and click on the links for more information about each one. Additional programs will be listed here as they become available.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Expanding Your Horizons
James Madison University
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) is a free one-day conference aimed at girls in grades 7-10. The conference is designed to stimulate interest in math and science, provide female scientist role models, and foster awareness of math and science-related career opportunities.
Expanding Your Horizons
 

The Chinese Language and Culture Immersion Program
University of Virginia
July 24 - July 3, 2013
Charlottesville-area high school students are invited to apply to a free Chinese language immersion program at the University of Virginia this summer. The program is open to rising ninth- through 12th-grade students.
The Chinese Language and Culture Immersion
 

HooS-STER
Science, Technology, and Engineering Research Program at UVA
June 24 - August 2,  2013 (tentative)
The University of Virginia is offering a six-week program intended for rising high school seniors interested in performing research in science and engineering labs.
HooS-STER: Science, Technology, and Engineering Research

BRVGS Attends Capitol Day

12 BRVGS students, staff members and parents visited the Va State Capitol this past Tuesday, for a day-long "Capitol Day" event sponsored by the Friends of Virginia Governor's Schools (FOVGS).  Students from most of Virginia's 19 Governor's Schools met with their delegates and senators, toured the State Capitol Building, and watched the House of Delegates in action.  Click on "Capitol Day Photo Album" to see more of these activities.

The purpose of FOVGS is to educate legislators about the mission, activities, accomplishments and needs of Governor's Schools across the Commonwealth.  Parents who might wish to volunteer for FOVGS activities should contact BRVGS Director Marc Carraway at mcarraway@brvgs.k12.va.us.