Students Manage Field Trips Despite Winter Weather

While the winter weather tinkers with school districts' schedules, Blue Ridge Governor’s School students manage to continue on with second semester events. On Thursday, February 6, the 10th grade Biotechnology classes met at Best Western Zion Crossroads to learn about their semester projects, and to interact with their cross-county project team members. The projects focus on bioethics, and involve individual research, analysis, teamwork, use of technology, design skills, and communication.  Each student will conduct research and analysis of the pros and cons of a bioethical issue, write an academic paper, create a group website, and give a group presentation later in the semester.

Eleventh grade Computer Science classes traveled to the Taylor Education Administration Complex in Orange for their semester kickoff on Friday, February 7th. Students met their online teacher, Mr. Reynolds, and their project group members. At the session, participants were introduced to new technology tools in BRVGS, given information concerning successful group practices, worked together in groups to accomplish programming-like tasks, and developed programs in Scratch.

9th graders will begin their semester projects with a visit to UVa on February 27th, where they will start the day with a lecture on Machiavelli and current events from UVa Professor George Klosko.  Please check back for further events as the semester progresses.

BRVGS Board Meetings in February and March

The Joint Board for the Blue Ridge Virtual Governor's School will hold a working dinner meeting on Thursday, February 20th, at 5:30 PM, at the Blue Ridge Cafe in ruckersville, Virginia.  This first meeting of the year for the BRVGS Joint Board will provide new and returning representatives with an opportunity to informally discuss upcoming issues and events for BRVGS.

The BRVGS Board will meet formally at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, March 5th, at the Best Western Zion Crossroads.  The Board will reorganize for 2014 at the March meeting, and will begin discussion of BRVGS budget and planning for thre upcoming year.

Please contact BRVGS Director Marc Carraway at mcarraway@brvgs.k12.va.us or by phone at 434-989-3972 for any questions regarding either of these upcoming meetings.  

BRVGS Students Visit State Capitol

A dreary rain did not dampen the enthusiasm of 10 BRVGS students to see their state government in action. On Monday, Feb 3rd, students from Greene, Madison, Orange and Fluvanna attended the Friends of Virginia Governor's Schools' "Capitol Day" in Richmond, Virginia.  Students met with legislators, visited the Senate Gallery, and took a tour of the Thomas Jefferson-designed Capitol building.  The students had a great day all around, and were outstanding ambassadors for the Governor's School program and for BRVGS.  Click here to see more pics of the Capitol Day trip.

BRVGS Calendar Teems with 2nd Semester Activities

As the new year gets underway, 2014 is full of experiences for BRVGS students, including field trips, lectures, university classes, course kick-offs, and student presentations and projects.

BRVGS World History 9th graders will will be working on their “Ethics in History” semester projects, and will also attend a lecture on Machiavelli at the University of Virginia by Professor George Klosko on February 27th (please note that this date has changed from Feb. 20th).

AP Biology students will participate in the Bioethics Project Kickoff at Best Western, Zion Crossroads on February 6th. These 10th graders from Goochland, Louisa, Nelson, and Orange will hit the water in canoes during March and May on field trips led by Chesapeake Bay Foundation instructors.

A kickoff for Computer Science students in the 11th grade will be held January 31st at the Taylor Education Administration Complex in Orange, and 12th graders will be giving Senior Presentations at their schools throughout the semester.

Eleven students are enrolled in the collaborative BRVGS-UVa Digital Technology and Communication course this term.

As dates for other events are set, they will be announced on the BRVGS Homepage and Calendar, so check back for updates as the semester progresses.

World History Website Contest

BRVGS 9th grade World History students have recently completed their first semester website projects, in which teams of researchers from different schools feature the most important technological developments from different historical periods and regions of the world.  These sites are now available for the public to review and rate over the holidays.  Visitors can find a link to the sites at: https://sites.google.com/a/brvgs.k12.va.us/wh-first-semester-project/group-site-links

Visitors to the sites are invited to rate them for appearance, content and overall quality.  The sites are grouped into two groups: 1 set of websites is from Fluvanna, Goochland, Greene and Nelson (FGLN), and Orange, Greene and Madison (OGM).

The review forms for the two groups can be reached by clicking on the links below:

FGLN Website Review Form

OGM Website Review Form

Reviewers can only vote once for FGLN sites and once for OGM sites.  Thanks to all who participate - your feedback is an important part of the learning process for our students!