BRVGS Student Wins Tech Tour Scholarship

Congratulations to BRVGS/Nelson County High School Junior Chloe Hellerman for being one of only two recipients chosen to receive a scholarship in the amount of $2,500 for the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council’s 2017 Tech Tour Scholarship.  The Tech Tour is ¨a local event to introduce area middle and high school students to the dynamic high technology world that exists in the Charlottesville/Albemarle County metro region.¨ Chloe attended the Tech Tour as part of her participation in technology-centered courses in BRVGS, including UVa/BRVGS Engineering and BRVGS Advanced Placement Computer Science A.  We are very proud of Chloeś accomplishments in these courses and of her achievement of this scholarship!

Please see http://cvilleinnovation.org/tech-tour for more information about the Tech Tour.

BRVGS Students Sweep Miss Orange County Contest

On March 3rd, Miss Courtney Yancey of the Blue Ridge Virtual Governor's School/Orange County High School class of 2018 was crowned Miss Orange County for 2018.  Fellow BRVGS/OCHS students Caroline Richards and Autumn Dawn Rogers also finished as 1st and 2nd runners-up in the competition, which awards nearly $3000 in scholarship prizes.  This marks the third year in a row that a BRVGS student has served as Miss Orange County.  Congratulations to these talented young ladies!  

BRVGS Student Helps Others Cope with Grief

Tuyet Chuong, a senior at William Monroe High School and in the Blue Ridge Virtual Governor's School held a "strategies for coping with loss and grief" seminar at the high school this January, helping those who have a lost a loved one to cancer.  She has been volunteering at the Orange County Free Clinic and shadowed a pediatric oncology nurse at UVA for her 30 hour internship.  Her research question explores both new treatments in oncology and wrestles with the ethical question of WHEN (at what age) a child is ready to make their OWN decisions regarding treatment.   Tuyet states that her community service and legacy were meaningful because "it allowed me to help not only people that need help, but also make a difference in people's lives.  I wanted to help students at WMHS with issues they face struggling with coping with a death of a loved one who has cancer.  I just want to make a difference in people's lives at the end of the day."  She has done an amazing job in her research, community service, and internship and we are very proud of her!

BRVGS Student Goes to Washington!

How can a high school junior get close enough to see how the politics REALLY work at the national level?  For BRVGS/Nelson junior Sinead Nardi-White, upcoming service as a United States Senate Page for Virginia Senator Tim Kaine will be her window into the halls of power in Washington.   One of only 30 students from different states to be selected to this competitive appointment, Sinead will serve as page from January 28th June 8th of this year.

 According to Sinead, her duties will include “...delivering correspondence and legislative material throughout the US Capitol and Congressional offices, preparing the Senate Chamber for session, and working in the Senate chamber while the Senate is in session (assisting staff members and senators of my sponsoring senator's party).” Despite all these duties, school must go on - pages attend the Senate Page School from 6:00 AM to 9:45 AM each day as they live and work in Washington.

Sinead is “...excited to participate in this program because I will be directly witnessing what most people only get to read about on the news, like the government shutdown and the State of the Union, which are sure to be interesting to observe in the current political climate.”  This is an rare opportunity and tremendous achievement for Sinead, and BRVGS is proud of her appointment as a United States Senate Page!

Lots of news for the New Year in BRVGS!

Although the weather has provided a cold and uneven start to the first few days of the 2018 spring semester, there is still a lot going on with BRVGS.  Here are a few things worth noting as we get the new year under way:

• Over the next few weeks, BRVGS will be working with students in the classes of 2019 to share online course opportunities for the 2018-19 chool year.  Parents and students should be on the lookout for the BRVGS Program of Studies and registration info for courses soon.

• Congratulations to the Goochland and Fluvanna South America “Virtual Museum” website team - they won the BRVGS “Museum Madness” website contest than ran over the holidays.  The team will treat their classes to pizza or doughnut parties (their choice!) in the next couple of weeks.  You can see the winning site at: https://sites.google.com/brvgs.k12.va.us/wh-sem-1-south-america-fg/home

• BRVGS/Madison County High School senior Claudia Gohn was featured as the CBS 19 Newsplex “Student Athlete of  the Week” in the last week of December.  Like many BRVGS students, Claudia is as accomplished outside of the classroom as she is in school!  You can see an article and news video on Claudia’s accomplishments at: http://www.newsplex.com/content/sports/Student-Athlete-of-the-Week-Claudia-Gohn-467229673.html

• BRVGS/William Monroe junior Tim Chochran is one of 3 state finalists for the Virginia Voice of Democracy audio essay contest.  As a finalist, Tim is guaranteed a scholarship award of at least $500.  The winner will be announced at a banquet later in January.

• BRVGS member districts received over 300 applications for entry into the BRVGS class of 2022.  The prior record number of applicants was 288.  Big thanks go out to all of the counselors and administrators who have managed the application process in their local school districts!

In addition to the news above, BRVGS will be kicking off spring projects at field trips in most classes over the next several weeks.  We are looking forward to a great start to 2018, and to working with parents, students and staff in the new year!