Top students: The 2011 Excellence in Education Banquet held last month at the National Conference Center honored 52 students from eastern Loudoun. All are seniors who ranked in the top five percent of their class academically for the first three years of high school or are National Merit Scholarship, National Achievement Scholarship or National Hispanic Scholarship semifinalists.

The honorees from Dominion High School are Jennifer Cahill, Alexander Chou, Samuel Coffman, Jason Eller, Stephen Gricoski, Marwa Hamidi, Katie Howell, Katherine Kamis, Camille Kidwell, Leslie Mark, Kevin Mathews, Rachel Meulman, Caitlin Morris, Jacob Savos, Taylor Turchan, Alexander Varzari and Amanda Wong.

The Park View High School honorees are Jenifer Carter, Stephanie Cox, Kylie Himmelberger, Natalie Jefferson, Matthew King, Quyen Mac, Jasmeen Pantleay, Rosalva Perdomo, Erik Portillo, Thomas Royer, Amin Syed, Jonathan Thurston, Cameron Turner, Tamara Voellinger, Kristin Ward and Cheyenne Williams.

The students recognized from Potomac Falls High School are Helen Ardila, Ayon Basu, Devan Baxley, Zawad Chowdhury, Berk Ekmekci, Jonah Fishel, Lauren Gallisa, Katherine Guillen, Juliet Hammer, Ryan Jones, Mardeen Karim, Kevin Lin, Syeda Narmeen, Caitlyn Parry, Payam Pourtaheri, Kristin Ritchey, Vishal Sangam, Alicia Saunders and Diana Woodrum.

Art award: LeAnne Poindexter, art teacher at Lowes Island Elementary School, received the 2011 Elementary Division Art Educator Award for the Northern Virginia region from the Virginia Art Education Association. Before coming to Lowes Island, Poindexter taught high school photography, computer graphics and middle school art and worked as a graphic designer and website developer.

Party with a purpose: If the current state of the economy is keeping you from heading someplace warm this month, the Loudoun-based ParrotHeads of the Old Dominion, a service organization made up of Jimmy Buffett fans, offers a less pricey tropical alternative close to home. The club is taking reservations for its 10th annual Midwinter Meltdown, a three-day music festival and tropical-themed party, to be held Jan. 27-29 at the Best Western/Battlefield in Manassas. The proceeds from the event will benefit SERVE (Securing Emergency Resources through Volunteer Efforts), a program of Northern Virginia Family Services. Three-day tickets are $150 per person; two-day tickets (for Saturday and Sunday only) are $115 per person. The ticket prices include food. For details, go to midwintermeltdown.com.