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Youth and school honors
Top parent: Donna Torraca, president of the Smart's Mill Middle School PTA, is the Hunt District PTA volunteer of the year. She is the Hunt District – Clarke, Fauquier, Loudoun and Prince William counties and the cities of Manassas, Manassas Park and Winchester -- candidate for the Virginia PTA Volunteer of the Year.
Teaching talent: Laura Marie Dean, of Sterling, received the Award for Teacher of Promise at the 2008 Lynchburg College Academic Awards banquet. The Virginia Department of Education sponsors the award at 37 teacher education programs in the commonwealth. Awards are based on academic achievement and talent for teaching.
Earlier this year, Dean was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, a national honor society for academic excellence in all disciplines. Dean is a senior majoring in human development and learning.
Michelle Lynn Houde, of Purcellville, was also inducted into Phi Kappa Phi. Houde is senior majoring in sociology.
On stage: Sommer Long, of Ashburn, was stage manager for the University of Mary Washington's spring production of "She Stoops To Conquer." Long is a senior majoring in theater.
Academic honors: Victoria Maureen Stevens, of Leesburg, is on the honor roll at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, with a grade point average of 3.75 or better.
Science stars: Loudoun County students fared well at the April 12 Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair at George Mason University.
Briar Woods High School senior Michael Fowler, whose "The correlation of carbon dioxide and hurricanes" was named alternate best of fair at the March 13 regional fair at Dominion High School, took first place in "Earth and Planetary Science" at the state fair. Fowler also won the American Meteorological Society and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awards.
Stone Bridge High School freshman Jun Hong Kim, co-best in fair at the regional competition with "The effect of Alliaria peliolata on the abundance of arubuscular mycorrhizal fungi and its effect on the growth of native plants," was third in Environmental Management at the state fair.
Kim and Erica Gouse, co-best in fair in Loudoun with "The effect of diacetyl (popcorn lung chemical) on intestinal flora: A medical study," are in Atlanta the week of May 11-17 for the International Science and Engineering Fair.
Other state awards went to Lauren Withers, Loudoun County High School, honorable mention in Behavioral and Social Sciences and the American Psychological Association award; Adam Murray, Loudoun County High School, third place in Biochemistry and the Virginia Dental Association Biochemistry Award; Jacklyn Daly, Freedom High School, second in Microbiology and the Society for Industrial Microbiology second place award; and Niloofar Latifi, Dominion High School, ASM Materials education Foundation, Virginia Dental Association Material and Bioengineering and the Virginia Dental Association Bennett Malbon awards.
Watch out: Blue Ridge Middle School has joined Farmwell Station and Eagle Ridge middle schools as a National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform "School to Watch."
Criteria for the Award include academic excellence, the provision of high quality teachers, resources and learning opportunities to every student and a response to the "unique challenges" of early adolescence.
Sandy Du Temple, Virginia director of Schools to Watch, pointed in particular to the Loudoun system's retention of art and music in "tough times budget-wise."Across the country, 135 schools have earned the designation, and only 11 in Virginia.
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