Overview of Governor Youngkin’s Executive Orders

By Thad Worth

On January 15th, Glenn Allen Youngkin became Virginia’s 74th governor. In his inaugural speech, Governor Youngkin promised to “renew the promise of Virginia, so it will be the best place to live, work and raise a family.” He also said that he would reduce the cost of living and make it “crystal clear – Virginia is Open for Business.” Immediately after he was inaugurated, Governor Youngkin quickly signed 9 executive orders: According to the official Governor of Virginia website, the first order ends the use of divisive concepts such as Critical Race Theory in public education. The second-order empowers parents to decide whether or not their child wheres a mask at school. The third order terminates and replaces the five members of the Virginia Parole Board and orders a programmatic review. The fourth-order calls for the Attorney General to investigate Loudoun County Public Schools over their mishandling of the sexual assault of two students. The fifth order establishes the Commonwealth Chief Transformation Officer who will provide more transparency and increase the standards for the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC). The sixth order declares Virginia open for business. The seventh order creates the Human Trafficking Prevention and Survivor Support Commission which will be composed of trafficking victims, law enforcement, prosecutors, experts, and scholars. The eighth order establishes the Commission to Combat Antisemitism to help better understand antisemitism and ensure that Virginia is free of antisemitism, and antisemitic violence. In the ninth order Governor Youngkin pulls Virginia out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and tasks the Director of Environmental Quality and the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources to create a full report of the costs and benefits of the RGGI. These orders have caused significant controversy as many would like schools to keep mask mandates, and do not believe that schools should change their curriculum. While the full effect of these changes remains to be seen; they will be celebrated by some, and disliked by others.

Photo Credit: Bob Brown from the Richmond Times Dispatch

Field Trips are Back!

By Thad Worth

AP Biology studenst took a field trip to the Science Museum of Virginia. “It was a very interesting and fun experience.” junior Lana Biedas Says.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions, Bishop Ireton students were unable to go on field trips to learn about art, science, and history. This has now changed. During February the AP Biology students were able to go to Richmond on a field trip with Mr. Jarboe and students from the Bishop Ireton National Computer Science Honor Society spent a day at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Mr. Jarboe, the AP Biology teacher, took 27 of his students to the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond on February 22nd. At the museum, students watched a live dissection of a sheep’s heart, saw rats playing basketball, and built their catapults. On February 10th, the B.I. Computer Science Honor Society (CSHS) along with the three computer teachers from B.I. (Mr. Dawson, Mr. Naduvilekunnel, and Mrs. Briody) visited the University of Virginia’s Rice Hall and toured some of its laboratories. They also met some B.I. alumni such as Critter Johnson (‘21) and Laura Segura (‘21). Highlights included the Rolls Royce lab, with giant 3-D printers able to create life-size objects. Now that B.I. students can go on field trips, students should be looking forward to exciting field trips and many of the hands-on experiences they provide. If you have a field trip idea or suggestion, talk to your teacher and maybe you’ll be able to spend a day at your favorite museum or visit an aquarium or zoo.

Pho Viet Flare: A Hidden Gem for Vietnamese Cuisine

By Chris Stone

Photo Credit: restaurantguru.com/ Pho-Viet-Flare-Alexandria-Virginia Though it is no secret that Alexandria, Virginia is home to a variety of great restaurants, some of which are famous, it also holds many hidden gems. One of these gems is Pho Viet Flare, a small Vietnamese pho noodle soup restaurant located less than a mile from Alexandria’s western limit.

The menu includes appetizers of spring and egg rolls, shrimp, and calamari. Though the entree options include a beef stew, shrimp and pork noodle soup, and many other items, the most popular menu item, and the restaurant’s specialty, is the noodle soup, or Pho. It has a delicious base of broth and rice noodles, which are topped with chicken, beef, cilantro, onions and scallions. Pho comes in two sizes: Small (24oz), and large (32oz), showing that Pho Viet Flare values both quality, and quantity. I first discovered the restaurant in 2009 with my mother on our way to drop my brother off on a middle school field trip. Thirteen years later, my brother is in the Army, and the place still stands unchanged, with the exception of a new coat of paint, and a wooden divider between a constantly noisy kitchen and the main dining area. The same family works the kitchen, with a brother and sister working the cash register, orders, delivering food to tables, and cleaning. My family and I always order large Pho noodle soups and drink Sprite. As I walked through the two front doors for the first time years ago, I must admit that my first thought was “What a dump.” My opinion quickly changed however, upon receiving my first ever bowl of Pho. Ever since then, Pho Viet Flare has been to me one of those places which yo ugrow homesick for when you go to college and you show to your kids when you drive through your hometown when your childhood is a distant memory. When I think about the somewhat rundown atmosphere, I see not a dump, but rather a hidden gem, a diamond, among the potholed streets and gas stations which embody the west end of Alexandria.