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Education leesburgtoday.com/education
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Danielle Nadler
Briar Woods’ marching band is headed to Orlando to perform at the Russell Athletic Bowl on Monday. Watch live at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN.
Leesburg Students Extend A Hand To Ugandan Orphanage Maura Mazurowski
For Leesburg Today
A
s Providence Academy’s outreach coordinator Amy Miller worked to come up with the school’s annual service project, she looked for an opportunity for students to do more than help others. She wanted a project that was also a learning opportunity for the school’s 185 kindergarten through eighth grade students. “A lot of our kids don’t know what it’s like to be in need,” she said. “We realized that we needed to teach them how to serve others.” Starting in September, the school adopted an orphanage and school in Jinja, Uganda, called Good Shepherd’s Fold. It serves 400 students, both orphans and children from surrounding villages. Providence Academy, an independent Christian school in Leesburg in its second year, has taken on local service
projects in the past, but its new relationship with the orphanage and school is intended to have an international impact. For the past few months, students in every grade level have done their part to serve and connect with their new Ugandan “brothers and sisters,” Miller said. They’ve written letters, made bookmarks and other crafts and sent Christmas gifts. In Krista Brancaleone’s second grade class a few weeks ago, students painted chalkboards for the Ugandan children to use during school lessons. “It would’ve been easier to just buy chalkboards, but it really is so good for the kids to make something for GSF and make them feel like they’re a real part of it, which is what part of this project is for,” Brancaleone said. “In Loudoun County, kids have so much, so just to realize that the rest of the world doesn’t live like that is important.” Now the Loudoun students are working to raise $4,000 to help cover tuition at
the orphanage and school. To help meet its goal, Providence Academy has established a monthly “dress down day” that invites students to wear school spirit wear T-shirts with a donation of at least $1. The school also purchased and sold jewelry, blankets and other items handcrafted by women in poverty-stricken countries, and directed all proceeds to the Good Shepherd’s Fold fund. Two third-grade students raised $400 when they asked friends and family to donate money to the orphanage and school in lieu of birthday gifts. “There’s so many creative ways students are participating and raising funds for this,” Miller said. Providence Academy’s teachers, parents and students are continuing to explore ways to help and stay in touch with those at their new sister school, with the hope that the partnership continues well after the current students graduate. Fourth grade teacher
Leesburg Today/Maura Mazurowski
At right, Providence Academy fourth-graders make bookmarks for students at their sister school in Uganda, Good Shepherd’s Fold. Above, Providence Academy second-graders paint chalkboards for students at their sister school in Uganda, Good Shepherd’s Fold.
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School Notebook
and letter of recommendation. The program is an interactive online science, technology, engineering and mathematics learning experience that could earn Patia several college credits and a trip to attend a summer academy at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton. Starting this month, Patia and her fellow VASTS scholars must complete eight online modules in NASA-related research. They are tasked with developing solutions to real-world problems, as well as participating in discussions on current space-related topics with other scholars and NASA scientists and engineers, and hone their technical writing skills. Patia is a straight-A student, co-captain of the Foxcroft cross-country team, co-head of the Math Club and member of the school choir.
ASHBURN STUDENT GIVES BACK
Foxcroft School
Patia Fann, center, explains a science project to Foxcroft School faculty and Head of School Cathy McGehee.
FOXCROFT STUDENT TAPPED FOR NASA PROGRAM
Foxcroft School junior Patia Fann has been selected to participate in the Virginia
Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars program. Patia, of Purcellville, was selected based on her academic record, essay composition
Stone Hill Middle School sixth-grade student Zoe Mutreja helped bring in $9,942 for the Children’s Hospital Foundation last month. She organized an event held at The Auld Shebeen Irish Pub in Fairfax that invited the best musicians among Microsoft employees to perform. Zoe, who plays guitar, also took to the stage during the event to perform “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons. “Zoe was very passionate in advocating for the Children’s Hospital and wanted to play
a pivotal role in both the organization as well as participating in the event,” her father Sam Mutreja said. She worked with her mother and her music school, Bach To Rock, to advertise the event and help raise donations.
FOUR STUDENTS MAKE ALL-STATE ENSEMBLE
Four Loudoun County public school band students performed in the 2014 All-Virginia Jazz Ensemble at the recent 2014 Virginia Music Educators Association conference. The 24 students who make up the jazz ensemble are selected through statewide auditions. The four Loudoun students who were part of the group were Briar Woods High School student Robert Barron and Stone Bridge High School students Andrew Diehr, Sam Dugo and Sam Ting.
MIDDLEBURG ACADEMY OPEN HOUSE JAN. 31
Private co-ed high school Middleburg Academy invites prospective students and their families to an admissions open house Jan. 31 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Students and their families will have a Continued on Next Page