
Burke, Fairfax Station: ‘Carousel’ Coming to Lake Braddock
Musical Theatre department revives a Rodgers & Hammerstein classic.
After having done family-friendly and modern shows in recent years, Lake Braddock Secondary School musical theatre director Mary DeMarco of Clifton decided “it was time to do a classic.”

Lorton Station Team Wins FIRST Lego League Robotics State Tournament
Awards
A team of current and former Lorton Station Elementary students won top honors in the FIRST Lego League Robotics state tournament.

Fairfax County: New Year, New Superintendent for County Schools
Budget shortfall, equity and nondiscrimination storylines for 2017
“What does equity really mean,” Corbett Sanders continued. “We’re going to have some healthful discussions about it. Everything from early education on.” The budget will once again be a major storyline for the school system, as Hynes said the board is currently looking at about a $90 million shortfall for FY 2018.

Fairfax: A Program That Changed My Life
My experience with High School Diplomats at Princeton.
I participated in a program that changed my life. This program is called High School Diplomats. It is a ten-day cross-cultural exchange between 40 American and 40 Japanese students at Princeton. It is completely financed by the Japanese insurance company AIU and the Freeman Foundation. The program gives these students the opportunity to immerse into another culture and establish long-lasting relationships with other students from another country.

Burke: Surviving Brain Injury
New book shares stories of strength and inspiration.
A new resource is available to those who’ve been touched by traumatic brain injury (TBI) called “Surviving Brain Injury: Stories of Strength and Inspiration.” A collection of 90 stories, mostly by TBI survivors, “Surviving Brain Injury” personalizes life’s trajectory after a blast to the head, a fall or stroke.

Quarterback Promotes ‘Phones Down. Touchdown.’ Initiative
Redskins’ quarterback urges region to put phones down while behind the wheel.
“If I get sacked in a game, I can get back up and move onto the next play — for the most part,” he said. “But when you text and drive, you might not get back up.”

Burke, Fairfax Station, Springfield: Great Dads Turns 20
Nonprofit celebrates two decades training fathers to be better parents.
“I remember leaving the conference and driving past the exit for my office,” Stafford said, “looking back and seeing my briefcase, thinking about all the things I needed to get done, or thought I did.” But Stafford passed the exit, drove home and surprised his wife. He announced the family would be going to the zoo, “a nice little daycation.”

Fairfax: Robinson Square Root
Educational program part of FACETS plan to prevent homelessness.
“If you don’t do homework, you get bad grades,” Dowling asserted. The boys are receiving after school homework assistance at the Robinson Square community center, owned by Fairfax County and operated by Fairfax-based non-profit FACETS.

Springfield: Key Center Teacher Publishes Counting Book
If Barney, the big purple dinosaur, motivates one of his students to learn to count, Ka’ala Rapoza won’t stand in the way. But Rapoza, 37, also recognizes the need to balance age-appropriate teaching tools with the skill being learned.

Fairfax: Educational program part of FACETS plan to prevent homelessness
On a weekday afternoon, young Fairfax resident Demetrius Dowling works independently on an extra math word problem. A few rows behind him, George Mason University senior and volunteer Rebecca Curtis spends time on a division problem with Yasir Abuelhassan, also from Dowling’s neighborhood.
Fairfax County: FCPS Testing Water Quality in Schools
Drinking water at 40 public schools in Fairfax County has been tested for safety, a release from FCPS said.

Fairfax County: School Board Formalizes Search for New Superintendent
Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA) has been contracted by Fairfax County Public Schools to search for a new school system superintendent. Dr. Karen Garza announced on Sept. 19 she would be leaving that role to become president and CEO of the Columbus-based education organization Battelle for Kids.

Sangster Hosts Veterans Day Assembly
Viewpoints: Burke Students on Meaning of Veterans Day
Of the 970 students and 665 families at Sangster, which serves parts of Burke, Fairfax Station and Springfield, Principal Lisa Reddel said 175 families are associated with the school’s Military Spouses Group that welcomes newcomers and supports new to the area military families getting settled.

Burke, Fairfax Station and Lorton: Sangster Elementary hosts annual Veterans Day assembly
For about a third of the families at Sangster Elementary School in Burke, military and mobility is a way of life.

Burke: Making History Personal at Burke History Day 2016
The next meeting of the Burke Historical Society is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 20, in the fellowship hall at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church, 6304 Lee Chapel Road in Burke. Author Paul N. Herbert will discuss his latest book “Treason in the Rockies.”