Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 26, 1994 TAG: 9404260116
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Melissa DeVaughn
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Stalnecker, whose "Yes to Life" tour started in February, will be at Auburn High and Middle School on Friday to talk to more than 2,500 fifth- and seventh-graders from Montgomery and Floyd counties on the dangers of using drugs. He combines high-energy pop music, videos, dance and straight talk to get his message across.
"When I ask kids whether they know they're valuable, half of them raise their hands and half of them do not," Stalnecker said in a press release. "When kids know their personal value, they can make decisions of excellence."
Stalnecker's career began in 1988 when he wrote a theme song for a Jacksonville, Fla., rally against drugs. He was later asked to become the national spokesperson for the Fraternal Order of Police Associates "Just Say No to Drugs" campaign. Stalnecker's appearance in Riner is part of the national Drug Abuse Resistance Education - known as DARE - program.
"We've been trying to get him for over a year," said Deputy Sheriff Martha Spencer of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, who is one of the DARE team officers. "If kids can just see this is a national figure who is very well-known, maybe they'll learn the importance of staying away from drugs and drug abuse."
Stalnecker is featured as a singer in Food Lion commercials, has appeared on CBS, FOX, ABC and NBC, and recently helped raise more than $500,000 to fight drug abuse. He will be at the high school at 9:30 a.m. and again at 12:30 p.m. For further information, call the school at 382-5160.
The Christiansburg Middle School PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATION will meet tonight at 7 in the cafeteria. Current and former art students will be honored, a computer networking system will be on display and elections for the 1994-1995 year will take place.
For further information, call the school at 382-5168.
The ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVE DISORDER support group for parents and teachers who deal with children with the disorder, will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. at Gilbert Linkous Elementary School. Lois Kugler of the psychology department at Radford University, will speak on a study she is doing on ADHD.
For further information, call Brenda Smith at 951-5726.
Floyd County High School and the Floyd Recreation Department will sponsor a "CELEBRITY DONKEY BASKETBALL GAME" Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Watch your favorite local celebrities play basketball while riding on the backs of "Rigor Mortis" and "Snuffy" the mules.
High School principal Norman Blanchard, Commonwealth Attorney Gino Williams, county Administrator Randy Arno and School Superintendent Terry Arbogast will be part of the fun. For further information, call 745-9363.
|n n| A seminar on FUNDING YOUR CHILD'S COLLEGE EDUCATION, sponsored by the Gilbert Linkous Elementary Parent-Teacher Association will be held May 3 at 7 p.m. Financial adviser Brian Smith of Edwards D. Jones and Company will discuss the cost of a college education in the future, using various college and university models. He also will give an overview of the kinds of financial aid and student loans available. Admission to the seminar is free. For further information, call 951-8168.
Montgomery County Public Schools is sponsoring a community event on "THE IMPORTANCE OF BELONGING" Monday at 7 p.m. at Christiansburg High School. The speaker will be Norman Klunc, a renown family therapist who works with schools and communities to improve life for pupils, parents and teachers.
The program is free. For further information, call the Parent Resource Center at 382-5194.
KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION for Pulaski County pupils will be held Monday through May 12 at all county elementary schools. Registration should be done at the school where your child will attend. The dates and times for registration are:
Monday: 4-7 p.m. at Northwood, Newbern and Snowville Elementary Schools.
May 3: 4-7 p.m. at Claremont Elementary School.
May 5: 4-7 p.m. at Critzer Elementary School.
May 10: 4-7 p.m. at Dublin Elementary School.
May 12: 4-7 p.m. at Riverlawn and Draper Elementary schools.
Call the principal at the school where your child will attend for further information.
The RADFORD HIGH SCHOOL CONCERT CHOIR will present selections from the famous broadway musicals "Oklahoma," "West Side Story," "South Pacific" and "Sweeny Todd" May 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. Admission is $3 for adults and students, $2 for children under 12. For further information, call 639-0430.
The Burger King in Fairlawn is sponsoring a "Cashola Night" Thursday from 5-8 p.m. to raise money for RADFORD HIGH SCHOOL'S AFTER PROM PARTY. Burger King will donate 20 percent of its sales during those hours to the After Prom Party fund.
For further information or to make a donation to the fund, call Susan Murphy at 639-1765 or 231-8345.
Need to RAISE MONEY FOR YOUR SCHOOL? The "Tour de Tech," a science and technology exposition, will be held May 8-10 at Squires Commonwealth Ballroom on the Virginia Tech campus and Craig Rogers, "Tour de Tech" organizer, is inviting any civic groups, schools or otherwise to set up fund-raising dinners on the campus lawn the evening of May 9.
This will give exposition participants a chance to eat nearby and meet community members at the same time. If interested, call Rogers at 231-2900. Also, the event will be open to all Montgomery County school students and their teachers, and would make a good science field trip. Rogers can give further information on that, too.
The Pulaski County Resource Center will present a workshop on "TRANSITION: THE PARENT'S ROLE," May 3 at 7 p.m. at the Free Memorial Library in Dublin. The speaker will be Mary Todd, transition specialist from the Southwest Virginia Transition Center.
For further information, call 674-2534.
Congratulations to DANA OWENS, an eighth-grader at at Community Christian Academy, who placed third in a recent Spelling Bee in Hurt, . She then competed in the regional spelling bee in Atlanta and placed fourth, which qualifies her for the national spelling bee to be held in Washington, D.C. on May 21. There will be 36 spellers from across the country for that competition.
Dana is the daughter of Ken and Gail Owns of Christiansburg.
Three seventh-graders at DUBLIN MIDDLE SCHOOL, along with several of their classmates, have been learning all about telecommunications this school year. Laura Boyd, Allison Cruise and Kellie Wheeling recently sent a letter about what's been going on in their classroom via telecommunication - the process of communicating with people all over the world using a computer and a modem.
"We worked on a water mapping telecommunications project," they wrote. "[W]e communicated with schools in [19] states, Canada and even Denmark" and "exchanged introductions and our area's most important water concern."
Through this telecommunications project, the students in Bert Milburn's class have learned through talking with other students what the problems are: rats in the water in Odense, Denmark; nonpoint pollution in Ottawa, Canada; dying marine life in Lynnwood, Wash.; and chemicals, trash, polluted lakes, diseased fish and contaminated ground water in other areas.
"Water is an important part of the world and is used by everyone who lives in it," the students wrote. "We can solve these water problems no matter how big they seem; it will just take time."
XIAO-WEI WANG, daughter of Joseph and June Wang recently placed first in the instrumental division of the District Bland Music Contest held at Hollins College. She will now compete in the state contest which will be held in Richmond. Xiao-Wei, a senior at Blacksburg High School, plays the oboe She was accompanied by Phyllis Chen, also a student at Blacksburg.
Senior ALLISON MEINCKE placed second in the vocalist division, after singing "Adele's Laughing Song" by J. Strauss, accompanied by David Jones. Allison is the daughter of Dr. David and Elizabeth Meincke. She will attend Elon College in the fall.
If you have an interesting school-related item for the paper, send it to Melissa DeVaughn at the Roanoke Times & World News, P.O. Box 540, Christiansburg, Va., 24073.
by CNB