ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 23, 1996 TAG: 9604230080
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
The Rotary Club of Montgomery County has recognized two high school juniors who were sponsored by the club as representatives to the Rotary Youth Leadership Seminar. Amber Tannenbaum of Auburn High and Jeremy Flight of Shawsville High, attended the seminar in December. Tannenbaum and Flight related their experience to Rotary members at a meeting in February. The students were selected based on their outstanding leadership activities and involvement in school.
A ninth-grader from Blacksburg High School recently won the Music Teachers National Association Junior High School Woodwind Competition. Abigail McKee, who plays the flute, received a $500 award for first place at the national convention in Kansas City, Mo., last month.
McKee also performed in front of more than 500 music teachers during the national winners concert. McKee reached the national finals by first winning the Virginia Music Teachers Association state competition and then the southern Division competition.
McKee has studied the flute for three years and currently is studying with Elizabeth L. Crone, a MTNA member from Christiansburg. She has been a member of the junior high all-district band for two years and was selected second chair during her second year with the ensemble.
Christiansburg High senior Brent Cunningham has been selected from the top 1 percent of students in the country as a U.S. Student Ambassador by the People to People Student Ambassador Program. Cunningham will join several other students from the Roanoke area in July to begin a 21-day trip to England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
The program offers students the opportunity to understand the world's society and America's role in that society. The program is a comprehensive overview of governments, economies, cultures and way of life abroad.
Cunningham is the son of Dave and Tina Cunningham of Christiansburg. In the fall, he will attend Purdue University, where he will major in chemical engineering.
A Christiansburg High School student will attend the monthlong vocal music Governor's School Program at the University of Richmond in the summer. Monica Shelor is a junior and has been enrolled in the school's music program for three years. She is a member of the Swing Choir and the Chamber Ensemble. She is the daughter of Larry and Karen Shelor.
Two other Christiansburg High students have been selected as alternatives for academic programs: Caleb Kroll and Laurie Cozzolino. Carrie Gwinn is an alternate for the visual arts program.
RECOGNITION
A Shawsville High School teacher recently received an Award for Excellence from the Greater Blacksburg Chamber of Commerce and the Christiansburg/Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Joint Education Committee.
Denise "Dee" Davidson teaches math, including advanced placement calculus and advanced algebra/trigonometry. She is the faculty sponsor for several clubs and organizations, including the Beta Club, Mathematics Academic Team, Math Rally Team, College Club and Science Olympics Team.
Davidson also served on several countywide and schoolwide committees. In 1993, she received the Sigma Xi award given to an outstanding math teacher in the New River Valley.
Radford High School teacher Frank Taylor is one of 40 teachers across the country to receive a 1996 grant for an outdoor-indoor stream laboratory. The $10,000 grant is funded by Toyota and administered by the National Science Teachers Association.
Taylor's project involves 11th- and 12th-graders to construct a 40-foot-long indoor living stream to simulate a local outdoor stream that they will monitor. The students, who are in Taylor's biology class, also will design and build an algae scrubber to remove phosphate and nitrate buildup. Students also will lead small groups of elementary school children in ecology field studies.
Taylor has been at Radford High for 10 years. Mary Norris, also a Radford High teacher, is assisting Taylor.
MEETINGS, EVENTS & HAPPENINGS
The Montgomery County Rotary Club and Lifeship Earth will begin its first of a series of forums that will focus on the improvement of quality in public schools on Thursday. The forum will be at 7:30 p.m. at the Best Western Red Lion Inn in Blacksburg.
Alton Crews, director of the Leadership Academy of the Southern Regional Education Board, Southern Governor's Association, will be at the meeting. The panel will include Al Payne, moderator; Jim Klagge, member, Montgomery County School Board; Jim Moore, member, Montgomery County Board of Supervisors; and Nancy Koebel, special education teacher, Blacksburg Middle School.
For more information, call John Cain at 552-5621 or Becky Etzler at 961-2653.
Margaret Beeks Elementary School PTA will have a spring fair Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the school. Activities include a silent auction, plant sale and a cake walk. Games will include two obstacle courses, basketball, the bionic bottle throw and dunking ducks. Games are suitable for preschool and elementary age children.
There will be a fine-arts festival at Blacksburg Middle School from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday. A pizza dinner can be purchased at the cafeteria from 6 to 7 p.m.
Students' artwork will be displayed throughout the building. The chorus also will sing a variety of Broadway hits and a band ensemble will perform.
Parents Advocating Gifted Education will have a meeting for Montgomery County parents from 7 to 8:30 p.m. April 30 at the Christiansburg library. The program's topic will be "Are our children achieving at levels consistent with their abilities?" Results from the Ability vs. Achievement survey in Montgomery County schools will be available. The survey is prepared by R.J. Harvey, who will be present to discuss the survey and answer questions.
For information, call 552-7226.
Earth Day notes:
People across the United States celebrated Earth Day on Monday. First-graders in Debbie Carlson's class at Bethel Elementary wrote letters expressing how they feel about Earth Day.
I want to help save the Earth. I will help pick up trash. I will turn off the lights to save electricity. - Randy Tabor
I want to help clean up the Earth. I am going to go to the park and pick up trash. - Jessica Harrison
I am recycling the trash. I am recycle boy. I take care of the Earth. I will turn off the lights when I am not using them so I don't waste electricity. - Kelly Sutphin
I will not litter. I will help the Earth stay clean by not littering. I will pick up litter. - Brittany Lynn Harmon
LENGTH: Long : 131 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Tannenbaum, Cunningham, Flight, McKee.by CNB