Miranda Adkins | So Salem

Brent Lawrence performing with the jazz band.

Salem Fine Arts Commission scholarships awarded

Three Salem High School students were awarded $1,000 scholarships to the college of their choice at school's annual "Dessert with the Arts" PTA meeting by the Salem Fine Arts Commission: Ashley Honan, Rose Hart and Brent Lawrence.

Honan's area of focus is art and design, Hart's is music and voice, and Lawrence, who plays guitar for the jazz band, plans on studying music education. They plan to continue studying their already well-developed talents in college.

-- Miranda Adkins

Anatomy classes at Salem High School paint eighth "Anatomy for Humanity" house

The anatomy classes at Salem High School painted the eighth "Anatomy for Humanity" House on Rob Knob Road for Cindy Baldwin. They cleaned her yard, painted her house, installed new gutters, built a new deck, installed a new toilet, installed two new porch lights and flowered and mulched her front of her house. Seventy students in all participated from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. that afternoon. She returned home from work to a new house.

The anatomy class wants to thank those who donated: Sherwin Williams, Mac & Bob's, Home Depot, Pine Ridge nursery, Reynolds Gutter & Roofing, Riverside Nursery and Northwest Hardware of Salem.

Submitted by Chris Tucker

Here are the Glenvar High School honor rolls for the third nine-week grading period:

A Honor Roll

9th Grade: Delali Agblevor, Brooke Bennett, Kenna Chapman, Katie Cundiff, Katherine Dillman, Kimberly Eaton, Kyle Jacobs, Zachary Parrish

10th Grade: Colin Bittner, Abby Caldwell, Alexandra Clark, Haley Goodes, Timothy Howard, Nicholas Kidd, Christian Martin, William Meredith, Melissa Rondeau, Matthew Rosendahl, Lindsay Schnur, Elizabeth Sherer, Nicholas Trinchere

11th Grade: Meredith Bean, Rachel Ely, Jennifer Feller, Patrick Ferguson, Jeremy Ferris, Kyle George, Dawn Harris, Katherine Holland, Lyndsey Hunter, Rose Kohinke, Sarah Perez, Anthony Ratliff, Caroline Thomsen, Joseph Walker, Brian Winslow

12th Grade: Tiffany Gibson, Jenneal Jones, Rebecca Lane, Emily Mann, Amanda Rhodes, Matthew Rickmon, Emily Skaar, Elizabeth Trinchere, Paul Walker

A-B Honor Roll

9th Grade: Derek Alba, Alexander Burke, Andrew Cheatwood, Brian Daugherty, Kayla Dehart, Jeremy Dolan, Felicia Duncan, Karlyn East, Hayley Field, Nicholas Foley, Liza George, Hunter Graham, Robert Grim, Rebecca Hartley, Kendall Jarvis, Allison Jones, Brittany Leftwich, Travis Leighton, Caryn Martin, Morgan McKee, Scott Nicewonder, Jacob Noble, Victoria Noel, Troy Philpott, Seth Ratliff, Nicholas Rickmon, Sarah Schobert, Kayla Short, Jessica Strom, Thomas Taylor, Bradley D. Thompson, Kayla Via, Brittany Warren, Corey Webb, Julia Wells, Cheyenne Worley, Camren Wynn

10th Grade: Carly Altice, Matthew Anderson, Luke Brookshier, Brandy Bryant, Christopher Creasman, William Dunkenberger, Kayla Ellis, Kelly Garman, Emily Herron, Kelly Hill, Preston Hill, Cameron Holshouser, Caitlin Hurt, Kristen Knighton, Kevin Lampert, Samuel Montgomery, Rachel Moore, Samantha Morgan, Caroline Mueller, Wesley Murphy, Anna Noble, Ann Noell, Ryan Page, Nathan Plymale, Chase Strickland, Phillip Tarpley, Jarrett Tyree, Michael Webb, Hannah Whitt, Shawnte' Wiley, Lauren Willis, Chelsea Witt

11th Grade: Cortland Biddle, Brandi Bryant, Richard Bryant, Trevor Campbell, Devin Carroll, Kathleen Chester, Lucas Clark, Kelsey Field, Morgan Gart, Richard Gleason, Julia Helton, Zackary Herington, Holly Hicks, Zachary Hill, Jayce Layman, Abigale Lockard, Jonathan Marino, Megan McConnell, Bryce McCraw, Kasie Mills, Brittany Newman, Jessica Owen, Sandi Ponjavic, Neelesh Shah, Clayton Stuckwisch, Kalley Thompson, Jacob Turner, Hillary Turpin, Wilma Vanco, Amy Vincel, Ruthanna Walker, Shelby Wynn

12th Grade: Derek Abdelnour, Andrew Baum, Julianna Caldwell, Mary Collins, Shannon Doss, Amber 'Leigh Garland, Timothy Horne, Samantha Howell, Amanda Lazenby, Brittni Love, Casey Martin, Kimberly Martin, Braxton McCraw, Jacob Meredith, Abigail Noble, Adam Nunnally, Anne Parrish, Judson Peverall, Rachel Pinard, Brandon Radford, Arielle Rosmarino, Brandon Shelton, Melissa Short, Morgan Sizemore, Billie Stultz, Christian Taylor, Kelci Thompson, Tyler Trevillian, Christopher Warren.

South Salem student honored  by Johns Hopkins program

Cory Akers, a student from Salem, was recently honored at a statewide awards ceremony for gifted children held by The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY).

Cory Akers was invited to this awards ceremony sponsored by CTY (www.cty.jhu.edu) based on an exceptional performance on a rigorous, above-grade-level test given to second- through eighth-grade Talent Search participants. Seventh- and eighth-graders took the SAT or ACT. Second- through sixth- graders took the SCAT, scaled for younger students.

Since 1979, CTY has sought the most academically able elementary- and middle school students each year and encouraged their enrollment in CTY's annual Talent Search. Students enrolled in the Talent Search go on to test through the fall and spring.

The results of these tests give families a better idea of a child's academic talents, particularly in comparison to the thousands of other academically talented students in the Talent Search. Students can also earn recognition at CTY's awards ceremonies, and their test scores may qualify them for CTY's programs.

In 2007-08, more than 63,000 students from 19 states and the District of Columbia participated in the Talent Searches. About 30 percent of the second- and sixth-graders who tested this winter earned an invitation to CTY's Awards Ceremony, and about 25 perent of the seventh- and eighth-grade testers earned invitations to an awards ceremony.

Akers, who attends South Salem Elementary School, joined other award recipients at the recent state ceremony, and was individually honored by Johns Hopkins for his academic performance and promise.

Virginia's 2009 Awards Ceremonies are at the University of Richmond on Saturday, May 23; and George Mason University on Saturday, June 6.

Fort Lewis' picnic shelter built from a homework assignment and true teamwork

For the last four months, Glenvar resident Jeff Jones and seven of his third-shift coworkers from Norfolk Southern have been hard at work building a picnic shelter behind Fort Lewis Elementary. These gentlemen got off work around daybreak and then spent time volunteering at the school during the mornings. The most intriguing part of all: other than Clint Summers, none of them has a child at the school. Jones does have two children -- one at Bonsack Elementary and one at William Byrd Middle.

Norfolk Southern transportation department employees Ronnie Doss, Rodger Linkenhoker, Joel Honts, Bobby Setser, Mike Jennings, Clint Summers, and Russell Dickerson came to the aid of their co-worker.

The school ended up receiving a picnic shelter that would've been $20,000 if a business had been contracted to build. The school's (and the school system's) only monetary contribution: a $4,000 investment from the PTA, according to Jones. So how does something like this come to fruition?

Jones was in the process of finishing the MBA program at Averett University when his study group received an assignment. They had to choose or create a community service project. His team members included Roanoke residents Greg Johnson, Tammy Knick, Ryan Michalski, and Derreyl Brown.

One of the other groups did some consulting work for a nonprofit organization. Another had a fundraiser to begin a scholarship for a local family that lost a child.

"I think we chose one that was pretty big," Jones said. He asked his wife, principal Melissa Jones at Fort Lewis Elementary, what the school needed. She said that the teachers wanted a picnic shelter with tables.

"The professors said 'you know what you're doing is very large, a cumbersome project,'" Jones said.

Besides the money that the PTA generously donated towards the cost, local businesses donated labor -- putting the siding and the roofing on, the concrete, and contributing much more: Doss Home Designs, Cook Window and Siding, Boxley Concrete, Cook Window and Siding, Construction Materials Group, Bradco Supply, Miller Roofing, Wheat Construction & Concrete, design plans from LMW P.C.

Monetary donations included those from the Orvis Company, Delegate Morgan Griffith, Miller Roofing, Sawyer Paving, Business Solutions, Koppers Industry, and the five MBA team members.

Seven local restaurants, Firehouse Subs, Awful Arthur's, Mama Maria's, Food Lion (Wildwood), Mac and Bob's, Applebee's, and the Wildwood El Rodeo, each donated a gift card towards a raffle entitled "Dinner for a week." The team was able to raise more than $1,100 with the raffle.

While the study group helped to plan the project, Jones's co-workers took on the task of volunteering almost daily from January through April after their 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. work shift ended. Lewis Long, a Fort Lewis parent, and Roanoke County school board member David Wymer also volunteered some of their time.

Now when the weather is nice, teachers have a productive place they can take their students outside for class. Kids who've been especially good will probably be treated to eating lunch out there sometimes, and it will serve as a nice meeting place for teachers and parents for years to come.