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Jodi Henrickson shares these photos of the Salem Choral Society's concert. Thanks, Jodi!

The Salem Choral Society welcomed its second crop of Andrew Lewis Middle schoolers in the "I can create music" program to perform at their annual fall concert on Sunday afternoon, November 15. In the school's auditorium, the students performed a tune they composed with the help of the choral society's director, Aaron Garber, "Before the Dawn." They also played their very own homemade instruments for a tune.

Roanoke College's Margaret Sue Copenhaver Institute for Teaching and Learning will begin accepting applications on December 1 for its tenth annual three-day residential institute for teachers, to be held on June 21-23, 2010. The institute's theme is "Arts and Standards: Raising Student Achievement."

Participating educators will attend a three-day summer professional development program with keynote presentations, practice-based workshops, technology sessions and round-table discussions. Attendees will develop curriculum and instructional plans for implementation in their respective schools. They will be invited to present their implemented projects and/or publish their results.

The fee to participate in the institute is $100 to be paid upon acceptance and includes all sessions, breakfasts, lunches, receptions and two nights lodging at Roanoke College.

There are four keynote speakers at this year's conference. Phillip Yenawine and Tom Crockett are artists and teachers, skilled in using the arts to enhance student literacy, creativity and thinking and communications skills. Cindy Petersen and Katherine Devine are both involved with Young Audiences of Virginia. Petersen's focus is educational outreach and Devine's is teaching the arts. All are passionate about using the arts to build high-achieving schools dedicated to teacher and student success.

Admission to the institute is competitive. The number of participants is kept low to encourage individuals to develop learning communities among their peers and to provide opportunities to engage guest speakers in meaningful conversations. Admission decisions are made to ensure a varied representation across schools, grade levels and subject areas. Applicants will be notified of acceptance status in March.

The Margaret Sue Copenhaver Institute for Teaching and Learning was established through an endowed gift from Helen C. Hanes of Winston-Salem, N.C. in honor of her sister, Margaret Sue Copenhaver, a retired public school educator from Richmond.

The Salem School Board meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. Here's the agenda.

Salem Spartans, Don't forget:

THIS FRIDAY AT 7:30PM AT SALEM STADIUM

MAGNA VISTA WARRIORS VS. THE SALEM SPARTANS

REGIONAL PLAYOFF FOOTBALL TICKETS $7 - ON SALE AT THE STADIUM

Submitted by City of Salem

Nicholas Galloway

Kenneth Tisch

Salem police have issued the following release:

On November 13, 2009, an 18-year-old female Roanoke College student reported that she had been the victim of an assault that occurred at approximately 4:30pm on that same day inside Crawford Hall, which is located in the 200 block of College Lane in Salem.
The victim advised that she was with two (2) male students in a dorm room at that location when she was held against her will and assaulted. The victim advised that the suspects restrained her to a bed, first by holding her down, then by utilizing a pair of handcuffs. The suspects then removed some of her clothing and fondled her.
Subsequent investigation by the Salem Police Department has resulted in the following charges:
Nicholas Alexander Galloway, age 19, of Wilmington, Delaware. Galloway is a freshman at Roanoke College.
He is charged with:
- Abduction (a felony)
- Sexual Battery (a misdemeanor)
Kenneth Eugene Tisch, age 21, of Haymarket, Virginia. Tisch is a sophomore at Roanoke College.
He is also charged with:
- Abduction (a felony)
- Sexual battery (a misdemeanor)
The abduction charges are the result of the victim being forcibly held against her will. The victim did not require any medical treatment.
Both subjects were arrested in the early morning hours of November 14, 2009 at Roanoke College without incident. Both are being held in the Roanoke County/Salem jail without bond pending arraignment.

The Glenvar Coalition, Glenvar High and Middle Schools' student, parent, and community prevention council, began planning their year at their meeting on Thursday night, Nov. 12.

Tomorrow at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 17, the teens of the Glenvar Coalition, Glenvar High and Middles Schools' student, parent, and community prevention council, will present fifth-grade parents with ideas on how to get involved with their children to prevent risky behaviors.

The high school students will begin planning the sixth annual YADAPP conference for middle schoolers 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19. High schoolers from all over Southwest Virginia come together to provide a program for middle school students that emphasizes making the right choices and avoiding risky behaviors. This year's conference will be held March 27, 2010. College students, in turn, plan one for high school students statewide that is held over the summer. Glenvar High students who attended the 25th annual conference at Longwood in July 2009 were Samantha Hannabass, Tucker Hudson, and Kendall Jarvis.

This year's combined PTA meeting for Glenvar High and Glenvar Middle will be held at 7 p.m. February 22. The coalition will also present a talent show open to middle school students again this year, with the performance date of February 5.

Community members as well as students and parents are welcome to be a part of the Glenvar Coalition. Their next meeting is 11:30 a.m. Dec. 16 at the Glenvar Middle School forum. Contact Tabitha Cain at tabithaandrew@verizon.net for more information.

The Salem Prevention Planning team hosted a "town hall" meeting at the Salem YMCA on Tuesday night, November 10, to discuss the results of a youth risk behavior study taken by kids in the sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades in Salem city schools in the spring.

The team is made up of citizens, parents, and professionals, including Salem City school officials and employees.

Although similar surveys have been administered in the past, this one is identical to the one that Roanoke city and Roanoke, Botetourt, and Craig Counties use and will let RAYSAC compare overall youth risk in the Roanoke Valley. Once the test is used in Salem for a few years, RAYSAC will be able to determine trend data.

"We're all here because we care about our youth so much. We want to be there to help them to move into adulthood as safely as possible," said Brooks Michael, teen pregnancy prevention coordinator in Roanoke city. "Although the survey is given in the school, we don't look at these as school issues, we look at these as community isssues," she said.

The survey measures youth attitude and behaviors in five areas: alcohol, drug, and tobacco use; sexual activity; violence; depression; and other health related behaviors like bicycle and vehicle safety. Some of the results in Salem were alarming but were in line with the figures presented from other school systems' surveys:

-It was easy or very easy for a percentage of high schoolers to: 87% get alcohol, 77% get marijuana. Forty-three percent of middle schoolers said it was easy or very easy to get alcohol.
-One in five high schoolers used alcohol in the past 30 days
-23% of high schoolers engaged in binge drinking (Four to five drinks in a row in a two-hour period)
-28% of high schoolers said they were between 13 and 15 years old when they first tried marijuana

Tobacco use was not as overwhelming: 16% of high schoolers smoked cigarettes in the last 30 days; 9% used smokeless tobacco; 9% of middle schoolers smoked cigarettes.

"The things that kids feel like are dangerous they're going to steer clear of, but then there are these mixed messages in the media about the use of medical marijuana and the healthful benefits of a glass of alcohol a day" said Curtis Hicks, a member of the prevention planning team and secondary education coordinator at Salem city schools. He noted the anti-smoking rhetoric of the last five to ten years that has impacted the perception of tobacco.

The team's and RAYSAC's goal is to make youth and parents as aware of the harmful effects of other risky behaviors as they are of tobacco. Salemites, don't be surprised if you start seeing more anti-risky behavior rhetoric around in the coming months and years.

Basic family behaviors that severely reduced the likelihood of risky behaviors included: having clear rules and expectations, eating dinner together, parents knowing childrens' friends and their childrens' friends' parents, and parents modeling good behaviors.

For more information about RAYSAC and the Salem Prevention Planning team, visit www.raysac.org.

Roanoke County is offering a "Guiding Good Choices Workshop: building strong family ties" in January, April, and June of next year for parents of students in grades three through eight. Workshops are also available for schools, community coalitions, faith based and civic organizations, and health/human services organizations. For more information, email Brooks Michael at Smichael@carilion.com or call 314-5030.

Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus visited Fort Lewis Elementary on November 10 after school with Wing I.T. Photo Arts to give kids the chance to have their pictures taken with him early (and to get Santa filled in on their Christmas wishes.)

All in all, Santa took requests from 25 children, and he was happy to get an early start on his Christmas work.

"Usually people start thinking about the colors and stuff by the first of November. It falls right in line with Halloween in July," said Santa.

So Salem asked Santa if this work season is gearing up to be a good one for the elves and the others at the pole:

"I think it's going fine. Since Sarah Palin decided not to be president, the route through Alaska ought to be just fine," he chuckled.

Glenvar Elementary students were busy, busy, busy with Red Ribbon Week and Character Counts on Friday, October 30.

The fourth grade won the door decorating contest for Character Counts, judged by the resource officers from Glenvar Middle and Glenvar High schools. Pictured in purple, from left, Elizabeth Skoff, Van Hofmann, Johnathan Leonard, and Sarah Moehling. If anybody's wondering why their feet look kind of funny, it's because it was crazy shoe day! On Friday, the fourth graders received an ice cream party for their efforts.

Also for Character Counts, the elementary schoolers wore the color of their class and posed out front of the school to show how much they care about character!

For Red Ribbon Week, three businesses made very big donations to the school. Pine Ridge Nursery donated a crepe myrtle tree, which now sits next to the school'e entrance. Kroger donated an apple to each child, teacher, and staff member at the school - well over 400! Lowe's Home Improvement donated a tulip bulb for each child to be planted next to the front walk.

And to top the week off, the Halloween holiday came that Saturday. The kindergarteners were not deterred, however. They had their annual Halloween parade throughout the school in their array of superhero, cartoon, and princess/fairy costumes!

Barbara Krzysko shares this photo gallery from the Harvest Reading at Roanoke College to benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank. Guest reader was Nancy Krygowski, winner of the 2006 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize. Dr Robert Schultz (pictured here), co-author of 'We Were Pirates A Torpedoman's Pacific War' and professor in the English Dept of Roanoke College, read along with some of his creative writing students and other faculty. Donations of money and canned goods were collected.

Do you have photos of people or events around Salem? If so, you can share at news@sosalem.com just like Barbara did.