South Salem’s U10 Shooting Stars after playing the halftime show at the ODAC tournament at the Salem Civic Center. Kayla Lintner, Ashley Bulaski, Rotary Club Clown, Jordan Barker, Riley Ward, Jill Jariwala, and Tori Clinevell.

Submitted by Tracy Lintner

Click here to see the latest from the Roanoke Times’ Neil Harvey.

A few more fan photos from Salem’s victory over Hidden Valley Friday night, February 25.

By Miranda Beck

Click for: More game photos from TJ Witten, More game photos from Miranda

Click here to read the Roanoke Times’ story this past Saturday.

Fan photos from: district championship at Roanoke College / quarterfinal game where Salem beat Pulaski!

Salem starts state tournament play vs. EC Glass this Saturday, March 5 at the Salem Civic Center at high noon.

Jane Johnson happened to be by Lake Spring Park to see a flock of gulls and other birds swooping around on Sunday, February 20. She posted them on Facebook and was kind enough to share them here with So Salem!

It looks to me like a peaceful rendition of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.”

Do you have interesting pictures from out and about Salem? Email them to news@sosalem.com and we’ll post them here, too.

-Miranda Beck

The 2011 Roanoke County Science Fair was held on Saturday, Feb. 26 at William Byrd High School.

The Science Fair is endorsed by the national Science Service in Washington, D.C .and is administered by the Roanoke County Public Schools. The fair featured work from the best student projects within ten secondary schools. Thirty science projects from grades 9-12 and ten middle school projects from grades 6-8 will represent Roanoke County in the annual Western Virginia Regional Science Fair on Saturday, March 19 at Hollins University.

The International Science and Engineering Fair will be held May 8-13 in Los Angeles, California.

Winners in the Middle School Division

Physics/Chemistry/Engineering

1st Place – Gwendylan Turner, William Byrd Middle School, Project- The Effects of Different Materials on Evaporation

2nd Place- Kelly Devens, Glenvar Middle School, Project- Effects of Common Materials on the Strength of a Magnet

3rd Place- Sreeroopa Som, Hidden Valley Middle School, Project- It’s All in the Core

Environmental Sciences

1st Place- Debra Grzanka, Northside Middle School, Project-The horrors of Acid Rain

2nd Place- Hana Coogan, Cave Spring Middle School, Project- How do Pollutants Affect Bioluminescent Bacteria

Animal Science

1st Place- Christa Madison, Cave Spring Middle School, Project- How do colors affect stink bugs?

2nd Place- John Apostolou, Northside Middle School, Project- “Algae” braic Experimentation

Honorable Mention- Molly Kwitny, Cave Spring Middle School, Project- A Comparative Study of the efficacy of various organic pesticides on Halyomorpha halys

Honorable Mention- Jordan Clingenpeel, Cave Spring Middle School, Project- What works best?

Biology

1st Place- Natalie Horn, Cave Spring Middle School, Project- How does humidity affect human hair?

2nd Place- Ryan DeRolf, Glenvar Middle School, Project- Effect of Alkaline, Neutral, and Acidic pH Levels on Plants

3rd Place- Georgia Farthing, Hidden Valley Middle School, Project- Decomposition of Fast Food Burgers

Honorable Mention- Josh Key, Cave Spring Middle School, Project- How Colored Light Affects Plant Growth

Team Projects

1st Place- Micah Dance and Jacob Parcell, William Byrd Middle School, Project- Crystal Radio

2nd Place- Andrew Stultz and Greg Moehling, Glenvar Middle School, Project- Design’s Effect on the Speed of Pinewood Derby Cars

Honorable Mention- Stuart Beveridge and Mark Bolinger, Hidden Valley Middle School, Project- Drop and Roll

Honorable Mention- Billy Ferguson and Hunter Bruner, William Byrd Middle School, Project- Burning Bones

High School Division

Behavioral and Social Sciences

1st Place- Krysta Luzynski, Cave Spring High School, Project- The Effect of Music therapy on Children with Autism’s Ability to Retain Information

2nd Place- Emily Campbell, Northside High School, Project- The Relationship Between Voice Patterns and Stress

3rd Place- William Gerhardt, Cave Spring High School, Project- Perceiving Time

Mathematical/Computer Sciences

1st Place- Will Gooding, Hidden Valley High School, Project- Eigenvalue of the Zakharov-Shabat System

2nd Place- Noah Luther, Hidden Valley High School, Project- Forensic Recovery of Deleted Electronic Data using Disk Recovery Software

Engineering

1st Place- Melinda Boggs, Hidden Valley High School, Project- Measuring ETFE Wall Thickness

2nd Place- Shai Mustafa, Cave Spring High School, Project- Science of Bridges

3rd Place- Brent Blankenship, William Byrd High School, Project- The Amazing Solar Cooker

Physics and Astronomy

1st Place- Parker Benzie, Cave Spring High School, Project- testing How Friction Affects the Force Needed to Set an Object in Motion

2nd Place- Michael Waering, Northside High School, Project- Effect of solution in water on the index of refraction

3rd Place- Lindsey Hypes, William Byrd High School, Project- How Temperature Affects Clarinet Tuning

Medicine and Health Biochemistry

1st Place- Harsh Patolia, Hidden Valley High School, Project- Competitive Exclusion and Intestinal Bacteria: A model for a New Possible Treatment for Clostridium difficile

2nd Place- Sreemoyee Som, Hidden Valley High School, Project- The Effect of Potato Extracts on Muscle Movement in Wildtype and Mutant Ceanorhabditis elegans

Microbiology/Biology Energy and Transportation

1st Place- Alexander Thomas, Cave Spring High School, Project- The Effect of Agitation on Lipid Production in Chlorella

Honorable Mention- Carly Jenison, William Byrd High School, Project- The Power of the Sun

Environmental/Plant Sciences

1st Place- Madhura Chitnavis, Hidden Valley High School, Project- The Effects of P. fluorescens on the Effectiveness of inorganic and Organic Fertilizers in Vigna radiata

2nd Place- Sarah Thomsen, Glenvar High School, Project- E.Coli 0157:H7 Survival in River Water

3rd Place- Lindsey Hanks, Glenvar High School, Project- The Effects of Calcium-, Potassium-, and Magnesium-Enriched Distilled Water on the Germination and Growth of Radish Seeds

Honorable Mention- Brianne Richardson, William Byrd High School, Project- Colorful Adaptations

Chemistry

1st Place- Ian Forbes, Hidden Valley High School, Project- The Effect of Cleaning Chemicals on the Chemiluminescence Reaction of Luminol

2nd Place- Mitchell Powell, William Byrd High School, Project- Effect of Varying pH of Hydrochloric Acid on Copper Wire

Team Projects

1st Place- Varun Kavuru and Michael Zhang, Hidden Valley and Cave Spring High School, Project- Simulation of Novel H1N1 Virus Through a Population

Neck and neck all the way, the Spartans stayed a few points ahead the whole way and defeated the Titans 45-38.

They’re slated to play at noon this Saturday, March 5 at the Salem Civic Center vs. EC Glass in the state quarterfinals.

Photos by Miranda Beck, with fan photos on the way.

We have more game photos from TJ Witten, too!

Click here to read the Roanoke Times’ story this past Saturday.

And… If I took your picture at a previous play-off game, it’ll be here: district championship at Roanoke College / the quarterfinal game where Salem beat Pulaski!

West at this year's Region IV meet, photo Wendell Jones

Matt West placed 13th in the 300 meter dash with a time of 37.47 seconds.

LeFew at 2010 Knights Crossing, photo Miranda Beck

Michael LeFew placed 11th in the 1000 meter with a time of 2 minutes, 41.85 seconds.

Congratulations, Spartans!

Jonathan Walker, 2008-2009 co-captain of both the football the state-championship forensics teams, stepped onto Salem High School’s stage yet again Thursday, February 24. This time he brought (or was brought by) Michael Anthony Williams, a professor at Virginia Tech and a co-founder of the Actors Theater of Blacksburg.

Williams and Walker performed monologues based on African American plays including August Wilsons “Two Trains Running” and Joe Turner’s “Come & Gone.”

Walker is studying Theatre and Cinema at Virginia Tech, class of 2013.

Photos and video by Miranda Beck

***Note: the videos are of monologues based on the struggles of African Americans in the 1800s and early 1900s and use language from that time period

The Salem girls basketball team will play their state quarterfinal game at noon Saturday at the Salem Civic Center, the Virginia High School League has announced.

The opponent is E.C. Glass.

John Wimmer shares his photos from the VHSL AA & A State Swim Meet on Saturday, February 26. The gallery features photos of Salem High School, Cave Spring High School and Hidden Valley High School swimmers.

Share your sports photos by emailing news@sosalem.com.