The Hidden Valley High School Green Art Club had a great turnout on Friday, Jan. 28 from 5:30 to 9  p.m. at their first ever Coffee House.  Students and the community came out for the music and the food, baked goods, coffee, water, and tea were served throughout the night.

Those who performed include:

Maddie Garber, Eric and Justin Earnhart, The Delta Function, Lawrence White, Savannah Shoulders, Fine Linens, Paula Pekic, Nobles, Shannon, Distortion of Sunrise

The event was held in order to raise education and awareness about being green, as well as raise money to purchase a dumpster for recycling at the school.

For more on the Green Art Club at HVHS visit here.

River Ridge District Scholastic Bowl champions Cave Spring High School: Front l-r, Brett Smith, Anna Smith Troy Von Beck, Marissa Stearns. Back, l-r: Alex Petzen, Zach Foutz, McKennon Flint, captain Michael Zhang, Ellie Timmerman, James Cole, coach Bob Powers.

To the casual observer, the story at January 27′s River Ridge District Tournament for Scholastic Bowl was Cave Spring’s regaining the title it last won in 2009 by winning three straight tournament matches in the double elimination tourney.  But the real story was in the way the Knights won, squeezing out late wins each time against quality competition.

Each Scholastic Bowl match consists of  50 questions across a variety of subjects. In a string of clutch performances, second seed Cave Spring prevailed after each match was in doubt into the final two questions. Team captain Michael Zhang was a reliable force throughout the tournament, averaging 78 points per match, but all the Knight team members contributed at key times.

“I was really happy with how we played today,” coach Bob Knight said.  “The kids were really sharp.  We minimized our mistakes and played smart.  I can’t ask for anything more.”

The opening match against Salem was tied 55-55 after the first round, with McKennon Flint picking up 20 points to help avert a slow start.  After the Knights edged ahead by 20 going into the final round of 15 questions, Karl Sorenson and the Spartans repeatedly made runs for the lead.  Zhang and Zach Foutz barely held them off, as Sorenson couldn’t come up with the tying points on the last question and the Knights closed out a 210-185 point win.

The victory put Cave Spring against regular season champion Christiansburg, who had defeated Cave Spring 270-205 earlier in the year.  The Knights fell behind by 30 points midway through the final round, pulled back into a tie, and then fell 15 points behind with four questions to go.  Freshman James Cole then scored 20 to take the lead, and  Zhang’s response on the second to last question clinched the Knights’ win, as they escaped with a 220-215 victory.

The Blue Demons fought back through the loser’s bracket to meet Cave Spring again.  For the second time, the Knights were tied after the first round, before outscoring Christiansburg in the second round 100-80 to carry a slim lead into the final round.   Cave Spring spurted ahead with a 30-5 run only to have Christiansburg climb back with 30 unanswered points of their own.  Ellie Timmerman sealed the match on the penultimate question.   Appropriately, Zhang scored the final points in the 240-210 victory.

Hidden Valley placed fifth in the tournament, losing the opening match to defending state champion Blacksburg, and falling to Salem in the third round.

The Knights will be joined by the Christiansburg and Blacksburg in the VHSL Region IV tournament, scheduled to be held at Cave Spring High School on Saturday, February 5.  The two top teams in the eight-team,double elimination bracket will advance to the Virginia State Tournament, held at William and Mary on February 26.

River Ridge Tournament results, with seeding in parenthesis:

Round 1
(4) Blacksburg 270 – (5) Hidden Valley 110

Round 2
(1) Christiansburg 265 – (4) Blacksburg 175
(2) Cave Spring 210 – (3 )Salem 185

Round 3
(3) Salem 290 – (5) Hidden Valley 95 (Hidden Valley eliminated)
(1) Christiansburg 215 – (2) Cave Spring 220

Round 4
(3) Salem 170 – (4) Blacksburg 205 (Salem eliminated)

Round 5
(1) Christiansburg 280 – (2) Blacksburg 130 (Blacksburg eliminated – 3rd place)

Round 6
(1) Christiansburg 210 – (2) Cave Spring 240 (Christiansburg eliminated – 2nd place)

Submitted by Ken Flint

Friday and Saturday, Jan. 28 and 29 marked the annual All-District Band event hosted by Melinda Sarver and Brian Quakenbush each year at Cave Spring High School.

Selected students who auditioned for the All-District Band practiced together for only a day and a half before putting off a performance separated by Symphonic Band and Concert Band. The Symphonic Band was led by Gary Fagan, and the Concert Band led by Brett Dodson.

Fagan is from Maryland and attended Bridgewater College. He received a degree in Music Education in 1973 and began teaching middle and high school choral music in Louisa County. He also attended James Madison University receiving a Masters Degree in Music Education and served as band director to Abermarle County before retiring in 2009.

Dodson is the Director of Bands at Kilmer Middle School and serves as chair for the fine arts department, instructs concert band, percussion techniques, and beginning band. He has a Bachelor’s Degree Music Education from James Madison University and a Masters  in Trumpet Performance from Bowling Green State University.

Many schools participated in the All-District Band. Southwest Roanoke County Schools included Cave Spring Middle School, Hidden Valley Middle School, and North Cross School.

Those students included: Hanna Delaney, Meagan Pruitt, Emily Hadfield, Julia Carter, Emily Atkins, Mitchell Klockenbrink, Josh Key, Rod Morgan, Veronica Hamilton, Josie Perrin, Emilie Berger, Drew Bond, Carl Puuri, Samie Casauay, Sophie Bradford, Ryan Iler, Juliana Crouse, Hanna Shepard, Alicia Ren Zheng, Sarah Clark, Mallory Orr, Michale Jacoby, Khaila Mickens, Eric Newell, Adam Sulkin, Jordan Clingenpeel, Arpad Kovesdy, Joe Lankford, Shane Leigh, Jayden Olsen, Keli McClure, and Rebekah Wellons.

Band Directors at Cave Spring Middle School did their part to recruit students into the band program on Tuesday afternoon. Buses shuttled in 5th-graders from the elementary schools that feed into CSMS to enjoy a concert and informational session by Jazz 5. After the concert the 5th-graders were split into two groups where they switched trying out various instruments and listening to the middle and high school jazz bands.

Check out photos to see just how much fun they had. View our slideshow above, or click here for captions and a more traditional view.

Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea wants to open a drive-through coffee shop there.

Business writer Jenny Boone has links to the documents filed with Roanoke County on her retail blog, The Storefront.

South County Womens Lacrosse is very excited to announce the appointment of Emily Phillips as Head Coach of its high school lacrosse program.

Emily grew up in Maryland and attended Arundel High School, where she played both lacrosse and field hockey.  She is a graduate of Roanoke College with a degree in Business Administration.  At Roanoke, she played both field hockey and lacrosse, and served as a team captain.

Since graduation, she has coached high school lacrosse programs in Maryland and Colorado, and most recently served as Varsity Head Coach for the North Cross School field hockey program.  Emily and husband Alex are very happy to call Roanoke their home, and recently welcomed a new baby boy into their family.

South County Womens Lacrosse is a Club Level team that promotes the sport of lacrosse for high-school-aged women in the Roanoke Valley.  The team is a very successful cooperative effort of players and parents of several different schools, including Hidden Valley and Cave Spring.  This spring, the team will play an 18 game schedule against high school varsity and JV teams, as well as other club level teams.  Follow the team at their website www.scwlax.com.

Submitted by Lisa Graves

Cave Spring United Methodist Church Weekday School will be holding an open house on Tuesday, February 8^th from 10:00-11:30 a.m.  CSUMC Weekday School is located at 4505 Hazel Drive, off of Colonial Avenue.

CSUMC Weekday School strives to meet the needs of the whole child: spiritually, emotionally, socially, mentally, and physically at his/her own developmental level.  Weekday School serves children ages 10 months-Pre-K.  Registration for the 2011-2012 school year begins March 1^st.  Please call Director, Tarra Svec at 989-3673 for additional information.

Submitted by Julie Sessor

What: Swap and Shop, Where Vendors Swap and Customers Shop!

When: Friday, February 11, Vendor Set up 5pm – 9pm

Saturday, February 12, Open to the public 10am-5pm

Sunday, February 13, Open to the public 1pm-5pm

Vendors  include:  Jewelry, antiques, art work, glass blowers, hand made goods, arts and crafts, unique gifts, more vendors arriving every day.

Presented by: Chiropractic Wellness

Pre-registration Invitations for vendors is Wednesday, Feb. 9 from 5-8! First Come First Serve!!

Pre- Registration will take place at 4903 Starkey Road across from Delta Dental and next to Starkey Medical Center.  Starkey Medical is located on the corner within the Center. The Middle, largest part of the Center is where we will be hosting the February Swap and Shop to benefit March of Dimes 2011 Fund the Mission Campaign for the Signature Chef Event!! The space is beautiful and perfect. We are tying to get a church to donate chairs and tables!   The average space is approximately a 10×10 starting at $50. more than that will be $150. and up if you would like to have an entire side room.  Dr. Nancy Meyer has been kind enough to donate the space for us and is open to doing more possibilities.  We are blessed to have such fortune and good people in the world.  Please become a fan of facebook Swap and Shop (February event) we are still working on the ads and banners for more promotional opportunities. Robin Shumard is the Operations Coordinator who will be collecting contracts and checks. I look forward to working with you and promoting you! Thank you again for your interest,  please see below and invite more vendors and friends!!!!

For vendor space call Allison at 540-353-0425