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By Alex Moore, Lord Botetourt High School

Lord Botetourt High School put on their school production of “Harvey” by Mary Chase as their Spring play.

Showing three times in late April, the play was hysterically charming.

It was about two and a half hours of entertainment it was worth it.

“Harvey” is about a man, Elwood P. Dowd, whose friend, is an imaginary six-foot tall rabbit. His sister is determined to fix this “problem” by admitting him into a psychiatric center.

The actors and actresses who played the characters did a brilliant job. When the props changed, there was old music playing to keep the audience interested. There was also an intermission between acts.

Every moment seemed to play out perfectly and I cannot recall a single thing I would have changed.

There was no better way to spend my Saturday night than to be amused by this wonderful play.

By Amber Montgomery, Glenvar High School

The Glenvar community lost one of their own in January when freshman Michael Sandridge passed away from cancer.

Not only was he a member of the school’s football and soccer teams, but he was recognized as a good role model for his peers.

Michael Sandridge

“Michael was a very loyal and friendly person. He got along with everyone and always had a smile on his face,” said Glenvar High School coach and teacher Kevin Clifford. “Michael was very unselfish, as well. When Make a Wish Foundation visited and offered him any wish, he asked for them to purchase new weight equipment for the football weight room. He thought of his teammates ahead of himself.”

Since the loss, the community has come together to keep his memory and fighting spirit alive. The Michael Sandridge Scholarship has been started in his name. The scholarship, available for Glenvar students, is planned to be offered annually beginning in 2014, and the specific criteria for the scholarship have not yet been determined.

And the community support is not stopping at the high school’s doors. To benefit both the scholarship and cancer research, the high school will host the Glenvar Avenger 5K on May 18 as a fundraiser and rally for the community. Read more »

By Julia Rogan, Patrick Henry High School

Patrick Henry has a school Art Show coming up.

Every year before the end of school, the art teachers display at least one piece of art from every student that takes an art class, even if that student lacks any artistic ability. There are paintings, sketches, drawings, ceramics and photographs.

The pieces are displayed in the art wing of the school. Teachers also take their students down to view the pieces of art. The students get to have their name displayed with their art.

It is really amazing to see the talent some of the students have.

The Art teachers also bring back some of the old pieces of art, and it is sometimes nice to see them come back from the previous year.

It is a great time to display creativity because everyone is stressed with Final Exams coming up.

The show is even open to the public on May 7 from 6-8 p.m. Go check it out and see the art the students created.

Once a month at Lord Botetourt High School, students have the opportunity to attend the “Principal’s Cafe,” a lunch for the staff to get to know the students better. Illustration by Claire Gross, Lord Botetourt High School

By Jessica Wiegandt, Lord Botetourt High School

Once a month at Lord Botetourt High School, students have a unique opportunity.

Principal Janet Womack , and other various staff host a lunch for students interested in attending “The Principal’s Café.”

The activity began last year, when Womack began working at LBHS as the new principal. She originally provided a home-cooked breakfast for a few staff members at a time.

“The café was a means to learn more about the people I work with and get to know them better,” Womack said.

Now, the lunch has grown into a larger activity involving students. Little Caesars pizza provides food for the event and the administration plans the rest of the meal.

Read more »

Alex Bingham performs a solo during his jazz band’s appearance at last year’s Noteworthy Music Festival. The band will return Saturday to perform at this year’s event. Photo courtesy of Meredith Roller

By Ciara Mulcahy, Patrick Henry High School

Students, parents, musicians and the community will be attending the second-annual Noteworthy Music Festival this Saturday, April 27 from 2:30 to 9 p.m. in the Patrick Henry High School auditorium.

Locher Grove, who graduated from Patrick Henry last year, organized the first Noteworthy Music Festival in 2012 after he and teacher Nicole Doherty attended a Colorado workshop sponsored by the Bezos Foundation. According to the foundation’s website, the group encourages youth to put their education into action.

“Twelve of us from across the nation got to go to Aspen, Colo., for a week with our educator scholars (Mrs. Doherty went as my educator scholar) to learn how to more effectively make a difference in our community,” Grove wrote in an email. “After an incredible week, it was then our responsibility to return home our senior year and organize and run our own Local Ideas Festival.”

Grove said he knew right away what group he wanted his fundraiser to benefit: the music education program at Roanoke City Public Schools. Senior Grace Casola, who now leads Patrick Henry’s Noteworthy Club, said last year’s event raised $15,000. She anticipates that this year’s event will make even more for the music program.

“The money that we raise with the event is matched by the Bezos Foundation and then used to buy instruments that elementary school students can take home to practice,” said Casola. Read more »

“West Side Story” cast members rehearse for their upcoming production, which debuts Thursday. Photo by Marissa Handerhan, Hidden Valley High School

Rival schools Hidden Valley and Cave Spring had to get creative with their upcoming joint production of “West Side Story” due to the Roanoke County School Board’s policy against the use of mock weapons in school plays.

“We are not allowed to use any mock weapon that would ‘promote violence,’” said cast member Abbie Grubb, a junior at Hidden Valley.

Although the play about rival gangs involves several scenes of conflict, drama teacher Matthew Neale saw the stipulations as only a tiny hurdle that would not affect the quality or production of the play.

“We have preferred to approach the stipulations regarding the use of mock weapons as a creative challenge. We feel that this hasn’t taken away from the musical at all and anticipate that the audience will have no problem understanding what is going on in the performance,” he said.

Superintendent Lorraine Lange has allowed the production to depict a weapon for one scene, but there will be various restrictions.

“We are allowed to use a gun, but it has to be wooden, and the weapon  is not allowed to be painted ‘gun colors’ like navy blue, grey or black. We are also not allowed to point the gun at anyone,” said Cave Spring junior Mason Early. Read more »

Designers presented fashion-lovers with a wide variety of trends during Fashion Week. Illustration by Alexis Holland, William Byrd High School

By Alexis Holland, William Byrd High School

It’s that time of year again.

Beginning on February 7, Fashion Week seems like it has just passed by. And now that we are overwhelmed by the abundance of beautiful clothes from couture and ready-to-wear lines, it’s time to start planning our wardrobes for fall.

Designers everywhere from Alexander McQueen to Marc Jacobs to Louis Vuitton had phenomenal shows.  And somehow, in all of the chaos of eyelash curlers, glitter and frantic models, the designers managed to present fashion-lovers with a wide variety of trends.

In fall 2013, keep a lookout for harem pants, chic silhouettes, flannel jumpsuits, loud colors and prints, leather and an abundance of embellishments and embroidery.

Mostly every trend will trickle down from previous trends, so items that were bought from previous seasons can be used in the fall, too.

On the runway, magazine editors and celebrities took extensive notes, and are probably already planning how they want the designers’ looks to translate into their own taste.

Though spring collections have just been displayed in area stores, fashionistas have to be one step ahead of everybody else.

That’s what makes fashion week so unique. Everyone watches the same shows, but they created different looks based on their own taste.

Spring is quite early to begin planning outfits for the fall, but there are so many trends that it’s necessary to find out which you adore and which items you wouldn’t dare own.

By Jessica Ross, Lord Botetourt High School

Midnight in Paris, Enchanted Garden or Night Under the Stars?

It’s a lot of pressure deciding next year’s homecoming theme.

I’m in the pep club at Lord Botetourt High School and we’re going through this process now.

We’ll only have around three full weeks to get everything together before the dance, so we have to choose the theme now.

Not only are there an infinite number of themes to chose from, but students at our school are extremely picky. Half the school will like one and the other half another. So then what do we do?

Do we want to have a balloon arch or should we string ribbon on the ceiling? Do we want to have the dresses pop or have a more colorful environment?

It’s hard to tell if the theme we pick will be “cool” enough for the students. We want something fun, but not too out there.

Hopefully, the theme we decide on will be a success.

Belly dancing was one of this year’s symposium classes at North Cross School. Illustration by Alexis Holland, William Byrd High School

By Neale Butler, North Cross School

On Feb. 14, students at North Cross School got a break from their everyday school work by spending a day in classes taught by local business professionals.

The event was run by teacher representatives and a group of students who are part of the symposium committee. The students on the committee were responsible for contacting the people who they would like to be presenters for the sessions throughout the day.

“It [Symposium] exposes our students to new ideas, hobbies and career paths, and it allows the community to meet and interact with our students,” coordinator of Symposium and chemistry teacher Jennifer Landry said. “I believe it is mutually beneficial.”

Each student is given a schedule the morning of the Symposium, detailing which four sessions they will attend that day.  Students are allowed to pick their top choices for each session, but might not always get their first choice.

Some of this year’s classes included yoga, belly dancing, news-casting and banking. While the sessions can be fun and interactive, they can also be educational.

“Symposium helps you to get a view of what kind of options there are career wise,” said sophomore Avery Sturm.

Sturm said this year she took recycled art and paranormal classes.

“They were different,” Sturm said. “I’ve never done anything like it before.”

By Roshni Lalchandani, Cave Spring High School

For students at Cave Spring High School, art and photography aren’t just the usual electives – they’re experiences.

Students in Art III and IV and Photography I and II have prepared a photography exhibit at the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke. The exhibit opened March 8 and continues through April 5. High school students are encouraged to go and see the art that their classmates have been working on since the beginning of the school year.

The group of students who curated the exhibit operate as “C. Link,” a name coined by Shannon Lugar, the education coordinator at the museum. Lugar, a Cave Spring alumnus, completed a similar project in high school as part of the Young Curator’s Program and was inspired to recreate it using the theme “The Little Things.”

Students such as seniors Nicole Oakley and Nick d’Alelio helped recreate Lugar’s vision by helping with tasks from choosing the photos to matting frames.

“It was stressful in the beginning but well worth it in the end,” said Oakley.

“Picking the photos was definitely the hardest part,” said d’Alelio. “I hated eliminating things, but I loved telling someone else theirs was picked. The process is bittersweet.”

One of those selected artists is Virginia Grace Cates, a senior who has several photos featured in the exhibit. Read more »