Alumna Fares Well in National Pharmacy Contest

Melissa Beck Carroll ’00, currently a 4th year student at the MCV/VCU School of Pharmacy, competed along with teammate and fellow classmate Toni Coe at the 13th Annual National Clinical Skills Competition held in conjunction with last week’s meeting of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists in Orlando, FL. The MCV/VCU team, which had previously won the Virginia State Championship in October, was one of the Top 10 Finalists at the event.

The event drew a record number of 96 Pharmacy Schools that entered teams. Each two-member team spent Saturday morning analyzing and writing up a complex clinical case involving an ICU patient who developed ventilator associated sepsis and associated low blood pressure after suffering a subdural hematoma from a fall.

A 3 judge panel reviewed all written pharmacotherapy plans and selected the finalists for Sunday afternoon oral presentations, where each team was questioned by the judges. The top 10 teams were honored at a ceremony during the opening reception for the meeting on Sunday evening.

Before entering the MCV/VCU School of Pharmacy in 2005, Melissa received a B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Virginia in 2003.

Pat Taylor Honored by NHS

The following is the speech given by Nitya Rao '09 at the last NHS induction ceremony:

As we all know, Maggie Walker Governor's School is a very special place. It's not just the education we come out of here with, what we take away with us to college – it's the community we are a part of here – the students, the staff and teachers, and, at the head of it all, our administrators. This is an impressive physical place, but it was not always that way. When a handful of visionary educators came together to start what has become 700 students in one of the elite high schools in the nation, they did so with less than 50 students stashed away on the top floor of Thomas Jefferson High School. Perhaps the person most responsible for this is here with us tonight, Ms. Patricia Taylor.

Ms. Taylor – would you please come up on stage and join us?

The huge success of the Governor's School means that there is plenty of credit to go around, but Ms. Taylor is special and deserving in a way that perhaps no one else really is. Maggie Walker was her dream, a dream that she worked and nurtured and made a reality. As Mrs. Yagel puts it, "Her heart is in the walls of this school." Most of you probably know that Ms. Taylor is retiring this year, and none of us can thank her enough for her day-today contributions, to the larger-than-life dream that she has made into our reality. Although it is pretty hard to imagine these halls without her, it is time for her to enjoy the rest of her life, especially as a full-time grandmother. In your honor, Ms. Taylor, and in an effort to recognize the excellence you have brought to the lives of so many students, the Governor's School National Honor Society is hereby officially re-charted and renamed the Patricia E. Taylor Pioneers of Excellence Chapter. A new public charter is on order, and please accept this certificate noting both our name change as well as your appointment as our chapter's Honorary President. You are, indeed, our Pioneer of Excellence. Thank you.

One Busy Alumna

Kelly Zahalka ('05) is one busy person. Following Maggie Walker, Kelly went to the U.S. Naval Academy, where she is excelling at academics and swimming. Currently studying in China, Kelly has also won the prestigious Marshall Scholarship. Following the Naval Academy, Kelly will begin a career in The Marines as a Second Lieutenant.

Read more!
http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/19673.asp

Alumnus Returns to Sing

Steven Li '06 is in Out of the Blue, an a capella group at Yale that will be performing in the auditorium of the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School on Wednesday, Jan. 7 from 8:00PM to 9:00PM. Admission is $10 at the door.

Out of the Blue is a coed, pop/rock a cappella group whose repertoire currently includes music from artists such as Coldplay, Evanescence, Ben Folds, and Regina Spektor. For more information about Out of the Blue and for sample clips from their latest album, visit www.yale.edu/ootb.

Lexus Award Nominees

So far this year, we have had 3 seniors nominated for the Lexus of Richmond Pursuit of Perfection Leadership Award, which comes with a $20,000 scholarship. Please click on the link to see the video interviews:

• Kelsey Sawyer (nominated 11/28/08)
• Conor Farrell (nominated 11/21/08)
• Caroline Vines (nominated 10/31/08)

VCU Micro Professor Mentors MLW Student Researcher

Yun Li '09 is learning concepts and techniques of gene cloning, growing bacterial cells, extracting DNA and a host of other procedures as part of his mentorship with Philip B. Hylemon, Ph.D., a professor of microbiology and medicine at VCU/MCV Health Systems.

Yun emphasized in his mentorship application that one of his goals was to learn appropriate procedures in conducting professional research.