Alumna Named to USA Today All-Academic Team

from NavySports.com:

Navy swimming standout Kelly Zahalka (Sr., Richmond, Va.) was named by USA Today to its First-Team All-USA College Academic Team. The entire list of first, second and third-team and honorable mention recipients was announced Wednesday by the publication.

This is the 20th year in which USA Today has selected the team, which is meant to honor undergraduate students at four-year colleges based upon their "intellectual endeavors, community service and campus leadership."

An honors history major with a Chinese minor, Zahalka is ranked third in Navy's Class of 2009 with a 4.00 cumulative grade-point average. She spent the 2008 fall semester as an exchange student at Capital Normal University in Beijing, China, and will be commissioned as an officer in the Marine Corps upon graduating from Navy next month.

Zahalka has previously received both a Harry S. Truman and Gen. George C. Marshall Scholarship. Criteria for the Truman Scholarship included "leadership potential, intellectual ability and the likelihood of making a difference," while the Marshall Scholarship will allow her to study for two years in the United Kingdom.

Zahalka is the first women's swimmer in Patriot League history to have been selected as the league scholar-athlete of the year for her sport three times, and was named as the overall female scholar-athlete of the year in the league in 2008. She has earned Academic All-America honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America in both 2007 (third team) and `08 (first team).

Click here for the complete article: http://www.navysports.com/sports/w-swim/spec-rel/042909aab.html.

Alumna Starts Global Development Major at UVA

from UVA Today:

In 2006, Kendall Wallace saw a gap in the University of Virginia's curriculum. But instead of just complaining about it, Wallace, along with more than a dozen other students and faculty, did something about it.

The gap involved the study of global development. While students have been able to major in foreign affairs or in programs studying various regions of the world, there wasn't an interdisciplinary offering that focused on the problems of developing countries. Until now.

On Monday, the University's newest major, Global Development, was officially unveiled at the Colonnade Club.

"We saw an incredible, growing interest among students at the University in international development issues, based on class registrations, clubs and research projects," Wallace said. "We also saw an incredible gap in the curriculum, which had relegated the topic of development to particular departments, such as economics and anthropology. But you can't understand the economic development of a location without multiple perspectives."

To read the complete article, go to http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=8496#.

We the People Finishes in Top Ten

This year's We the People team finished in the top ten in the national competition! The top three spots went to Colorado, Alabama, and California.

This was Matt McGuire's first year coaching the team, and here are the student participants:

• Unit One: Kaitlan Lawrence, Nitya Rao, & Danny Yates
• Unit Two: Thomas Howard, Ana Martinez de Andino, & Ashley Taylor
• Unit Three: Casey Cordry, Conor Farrell, & Hillary Hurd
• Unit Four: Kevin Xiao, Ellen Graham, Mallory Noe-Payne, & Caroline Vines
• Unit Five: Megan O’Donnell, Emma England, Abbie Pettigrew
• Unit Six: Leaf Elhai, Cory Hoogakker, and Peter Slag

Congratulations to all on a job well done!

Spring Concerts: Music In The Movies

from Smoke & Scales:

On April 29th & 30th, 7pm, the Maggie Walker Governor's School Music Department presents "Music in the Movies"! Please plan on joining us for two musical evenings not to be missed! The Spring Music Concert will be held on two evenings in order to showcase the many talents of our students. Please plan on attending both nights for fantastic entertainment and to show your support for all of the students. Tickets are $5 and will be sold at the door. New this year - professional audio recordings will be made each evening and CD's will be available for purchase!

4/29, Wednesday evening - Jazz ensembles
4/30, Thursday evening - Orchestra and Chorus

Sophomore and senior students are requested to "return the favor" and bring cookies for the receptions following the concerts, as the freshman and junior students supplied the desserts at the winter concert.

Spring Play: Picasso At The Lapin Agile

from Smoke & Scales:

MLWGS Drama Takes On Steve Martin on April 23-25

It's 1904--in a Paris café we find Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, in their youth, just before each would alter the course of history. Through them, Martin's play examines the connections between art & physics and looks at the very meaning of "genius." Picasso at the Lapin Agile is about a young generation searching out the possibilities of a new century. It's the kind of thing we know at Maggie Walker.

Don't miss this irresistible comedy -- "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" runs for just three performances, and features Jerry Carlson ('09), Arun Mohge ('09), Jimmie Jarvis ('10) , and a slew of other MLWGS students.

Showtime 7:00pm, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, April 23, 24, and 25 in the MLWGS auditorium.

'05 Alumna Wins Outstanding Graduating Senior Award

from the Virginia Tech website:

BLACKSBURG, Va., April 21, 2009 -- Virginia Tech has named Ritchie Vaughan, of Richmond, Va., as the Outstanding Graduating Senior in the College of Natural Resources for the 2008-09 academic year.

Vaughan is expected to receive a bachelor’s degree in forestry in the College of Natural Resources in May 2009. She has excelled both inside and outside of the classroom, and has participated in a wide range of extracurricular, leadership, and service activities.

Among her numerous awards and scholarships, Vaughan is the recipient of the Stuermann Memorial Scholarship, the Colonial Agricultural Educational Foundation Scholarship, the Virginia Tech University Honors Award and Scholarship, and the National Merit Award and Scholarship. She has conducted undergraduate research at Virginia Tech, where she studied wetland mitigation, as well as at the Catawba Sustainability Center, located in Roanoke, Va.

Vaughan is active in a variety of extracurricular and service activities. She is a member of the Virginia Tech Wildland Fire Crew, where she held the role of assistant fire management officer in 2007. Vaughan is a former teacher’s aide for a Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship course. Vaughan has participated in many service activities, including volunteering with the Christiansburg Humane Society and The Rock Climbing Gym, contributing to the Claytor Lake State Park Forest Management Plan, assisting with trail work and maintenance in Montgomery County, and working as the Blacksburg Bicycle Cooperative’s head mechanic.

For the rest of the article, please see http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2009&itemno=338.

Alumnus Sits on Student Panel with Bernanke

Anthony Roberts '05 was snapped in this WSJ photo when Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke visited Morehouse College.

For a write up, see http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123975237751018765.html#mod=testMod.