Snap Fitness Holds Grand Opening
24/7 fitness center looks forwards to serving community.
After more than three years of successful operation of a fitness location on Franklin Farm Road, in Herndon, business owner Sean Boyd decided to open a new Snap Fitness location at the Herndon Kmart Shopping Center on Elden Street. Several martial arts studios are located in the area, but there has been no fitness center serving the neighborhood since Gold’s Gym closed its location in 2008.
Mind Heart Vision Exhibit Opens at ArtSpace
Senior students display work at community art gallery.
Every spring art teachers at Herndon High School invite senior artists to participate in a juried art show at ArtSpace Herndon, the community art gallery created and supported by art lovers in the greater Herndon area. The exhibit includes paintings, photographs, drawings, and sculpture. “The show is a chance for our art students to show their talents, and they are talented,” said Herndon High art teacher Alexa Mamatas, a 2008 graduate of Herndon High. Students show paintings, photographs, drawings, and digital art. This show was juried by professional local artist and teacher Melanie Stanley, Jeanette Burkle Galie of Galie photography, and Richard Suib of Richard Suib Images. “I think it is a great opportunity for other people to see our art,” said Herndon senior Saif Siraj, who has a computer-generated image on display in the exhibit. “The picture took about a week to make,” said Siraj.
ArtSpace Herndon Hosts Americas Ensemble Concert
Audience learns about rhythm and musicians’ life journeys.
“This is a perfect example of how the arts in Herndon has both an educational and entertaining mission to bridge cultures in our local community,” said Scott Mayhugh. Mayhugh was attending the Saturday evening music performance hosted at ArtSpace Herndon featuring artists of a group named Americas Ensemble.
Lutheran Mission Team Feeds the Hungry
Members of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church missions team, Helping Hands, reached out to the Selma community once again, donating $7,000 of food to the local food pantry. Concordia students helped shop, deliver and unload the hundreds of pounds of canned food to Christian Outreach Alliance, an organization that gives hundreds of food bags to the hungry each month. Good Shepherd, based in Herndon has sent several mission teams to Concordia College over the years. Also on the mission trip was Matthew Dickert. The team also painted buildings on campus during their time in Selma.
Herndon High in National Business Plan Competition
The Business Management Virtual Enterprise class at Herndon High recently placed first in best sales presentation, first in website design, second in company business card, and fifth in human resource case study during a trade show at Virginia Wesleyan College. The students created the company V-LO Chip, Inc. Their chip is the size of a stamp and can be placed on any item which would allow one to locate a lost, stolen, or misplaced object using a smartphone, laptop, or tablet. It can also be used for medical purposes to locate disoriented loved ones suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. Team members include Paria Ahmadi, Daniel Cozza, Eduardo Delgado, Bobby Emmons, Bailey Hubble, Anthony Lieu, Stephanie Paendong, Nathan Petrelli, and Sam Sepassi. Team officers also played a part in the success of the competition but did not attend; they traveled to New York City on March 31, to represent Virginia in the National Business Plan competition. Officers are Steven Barbaro, Andrew Ipinza, Robert Koss, Travis Langtry, Andrew Maccini, Sara Pena, and Han Phan.
Green Lizard Lights it Up Blue for Autism Awareness Day
A good sized crowd gathered last Wednesday evening at Herndon’s Green Lizard Cycling to see the storefront lit up with blue lights. Buildings and landmarks across the country and the world turned on blue lights as well Wednesday night for Autism Speaks 4th annual “Light It Up Blue” campaign for World Autism Awareness Day.
Matza - Humble Bread
The eight-day festival of Passover is celebrated in the early spring, from the 15th through the 22nd of the Hebrew month of Nissan. This year those dates correspond to the eve of April 14 through April 22. The holiday commemorates the emancipation of the Jewish people from slavery in Ancient Egypt through many miraculous events such as the Ten Plagues and the Splitting of the Red Sea.
Floris Sixth Graders Present ‘Annie’
Students further their theatre experience in April musical.
Annie, Jr. is the fourth in a series of musicals presented by the sixth grade classes at Floris Elementary. In a tradition started four years ago, the sixth grade students produce a “junior” length Broadway musical facilitated by their classroom teachers, music teachers, and other teachers and specialists. Students designed and created props and set pieces, ran the spotlights, and managed the backstage areas. “I have always been interested in technology,” said sixth grade student Sanjana Meduri, who assisted with the production’s sound tech.
Arbor Terrace of Herndon Wins 2013 Excellence Award
Arbor Terrace of Herndon was presented with a Senior Advisor Excellence Award for receiving consistently high ratings from residents and their families in 2013. SeniorAdvisor.com is a consumer reviews web site established by A Place for Mom (APFM), the nation’s largest senior living referral service, as a way for seniors and their families to share feedback on senior living communities and services. The inaugural Senior Advisor Excellence Award identifies the top senior living communities who have received an overall average rating of at least 4.5 stars on the site. The award winners were recognized for having the best customer ratings and reviews out of more than 100,000 senior care providers currently on SeniorAdvisor.com. Winners of the Excellence Award are located all over the country and represent the top tier of independent living, assisted living, and Alzheimer’s care communities on the SeniorAdvisor.com website. This exclusive designation places the winners in the top one percent of senior living communities nationwide according to consumers.
Volunteers Honored
Voice of Washington Redskins. Larry Michael invited to talk.
Herndon made every volunteer feel like the town’s gems this week.The 30th annual Mayor’s Volunteer Appreciation Night honored more than 400 people - and three distinguished service individuals with hor d'oeuvres and a few words from guest speaker, Washington Redskins’ vice president and executive media producer, Sunday night.“It’s great to be in a room with solid people,” said guest speaker Larry Michael. “You never know when helping others will pay off three, four, five-fold.”The volunteers were invited to the event for contributing more than 100 hours of service to the community.Michael, now an eight-time Emmy Award winner, first found out what he wanted to be after college while volunteering for the University of Maryland’s college radio station.“I thought I wanted to be a lawyer,” he said. “Within a year, I was doing the radio and doing play-by-plays for basketball and football, and I knew what I wanted to do.
Floris United to Host Empty Bowls Fundraiser
Local potters give their time and talent to support Empty Bowls and help fight hunger in our area. The Reston and Herndon pottery classes at their respective Community Centers have been busy making hundreds and hundreds of ceramic bowls for an Empty Bowls fundraiser to benefit Food for Others, the largest distributor of free food in Northern Virginia and hosted by The Giving Circle of HOPE. Open to the public, the event will be held on Friday, April 25 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Floris United Methodist Church, 13600 Frying Pan Rd, Herndon. Pre-event tickets are $25 and will be $30 at the door. Guests will receive a simple supper of soup, bread, a beverage, dessert and a handmade bowl, which they may keep to remind them that there are those in our community that are empty. For more information go to www.givingcircleofhope.org.
Herndon High Cadets Win Spicer Cup
After four months of intense competition, Herndon High School’s Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps' (NJROTC) Rifle Team has won the Spicer Cup. The four-person team consisting of Cadets Marshall Wilkins (senior), Ashley Lightner (senior), Allison Maxwell (sophomore), and Caroline Ivie (freshman) defeated finalist West Potomac High School in the Championship Match. This is the ninth year that Herndon has won since the inception of the competition eleven years ago.
Herndon High in National Business Plan Competition
The Business Management Virtual Enterprise class at Herndon High recently placed first in best sales presentation, first in website design, second in company business card, and fifth in human resource case study during a trade show at Virginia Wesleyan College. The students created the company V-LO Chip, Inc. Their chip is the size of a stamp and can be placed on any item which would allow one to locate a lost, stolen, or misplaced object using a smartphone, laptop, or tablet. It can also be used for medical purposes to locate disoriented loved ones suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. Team members include Paria Ahmadi, Daniel Cozza, Eduardo Delgado, Bobby Emmons, Bailey Hubble, Anthony Lieu, Stephanie Paendong, Nathan Petrelli, and Sam Sepassi. Team officers also played a part in the success of the competition but did not attend; they traveled to New York City on March 31, to represent Virginia in the National Business Plan competition. Officers are Steven Barbaro, Andrew Ipinza, Robert Koss, Travis Langtry, Andrew Maccini, Sara Pena, and Han Phan.
Herndon High Senior to Go to London and Paris
Han Phan, Herndon High School senior and outstanding Career and Technical Education student, was selected to accompany an educational trip to London and Paris. The trip is provided by Education First Educational Tours and will have stops in England and France. The 10-day trip will begin on July 8, in London and will move through multiple locations before ending in Paris on July 18. Phan has been enrolled in Career and Technical Education courses for all four years, including Advanced Information Systems, Accounting, Design Multimedia Web Tech, Entrepreneurship 1 and 2, and Business Management and Virtual Enterprise.
Metrorail Workshop Held at McNair
Hunter Mill District residents express concern for safety.
About a dozen bikers and walkers from the Hunter Mill district helped to pinpoint possible trails that will become a yellow brick road for locals hoping to visit D.C. or head to Dulles Airport.Concern for pedestrian and cyclist accessibility to the Silver Line Metrorail stations coming to Herndon fueled a public workshop at McNair Elementary on April 7.Herndon residents living in the Dranesville district previously met at Herndon Middle School on March 26.“We need to make some investments in the bicycle and pedestrian areas right now,” said Kris Morley-Nikfar, Fairfax County Department of Transportation planner and Herndon Metrorail Station Access Management Study project manager.The proposal maps presented ways for cyclists to access the Herndon Metro Station or the Innovation Center Metro Station within three miles and pedestrians access within one mile. However, Fairfax County wants to improve the trails via upgraded crosswalks, improved and extended trails and road diets.“We’re building them for people dressed in business clothes or dressed in casual clothes,” said team lead David Whyte.