Falls Church News & Notes

The Fairfax County Volunteer Service Awards were released April 22, with two Falls Church residents among the winners. Bob Fuss won the Human Services Award for his inspirational work with the Fairfax Adapted Aquatics Program. Fuss’s day job as a correspondent for CBS radio only scratches the surface of his extraordinary work and in the past ten years has spent more than a thousand hours bringing fun and instruction to children with disabilities. Born with underdeveloped legs and relying on braces to walk, Mr. Fuss teaches by example that no obstacle is to large to overcome.

Kim Oanh Nguyen was also honored, receiving the Individual Arts and Humanities Volunteer Award. Born and raised in Vietnam and trained in Vietnamese classical arts, Ms. Oanh is a member of Boat People SOS, a group that provides services to immigrants and refugees. Divulging her knowledge freely to at-risk youth or simply singing to a child, Ms. Oanh’s work continues to be a link across the Pacific to her homeland.

Falls Church’s Chrystopher Herrera, a 2000 graduate of J.E.B. Stuart High School and currently a sophomore at Franklin and Marshall College, recently spent time working with local middle and elementary school students in Lancaster, PA to make a PowerPoint presentation for the school’s Super Saturday Program, a community program that include workshops on garden art, dance, computers, radio broadcasting, video production, photography and tennis. Franklin and Marshall didn’t identify if Herrera participated in all of these workshops, but if he did, his achievement is even more impressive!

In other news from college campuses, Andrew Christopher Starr and Daniel Andrew Cogut, both Falls Church residents and freshmen at the College of William and Mary have been inducted into Phi Eta Sigma. The national honorary society for college freshmen requires students have at least a 3.5 GPA and be in the top 20-percent of their class to qualify for the honor.

The Greek theme seems to agree with Falls Church as resident Jeri Hesson, a student at Northern Virginia Community College, received the International Award for Leadership from Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for two-year colleges. Hesson is on the Campus Dean’s List and the National Dean’s List for scholastic merit.

The F.C. Braintrust continues to grow, as Molly Conn Cincotta was named to the Dean’s List at Goucher College just north of Baltimore. As a sophomore Cincotta needed to maintain a GPA of 3.70 or higher to achieve the honor.

Odds are that Marta Eckert-Mills has heard “Pomp and Circumstance” recently, graduating with honors from Warren Wilson College with a degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Sustainable Agriculture. Since graduation she’s been keeping busy as a writer, potter (check out a sample of her work in the front window of Falls Church Art and Frame, 244 West Broad St.) and training as a manager on a pesticide free farm.

Of more than 30,000 eighth graders across the country George Mason Middle School Student Evan Warner recorded the nation’s highest score on the American Scholoastic Achievement Test. The exam, given earlier this year, tests eighth graders in math, science, language, history and geography.

From the “right side of the brain” department, J.E.B. Stuart High School junior Dannie M. Snyder’s Normal Teenagers was among ten winning plays in the Fifth Annual Arena Stage Student Ten-Minute Play Competition. The Student Playwright Project Showcase will be held May 21-23 at 8 p.m. Admission is free.

For contributions to the city’s younger, budding students the Virginia Preschool Council recognized Christine Nowroozi and Susan and Juerg Wegmueller with VCPC Awards for their work with Dulin United Methodist Cooperative Preschool. Ms. Nowroozi was cited for her dedication to replacing the preschool’s aging playground equipment. Meanwhile the Wegmuellers received praise for “revolutionizing” the checkout procedure for the school’s annual fundraising auction.

In news that makes this paper’s staff tired just thinking about it, Falls Church resident Freyda Greenberg completed the Boston Marathon in 4 hours 27 minutes and 36 seconds despite the grueling 86-degree temperatures. Freyda placed in the top quarter of the 531 female runners in her division.

For those seeking to emulate Freyda, at least in part, strap on your sneakers for the 21st Annual Sallie Mae 10K. The race will take place Sunday, May 16 in West Potomac Park, with proceeds aiding D.C. public high school students to continue on to a higher education.

Bailey’s Crossroads Community Shelter has partnered with Whole Foods Market in Vienna and will feature a bevy of body pampering businesses … and a magician … to help raise funds for the local homeless shelter that served 1210 last year.

Mark down May 1 on your calendars for a dazzling day of dogwoods, azaleas and other spring botanicals at the Ravenwood Park 15th Annual Garden Tour. A soothing harp will serenade visitors and those desiring to participate in a plant exchange will be afforded the opportunity to swap flora.