News Updates
- Education: Kindergarten registrations begin week of March 15
- Staunton: Stuart Hall students audition for All-State Chorus
- Harrisonburg: Medema to give benefit concert
- Harrisonburg: EMU introduces new dean
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Education: Kindergarten registrations begin week of March 15 Beginning kindergarten! These two words paint a vivid picture of children heading off to school for the first time. Feelings of excitement and anticipation for what the future holds! New experiences, new learning, and new friends are on the horizon.
All children who will be 5 years old, on or before Sept. 30th, are welcomed and encouraged to register. Registration begins the week of March 15, in Rockingham, Augusta, Page, Shenandoah counties as well as Harrisonburg, Staunton, and Waynesboro cities.
Registering early for kindergarten helps families, schools, and the community. Transitioning to kindergarten is exciting but it may also raise some questions, for children and their families. Registering early allows those questions to be answered now rather than later. With accurate numbers of incoming kindergartners, school systems are better able to prepare and plan. Doctors’ offices and local health departments are better able to serve families through appointments for required physicals and immunizations so children enter school ready to learn.
To register a child, the following documents must be presented: birth certificate, social security card/ number, proof of residency, immunizations and physical forms.
Please contact your local school system for more information and questions regarding specific dates:
Augusta County Schools: 540.245.5100
Page County Schools: 540.743.4252
Rockingham County School: 540.564.3254
Shenandoah County School: 540.459.6222
Staunton City Schools: 540.332.3920
Waynesboro City Schools: 540.946.4600
Harrisonburg City Schools (Welcome Center): 540.433.3644
Smart Beginnings is an organization that brings people together to ensure children in the Shenandoah Valley enter school healthy and prepared to succeed. With over 85% of the brain developing before age five, we encourage all our young citizens to have a smart beginning.
Staunton: Stuart Hall students audition for All-State Chorus Four Stuart Hall students were eligible to audition for coveted parts in the All-State Chorus. Students had to first audition for and be chosen to participate in District Chorus, competing against all public high schools in Augusta, Rockingham, Bath, Rockbridge and Highland counties as well as Staunton and Harrisonburg city, and Eastern Mennonite.
Once selected, the juniors and seniors may then audition for all-state chorus.
They compete against the other juniors and seniors in our district and then are selected to represent our district at the all-state event, which this year will be held in McLean with Dr. Randall Stroope of Oklahoma State University conducting.
Charlie Eckman has been accepted. Melanie Graves and Reed Woodrum are first alternates, and Jane Jongeward is a third alternate.
Judges accepted eight of each voice part, soprano, alto, tenor and bass, and approximately 13 students auditioned for each part.
Charles is the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Eckman of Waynesboro.
Melanie is the daughter of Twittie and Tony Graves of Waynesboro.
Reed is the son of Dr. and Mrs. George Woodrum of Staunton.
Jane is the daughter of Bill Jongeward and Mary McDermott of Waynesboro.
Harrisonburg: Medema to give benefit concert Well-known Christian musician/recording artist Ken Medema will give a benefit concert 7 p.m. Friday, March 5, at Park View Mennonite Church, North College Ave., Harrisonburg.
The concert is a benefit fundraiser for Bridge of Hope (www.bridgeofhopeinc.org), a local interdenominational ministry to homeless women and children and at-risk single mothers. Admission is by donation. An offering will be taken.
Though blind from birth, Medema has demonstrated his extraordinary musical vision in every imaginable venue, custom-designing his program for each occasion. Using his gift of improvisation, Medema hears with his heart stories from people or themes from events or speeches, then sings the stories back to his audience.
In 1985, Medema launched Brier Patch Music, a small independent recording, publishing and performance-booking company named after Brer Rabbit’s home in the legendary Uncle Remus stories.
“Brer Rabbit lived in a place not comfortable for anyone else,” Medema says, “and we have decided to follow him there.”
His albums include “Fork in the Road,” “Kingdom in the Streets,” “SonShiny Day,” “Through the Eyes of Love,” Sunday Afternoon” and a recent Christmas release, “Watching the Sky.”
When not on the road, Medema enjoys spending time at home in San Francisco with his wife Jane, reading books, watching movies (yes, Ken is an avid moviegoer) and delighting in their grandchildren, Charlotte and Henry.
The event is cosponsored by Park View Mennonite Church and EMU campus ministries. For more information, call 540.432.4115 or 540.434.1604.
Harrisonburg: EMU introduces new dean Michael A. King, a long-time writer, editor, publisher and pastor from Telford, Pa., has been named the new vice president and dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harrisonburg, Va.
Dr. King will begin his new role July 1, 2010. He succeeds Ervin R. Stutzman, who held the position nine years. Dr. Stutzman has begun serving as the new executive secretary of Mennonite Church USA. Dr. Sara Wenger Shenk is interim dean.
The vice president and seminary dean provides leadership and oversight for all seminary programs and faculty.
“Michael’s years of pastoral experience, academic preparation and passion for preparing church leaders will serve us well in his new role,” said Loren Swartzendruber, EMU president. “We anticipate his contributions to EMS as dean and to the entire university as he joins the leadership team.”
“Michael King comes to us from a distinguished career as a pastor, scholar and publisher,” said Fred Kniss, EMU provost. “He is a serious scholar with a pastoral orientation and will provide a clear Anabaptist voice in conversation with diverse Mennonite and Methodist constituencies and other audiences. Michael is committed to the mission of our university and especially to the seminary’s key role in training the next generation of church leaders,” Dr. Kniss added.
King is the owner, editor and publisher of Cascadia Publishing House, an Anabaptist-Mennonite publisher supporting examination of faith, history and contemporary life from an Anabaptist perspective. Cascadia publishes theological and scholarly volumes under the Cascadia label and popular books through the DreamSeeker Books imprint.
He has been a pastor at Germantown Mennonite Church in Philadelphia, Pa.; Salford Mennonite Church, Harleysville, Pa.; Zion Mennonite Church, Souderton Pa., and most recently Spring Mount Mennonite Church,
Schwenksville, Pa. He has been an adjunct professor at EMS Lancaster and Messiah-Temple in Philadelphia.
Books he has authored include “Trackless Wastes and Stars to Steer By: Christian Identity in a Homeless age” and “Preaching about Life in a Threatening World.” He has also edited multiple volumes including “Anabaptist Preaching: A Conversation between Pulpit, Pew and Bible.”
“Church, culture, and seminary education all seem to be undergoing tremendous ferment and transition,” King said. “This places seminaries in the center of much of the important action in our day. I look forward to
journeying with seminary students, staff and faculty as together we seek to discern how the Holy Spirit is speaking in the thick of it all.”
He received a BA degree in Bible and philosophy from EMU in 1976, an MDiv degree from Palmer Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and a PhD in rhetoric and communications from Temple University.
King is married to Joan Kenersen King, owner of Joan Kenerson King Consulting and Counseling, through which she provides public behavioral health consulting services. She is also a family therapist. They have
three daughters – Kristina, EMU 2003, Katelyn, EMU 2006, and Rachael, an EMU senior.
Eastern Mennonite Seminary, a graduate program of theological studies on the EMU campus seeks to educate leaders to serve and lead in ministry in a global context.
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