Augusta is ‘home’ for new county school superintendent
Chuck Bishop started early in Augusta County schools, and if he has his way, he’ll finish up there, too.
“The opportunity to come home was too much to pass up,” said Bishop, who left the top post in the Radford school system to take over as the superintendent of schools in his native Augusta County on July 1.
The Buffalo Gap High School alum had previously served as principal at Riverheads High School and then five years in the school system’s central office before being hired as superintendent in Radford in 2005.
“Like most people who get involved in education, there were people along the way for me who made an impression on me, teachers that I’d had throughout the years from elementary school all the way up through high school had just made such a lasting impression on me. I wanted to have the same kind of impact on others,” Bishop said.
Link to story on TheNewDominion.com.
Local private schools faring well in tough economy
You might think at first glance that private schools like Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro and Stuart Hall in Staunton would be struggling through this still-cool economy, but they’re not.
Fishburne is expecting to start the 2010-2011 school year around 155 students, about 35 more than began the 2009-2010 school year there, and Stuart Hall is projecting that it will begin 2010-2011 at around 300 students, and more significantly, it will be operating in the black after beginning the 2009-2010 school year running a budget deficit.
“We are seeing steady inquiries, and enrollment for 2010-2011 looks good, certainly better than what it was last year. We’re encouraged that it looks better this year,” said Mark Eastham, the head of school at Stuart Hall, which like Fishburne has been able to tap into its bases of support in the community and among alums to augment its operating and capital budgets.
Link to story on TheNewDominion.com.
Will I be able to find a job?
I am quickly approaching the point in my education where I need to start thinking about my future, and I would rather not. The end of my educational career that is creeping up is enough to stress anyone out; throw in getting a real job and paying off student loans.
People call it a quarter-life crisis, which is when you basically have no clue what is going to happen or how you are going to survive after college. I thought college was supposed to prepare me for my career, but I’m not sure it has not prepared me for actually finding my job.
Rachel Kanczuzewski is a senior at the University of Georgia majoring in early elementary education and Spanish who is in the same boat.
“I’m not sure exactly what I want to do directly after I graduate. Maybe go abroad to volunteer or something like that, but eventually teaching is what I want to do,” Kanczuzewski said.
Independents face uphill battle against Goodlatte
The Sixth District is a safe one politically, so safe that Republican incumbent Bob Goodlatte does not have a Democratic Party opponent on the ballot in the November elections, though there are two independent candidates vying for the seat.
The challenge ahead for Stuart Bain, a Libertarian, and Jeff Vanke, a self-described “Independent-Centrist,” is pretty substantial.
“This would be a difficult race even for a Democrat,” said Isaac Wood, a political analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “Bob Goodlatte has never gotten under 60 percent of the vote. He’s been elected nine times. This is a district that goes heavily Republican at all levels. But when you’re an independent candidate, those challenges are even greater.”
Major-party candidates have built-in access to campaign donors and volunteers, Wood points out, something that independents like Bain and Vanke have to build for themselves.
Link to story on TheNewDominion.com.
Can Virginia Tech get the ACC back in the national-title mix?
Two words: national championship. It’s why they play college football, ultimately.
it’s been a while since the ACC has been a relevant factor on the national-championship scene. Virginia Tech seems poised to make some noise to that end in 2010.
“That’s our goal. I think if you’re in the hunt enough times, one of these days, it’s going to work out. That’s our plan. There’s no denying that that’s our goal at Virginia Tech. That’s our plan,” said Tech coach Frank Beamer, once again the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic Coast Conference and a solid #6 in the preseason USA Today coaches poll.
Beamer’s Hokies have been in the hunt off and on for the last decade, starting with the 1999 team that went 11-0 in the regular season and took a lead into the fourth quarter of an eventual 46-29 national-title game loss to Florida State.
Link to story on TheNewDominion.com.
Taylor: Depth makes him a dual threat
Tyrod Taylor is the key to the run at a national championship that Virginia Tech fans are hoping is in the offing in 2010.
The key to Taylor’s season, and thus the Hokies’ season, could be the continued development of his backups.
“We’re much better-equipped at backup quarterback this year than we were last year at this time,” Tech coach Frank Beamer said, talking about his #2 quarterback, redshirt sophomore Ju-Ju Clayton, and his #3, redshirt freshman Logan Thomas.
“Number one, Ju-Ju has had a lot of reps. Number two, Logan has been there the whole time, at spring practice. So we’re much more ready for a second quarterback to come in there than we were last year at this time,” Beamer said.
Cracking the code, what Beamer is saying there is that offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring can feel a little more assured unleashing Taylor’s full complement of skills. After running for 738 yards in 2008, when he split time at QB with Sean Glennon, Taylor ran for just 370 yards in 2009 as Stinespring and Beamer pushed Taylor to stay in the pocket and avoid the injury bugaboos that took him off the field for stretches in his freshman and sophomore seasons.
Link to story on TheNewDominion.com.
Building a program, and a new culture, at UVa.
It’s not easy rebuilding a culture.
“I make the joke that I’ve spoken to the Boys Club, the Girls Club, the Rotary Club, the Hair Club for Men, I’ve done all those things, from Rhode Island to Florida. But that’s necessary, I think, when there’s change,” said Mike London, the new football coach at the University of Virginia, fresh off a pair of playoff runs at I-AA Richmond.
From those playoff runs, including the 2008 I-AA national title, London inherits from his former mentor, Al Groh, a team picked by the writers at the 2010 ACC Football Kickoff to finish dead last in the six-team ACC Coastal, with the general consensus among the cognoscenti that UVa. might be fortunate to win three games in 2010.
“I don’t think I need to use that as a motivating factor for our team. We are what people think we are,” London said at the Kickoff. “All I’m worried about is what we think about ourselves and how we do on the field. So far what I think about my players – my thoughts are positive thoughts about where we are, what we’re doing. The season starts pretty soon, and we’ll talk again, I would assume, after the season is over.”
Link to story on TheNewDominion.com.
WIll UVa. D be better in 4-3?
Depending on how you account for things, around half of the NFL uses a 3-4 defensive front – featuring three down linemen and four linebackers. The scheme is popular with pro coaches looking for ways to slow down West Coast offenses that rely on timing in the passing game and quick hitters on the ground. Teams employing the 3-4 need to have guys with size to play in the front seven, and especially on the line, where the three down linemen need to be able to take on blocks that free up linebackers and safeties to make plays behind them.
The problem with trying to use the 3-4 in college, as former Virginia coach Al Groh found out, comes in recruiting players to fit the scheme.
“I like the 3-4. I think it is a great defense, but it is a little harder to recruit to because of the size of the guys that you’ve got to get,” said Anthony Poindexter, a former All-America at safety and holdover from the Groh regime now on staff with new UVa. coach Mike London.
Link to story on TheNewDominion.com.
A needle in a haystack
I know that I’m in the right place, because the GPS is telling me so. I’m within about 80 feet of my find, whatever that might be. And once I can figure out how to align my steps with the satellites, I’m sure I’ll start to get warmer.
This was my welcome to the world of geocaching, courtesy two friends, Elizabeth Massie and Cortney Skinner, who have been engaging in the increasingly popular pastime for the past year.
“It’s like a global scavenger hunt using handheld GPSs for the purpose of seeing if you can find a location based on a set of coordinates from satellites,” is how Massie, a novelist, described geocaching to me.
There’s an official geocaching website (geocaching.com), a book in the popular Dummies series devoted to the ins and outs of the activity, and a growing subsector of the economy devoted to not only the technological devices needed to engage in it effectively but also to the items that geocachers set themselves to trying to find.
Link to story on TheNewDominion.com.
Derby daze: Rollers skating toward the big time
Roller derby definitely isn’t for the faint of heart – or short of breath.
Just try getting through a practice with the Rocktown Rollers. It begins with a drill that has the Rollers skating around the rink and changing positions every 10 then five then three seconds.
“We started out with five girls in the beginning. Now look at what we have grown to,” said Rollers coach Thom “Troch” Metroka. “We have four girls learning the basics, 18 girls doing regular practice and then a referee squad of six to eight.”
The Rollers, based in Harrisonburg, are working their way into big-time roller derby. In July, the Rollers were accepted into the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association’s apprentice program. The apprenticeship is a year-long program dedicated to helping new teams become full members of the WFTDA league.
Link to story on TheNewDominion.com.
VaSportsOnline.com: Tech extends Beamer’s contract
The Virginia Tech Athletics Department announced on Friday the extension of head football coach Frank Beamer’s contract through Dec. 31, 2016.
Beamer’s contract had been set to expire on Dec. 31, 2012.
“I appreciate Virginia Tech’s confidence in me leading this program,” said Beamer, who is entering his 24th season heading up the Virginia Tech football program. “I believe that continuity has led to the consistency in our program, and we hope for even better days ahead.”
Link to story on VaSportsOnline.com.
Tech extends Beamer's contract
The Virginia Tech Athletics Department announced on Friday the extension of head football coach Frank Beamer’s contract through Dec. 31, 2016.
Beamer’s contract had been set to expire on Dec. 31, 2012.
“I appreciate Virginia Tech’s confidence in me leading this program,” said Beamer, who is entering his 24th season heading up the Virginia Tech football program. “I believe that continuity has led to the consistency in our program, and we hope for even better days ahead.” Read more
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