SUNDAY 4/29: FCCFA Recruiting Event

The Falls Church City Football Association, in conjunction with the George Mason Mustangs football team, will host the organization’s Annual Recruiting Event at FCCFA Treasurer Dave Hagigh’s home at 306 Shadow Walk, Fall Church, on April 29, from 1:00-3:00pm.

All MEH and GMHS students, 6th – 11th grade who are interested in playing George Mason football next Fall are welcome. Pizza and drinks will be served and opportunities for joining the team will be discussed.

Current Mustang players are welcome and encouraged to attend – bring a friend who doesn’t yet play!

To pose inquiries, contact theFCCFA (info@thefccfa.org)

Troop 349 Receives Highest Honor

By FALLS CHURCH TIMES STAFF
March 18, 2012

Troop 349 of Falls Church was awarded the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) highest honor for organizational preparedness – the Journey to Excellence (JTE) Gold Award. “Troop 349 is proud to be part of a group of units in the area to receive this honor and it reflects the dedication and hard work of all of our scouts, leaders, and parents,” stated Tony Ulses, former Scout Master of the troop.

Instituted by the BSA last year, the JTE gold award is given to units that have followed a strict regiment of training, advancement, fiscal responsibility, and participation criteria.  Troop 349 was founded with a desire to bring a hi-quality scouting experience that focuses on teaching leadership and community involvement to the youth of Falls Church.  With 37 scouts, the troop has worked hard to provide that environment and will continue to maintain it going forward.

Guest Speaker: Troop 349 has a history of focusing on scout advancement and providing its boys multiple opportunities to do so. In January of this year the troop welcomed Special Agent Michael Mack, from the Bureau of Diplomatic Security to talk with the scouts on the first class trail. He discussed with the boys our constitutional rights and obligations as a U.S. citizen. Special Agent Mack has worked for both the county and the federal governments for over 30 years. He has served in various roles as a policeman and has been stationed overseas in Ethiopia, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Africa. The boys enjoyed his stories and everyone who attended learned a great deal about how our government works.

Teaching Leadership: Leaders from Troop 349 spent a recent Sunday morning learning about team work and leadership from one of Falls Church George Mason High School’s premier coaches: Julie Bravin, an extraordinary mentor for Falls Church City. Ms. Bravin has developed leadership techniques that consistently produce superior results in motivation, fulfillment, and top-level performance. Coach Bravin’s record of team successes is extraordinary.

Boy Scout Troop 349, Falls Church City, was formed with the specific purpose of using scouting to teach leadership to youth. Ms. Bravin was gracious to present her winning philosophies to the adult leaders of the boy scouts. She delivered important lessons for our parents, youth, and our City. As adult leaders in the community, we thank and applaud both Coach Bravin and our school district for such superlative talent and dedication.

ABOUT TROOP 349: The Troop is open to boys between the ages of 12 and 17, who have graduated from the fourth grade, and/or have received his arrow of light award. Boys desiring to join the troop are welcome at any time to attend a meeting and present themselves to the Scout Master for admission. Troop 349 meets every Tuesday evening at 7 PM between September and June at the American Legion Hall on Oak St. The troop web site contains more information about joining and what boy scouts is all about. Go to www.troop349.us to learn more about the troop and it’s culture.

A Little Birdy Twittered the Schools Closed Early

I really like the way that Falls Church City Public Schools experiment with new technology ranging from online tools for the teachers to share assignments with kids (like Angel) to paying for lunches online  (even if it is too expensive) to teachers blogging.  One other innovation is FCCPS’ “twitter” feed used to announce school news including bad weather early closings and cancellations – http://twitter.com/fccps.

A lazy parent (like me) who wants to be informed of  schedule changes without hunting for them on the web or suffering through TV/radio listings of closings can now get them via twitter and have the notice sent via SMS to your phone if you choose.

While the announcements are free, they take a few steps to setup.  Namely,

1. create your own free twitter account.
2. login to your new account
3. tell twitter how to reach your phone by going to “settings” and “devices”.  You’ll have to fill in your mobile phone number.
4. click “follow” on the Falls Church Public Schools twitter account  http://twitter.com/fccps,  (while you are at it, you can follow other people including me; Mr. Baxter, Principal of TJ; Heidi Lang in the TAAP program at TJ; Andy Rankin from the Falls Church  Insider blog; Ms. McCarty Principal at MEHMS; or Shaquille O’Neal.)
5. On the FCCPS twitter page turn device updates “on”.  If you don’t want to get updates via phone, leave device updates off.

Worked like a charm last week when I got notification of the school closing via text message at 4:30am.

Relay for Life Schedules First Team Meeting for Wednesday, February 11

More than 30 teams already have signed up for the 2009 Relay For Life of Falls Church, an American Cancer Society fund-raiser that will be held overnight on May 30-31 on George Mason High School’s football field.

The first meeting for team members will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 11, at the Falls Church Community Center.  The event will help team members get to know each other and share ideas as they prepare for this year’s relay.

More information about the Relay For Life, how to start a team or how to join one, is available at

www.fallschurchrelay.org.

2009 Falls Church Relay for Life Off to Strong Start

An estimated 100 people turned out on Sunday, January 25 for the Relay For Life Kick-Off Event at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School. Last year’s relay saw 40 participating teams raise more than $83,000 to support the American Cancer Society’s fight against cancer.

“We’re very excited with the level of interest we’ve already seen for this year’s event,” said Co-Chairs Katie Clinton and Terri Rollo. “We’re confident that the 2009 Relay will be even bigger and better.”

All City schools will be participating in this year’s relay. Dr. Lois Berlin, superintendent of the Falls Church City Schools, will be serving as an honorary co-chair. Carol Ann Siciliano, a City resident and cancer survivor, will serve as the other honorary co-chair.

Persons interested in entering a team or joining an existing one can sign up for the relay at www.fallschurchrelay.org. The organizers also are interested in reaching out to cancer survivors in Falls Church and encouraging them to participate.

* Thanks to Gary Mester for the photos.
Left photo: Terri Rollo, Supt. Lois Berlin and Katie Clinton, co-chairs and honorary co-chair of the 2009 Relay.
Right photo: George Mason High School chorus performed at the event.

Kids can do Politics too

I know most people think kids and teens cannot understand the complexity of politics.  Well, some do.  Consider the sixth grade TAAP advanced class which is trying to sort and classify remarks from the candidates. Another example of young politics is how all the MEHMS grades are doing a mock election, casting votes for Obama or McCain.  Election coordinator, Rory Dippold, is looking for poll workers for this October 30 morning event.  Contact Mr. Dippold to volunteer.  I’ll make a later update to let you know the winner.

Treasure Hunting in Falls Church

With names like “Cherry Hill Micro,” “Capping Tinner Hill,” and “Brandymore Castle Cache,” there are treasure troves hidden around Falls Church.  Or,  “geocaches” more accurately.  A geocache (pronounced “geo-cash”) is something placed at a specific location, identified by its global  positioning system (GPS) coordinates, by a fellow geocacher.  The cache almost always includes a log book to record your discovery and then may be a box with trinkets (take one,  leave one), a puzzle, a letter, or special travel objects.  When you and your kids go search for these treasures you are geocaching.

To join the treasure hunt go to Geocaching.com and search for a cache in your area.  You can search by zip code, town, etc.  There are more than 34 caches around Falls Church and over 650,000 around the world.  Print out the coordinates and any directions for the cache you are after, grab your handheld GPS device, and head out the door.

Caches are ranked by “terrain” (how hard it is to get to) and “difficulty” (how hard it is to find once you get there).  For your first try, pick an easy cache.  You can often do several caches from the same area in an afternoon.   When you get back to the computer record your discoveries and make comments.  If you really get into the game, you can start creating your own caches and listing them online for others to find.

Please tell us how your geocaching adventures go in the comments below.  Who doesn’t love a treasure hunt?

[Thanks to Wikimedia Commons for the home page image.]

Attention Campers!

Where did you go? What did you do? Would you do it again? Tell us about your summer camp experiences so others can learn from them. If you really liked your camp, encourage more Falls Church kids to go. If you didn’t like it, tell us why and warn them. Leave your comments below or send me email with your camp reviews.

My kids, Adam and Zach, both spent 3 1/2 weeks at Timberlake in Vermont. The camp doesn’t allow any electronics and it rained a lot (so they were covered with mud much of the time.) Nonetheless, they both say they’d go back.

[Thanks to Rob for the camp pictures.]