Western Loudoun Relay for Life Starts Saturday

Local teams hope to raise $230,000 for cancer research

About 1,000 local participants are preparing for this weekend’s Western Loudoun Relay for Life event at Heritage High School. It will kick off at 6 p.m. and will end at 6 a.m. Sunday morning. Cheryl Weaver of Purcellville is the chair of this year’s relay. She is a cancer survivor who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, then again with a re-occurrence in 2007. “I didn’t think I was worthy of help, but I reached out to people after the 2nd diagnosis and found the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life,” Weaver said. She appreciates the fact that the American Cancer Society works for all types of cancer research. “When I was in the chemo room for 18 months straight, I saw people with all types of cancer fighting for their lives in …

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Local Students Chosen to Serve on School Board

The 2012-2013 will mark the eighth year student School Board members have been named in Loudoun County. Three Leesburg students have been chosen out of 13 high schools.

Three local high school students have been chosen to serve as school board members for the 2012 to 2013 school year. They were officially welcomed by School Board Chairman Eric Hornberger and Vice Chair Jill Turgeon on Thursday, May 17. The include: According to an online LCPS press release, the student school board members will get a backstage look at how a government works that few citizens receive.  The non-voting student school board members will each serve a month on the School Board. During this time they will give comments and input on business before the board. Hornberger encouraged the students to ask questions on information items before the school board and to offer their opinions on action items. To read the full story visit …

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Heritage and Loudoun County Among Best High Schools in U.S.

Out of 1,000 schools, Heritage ranked 656 while Loudoun came in at 751.

Newsweek has released its best high schools list for 2012. Out of the best 1,000 public high schools in the nation, the ones that have proven to be the most effective in turning out college-ready grads, both Heritage and Loudoun County high schools have made the list. "We're always pleased when our schools are named among the best in the nation," said Loudoun County Public School's Information Officer Wayde Byard. "While this is a subjective measure, it does reflect the hard work are students and staff put into their academics." Home of the Pride, Heritage High School ranked 656. It has a graduation percentage of 94 with 91 percent of its students headed to college. The average SAT score is 1581 while the ACT comes in at 23.1. Loudoun …

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Leesburg High School Students Challenged to "Put It Together"

Heritage, Loudoun County and Tuscarora high schools are participating in the first-ever seat belt safety campaign launched for local teens.

The Leesburg Police Department and Virginia State Police are challenging the town’s 2,932 high school students to “put it together” in order to save lives and reduce traffic deaths and injuries resulting from a lack of seat belt usage. Heritage, Loudoun County and Tuscarora High schools will be competing with one another the week of May 14 to see which school has the most participation in the community’s first-ever seat belt safety campaign. “When we discovered that seat belt usage among teen drivers and passengers in Leesburg was as low as 66.7 percent, we knew we had to reach out and engage these students,” said First Sergeant A.D. Blankenship, Loudoun County Area Commander. “Their lives depend on it.” The Put It Together (PIT) challenge…

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Heritage High School Presents Legally Blonde - The Musical

Popular, high energy show runs Thursday, April 19, through Saturday, April 21.

When Montana Brown, Heritage High School’s theatre arts director, found out that Legally Blonde - The Musical, was going to be released last fall for high school production, she quickly jumped at the chance to place Heritage as one of the first high schools in the country to produce the show. Since then, the drama department has been been enthusiastically rehearsing for this weekend's performances. “The leads in the show had their lines memorized before rehearsals even officially started," said Brown. "The kids have looked forward to the rehearsals and it has been a really fun experience." Brown said tryouts were very competitive for this popular show, especially for the roles of the sorority girls. “They needed to be able to sing, dance …

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Heritage High School Teacher Receives Outstanding Teacher Award

Andrea Schlegel, a social science teacher, received the recognition on March 26. She will be presented with her award during a formal event on May 15.

Andrea Schlegel, a social science teacher at Heritage High School, has been named the 2012 recipient of The Washington Post’s Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award. She found out on March 26 after being nominated by a former student’s parent. “It was overwhelming and it was very humbling in some ways,” Schlegel said. “When you’re a teacher people come in and out all the time and you don’t know what kind of impact that you have on them. So it was really a nice honor.” Schlegel has been a teacher for 20 years, five of which have been spent at Heritage High School. During that time she has interacted with a number of different people who submitted letters of support for Schlegel’s nomination. The annual Washington Post award recognizes …

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Lacrosse: Loudoun County vs. Heritage

Loudoun County defeated Heritage High last night with a score of 17-13.

The Loudoun County Varsity lacrosse team traveled cross town to Heritage High School Wednesday night where they secured a 17-13 victory.  The game was tightly contested up through the end of the third quarter.  Loudoun County took control of the game in the fourth quarter securing the win.  Scoring for the Raiders: Sean Rogers had 4 goals and 6 assists, Evan O'Hara had 4 goals and 4 assists, Justin England had 3 goals and 1 assist, Jacob Averys had 2 goals, Ben Messina had 1 goal and 2 assists.  Grant Mckinster, Erik Larson and Matt Gribbin each contributed 1 goal.  Zach Green and Sinclair Williams each had an assist. Brad Burke won 11 of 14 face-offs and AJ Smith had 9 ground balls.  The Varsity lacrosse team will complete the game …

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Leesburg’s Top 10 Projects

What projects have you seen in Leesburg that have made the most difference in our lives?

After writing about such projects as the completion of a key Battlefield Parkway link and the planned extension of Metrorail into Loudoun County, I started thinking about all of the changes I have seen in Leesburg during the 23 years I have lived and worked here. I decided to compile a list of the Top Ten projects I have seen completed in Leesburg since 1989. These are projects that have affected the everyday lives of those who live here – where we live and shop, and how we get around and spend our leisure time. They are all projects that occurred, at least partly, in Leesburg. Here are my choices: There were several other major projects that I was not able to fit into this list, and many others that were accomplished before I came to …

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LCPS Students Perform in Orchestra

The Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) All-County Orchestras took place at Heritage High School on Saturday, Feb. 18. The annual event was an opportunity for the best string, brass and percussion players in Loudoun County to come together to create an “All-Star Orchestra” Heritage High School Band and Orchestra Director George Herrmann said Friday that every middle and high school in Loudoun County was represented. There were at least 160 performers who were chosen to participate through auditions. Click here for the full story, which appeared last week on Leesburg Patch. 

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LCPS All-County Orchestras to Perform Saturday at Heritage High School

At least 160 performers will represent every middle and high school located within Loudoun County.

The Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) All-County Orchestras is scheduled to take place at Heritage High School this Saturday. The annual event is an opportunity for the best string, brass and percussion players in Loudoun County to come together to create an “All-Star Orchestra”.  Heritage High School Band and Orchestra Director George Herrmann said Friday that every middle and high school in Loudoun County will be represented. There will be at least 160 performers. Each participating student was chosen through auditioning, Herrmann said, and the top scoring students were selected for the ensemble. “The groups are an opportunity to showcase the best performers in the county,” Herrmann said, as well as an opportunity for the students to …

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