T. rexes rush campus!
Motorists passing the campus of Wakefield Country Day School surely were doing double takes when spotting not one but two giant T. rex dinosaurs giving chase to adrenalized students in Mrs. Shafran's Pre-K class.
The 2018 National Honor Society Induction Ceremony took place last Thursday in front of the RCHS student body, staff, administrators, and parents. The 2018 inductees were selected based on areas of academics, citizenship, and service.
Congratulations to the 2018 NHS Inductees: Nyah August, Ashlyn Connelly, Jacklyn Humphries, Mikayla Johnson, Itsail Arellano, Kerrie Baker, Celeste Blankenship, Megan Dodson, Brett Midkiff, Skylar Culbertson, Sophia Hernandez, Ninon Kirchman, Lauren Petty, and Julian Cordero.
These outstanding students joined the RCHS Chapter of the National Honor Society, which was comprised of 36 additional students: Amber Smoot, Brooke Athelli, Caragh Heverly, Catherine Deane, Connor Culbertson, Cydney Chambers, Deana Abdullah, Drake Lynn, Emily Way, Jacob Sheffield, Joe Gold, Mahlet Yirgu, Sky Kirchman, Tatyana Yates, Trusten Murrah, Virginia Wyatt, Zoe Rossiter, Juan Arellano, Abigail Berry, Serenity Cortez, Bridget Daly, Sarah East, Morgan Flanagan, Savannah Hensley, Bryce Jones, Melanie Marlor, Macy Montgomery, Jackson Norris, Emily Preston, Amanda Puskar, Grace Raiford, Katherine Sharp, Nancy Weghorst, Madison Wells, Elizabeth Whittaker, and Alicia Whorton.
SCHOLASTIC FEAT
Coach Dave Naser’s Scholastic Bowl team traveled to Danville last weekend for the VHSL Regional Scholastic Bowl Tourney. In an 8 team round robin tournament the Panthers posted a tournament best 6-1 record. That said, they were one of three teams to finish 6-1, and by tournament rules a tie-breaker system of points scored was implemented.
In the end, although Rapp actually finished the day in a three way tie for first, Rapp was on the low end of the “total points scored” tiebreaker, racking up 1,570 points in their wins to the Champion Riverheads and Runner-up Galileo Magnet’s 1,640 and 1,635 points respectively. The final tie-breaker placement was certainly a disappointment, and ended the team’s VHSL season, but Coach Naser was very proud of the way they played, noting that the weekend’s performance probably featured their best performances of the year. Senior Captain Jacob
Sheffield scored 560 toss up points, averaging 80 points per game. Junior
Bryce Jones was second leading scorer, with 195 points, followed by freshman
Alex Petty with 170 and sophomore Lauren Petty with 165. Gus Garcia rounded out the scoring with 30 points of his own.
Although VHSL play is over for the year, the team is now shifting their focus to prepare for the upcoming “It’s Academic” competition, which will be filmed on April 28. The team is also conducting fundraisers to help fund their attendance at a national Scholastic Bowl Tournament to be held in Atlanta over the Memorial Day weekend. Coach Naser and his Assistant Coach
Layne Vickers are excited about the prospects for achievement in the coming months and looking forward to putting on a good show over the airwaves and in Atlanta for the fans back home.
SPORTS SHORTS
Shifting venues from the hushed classrooms of Scholastic Bowl to the noisy gyms of basketball, our Rapp hoopsters had a relatively light week but still managed to get in some positives.
On the girls side of the court, Rapp’s varsity took two losses last week, on the road at George Mason and then at Central Woodstock. Bright spots still appeared even in the losses, with the team doubling their points output against the Falcons when compared to the first time the two teams faced each other. Carrington
Wayland led the Panther scorers with 16 points in the Central game, followed by Sarah East with 10 and
Hannah East with 8.
Coach Jeff Atkins’ Junior Varsity girls had a split week, dropping their contest against Mason but bringing home the win over Central Woodstock. The Mason game was a tight contest with the Mustangs prevailing in the end. Mirandah Jenkins led Rapp scorers with 11 points, followed by SaraBeth Ellis with 6 and Tori Atkins with 5. At Central the team played what was described by Coach Atkins as perhaps their best game yet, with everyone contributing to the victory in some way. Tori
Atkins led scorers with 12 points with Jordan Welch adding 6 and Kammie Brown
5 to round out the top three scorers in the 35-15 win. Both teams are in the home gym tonight, Thursday Feb. 1 against the Rams of Strasburg, JV tip off at 6, and then again next Tuesday, Feb. 6, against Madison County.
Rapp’s Junior Panther girls dropped their last home contest, last week versus North Fork, and had an away contest this past Monday at Madison, results too late for this article, with their season finale at Randolph Macon Academy tonight, Thursday Feb. 1.
On the boys’ hardwood our Varsity boys dropped games at Madison and then at home versus George Mason last week. The team travels to Strasburg tomorrow, Friday Feb. 2. The team will host their final game of the season next Wednesday, Feb. 7, when the Mountaineers of Madison County come to the Panther’s den, tipoff at 7 PM.
Last but not least, our varsity wrestlers traveled to Riverheads High School last Saturday, competing in the Big Red Invitational Tournament. At day’s end some wins were brought home, with Jaesean
Yates getting a win in his 106 weight pound class,
Christians Burns snagging two wins at 126, and Dalton
Renner also scoring two wins in the 132 bracket AND a fourth place finish in the bracket. Billy Taplin added a victory with a win in his 285 pound weight class.
Coaches Paul Paratore and Kreighton Long are spending the week preparing their wrestlers for the Bull Run District Tournament this Saturday at Strasburg High School. The following weekend, Feb. 9 and 10, the team will compete in the Group 1A regional tourney, with a berth in the State Championship meet on the line. — Jimmy Swindler
PATCH ADAMS
The RCHS Certified Nursing Assistant class is raising funds for Dr. Patch Adams to come and speak to the entire high school on Wednesday, April 11th. Please consider donating to help them raise the money needed to book this special guest speaker. For more details, visit: https://www. gofundme.com/specialspeaker-patch-adams
DINOS TO WCDS
If you were passing through Flint Hill, you may have spotted two giant T. Rexes on the campus of Wakefield Country Day School. Not to fear. Those T. Rexes were promptly vetted and did indeed have permission to visit the very excited children in Mrs.
Shafran’s Pre-K classroom. “We knew ahead of time the dinosaurs would be visiting, so the moment the Tyrannosauruses entered campus, we gathered at the window and watched them approach, dancing happily on their way. When we saw that the dinosaurs didn't eat Mrs. Lindstrom, we invited them inside,” recalls Kim Shafran.
Once in the classroom, the students enjoyed meeting their friendly visitors and shaking their itty bitty hands. The youngsters knew a few fun facts about T. Rexes and shared these points with each guest: Rex means king, so he was king of the dinosaurs; his teeth were as big as a banana, and very sharp; his arms were so short he couldn't scratch his nose; some scientists think he had feathers on his head; he had a keen sense of smell; and he was smarter than most dinosaurs.
After spending a little time together in the room, "we decided we could run as fast as dinosaurs, so we challenged them to a race outside," says Shafran. Giggles and laughter soon filled the front lawn of the school as tickled spectators cheered for one and all.
Sure enough, the children of WCDS outran those big T. Rexes of Rappahannock County. And after a display of fine sportsmanship — with itty bitty handshakes — the children and dinosaurs said their goodbyes.
And they all lived happily ever after. — Lisa Ramey
GREAT JOB, BEN Benjamin Kopjanski
of Boston, a sophomore at Randolph-Macon Academy in Front Royal, has been inducted into the National Honor Society. Ben is the son of Melanie Kopjanski.