RCHS band tours NYC and brings home multiple awards
WCDS sports update
Varsity soccer: The Wakefield Country Day School Lady Owls traveled to Shenandoah Valley Christian Academy for their first game of the season on March 24. The Patriots were sharp and netted five goals in the first half before taking an
11-0 victory. The Owls are 0-1 overall.
Varsity lacrosse: The Owls traveled to Fredericksburg Christian School for a nonconference game on March 27, striking first with a goal by Gage Landis. The Eagles tied the score at 1-1, but a third-quarter goal by Shane O’Heir gave the Owls a lead they never relinquished. Four final period goals gave the Owls a season-opening 6-1 victory. In addition to Nolan and Landis, Abe Nolan scored, as did Joseph Dowell (his first career goal). Sam Nolan also notched two assists, while Nick Leskovec had one. Their record is 1-0 overall.
RCHS band’s award
winning NYC visit
The Rappahannock County High School Band traveled to New York City March 21-23 for its annual spring trip, a combination of sightseeing and competition hosted by the festival travel company and attended by numerous bands from around the country.
Students enjoyed dinner at Planet Hollywood in Times Square before attending a Friday night performance of “The Phantom of the Opera” at the Majestic Theater. The marching band’s program this year — “Music of the Night” — included many selections from the An- drew Lloyd Webber musical; the students enjoyed the show and were especially excited to hear music that they had played.
On Saturday, both the RCHS concert and jazz bands performed before three wellknown music composers and teachers in an adjudicated concert. The concert band performed “Sousa Times Twousa,” “Starscapes” and “Liturgical Fanfare,” while the jazz band performed “Lil Darlin’,” “Funky Monkey,” “Blues and Hoss,” the James Bond theme and “All of Me.”
Afterwards, both bands received comments and suggestions from the adjudicators. In a rare moment, the adjudicators had no suggestions for the concert band — other than to say they had done an exceptional job. This was a hint of what was to come during the awards ceremony, where both bands took home prizes.
The jazz band received a second- place award, while concert band took first place, as well as the Adjudicator’s Award ( presented to bands at the competition that earn at least 93 of 100 points) and an invitation to 2015’ s “Festival of Gold” competition, which is open only to bands earning more than 91.6 points. Finally, the concert band also won the Outstanding Band Award — presented to the highestscoring band in the competition.
Following the ceremony, students attended a dinner/ dance cruise around the city with the other schools at the competition, with stunning views of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan skyline. On Sunday, they visited the Empire State Building before making their way home.
Latham is R-MA’s middle-school geography ace
After an intense contest in which the last two competitors went through almost every tiebreaker in the book, eighthgrader Ryan Latham of Amissville finally emerged as Randolph-Macon Academy Middle School’s champion in the schoollevel National Geographic Bee. His classmate, Gabe Dubin of Front Royal, was the runner-up.
According to the National Geographic website (nationalgeographic.com/geobee), “Each year thousands of schools in the United States participate in the National Geographic Bee using materials prepared by the National Geographic Society. The contest is designed to encourage teachers to include geography in their classrooms, spark student interest in the subject, and increase public awareness about geography.” The contest is open to students in grades four through eight.
Soon after winning the school competition, Latham took a written test and successfully qualified for the state competition, which takes place tomorrow (Friday, April 4) at Longwood University. This is the third year in a row an R-MA students has qualified for the state competition.
Two Rapp-ers on R-MA honor roll
Among the students named to Randolph-Macon Academy’s most recent honor roll were Rappahannock residents Ryan Latham and Evan Scott Lester.
Latham, an eighth grader at the academy and the son of Stephen and Dawn Latham of Amissville, was named to the president’s list. Lester, a sophomore and son of Cynthia Lester of Winchester and Scott Lester of Huntly, was named to the dean’s list.