Good afternoon, everyone.
It’s not too late to pick up some Dragon “Swag” from the Lair. Proudly displaying a store front in the fine dining space known as the MLWGS cafeteria can be found the Dragon’s Lair. Therein is the perfect gift idea for the holidays or for those “just because” moments that will surely confront you during the break. Please stop in to browse the Lair and to chat with the our talented PTSA volunteers. The Lair will be open all day on Friday, 19 December (8am-4pm)!!
Dual-enrollment Biopsychology teacher Tim Donahue was recently awarded his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology/Biopsychology from VCU. The title of Tim’s dissertation was Characterization Of The Discriminative Stimulus Properties of The Atypical Antipsychotic Amisulpride in C57BL/6 Mice and had to do with testing the ‘interoceptive’ property (discriminative stimulus) of medications used for schizophrenia and depression using mice as subjects. Students taking Dr. Donahue’s Biopsych course just this week had concepts come alive when they dissected the brain of sheep. When the opportunity presents itself, please join me in congratulating Dr. Donahue.
SCA leaders Ellie and Raleigh recently Skyped with students in State College (Penn State) around the update of our dress standards. The connection was facilitated by Dr. Dana Mitra (Professor of Education Policy at Penn State) who studies “student voice” in schools. The SCA remains at work developing recommendations and we look forward to hearing the voice of the students on this topic.
Also, making use of conferencing technology were students in Mr. Quintero’s AP Spanish Language class who discussed (in Spanish!) social issues with folks in Venezuela.
Today, our Model Congress Club hosted Libertarian Robert Sarvis for a lunch time chat with interested students. Model Congress members attended the Princeton Model Congress conference in November, will host Walker Model Congress (WMC) conference in January, then head to the University of Pennsylvania for the UPENN conference in March.
Dr. Charles W. Sydnor Jr., a nationally recognized expert on the Holocaust who is executive director of the Virginia Holocaust Museum, will be the keynote speaker for WMC. As an expert witness for the U.S. Department of Justice from 1981-2006, he helped revoke the citizenship of 23 Nazi war criminals who had been living in the United States. He is the author of Soldiers of Destruction: The SS Death’s Head Division, 1933-1945 and currently is writing a biography of Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich.
Sydnor, a former member of Longwood’s history faculty (1972-80), was president of Commonwealth Public Broadcasting from 1992-2006 and president of Emory & Henry College, his alma mater, from 1984-92. He also has served as a speechwriter for Gov. Charles Robb (1982-84) and assistant to the president of Hampden-Sydney College (1980-82). He has master’s and doctoral degrees from Vanderbilt University.
Best wishes for a peaceful holiday and prosperous new year.
P.S. Just 4 more days until the winter solstice when incrementally more daylight will mark our path into the new year!
