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In response to the multitude of ideas posed by freshmen, biology teachers created the Arabidopsis Fair, a science expo exclusively for Honors Biology students.

According to Biology and Environmental Systems teacher Barbara Brown, freshmen “just didn’t have the preparation” to participate in science fair, so the faculty decided to use the Arabidopsis Fair “so that it would be easier for us to help the kids.”

Every year Honors Biology freshmen cultivate mutant and wild type variations of Arabidopsis under different stressors.
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The orchestra’s yearly Pops concert will be held much earlier this year due to renovation demands. According to choral director Catherine Bond, this will be the last orchestra performance held at Marshall until the new auditorium is finished.

Rescheduled for May 3, this free concert will also be the final performance for 12 seniors, who will be honored either through solo performances or renditions of songs chosen by the honoree. Cellist Brendan Metzger, senior, chose to be in the solo performance and will be playing a part in the Orchestra’s rendition of “Pavone for a Dead Princess.”
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The Fairfax County School Board approved a measure to investigate moving school starting times from 7:20 to 8:00 a.m., a motion that has resurfaced since it was intiatlly voted down by the board in 2009.

Although no plan currently exists to change start times, there is an intent “for the School Board to study how later start times could be achieved,” school board chair Jane Strauss said.

The revival of this issue can be partially attributed to the Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal.

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Students disappointed with last winter’s lack of snow have something to look forward to: the lack of school closings has prompted the Fairfax County School Board to remove two school days from the end of the year.

Before the School Board vote, the last day of school would have been June 19. Now, students will be released on June 15. The extra two days have been relabeled as teacher work days.

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Aiming to introduce elementary school students to the world of business, about 60 members of Marshall’s FBLA chapter participated in the Junior Achievment program on April 18. Statesmen engaged with students of all grade-levels at Shrevewood Elementary School and led eight-hour lessons on basic business concepts.

“Even though I am on my feet for eight hours and I am exhausted running around making sure the kids are understanding the material, I love doing it,” senior Negin Hooshmandnia said, reflecting on her involvement in the function in previous years.

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“At first I thought I was in trouble,” recalled senior Brandy Allen when she received a note to the counselor’s office during class, telling her to stop by during Learn.

Upon Allen’s apprehensive arrival, career center specialist Gardner Humphreys congratulated Allen on being one of the 11 students in Fairfax County to be awarded the Student Peace Award.

“I didn’t even know what it was, initially,” Allen said.

First awarded in 2006, the Student Peace Award is awarded to students who demonstrate a commitment to peace by resolving conflicts of either local or global importance.

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Four competitors won first place in their respective categories at the regional science fair last weekend.

First place winners Annie Bryan and Emily Casey, sophomores, said they had started their project to address the deficit of pure water in Africa. The team searched for a way to transport desalinated water to African villages far from the coast lines. Bryan and Casey built an apparatus to distill water containing the same salt density as the Atlantic Ocean. Bryan said they “purified the water by 97.7 percent.”

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In response to concerns over theft of student ID numbers to pay for lunches, the cafeteria administration has installed new picture verification technology in each lunch line. Under the new system, if a student is caught using someone else’s ID number, he or she will be formally charged with theft.

The new technology uses touch-screens, which have every student’s school picture uploaded. When a student ID number is put in, a picture of the corresponding person will come up on the screen.

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The Envirothon team competed in the District Envirothon competition today. This two-part challenge tested students’ environmental skills and knowledge. The group competed against eight other schools and teams.

The first part of the competition took a traditional question-and-answer approach, centering on four main categories: wildlife, streams, soil and forestry.

According to team sponsor Barbara Brown, certain members were chosen to specialize in one of the categories in order to answer more obscure questions.

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DECA earned the title of Blue Chip Chapter at their state competition on the weekend of March 7. The award is the highest honor a chapter can earn in Virginia.

“This [award] is something we’ve been working towards for a while,” DECA advisor Jen Hendrickson said.

The team also broke the Marshall record for most first-place wins, with six participants topping their respective categories.

Forty-one participants qualified for the international competition, requiring a top seven or eight placement in their respective categories.

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