Hermitage High School senior Helen Rai displays her artwork, which will advance to the national PTA Reflections Program competition in Washington, D.C. Rai and Short Pump Elementary School second-grader Madeleine Wang (pictured at right with School Board members Beverly Cocke, Diana Winston and Henrico Superintendent Patrick Russo), were the two Henrico students whose art advanced to the national competition. The theme of this year's competition was "Diversity Means..."

Varina Elementary School fifth grader Zareon Pettiford has been selected to participate in the People to People Student Ambassadors Program and will study in Australia for 14 days in July.

Pettiford was nominated by teachers and school guidance counselors, who say that he is a classroom leader and serves as a role model for younger students. In February, he won first place in an oratorical contest sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta, in which he recited Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

A member of the safety patrol, Pettiford is also a boy scout and plays football for Varina Athletic Association. In addition, he ran the 200m, 400m, 1500m and 2x4 relay in track and is featured in the AAU book "The Best of the Best Athletes" in track and field for 2011. At Good Shepherd Baptist Church, he sings in the youth choir, is a member of the Men of Iron ministry, and has served as vice president of the junior youth fellowship (JYF).

Starting out as one of five Steward Lower School teams competing at the Destination ImagiNation (DI) regional tournament in Richmond, a group of Steward fourth and fifth graders is now the only Richmond team going global.

Having placed first in the improvisational “News to Me” category at the regional level, the team represented Steward at the state tournament March 31. The team earned highest honors in its “News to Me” skill challenge category there, which led the way to a wildcard bid to global competition slated for May 23-26 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Under the leadership of parents and team managers Sydney Smith and Kris Leverty, the team consists of fourth graders Dabney Leverty, Callen Smith, Channing Haas and James Cox, and fifth grader Katie Jobe.

Henrico County Public Schools recently announced the winners and finalists of Henrico 21, the third annual awards ceremony recognizing teachers and students who produce lessons and products that exemplify teaching and learning excellence in the 21st century.

The Henrico County Public Library, in partnership with Henrico County Public Schools, the Friends of Henrico County Public Library, the Henrico Education Foundation, and a new business partner, Richmond International Raceway, will host Garth Stein, author of the New York Times bestseller The Art of Racing in the Rain, on Thursday, April 5 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Glen Allen High School, 10700 Staples Mill Rd. Books will be available for sale and the author will autograph books following the program.

This event is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served. Doors will open at 6:15 pm.

This spring, more than 10,000 elementary students in the Richmond region, including about 1,800 in Henrico County like these students (above) from Rivers Edge Elementary, are participating in Project Plant It!, a program developed by Dominion to educate children, plant trees and improve the environment.

Project Plant It! distributes free tree seedlings to each participating student. The program provides teachers with a comprehensive kit of lesson plans, posters, stickers and other instructional tools that align with Standards of Learning in core curriculum subjects. Project Plant It! has reached more than 100,000 students since 2007. For details or to download lesson plans, view videos or play educational games about trees, visit http://www.projectplantit.com.

After a two-day robotic basketball tournament with 99 qualification rounds that tested its engineering, teamwork and alliance-building skills, “Sparky” team 384 from Tucker High School was seeded sixth and chose the teams from Martinsville, VA and Raleigh, N.C. as alliance partners in the final matches. Sparky's alliance emerged Saturday as top winners in the 2012 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Virginia Regional. Tucker High School's FRC team qualified to compete at the FIRST WORLD Championship in St. Louis, April 25-28.

Byrd Middle School Principal Sharon Pope recently won the R.E.B. Award for Distinguished Educational Leadership. Jodie Brinkman, the principal at Echo Lake Elementary, was the runner-up.

“I know the high caliber of leaders who have earned this recognition, and to be considered in that league is truly an honor,” Pope said.

The R.E.B. Awards for Distinguished Leadership seek to recognize principals who go beyond the day-to-day demands of their position to create an exceptional educational environment. Four principals will be publicly recognized, one in each school district of the metropolitan area (i.e. the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico and the City of Richmond).