Henrico County Public Schools has once again been named one of the "Best Communities for Music Education" by the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Foundation. Henrico is the only school system in the country to hold this distinction for all 13 years of the association's rankings.

Each school receiving the “Best Communities” designation scored in the 80th percentile or higher in the survey's grading process. Participants in the survey answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and other relevant factors in their communities' music education programs. The responses were verified with district officials and advisory organizations reviewed the data.

The Hermitage High School Marine Corps JROTC will host the Hermitage Highland Games, a military-style field meet and picnic for the Superintendent’s Cup starting at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 21.

All Henrico County Public School JROTC programs are invited. Each participating school will select one team of 10 males and two females to compete in a series of 10 events. After the events and picnic, an awards ceremony will be conducted. Awards will be given to the top three teams for each event and overall.

An economics class he took in college has resulted in long-term payoffs for Rob Wedge -- and for growing numbers of students at The Collegiate School as the well.

In 1996, as a history teacher at Winchester (Massachusetts) High School, Wedge was approached by the assistant principal, who was casting around for someone to take over his part-time teaching duties.

Noticing the economics class on Wedge's college transcript, and not wanting to turn over his economics class to someone who knew nothing about the subject, the administrator asked Wedge if he'd be willing to teach part-time while working on his master's degree at Boston University.

"Being a starving college student," recalls Wedge, "I happily took the job."

The smell of freshly brewed coffee filled the air as Tucker High School exceptional education students tied their aprons and went to work making hot drinks for faculty members on a recent morning. Tavern On the Hill is the student-run coffee shop that has gotten a lot of buzz around Tucker High.

“Teachers love it,” said Angela Watson, an exceptional education teacher at Tucker. “We always get compliments on our great service.”

Every Wednesday and Friday students get to brush up on their social, customer service, and counting skills by hand-delivering coffee, apple cider, and hot chocolate to teachers around the school for 75 cents per cup. Teachers place orders with GoogleDocs, which allows the students to pick up some technological expertise.

Nearly 400 central Virginia high school and middle school students assembled at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School recently to participate in the 15th annual Governor’s School Model United Nations Conference (GSMUN XV), around 150 being students from Henrico County.

The conference is completely student-run, consisting of a staff of around 70 Governor’s School students. With more committees available to debate in than ever before, GSMUN XV prides itself in being one of the largest high school Model UN conferences in the Virginia. Six members of the secretariat staff are Henrico county residents.

Model United Nations allows students to simulate official United Nations proceedings by conducting research on global topics, representing their assigned countries, debating with other nations, and practicing the art of diplomacy to ultimately create resolutions to real international issues.

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.