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Today’s Email Announcements

Statewide Event Advocates for Senior Centers

Senior centers across the state recently joined together to mail valentines to legislators, sharing gratitude for funding senior centers and asking for continued support.

This advocacy event was coordinated by the North Carolina Senior Center Alliance (NCSCA). The goal of NCSCA is to provide a statewide organization for senior center professionals to advocate for senior centers, network and collaborate on common issues, share information, co-market initiatives and provide for additional staff training and development.

Federal, state and local funding is vital to senior center programming and allows older adults to participate in free or low cost affordable activities and access needed services. This special valentine advocacy event provides seniors the opportunity to show their appreciation as well as place continued senior center funding at the forefront for future legislative action.

A total of 99 senior centers across the state participated in the event. Calvin Vaughn of the Roy B. Culler, Jr. Senior Center in High Point steered the valentine advocacy event for NSCSA. “The valentines mailed to state legislators gave one voice to thousands of seniors across North Carolina to share what local senior centers mean to them. The local senior center is a link to all services for seniors. It’s a place to maintain good health, volunteer, be involved and remain active. Continued funding for senior centers is vital to our seniors,” states Vaughn.

For more information on the North Carolina Senior Center Alliance visit www.ncaoa.org or contact Alliance Chair, Thessia Everhart-Roberts at 336.242.2290 or Thessia.Everhart@DavidsonCountyNC.Gov. For more information about your local senior center contact Jennifer Teague at 828-265-8090.

CCC&TI Watauga Opens at Noon Today

The Watauga Campus of Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute will open at 12PM today, Feb. 11.

Spring Railroad Excursions Offered April 2

Its that time of year again for the Watauga Valley Railroad Historical Society & Museum to offer our annual Spring Excursions on April 2. Attached is photo’s showing the train and a press release about the trip which starts out in Johnson City via motor coach. Appreciate if you could get the information in your Newspaper as soon as possible since we have to sell so many tickets by the 1st of March to make the trips go. We always have great response from the your area since there are so many people wanting to ride a train. These trips will giveeveryone a chance again to ride a train. 

Adult Spelling Bee Slated for April 12

15th Annual Adult Spelling Bee

Offered to promote Education in the High Country

Teams of 4 persons will spell words in writing in three rounds (Easy, Intermediate and Difficult).  If a word is misspelled, the team has the option to “buy” Bee Bucks and remain in the competition.

THIS YEARS EDUCATION RECIPIENT WILL BE

WATAUGA HIGH SCHOOL INNOVATION LAB

INNOVATION COMPETITION DESIGNS

from students GRADES K – 12 will be on display during this event and a WINNERS will be announced!

PUBLIC WELCOME

Date:

April 12, 2016

Time:

05:00 PM – 07:30 PM EDT

Website:

BOONE CHAMBER WEBSITE

Location:

Watauga High School Auditorium

Contact:

Barbara Armstrong

Email:

barbara@boonechamber.com

Date/Time Details:

April 12th

5 – 7:30 pm

Fees/Admission:

Registration per team is $100 (including 2 bee bucks)

Additional Bee Bucks are $10 each.

Awards for best costumes and table decorations, Prizes for best spellers.

Public is invited to join in the fun!  Light refreshments provided.

Lettuce Learn Educators Workshop Feb. 20

Lettuce Learn will be offering their second workshop for educators at Mountain Pathways Farm Camp in Boone, NC on February 20, 2016. The professional development workshop will last from 10am-2pm, and will include three learning stations focused on the theme of “Growing Math and Literacy in the Garden”, lunch, and a raffle.

This workshop is an excellent opportunity for teachers within the public school system to learn more about how to successfully incorporate gardening into their daily classroom routines. It will cover how to start a class garden and sustain student interest, how to use technology in the garden, and also reading and writing in the garden. The workshop is open to all educators grades PreK-12th grade.

The first station, “The Practical: Building & Sustaining Student Interest in the Garden”, will be taught by Kristy Hackler as she shows educators how to plan and successfully run their school garden. She will teach a variety of important skills such as outdoor classroom management techniques, succession planting, garden design sketching, and year-long garden planning.

Station two, taught by Shannon Carroll, “Technology in the Garden: From Row Covers to Smart Phones”, will focus on using technology for season extension techniques and useful technology tools to document, analyze and share what’s happening in the garden and greenhouse.

In the third and final station,Find Peace & Literacy in the Garden: Reading, Writing, and Relaxing in the Garden”, Courtney Baines Smith will teach about the emotional and sensory benefits of a school garden as well as practice a kid-friendly “veggie yoga” series that you can share with your students outside or in.

The registration for the workshop is $15, and the deadline for registering is February 15.  The first 10 educators currently working full-time in preK-12 setting will receive their own copy ofThe Growing Classroom,  a $40 resource & curriculum book from Life Lab.

For more information and to register visit http://www.lettucelearn.org/garden-math-and-literacy.html

Appalachian Concert Band to Perform Feb. 22

Well-known works for concert band will be performed by the Appalachian Concert Band Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. at Appalachian State University. The performance venue will be Broyhill Music Center’s Rosen Concert Hall. Admission is free. John Stanley Ross is music director for the band. Graduate conductors are Matthew Brusseau and Onsby C. Rose.

The band will perform Alfred Reed’s “A Festival Prelude” to open the concert. The composition is considered one of Reed’s most powerful works for the modern concert band.

Next on the program is Ron Nelson’s “Courtly Airs and Dances,” written in 1995. The suite of “dances” is based on formal dances of the 1500s from France, England, Italy, Spain and Germany.

The somber “Dusk” captures the reflective calm of dusk, paradoxically illuminated by the fiery hues of sunset, according to composer Steven Bryant. “I’m always struck by the dual nature of this experience, as if witnessing an event of epic proportions silently occurring in slow motion. ‘Dusk’ is intended as a short, passionate evocation of this moment of dramatic stillness,” Bryant wrote.

Rounding out the concert are “Incantation and Dance” by John Barnes Chance and “The U.S. Field Artillery March” by John Philip Sousa. Chance’s composition features contrasting tempos and styles, opening with a short, mournful legato before the percussion, brass and winds build to a dramatic conclusion.

Sousa composed more than 130 military and patriotic marches during his career. “The U.S. Field Artillery March” is the most famous of the composer’s World War I compositions. It was written at the request of an artillery officer. The short and lively march was based on the well-known “The Caissons Go Rolling Along.”