Category Archives: schools

VCU Intercultural Festival in Monroe Park Saturday

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From VCU press release:

Virginia Commonwealth University will honor the culture and diversity that thrives throughout its campuses at the 2013 Intercultural Festival at VCU, themed “A World Premiere.”

The 2013 Intercultural Festival at VCU takes place on Saturday, April 6, from noon until 6 p.m. at Monroe Park. Entrance to the festival and all activities are free and open to the public.

The festival will include a variety of foods from various cultures, as well as cultural displays, performances and fashion shows, student art exhibits and booths with games and crafts for all ages. There will be a petting zoo and door prizes to showcase more than 30 cultural organizations at VCU.

The Intercultural Festival has been at VCU for more than 10 years, but the first recorded festival took place in April 2002. Over the years, the festival has continued to grow and become an annual university-wide celebration.

The Office of Multicultural Student Affairs within the Division for Student Affairs and Enrollment Services and the Student Government Association sponsor the Intercultural Festival at VCU.

To learn more information about the festival, call 804-828-4514. For information about ICF week activities, which precede the festival, visit https://www.facebook.com/icfvcu.

School Board Proposes To Close Clark Springs Elementary

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From WTVR news:

The Richmond School Board has been considering closing two schools, as part of recent budget cuts.
Tonight, in a special meeting, board members put forth a proposal to close Clark Springs Elementary School and the Adult Career Development Center.
The plan calls for students from Clark Springs to be moved to John B. Cary elementary school.
A public hearing will be held at a later date.

From a neighbor:

I see that the School Board has decided to close Clark Springs Elementary School. This is the school near to Oregon Hill where we voted last election. Any thoughts on how this could affect our neighborhood? They still must have a public hearing. Could this cause a chilling factor on families with children moving to the neighborhood?

Peace Essay Contest Deadline for Entries is April 22

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From email announcement:

The deadline for entering the Richmond Peace Education Center’s 2013 Peace Essay contest is April 22, 2013. The theme for this year’s contest is “Learning to live in peace.” The writing prompt asks students to think and write about the roles their families or other care-givers play in teaching them about peace. They are further asked to write about how this teaching affects their actions in the community and the world; and to support their ideas with examples from their personal lives and from history and current events.

The contest is open to any elementary, middle, or high school student in Virginia. It offers a top prize of $100 in each of four grade divisions: K-3, 4-5, middle, and high school. Seven additional cash prizes are also awarded in each division.

Entry forms, along with contest rules and a conplete description of the writing prompt are available at www.rpec.org, or by emailing rpec@rpec.org.

At VCU Tuesday: A Public Forum on The Cost of War

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From RPEC announcement:

Join the Richmond Peace Education Center for a timely community forum, “The Cost of War: Dismantling the Military-Industrial Complex and Building a Peace Economy,” Tuesday, March 19th, in the VCU Commons Theater on the Monroe Park Campus. The timing of the event–as Tax Day approaches–is intended to underscore the large proportion of tax dollars that go towards military spending.

The forum will focus on the history of U.S. militarism and the current defense budget and address possible strategies for converting a military-oriented economy to a peace economy.

Speakers will include VCU professor Mark Wood, PhD, and Miriam Pemberton, Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. There will be a Q&A session following their presentations. The evening will close with break out groups for follow-up action, for those who wish to participate. The program will be moderated by Adria Scharf, PhD, director of the Richmond Peace Education Center.

“The Cost of War” is part of the Richmond Peace Education Center‘s
programming on global peace/antiwar issues. The forum is free and the
public is invited to attend.

For more information: www.rpec.org, 232-1002, or rpec at rpec.org

Crisis of a Country: A U.S. Civil War Musical Retrospective This Friday

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From event description:

March 14, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. This work by student composer Allen Wittig will be performed by the combined forces of the VCU Orchestra and Commonwealth Singers at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts. The concert will be conducted by Maestro Daniel Myssyk, augmented by the Williamsburg Choral Guild and narrated by Christy Coleman, president of the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar. Free to VCU students with ID; $7 in advance, $10 on the day of performance for non-VCU students. For tickets, visit www.showclix.com/events/1320.

VCUramnation Forum Reveals Continued Falsehoods and Arrogance

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Fighting them off forever, and believe me, I have no desire to keep rehashing this controversy. It’s unfortunate that a few VCU boosters and sports fans continue to put their school in such a bad light.

From VCUramnation.com :

VRam said: ↑
Whatever happened to those abandoned barns that were falling down? Did they relocate them?

(vcu2008hsep replied:)

If I remember correctly, the stables were dated back to the late 1800s. There was no historical significance to them and were essentially derelict and used for storage. When the Cary St was expanded, those old buildings were torn down….

vcu2008hsep, Feb 26, 2013

All I can do to counter the lies and misinformation is keep posting the truth:

https://www.oregonhill.net/2007/09/03/antrim-photo/

https://www.oregonhill.net/2007/09/04/more-stable-history/

https://www.oregonhill.net/2007/09/12/1994-dhr-letter/

https://www.oregonhill.net/2007/09/23/vcus-parking-lots-alternative-sites/

https://www.oregonhill.net/2009/01/13/no-alternatives/

There were other posts too, but not all of them have survived over time. Thanks to misconceptions spread in the local media, many people have no idea that one of the livery stables, before it was taken by VCU, was completely renovated and occupied as a living space. It was even admired in an article that appeared on the front page of the Times Dispatch’s real estate section (of course the link to that story is long gone).

I would not care so much about responding to this VCUramnation drivel, but in addition to the revisionist history-making, there seems to be constant scheming about how to destroy more of our historic neighborhood. Again from VCUramnation:

“And, this is a contemporary thought – since Williams Mullen built thir skraper on top of the RMA parking deck that was built over the Expressway. Not sure why in our latest athletics complex plan (which seemingly mapped out all of the possibilities in the world) did not include one like this. Parkwood is already pretty much a dead street pass Harrison. Cumberland can be re-routed as a tunnel underneath the new athletics complex. Do the same for Grayland, with impressive entrance/exits to the Expressway.

The new complex, Ram Village, would be bordered by Cary to the north, Harrison to the west, Linden to the east, and Idlewood to the south.”

I am perfectly happy to allow VCU to bask in its continued success and improvement, and I have nothing against good-natured school spirit, but the intellectual dishonesty and continued threats of encroachment are dishonorable and unfitting for an institution of higher learning.

In the end, its up to the VCU administration to set the tone for their community relations, and yet they refuse to recognize it, again and again.