Category: Village

As temperatures drop and water attractions become less appealing, don’t let that keep you from venturing outdoors. Whether it’s soaring through a Shenandoah Valley forest, soaking up Blue Ridge Mountain views or exploring area biking trails, these four family-friendly activities will get you and the fam out of the house and exploring.

HIKE

Shenandoah National Park

Since its formation in 1935, the 200,000-acre Shenandoah National Park has become one of America’s most beloved natural treasures. And for good reason. There’s Skyline Drive, which winds its way through 105 miles of 4,000-foot Blue Ridge peaks and there are more than 500 miles of hiking trails—including 101 miles of the iconic Appalachian Trail—and 80,000 acres of designated, backcountry wilderness. Streams, creeks and rivers slice through the park, creating 15 showcase waterfalls. Here are two of the park’s trademark hikes.

Stony Man Mountain

Located at milepost 47 on Skyline Drive, the hike to Stony Man’s 4,011-foot summit offers some of the best vistas in the Shenandoah National Park. At 1.6 miles total, and featuring a hair under 900 feet of elevation change, the walk is relatively short and undemanding (read: perfect for small kids!). For a bonus, hike down to the peaks of Little Stony Man and check out the rock walls. They’re popular with climbers and, for those who are interested, offer ample opportunity for sport.

White Oak Canyon Falls

While the canyon sports six cascading falls total, the upper falls is the biggest, and drops 86 feet. To get there, head to milepost 42.6 of the Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Drive and park at the lot for the White Oak Skyline Drive Trailhead. The hike to the upper falls is a 4.6-mile round-trip, with plenty of scenery to go around. To upgrade your adventure, continue past the upper falls for another 1.35 miles and check out the 35-foot lower falls.

For more info, visit nps.gov/shen.

BIKE

Charlottesville Area Mountain Biking Club

In terms of mountain-biking culture, Charlottesville can hang with the best of the Blue Ridge towns. With numerous bike shops, plenty of mountains in Albemarle, Nelson County and beyond, proximity to the George Washington and Thomas Jefferson national forests, and a thriving, highly active chapter of the International Mountain Biking Association—the Charlottesville
Area Mountain Biking Club—the city is an all-terrain cyclist’s ideal basecamp.

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned veteran, attend one of the CAMBC’s weekly events and nab a guided tour of one of 13 area parks and private riding sites featuring well over 100 miles of trails.

Need a rental? Call Crozet Bike Shop at 996-7224. Prices start at $45 for a 24-hour rental.

ZIP-LINE

Virginia Canopy Tours

Enjoy hours of adventure zip-lining through the hardwood forests of Bentonville’s 1,600-acre Shenandoah River State Park. With views of the Shenandoah National Park, Massanutten Mountain and the Shenandoah River, there’s eyecandy galore. Lines run 90 feet above the forest floor, reach speeds of more than 40mph, and culminate in a 1,035-foot zip from a high ridge to a final rappel down a rock face. In addition to the lines, a sky bridge and eco tours offer visitors bonus fun and educational opportunities, while 24 miles of multi-use trail provide hike and bike time in the woods.

Prices start at $89, with kids zooming for half-price on weekdays. Children must weigh at least 70 pounds, and be 10 years of age or older. For more info, visit zipthepark.com.

Inside a gigantic twig nest, 5-year-old Colter Vincenti flaps his arms.

“Help me find food,” he trills.

Colter and his mom, Leora Vincenti, have come for the first time to Wildrock, a new nonprofit nature “playscape” located in northwestern Albemarle County.

“It’s pretty simple,” says Vincenti. “Kids are boiling with energy and nature can absorb it.”

By the gurgling creek that runs through the bottom of Wildrock’s 28-acre property, Colter folds his “wings” and watches the current intently.

This is just what Wildrock’s founder, Carolyn Schuyler, hoped for when she envisioned an intentional space for outdoor play. Schuyler’s background as a psychotherapist informs her organization’s mission to foster a healing connection between kids, their families and nature.

“Nature is a lifelong source of resilience,” she says. “I’ve worked for many years supporting people who’ve had some kind of traumatic incident, and I’ve noticed that it really helps when they have a reservoir of happy memories in nature.”

Wildrock’s two-acre playscape was carefully designed based on the research of David Sobel, a professor at Antioch College who traveled the world looking for common themes in child’s play. He found a universal fascination for certain themes, like secret passages and caring for animals. Wildrock incorporates as many of these concepts as possible into its structures and spaces, with an aim of supporting all stages and facets of childhood development. In addition to the giant nest, kids can stage performances in the music and drama playhouse, explore, problem-solve and meditate while walking the stone-lined labyrinth, cook up make-believe meals in “Nature’s Kitchen” or retreat to the safety of a child-sized hobbit house.

But the unadorned stream is what first inspired Schuyler. After witnessing how her own kids were so drawn to playing along its banks, she thought: “All kids deserve to have a similar experience.”

“Every child should have lots of memories of being free to be themselves, to explore nature and make it their own,” she says.

Nature Deficit Disorder

In 2008, humanity reached an important tipping point; for the first time in history, more people lived in cities than in rural environments.

“Our physiology is still evolved for being in nature,” says Schuyler. “There’s a lot of research now that shows that living in urban settings is a risk factor for anxiety and depression; it’s hard on our nervous system and sets us off for symptoms.”

The consequences of decreased time in nature, especially for kids, have been documented by journalist Richard Louv, who coined the term Nature Deficit Disorder in his book Last Child in the Woods. Though not meant to be a medical diagnosis, Nature Deficit Disorder describes the increase of anxiety, inability to focus and other problematic childhood behavior he argues is associated with insufficient time outdoors.

This same concern inspires the work of Jenny Roe, professor at the University of Virginia in the department of urban and environmental planning. Roe researches the link between greenspace and mental, physical and social well-being. She has found that in addition to reducing levels of childhood obesity, access to the outdoors also improves attention and self-discipline and promotes better stress regulation.

“Kids that engage with nature in the outdoor classroom in school show improved memory recall from learning tasks outside as compared to those tasks done indoors,” Roe says. They also show improved social behavior and cooperation.

Access to digital technology changes the way children learn and develop.

“Screen time is a very stimulating input that is highly structured,” says Beverly Ingram, long-time English as a Second or Other Language teacher and founder of Go Into Nature, through which she leads workshops, classes and individual sessions in nature-based therapy.

“What nature provides is a chance for kids (and adults) to learn how to function when they’re not having stimulus coming at them that was crafted by someone else,” she says.

Not only does nature encourage creative and intuitive expression, it also balances the intensity of urban and technological overstimulation.

“Nature is gentler,” Ingram says. “It’s slower and calming and rhythmic. It gives kids a chance to see what happens in their own bodies and minds.”

Imagination, mindfulness and social development

Though now more focused on her work with adults, Ingram’s 15-plus years of experience with children has taught her that nature can be a powerful ally for fostering healthy development. Ingram finds that working through the senses and the body is the best way to quickly connect.

“Even the most ADHD kid will slow down in nature because they get intrigued with something. They’ll be focused and interested in exploring it. That is mindfulness for a child.”

Something she sees outdoors more often than in the classroom is the prevalence of creative play.

“One of my biggest concerns has been seeing these children with no aptitude for imagination,” she says. In groups, children who are more comfortable with creative play model for the others. But, Ingram says, they need unstructured time to develop this skill. The diversity of nature encourages creativity in a way that half an hour of recess on the playground cannot.

Ingram has noticed that kids like to find a place in the woods and settle, wanting to return and develop it as their home.

“This reflects how we think as humans, how we develop our ideas of roles in society and how we develop a sense of safety and comfort in the homes we create.”

George Mackaronis, environmental education and PE teacher, recounts how this same phenomenon takes place at Free Union Country School. There, students have created a town in the woods named Creativity-ville.

“At recess, everyone runs down to their self-built homes, shops, businesses, court houses, restaurants and stores. Houses move, menus change, smaller towns are created, conflicts arise, clay pots are made and traded, currency is exchanged, pine cones are traded for dried fruit and the imaginations of these kids literally run wild.”

Mackaronis believes that the social and emotional learning that the children experience in Creativity-ville is something that even expert teachers could not replicate.

“I don’t think it could happen in any other setting than nature,” he says.

Fifteen-year-old Charlottesville High School freshman Edie Aten puts it this way: “When I go outside, I feel like I am part of something bigger than myself, something beautiful that I may never truly understand.” Aten attended summer camp at the Living Earth School (see sidebar) at the ages of 9, 11 and 13. She likes to explore trails and unwind after school by the stream near her home in Charlottesville’s Greenbrier neighborhood.

“Having that wonder [in nature] from a very young age has made me who I am.”

This toy appropriate for all ages

Despite its proven benefits, taking the time and space to be in nature remains a challenge for many parents, teachers and childcare providers. Demands of work, school and extracurricular activities often means busy, structured and goal-oriented lifestyles. But perhaps the biggest barrier is the discomfort many adults feel being in nature themselves. Ingram and Schuyler both argue that developing a relationship with nature can be simple for anyone.

“Parents who didn’t have the advantage of growing up with nature or don’t feel comfortable just have to create the intention of having a curious, slow time together. They can discover things with their kids, side by side,” says Ingram.

Schuyler agrees. “I’m a totally frazzled mom and I don’t always do what I preach, but if I take my daughter out, we both benefit. It’s not only her,” she says. “If I’m slowed down, and I’m happier, then she’s happier. So you don’t only do it for your kids, you do it for yourself.”

The enthusiasm with which she and Ingram do their work reflects the power and joy that springs from their own deep relationships with nature.

“If we take the time and space to encourage kids to have that kind of unhurried wonder in even what seems ordinary,” says Schuyler, “they’re going to find out that the ordinary is extraordinary.”

As for a 5-year-old’s take on things?

“Meow!” says Colter. “I like Legos!”

Only an adult would think to interrupt valuable play time with a question like “Why do you like being in nature?”

But later, as clouds gather in the sky and drops begin to fall, Colter captures what Schuyler might call the extraordinary. He stills his body, cocks an ear and proclaims: “Listen! When it rains the trees rattle.”

Pro tips

Here’s how to get outdoors with your kids, according to the folks behind a few of Charlottesville’s most nature-focused programs.

Beverly Ingram, founder, Go Into Nature

Know that you as the adult are just presenting an opportunity. Nature is the teacher. Trust that nature has everything your child needs. Don’t feel like you have to do or plan very much.

Allow the timelessness of childhood wonder to happen in yourself. If it happens in yourself, you don’t have to worry whether it will happen for the child. It will.

Carolyn Schuyler, founder, Wildrock

Remember that children are wired to love nature. They only learn from us (adults) not to.

There is no need to make a big deal about going into nature. Find one tree somewhere in your area. Visit it regularly so your child gets to know it. Watch how it changes through the seasons. Invite observational questions like “What do you notice? What are you curious about?”

Be okay with some clothes getting muddy.

If you’re really busy, which most families are, five minutes in nature is better than nothing. Work with what you have and find joy in what you have, even if it’s a window box.

Bruce Gatlin-Austin, education programs coordinator, Ivy Creek Natural Area

Spend regular time outside without a plan. Go barefoot. Listen. Count butterflies. Draw birds at a bird feeder. Be silent and see how far and how much you can hear. Enjoy hot, cold, damp and dry weather. Smell rain. Sit safely on a covered porch and experience the passing of a thunderstorm. Walk through puddles. Teach kids that being outdoors is wonderful, not by telling them or watching a video out about it, but by letting them experience it.

George Mackaronis, environmental education and PE teacher at Free Union Country School; co-founder, Greenstone Adventures

Cultivate curiosity in your children. Be a student with them, and discover new things as they do. Sharing that excitement will not only inspire them, but it will create a shared experience that you and they will never forget!

Hub Knott, co-founder, Living Earth School

Kids naturally gravitate towards different activities like climbing trees, playing in mud, skipping rocks, hiding, building a fort or making fire. Watch for these and/or set the stage for them to happen, then step back and let the fun begin. When you notice the energy starting to wane or kids getting tired, change the activity or head home. “Pull it at the peak” we call it. Then next time, they’ll be stoked to go outside.

Tell them a story the night before in bed. Tell them there is a spot you want to show them. Plant seeds of what they might see, that there is a magical kingdom out there full of all these cool things. Make it seem special and not routine. Be excited with them. Leave the iPhone in the car and be present. Model enthusiasm and engage with nature and your kids.

Play places

A sampling of local organizations making the kid-nature Connection.

Wildrock

Wildrock opened in April of 2017 as a grass-roots nonprofit committed to promoting nature play for health and happiness. With an outdoor “play-scape” intentionally designed to promote childhood development, as well as trails and open meadows, Wildrock invites families and children to have positive and formative experiences in nature. Wildrock aims to host all Charlottesville City School preschoolers, as well as private groups, families and kids of all ages. Available by appointment for groups of 19+ on weekdays and to the public by reservation every Saturday. Wildrock is located in northwestern Albemarle County on Rt. 810. wildrock.org

The Living Earth School

The Living Earth School combines traditional wisdom and modern techniques to help kids develop a deeper connection with nature. Children that attend Living Earth School programs learn wilderness survival skills, Coyote mentoring, naturalist skills, animal tracking, and develop a sense of awareness, place and community within nature. Best known for their summer camp programs in Sugar Hollow, the Living Earth School also hosts year-round programs and classes for both children and adults in the Charlottesville and Afton area. livingearthva.com

Greenstone Adventures

Greenstone Adventures offers outdoor immersion backpacking trips to 7th-12th graders in Central Virginia with the goal of inspiring critical thinking, problem solving, cooperative communication, confidence and independence in nature. Co-founders George Mackaronis and Andrew Eaton draw on their combined backpacking and educational backgrounds to provide youth with meaningful and challenging experiences in the Shenandoah National Park and George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. greenstoneadventures.com

SEED Camp

Located on the campus of Mountaintop Montessori School, Summer SEED camp offers kids the opportunity to explore local ecology hands-on, get dirty cultivating the school garden and taste the fruits of their work through cooking classes and fresh garden-grown meals. The SEED program encourages kids to develop their understanding of nature through art, games, garden chores, science experiments and more. mountaintopmontessori.org/summer_seed/

Ivy Creek Foundation and Natural Area

Ivy Creek Natural Area hosts field trips for area schools and for programs such as Scouts and the Boys and Girls Club. In 2016, over 1,500 students experienced Ivy Creek’s 215-acre preserve, learning about the site’s natural history, and getting more familiar with local ecology through specifically-themed tours. Ivy Creek, located on Earlysville road on the outskirts of Charlottesville, offers family programs, natural and cultural history talks, open barn days and a twice-monthly Little Naturalists program. Ivy Creek has six miles of trails and is open to the public every day from 7am to sunset. ivycreekfoundation.org

Go Into Nature

Founder Beverly Ingram combines ecotherapy, mindfulness and stress-trauma training with her long-time experience as an elementary teacher to provide healing programs and nature-based therapy in the Charlottesville area. Though she previously specialized in youth programs, she is moving towards more adult-centered work, with the awareness that an adult’s healthy relationship with nature is the first step towards fostering that same connection in children. She offers one-on-one nature-based mindfulness sessions, leads group classes and workshops and works as a consultant with teachers and facilitators of nature-based learning. gointonature.com

Gone are the days of a simple cap-and-gown shot. A senior portrait in 2017 means a photo that’s personal, creative and authentic. “The senior portrait is one of those historical visual documents that we come to treasure later in life,” says photographer Jen Fariello. “[It’s] become so much more real and I think that really adds to its value for both the senior and the parents.” And, it’s a confidence-booster.

“I photograph mostly high school girls and, at that time in their lives, often they are in a season of not feeling good enough or beautiful enough,” says photographer Meredith Sledge. “I love to make them feel gorgeous through my lens.”

We asked Sledge, Fariello and a couple other local photogs what makes for a good senior portrait. Here are a few of their tips to get the most from a session.

Keep it simple. While it might be tempting to go super glam or full-on fashion model, in the long run, it’s best to be authentically you. “I am always eager to create something classic and real,” Fariello says. In other words, go easy on the makeup and hair gel.

Less is more. Props can add visual interest to a photo, but can also veer a little cheesy, so only choose ones that are personal to you and incorporate them in a subtle way. Things like furniture and balloons are usually just a distraction. “Often times my seniors will wear a jersey from their sports team or bring a soccer ball to kick around,” says Sledge. “I go for a more natural feel in my photos, so more often than not, my clients are focused on fun outfits rather than props.” Speaking of which…

Look your best. Choose two outfits (one casual, one dressier) that won’t be regrettable years from now. “You don’t want to look back at the picture in 10 or 20 years, and ask ‘Why did I wear that?’” says photographer Aaron Watson. Ditto something comfy. Says Fariello, “If you are even remotely uncomfortable in your outfit, it will show.”

Location, location, location. When it comes to the setting, choose a spot that feels personal but not over-styled. Says Watson, “If they live on a farm, I go to the farm. If they love being downtown, we’ll go downtown!” If you’re having trouble deciding, your photographer can make suggestions. Sarah Cramer Shields, for instance, recommends the Downtown Mall, Saunders-Monticello Trail and even local vineyards.

Book early. The best time of year for senior portraits is late summer or early fall and the most popular photographers book weeks (or even months!) in advance, so plan ahead. Sledge recommends scheduling three to six months out.

Double book. To get the most bang for your buck (expect to spend at least a few hundred dollars for a photo sesh), bring the family along and have the photographer snap a few photos of everyone together. “It can make the investment in hiring a professional feel even more valuable,” Fariello says.

Summer’s here and it’s hot, so don’t let the risk of dehydration ruin your little one’s fun in the sun. Local pediatrician Paige Perriello offers a few tips to tell whether your child could use a gulp of water and how to keep it flowing all season long.

“The first thing that kids will usually tell you is that they’re thirsty,” she says. “If they tell you they’re thirsty, you’re already a little bit behind.”

For babies, an inordinate amount of wet diapers, crying without tears and lethargy are often signs that they need to hydrate. For kids of all ages, other symptoms of dehydration include irritability, dizziness, dry mouth and low energy levels.

“Certainly some simple things can help prevent it and help people feel better,” Perriello says. “Just having a water bottle that they have full and continue to fill throughout the day is the best prevention.” And hydration 20 to 30 minutes before intense activity usually does the trick.

But just because kids are consuming liquids doesn’t mean they’re hydrating, she adds.

“Caffeinated drinks can be particularly problematic because they can increase your chance of getting dehydrated,” Perriello says. “For every soda you drink you need a couple glasses of water to compensate for it.”

Juices don’t work against the body as much as soda, according to Perriello, but the high sugar content doesn’t do it any favors. Gatorade and other sports drinks—also high in sugar—tend to be unnecessary unless a child is exerting particularly high energy levels by participating in events such as sports camps.

How much agua is enough agua?

“There is such a thing as too much water, but that mostly comes into play with infants,” she says. She typically recommends that infants under the age of six months stick to breast milk or formula, but introducing small amounts of water at the six-month mark is reasonable.

For bigger kids, there’s some disparity.

“Typically, people say to drink seven to eight glasses a day, but nobody ever really knows what that means,” she says, so a large water bottle or three or four smaller ones should do the trick. “More than that, it’s just important to think about continuing to drink water during the day.”

Shield those rays

They might whine and moan about being covered in the thick white paste, but children in the sunshine need sunscreen.

And on cloudy days, too! Pediatrician Paige Perriello says some of the worst sunburns she sees are on the beet-red bodies of kids who took cloud cover as an excuse to ditch the SPF.

“Just because it’s a cloudy day doesn’t mean you don’t need sunblock,” she says. “Clouds are a filter for the UV light, but they don’t block it.”

Limit sun exposure during the hottest points of the day, from 10 or 11am until 3 or 4pm when UV rays are the strongest, says Perriello.

Sunscreen is not recommended for babies younger than six months old, so she suggests physically blocking their skin with lightweight clothing that won’t cause them to overheat. For older babies and kids, she recommends a sunscreen in the 30-50 SPF range applied 15 or 20 minutes before going outside and reapplied every couple of hours, especially after water play.

When using a spray sunscreen, be aware that the coverage isn’t as complete; Perriello says it should never be sprayed directly on the face, but rather on the hands and then applied onto the face.

And don’t forget easy-to-miss spots, such as the tops of heads, ears and feet, she says.

On a recent Thursday, Julian Waters was giving blood while answering a magazine reporter’s questions—a typical morning of multitasking for a busy politician. But Waters isn’t your typical politician. The Western Albemarle High School senior is running for the Samuel Miller District seat on the Albemarle County School Board. The youngest person ever to do so, he says his desire to seek elected office kicked into high gear when his father asked him two questions several months ago: Have you thought about taking a gap year? And what would you do if you did?

Waters says the idea of running for school board began to percolate a couple years ago when WAHS administrators wouldn’t allow him to start a model aviation/drone club. “It was frustrating that I couldn’t bridge the gap between my personal passion and an extracurricular at school,” he says.

When a new principal took the reins at Western, Waters made his case again, this time with more success: “We got on track with the rest of the school’s clubs, and started flying that fall,” he says. “Being able to go to school and fly during lunch made [high school] so much more valuable to me, and I want to give the people who feel left behind because they can’t do what I did the same options—we lose value in education when everyone doesn’t have the same opportunities.”

Waters, who shares his passion for model aviation with younger students during a weekly club at Henley Middle School, is a two-time participant in the Tom Tom Founders Festival’s Youth Summit, where this year he was on a panel devoted to changing education. In 2016, he addressed educators and administrators at the World Maker Faire’s Education Forum in New York, and locally, he’s helping craft High School 2022, an initiative aimed at making work-related learning part of Albemarle County’s high school curriculum. Waters says his school board campaign currently has two main focuses: perspective and preschool. 

His perspective comes from being in the classroom and working every day with students and teachers. “I understand how learning standards can positively and negatively affect everyone,” he says, admitting that he has sometimes struggled as a student.

“We need to move away from the standards model and expand out of the classroom by offering experiential opportunities that allow students to work in communities, which would provide a more well-rounded educational experience.”

As for preschool, Waters says he feels lucky to have attended a good one. “And I think we do ourselves a disservice by not having a district-wide preschool, which would create equity, reduce academic deficiencies and help enormously with social barriers.”

Because he’s only 17 (he turns 18 in September), Waters is legally required to be accompanied by an older family member or friend when he’s collecting the 125 signatures he needs by June 13 to get on the November 7 general election ballot (he currently has about 100). When he knocks on doors, the people who answer are “very positive, and they’re more curious than anything else,” he says. “A lot of them are open to having a younger perspective, and they want to know how they can help.”

Waters, who’s running against incumbent Graham Paige, a retired WAHS science teacher who took office in 2015 after winning a special election, has put together a small team made up of high schoolers plus his mother, who serves as the campaign’s treasurer. “We’ll really ramp up once I officially announce my candidacy in June—or maybe sooner,” he says.

If he wins in the fall, Waters plans to attend college locally so he can fulfill his four-year term. “It’s been such a great, positive experience so far,” he says, adding that his hope is to “offer fresh perspective that further strengthens the [county’s] thriving community of lifelong learners, and broadens learning opportunities to engage each and every student.”

After a decade spent living with a hand-me-down outdoor playhouse, Charlottesville’s RiverBluff community decided to do its children a favor and upgrade. “Originally, the community was designed with a small private playground in mind,” says RiverBluff resident Janet Evergreen, who helped spearhead the project. “So when we held our annual homeowners association potluck [in 2015], we brought crayons and art supplies and asked the neighborhood’s children to get together and draw their ideal playground.”

Thrilled at being asked for their input, the children gave feedback so robust that the 20-home community decided to form an all-inclusive committee and work to draft a plan to replace the existing structure. “It was important that these decisions be made with all the generations in mind, because we wanted the space to be kid-centric but community-centered,” says Evergreen.

Collaborating as a neighborhood, the group shared ideas on Pinterest, held meetings and, enlisting the help of resident architect Camilo Bearman, began to make drawings. Nestled atop a steep, idyllic hillside overlooking the Rivanna River, the playground needed to be more than just a fun place for kids to play—a community gathering point, that’s what RiverBluff was after. “I work designing schools, so I have a very acute understanding of how adults experience spaces that are designed for children,” said Bearman. “We wanted something very oriented to nature that would allow for creative outdoor play while also being attractive to adults.”    

A bit under a year later, the community settled on a wooden stilt house hugging a massive hillside oak with terraced levels with Adirondack chairs, a picnic table and small gardens. Researching costs, Evergreen realized they could install a custom, locally built structure for about the same amount of money it would take to purchase something prefabricated. Asking around, she found Builderbeast LLC, a small company owned by master art/design builder Jason Roberson.

“Where we built there’s a very steep ravine dropping down to the Rivanna—you’re only six feet off the ground, but it looks really high due to the drop,” he says. “We played on that effect by designing the structure to give you a sense of being perched in the canopy. That way the kids can climb through, be safe, but have an adventure.” Toward that end, Roberson installed a ladder-like climbing wall and knotted ropes, created a zig-zagging walkway and used slatted siding for the angular stilt house, which extends outward from the hillside toward the river. For further fun, swings were integrated into the structure and a slide was built into the slope. “We brought in these huge rocks and made a rock scramble nestled into the already cool topography, which was a real bonus,” says Roberson.

Now, with the project completed and community gardeners beginning to install landscaping, Bearman says the space has become a part of the daily life of the neighborhood—in fact, the community held its spring potluck at the playground. “It was truly a community project,” says Evergreen. “There were just so many layers of involvement and art and beauty. It really shows what can happen when we work together and respect one another and bring our different gifts to the table.”

Before Hannah Barnaby became a writer, she was an editor at Houghton Mifflin. It was there that the process of creating picture books first fascinated her. Yet it wasn’t until after the birth of her children that she began to read enough picture books to really understand how they worked. During the five years that she’s called Charlottesville home, Barnaby has published two young adult novels. This summer, her first two picture books will be published. Bad Guy features a mischievous boy who targets his sister and his toys with his diabolical schemes while Garcia and Colette follows the adventures and friendship of a rabbit and fox. In anticipation of their publication, we sat down with Barnaby to ask about her process.

What was the inspiration for Bad Guy and Garcia and Colette?
Bad Guy was inspired by a rule at my son’s preschool: “There are no bad guys on our playground.” I kind of ran with that and said, “If he can’t be a bad guy on the playground for real, what if I can create this character that can just sort of run wild?” But there has to be consequences for that. And then for Garcia and Colette, I was at a dinner at UVA sitting between someone applying to the astronomy Ph.D. program and someone whose passion was marine biology. They both were saying such similar things about why they loved those two fields of study. …It just sort of sparked this idea of comparing the two in my mind and it was not difficult to come up with these parallel observations. Then it was just a matter of who to send into space and who to send under the sea.

What determines whether the characters will be portrayed as people or animals?
Some of it is determined by the tone of the story. If the things that are happening in the story are very grounded in reality, then you’re more likely to have a child character. For Garcia and Colette, to sort of in-a-hurry build a rocket ship and a submarine, it’s not totally realistic. When I was writing the story I pictured both of them as elephants. But to [illustrator] Andrew Joyner, they were two different kinds of animals. I love what he came up with. Mike Yamada [the illustrator of Bad Guy], having worked for Disney and Pixar on movies, is very experienced with kid characters. And I think Bad Guy sort of had to be a little boy character…because it is at heart a sibling rivalry story and that is such a human thing.

How is writing picture books different from writing novels?
The biggest difference, obviously, is the scale of the story. It’s so much easier to be playful with picture-book manuscripts because they’re so much shorter and the structures are easier to see in their entirety while writing. But I also have to leave space in the story mentally for the contribution of another person. With a novel I’m telling the entire story, but with picture books the illustrator is contributing their own side of the narrative. It’s important to allow for that. The sense of collaboration is probably the strongest difference.

It’s a little odd to hear a 12-year-old talk about her “greatest focus,” but for Chloe Carpenter, who’s been dancing for nearly 10 years, that’s exactly what the sport has been.

“Dance is my passion,” she says. She takes tap, lyrical and performance group classes each week at The Wilson School of Dance, which this year will celebrate its 40th year, and has recently been focusing on mastering her turns. “I am staying more balanced and my posture has improved.” But what really keeps her going? The freedom dance brings.

“I go into a different zone when I dance and all of my troubles disappear,” says Carpenter, who also plays basketball, volleyball and tennis. “I get lost in the movement and the rhythm of the music.”

“Humanity does things that have never been done before just by sitting around and thinking about it.” That’s educator Matt Shields on the lesson he tries to teach students in Charlottesville High School’s BACON (Best All-around Club of Nerds). The group meets weekly to imagine and create—they program virtual robots and build physical machines. They explore, they experiment. It’s just one of a handful of science-related extracurriculars offered in the district’s high schools, each designed to give students a hands-on experience they might not otherwise have in standard classes alone.

Every January, any eighth-grader registered at an area middle school can apply to enroll in these extracurricular programs and the opportunities they afford are numerous, from internships with physical therapists to investigations of spy movie technology. In this issue, we’re taking a look at these and other programs and what they offer—both in and out of the classroom.

By Samantha Baars, Erika Howsare, Laura Ingles and Lisa Martin

Digital daughters

Tech-Girls aims to bridge the computer science gender gap

Kim Wilkens was always good at math. As a young student at Texas Lutheran University in the mid-1980s, she planned to pursue a degree and a career in a math-related field, but the perfect storm of an intro to computer science class and a sexist comment from one of her math professors led her to the world of technology. After switching majors, she’s spent her three-decade-long career teaching computer science and advocating for girls to find their place in the male-dominated world of technology. Even as a teacher at St. Anne’s-Belfield School, she wants to do more—which is precisely why she founded Tech-Girls.

“I wanted to try to do something on the grassroots level,” Wilkens says. “The overall goal is to get girls comfortable and confident not only using but creating technology.”

Girls in particular tend to lose interest in technology by the time they reach middle school, Wilkens says. According to a 2015 report by the gender equality nonprofit American Association of University Women, only 26 percent of computing jobs in the U.S. in 2013 were held by women—down from 35 percent in 1990.

“A lot of that has to do with stereotypes, and feeling that being involved in computer science or technology is not for them but for a nerd,” Wilkens says. “What we try to do is connect the girls with others, connect them with mentors, give them people to look up to, things like that, so they can see there are others like themselves.”

Tech-Girls offers programming for girls as young as kindergartners all the way through 12th grade. For elementary students, Girls’ Geek Day events provide hands-on learning in schools, where each participant can choose three of 10 activities available. Last year more than 425 girls participated in the seven events around Charlottesville and Albemarle County—in 2015, about 250 girls attended. And now that the event has been around for a couple years, Wilkens says girls who are currently in middle school are coming back as volunteers to lead activities and be role models for the younger girls. Middle school girls also have the opportunity to collaborate with UVA’s service organization, Girls Excited About Math and Science, for after-school programming, and Wilkens says she wants to beef up the programming for that age group.

The five-day Bio-Med Tech-Girls program gives high schoolers the opportunity to meet with students and faculty from the UVA Department of Biomedical Engineering. The program includes behind-the-scenes lab tours, guest speakers, a design challenge and a pitch presentation to the community, and participants get to see things like a 3-D bio-printer up close. Last year 13 students from eight different high schools attended, and the program has grown from three days to five.

Wilkens wants girls to know that technology and computer science is about more than just coding. Wearable technology like LED lights and accelerometers sewn into clothing, light-up stuffed animals and game controllers made out of fabric are just a handful of the projects that her students have worked on.

“Getting the girls in the door is the hardest thing,” Wilkens says. “Once they can get past those stereotypical barriers and they see what a wide variety of things they can do with technology, then we have their interest.” LI

Like minded

MESA students thrive on friendly competition

A number that especially interests Tony Wayne, director of the Math, Engineering and Science Academy (MESA) at Albemarle High School, is one-third. That’s the percentage of students in the program who plan to pursue something other than engineering after high school—English, biology, math, philosophy. Why enroll in MESA, then? “They tell me it’s the best part of their day,” says Wayne with a smile. “They enjoy the classes, the speakers, their groups, the problems. Most of all they like having a cohort.”

Nora Dale, a MESA junior, agrees. “I really like the opportunity to work with people whose interests are similar to my own, as well as the interactive projects. Right now we’re working on a forensics unit, and my group is investigating whether spy movie technology is plausible.”

Now in its eighth year, MESA was the first specialized academy launched for county residents and currently hosts 262 students. Admission to the academy is competitive—this year there were 165 applicants for 72 freshman spots. Most of those admitted were straight-A students, many already taking geometry in eighth grade, but Wayne says the faculty particularly looks for evidence of drive. “We want students who can find an answer independently, then bring it back to the group and work collaboratively,” he says.

That “collaborative independence” leads to learning from, and relying on, each other. The students love in-class competitions where teams brainstorm solutions to complex problems, but they all root for success. “Everyone is so supportive, cheering each other on,” says Wayne. “If your idea doesn’t work, the whole class goes, ‘Awww!’”

Fun and games aside, the pace is brisk. To be ready to tackle calculus-based engineering problems by their junior year, students take Algebra II, trigonometry and math analysis compressed into two classes, and physics, earth science and chemistry within two courses of science. Beyond being “good at” these subjects, MESA kids revel in them.

Upperclassmen follow a college-level engineering curriculum, which focuses heavily on application: Find a problem and solve it. Senior Doug Kulow says the atmosphere is relaxed and fun. “I’m looking forward to the senior project, when we get to choose something that interests us and manifest it in the real world.” The projects are diverse, from computer applications to machines with moving parts, often employing one of the seven 3D printers on site to create physical reality from pure imagination.

No matter what the future brings, Kulow says the experience has been amazing. “I learned a lot of skills that will help me with the rest of my life outside of engineering.” LM

A study in green

ESA students not afraid to get their hands dirty

The Environmental Studies Academy (ESA) building at Western Albemarle High School houses a 1,200-square-foot greenhouse, and there’s always something growing. Even in winter, there are trays of seedlings for spring crops, a sprawling tomato plant set in a bed of gravel and supported by hydroponics and dozens of herbs in pots. A tech-integrated classroom plus additional lab space make the building a perfect gathering place for the growing ranks of the academy, now at 105 students in its third year of operation and expected to top 150 next year when the program is full.

Junior Ty Huneycutt, who joined the program at its inception, is interested in environmental law and values having a background in the sciences. “It’s just nice to be informed,” he says, “and to know what the environmentally friendly decisions are. We’ve had a lot of great extracurricular trips, too, like [working with fourth-graders at] Naturally Nelson and helping out at the International Rescue Committee gardens. It’s amazing how science can help with connecting to the community.”

Director Adam Mulcahy says the emphasis is on environmental “studies,” not just science. This means offering innovative courses such as a first-year geography class that blends both human and physical geography topics.

“We want kids to learn how the environment shapes the people, and how people have historically shaped their environment,” he explains. Students take as many as eight different science classes including ecology, horticulture, geology and two specially developed environmental biology and chemistry classes. Next year a new environmental art elective will use biological structures as the medium for artistic expression, another step toward integrating arts and humanities into the program.

Mulcahy marvels at the generous community support. When a local landowner offered to donate a starter bee hive and training from a professional beekeeper, the academy was abuzz with ideas. “We can grow a pollinator meadow to support it, and we’d weigh how much honey is being produced by mass,” he says. “We’d have a camera inside so students could monitor activity, and maybe put it online for other schools to see. It’s all part of getting kids exposure to stuff outside the standard curriculum.”

Junior James Keese chose ESA because he’s interested in both the effects of humans on the world’s climate and the diversity of ecosystems. He likes the hands-on, interactive projects and his interests have expanded with each class. After high school, he says, “I may study marine biology, or possibly astronomy. I’m still exploring.” And for that, Keese is in just the right place. LM

Bring it, BACON

CHS’ nerd club brings power to the people

A techno Michael Jackson remix pours out of the speakers in the Charlottesville High School Sigma Lab as students involved in the Best All-around Club Of Nerds gather for their weekly meeting.

Between 80 and 100 students of all grade levels team up every Thursday after school to imagine and invent under the direction of engineering teacher and head honcho Matt Shields.

“We really do let the kids run the show,” Shields says about the student-centered organization that attracts kids of all backgrounds to participate in about a dozen different programs. Three of the post popular are the Zero Robotics, First Tech Challenge and Science Olympiad teams.

Year after year, the Zero Robotics team—which competes in international coding matches that involve programming virtual robots to do a series of tasks more efficiently than their opponents—fights its way to the finals at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where team members remotely watch their code run on the International Space Station. And yes, you read that correctly.

The First Tech Challenge is similar, except the competition consists of running the students’ invented code on physical robots. And the Science Olympiad team members compete in a series of STEM-based events, Olympics-style, against kids from other schools across the nation. These could range from anything between engineering events, where competitors have to build something, or strictly knowledge-based events, where a quiz could be administered.

“Baked into the DNA of BACON is just this weird confidence. They know just enough that they can do just about anything,” Shields says, adding that his goal is to send a message to students that says, “Humanity does things that have never been done before just by sitting around and thinking about it.”

Megan Bird, a senior and co-president of the club, is on the Science Olympiad team, which has actually hosted its competition at CHS for the past few years. So here, while students are competitors, they’re also in charge of running the show. But she says that’s part of the fun for herself and her peers who are passionate about their extracurricular activity.

“We do things that they don’t always touch on in school,” she adds. “I find that in BACON, people are really exciting about what they’re doing.” SB

From STEM to STREAM

Charlottesville Catholic School expands the possibilities

Time was, when students at Charlottesville Catholic School wanted to do a science experiment, they’d have to contend with the elements.

“Students would be heating minerals over an open flame,” recalls Principal Michael Riley. “They’d use a Petri dish with an alcohol flame. They’d be doing it outside”—because there wasn’t a properly ventilated spot indoors—“and the slightest breeze would blow it out.”

With the winds of education shifting toward what Riley calls “inquiry-based, hands-on learning,” CCS wanted to equip students to excel in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) subjects, and it was clear that the school needed a dedicated facility to do so. Safety was a priority when the school began working on a STEM addition with Train Architects, the firm that has designed each phase of the school since it was founded in the late ’90s.

As planning progressed, STEM turned to STEAM (A is for arts) and then to STREAM, as the new facility would also support R for religion. How? By keeping students’ presentations and performances out of the school chapel. “We weren’t having a sacred space in our chapel,” says Riley. With the addition featuring a dedicated public-speaking room on its lower level, the chapel could be used for religious activities only.

Essentially a long bar extending at a right angle from the rear of the existing school—which serves 330 students in grades kindergarten through eight—the addition sits on a slope that necessitated two stories. The upper floor contains two STEM classrooms connected by a central core, housing much-needed storage space and a fume hood for ventilation.

The classrooms, meanwhile, are modeled on typical high school chemistry classrooms, divided into lecture and experiment areas. Kids can listen to their teachers explain a concept, then move over to small-group workstations to look through a microscope and see science for themselves.

Architect Kirk Train says his firm’s aesthetic task was to make the addition conversant with, but clearly differentiated from, the older portions of the school. “Kids will understand that this is special, this is different,” says Train.

Subtle cues signal a shift when students pass into the STREAM wing. The window pattern gradually “breaks down,” Train says, as one moves further into the addition, as does the pattern of brick and concrete block on the addition’s exterior. “We kept a simple vocabulary and rhythm,” says Train.

The floor, too, changes from linoleum to concrete, an economical and green option.

Two new stairwells ease student traffic to and from the lower-floor lunchroom, and their railings are crayon-red to signal a place of movement. Warm brown walls and cherry ceiling panels delineate the “lobby” within the addition, where an elevator, stairwell and hallways come together.

The new performance space—located next door to a sound-dampened music classroom—features a low stage under a sloped ceiling, a clear sign to students that when they’re standing there, it’s time to speak up, something that might have been counterintuitive in the chapel. “If they have a part that’s loud or funny,” says Train, “they can do it and not feel restrained.” EH

For the past 15 years, Charlottesville children’s book author Anne Marie Pace’s life has been marked by a series of leaps. First, she made the move to leave her job as a high school English teacher and become a full-time mom for the first of her three children. Then, in 2001, after her husband had an unexpected kidney transplant, confronted by life’s ephemerality, she decided to pursue her passion: writing.

In love with the stories she’d read her small children, Pace began working on children’s books. Eventually, after penning a couple of custom titles for Scholastic Books, in 2010, she sold the first of an original series, Vampirina Ballerina, to Hyperion Books, an imprint of the Disney Book Group. Six years later, the series’ wily, succeed-against-all-odds female protagonist has become a fantastic success. So much so that, earlier this summer, Pace got a call from her agent—Disney Junior had decided to transform Vampirina into an animated television series.

With the show set to premiere this spring, we asked Pace to tell us more about what’s in store.

How did the Disney Junior series come about?

Originally, after the first Vampirina book was published in 2012, Disney Junior approached my agent, Linda Pratt, asking about the option to develop it into an animated series. However, just like publishing a picture book, these things take more time than you might expect—it’s a business of waiting. Linda and my film agent, Eddie Gamarra, handled all the details over the years, and the deal was finally announced this past spring.

How did it feel to get the news?

Well, the way in which I found out the deal was a go just might be the craziest coincidence of my entire life. It was my 50th birthday, but my husband had to work, so we didn’t have any particular plans. As the day went on, I felt a little bummed not to be celebrating, so I put a notice on Facebook for any of my friends who could make it to come over and have some cake. I spent the afternoon baking and, that evening, as my friends were literally preparing to sing “Happy Birthday,” my agent called with the news. I wouldn’t have answered the phone except that, considering she never calls outside of business hours, I figured it was something big. And it was. It was absolutely amazing—and not too embarrassing—to have a room full of friends watching me scream and jump up and down. And the best thing was, we already had champagne and cake there to celebrate!

What’s the process of the show’s development been like?

The show develops independently of the book series, so I can’t really give you a full picture. Even though I don’t know many details, the team working on “Vampirina” is stellar. Chris Nee is the executive producer, and she’s working with the Oscar-winning animation studio, Brown Bag Films, the folks behind Disney Junior’s show “Doc McStuffins.” I have great confidence they’re making something wonderful for kids. I haven’t met or talked to Chris, but she drops intriguing details on Twitter every once in a while. I follow her there, and I’m always anxious to read the newest tidbit.

What does this mean for both your career and the Vampirina series?

I know that the third Vampirina book, Vampirina at the Beach, which comes out this spring, will have a sticker on it that says, “Soon to be an animated show from Disney Junior.” I love doing school visits and book festivals where I can meet readers and we can talk about wonderful books—either mine or any other books they love. So if the show affords me more opportunities to connect with kids and readers, that’d be terrific.