Dr. Terry Alford has received Virginia’s prestigious Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Just 12 faculty members out of 177 were chosen from Virginia’s public and private colleges for the state’s higher education award.

Alford routinely receives glowing teacher evaluations for his “enthusiasm, passion, energy and dynamic teaching style,” as Dr. William Kinsella, Assistant Dean of History noted. One student declared him the “best history teacher I have ever had,” while another applauded him for bringing “enthusiasm, wealth of knowledge and a fabulous sense of humor to his chosen subject.”

This year’s Homecoming Dance will take place during Spirit Week on Friday, Feb. 19 in the Annandale Campus CF Cafeteria from 8:00 p.m. – midnight. The cost for the event will be $3.00 in advance and $5.00 at the door. Tickets will be available at your local student activities office. All money collected from ticket sales will go to Haiti relief effort.

As usual NOVA kicked off the semester by organizing a NOVA Day at every campus. This day welcomes new and returning students by providing food, playing music and letting the student clubs recruit new members. Among these clubs were the Hispanic Student Union, Phi Theta Kappa, Vietnamese Student Association, the Visual and Performing Arts Association and others. All of these define a normal NOVA Day for the college.

Bright and early one recent morning, students from Northern Virginia Community College’s Annandale campus loaded onto a bus headed to Richmond, home of the Virginia Senate. Nervous, yet full of excitement, these students were able to dip their toes into politics and get a first-hand look at what really happens behind the scenes.

Tatanka Means, actor, stuntman, boxer and artist, was a guest speaker in the Ernst Cultural Center at the Annandale campus. Tatanka is the son of Russell Means, the 1970’s American Indian Movement activist and actor, known for his roles in such movies as Last of the Mohicans (1992), Natural Born Killers (1994), and Pathfinder (2007). Tatanka’s mother is a Navajo educator on the Navajo Reservation in Chinle, AZ.

At the Annandale campus, the Hispanic Club was celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by conducting a literary contest Oct. 15. The contest was for students who wanted to express their creativity by writing essays or poems in English or Spanish, with the judging done by several faculty advisors.

Every year, various campuses at Northern Virginia Community College hold an alcohol awareness week, which doesn’t sound like much fun from a college student’s point of view. But aside from the tables with fliers warning about the effects of alcohol and a trailer displaying a mangled car from a drunk-driving accident, mocktails were served to those willing to undergo an obstacle course while wearing beer goggles, much to the delight of onlookers.
Mocktails are non-alcoholic cocktails. And these beer goggles don’t make anyone look good, least of all the wearer. …

Burke Lake Park, Fairfax County hosted around 2.500 people of all ages, who made a chilly Oct. 25 into a pre-Halloween holiday. Scooby Doo, Winnie the Pooh and giant pumpkins among other characters were the main attraction for children who formed long lines  in the early morning to get on the Ghost Train.
Starting at 8 am, the event organizers from NOVA’s Park and Recreation program along with more than a 100 volunteers, met at the entrance of the park to initiate a day full of scary fun and enthusiastic …

It’s been fought long and hard by students at many institutions of learning. The issue of religion and education has been very controversial – striking up heated discussions between students and faculty to allow students the right to practice their religious duties in school.

The new meditation/meeting room “is for everyone” said Haroon Ismail, former Muslim Student Association president and president of the student body at the Alexandria campus. “[Since] it’s a state institution, we can’t have a room designated only for faith-based activities. So, we got this room on the condition that it would be a meeting room/meditation room. Whenever there isn’t a meeting here, students can come and pray and prayers are meetings. It can also be an open space for students to come and have a bit of quiet time.”

Esther Clark, a rising star in academic excellence and leadership at Northern Virginia Community College, just turned seventeen this summer. She started taking classes at NOVA in 2006, and since then she has risen to the position of President in two of NOVA’s most prestigious organizations. She has also represented the student body in the Annandale’s Campus Council.

Clark has a unique academic background. She was home schooled with her brothers and sisters and started her dual-enrollment at NOVA when she was fourteen. “My parents are my principals and my teachers” says Clark, “It’s a teaching style that really goes with the flow.” Clark will receive her high school diploma in the spring, and the 62 college credits she has already earned are a great starting off point for her future.