NOVA student Roz Schaufele donates blood with the help of Red Cross worker Suzanne Fantigrossi at the Woodbridge campus blood drive February 4. NOVA holds several blood drives throughout the year, including an upcoming one at the Alexandria campus on February 24 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Appointments will be scheduled every 15 minutes and can be scheduled by contacting Syrous in the Student Activities Office at: student.activities.nova.al@gmail.com.

Winter is here, and that often means taking refuge from the cold weather by hanging out in the cafeteria or student lounges while trying to study. It’s too cold to hit the beach, but the weather changes too much to ice skate. Skiing is expensive, and the last thing you want to do is join a gaggle of tourists at some district museum you’ve probably already been to.

So what can you do when campus cabin fever hits? Go underground. Less than two hours west of Washington, D.C., are several vast underground caverns that leave visitors in awe of their spectacular geological formations.

A standing-room only crowd at the Manassas campus of Northern Virginia Community College got schooled about the ins and outs of international money laundering Jan. 20. It wasn’t a class for credit but a lecture given by FBI Special Agent Debra LaPrevotte and organized by the Lifelong Learning Institute.

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.

The way Virginia colleges operate could depend on the state’s future governor.

Both the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor have outlined plans – in other words, made political promises — to improve education and its affordability. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It’s quite possible every gubernatorial candidate has promised something similar, and the current crop of candidates, Democratic State Senator R. Creigh Deeds and Republican Robert “Bob” McDonnell, are no different.