Shenandoah Magazine Fall 2014 | Page 10

Education students surveyed individuals at Old Town Winchester’s walking mall, Winchester Congregational Community Action Project (CCAP) office and Handley Library in September. Students in secondary education methods and orientation to teaching classes, led by Director of Teacher Licensure and Professor of Curriculum and Instruction Mary Bowser, Ed.D., collected data that will assist grant-writing efforts for Literacy Volunteers-Winchester Area, a United Way partner agency. More than 30 students conducted over 150 surveys. HEALTH PROFESSIONS Three athletic training graduate students — Carina Stern, Nick Erdman, and Kelsey Steele — and their professor, Director and Associate Professor of Athletic Training Rose Schmieg, D.H.Sc., sat for and passed board exams to become certified sports nutritionists. The certification exam is proctored by the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), recognized as the only not-for-profit academic-based society dedicated to sports nutrition and growing the science of applied nutrition. NURSING Nursing school faculty and staff moved into the new Health & Life Sciences Building just two days before school began on Aug. 25. On their first day of classes, students walked through colorful balloon arches at both entrances and enjoyed donuts and coffee with President Tracy Fitzsimmons, Ph.D., and Vice President for Student Life Rhonda VanDyke Colby, D.Min. Nursing students started using simulation labs right away, under the direction of Assistant Professor and Simulation Coordinator Mary Dorsey, M.S.N., RN, while respiratory classes utilized the new video technology conferencing equipment. PERFORMANCES Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre’s (SSMT’s) 2014 season featured four audience-pleasing shows and record 8 attendance from June 11 through Aug. 3. This season’s lineup featured “Man of La Mancha,” Monty Python’s “Spamalot,” Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I” and “Mary Poppins” the Broadway musical. Alumnus Richard Costa ’86 returned to direct “Spamalot,” and actors Stephen Paul Cramer (Jean Valjean) and Christopher Sanders (Javert), who starred in 2013’s “Les Miserables,” returned this season to portray King Arthur in “Spamalot” and Don Quixote in “Man of La Mancha,” respectively. Performing Arts Live, the region’s premier concert series, kicked off its season with Anonymous 4, the internationally acclaimed female a cappella ensemble. The group performed “Grace and Glory,” a historically rich program of 13th century French motets, American shape note tunes, gospel songs, and folk hymns. World of the Piano opened its season with a performance by Italian pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi, winner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, who performed works by Liszt, Chopin, Lyapunov and more. Shenandoah Theatre Lab opened the fall season with “In the Red and Brown Water,” a coming-of-age story about a young woman in a small Louisiana town. Directed by Associate Professor of Theatre Kirsten Trump, M.F.A., the performance featured blues guitarist Billy Thompson. Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, led by Professor, Artistic Director and Conductor Jan Wagner, opened its season with “Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich,” featuring renowned pianist Vanessa Perez, who performed Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, op. 18,” and Shostakovich’s “Symphony No. 5 in D minor, op. 47.” Shenandoah Conservatory Wind Ensemble began its season with “Common Ground,” a musical celebration of the 200th anniversary of the national anthem. Works included Carolyn Bremer’s “Early Light,” guest composer Kristin Kuster’s “Interior,” John Mackey’s “Aurora Awakes” and Stephen Michael Gryc’s “Masquerade Variations on a Theme of Sergei Prokofiev.” Shenandoah Conservatory Jazz Ensemble, directed by Associate Professor of Jazz and Trumpet Craig Fraedrich, M.M., opened its fall season with a tribute to “The Music of Sammy Nestico.” During a decades-long career, Nestico was a big band trombone player and arranger, television and film industry composer and arranger, commercial jingle composer and music educator. Shenandoah Conservatory’s EDGE Ensemble ignited its second new music season with “Words, Words, Words,” featuring works utilizing sampled, prerecorded and live human voices at the Bright Box in Old Town Winchester. Full of meaning and mystery, the program included Randall Woolf ’s “Everything is Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy, in partnership with George Washington University and Loudoun County Public Schools, hosted the sixth annual GO GIRL (Genomic Opportunities for Girls in Research Labs™) educational outreach program in June. Photo: Jason López