Milestones

Gov. Ralph Northam recently announced the winners of the 2018 Governor’s Challenge in Economics and Personal Finance. More than 2,300 high school students from across the Commonwealth took part in the challenge. From the online competition, 150 students were invited to participate in the day-long championship on April 20 at Capital One in Richmond. In the Personal Finance Division, Glen Allen High School and teacher Patricia Adams won Runner Up. The Governor’s Challenge is conducted in partnership with the Virginia Council on Economic Education, a nonprofit public-private partnership focused on enhancing K-12 economics and financial education.

Micah Buller and Christian Taylor, of Henrico, were named to the All-Continental Volleyball Conference team. Buller and Taylor are on the men’s volleyball team at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va. Additionally, Buller claimed a major award as the CVC’s first-ever Libero of the Year.

Peter Van der Wolk, of Henrico, was named to the honors list for the winter 2017 term at Pomfret School in Pomfret, Conn. To qualify for the honors list, students must earn a minimum 3.330 grade point average for the term. Van der Wolk is a member of the class of 2020.

The following local students recently were initiated into Phi Kappa Phi, a collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines: Ashley Carroll (Radford University), Stephanie Hunter (Framingham State University), Autumn McIntyre (Longwood University) and William Tharp (Lynchburg College), of Henrico; and Abigail Burton (Radford University), Justin Creech (Florida Institute of Technology), Sneha Reddy (Shepherd University) and Alyssa Zilka (Radford University), of Glen Allen.

Wheaton College student Cassia Waligora, of Henrico, performed with the Women's Chorale during their spring tour of Minnesota and Iowa. During the week-long tour, Women's Chorale performed public concerts, lead worship for several church services, and performed at area high schools.

Colin McGarry, of Glen Allen, presented original research at Ohio Wesleyan University's 2018 Student Symposium. The fourth-annual event, held April 18, allowed students to share the breadth and depth of their Ohio Wesleyan academic work, hone their professional presentation skills, and foster communication about future research projects. McGarry presented "Fighting in the Irish Environment: The Landscape in Ancient Irish Military Matters." McGarry was mentored by Ohio Wesleyan faculty member Carol Neuman de Vegvar.

Emily Hewitt, of Henrico, was inducted into the national Psi Chi Psychology Honor Society at Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge, Ark. Students selected for Psi Chi must be enrolled as a major or minor in a psychology program, have completed at least nine credit hours of psychology coursework, have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 and a minimum GPA of 3.0 for psychology coursework. Hewitt is the daughter of Earl and Ramona Hewitt of Henrico.