From the Art180 blog:

This past fall, Sukenya Best and Mike Dulin led a printmaking program at St. Andrew’s School in Oregon Hill. Throughout the program, the young artists explored the theme of pressure in interesting ways. They experimented with new methods and new materials with some impressive results. This is a video taken last November of a drawing exercise where they reacted to music on paper.

A lot happened at this past week’s Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association meeting.

A representative from Patrick Henry Charter School Initiative made a short presentation and answered questions.

VCU announced the opening of the controversial student recreational center at the corner of W. Cary and S. Cherry Streets. It was also announced that Oregon Hill residents who wished to buy monthly prorated membership to the new Student Recreational Center on W. Cary Street would pay a rate roughly equal to that of VCU alumni ($281.67 per year). VCU suggested that a monthly list of interested residents be kept by OHNA. (The attendance list from this past meeting was dutifully sent to VCU Community Development.) All eligible residents who purchase a membership will be required to got to the VCUCard office (located at 701 West Broad Street) to purchase a VCU Recreational Sports ID. All VCU Recreational Sports rules, policies, and guidelines apply.

Scott Burger, citing new responsibilities outside the neighborhood, voluntarily stepped down as President. Jennifer Hancock volunteered to serve as OHNA’s interim President for a few months until new leadership can be elected. She did note that she is already volunteering as the President of the Oregon Hill Home Improvement Council‘s Board of Directors. One possibility that was mentioned was for OHNA to change its bylaws to rule by an elected board.

Some other issues that were discussed included a new greenway grant by City, the light from the new Mead WestVaco building(I understand that company officials may have had the light turned down a bit since the meeting), and a proposed tree removal on Pine Street.

Excerpt from Times Dispatch article (with some links):

Several local high schools have been ranked among the nation’s best in a recent issue of U.S. News & World Report.
For the third consecutive year, Richmond’s Community and Open high schools have made the list with silver and bronze rankings, respectively.
Henrico County’s Deep Run and Godwin high schools also made the list for the second consecutive year, with both earning a silver ranking.
In 2008, Deep Run, Godwin and Community high schools earned a silver ranking from U.S. News & World Report, while Open earned bronze.
Standard & Poor’s School Evaluation Services conducts the rankings, which are based on student performance on state tests, disadvantaged student performance, and the opportunities provided to students for Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses.
In Virginia, about 22,000 public high schools were analyzed. Nationwide, 561 schools received gold or silver rankings, and in Virginia, eight schools received such designations. There were 36 bronze recipients in Virginia and 1,750 nationwide. Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria received the highest ranking in the report, published Dec. 10.

Despite these accomplishments, Open High, at least in the Grace Arents school building, is still scheduled to be closed in the future, even though there is the Goldman plan.

From a neighbor:

Help raise money for

OPEN HIGH SCHOOL

by EATING PIZZA!! That’s right!

Here’s what you do:

Come to CiCi’s

7516 West Broad Street

on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10,

from 5-8 p.m.

and mention your school at the

register.(Tell your friends and family to do the same) Enjoy all the pizza you can eat!

CiCi’s will donate 15% of your net sales back to

your school. Raising money has never been easier!

So, bring a friend and enjoy all the pizza, pasta,

salad and dessert you want!

Recently the Sierra Club Falls of the James Group blog ran a cursory review of area colleges and universities. It basically cruised through school media to glean more information on environmental initiatives.

Of course the biggest, Virginia Commonwealth University, Oregon Hill’s neighbor to the north, received the treatment:

Checking On VCU…
I did not get a chance to go to Project Winterfood on Wednesday night, but I do want to commend it anyway. Graphic design students promote locally grown food and community, which is great for the environment. Click here for Commonwealth Times article.

VCU’s green initiative was discussed as part of student organization’s funding forum:

“SGA Vice President Roberto Celis introduced the university’s green initiative as another key priority. Celis said students, faculty and staff will have to make a behavioral change in order to reach the goals laid out in the President’s Climate Commitment.

Grant Matthews, a representative for the VCU Office of Sustainability, said the overall goal is to develop a climate action plan that will promote energy conservation and new projects.

Matthews said over the next 41 years, VCU should reach carbon neutrality.”

Note to VCU- 41 years is way too long. Click here for article.

In exciting news, VCU is looking at more solar-

“VCU’s Director of Sustainability Jacek Ghosh, said the state might fund the university for more solar projects on campus, which could lead to solar panels on parking garages.

“The final details are being negotiated,” Ghosh stated in an e-mail. “The Commonwealth of Virginia can be very slow in these matters.”

Late last summer, VCU installed a system of 30 solar panels on the MCV Campus Steam Plant, which provides steam power for heating and sterilization for much of the MCV Campus, the VCU Health System and nearby state and private office buildings in downtown Richmond.

This 6.6-kilowatt solar panel array helps VCU offset about 7,000 metric tons of carbon gases each year.

The solar panels on the MCV Campus Steam Plant were installed by City Space Solar, a renewable energy company that focuses on solar energy in residential and commercial construction.

VCU has installed two PV solar-powered trash compactors, the one at the Stuart C. Siegel Center helps manage waste after sporting, concert and other large-scale events.

The solar-powered trash compactors have five times the capacity of standard trashcans with fewer collections and up to 80-percent emissions reductions.

According to the BigBelly Web site, energy from the sun is the only new input Earth receives every day and it is free, silent and non-polluting. In 20 days, the sun provides the equivalent amount of energy that is contained in all of the coal, oil and gas reserves combined.

VCU has added the first solar thermal system to the historic Ginter House on Monroe Park Campus. The system reduces the building’s hot water CO2 emissions by 77 percent annually, which saves 13,400 KBTU, according to the Richmond By Solar Web site.”

Its worth remarking that as VCU has expanded further into what was historically Oregon Hill, residents have asked for VCU to go more green to help the LOCAL environment.

And like I said, its not just VCU. University of Richmond, Virginia Union, and even Richard Bland were also featured on the blog.

It’s also worth noting that this Wednesday is the Sierra Club Falls of the James Group’s annual holiday fundraiser at the Virginia Science Museum.