Chantilly ❖ Fair Oaks ❖ Fair Lakes ❖ Oak Hill NORTHERN EDITION DECEMBER 27 - JANUARY 2, 2012 25 CENTS Newsstand Price Children’sChildren’s CentreCentre ViewView Annie- Sophie Kim, grade 12, Chantilly 20122012 High School www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Centre View North ❖ Children’s Centre View ❖ 2012 - 2013 ❖ 1 Throw a great birthday party for your little one! Franklin Middle School We put the ART in Party! • FUN • AFFORDABLE • EASY • SPACIOUS FUN FOR ALL AGES! call 703.817.1051 or visit www.claycafechantilly.com 13894 Metrotech Dr. • Chantilly (Just to the left of Petsmart) Arborvitae,Trees,Trees, Select Hollies Helen Shi, grade 7 Samantha Aguero, grade 7 Katerina Bagatska, grade 7 Camelias, 25%35%25% Writings ShrubsShrubsAzaleas and && 50% Off OFFOFF PerennialsPerennialsShade Trees Cleveland Pears Just Me Kennebunkport, OFF-SEA My mind is a maze, a mental puzzle PRICING that tests all forms of knowledge. 50-65% Off Pottery FREE SON Maine Washington Area’s BiggestBiggest SelectionSelection Landscape & My imagination is undrawn scenery, Boing! A lobster buoy sounds in the surrounds me, yet, no one else can see distance. Hardscape Estimates it. 30% OFF Japanese Maples •Patios•Walls•Walkways Plop! A fish flops in the ocean. My hair is like a horse’s mane, long Sizzle! A burger is flipped on a grill. or Buy 1 Get 1 Free* •Paver Driveways and thick. Crunch! Crunch! Gravel under *Off regular price •RR Timber Retaining Walls My creativity is a pillow, stuffed with people’s walking feet. a thousand feathers, waiting, wanting, Splash! Children play in the water. 9023 Arlington Blvd., to burst at the seams. Bulk Mulch, Fairfax, Virginia Crack! Crackle! A bonfire roars to life. My taste in music is like a teenager’s Woof! Woof! A dog chases a stick Playground Chips 2 miles west of I-495 on Rt. 50. room, chaotic and messy. FREE Fill 1 mile from I-66 (Vienna Metro) thrown into the surf. & Organic Compost 703-573-5025 My eyes are chocolate; they hold a Whoosh! Waves crash on the beach. warm dark brown color. Put! Put! A boat engine roars to life/ $ 99 Open 7 days a week My knowledge is a rose bush, con- 24. /cu. yd. ➠ Visit our new Web site: www.cravensnursery.com Yell, Shout! A fisherman tries to sell stantly growing; the thorns, my today’s catch. sarcasm. Reel! Reel! A fishing rod has landed My hands are instruments, used to striped bass. Lata Goudel, grade 8 create something beautiful, a true Sigh! A man relaxes, looking over the artist’s tool. ocean. My feet are like a guide, taking me Crash! Crash! The tide slowly rolls where I need to go, even if I don’t yet out. know the destination. Plunk! A lobster trap hits the water. My fingers are like a biography; they Eek! Eek! A seagull announces his tell the story of my life, and they repre- catch. sent the obstacles I’ve overcome. — Matthew Corgnati, grade 7 — Tatiana Guel, grade 8 The Haunted House Thump, thump, thump; footsteps thunder through a nearby corridor. Creak! A door opens widely by itself, leaving a gaping hole in the hallway’s center. Thud, thud, thud! The doors of clos- ets shake, electrifying the silence with a series of ghostly knocks. Rustle, rustle, a dark figure hidden You’ll See… behind a window curtain, awaiting anyone’s approach. AAAHH! Screams pervade the attic, The Difference flowing down the stairs, causing everybody’s teeth to rattle in fear. “Whenever you buy quality from professionals Janice Chen, grade 8 Callie Harry, grade 7 See Writings, Page 7 you get a better value.” Fashionable Eyeglasses • Designer Frames • Sunglasses Children Frames • Contact Lenses • Eye Exams …and much more! Chantilly Use Your Professional Building Flex Funds! 3910 Centreville Road 703-830-6377 Suite 100, Chantilly VA EyeStreetOptical.com EYE STREET OPTICAL Celebrating 25 Years of Serving the Community Prescription Eyewear $ 00 w/ Complete Purchase 75 OFF of New Frames & Lenses With this coupon. Minimum purchase $200.00. Cannot be combined with other offers or insurance. Not valid on Oakley, Maui Jim, Sport or Swim Goggles. Expires 1/31/13. Jade Chen, grade 8 Emma Hierholzer, grade 8 Yesong Song, grade 8 2 ❖ Centre View North ❖ Children’s Centre View ❖ 2012 - 2013 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Children’s Centre View 2012 Welcome Dear Readers: his week, the Centre View turns over its pages to the youth and students. We Tasked principals and teachers from area schools to encourage students to contrib- ute their words, pictures and photos for our annual Children’s Issue. The response as always was enormous. While we were unable to publish every piece we received, we did our best to put together a paper with a fair sam- pling of the submitted stories, poems, drawings, paintings, photographs and other works of art. We appreciate the extra effort made by school staff to gather the materials during their busy time lead- ing up to the holidays. We’d also like to encourage both schools and parents to mark their 2013 calen- dars for early December, the deadline for submis- sions for next year’s Children’s Centre View. Please keep us in mind as your children continue to create spectacular works of art and inspiring pieces of writ- ing in the coming year. The children’s issue is only a part of our year-round commitment to cover education and our local schools. As always, the Centre View welcomes let- ters to the editor, story ideas, calendar listings and notices of local events from our readers. Photos and other submissions about special events at schools are especially welcome for our weekly schools pages. Sun Kim, grade 12, Chantilly High School Our preferred method for material is e-mail, which should be sent to centreview @connection newspapers.com, but you can reach us by mail at 1606 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 or call 703- 778-9415 with any questions. — Editor Steven Mauren Janice Chen, grade 8, Franklin Middle, School If someone were to ask me what my favorite animal was, I’d have to think about that for a while. I love many animals, such as dogs, tigers, leopards, and peacocks (both normal and albino). But by far, my favorite is the cheetah. The tiny cubs’ faces are round and fluffy with innocence. And the speed of the cheetah, once grown, is not to be matched by any ani- mal but the head-diving falcon. — Vaishnavi Visveswaran, age 11, grade 6, Greenbriar West Elementary School Sania Mahmood, grade 6, Greenbriar East Elementary School, Reaction - Self Portrait www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Centre View North ❖ Children’s Centre View ❖ 2012 - 2013 ❖ 3 Greenbriar East Elementary Heejin Jang, grade 4 Memories and Milestones Accordian Book Sarah Katherine Hugo, Noah Galbis-Doucette, grade 5 grade 2 Abstract Face Double portrait Chearin Oh, grade 6 Evoactive Memory Collage Smayan Sangoju, Brendan Riddle, grade 3 Kindergarten Cultural mask Dream House Addison Andreas, grade 2 Community Event Self Portrait Morrison Stout, grade 1 Tree for My Family Skyler Stables, Deena Amriui, grade 1 Kindergarten Aiden Sahm, grade 4 Michael Funk, grade 6 Self portrait Collage self portrait Coil vessel Contour line shoe 4 ❖ Centre View North ❖ Children’s Centre View ❖ 2012 - 2013 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Rocky Run Middle wrong key, or if I play too loudly. How music sheets; my hands were shaking so Daniel well must we play in order to get third much. There once was a boy named Daniel, place? Or maybe second? I doubted we The judges have made their decisions Who owned a Cocker Spaniel. could get first; this was a very competi- on paper. A lady walks to the front of the But Dan tripped on his head, tive event, with 14-year olds competing. room holding these papers, and she an- And lied on the floor very dead. I’m 11. nounces the winners. I cross my fingers All of this was real. Finally, it is our turn. We get up, walk so hard they went numb. She calls third — Lucy Jin Li, 12, grade 7 to the judges, give them our music, and place first, and following that are two Mrs. Wetzel’s English class bow together. We are on track so far. My names. The recipients cross to the front palms are sweating, and my fingers are of the room to receive their ribbons. trembling. I try to keep a positive atti- Then second place is called, and then tude, but it fails. I doubt we are going comes our names. Faith Lam and From Trepidation to to do well. But I put on a happy face, Maggie Kirtley. She turned toward us, and smile at Faith. She smiles back, and and mid-rotation she stops, rereads the Triumph suddenly, I knew I was wrong. We were paper, and then apologizes. We were going to do great. not second place. First place was called. The church is huge, with rose win- We sit down on the cold black bench I held my breath. Were we first place? MET LIFE, DELTA, BCBS/CAREFIRST, & UNITED CONCORDIA PROVIDER dows casting multi-colored lights onto in front of the piano. I wipe my sweaty We had to be. Then the lady turns back WEEKDAYS • SATURDAYS • EVENINGS 24 HOUR EMERGENCY CARE the floor. The ceiling must be at least 50 palms on my skirt. I definitely cannot to us with a smile on her face, and an- feet up, slanted into a V, and a gold afford for my fingers to slip. I raise my nounces “First place is Maggie Kirtley chandelier hangs from the center. There hands to the keys, and count to four just and Faith Lam!” She hands us both big are aisles and aisles of empty cushioned loud enough so that Faith could hear, flashy blue ribbons, and then thanks benches ready to be filled by other com- and then we begin to play.