Henrico Citizen Audio Articles

Energy Supply, Energy Demand, Biotech Foundations, Geospatial Technology I, and Unmanned Aircraft Systems – these are all classes that Jill Rich, a jewelry design major turned technology education instructor, now teaches at Varina High’s new specialty center. This is not Rich’s first foray into teaching; a few years ago, she began teaching family and consumer sciences at Brookland Middle after pre...

The bus had broken down. About 30 fifth graders and a few parent chaperones were stranded on the side of Interstate-81. The DVD player was broken, and after an hours-long field trip with no way back home, the kids started to cry. But fifth-grade teacher Jenny Murphy immediately sprung into action. She encouraged the teary-eyed fifth graders to keep their spirits up by playing different games and p...

At a time during her childhood when her brother was struggling with addiction issues and her parents were focusing on getting him help, Robin Milwit found comfort safety in the messages from a stranger on television. A few years later, she was working for him. That stranger? Fred Rogers, better known simply as Mr. Rogers to the several generations of children his famed television show helped raise...

Each morning at the start of class, middle school teacher Alayna Tignor will play the “Affirmation Song” by Snoop Dogg and have her sixth and seventh grade students sing along. “Today is going to be an amazing day!” the students recite, some reluctantly. “My feelings matter! I get better every single day! I choose to feel happy!” Positive affirmations are a large part of Tignor’s “Teen Living” cla...

Being a new teacher is not always easy, but first-year teacher Kiana Robinson has managed not only to succeed but thrive in her new position. Robinson, an eighth-grade English teacher at An Achievable Dream Certified Academy at The Oak Complex, did not always see herself teaching English. “I originally went to college as a biology major,” Robinson said, “and that was not for me.” Instead, she came...

Home in Henrico from college one summer, Malik Brown decided that he needed to make more money than he might earn through a retail job. So on a whim, he signed up to be an instructor in the Henrico Summer Blast program for kids through the county’s Recreation and Parks division. Almost instantly, his future became clear. “It was the most amazing, life-changing experience,” Brown recalled of workin...

A career in forensic science was in the works for New York native Theresa Bilello, who had earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from St. John’s University and was preparing to start on a master’s degree at John Jay College. But upon graduation, a friend’s father offered her a fifth-grade teaching job in New York City (at Public School No. 133). She took it and a new career path was bor...

Some days, third grade teacher Kari Mitchell will have a lesson all planned out, having spent hours the night before perfecting it, only to meet the blank stares of her students the next day. “If they’re looking at you like you have three heads, then you just haven’t done what you needed to do,” Mitchell said. “I think this lesson in my head is going to go amazing, and then when I execute it, it d...

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many teachers were leaving the profession, longtime photographer Paige Buchbinder became a first-year teacher at Douglas S. Freeman High School. It happened pretty suddenly – in her first year at her master’s program in education, Buchbinder met the photography teacher at Deep Run High, who told her about an opening at Freeman. “She reached out to me and...

Physical education may not be every elementary-schooler’s favorite class, but with Jamie Sherwood, the gym is a safe and fun place for all. While he did not begin his career in exceptional education, the adaptive physical education teacher has proven himself to be the perfect candidate for the job during the course of his first year in the position. When he began working as a P.E. teacher 17 years...

For many adults who lived through the upheaval of 2020, the pandemic kindled a reevaluation of priorities. Davis Mugford was among them. Although his wife was a teacher, he was on a different career path at the time. "I suddenly found myself," he said, "wanting to do something where I could be directly of service to others." Observing his wife's passion for her vocation, h...

Life moves in a circular path – a reality that has made itself evident to Megan Alaniz. As a youngster growing up in Northern Virginia, Alaniz knew from an early age that she wanted to be a teacher one day. Her interest likely was spurred in part by a favorite first-grade teacher, who she had again in second grade. A growing love of reading dovetailed with those years, too, creating the perfect ru...

As a native of the rural part of the Virginia, Iesha Lee recalled that mental health was not something that people thought about when she was growing up. What may have been a hardship then gives her the passion that she needs to serve as a school counselor at John Rolfe Middle School today. “I was immediately drawn to schools and especially underserved populations, making sure that they have all t...

Tiffany Ethington always has felt more of a connection to students with “exceptionalities.” As a science teacher at the Academy at Virginia Randolph, a non-traditional high school for students who have had difficulties with behavior or academics, she encounters a lot of students with exceptionalities. Many of Ethington’s students in her biology and environmental science classes are not able to sit...

Isabel Ammendolia was a shy child, keeping to herself most of the time. But when she learned how to read, her whole world changed. She might have been too intimidated to interact with others at school, but with her books, she could encounter all sorts of people and adventures. Now a fourth grade teacher at Montrose Elementary, Ammendolia gets to be the person who teaches her students how to read,...

Commonwealth Commercial Partners, LLC recently announced the following lease transactions in Henrico County: Intelvio LLC – leased 1,651 SF at 3900 Westerre Parkway (Eric Hammond, Russell Wyatt and Eliza Izard represented the landlord); JSC of Richmond, LLC d/b/a Mr. Sandless – renewed its lease of 854 SF at 7921 West Broad Street (Ben Bruni represented the tenant); At Home Care Staffing, Inc. – r...

Community members gathered to celebrate Woodland Cemetery's 107th anniversary and to mark the significant progress of restoring the historic African American cemetery in East Highland Park in Henrico. Saturday's ceremony comes after six years of efforts from volunteers to reclaim the cemetery, which is the final resting place of many notable African Americans, including tennis legend Art...

New legislation signed recently by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin aims to help place children in foster care with relatives more frequently, a move that advocates say can improve the child welfare system and help kids achieve better outcomes. House Bill 27 and Senate Bill 39 create the Parental Child Safety Placement Program, codifying the practice of placing children with relatives and strengthenin...

As the Atlantic hurricane season begins, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin this week visited the Virginia Department of Emergency Management for a briefing on the upcoming storm season and the state's hurricane preparedness efforts. Youngkin is urging state residents to have a plan in advance for what they will do if a hurricane approaches their area. That should include knowing where to evacuate,...

Now that school is out for most students in the region, officials from AAA are urging caution on the part of teen drivers during a time period it refers to as "The 100 Deadliest Days" of the year. “Traffic crashes remain one of the leading causes of death for U.S. teens between the ages of 16 and 19,” said AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesperson Morgan Dean. “Teens often have a lot of unstructured...

Officials with Atlantic Union Bank recently announced the successful completion of the merger of American National Bank and Trust Company, integrating the two organizations’ branches and operations throughout Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland. The combined bank will have more than 129 branches and approximately 150 ATMs in the three states. The merger integrates American National’s branches a...

Beginning June 6, the AARP Virginia and Alzheimer’s Association of Southeastern Virginia will host a series of online workshops in June (national Alzheimer’s and Brain Health Awareness Month) designed to improve brain health. The workshops will take place on Thursdays June 6, 13, 20 and 27 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and will focus on four different topics: Healthy Living for Brain and Body; What is Dem...

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs offers grants to help veterans modify their homes to meet their long-term needs, including disabilities or medical conditions – but many of Virginia's nearly 800,000 U.S. military veterans and active-duty service members might not know about it, according to a new AARP survey. The survey found that more than half of veterans 45 and older are unfamiliar...

Sterling Marie Wilson was killed while skateboarding Sunday night along Brook Road in Henrico County, according to police. Police were called to the area of Brook Road and Magellan Parkway at about 10:30 p.m. where they found Wilson, 27, of Cumberland, Maryland, deceased in the roadway. Click here to continue reading on WTVR.com, a Henrico Citizen partner organization. Article Link Support the sho...

Henrico County officials and members of the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation May 30 dedicated a new restroom facility at Four Mile Creek Park in Varina that will provide a resting spot for cyclists and others who use the Virginia Capital Trail, which passes through the park just east of I-295. Community members and other trail users have sought such a facility at some point along the trail for ye...