Date:  June 4, 2003
Contact: Irene Cromer
(703) 791-8720

 Lake Ridge Middle School eighth grade students Anastasia Semenova, Sidney Mangual, Rabiha Ishanzai, and Maria Vermejo won third place in the middle school division of the Virginia Educational Media Association (VEMA) Student Media Festival.  They are all students enrolled in Donna Hessein's English as a Second Language class.

The VEMA Media Festival is a way to showcase students' abilities in using information in a variety of formats.  Students had to answer a question about Celebrating Success:  “Choose a place, person, date, event and describe the impact and success your subject had on society.”  “Learning Despite All Odds:  English and Friendship - A Common Way to Communicate” was the topic they selected.  The students completed a "journey" through their lives including the reasons or obstacles that brought them to the United States, and how English and friendship have impacted those changes.

Anastasia, Sidney, Rabiha and Maria will receive a certificate and an award for excellence and will be recognized at the School Board Meeting on June 25, 2003.  The project will also be entered in the Association for Educational Communications and Technology 's International Media Festival.