
Westfield Graduates: Ready for the Future
Learning to persevere.
Westfield High School’s commencement speaker, Ishwarya Sivakumar, selected in a school audition process, gave her 655 graduating classmates “one last ecology lesson” on Tuesday, June 21, in the EagleBank Arena at George Mason University.

Mountain View Honors Students
Three seniors recognized during graduation ceremony.
During Mountain View’s spring commencement last week, three graduating seniors were honored with special awards from the faculty.

Mountain View: ‘Struggle Develops Your Strength’
Mountain View grads share stories of perseverance.
Mountain View High is a school full of heart, and it’s openly on display at every graduation.
Letter: Gross Misreading of the Second Amendment
To the Editor
This is in response to U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly's opinion piece titled "Stem Gun Violence Epidemic" (The Connection, June 22-28).
Connection Families, Pet Connection
The Pet Connection, a twice-yearly special edition, will publish on July 27, and photos and stories of your pets with you and your family should be submitted by July 17.
Editorial: Getting Home Safely on Independence Day
Independence Day is a national celebration, and for many, that celebration includes alcohol. The summer overall and July 4 in particular are times of greater risk for drinking and driving.

Farewell to Chantilly High
Graduates look toward their future.
Six hundred and thirty Chantilly High School seniors celebrated as they walked across the stage to receive their diplomas at EagleBank Area located on George Mason University’s campus on June 20.

Hope in the Fight Against Drug Dependency
Meeting highlights battles in every neighborhood.
Fairfax County experiences heroin overdoses every day, according to county officials. To help raise awareness, a second county-wide Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse Town Hall was held June 14 at Centreville High School.

Local Scouts Receive National Honor Medal
Last summer, Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Sully District Troop 577 sent several Scouts and adult leaders on a high adventure trip to Northern Tier, just outside Ely, Minn. During the trip, the Scouts were divided into patrols which would trek and canoe through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (USA), Moose Lake, and the Quetico Provincial Park (Canada) with the help of a guide from the Charles L. Sommers Canoe Base Camp.

Online Classes Offer Flexible Options for Earning Credentials Outside the Classroom
Interested in learning to landscape your yard using sustainable practices?

Tips for Memorable Family Vacations
As summer gets underway, vacation-bound families are packing their bags and heading out of town. Vacations often fly by — months of planning and anticipating can be over in the blink of an eye. With a little advanced planning and forethought, however, even a quick weekend trip or a visit to relatives can become meaningful and memorable.

Centreville Snapshot: Exploring Nature
Students at Chesterbrook Academy preschool in Centreville explored a bug’s life in celebration of Earth Day in April as they released more than 4,500 ladybugs throughout the schoolyard and back into the environment on plants, flowers and trees.

Chantilly Snapshot: Cruisers and Backhoes and Trucks, Oh, My
Touch-A-Truck was June 18 outside the Chantilly Regional Library.

Supervisors Endorse Police ‘Re-engineering’
Action items approved include use of force and communications recommendations from Ad Hoc commission.
The possibility of body cameras being worn by Fairfax County Police officers and the release of officers’ names involved with critical use of force incidents dominated discussion during two action items in the Board of Supervisors June 21 meeting.

Chantilly: Christ Presbyterian Expands Its Preschool
Flexible schedule to meet needs of families.
Christ Presbyterian Church is expanding its preschool ministry to include extended day and full day programs for children ages 2 to 5 years old to better meet the needs of the surrounding community.

Chantilly Snapshot: Health Gathering
Inova Fair Oaks Hospital Auxiliary hosted the Virginia Association of Healthcare Auxiliaries and Volunteers (VAHAV) Northern District Spring Meeting on May 16. More than 90 volunteers attended from 12 of the 14 hospitals who are in the Northern District. The meeting was held at the Inova Schar Cancer Institute, a new, freestanding cancer center on the Inova Fair Oaks Hospital campus. Founded in 1949, VAHAV serves health care auxiliaries and volunteer organizations. See www.vahav.org.

Chantilly Snapshot: Park-and-Ride Expansion
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held June 15 at the Stringfellow Road Park-and-Ride to celebrate the completion of the expansion of the park-and-ride facility with 300 additional parking spaces. The project was implemented by Fairfax County Department of Transportation and Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services, in partnership with the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Chantilly: Love for All, Hatred for None
Letter to the Editor
Hate has no religion. No gender. No race.

Centreville High: Farewell to Class of 2016
Centreville High School graduates celebrate their milestone.
Surrounded by both friends and family, more than 500 Centreville High School graduates walked across Eagle Bank Arena stage at George Mason University on Wednesday, June 15 as they received their diploma from Principal Dave Jagels.
Chantilly: Pastry Chef Arnaud Herdot Sells from a Food Truck
To be his own boss.
When a fancy French pastry chef takes to selling his baked goods from a food truck, you know that American food shopping habits have changed. Especially startling is that this pastry chef, Arnaud Herodet of Chantilly, worked as the pastry chef at the French Embassy in Washington for 18 years.