Despite all the snow days and delays that we have had over the past few weeks, LVA has made it to third quarter. This marks the halfway point for the freshman, sophomores, and juniors, and the last full quarter for the seniors.

Banners and music filled the halls of the school Jan. 30 to kick off the first day of the quarter. The student governments got together and created banners to be placed around the school where students will write their goals they want to achieve for the rest of the year. Along with that, during the lunch periods LVA's step team performed for the grades. Members Marcella King, Taia West, Isabel Marte, Ikira Gentry, Sierra Austin, Brianna Newman, Lavonte Douse, Jessica Rodriguez, and Aleah Grimshaw put together a performance that got everyone pumped and excited for the rest of the year.

National School Counselor Week is coming up and in honor of that, our school counselors, Kimberly Bachert and Quanesha Johnson, are going to be hosting a few different activities to help promote academic, social and emotional well-being. TD Bank will be coming and giving a presentation on money management and future. There will also be a résumé workshop for the students, and the counselors will also be running a few healthy relationship group sessions for the students to attend.

Not only are the counselors busy at work, but so are the students. The elementary school is having a Chinese New Year celebration. The high school students are working with the Chinese teacher to perform a traditional dragon dance, similar to a dance they would do in China. This performance will be held Feb. 12 and the elementary students are so eager to see what the high school has come up with. The 11th grade film class finished up its unit on musicals and will be going on a trip to New York City to see the Broadway musical, "Wicked."

Seniors are busy planning prom and putting together the high school yearbook. They are also busy completing internal assessments as well as external assessments that will count toward their IB score if they are testing for the IB diploma. With all the assignments, they are going to be going to LCCC for a day to work on their essays and will have resources available to help them.

With it already being February, LVA is getting ready for the 2014-2015 school year. We are currently holding information sessions for potential students. During these sessions, families come and learn more about LVA and the International Baccalaureate program. To help make these sessions even more informative, the 12th grade film class is putting together a video of students in the school, answering some questions parents may have. Students from seventh to 12th grade will be interviewed to talk about what a typical school day is like, how the workload is, the environment, and how LVA prepares you for college. In addition to the video, some of the seniors are attending the sessions and answering any questions that parents still have. Andrew Lee and Joseph Koch attended the last session and it was very successful. More seniors have signed up to be a part of it and the sessions are quickly being filled.