Woodbrdige Senior High School Va

Student awarded Beat the Odds scholarship

Growing up, when she didn’t fold towels “just right,” Sommer Anderson said, her drug-addicted mother would hold her down and cut off her hair. Another time, her mother forced her to kneel on grits for hours. The pain was excruciating.

No matter what she went through, Sommer said, she stood by her mother — until she was abandoned at age 14.

“I lied to teachers and social workers, because she was my only family and, my mom said, if I left her she’d kill herself,” Sommer said. “I sacrificed so much to stay with her, and then she just walked out of my life.”

Sommer’s childhood was far from normal, and her life began a downward spiral when her mom left. But, with the help of counselors, teachers and friends, the 17-year-old Woodbridge High School student learned how to move forward.

Sommer was honored this month by Beat the Odds, a Prince William County Bar Association program.

Launched in 2001, Beat the Odds recognizes students who have come in contact with the juvenile justice system but were able to overcome obstacles and prevail academically and socially. The program is funded by the bar association and by donations and is similar to a program offered nationally by the Children’s Defense Fund , officials with the bar association said.

Students are nominated by caseworkers and others in the juvenile justice system and awarded either a scholarship or a laptop. This year, Sommer was one of 18 students recognized at the June 2 event.

Sommer was born in Woodbridge but left Virginia when she was a baby. Her mother, who Sommer said was bipolar, moved from city to city on the East Coast, showing affection one day and punishing her the next. Sommer said that she went to 13 schools in 14 years and that she spent much of her time taking care of her addicted mother.

“My entire childhood was miserable,” Sommer said. “I hated her so much, but there was something there that I couldn’t just leave her or hurt her. We moved so much, I didn’t have a chance to form a relationship with anyone else.”

When Sommer turned 14, she and her mother were living in Tennessee. She said that her mother sent her to visit her father, Richard Anderson, in Virginia for spring break. During the visit, Sommer’s mother told Sommer to never return.

Sommer began living with her father, a colonel in the Marine Corps, but the anger over her mother’s rejection got to her, she said. She began smoking marijuana and then got into “harder drugs,” she said. She shoplifted, drank and eventually got suspended from school.

Army JROTC Cadets Grow in Confidence, Leadership at JCLC Mountain

U.S. Army Cadet Command

FORT AP HILL, Va. – For most teenagers, their idea of summer camp is basking along the seashore by day, and sharing fireside chats by night. But for Army JROTC cadets, JCLC Mountain is a different kind of camp.

Approximately 418 high school students enrolled in Army JROTC programs at 30 schools nationwide arrived at Camp Wilcox on Fort AP Hill for the 2011 JCLC Mountain held June 24 – 29, ready to test the limits of their endurance, stamina, and leadership capabilities. Unfortunately, three of them had to learn the hard way that JCLC Mountain is not “Camp Cupcake.”

The remaining 415 Army junior cadets continue in their Army Strong efforts to stay in the game and finish what they started as they grow in confidence and leadership during the six-day camp adventure. The typical daily routine for JCLC attendants consists of a 5:30am wake up call, movement to breakfast and/or chapel at 6:30am, with strength, confidence and leadership training beginning as early as 8am, and continuing throughout the day. Some of the camp activities consist of marksmanship, rope bridge, first aid, land navigation, rappel/confidence course, and leader’s reaction course.

Cadets are not allowed to bring cell phones with them to camp in order to help wean them away from emotional longing to get back to their friends and family at home, according to retired Col. Reginald Geary, the Senior Army Instructor at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va.

“By the second day,” Geary said, “they learn to make new friends, and just fall in line.”

On average, four to six cadets representing each of the 30 schools nationwide attend JCLC. They arrive together, and a few share living quarters together, but are dispersed among other camp platoons, companies and units throughout the duration of their stay. In other words, they are challenged to step out of their comfort zone to meet and team up with cadets from other schools with different backgrounds, skills, and abilities.

“At first, it was really awkward coming out of my comfort zone away from friends and family,” said Cadet/Pvt. 1st Class Kiane Snoot, 14, an incoming sophomore at Woodbridge Senior High School in Woodbridge, Va. “I had to get out there and talk to other people I didn’t know. It’s really hard learning to trust the teammates you’ve never met before. It really brings out the true leader in all of us, but you just gotta trust that they’ll be there for you and won’t let you down.

Woodbridge High School (Virginia)

American Rower's Almanac 1996

Virginia record

Annual report on awards

Business education forum