Maureen Loftus, executive director of LearningRx of Vienna and Reston, Va. hosted the 24th Annual Tysons Regional Chamber of Commerce Stars event with 42 students attending from 21 Fairfax County area schools for their positive achievements and significant improvements. For more information, go to www.learningrx.com. 

More than 130 attendees joined the event, including Jay Pearson, executive principal, Region 2, Fairfax County Public Schools and Maureen Loftus, youth and education chair for the Tysons Regional Chamber of Commerce. Each year, the Tysons Regional Chamber partners with area schools to celebrate and honor selected students who deserve recognition for positive potential or significant improvements. The Chamber Stars event celebrates the accomplishment of students who have persevered despite significant obstacles or personal struggles. 

Jacob Anderson, 11, a student at Metropolitan School of the Arts (MSA) of Alexandria Va., is making his national tour debut in the U.S. National Tour of Matilda The Musical. Produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Dodgers, the blockbuster musical named TIME Magazine’s #1 Show of the Year, is on tour in select U.S. cities, now through June 25, 2017.  Anderson of Fairfax Station, Va. plays the part of Nigel Hicks in the U.S. National Tour of Matilda the Musical. He’s been studying at MSA since 2014. For more information about the school, go to www.metropolitanarts.org, or view http://us.matildathemusical.com/tour/ for tickets.

“Being part of Matilda the Musical is a dream come true for me, said Jacob Anderson, Metropolitan School of the Arts’ student of Fairfax Station, Va.

The BASIS Independent McLean MATHCOUNTS team placed first in the MATHCOUNTS state championships in Richmond, Va.; its first time participating in the annual statewide MATHCOUNTS competition. BASIS Independent McLean MATHCOUNTS members include: Austin Feng (8th grade), Joshua Fu (8th grade), Pravalika Putalapattu, (7th grade) and Ethan Zhou (6th grade), and are led by Coaches Tyler Sullivan and Rikki McCullough, s BASIS Independent McLean math teacher. MATHCOUNTS state champions head to the 2017 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition in Orlando, Florida in May. For more information on BASIS Independent McLean, go to http://mclean.basisindependent.com.