Timmons Group partner leaves to join Sowers

Taylor

After 19 years with the Timmons Group, partner Dave Anderson is leaving the engineering firm to become a partner with a development company not yet formed by Buddy and Casey Sowers. Anderson has been handling engineering duties for the Sowers' Roseland project, a mixed use development of more than 5,000 homes on Woolridge Road west of Route 288.

"I'm going to a great opportunity, but leaving a great career," said Anderson. "We're looking for more sustainable projects using smart growth principles." Anderson leaves the Timmons Group on June 1.

In other announcements: Abigail Leigh Taylor of Midlothian is one of five Longwood University students to earn the Sally Barksdale Hargrett Prize for Academic Excellence. The Hargrett prize recognizes Longwood students who have earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average. She graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in liberal studies, is a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and was named to the National Dean's List from 2002-06. Taylor is currently teaching first grade at Beulah Elementary School and will begin teaching first grade at Grange Hall Elementary in the fall.

Four HCA Richmond hospitals including CJW Medical Center have implemented a new Web-based pricing transparency initiative to provide meaningful pricing information to consumers about the estimated out-of-pocket expenses they should expect for a particular hospital stay or visit. On the HCA Richmond hospital Web sites, consumers can now obtain a pricing estimate for the most frequently used healthcare services, payment options and alternatives for patients without healthcare coverage, as well as contact information to call directly for a pricing estimate. CJW Medical Center's Web site is www.cjwmedical.com.

Twenty-five students celebrated their graduation from John Tyler Community College's Quick Start program and were the first to complete the college's new six-week, evening program for preparing trainees for entry-level positions with manufacturing and skilled trades employers. Quick Start is an initiative of the John Tyler Community College Manufacturers' Coalition, a partnership between the college and area manufacturing and skilled trades companies that addresses industry workforce needs.

The MCD Awards for Initiative and Innovation in Educational Practices will provide money for six projects to pioneer creative educational strategies in Chesterfield County Public Schools for the next school year. The projects include: "An Inquiry-Based Energy Unit for Middle School" ($4,460 for the Instruction Division Center); "Academic Exercise Experience" ($3,485 for Clover Hill Elementary School); "Real Life Survivors" ($3,749 for Manchester Middle School); "Begin With the End in Mind" ($5,000 for Meadowbrook High School); "Talent, Trade, and Elementary Trade Books" ($4,050 for the Facilities Department); and "Schoolyard Excavation: Archaeology, History, and English In and Out of the Classroom" ($1,447 for Perrymont Middle School).

Reams Road Elementary has been selected by the Virginia Department of Education as a 2007 Title I Distinguished School. This state recognition honors schools for increasing achievement levels of economically disadvantaged students. At the fifth-grade level, 100 percent of the students passed the state's Standards of Learning mathematics test.

Seven Maggie Walker Governor's School students from the county were recently recognized by the Richmond YWCA at the 27th Annual Outstanding Women Awards. They include: Wambura Fobbs (senior), Kelly Wolenburg (senior), Dahlia Mignouna (junior), Amarachi Eseonu (junior), Hilary Hurd (sophomore), Madelaine Spangler (sophomore) and Hanlu Ye (junior).