Award Winning Week for Manassas Park Students

Manassas Park High School students had an award-winning week! From the members of the yearbook staff, to the marching band and the kids all over the school were praised for their work.

The Manassas Park High Marching Band got a superior rating in the state level competition at Powhatan High School on Saturday. Band Director Lisa Eckstein said that the band was unable to march due to the bad weather, but did a wonderful job playing indoors.

“The kids had a great season,” said Eckstein. “I think that band teaches them passion, discipline and commitment.”

During the next month, the band is preparing for Christmas parades in Manassas on Dec. 3 and Manassas Park on Dec. 10.

“We have had a great season,” Manassas Park Drum Major Daniel DeLaGarza said. “During marching band season, we see our band mates more than we do our families and we are really close by the end of the season.”

Reflections, the Manassas Park High School yearbook, also received a state level award. The 2011 yearbook themed, "If You Really Knew Me", got first place in overall quality.

“We worked hard on the yearbook,” said teacher and yearbook coordinator Craig Smith. “There is no school paper, so the yearbook covers all the things that go on at Manassas Park High School.”

Students mixed personal profiles, timely articles and photos to create a progressive, updated look for the 2011 yearbook, Smith said. During the course of the year, students designed and did layout work on every page of the book. Smith said he wanted to thank community advertisers for helping support the yearbook.

“Three years ago, I started working on the yearbook with a group of sophomores. I got to see them grow into seniors,” Smith said. “In the beginning, the kids did not know how to write a caption, but by the end, they were doing their own story writing, photography and design."