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In a quick vote, with no discussion, the Prince Edward County School Board signed off on a curriculum for the character education program during their Wednesday, Dec. 6 meeting. To recap, the goal of this program is to, according to the curriculum, “build social and emotional competence, develop character and cultivate strong educator-student relationships.”

On the elementary level, that means focusing on 10 traits educators say will build character: courage, respect, responsibility, kindness, perseverance, empathy, cooperation, creativity, honesty and gratitude. For middle and high school students, it means focusing on improving a student’s well-being, feelings of belonging and classroom engagement. The middle and high school lessons aim to do that by focusing on things like empathy, compassion, developing goals and habits, leadership and teamwork. 

Classroom portions of the program are delivered in a number of ways, but primarily through activities, school board members were told. For older students, the lessons are intended to be offered through interactive games, activities, partner and group discussions, looking to apply the lessons to real life. With the curriculum now approved by the school board, it goes to the different schools, where a slow rollout of the program begins in January. 

Cumberland Christmas parade delayed

Residents will have to wait one more week to see Santa Claus in Cumberland. Due to wet weather on Sunday, organizers postponed the Cumberland Christmas parade until Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. 

“We are going to have to postpone our parade until the following Sunday,” said organizer Barbara Gamage. “We have a lot of antique vehicles in (the parade) and also rain isn’t good for spectators!” 

When it does return this coming Sunday, things will be pretty much like normal. The parade starts at NAPA at 1587 Anderson Highway and takes its normal route, heading down U.S. 60 towards C&F Bank. And yes, so far it looks like Mother Nature is cooperating, with sunny skies in the forecast. 

Longwood baseball releases schedule 

When the Longwood baseball team takes the field in 2024, it’ll do so against some top competition. The Lancers play 11 games against teams who competed in last season’s NCAA tournament, including North Carolina, South Carolina, George Mason, Samford and Duke. Out of the 54-game schedule, 23 will be played at Buddy Bolding Stadium in Farmville. 

The schedule starts out with back-to-back home weekends against Siena and Iona, before the Lancers go on the road for eight straight. That’s when they’ll take on North Carolina and South Carolina, during the first road trip. The team will play a home-and-home series against VCU, George Mason and Richmond, while also hosting William & Mary. 

The team opens conference play at Winthrop, and Longwood also travels to play at High Point, Gardner-Webb and Radford.The Lancers will host Presbyterian, Charleston Southern, UNC Asheville and USC Upstate for their home conference dates. The Lancers return 23 players from last year’s team while adding 21 newcomers. Of the newcomers, 11 are freshmen, accompanied by 10 transfer students.

Tiger named to All-Region team 

Some good news today for Hampden-Sydney freshman Mo Wumpini. The Chattanooga, Tennessee native has been named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Region Third Team. Wumpini is the second Tiger to ever be named to the All-Region teams since the United Soccer Coaches started the awards in 2018. 

This is the second honor for Wumpini this season, as he was named Rookie of the Year by the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), along with being named First Team All-ODAC. Wumpini played in 17 games, starting 16 of them, only missing one game because of a red card suspension. Wumpini led the Tigers in goals with seven and was tied for third in assists with two. He scored two goals in a 2-0 win over Ferrum College on Oct. 7, which tied for the most goals scored by a Tiger this season, and started a two-week stretch where he scored all five of the goals for H-SC.

Warner files anti-terrorism bill 

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner filed a bill before the weekend break in the U.S. Senate targeting any foreign party who helps facilitate financial transactions with terrorists. 

“The Terrorism Financing Prevention Act will make sure that the Treasury Department has the tools necessary to enforce our sanctions against Hamas and other terror groups,” Sen. Warner.said in a statement.

Under the terms of the Terrorism Financing Prevention Act, the U.S. Department of the Treasury would be required to identify any foreign bank that knowingly facilitates transactions with a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), including Hamas, Hezbollah or any similar groups. Once those groups are identified, the bill would block their access to any accounts held in the U.S. and prevent transactions with any individuals in the United States. Currently, those sanctions are only imposed in limited circumstances. This would be permanent and include all groups on the terrorism watch list.