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Giant squash and PATH board visit Rappahannock elementary

by | Oct 31, 2023

Jason Loris and his daughter stand next to their world-record winning squash displayed in the RCES cafeteria on Oct. 27, 2023. Loris grew two record-breaking butternut squash this season, and both were featured at the Virginia State Fair last month.
Jason Loris and his daughter stand next to their world-record winning squash displayed in the RCES cafeteria on Oct. 27, 2023. Loris grew two record-breaking butternut squash this season, and both were featured at the Virginia State Fair last month.
David Shang, program officer with the PATH Foundation, helps Rappahannock County Elementary School kindergarten students build a cup tower in the Action Based Learning Lab while touring school facilities with other PATH representatives on Oct. 27, 2023. The PATH Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization, provides grant funding to the Commit To Be Fit Program, a program within Rappahannock Public Schools that helps promote healthier lifestyles for students, staff, and employees.
David Shang, program officer with the PATH Foundation, helps Rappahannock County Elementary School kindergarten students build a cup tower in the Action Based Learning Lab while touring school facilities with other PATH representatives on Oct. 27, 2023. The PATH Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization, provides grant funding to the Commit To Be Fit Program, a program within Rappahannock Public Schools that helps promote healthier lifestyles for students, staff, and employees.
The PATH Foundation board poses in front of Rappahannock County Elementary School after touring the Action Based Learning Lab, Fit Kids Clinic and cafeteria on Oct. 27, 2023.
The PATH Foundation board poses in front of Rappahannock County Elementary School after touring the Action Based Learning Lab, Fit Kids Clinic and cafeteria on Oct. 27, 2023.
Members of the PATH Foundation board observe kindergarten students at RCES in the Action Based Learning Lab as they complete several action-based stations on Oct. 27, 2023.
Members of the PATH Foundation board observe kindergarten students at RCES in the Action Based Learning Lab as they complete several action-based stations on Oct. 27, 2023.

rces path loris

Jason Loris and his daughter stand next to their world-record winning squash displayed in the RCES cafeteria on Oct. 27, 2023. Loris grew two record-breaking butternut squash this season, and both were featured at the Virginia State Fair last month.

Jason Loris and his world-record-breaking squash visited the Rappahannock County Elementary School cafeteria on Oct. 27 to show off the impressive vegetables to students, staff and members of the PATH Foundation board who were touring the school’s facilities. Loris grew the two squash this season, the biggest weighing 131.4 pounds. Both were featured at the Virginia State Fair last month. 

rces path david shang

David Shang, program officer with the PATH Foundation, helps Rappahannock County Elementary School kindergarten students build a cup tower in the Action Based Learning Lab while touring school facilities with other PATH representatives on Oct. 27, 2023. The PATH Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization, provides grant funding to the Commit To Be Fit Program, a program within Rappahannock Public Schools that helps promote healthier lifestyles for students, staff, and employees. 

Members of the PATH board toured the Action Based Learning Lab and Fit Kids Clinic,  facilities that are part of the school’s Commit To Be Fit program — a wellness program funded by PATH grants that promotes healthy and active lifestyles for students, staff and community members.

rces path board

The PATH Foundation board poses in front of Rappahannock County Elementary School after touring the Action Based Learning Lab, Fit Kids Clinic and cafeteria on Oct. 27, 2023.

rces path action based learning

Members of the PATH Foundation board observe kindergarten students at RCES in the Action Based Learning Lab as they complete several action-based stations on Oct. 27, 2023. 

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By Ireland Hayes

Read more articles by Ireland Hayes
Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner. Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.