Parks

1. Brambleton Park/Brambleton Playground

This location is a great outdoor space to relax with friends and family. You can have a picnic, take a stroll on the walking paths, or swing on the swings at the playground! ETA: ~16 minutes from Champe.

         2. Greenstone/Goshen Post Basketball Courts 

These locations offer a full-size basketball court for people to enjoy. Greenstone can be found near Mercer Middle School, and Goshen Post can be found near Champe. Goshen Post ETA: ~2 minutes from Champe. Greenstone ETA: ~6 minutes from Champe.

          3. Byrnes Ridge Park 

Byrnes Ridge Park is a multi purpose park that has soccer fields, baseball fields, and a football field. This park is located just minutes from Champe. This is a great place to take a walk, play a sport with friends, and enjoy a nice, sunny day. ETA: ~7 minutes from Champe.

           4. Willowsford Hill
Willowsford Hill is another outdoor space to relax and hang out with friends. This is a large open area where you can take walks, lay out a blanket to read, and meet up with friends. ETA: ~7 minutes from Champe.

Restaurants 

1. Ford’s Fish Shack 

Ford’s Fish Shack is a restaurant located in South Riding Market Square. This seafood restaurant has good eats, great service, and indoor and outdoor seating. ETA: ~10 minutes from Champe.

          2. Social House

A wonderful place with outdoor seating, patio lights, live musicians, and delicious food in the East Gate Marketplace. Go with some friends to grab a bite and enjoy the wonderful weather. ETA: ~14 minutes from Champe.

           3. Brew Birds 

This cafe found in the Stone Ridge Village Center is a great spot to grab some coffee and a quick bite to eat. Due to the current situation with the pandemic, sitting in their outdoor seating area is recommended. ETA: ~6 minutes from Champe.

Indoor Activities

1. Escape Room Ashburn

Grab your friends and family and head to Escape Room Ashburn! Get locked in a fun room and solve puzzles and clues to escape. ETA: ~19 minutes from Champe.

          2. Bowl America Chantilly

Wonderful and fun place to go with friends or family to have a little friendly competition! Afterward, you can enjoy a delicious meal from their menu of hotdogs, burgers, fries, & drinks. ETA: ~16 minutes from Champe. 

          3. Fun Land of Fairfax

Arcades, Go Karts, Laser Tag, Rock Climbing… This place is perfect for a day out with friends or family! All ages allowed. ETA: ~18 minutes from Champe.

 

Hey y’all! Our names are Shay Keuhner and Gavin Baker and we are PEER juniors.

Staying physically active and eating healthy can be very challenging when we’re faced with things like Chick-fil-a and ice cream! However, we’re here to help you learn about ways to keep a balanced diet while maintaining an active lifestyle. We want all Champe Knights to stay healthy and live a happy life. 

One of the most important factors when maintaining a balanced diet is to receive nutrients from all food groups. Many people believe that cutting carbs from their eating habits will be beneficial for weight loss/maintenance. However, carbohydrates are just as important as the other food groups since they are known to be the body’s main source of energy. Incorporating tons of protein into your diet will be very beneficial as well. Even if you are vegetarian or vegan, there is no excuse for cutting proteins as they’re found in eggs, oats, tofu, etc. Fruits and vegetables are also crucial to your diet because they not only provide important vitamins and minerals, but they can help reduce the chances of chronic diseases as well. No matter what type of special diet you may have, you always need to keep your body fueled with food.

Depending on your metabolism and levels of physical activity, calorie intake may vary. The recommended calorie intake for a woman is about 2,000 calories per day. However, a man is recommended to consume about 2,500 calories per day. Although it is important to consume a healthy number of calories, do not let the numbers define you! 

• Here is a link to find out how many calories you should consume every day! https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html 

While Chick-fil-a is super yummy… you probably shouldn’t eat it every day. We find that making healthy alternatives that are similar to foods sold at fast food restaurants can be very beneficial. Even though cooking an entire meal along with cleaning up is much more work than going to a drive-thru, it can sometimes be a lot of fun. However, it is important to treat yourself every now and then! Eating out often also gets expensive, so being a chef for the day at home can be beneficial in saving money too. 

 

Here are some of our favorite recipes that are great alternatives to feed your unhealthy cravings!

• Chicken Tenders

• https://www.acedarspoon.com/baked-chicken-fingers-2/

• Banana Bread

• https://cookieandkate.com/healthy-banana-bread-recipe/ 

• French Fries

• https://www.wellplated.com/baked-fries/ 

• Cauliflower Grilled Cheese

• https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a51638/cauliflower-grilled-cheese-recipe/ 

 

Hi, everyone! I’m PEER junior Haylie Young.

We all know that COVID impeded on all of our plans this past year. It has been difficult to find hobbies that are safe to participate in, but not all hope is lost! I have put together a map of exciting activities that hopefully get you involved with nature. 

In PEER  we have discussed the importance of mental health and overall Wellness of our bodies. Personally, I use exercise as an outlet to refresh my mind and enjoy nature. My family and I use hiking as an outlet to enjoy the outdoors and each other. As you all may know, circumstances have changed and finding activities that suit each individuals well-being now differ. Our main objective of this lesson is to give the Champe community and their families safe options to exercise and hopefully discover a new hobby. 

The idea of listing out ideas for new hobbies that met individual requirements became increasingly difficult as our team discussed the pros and cons. Our solution to this issue was an app called All Trails. It is a free app in the app store and is one I highly recommend. Its format and attention to detail meets specifications for all ages and levels. The app features images of each trail and highlights of the adventure. It lists difficulty level, length in miles, maps of the trails, reviews, directions, elevation gain, the current weather, and pet friendliness. One of the most incredible features is the amount of traffic there is. Which can help you gage which trails you feel most comfortable visiting. 

On the Map below, I have marked some really incredible places to visit that range from local trails to ones that take more time to get to. My family and I have enjoyed visiting some of these places over the past couple years, and my hope would be that you and your family would be able to use this as a tool to jumpstart your own adventures. 

Underneath there is a color coded key that will help you navigate difficulty levels and the type of activity you are looking for. There are small icons that indicate what type of activity you can participate in at each location. One thing to keep in mind as you are navigating the map is that hiking takes place at each mountain biking location. 

Find your own adventures at –  https://www.alltrails.com/

Color Key

Hiking

Easy – Dark Blue

Moderate- Purple

Hard – Salmon/ Orange

Mountain Biking trails

Easy- Light Green

Moderate- Green 

Hard- Dark green 

Kayaking/ canoeing

Red/ maroon

Hi, everyone! College applications can be intimidating and stressful—PEER has got your back! We want to help you succeed when applying to colleges!

These tips are to help you with everything college related, and we want to make sure we answer all of your college related questions.

It is our hope that this guide will provide rising juniors and seniors with the knowledge to comfortably navigate the sometimes-stressful college application process. 

General Advice…

• Make sure you ask your teacher for a letter of rec and getting their affirmation before putting in the request in Naviance.
• Pay attention to what specific schools require. There are lots of variations from one college to another.
• Try to correctly report your GPA. We are on a 4.0 GPA scale. We use a weighted GPA system that has students the ability to have a higher GPA than a 4.0
• For your GPA calculating purposes: in an AP course, an A+ = 5.3, vs an Honors A+ = 4.8, vs Academic A+ = 4.3

Junior Year…

• Take challenging courses
• Keep GPA up
• Try thinking about colleges you’re interested in
• Apply for leadership roles in extracurriculars to show that you are a leader
• Join clubs and make an impact in them (don’t just join as many clubs as possible—colleges want students who dedicate themselves meaningfully in specific areas)
• Make sure you know or at least have an idea of the major you want to apply for (you can always change it, but it’s good to know when filling out applications senior year!)
• Visit college campuses early while students are in school
• Start thinking of teachers from whom you can get recommendation letters. The sooner you ask, the more time they have to write you a great letter.
• Make sure you have test scores (SAT/ACT) if required and make sure the score is where you want it to be.
• Make sure to volunteer as much as possible.
• Start brainstorming ideas for your common app essay, especially in the summer

Senior Year…

• Write as many supplements (additional essays on college applications) in the summer as you can!
• Finish your common app essay in the summer.
• Senioritis is REAL!! Don’t start slacking off. Keep in mind that the information you are learning will help you in college!
• Make a common app account
• Finish your common app part of the application and the basic information section of each college (that way you’re left with only the writing supplements)
• Don’t overload yourself with applications at the last minute. Make a plan to get all of your applications done by a certain date (i.e. say “I will have all my applications done by the first of november)
• figure out what schools you cannot apply to on common app.
• Review and edit your essay 1, 2, and 3 times if needed to craft the essay that really captures YOU and who you are. Ask for sincere feedback from people whose opinions you trust.
• If you’re applying to a school that requires multiple essays, write one essay per day. Don’t try to write all of them in one day; it will inhibit your ability to craft a well-written essay.
• Don’t write more essays than you have to. If you find similar prompts between different schools it’s okay to reuse the same essay for a different school.
• Once you get your essay written and have it at a point where you are happy with what you have written, add it to the application so that you’re not stressing over the minute details up to the day you’re submitting.
• Make 2 college essays drafts instead of one just in case you don’t like the first one
  • – if you are a procrastinator, this is helpful because you can switch essays anytime!!
• Don’t write a “cookie-cutter essay”, write about something that shows YOU and how unique you are (OUT OF THE BOX CHOICES!!)
• Make a list of colleges you would like to apply to and add those colleges to your common app
• Make sure you research each college you apply to in depth to ensure you really want to go there. For most people, there is no need to apply to 25 colleges (a lot of applications $$$)!!
• Start researching scholarships you can apply for
• Email teachers you would like to get a letter of recommendation from
  • usually 1-2 teachers and then your counselor
  • If it’s possible to ask them in person, do that!
• Research application deadlines for the schools you want to apply to
• Fill out your FAFSA/CSS as early as possible, which must be filled out if you want to be eligible for federal financial aid.
• Talk to your parents about FAFSA/CSS process and what documents you need in advance
• Take advanced courses to show colleges that you’re not giving up just because you’re a senior
• Figure out and manage which schools require you to send an unofficial transcript to their admissions office. Then, request them on naviance
• Send AP exam scores to schools — it’s your responsibility (and your money) that is required to get the scores sent to your potential colleges. It is not done by counseling!

Good luck — hope this helps! 🙂