Brenda Barger’s June 19 Around Davidson column described how Davidson resident Hans Deissel will be chaperoning a group of high school students (including Alex Gunn of Davidson) to a town in Rwanda to do volunteer work at a health clinic and school. The trip is sponsored by the Echo Foundation, which has a focus on humanitarian and educational concerns.

In the lead-up to the trip, which departs for Rwanda July 8, Davidson residents have responded to this story and are lending support to the trip. That includes the contribution of soccer supplies by Pat Millen, medical and traveling advice from Dr. Steve Justus, and a website promotion by Tammy Forthofer – all of Davidson. Read the full story

“Little Women, the Musical” continues this weekend. Cast includes (from left) Amanda Roberge (Amy); Kathryn Withers (Meg); Kim Baysinger (Marmee); Lisa Smith (Jo); Suzanne Lenz (Beth).

Summer is in full-swing, and what better way to spend a Saturday evening than with a benefit beer tasting and live music at Summit Coffee? On Sunday morning, you can join a benefit bicycle ride to raise money for Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong foundation, and support local cyclist Skip Sullivan. Also, don’t miss the Sunday evening Concert on the Green, this week featuring the R&B sounds of Rough Draft. There’s also an international baseball game tonight in Kannapolis, featuring a team from Taiwan against TEAM USA, whose coaching staff includes Davidson College baseball coach Dick Cooke. Read the full story

Davidson United Methodist Church choir sings in Lourdes’ Église Sacré Coeur cathedral, during an evening mass for over 600 pilgrims. The choir later sang a concert for an audience of 800, which resulted in a standing ovation.

Choir members from Davidson United Methodist Church are full of memories after a 12-day tour of France last month. The group of 33 singers and 10 supporters left May 16 to share selections of sacred music while touring and performing in renowned churches and cathedrals.

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Chase Martin of Huntersville juggles five balls.

Jugglers, juggling fans, and would-be jugglers throughout the area are invited to celebrate World Juggling Day on the Davidson Village Green on Saturday morning, June 14. The fun begins at 9 a.m. and continues until noon, and there is no admission charge.

The Lake Norman Jugglers will host the event. Jugglers will be showing off their skills and providing juggling instruction throughout the morning. Equipment will be provided so that visitors can try their hands props such as balls, clubs, rings, cigar boxes, devil sticks, and diabolos.

Jugglers everywhere will be staging similar events in countries around the world on World Juggling Day 2008 to demonstrate their enthusiasm for the infinite possibilities of object manipulation.

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Bob Maier, right, with Nathan Hartle, who has helped editing and writing for Afghan news websites.

Davidson may be a long way from Kabul, Afghanistan, but it’s hardly out of mind for resident Bob Maier. Mr. Maier is in the midst of writing a five-part series of articles about conditions there for an English-language news website called KabulPress.org. Read the full story

Recognize the Davidsonian in this photo? Check the back row, second from right – that’s Ivan Brown, former training officer for the Davidson Police Department. He’s pretty far from home, in Davidson’s St. Alban’s neighborhood. In fact, he’s in Afghanistan with a class photo of Afghan police trainees. Read on for his story. Read the full story

Time to put “round-ball” excitement away for another year! It will, however, be a LONG time before any of us forget how badly Kansas whipped the Tar Heels! Our thoughts have to dwell on that two point loss to Kansas by the Davidson Wildcats and what might have been had we won. Regardless – it was a great ride for Davidson and seeing the many sheets still adorning fences, doorways and walls makes us smile with continuing wonderful memories.

Now, no longer glued to the television, we have time to think about spring planting. Our recent cool weather is perfect for pansies and tulips but gardens will soon give way to geraniums, petunias, impatiens, begonias and a multitude of beautiful summer blooms. We bring you the lowdown this week on the Carolina Cones Garden Center, which has an array of spring plants for sale, along with a “Boats for Goats” update featuring Maggie Peterson and Molly Frowine, “Queen for a Day” Janis Beam, a new grandson for David and Margaret Stauffer and fond memories of making phone calls from Dove Tire.

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Scouts, start your engines! Cub Scout Pack 58 held their annual Pinewood Derby Monday night, racing hand-made cars for ribbons and trophies. Among the winners was Ian Krebs of Davidson (photo at right), who displayed his “best craftmanship” award winner. It’s hard to believe Ian’s car started out as a simple block of wood!

Around Davidson has a youthful focus this week, bringing you news of the Pinewood Derby, academic honors for the Denham daughters, a Woodlawn trip to Mexico and three young couples with connections to Davidson whose work now involves them with Latin America (Jamie Hess and also Joseph Mott) and Cameroon (Katrina O’Neal Boutwell). Read the full story