Smith Coleman
Prospect Heights Middle School
200 Macon Lane
Orange, VA 22960
 (540) 661-4400 x2627
 scoleman@ocss-va.org

Ben VanRooy
 Locust Grove Middle School
31208 Constitution Highway
 Locust Grove, VA 22508
(540) 661-4444
broy@ocss-va.org

The Discovery Program was founded in 1996 by Andy Mink, Prospect Heights history teacher and leader in experiential learning.  The goal of Discovery was, and continues to be, to yield mature young adults that embrace life as a learning process and stand as an example to their peers in areas of teamwork and leadership.  The Program sought to accomplish these goals by providing its students with hands on opportunities for learning and an avenue for community involvement.

Although Discovery began as an after school activity, it was quickly adopted as a full time scholastic class available to applicants who demonstrated a desire to participate and the potential to benefit from the program.  As community relationships grew and news of the programs unique approach to learning spread, the Discovery Program became the focus of numerous educational publications and the recipient of many awards for excellence and innovation on a local and national level.  Indeed, Discovery continues to be the only program of its kind in Virginia to be offered in a secondary public school setting, and is one of a handful of such classes nationwide.

In 2002, Mr. Mink retired from Discovery to become the Director of K-12 Outreach for the Virginia Center for Digital History at the University of Virginia.  In 2003, following the expansion of Orange County middle schools, the program was headed by Mike Weir at Prospect Heights and Smith Coleman at Locust Grove.  Lars Holmstrom was at Prospect Heights from 2004-2006.  Mr. Coleman is now the current Discovery Teacher at Prospect Heights and Ben VanRooy is Discovery Teacher of Locust Grove.