Wil Haygood, author and associate producer of the blockbuster film, The Butler, will present at BASIS Independent McLean on Fri., Mar. 10 from 6:30 pm to 8 p.m., to talk about writing and how his work launched him onto the world stage. The event is free and open to public, located at 8000 Jones Branch Drive in McLean, Va. Haygood will also be available for a book signing, as his two books will be available for sale; The Butler and his latest book, Showdown, which chronicles the battle of the Supreme Court nomination of Thurgood Marshall. For more information on the event, go to http://basisindependent.com/Haygood.

February is a Heart Health Month, making it the perfect time to find ways to re-think what we eat in order to help lead us to better heart health. It’s an issue that most of us need to pay attention to, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. for both men and women. In fact, each year there are around 610,000 people who die from heart disease, accounting for 1 in every 4 deaths. Further, each year there are around 735,000 Americans who have a heart attack. The good news is that there are things we can do to help reduce our heart disease risk, with what we eat playing an important role.

BASIS Independent McLean started its inaugural year this fall in McLean, Va., Tysons Corner’s first k-12 school, and quickly went to work on the election process to vote in their first school mascot, the BASIS Independent McLean Bobcats. The student-designed electoral process, led by BASIS Independent McLean ninth grader, Rohit Narayanan, mimicked a voting system similar to the United States, and provided a learning tool for students to understand the electoral process during the recent presidential election. For more information on the school, go to http://mclean.basisindependent.com.