During the day-to-day drama in his courtroom, Judge Robert Bruce Spencer Jr. would peer over half-frame reading glasses as he heard cases from speeding tickets to landlord-tenant disputes. “When those glasses would slide to the tip of his nose, lawyers and defendants knew there was going to be trouble,“ said his son, Robert Bruce Spencer III of Powhatan County.

High school students can waive some college application fees by touring three Virginia private schools July 27 through Aug. 1. Open houses and information sessions on financial aid will be offered on 25 campuses during Virginia Private College Week. Locally, those schools include the University of Richmond, Randolph-Macon College and Virginia Union University.

Students with ties to the local community were among the 216 men who graduated May 10 at commencement exercises marking the end of the 234th academic year at Hampden-Sydney College. Joseph Philip Andriano graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in economics and French. He is a graduate of St. Christopher’s School and is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Andriano of Midlothian.

Hampden-Sydney College seniors recently presented their Departmental Honors Projects in public lectures at the college. The seniors undertook an extended research project that culminated in the public presentation. Departmental honors students are undergraduates, but they are expected to pursue their research project at a graduate-school level.

Thirteeen students from the Richmond area recently received awards at Final Convocation at Hampden-Sydney College.

• Senior Jason Craig Butler received the Joshua Warren White Award for outstanding sportsmanship on and off the playing field in intercollegiate athletics (soccer). A history major, Butler is a graduate of Mills E. Godwin High School and is the son of Patti D. Butler of Richmond.