Marsh Middle School has come a long way over the past decade or so, and there’s no doubt that the ROTC program has played a major part. We’ve written about the program several times in the Advocate.

Later this month, the PBS show “Ideas in Action With Jim Glassman” will feature Marsh ROTC in an episode about what schools are doing to end the drop-out rate. Since ROTC and Coach David Bates came to Marsh in 1999, the students involved have performed better academically, and they’re staying in school. What’s more – the program receives barely any funding from the district, which pays for Bates’ salary, and that’s it. So, it’s no surprise that Marsh is a shining example of what a school can do with limited money and resources.

Most recently, the ROTC has been raising funds to establish a military museum, which we wrote about in our October 2011 issue. It’s a student-driven project that will help Marsh’s ROTC play a role in educating younger kids in the district while also honoring neighborhood veterans. They’re still collecting memorabilia. Call Bates at 214.549.1826 or stop by the school, which is at 3838 Crown Shore.

Check out this Advocate video to learn more about the museum:

Preston Hollow resident Ann Kinsfather from McCormick Armstrong dropped by the office this morning and gave us two tickets to the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit at the DMA. (closing Feb. 12)

The 10th person to email “Bonjour Advocate” to mriney@advocatemag.com gets the tickets. On your mark, get set, GO!

Garden Happy Hour is 4-6 p.m. Friday at North Haven Gardens, featuring local wine from Times Ten Cellars, beer and light appetizers. Get your gardening questions answered, and stick around for some giveaways.

Norwood Flynn Gallery presents “Painting as a Metaphor: An Artist Talk by Brent Kollock” at 7 p.m. Saturday. Kollock is a University Park resident and SMU grad. He’ll discuss his paintings and drawings, comparing literary metaphors and visual metaphors. The reception runs 6-8:30 p.m.

Stay up for Midnight Madness at the Inwood Theatre on Friday and Saturday. This week, it presents the cult classic, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” Tickets are $10.

White wines from France’s Rhone region aren’t particularly well known and, at least in this country, don’t get all that much respect. You don’t see many of them on store shelves or restaurant wine lists, and you don’t see many of them reviewed, for that matter.

Which is a shame, given that white Rhones are usually different and interesting, and that’s something I’m always looking for. The Belleruche ($12, purchased, available at Spec’s), from one of the Rhone’s largest producers, has always been one of my favorite wines for just that reason. When I can find it, of course.

This is a previous vintage, and the extra year of bottle age has given the wine, a blend of grenache blanc, clairette and bourboulenc, a little more character. There is lots of white pepper, some oiliness and just a hint of a green fruit, like lime or apple. This is a not a white wine for people who need something fruit forward, like sauvignon blanc or chardonnay, but it’s not supposed to be.

And don’t worry that you haven’t heard of the grapes used to make it — almost no one who isn’t in the wine business has heard of them, either. Which is another reason why the wine is so interesting, and that’s three more grapes for your Wine Century Club effort. Chill this and drink it on its own or with something like goat cheese; roast pork with apples would be terrific, too.

The chain’s ninth store at Preston and Royal will be 30,000 square feet, which is roughly half of its current stores.

In a press release announcing the store’s grand opening at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, Central Market senior vice president Stephen Butt noted that squeezing Central Market’s prototype into the former Borders location took some creativity, and the most obvious place to look for inspiration was New York City, ” a place with great grocery stores built into smaller square footage,” he says. The Central Market team spent months traveling to New York “to study the most innovative delis and grocery concepts to learn how to pack the most flavor into every square foot,” Butt says.

The Preston Royal Central Market will also draw from the Big Apple with an on-site bakery featuring traditional “boiled then baked” bagels and new bialys, and artisan salumi from NYC-based Charlito’s Cocina. Even with these new features, Butt promises that the smaller store also will “have everything our customers have come to love about Central Market.”

The kids at the Jewish Community Center just got a little closer to nature. On Sunday, the JCC celebrated the completion of the J Naturescape, a new playground that boasts gardens, climbing walls, hills, caves, rock piles and water features.

The idea was born out of the J Camp and Early Childhood directors looking for more ways to get children out from in front of the television and into nature. Julie and Jay Liberman led a committee that came up with the vision and found local donors to help fund the project.

You’ve probably seen the reports about the Dallas Yarn Bombers who go around town colorfully knitting streetscapes. In September, they made an even bigger splash at the Winspear Opera House, which inspired a similar project thousands of miles away.

Neighbor Judy Smith is a W.T. White High School host parent for Stephanie Schennach, an exchange student from Austria. Stephanie took pictures of the Winspear project and sent them home to her mom Sabine Schennach, who is now starting her own yarn bombing effort around her neighborhood.

She’s calling it Project Dallas, in honor of our own yarn bombers. Sabine has been going around taking measures with a photographer in tow.

So, through a connection with our neighborhood school, a little slice of Dallas creativity has made its way to Europe.

Dallas County Master Gardener, Preston Hollow resident Sharon Zigrossi started decorating her garden with the vibrantly colored hubcaps. Pretty soon neighbors and friends wanted some, too, so she began selling them as Blooming Hubcaps. Today she has a garage full of wheel covers waiting to be turned into art for interested buyers. And it’s not just yard art anymore. She “rescues” abandoned hubcaps from scrap yards, and friends often recycle them for her. Read more about Sharon here in our story about her from our February 2012 issue.

Red Molly performs at at 8 p.m. Friday at Uncle Calvin’s Coffeehouse. The female folk trio will sing from its latest CD, “The Light in the Sky.”Admission is $15-$18. Buy tickets online.

Stop by the grand opening of Evol Society Saturday at the Shops at Park Lane. The store comes from Roma Provisions, the maker of Roma Boots. It’s “fashion on a mission” as 10 percent of proceeds help gypsy children in Romania get an education. The store also will carry other charitable products, including UgaBeads.

Cart the kids to Bookmarks at NorthPark Center for Jim Gill, a musician, author and child development specialist. It’s free at 2 p.m. Saturday in NorthCourt between Macy’s Nordstrom.

W.T. White High School held its second Mr. W.T. White pageant last week with 20 senior boys vying for the title and some much-needed scholarship money. The event also included a Mr. Congeniality segment in which the money raised benefits a charity of the winner’s choice. This year, the boys raked in a total of $1,300 for St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

An audience of more than 300 people watched as the contestants competed in four categories: creativity, swimwear, talent and a Q&A segment. The judges were NBS 5’s Deborah Ferguson, WBAP’s Steve Lamb, Dallas ISD Trustee Dr. Edwin Flores, W.T. White’s own Ramona Ford and Lee Jones, operation manager for Men’s Warehouse, which donated the guys’ tuxedos.

The Mr. W.T. White crown went to Marvin Melendez who performed a rendition of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” He walked away with a $500 college scholarship. The first runner-up was Alex Madere, awarded a $250.

Ruben Rios won the Mr. Congeniality award. Runners up were  Jonathan Lopez and Steven Perez, respectively.