Louie, the mascot for the Bowie Baysox minor league baseball team, pulls General Smallwood Middle School student Jania Washington from a crowd of her peers during a special assembly at the school on Jan. 31. At the assembly, Washington was announced as Charles County’s winner of the Baysox’s Read and Hit a Home Run poster design contest. Washington’s design was selected from among more than 400 entries from Charles County students and will be featured on a poster for use in participating schools.
Jania Washington, a sixth-grade student at General Smallwood Middle School, was recently named the Charles County winner of the Bowie Baysox’s Read and Hit a Home Run poster design contest. Washington was notified of her win during a surprise announcement held at the school on Friday, Jan. 31. A special assembly was held for sixth graders, and members of the Bowie Baysox community programs staff coordinated a special poem to read to students to announce Washington as the winner. Also on hand was the Baysox mascot, Louie, who ran into the crowd of students to find Washington and bring her on stage in the school’s cafeteria.
During the assembly, Washington was announced as the chosen winner from more than 400 Charles County Public Schools students who entered the contest. Her design will be featured on posters used to highlight the reading program in participating Charles County schools. As the county winner, she also receives free tickets to a Bowie Baysox baseball game and will be invited on the field to throw out the first pitch at a game in April.
The Baysox, which is the minor league team affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles, launched the program to encourage literacy and excitement in reading. To participate, students are required to read at least four books and teachers use the supplied posters to track student progress. Each student who reads at least four books receives a free ticket to attend a special game dedicated to reading and participate in pre-game events to highlight their school’s accomplishments.
Currently, four Charles County public schools participate in the program – William A. Diggs, Indian Head and Arthur Middleton elementary schools, and Smallwood. Smallwood’s participation in the program was coordinated by Linda Forrest, the school’s reading resource teacher. Additionally, Washington’s participation was supported by her language arts teacher, Tara Cardano, and Jennifer Kelley, an instructional assistant.
The program is open to elementary and middle school students, and schools in Charles County have been active participants for more than 10 years. It was launched in Prince George’s County Public Schools in 1996, and now schools from nine other Maryland counties and Washington, D.C., participate. At the start of each school year, reading specialists receive registration information about the program and poster designs are due in November.
Craik team wins third place overall in SMECO Knowledge Bowl
Pictured is the Mighty Tigers team from Dr. James Craik Elementary School. The team won third place overall in the 2013 Southern Maryland Elementary School Knowledge Bowl. The team also earned first place among 17 Charles County teams. Pictured, top row from left are: Ellen Carlsen, gifted education teacher and team coach; students Jordan Ball, Keira Davis, Sky Pemberton, John Lusk and Kathy Doyle, media instructional assistant and team coach. Pictured, bottom row from left are: Students Andrew Deeds, Hannah Krauel, Param Jhala and Lorraine Hughes.
The Mighty Tigers team from Dr. James Craik Elementary School was the third-place overall winner out of 30 competing teams at the tri-county level in the 2013 Southern Maryland Elementary School Knowledge Bowl held Jan. 15. The team also placed first among 17 Charles County teams that competed in the event, which is sponsored by the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO).
In the event, teams are given 90 minutes to answer 75 knowledge-based questions that cover a variety of subjects, including mathematics, history, science and current events. The questions are uploaded to SMECO’s website for teams to solve, and scores are reported electronically.
Members of the Mighty Tigers team include Craik fourth graders Keira Davis, Param Jhala, Hannah Krauel, and Lawrence Sky Pemberton, and fifth graders Jordan Ball, Lorraine Hughes and John Lusk. Fifth grader Drew Deeds is the team captain and the coaches are Ellen Carlsen, gifted education resource teacher at Craik, and Kathy Doyle, Craik’s media instructional assistant.
Sixteen teams from Charles County public elementary schools participated in the event against two teams from Calvert County Public Schools and 11 teams from St. Mary’s County Public Schools. A team from St. Mary’s Bryantown also participated.
Pictured is the Mustangs team from Malcolm Elementary School. The team won fifth place overall in the 2013 Southern Maryland Elementary School Knowledge Bowl and second place among 17 Charles County teams. Pictured, from left to right are Dana Moyer, gifted education resource teacher and team coach; Students Matthew Markley, Tananda Haulley, Kylie Bell, Larissa Simonds and Amir Moore; and Malcolm Principal Wilhelmina Pugh.
Earning fifth-place overall was the Mustangs team from Malcolm Elementary School. The Mustangs team also placed second among Charles County teams. Members of the Mustangs team are Malcolm fourth graders Tananda Haulley, Amir Moore, and Larissa Simonds, and fifth graders Kylie Bell and Matthew Markley. The team coach is Dana Moyer, gifted education resource teacher at Malcolm.
Teams from several other Charles County public elementary schools competed in the event, including C. Paul Barnhart, Berry, Dr. Thomas L. Higdon, T.C. Martin, Arthur Middleton, Walter J. Mitchell, J.C. Parks and William B. Wade elementary schools.
Each year, student teams in the tri-county area compete in the event in January. SMECO also sponsors a regional Knowledge Bowl at the high-school level. For more information, visit www.smeco.coop.
Several students advance to state MathCounts competition
Pictured are the MathCounts team from Milton M. Somers Middle School. The team from Somers earned a fourth-place overall win among 18 competing teams. The top four teams advance to the state level. Pictured, from left, are Jennifer Craigmile, Somers mathematics teacher and team coach, students Elizabeth Saoud, Ethan Walker, Sydney Marohn-Johnson and Michael Gill, and Jessica Stiver, Somers mathematics teacher and team coach.
A team from Milton M. Somers Middle School, and students from several other Charles County Public middle schools, advance to the state MathCounts competition after placing in the Southern Maryland competition held Feb. 1 at Theodore G. Davis Middle School in Waldorf.
The team from Somers earned a fourth-place (team earned second place overall) overall win among 18 competing teams. The top four teams advance to the state level. The state MathCounts competition is scheduled for March 15 at Johns Hopkins University, and middle school teams from Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties competed in the regional competition.
Members of the Somers team are eighth graders Elizabeth Saoud and Ethan Walker, and seventh graders Michael Gill and Sydney Marohn-Johnson. The team coaches are Somers mathematics teachers Jennifer Craigmile and Jessica Stiver. This is the second consecutive year that a team from Somers advanced to the state level.
Additionally, five other CCPS students will compete at the state level for earning a place in the top 26 individual rankings at the regional competition. They are: Adolf Accad, seventh grade, Theodore G. Davis Middle School; Amara Gammon, seventh grade, Davis; Michael Meade, eighth grade, Davis; Jacob Polis, eighth grade, John Hanson Middle School; and Peter Stewart, seventh grade, General Smallwood Middle School.
The competition consists of four rounds in which students compete and earn points both as team members and individuals. In the sprint round, students individually complete a 30-question test. In the target round, students have four sets of math problems and are given six minutes to complete each set of two questions. During the team round, students receive 20 minutes to complete 10 questions as a team. The final round is a Jeopardy-style countdown round, in which the top 12 students compete against each other.
MathCounts is one of the country's largest and most successful education partnerships involving volunteers, educators, industry sponsors and students. The regional competition is sponsored by the three Southern Maryland public school systems, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, Inc., and the National Society of Professional Engineers. For more information about MathCounts, visit http://mathcounts.org/.