Schools Roundup: Students in Nutcracker on Ice, participate in Curley Classic

 

Students from Resurrection-St. Paul School in Ellicott City, St. Louis School in Clarksville and Trinity School in Ellicott City are among the performers in the Columbia Figure Skating Club’s Nutcracker on Ice Dec. 14-15 in Columbia.

Tori Mannarelli, Christine Oh, Katie Tincher and Tara Wills attend Resurrection-St. Paul School; Ava Suko attends St. Louis School; and Abigail and Amelia Fenton attend Trinity School.

Nearly 200 elementary and middle school students gathered at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore Nov. 13 for the Curley Classic Cross Country meet.

Two races were 1.2 miles and the final three were seven tenths of a mile.The winner of the boys’ seventh and eighth grade race was Hunter Petrick, son of Archbishop Curley alumnus Todd Petrick ’86, from Sykesville Middle School. His time was seven minutes, five seconds.

The winner of the girls’ sixth through eighth grade race was Rachel Thomas from St. Joseph School in Fullerton with a time of seven minutes, 52 seconds.

The winner of the boys’ fifth and sixth grade race was Sam Stitz, son of Barry Stitz ’87, Archbishop Curley’s vice president for advancement, from St. Joseph School in Fullerton. His time was four minutes, 25 seconds.

The winner of the girls’ fifth grade and under race was Caroline Trimble from St. Joseph School in Fullerton with a time of five minutes, three seconds.

The winner of the boys’ fourth grade and under race was Nicholas Henderson from St. Joseph School in Fullerton with a time of four minutes, 49 seconds.

Schools represented included Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Baynesville, Our Lady of Hope-St. Luke School in Dundalk, St. Augustine School in Elkridge, St. Clement Mary Hofbauer School in Rosedale, St. Francis of Assisi School in Baltimore, St. Joan of Arc School in Aberdeen, St. Michael the Archangel School in Overlea, St. Stephen School in Bradshaw, St. Ursula School in Parkville and Trinity School in Ellicott City.

Maryvale Preparatory School in Lutherville recently received a $71,000 technology grant from the Marion I. and Henry J. Knott Foundation.

The grant will be used to enhance technology by purchasing LCD projectors, middle school laptops and other technology priorities, according to the school.

“Following our school’s mission to prepare young women for life, Maryvale is dedicated to continuously integrating technology into our curriculum,” Tracey H. Ford, Maryvale’s president, said in a statement. “Our technology program is one-of-a-kind and we look forward to strengthening school-wide education and enriching STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines, thanks to the support of the Knott Foundation.”

“Providing the latest technology has been a focus for Maryvale over the past several years, starting with our school-wide iPad initiative,” Lisa Cohen, Maryvale’s director of academic technology, said in a statement. “We believe that technology integration enhances each student’s educational experience.

Among secondary schools, Maryvale is a leader in this area. We must continue to grow and evolve to stay current.”

BP and Carol Independent Fuel awarded the Drs. Camille and Bill Cosby Community Center at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore a $10,000 grant for community initiatives. 

A majority of the funds are for the center’s after school program, according to the school. A check presentation took place during the center’s 12th annual Halloween party for neighborhood kids, which is also funded in part by the grant.

Programs at the center, which serves youths and adults in East Baltimore, are funded by grants and donors, according to the school.

“Every year is a challenge to get the resources we need to run our programs and we have a history of success doing so,” Brian Boles, the center’s director, said in a statement. “We rely heavily on donors and friends of the community to operate the center in an area of the city that is in much need of assistance.”   

Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg placed fourth in the North Region in U.S. News & World Report’s inaugural rankings of its “Best Colleges for Veterans,” an online guide to help veterans and active service personnel pursuing a college education under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

The guide provides data and information on schools offering federal benefits, including tuition and housing assistance.

“The Mount has a long history of serving veterans and we’re thrilled to be recognized for our commitment to those men and women who bravely serve our country,” Michael A. Post, the Mount’s vice president for enrollment management, said in a statement. “Over the past few years, we have enhanced our services to recruit and retain traditional students on our main campus and for our non-traditional students on our growing campus in Frederick.”

The Mount and the other 233 schools identified in the guide scored well in terms of graduation rate, faculty resources, reputation and other markers of academic quality measured in the 2014 edition of the “U.S. News Best Colleges,” according to the Mount. The Mount qualified for the new rankings based on its certification for the GI Bill and participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program, two federal initiatives helping veterans reduce the cost of school.

In addition, the Mount was recognized for its membership in the Service-members Opportunity Colleges (SOC) Consortium, which works to simplify credit transfers and provides veterans with credit for military training and national tests such as the College-Level Examination Program.

Loyola University Maryland is a top producer of U.S. Fulbright scholars among master’s institutions, according to data released by the Fulbright Scholar Program and published in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Baltimore school recently announced.

The “Top Producing” schools are institutions in each Carnegie Classification with the highest number of students and scholars who received Fulbright grants for 2013-14. This year Loyola’s two Fulbright winners are faculty members.

“Loyola’s success in Fulbright programs – on the part of our faculty and our students, alike – represents our zeal to collaborate, learn and teach in the Jesuit tradition,” Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D., Loyola’s vice president for academic affairs, said in a statement. “When our faculty and student scholars partner with communities throughout the globe to collaborate and share knowledge, they demonstrate a deep understanding of the increasing imperative to connect with other cultures by meeting other citizens where they are.”

In July, Roberta Sabin, Ph.D., professor emerita of computer science, was awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach computer science at the University of Malawi, according to Loyola. Business is booming in this region of Sub-Saharan Africa, which means commerce is increasingly dependent on technology. Sabin arrived in Malawi in September and hopes her six months of teaching can help provide future business and technology leaders with a comprehensive understanding of the innovation computer systems are capable of unlocking. 

In May, Barbara Vann, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of sociology, won a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach and study at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, for the spring 2014 semester, according to Loyola. At the Charles University Institute of Sociological Studies, Vann will continue her ongoing research of collective memory – information that becomes the memory of a group of people – as it relates to the period before, during and after the Velvet Revolution, a non-violent protest that toppled the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989. She has studied the topic for the better part of a decade, gathering vital information in short stints during the one month study abroad program in Prague she leads each summer. Vann plans to publish a book about her findings once her research is complete.