Next year, the county will expand its lacrosse program to the junior varsity level at all MCPS high schools, creating new teams specifically for both male and female underclassmen.
In an exciting post-season opener, the Blair girls' lacrosse team, 5-7 in the regular season, demolished the Paint Branch Panthers to advance to the second round of playoffs for the first time in two years. The Blazers will face the Blake Bengals this Saturday.
The girls' lacrosse team beat out the Kennedy Cavaliers tonight in a fast-paced, high scoring game to pick up their fourth win of the season. The Blazers took control with early goals by juniors Rachita Sood and Helen Anderson, and stayed comfortably ahead for the remainder of the match.
The girls' lacrosse team (3-7) faced the Northwest Jaguars today in an exciting game that finally ended the Blazers' seven-game losing streak.
The Blair girls' lacrosse team (2-5) took on the Gaithersburg Trojans in a well-fought but disappointing game that ended in the Blazers' sixth straight loss. The Blazers began the game with a solid defense, carefully protecting the goal. However, the girls had trouble bringing the ball downfield, and a powerful Gaithersburg offense scored their first goal after only three minutes.
Early in the season, the girls' lacrosse team (2-0) has shown a marked improvement over last season, when the team ended their season with a 2-11 record. The Blazers sped past the Richard Montgomery Rockets today in a game that showed promise for the rest of the season.
The girls' lacrosse team lost to the Springbrook Blue Devils, 9-2, extending a four-game losing streak and bringing their record to a disappointing 2-4. The game started off sloppy, with poor handling and passing from both teams.
In response to allegations that the grades of five students at Einstein were inappropriately changed so that the students could remain on sports teams, the MCPS Office of School Performance (OSP) has completed a thorough review of all 9,000 athletes at each of the 25 high schools in the county.
Additional funds secured for Old Blair Auditorium U.S. Senators Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski announced the addition of $200,000 to a federal appropriations bill for the Old Blair Auditorium project in July, according to the project's newsletter. These funds supplement a $2,400 management assistance grant from the Montgomery County Arts and Humanities Council to help the project organize a donor database. Over the summer, a needs analysis concluded that more than 22 organizations would benefit from the restoration of the auditorium. Also during the summer, political officials and candidates from District 20, which includes Silver Spring and Takoma Park, toured the auditorium.
Nov. 7 doesn't have to be just another day to sleep in and wear pajamas in the afternoon. Whether you're a parent, a teacher or a first-time student voter, Silver Chips has compiled profiles of the candidates in local races to help you participate in democracy come Election Day on Nov. 7. If you're too young, don't despair — you can still get involved by volunteering for a candidate you support.
This September, many Blair seniors were eligible to vote for the first time, but some of them found casting a ballot harder than they had expected. When voters in Montgomery County went to the polls to vote in the primary elections on Sept. 12, many were turned away.
The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) has commissioned Pearsons Educational Measurement, the company responsible for incorrectly grading several thousand SATs last fall, to develop and score the new Maryland School Assessment (MSA) science exam.
As Congress debates immigration reform, Blazers have participated in the nationwide movement for immigrant rights. On April 10, Blair students joined thousands of demonstrators on the National Mall to call on Congress to grant rights to illegal immigrants.
Blazers participate in Day of Silence Over 350 Blazers participated in the national Day of Silence on April 26 by not speaking throughout the day to show their support for gay rights, according to history teacher Mary Thornton, the sponsor of the Gay-Straight Alliance.
Construction of the Silver Spring Transit Center, an effort by transportation authorities to renew the city's transit programs, will begin this fall. The Transit Center will consist of three levels with bus and rail access built on the public land now occupied by the Silver Spring Metro Station, according to Tom Pogue, community outreach manager for the Department of Public Works and Transportation. In a joint agreement, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and Montgomery County have leased the land to private builders, who will build residential towers and a hotel and create retail space. Pogue described the merger as a mix between public and private sectors that will benefit all commuters.
The process of reporting high-school graduation rates will change over the next four years because of a bill passed in the Maryland House of Delegates on March 20 to make graduation rates more accurate. The bill is now in the State Senate.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) targeted Blair Spanish teacher Maria Yordan-Torres in a letter sent to Montgomery County State's Attorney Douglas Gansler on Jan. 30 concerning her trial for animal cruelty, which is scheduled to begin tomorrow. If Yordan-Torres is convicted, PETA requested that she be "prohibited from owning, possessing or caring for animals" and undergo "a thorough psychological evaluation followed by mandatory counseling at her own expense," according to The Gazette. PETA noted that animalbreeders tend to receive more lenient punishments than do violent animal abusers.John McLane, communications director for the State's Attorney, said that Gansler will consider the letter from PETA and takes the "crime of animal cruelty very seriously." The letter said that, in the event of a conviction, Yordan-Torres could face up to a year in prison, but it asserted that "a year in jail for neglecting animals is a bargain."
While legislators engage adults about issues they think voters care about, they can be quick to leave students out of the democratic process and overlook their concerns. Although most students do not vote, they do represent a large portion of the population - but even in an area as politically active as Montgomery County, their views are rarely heard.
Blair will receive $50,000 granted in the will of a retired teacher who died last March.
MCPS has expanded its environmentally friendly Green Schools Focus program over the past three years in hopes of saving money, making school buildings safer and educating students about energy use.
New magnet program to open in MCPS
Holiday moviegoers can expect exactly what "Fun with Dick and Jane," advertises, lots of laughs and not much more. The film continues a recent Hollywood trend of recycling old ideas. But unlike most remakes released in the past few years, the new flick, directed by Dean Parisot, successfully transforms the original 1977 movie starring George Segal and Jane Fonda by updating the plot to include recent corporate scandals.
December 2005 Newsbriefs
The Board of Education passed a six-year school construction plan Nov. 17 that aims to reduce overcrowding in MCPS.
Members of the Board of Education have called on Blair's Diversity Workshop in the aftermath of the October suspension of a Sherwood sophomore for posting racially insensitive comments on her blog that administrators found disruptive to the school environment.
Silver International, Blair's international student publication, is raising money for a school in Pakistan affected by the Oct. 8 earthquake. Silver International formed a partnership with Modernages Public School in Pakistan and was waiting to hear from students at the school when the earthquake occurred.
The U.S. Supreme Court was scheduled to hear oral arguments yesterday in "Schaffer v. Weast," a dispute between MCPS and a family advocating for a student's special education rights.
"Underclassman," starring Nick Cannon, is exactly what it aims to be — an underdeveloped, generic comedy aimed at a teen audience with extremely low expectations. Most of the movies coming out of Hollywood today, especially the comedies, are terrible, but people go see them anyway.