As much as we Blazers love to hear from our principal, Silver Chips needs to find new sources of information. In the last issue of Silver Chips, both MCPS public information representative Chris Cram and Principal Darryl Williams were quoted in multiple news stories. And they're not alone - various issues of Chips have had their share of repeated sources in their news sections.
It was the ultimate teenage experience. He and other members of the jock crowd strutted Blair's halls. He drove the cheerleaders around after his baseball and football games. He was a senior, and he felt unstoppable. After all, Pete Luces' 1976 AMC Matador was not just a car – it was freedom.
Pizza. Ice cream. Hamburgers. Chocolate chip cookies. Ask just about anyone to name their favorite things to eat, and at least one of these mouth-watering dishes is sure to come to mind. But for vegans, all of these foods are taboo.
With the 2008-2010 teachers union contract to expire soon, the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), the official teachers union for MCPS teachers, is set to renegotiate their contract with the MCPS Board of Education (BOE). However, recent dealings with MCPS have left some MCEA members unsatisfied and could affect the upcoming contract negotiations between the two groups, according to MCEA Vice President Christopher Lloyd.
Despite the recent budget crunch, Governor Martin O'Malley refused to cut funds that have been set aside for education, due to a $2 billion state budget deficit.
These days, with the recent influx of media coverage of childhood obesity, students are more health-savvy than ever. Yet, school food seems to have remained largely unchanged - bright Pepsi vending machines selling sugary soft drinks still adorn Blair Boulevard and fast food dishes are served in the school cafeteria.
Construction of the new Silver Spring Civic Building, which has replaced the Astroturf in Downtown Silver Spring, is well under way. According to Ernest Lunsford, chief of the Montgomery County Building Design and Construction Division, the civic building is on schedule to be completed by July 2010.
When President Barack Obama was announced as the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, both his ardent supporters and his harshest critics, were surprised. The rationale for the prize turned out to be the cooperative, multilateral nature of engagement that Obama has brought to the global stage.
Starting this year, elementary school students will bring home report cards with more details than a NASA operation manual. In a time when education success is determined by test scores and GPAs, MCPS has gone too far with these new report cards. Though the cards were meant to help parents, they end up not delivering the important information and establish an emphasis on grades rather than learning.
JV girls' soccer (8-3) rounded off a winning season with a victory over Gaithersburg on Oct. 22, according to coach Kerri Galloway. Although most of the team members had never played together before this season, they managed to create an efficient dynamic on the field, said Galloway.
As Blair alumni of all heights, races and ages wander through the mazes of tables in the gym, it's impossible not to wonder how people so different could all have gone to this school. In 75 years, Blair and its three generations of Blazers have passed through a variety of times and trends. The decades display in Blair's gymnasium guided Blazers, past and present alike, though two wars, the rise and fall of the hippie movement and an influx of school spirit. Here's a rundown of fashionable fads through the years:
Over 4,200 teens in the U.S. were killed in driving accidents in 2007. More than 400,000 teens were treated in emergency rooms for vehicle crash injuries the same year. And these already high numbers are on the rise.
Two buttons adorn Shirley Schlosser McCarthy's plaid lapel. One is five decades old and the other is brand new. Both bear the same message: "BEAT B-CC."
MCPS Spanish for Spanish Speakers (SSS) curriculum has undergone changes that have been implemented this year in eleven high schools and eight middle schools that offer the course, according to Judith Klimpl, supervisor of MCPS Department of Foreign Languages. The course was revised in order to enhance the Spanish of the shifting population of students, according to Klimpl.
The Blair administration has established a new policy requiring all departments to record the names of students attending lunch time academic support and is providing additional school wide support to meet their School Improvement Plan (SIP) goals, according to assistant principal Edith Verdejo.
One year after the High School Assessments (HSA) Bridge Plan was first introduced, some teachers are questioning the standards of the HSAs and the HSA bridge projects as graduation requirements. The bridge projects are designed to provide a way for students who have trouble succeeding on the tests to fulfill their graduation requirements, which many teachers view as a necessary option for students.
In the gym of Silver Spring International Middle School, formerly Montgomery Blair High School, Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" played in the background and former Blazers strolled about, covered head to toe in red and white.
She hadn't intended to go out this way. With three beautiful bouquets in hand and a wide, elated grin across her face, she ran across the stage, waving to the audience as she left. But while making her dramatic exit, she tripped, showering the audience with roses.
Montgomery County has used up its stock of H1N1 vaccinations to be provided in the area, according to Mary Anderson, spokeswoman for the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (MCDHHS). Free H1N1 vaccines will no longer be provided on the predetermined dates of Nov. 4, Nov. 11 and Nov. 18.
At the end of September, President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan voiced their support for year-round schooling. They are advocating for schools nationwide to join the approximately 2,800 others who are already on this schedule. Instead of one three-month summer vacation and a few shorter breaks throughout the year, year-round schooling has school throughout the year with several shorter vacations.
Imagine, for a moment, that you are a professional soccer star. Your team does well throughout the season, but you end up with the fifth-best record in your division. The top four teams are guaranteed the top four playoff spots, but everyone else is randomly seeded. So you draw last place, you play the best team in the first round of the playoffs and your season ends there. It seems unfair because it is. And that is the problem with the state's current playoff seeding system for high school teams.
"Yes, I used to visit one fortune teller in Thailand. She told me that I will have a rich husband!" -senior Chonnipa Hongjaisee
More Than a Game (PG) - If any film this year is deserving of the oft-abused adjectives "heartwarming" and "inspiring," it is this finely made sports documentary. "More Than a Game," which premiered at hometown festival Silverdocs this summer, follows a formative LeBron James and four African American team members who make up the core of the Akron, Ohio high school basketball team that aspires to win national championships. You will cry, you will laugh. It will warm your heart. Seriously.
Pumpkins are neglected for 10 months of the year, but just as the leaves begin to crunch underfoot, it's pumpkin season once again. Pumpkins, the quintessential fall fruit (yes, they're fruits) can be carved, baked or rolled down a hill in a pumpkin race. Chips is here to offer a guide to all things pumpkin for your fall weekends.
Takoma Park Folk Festival, Magical Montgomery, Takoma Park Street Festival, Silver Spring Jazz Festival, Hispanic Heritage Festival, World of Montgomery Festival. This is but a smattering of the fairs, festivals and other types of gatherings that deluge the greater Blair area every autumn. Most of us shrug them off as just more silly Montgomery County festivities for which we don't have time. But before you crumple that event flyer into the recycling, take a second look - and maybe even consider showing up.
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