Proud to be a Mustang… Choosing Excellence in All that We Do!

February 20, 2009

Third Quarter is rolling along and, for the most part, things are going very well at Marriotts Ridge. We will share a lot of wonderful news with you … we also will address an issue or two along the way. Please take a few minutes to read this month’s administrative update … celebrate with us … reflect with us … unite with us.

Our first and most important order of business … in the past two weeks, a few students were found to possess or to be under the influence of alcohol while at school events. Academic and extracurricular suspensions were enforced … these students will lose quite a bit of learning time and will not be able to play spring sports or participate in fine arts programs and trips.

While those are all harsh penalties, luckily we do not have even worse news for you today. No students had to be taken to the hospital or were involved in car accidents. However, luck only lasts so long … we must continue to work together to address this behavior now before our community is rocked by a tragedy. One of the things mentioned to us when interviewing some of these students was that the alcohol was taken from the students’ own homes. We have heard about such stories in other communities where students take alcohol from their homes without parental knowledge or are supplied with the alcohol by their parents.

CNN just reported a story about a 16 year old boy in Georgia who crashed his car while driving under the influence, dying instantly. The police charged a classmate’s mother with furnishing alcohol to a minor. If convicted, this woman could spend at least a year in jail and be fined thousands of dollars. In addition, if this is true, she will carry the weight of her actions for the rest of her life. This is not easy for any of us, but it is our duty as parents, educators, role models to take this all very seriously.

Other important administrative items and recognitions ….

· Almost 780 students achieved Honor Roll Status during Second Quarter and were rewarded with ice cream sundaes last week … what great fun! We applaud these students on their accomplishments!

· At the same time, over 100 students did not achieve 2.0 status … we all need to work together to make sure that we don’t allow any of our students to fail … please call your student’s guidance counselor if you have any questions or suggestions … don’t wait.

· Teacher conferences this week are a great opportunity to connect with staff members … conference times are still available … go to our school website for Pick-A-Time directions.

· Thanks in advance to our PTSA and Boosters for providing a Staff Appreciation Dinner this Thursday night. Thanks also to our Southeast Asian Society for providing snacks for the staff on Wednesday. These gestures are greatly appreciated!

· We are proud to announce that four of our students … Mark Brindisi, Alex Lee, Josh Tilles, and Sam Xi … have been selected as National Merit Finalists. In addition, Hillary Brewer has been named a National Achievement Finalist. They are part of a very select group of students from across the United States. Outstanding!!!!

· Shuna Gao was recently recognized by the Howard County Human Rights Commission for her artwork that has been included in their annual calendar. Congratulations, Shuna!

· Several of our students attended President Obama’s inauguration, but one student, Maeson Bivens, was chosen to participate in this special event as part of the People to People program, an initiative for future leaders. What a wonderful memory for this young man!

· Several of our students participated in the Maryland Special Olympics Polar Bear Plunge down at the Chesapeake Bay a few weeks ago. These students raised almost $4,000 for this great cause by going for a swim in the icy cold water. Thanks to Ms. Burton for chaperoning the team!

· Four MRHS student artists … Kevin West, Stephanie Leese, Aly King, and Andrew Mavronicolas … are featured in an exhibit “Artists Inspiring Artists” at the Howard County Department of Education Gallery on Route 108. The gallery is open from 8:30 to 4:30 each day … check it out. Kudos to these students and their teachers, Ms. Miers-Bond, Ms. Ayres, and Ms. Bocchino!

· Congratulations to Jire Bademosi, MRHS student and Howard County Student Member of the Board of Education, on being selected as one of the two Finalists for the position of next year’s Student Member of the Maryland State Board of Education. What a tremendous honor! Best Wishes to Jire … we will know more soon!

· Nicole Lacey has been selected for the President’s Volunteer Service Award by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation. Keep up the good work, Nicole!

· The Howard County Solo and Ensemble Festival for instrumentalists was held a few weeks ago. Marriotts Ridge sent over 50 students, performing in 28 different events including solos, duets, quartets, and small ensembles, to this competition. Our students received a record number of superior ratings!!! Congratulations to the students who participated and their teachers, Mr. Ellis and Ms. Lather. On another note (ok … a little corny), we must also commend Ms. Lather and all of the student musicians who participated recently in a joint symphony program with River Hill … I was not able to make it to the performance, but I attended the dress rehearsal instead and was so impressed. Bravo!

· Our Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Club recently participated in the Regional Conference. MRHS students earned First Place honors in 5 of the 9 events and will represent Marriotts Ridge at the State Conference in March. Regional winners include Brian Kim, Jane Suh, Belinda Chen, Young Hye Hahm, Brooke Scott, Kevin Shen, and Kevin Yu. Congratulations also to Mr. Hahne, Ms. Cannella, and Mr. Fleming!

· The MRHS Science Fair was held a couple of weeks ago. Many of our students did an outstanding job on their research and presentations. The following students were awarded First Place:

Animal Biology Wendy Zhang

Behavioral Biology Christian Stephenson

Chemistry Hans Guo

Environmental Science Sam Neubauer

Earth Space Science Mitchell White

Engineering Technology Jake Vogel

Mathematics Brian Kim

Microbiology Cong Fan

Plant Biology Ruchi Gondalia

Physics Brooks Chilcoat

Grand Prize – Bronze Cong Fan

Grand Prize – Silver Brian Kim

Grand Prize – Gold Wendy Zhang

Many of our students participated in the Howard County Math, Science, and Technology Fair yesterday and several MRHS students were awarded with different prizes … the county was still tabulating the results and will let us know the official results early this week. Thanks to Mr. Sageman, Science Team Leader, and all members of the Science Team for their efforts in supporting our students’ work.

· Based on an outstanding season last year, Mr. Eckert was recognized yesterday as the 2008 Maryland State Association of Baseball Coaches District 5 Coach of the Year … Senior Tim Blair was also selected as a Preseason All State Pitcher. Good Luck this spring!

· Congratulations to Mr. Parson, the 2009 Senior Class Teacher of the Year. Mr. Parson will be recognized with the recipients from the other county high schools at an awards luncheon sponsored by the Howard County Association of Student Councils in March. An excellent choice by our seniors … it is a high honor to be chosen by students for such an award … well deserved!

· Finally, in an earlier edition, we announced that Mr. Rosnik had been selected as the Maryland Technology Educator of the Year by the Technology Education Association of Maryland. We enjoyed attending the awards ceremony the other night. Mr. Rosnik will travel to Louisville, Kentucky in March as the state winner where he will be recognized as the International Technology Education Association’s Technology Educator of the Year. You read that right … this organization of over 100,000 members around the world has selected our very own Mr. Rosnik for this prestigious award. This is phenomenal news … please join me in applauding this outstanding teacher on all that he does for our students and community!

One last thing … we have noticed that many students have been absent over the past several weeks. We have always prided ourselves on having the highest high school attendance rate in Howard County and one of the highest in the state. In addition, we want to make sure none of our students are denied credit because they have exceeded the state’s 5% absence policy. While we do not want students to come to school if they are truly ill, please help us to get our kids to school as much as possible … “mental health” and “vacation” days are really not educationally sound. We have had more than enough school holidays and snow days over the past two months … makeup assignments in no way substitute for the rich learning experiences that take place every day at Marriotts Ridge High School.

We look forward to seeing you at upcoming events. Go Mustangs!

Pat Saunderson, James LeMon, Cara Moulds, Rosalie Bowen, and Gene Brown