Proud to be a Mustang… Choosing Excellence
in All that We Do!
April 7, 2009
March was an
amazing month at Marriotts Ridge … the start of spring sports, Howard County
History Day, the county and regional science fair, the spring play, the end of
Third Quarter. We have many student and
staff accomplishments to share with you.
Before we get
started, we want to update you on a few administrative matters that we have
been working on recently.
ü Theft from our locker room areas increased
at the beginning of the spring season.
This issue seems to reappear every year at about this time as everyone
gets a little lax in remembering to secure all personal items of great value in
lockers. Trying to be accommodating to
student needs, we have also opened the locker rooms much more than really
needed. We have reinstituted our policy
of securing the locker rooms except for the changing times between classes and
team changing times after school. Staff
members have worked very hard to enforce these policies and appreciate the
cooperation of our students. We also
apprehended a student or two who were involved in these crimes and have
incurred the most serious consequences.
We all need to be smart about our personal belongings as we can be and
not invite possible wrongdoing. One
final comment … students really only need to bring the most basic items to
school … expensive cell phones, iPods, large amounts of money are not necessary
… we hate to hear about such things getting lost or stolen, but we cannot
guarantee their safekeeping.
ü Speaking of cell phones … we are trying to work with our students
regarding cell phones in school. We have
no problem with students bringing cell phones to school, but we continue to ask
that everyone adhere to the school rule that they not be turned on or used
during the instructional day. While they
have become commonplace throughout society, schools are still trying to figure
out how we can avoid class disruptions and potential issues of academic
integrity. Our Leadership Team will be
revisiting this and other school policies at our annual retreat later this
month. One final comment … families can
help us with this issue by not calling or texting our students during class
time.
ü Another issue related to our locker rooms and our entire school
facility was an increase in rodent activity this winter. We have been working with our county
resources to address these issues, but much of the problem is food left in our
locker rooms. While we try to keep our
building and grounds as clean as possible, we need everyone’s help. Students must be reminded to not leave any
kind of food in the locker rooms. In
addition, students should not leave clothes over the weekend or for long
amounts of time … clothes should be removed and cleaned on a regular
basis. Our custodial staff has done a
great job of clearing both locker rooms several times this year and cleaning
every locker and other spaces. Things
seem better, but we cannot let our guard down … thanks for your help!
ü Finally, we must mention attendance and tardiness as we head into
Fourth Quarter. Since we opened, we have
been known as the high school with the best attendance in the state … another
And now for the
highlights from the past month …
v At the
v Our Guidance Team held a fantastic evening
seminar for students and families entitled “
v Speaking of family programs, our PTSA,
Boosters, and Music Foundation have been very active. The PTSA continues to plan for AfterProm
while also supporting our academic programs and representing all of our
community members. The Boosters held a
very successful “Mustang Madness … Cruise the SS Ridge Casino Night” and “Mustang
Stampede 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run”. Both of
these events brought together many people in support of our extracurricular
programs. Finally, our Music Foundation
held a wonderful Flea Market, raising money for our award winning music
groups. Thanks to everyone who
participated in these events… fun times for a great cause … our students!
v Adding a special note, we want to thank
the many people who serve as officers and committee chairs/members in our
family organizations. This is that
time of year when we are looking for some new folks to step up and take on
positions for next year. Please
contact Ms. Jennifer Burgy (PTSA), Ms.
Sue Tompkins (Boosters), or Ms. Maureen Romano (Music Foundation) if you have
questions or want to explore possible opportunities. Please take a few minutes to really think how
you can get involved with these groups.
v In the Maryland PTSA Reflections
competition, Malena Silva won Second Place in the Senior Division of Dance and
v Our Music Programs have been
incredibly busy. Our Band, Choir, and
Orchestra groups have all participated in county adjudications in the past few
weeks and have earned the highest marks.
Thirty of our students achieved All-State honors. Junior Zhaklina Poulos sang a solo with the
110 person Women’s All State Chorus and Sophomore Brian Kim served as
Concertmaster for the All State Orchestra.
WOW! Congratulations to these
outstanding students and their teachers … Mr. Eberhardt, Ms. Lather, and Mr.
Ellis!
v More than 20 students represented MRHS at
the statewide Future Business Leaders of America Conference. Participating with over 800 students from
across
v Words cannot truly capture the talents and
hard work exhibited by our Drama Department during our spring production, The
Boyfriend. This show involved
over 100 students and continued a long streak of phenomenal success. Hats off to the cast and crew of this
fabulous show along with their teachers … Ms. Livingston, Ms. Spruill, and Mr.
Eberhardt … and the many, many parents who help in so many ways! One more note about our Drama Department …
the MRHS Cappies’ Critics Team continues to have reviews featured in local
publications … congrats to Mondonna McCann on her review being chosen by
Patuxent Publishing!
v Congrats to Mr. Siskind and the many
student volunteers who organized a huge Spring Blood Drive … 174
students donated to this great cause.
Mr. Siskind has been involved in school blood drives for many years and
stated that this one was the best ever … he told us that the Red Cross
volunteers say that this is the best school to come to because we have the
nicest kids … thank you, thank you!
v Just like the other programs in our Fine
Arts Department, our Visual Arts programs continue to rack up many honors. Amy Beverungen, Michael Bargamian, Emma
Meade, Zachary Yelnosky, and Rebecca Cairns recently received awards from the
national
v Howard
County History Day was a
huge success for our students. Carol Wu
as Clara Barton and Brian Gilbert as Charlie Chaplin placed in the Top 3 in
Senior Individual Performances and Ruchi Gondalia and Vivian Tu took top honors
in the Senior Group Performances category.
Thomas Rimlinger also represented Marriotts Ridge in the Historical
Paper category. Filling in for Mr.
Higdon, my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed attending this event. Watching these students make their
presentations and then answer questions from a panel of judges was very
impressive. Thanks to Mr. Higdon, Ms.
Rashid, and Mr. Eckert for putting in many hours to help these students prepare
for this competition. Thanks also to our
PTSA for sponsoring the “Artist in Residence” program through which our
students learn how to research historical characters and then “bring them to
life” … this is simply an outstanding learning experience!
v 15 MRHS students competed in the Maryland
Science Olympiad at
v Our
v Even with the rain, the Spring Sports
Season is off to a great start.
Opening up the newspaper today, it was a pleasure to see that our Boys
Lacrosse and Baseball teams are included in the rankings and that our Girls
Lacrosse team was given Honorable Mention status. We have enjoyed seeing all of our teams and
can’t wait to see what the second half of the season brings … good luck!
Whew! Did we forget anything? So much news … we hope that you enjoyed
reading this month’s administrative update.
Enjoy Spring Break … looking forward to seeing everyone back at school,
safe and sound, next Tuesday, April 14.
One last thing
… Senior Parents … did you get the special Senior Information Brochure
regarding graduation and other senior programs?
Seniors received this important information last Friday … ask them for
it! It’s also available on our website.
See you at our
upcoming events … Go Mustangs!
Pat Saunderson,
James LeMon, Cara Moulds, Rosalie Bowen, and Gene Brown