Proud to be a Mustang… Choosing Excellence in All that We Do!
December
24, 2008
Season’s Greetings! Life at
Marriotts Ridge has been very busy and rewarding over the past month.
Hopefully you can take a minute to sit down by the fire and enjoy this update
with a cup of hot chocolate ….
v Mr. Siskind and
Mr. Stuller’s Physics classes have been involved in some very
interesting projects over the past few weeks. First, the catapult
competition had students construct a catapult or trebuchet out of a list of
specific materials. The goal was to design a device that would launch a
projectile the farthest distance. Based on the device created, the
projectile was a small wooden ball, grapefruit, or pumpkin. The record
for the pumpkin launch was about 300 feet …that is the length of a football
field ... wow! We thoroughly enjoyed talking with the students in these
classes about their projects, the construction process, and watching their
successful and not so successful attempts … great learning!
The other project involving our Physics classes was the “GI
Joe/Barbie Bungee Jump” which was an activity to illustrate the principles of
gravitational potential energy and spring potential energy. Students
chose an action figure and constructed a loop of rubber bands so that their
action figures could “jump off” the third floor stairwell in The Commons.
The objective of the lesson was to calculate the elasticity coefficient of the
rubber bands, trying to figure out how many rubber bands would be needed to get
as close to the floor without hitting it. Using that information, along
with the mass of the action figure, the bungee teams conducted their
experiments. We watched several “GI Joes” not survive the fall, but it
was fun watching the student teams going back to the drawing board to figure
out how to make their next jump more successful. Thanks to Mr. Siskind and Mr. Stuller for bringing learning alive!
Just
a few more examples of what we see when we travel the halls every day … Ms.
Lather hosted two visiting professors from James Madison University who
conducted a workshop with our Orchestra students. Sitting in on
this session and listening to our students at their best was an incredible
treat! Ms. Palm and Ms. Bell’s Foods and Nutrition classes
constructed pizzas in some interesting shapes that had to contain ingredients
from at least five different food groups …. interesting concoctions … In Ms. Clarkin’s math classes, students collected data
using a microphone to graph the sound wave of a note they produced by blowing
across a bottle. Using the graph and what they had learned about the
period of sine curve, their goal was to tune their bottles to the musical note
and its frequency in the Hz given to them. In the end, after each group
had “tuned” their note, they performed an interesting rendition of “Jingle
Bells” and a few other songs. Just a few of the great lessons taking
place at MRHS!
Going
back a few weeks, we have not had the chance to thank our South Asian
Society and its sponsor, Ms. Bonus, for some very nice snacks on the first
day of conferences last month. We also want to thank the PTSA and
Boosters for sponsoring a lovely “Comfort Food” dinner for the staff during
November Conference week … much appreciated!
Our
SGA Harvest for the
Our clubs have been very active also. MAAAC (Mustang
African American Awareness Club) wrapped gifts at the Columbia Mall last week
to raise money for
Last
club update … I had the pleasure of traveling down to the
You truly missed out if you did not make it the Fine Arts
Concerts! What a joy to start the holiday season listening to our
bands, orchestra, and choral groups … and then to top it off at our Dance
Concert … Bravo! Congratulations to all of the student performers, the
sound and light crew up in the booth, and Mr. Eberhardt,
Ms. Lather, Mr. Ellis, and Ms. Spruill!!!
The Orchestra students listed below recently performed as
part of an honors ensemble with students from across Howard and
Kayleigh Decker Leslie
Decker Esther Jung
Paul
Lee
Yeh-in
Kim Thomas Rimlinger
Speaking of our Fine Arts Program, we must commend the many MRHS
students who have achieved All-State or All-Eastern Band, Orchestra, and
Choir status … the awards keep coming in … we will recognize these students
more specifically when we have received complete information. We applaud
their teachers also!
In the Marriotts Ridge PTSA Reflections Competition, we
want to congratulate all of the students who participated and wish them the
best at the county wide competition. Tim D’Amato created this fascinating
piece for the Film Production category. We were able to view the Dance
submissions at the Dance Concert … congratulations to our winner, Malena Silva, and also to runner ups, Rebecca Rehaut, Allison Taylor, and Holly Jones. Molly
Malarkey submitted several pieces in the Photography category and won all
honors. In the Literature category, John Henry Hain
took first place and Molly Malarkey and Vivian Tu
were also recognized for their work. Good luck to this year’s
participants at the county and state level. Thanks to Ms. Jane Jones,
MRHS PTSA Reflections Chair, for organizing and facilitating this effort!
Nirshiee Arumugam, CJ Evans, Allison Murphy,
Allison Smalley, and Ryan Tommins were recently
recognized as graduates in the Leadership Howard County Leadership U Class
of 2008. Mr. LeMon and I thoroughly enjoyed
attending the graduation ceremony where we got to hear about the different
projects that these students have worked on to try to benefit our greater
community.
Two of our students participated in the Howard County Poetry
Alive program. Claire Fremuth recited her
poem in French and Brian Tich performed in Latin …
thanks to their teachers, Ms. Brower and Mr. Fisher. Well Done!
Jire
Bademosi, MRHS student and Student Member of the
HCPSS Board of Education, has been working with “Change Matters” and has
helped to raise over $5,000 for a new playground at
the
A “Famous
First” …. Our Math Team, under the direction of Coach Barbieri
and Coach Ebersole, took first place in this month’s
Howard County Math Meet, quite an accomplishment when facing teams from all
county high schools. Outstanding!!!
The
December 19th edition of The Stallion was excellent …
worth reading from cover to cover. If you did not get a copy, it can be
found on our website, www.marriottsridge.net. Congratulations to our newspaper
staff and staff sponsor, Ms. Olsen!
Our Winter Sports Season has started with a bang.
What an exciting wrestling match the other night against Eleanor Roosevelt … a
great victory! Our Boys and Girls Basketball Teams play in the Springbrook Holiday Tournament on December 26 and 27 … good
luck! One last note on our fall sports season … we want to commend Howard
County Soccer Player of the Year, Phil Martinelli …
we did not know of this honor at the time of our last update ... another “Famous
First!”
We
want to wish the best to a couple of staff members who are moving on to new
adventures and welcome their replacements. One of the Original Mustangs,
Spanish Teacher Courtney Arnal, is relocating with
her husband to
Finally,
we want to wish each and every one of you a wonderful holiday season.
Some have already celebrated Id al Adha. Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, and Joyous Kwanzaa! What a
wonderful time to celebrate our beliefs and enjoy this very special time of
year with family and friends. Best Wishes also for a wonderful 2009!
Once again, enjoy the break … be safe out there!
If we can ever be of assistance to you,
please feel free to email us at patrick_saunderson@hcpss.org. We will try
to get back to you as soon as we can.
Go Mustangs! Pat Saunderson,
James LeMon, Cara Moulds, Rosalie Bowen, and Gene
Brown