THE GAZETTE
Page B-6
Wednesday, November 27, 2013 b
SCHOOL LIFE After-school nature clubs introduce students to science and play Students learn to ‘Unplug and Play’ n
BY
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
They ran around like a pack of hyenas, trying to steal prey from a lion, but their laughter gave them away every time. Finally the lion suggested they take a break and decide how to work together to fool him. Students at Glen Haven Elementary School in Silver Spring played Scavenger Scheme, Thursday, the last day of a six-week after-school program to encourage students to connect with their environment and learn to play together outdoors instead of inside in front of a computer screen. The program, “Unplug and Play,” funded by a grant from the Montgomery County Council, is for thirdthrough fifth-grade students and run by the Audubon Naturalist Society at
four Title I elementary schools: Glen Haven in Silver Spring, Rolling Terrace in Takoma Park, Captain James E. Daly in Germantown, and Gaithersburg. Each group has 15 to 20 students. The goal of the program is to give students a combination of science education and outdoor physical activity, said Karen Vernon, director of youth eduction for the society. “We’re working to widen the community of people who treasure the natural world, especially young people who are our next generation of environmental stewards,” said James Robey, the Audubon Society’s environmental education program manager and the lion in Scavenger Scheme. “The students are helping the environment by learning about it and they are making healthy lifestyle choices by being physically active.” Students in the program meet for one hour each week and start with a healthy after-school snack provided by Montgomery County Public Schools.
Robey said he starts each class with a lesson about animals, trees, plants or birds before taking the students outside for a game to reinforce what they learned. Sometimes he brings in a live guest, such as Boris the Tortoise, a Russian tortoise, or Eddy Spaghetti, a corn snake. He puts out a display of animal pelts and skulls for the children to examine. “It’s nice for the kids to have this hands-on experience,” said Jessica Lynch, Glen Haven second-grade teacher and program coordinator. Fifth-grader Kimberly Garcia said she expected to be bored by the program when it first started. “By the second [week] I knew I was supposed to be here,” she said. “It’s hard for me to choose what’s my favorite [part], I think it’s when we went outside and started playing and meeting everyone.” Each of the schools’ programs is finishing the first six-week session, but will meet again for winter and spring programs.
PEGGY MCEWAN/THE GAZETTE
Third-grader Ezekiel Ruiz (left) and fifth-grader Christian Ferrell examine Boris the Tortoise during the “Unplug and Play” program at Glen Haven Elementary School in Silver Spring.
EDUCATION NOTEBOOK Students connect with nature ‘Beyond the Walls’ It was like traveling over the river and through the woods as students from the Franklin Schools in Rockville on Thursday hiked outside their fenced play areas into the surrounding community for a nature lesson, dubbed “Beyond the Walls.” The children, 3 to 5 years old, each carried a small basket, following Amy Beam, the Montessori school’s outdoor education specialist, in search of nature’s treasures. “It’s like when you went trick-or-treating for Halloween,” Beam told the students. “If you find something special, put it in your basket and we will bring everything back and spread it on the picnic tables for the birds and squirrels, the daddy longlegs, any creature. It will be for their Thanksgiving.” Most of the students filled their baskets with brown pine needles at the first stop on the hourlong hike, which took them down a hill near a storm pond, along a woods path and into the open space behind neighboring townhouses. Suddenly Beam and her young followers stopped. Beam listened and pointed into the trees at a hawk, one the group had heard earlier. “Look at that,” she said. “It’s as big as a chicken.” The students go on these explorations two or three times a month, sometimes with Beam, who works with all the Franklin classes, and sometimes led by their classroom teachers. They knew, as they got to the open space, where to stop and wait. They also knew, on the teacher’s signal, to run as fast as they liked to the distant tree line. “Listen,” Beam said. “As soon as they start running, they start laughing.” She was right: The runners ran and laughed until they got
Kunkin, who was captain, Jake Gearon, Michael Josell and Sam Zabronsky; and sophomore Ravi Serota. They are coached by Eduardo Polon, a Spanish teacher
and global languages department head. The team provides camaraderie while celebrating academic achievement, Polon said in a statement. “Best of all, it’s fun,” he wrote.
Montgomery Blair teams to debate at competition PEGGY MCEWAN/THE GAZETTE
Students from the Franklin Schools in Rockville play on a pine needle-strewn hill during their nature walk Thursday. The Montessori school offers a “Beyond the Walls” program to encourage outdoor play. to their destination. “They are very comfortable in nature,” said Terri Shaffer, the group’s teacher. “It helps them concentrate and when they come in they are much more peaceful.” Beam said she started the program after growing alarmed that more and more children were not going outdoors. She attended programs at both the Vermont Wilderness School and the Wilderness Awareness School in Washington state. “I was searching for a program I could adapt here,” she said. “It’s about connecting with nature and the community and inside themselves.”
Gaithersburg High to host financial aid seminar Gaithersburg High School
will present a seminar on college financial aid at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the school’s Performing Arts Center, 314 S. Frederick Ave. Guest speaker Chad Spencer, associate dean of admission and financial aid at Davidson College in North Carolina, will discuss financial
aid for students applying to colleges and vocational schools. Topics will include the following: What is financial aid? What is financial need and how is it determined? What are the categories, types and sources of aid? How does the application process work? Spencer also will discuss merit-based aid and loan options, and share tips for negotiating the process. All students and parents are welcome. For more information, contact Geri Sliffman at 301-284-4616 or Geri_L_Sliffman@mcpsmd.org.
Sandy Spring students dip into Quiz Bowl After two years of in-house practice, the Sandy Spring Friends School’s Quiz Bowl Travel Team competed in a championship tournament Oct. 27 hosted by James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, winning fourth place. The competition included 48 teams from public and private high schools. Team members included senior Ben Yumkas; juniors Emil
Two teams from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring are among the 64 teams in the Bickel & Brewer/New York University International Public Policy Forum. The international debate competition gives high school students the opportunity to engage in written and oral debates on public policy issues and compete for a $10,000 grand prize and trip to New York City in April to participate in the competition finals. “All of the advancing schools are worthy of special recognition, because they have distinguished themselves in one of the most competitive debate competitions in the world,” William A. Brewer III, chairman of the Bickel & Brewer Foundation and a founder of the NYU forum, said in a news release. “As the elimination rounds get underway, these outstanding students will have the opportunity to put their research, writing and advocacy skills to the test against competitors around the globe.” This year, 266 teams, representing schools in 37 states and 28 countries, submitted qualifying round essays affirming or negating the topic: “Resolved: As a last resort, unilateral military force is justified to minimize nuclear weapons proliferation.” The essays were reviewed
by a committee, which determined the round of 64 based on the quality of each 2,800-word essay. The top 64 teams represent schools from 26 states and 14 countries. Advancing teams participate in a singleelimination, written debate tournament via email with judges reviewing the essays in the order they are presented until eight schools remain. The “Elite 8” will participate in a live debate during the finals. “Blair is only one of three high schools in the world to have two teams in the round of 64,” debate team coach Stefanie Weldon wrote in an email to The Gazette. “Blair A is a repeat team that also made the round of 64 last year.” Members of the Montgomery Blair A team are Aanchal Johri, Callie Deng and Alan
Du. Rishabh Mahajani, Kevin Zhang and Agam Mittal make up
Montgomery Blair B team.
Mayorga Coffee establishes scholarship Martin Mayorga, an alumnus of Montgomery College and co-founder of Mayorga Coffee in Rockville, has established the Mayorga Latino Leadership Scholarship at Montgomery College with a gift of $25,000 over five years to the Montgomery College Foundation. The donation will support need-based scholarships for Latino students who are business majors at Montgomery College. It will cover annual tuition for one student per year for at least five years. More than 3,400 Latino students attend Montgomery College. “Martin Mayorga’s generosity to the Montgomery College Foundation is inspiring,” college President DeRionne Pollard said in a statement. “I know first-hand the struggles associated with struggling to pay for a quality education,” Mayorga said in
the statement. “My wife and I started this company 16 years ago to support all members of our supply chain, and our community is a critical member of that supply chain. I’m very proud to be able to be a part of developing future business leaders in our local community.” Mayorga Coffee imports and roasts coffee, and has with retail locations at regional airports, plus National Harbor in Oxon Hill and the Westfield Wheaton mall.
Scholarships available for study abroad Sixty-five full scholarships are available for U.S. students to study abroad for the 2014-15 academic year with the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Abroad program. Sponsored by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the program brings almost 900 high school students from about 40 countries with significant Muslim populations to the U.S. to study each year. As program scholars, U.S. American high schoolers serve as “youth ambassadors” in their overseas host countries. Students live with host families and study in countries that may include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mali, Morocco, Oman, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia and Turkey. The meritbased scholarship covers domestic and international travel; tuition and related academic preparation; accommodations with a host family; educational and cultural activities in the host country; orientations; applicable visa fees; three basic meals per day; and medical coverage. Eligibility criteria are detailed in the application available at www.yes-abroad.org. The application deadline is Jan. 9.