Greg Miller, a junior at Centennial High School, won first place in the recent Baltimore Science Fiction Society Contest for Young Authors.
His winning story, "Irrelevant Question," involves a colony of Earthlings on Mars that attacks the Earth. Greg says there is a strong parallel between his story and our country's recent dealings with terrorists.
For "Irrelevant Question," Greg received a $100 savings bond during Balticon, the annual science fiction writers' convention in Baltimore on April 15.
Of course, this wasn't the first science fiction he's written. He began writing seriously in the eighth grade and says he particularly enjoys writing science fiction because he can address sociological and environmental problems.
Greg's work has been published in Merlin's Pen, a magazine for writing students, and Majestic Books included one of his stories in a book-length anthology, "Paths of the Imaginary."
Maintaining a writing schedule in high school must be difficult, but I know I'm not alone in hoping that he keeps it up.
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Rockburn Elementary School will hold its first Enrichment Fair from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the school on Montgomery Road.
The public is welcome to attend.
Gifted and Talented resource teacher Sam Polack is excited about the variety and quality of academic projects throughout the building.
He is particularly pleased with the seven computer programs that were designed and created by students.
Fair visitors will be able to use the programs, most of which will be released through America Online as "freeware."
Among the programs are:
* Baseball Math, in which the user clicks on increasingly difficult math word problems and is awarded bases according to the difficulty of the problems. Little baseball players run around the bases to audio accompaniment.
* World War I Trivia Game, which uses two formats to quiz the user on history. Fred Flintstone shouts "Yabba Dabba Do" after enough correct answers.
* Welcome to Rockburn, which guides a visitor around the school.
Other programs include "Teaching Fractions," "Endangered Animals," "Computer History" and "Book Review."
Many other projects will be demonstrated, including clubs, slide shows and videos.
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Manor Woods Elementary School celebrated "Bridges for Brighter Tomorrows" on May 12 by handing a $2,000 check to Tracey Carroll, a mother who is struggling with cancer. The check was to help pay her medical costs.
Manor Woods is a new school this year, and many faculty members came from Northfield Elementary School.
To cross their "bridges," the Student Government joined hands with Northfield Elementary's Student Government, running their own T-shirt sale for Ms. Carroll.
Student Government faculty sponsor Helen Mercer thanks the community, explaining that the children had no problem selling the shirts.
Other faculty involved in the project were teachers Linda Feldmesser and Roberta Breslow.
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Dunloggin Middle School held its first Schoolwide Enrichment Fair on May 11.
Included in the fair were a school full of community service learning projects, classroom enrichment products and Type 3 investigations.
The String Quartet, handbell choir and a group of guitarists also performed.
The fair also highlighted the TV studio. The TV production crew treated parents to a best-ever sample of "Dunloggin This Morning," evening version.
Included were Letterman-style lists: "Top 10 Teacher Quotes" and "Top 10 Ways to Know You're at Dunloggin," jokingly reduced to five ways due to educational budget cuts.
Parents of sixth-graders should circle June 7. That's when Dunloggin's sixth-grade team will hold a poetry sharing and wildlife habitat dedication. Plan to go to work a little late that day and spend an hour enjoying poetry and nature with your child.
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Centennial High School scored well at the recent Howard Community College Speech and Debate Tournament.
Heather Campbell won second prize in the extemporaneous speaking category and David Austin captured third place.
Tinsay Woreta won a first prize in oral interpretation and Jamila Powell won a first in persuasive speaking.
Nicki Kassolis captured first prize and Kelly Carbery won a second place in informative speaking.
The versatile Kelly also has been elected co-captain of the Centennial drill team with Kanika Feaster. Lieutenants are Deborah Pinkston, Laura Kuhn and Kristin Whattam.
The coming weeks will be important ones for Centennial High seniors, with three award ceremonies planned.
Graduation will be June 1 at Merriweather Post Pavilion. This year, the keynote speaker is Ric Ryder, a 1979 Centennial graduate of star quality.
Mr. Ryder is starring in the Broadway play "Blood Brothers." He may be coaxed into performing some vocal music for the new grads.
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Members of Howard County Learning Disabilities Association will celebrate the school year's end by treating themselves to dinner tomorrow. Call Janet Nuse at 992-0636 for directions.
Next year, the group will change format and meeting day.
