Classmates

Officials at Phylicia Barnes' school said Monday that Union Academy has been in mourning since learning about her death. Barnes, a senior at the North Carolina school, was 16 when she disappeared from her half sister's apartment in Baltimore on Dec. 28. Her body was discovered last week in the Susquehanna River near Conowingo Dam, about 40 miles north of the city. On Thursday, the state medical examiner identified the body as Barnes. As Union Academy, students returned from spring break Monday, flags were at half-staff and grief counselors were on duty.

An Arundel Middle School student was issued a juvenile citation Tuesday after two classmates told school officials that he threatened them with a 3-inch knife, one of two incidents at the Odenton school this week. Also this week, a teacher was videotaped screaming at a student while admonishing her in front of classmates Wednesday. The video was posted on Facebook, and the teacher has since been removed from her classroom and is on leave while school officials investigate. In the knife incident, Anne Arundel County police said in a news release that Arundel Middle's resource officer was told about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday that a 12-year-old male student had made threats with the knife to a 12-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl.

IN THE fall of 1989, Ian Drummond began first grade.After a year in special-education kindergarten, this nonspeaking autistic boy was deemed ready to take another step into the world.But before Ian started at Gateway Elementary in Woodland Park, Colo., his mother came to school to describe her son to his future classmates.She showed them a videotape -- images of a blond boy, who looked normal, swinging and sliding on their playground.His mother explained that Ian had a sister named Sarah and a dog, that he liked stories about animals and that he loved to watch movies.

The father of a Baltimore elementary school student is facing kidnapping and other charges after police said he locked his son's 11-year-old classmate in his car, and drove around cursing at him after learning the two boys had been in an altercation that day. Donald Shields Sr., 33, was charged with kidnapping, second-degree assault and false imprisonment in the Nov. 5 incident, which occurred at Yorkwood Elementary School, according to charging documents...

The snide comments surprised Randy Kurtz, who figured she was suffering the same harrowing rites of passage as her U.S. Naval Academy classmates as they trudged through the plebe summer of 1978. "You don't belong here," the male midshipmen might say. A few seemed to take particular glee in pulling her down as she attempted the Herndon Climb, which culminates plebe year. Kurtz, a Connecticut native, was part of the third academy class to include women, and the spirit of equality had not sunk in with everyone.

Eleven-year-old Joshua Torres died of complications from muscular dystrophy in October before the leaves fell from the trees, but his Havre de Grace classmates haven't forgotten their friend in a wheelchair.Over the winter, the Roye-Williams Elementary fifth-graders turned their grief into a classroom project, gathering dimes and quarters and seeking larger donations from parents and local businesses to raise $400 to buy a memorial for Joshua -- a desk designed for the disabled."What started out as a dream for Room 308 has become a reality," the students' teacher, Renee Villareal, said at an emotional ceremony yesterday to dedicate the desk and to remember Joshua.

Ross Perot arrived at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1949 a short, jug-eared Texas boy with a broken nose. It was his 19th birthday and he had never been on a ship or seen the ocean.But he tackled the academy the way he did everything else -- with a confident vengeance.Mr. Perot emerged four years later as president of the class of 1953 and a devoted champion of the academy."I hope that each midshipman here tonight realizes how fortunate you are to have this unique opportunity to attend the Naval Academy," an enthusiastic Mr. Perot told the midshipmen during a 1990 speech in Annapolis.

Dumbarton Middle School in Rodgers Forge has suspended indefinitely a sixth-grade pupil who brought a toy gun to school and told classmates it was real, school officials said yesterday. Assistant Principal Michael Etzel said he removed the boy from his first-period class on Tuesday, after a classmate reported the remarks. "At no time was there a threat to any kids in the school," Etzel said yesterday. The boy, whose name was not released by school officials for confidentiality reasons, will be suspended until he receives a hearing from the school board.

Ross Perot arrived at the Naval Academy in 1949 a short, jug-eared Texas boy with a broken nose. It was his 19th birthday and he had never been on a ship or seen the ocean.But he tackled the academy the way he did everything else -- with a confident vengeance.Mr. Perot emerged four years later as president of the class of 1953 and a devoted champion of the academy."I hope that each midshipman here tonight realizes how fortunate you are to have this unique opportunity to attend the Naval Academy," an enthusiastic Mr. Perot told the midshipmen during a 1990 speech in Annapolis.

Nick Sabo, a South River High School senior, recently received his yearbook order forms, including ballots to vote for senior superlatives, such as most popular or class clown. He hardly recognized any of the nominees' names. "He didn't know anybody, and it broke my heart," said his mother, Mary Ann Sabo, who lives in Edgewater. "I guess students are afraid." Sabo was born with cerebral palsy, a brain injury that put him in a wheelchair, slurs his speech, and made him an outcast among his peers.

Dizzy, Sara and Remi don't know whether or not the new freshmen at McDaniel College are feeling a little homesick, or experiencing their first time on a campus away from family or friends. But regardless, on Tuesday they were only too happy to cuddle with students who needed a hug in Whiteford Hall, the dorm for freshmen females, and also spent time visiting students at Kriel Lounge, a popular gathering place that includes a large cafeteria. The trio - Sara and Remi are spaniels, and Dizzy is a Chinese crested puff - were tough to resist, with their tails wagging and their puppy dog eyes.

Baltimore County officials promised new safety measures Tuesday to prevent violence in public schools — including hand-held metal detectors, an increased police presence and a new administrative security office — after a teacher wrestled a gun from an eighth-grader two weeks after a shooting at a nearby high school. The changes, to take effect in the coming weeks, will be folded into a larger "systemic look at what steps the school system can take" to prevent further acts of violence, said County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, who pledged that the county will "allocate resources in whatever capacity" necessary.

A campaign is under way to convince Lady Gaga to visit one of her biggest fans -- the 17-year-old high school student shot Monday at Perry Hall High School. As Daniel Borowy, a special education student at Perry Hall, remained in critical condition, his classmates took to the Internet to try to cheer him up in the only way they could think of -- to get his favorite singer to come visit him in the hospital. Students started a campaign Tuesday asking everyone they knew to ask everyone they knew to Tweet "#GagaVisitDaniel" in hopes that Lady Gaga, a huge presence on Twitter, would see it and find a way to visit Daniel.

Charged as an adult in the Perry Hall High School shooting, 15-year-old Robert Wayne Gladden Jr., was held without bond Tuesday as a portrait of a withdrawn and occasionally bullied student with a troubled home life emerged through interviews with classmates and court documents. The suspect was charged with attempted murder and assault in the cafeteria shooting on Monday, the first day of classes. He underwent a mental health evaluation Tuesday, and had been held at the Baltimore County Detention Center.

A cheerful wave from Daniel Borowy greeted 14-year-old Katherine Kraft on Monday morning, easing the freshman's nerves on her first day at Perry Hall High School. "It was adorable," Kraft said. "I didn't think anyone would wave or anything. It was nice. " Within hours Borowy would be critically injured, shot in the back in the school cafeteria by another student. That Borowy was the victim made the violence all the more troubling for his peers. Borowy, a 17-year-old special education student at Perry Hall, is well-known for welcoming waves, high-fives and other friendly interactions, classmates said.

The snide comments surprised Randy Kurtz, who figured she was suffering the same harrowing rites of passage as her U.S. Naval Academy classmates as they trudged through the plebe summer of 1978. "You don't belong here," the male midshipmen might say. A few seemed to take particular glee in pulling her down as she attempted the Herndon Climb, which culminates plebe year. Kurtz, a Connecticut native, was part of the third academy class to include women, and the spirit of equality had not sunk in with everyone.

For the past two days, men in their 70s hugged, exchanged addresses, shared old black-and-white photos, snapped new pictures and swapped stories about their days as midshipmen at the Naval Academy.About 370 members of the Class of 1947 returned to Annapolis for their 50th anniversary reunion, distressed over the scandals that have rocked their alma mater, but ready to act on the words of their famous classmate, former President Jimmy Carter, who urged them to "improve the academy's image."

Rebecca Miller's five-year high school reunion seemed dead on arrival. Only 30 of her 200-odd classmates from Joppatowne High School class of 2005 RSVPed on a Facebook page set up for the reunion, which was booked at a Harford County bar last year. As the event neared, interest waned. Eventually, the reunion devolved into an informal party at the class president's house. "Maybe one or two people went," Miller said. "They were posting on their Facebook status, 'Hey, it's a great party, everyone should come over.' No one came.

From The Aegis dated June 4, 1987: Havre de Grace High School seniors graduation celebration was brought to an abrupt halt 25 years ago when students heard the news of the death of a classmate. George Edward Ridgely, whom most called Eddie, died in a car accident 36 hours after his graduation from Havre de Grace. He was on his way home from Odell's, a Baltimore nightclub that catered to teenagers. The two girls in the car with him - Christina Marie Christy, 18, and Regina Renee Bond, 19, both of Havre de Grace - also died.