Glen Burnie High

After John Schillinger graduated from Glen Burnie High School in 1956, he developed several popular varieties of soybeans that are used today by a majority of farmers in the United States. Alfred Lipin, Class of 1939, became a state senator. Lori Ann Slezak, class of 1987, opened a colon and rectal surgery practice two weeks ago in Tampa, Fla. They and five others are the first alumni to be honored on the Wall of Honor at Glen Burnie High School. School officials awarded plaques to honorees or their family members at a ceremony Friday before the homecoming football game.

Pam Engel tried something new with her biology students last year at Glen Burnie High School. Instead of talking about how diseases and traits are passed on through family members, she teamed up with a doctor to help students create their own family trees. Students had to list three generations and include medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, along with causes of death. Then they had to act as genetics counselors and predict which conditions might be passed on in their families.

In the small town of Missour in eastern Morocco, Erin Sullivan asked her English class last fall to break into small groups. Stand up, why do we need to move? they said. Cooperative, or group learning, is a foreign concept to students at the Lycee Mixte de Missour, said Sullivan, who teaches English to speakers of other languages at Glen Burnie High School. It was one of the lessons she learned while spending six weeks in the small mountain town on a teacher exchange. Now Sullivan's host on that trip is in the same position of learning and teaching.

An organ played as mourners streamed down the aisles of an Annapolis church yesterday toward the flag-draped coffin holding the body of Army Spc. Micheal Benson Matlock Jr. Specialist Matlock, less than three years out of Glen Burnie High School, died last week in Iraq. Yesterday, he was remembered for his devotion to both the high school sweetheart he married barely a year ago and their baby boy - and for the bravery that enabled him to sign on for battle. "It takes courage to do what he did. Nobody joins the Army during wartime," said the Rev. Kaipha Downs, who delivered the eulogy, and who had known the soldier since he was a young boy. "Mike did," she said, to rousing applause from hundreds at the service at the First Christian Community Church.

Glen Burnie teacher gets Fulbright grant Erin Sullivan, an ESOL teacher at Glen Burnie High School, has been awarded a Fulbright Teacher Exchange grant to teach English as a second language for six weeks in Missour, Morocco, beginning in early October. Sullivan, 32, is one of approximately 170 U.S. citizens who will travel abroad during the 2007-2008 academic year through the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program. "I was excited when I heard I had received it, but honestly I didn't think I could get it," said Sullivan, who has taught with Anne Arundel County public schools since 2004.

Teen chefs face the competition For two hours they mixed, measured, kneaded and chopped. The assignment: Create a meal of homemade pasta, breadsticks and salad. Thirty Anne Arundel County high school students took on the challenge Friday at a cook-off at Anne Arundel Community College's Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Tourism Institute in Glen Burnie. The sixth annual event is sponsored by the community college and Anne Arundel County Public Schools. After taking a tour of the school facility and creating personalized aprons, the students were divided into teams of three and the contest began.

Londa Sanders was watching television in the living room of her Glen Burnie townhouse when she was startled by a loud commotion. She stepped outside and walked a few hundred feet behind her home to a grassy area between two groups of townhouses where a small crowd had gathered. As she neared, she shouted for towels and for someone to call 911. "I saw somebody laying down there," Sanders said. "I didn't know it was my son."

The former music teacher and band director at Glen Burnie High School has been charged with child abuse and perverted practice stemming from a two-year sexual relationship that Anne Arundel County police say he had with a female student at the school. Jeffrey Stephen Thompson, 37, of Severn was released on bond after turning himself in Wednesday, police said. He did not return calls yesterday. Reached by phone, his ex-wife declined comment. The couple have no children and divorced in July 2005, according to court papers.

Anne Arundel County overhauled its government in the 1960s, creating distinct legislative and executive branches. The county executive, currently a Democrat, controls the executive branch, and a seven-member County Council, which is now Republican-controlled, holds the legislative authority. Council members, who each represent a geographic district, are part-time officials. They meet at the Arundel Center, 44 Calvert St., Annapolis, at 7 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month.

MARY FITZMAURICE BOYLE, beloved teacher at Glen Burnie High School for 31 years before her retirement in 1975. She passed away on March 12, 2006. She moved to the Charlestown Retirement Community in 1999 after residing in Linthicum for fifty-five years. Visitation will be held at the family owned Singleton Funeral Home, 1 Second Ave SW (at Crain Hwy) Glen Burnie on Tuesday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 pm. A mass of Christian burial will be held on Wednesday at 9 AM at St. Philip Neri Catholic Church.