Glenelg Country School

John Splaine, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland and a longtime consultant to C-SPAN television, spoke about politics and the media last week at Glenelg Country School. Splaine addressed upper-school juniors and seniors and parents during the school day and at an evening forum. Citing research from www.pewresearchcenter.org, Splaine said that about 75 percent of Americans used television as their primary source for political coverage. His lecture, "Television's Hidden Agenda in Presidential Politics," explained how political candidates are packaged for television; how political commercials communicate subliminal messages; and how television coverage influences the outcome of political debates.

Gifted-Talented conference scheduled Friday, SaturdayThe 1998 Maryland State Conference for Gifted and Talented Education will be Friday and Saturday at Turf Valley Resort and Conference Center in Ellicott City. This year's theme is "From Potential to Performance: Best Practices in Gifted Education in Maryland."Sessions are designed for parents and educators. Friday presenters include Carolyn Callahan from the University of Virginia and A. Skipp Sanders from the state Department of Education.

Glenelg Country student wins honorsBlaise Aguera-Arcas of Glenelg Country School is a 1993 recipient of the National Merit, National Hispanic and National Science scholarships and has been named a Maryland Distinguished Scholar.He has also been awarded a College Honor Scholarship at the University of Chicago and a Presidential Scholarship at the University of Maryland.Blaise furthered his interest in science and technology this year, studying physics with Dr. Ivan Kramer at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Jim Silvestri has always been fascinated by weather. Every winter, the Glenelg Country School earth sciences teacher conducts a weather unit with his eighth-grade class. But when his school purchased a weather-tracking station, the educator was inspired to measure wind chills and heat indexes outside the classroom and start a weather club. "We get to come here, take a little break and play with the computers," said 12-year-old John Chalk. The Ellicott City seventh-grader has been in the Weather Club for two years.

Three county high schools have hired new varsity boys basketball coaches.Mount Hebron selected former Glenelg Country School coach John Aquila to replace Scott Conroy, who moved into school administration and is ineligible to coach.River Hill chose Brian Van Deusen, the Hawks JV coach last season, to replace Tom Schneider, an emergency coach last year.And Glenelg Country School hired former Centennial JV assistant coach Charlie Stewart to replace Aquila.Mount Hebron athletic director Mark Cates said: "We had a lot of strong applicants, and we're very happy we got a top one. He just built a program at Glenelg Country School, and they were very convincing about how beneficial he was to their program."

From: David WeeksEllicott CityIn his review of the "Voices from the Streets" performance at theGlenelg Country School (Howard County Sun, "Ex-homeless share raw message at affluent school," by James M. Coram, Jan. 19), Mr. Coram hasperpetuated the kind of stereotypical thinking which school administrators and teachers had hoped the program addressing homelessness andthe urban poor would break down for students.The plight of the urban poor and homeless is symptomatic of the deterioration of our society.

As prop manager for Wilde Lake High School's production of Beauty and the Beast, sophomore Kimby Josephson had to build a fireplace and create costumes for 60 dancing townspeople with baskets. Junior Emma Murphy choreographed seven dance numbers -- including moves for a zebra, a jaguar and a parade of prancing food -- in Glenelg Country School's Just So. Zach Kashkett, a senior, learned "a lot of lines" to play the lead role of Harold Hill in The Music Man at River Hill. On Sunday night, those young people were recognized along with 33 other individuals and groups at the Hippodrome Theatre by the Cappies of Baltimore program, which strives to shine a spotlight on the long hours, hard work and creativity that goes into high school theater productions.

Chorus lines and snazzy musical numbers are a familiar sight at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore. But Sunday, the kicking, tapping, spinning and crooning will have a teenage twist. Take, for example, the opening number (to the tune of "Get Happy"), with lines like "Sing hallelujah, come on, get Cappie, we're doing theater the high school way. No kind of showbiz is half as snappy, as a musical or high school play." The Cappies - or Critics and Awards Program - is taking over the theater to celebrate the end of its second year in the Baltimore area.

Glenelg Country School had everything -- the relentless offensive pressure, a vocal partisan crowd and even a 6-foot Dragon mascot roaming the sidelines.Everything except a goal.Seton Keough got an opportunistic goal from Beth Sokol with 6:20 left in the first half to steal the Association of Independent Schools B Division tournament championship with a 1-0 victory over top-seeded Glenelg Country School.That goal was Seton Keough's last shot of the game. The third-seeded Gators overcame disadvantages of 12-2 in shots and 14-3 in penalty corners to win their first AIS title.

Glenelg Country School coach John Aquila believes in the popular theory that defense wins basketball games. Last night, his players reinforced that theory.The Dragons frustrated visiting Beth Tfiloh with a tough match-up zone that rarely allowed the Warriors good shots. Glenelg Country School also took advantage of 11 points from both Garth DeAngelis and Eric Greenberg for a 43-34 victory in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association C Conference game.Glenelg Country School (14-3, 6-2)