Hammond High

Hammond High won both the boys and the girls titles at the Class 2A,Region II track championships Thursday night.The boys team won 10 of 18 events, finished first, second and third in three events and scored a commanding total of 216 points. Runner-up Loch Raven scored 136. Towson was third with 69, Mount Hebron was fourth with 48, and Wilde Lake was fifth with 44.The girls team was equally as dominant, winning 12 of 17 events, finishing first and second in four events and racking up an amazing 193 points.

A longtime Howard County science teacher who was acquitted of charges that he fondled one of his teen-age students will be placed at Hammond High School today, school system attorney Mark Blom said. Glenelg High School science teacher David Stevens was acquitted in September of misdemeanor and felony charges that he inappropriately grabbed and fondled a 14-year-old freshman girl in 1998. After the trial, the school system conducted a three-month investigation, Blom said. Officials recently decided to reinstate Stevens, who had been assigned a nonclassroom job during the review.

Anyone who thinks all teen-agers are lazy, uncommitted and self-absorbed should spend some time with members of the InterAct Club, a group of about 50 students at Hammond High School who keep busy helping others. Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Columbia-Patuxent, InterAct is a community service organization for young people between ages 14 and 18. Under the supervision of Hammond guidance counselor Samina Chaudhry, the club meets once a week to decide who needs its help. Sometimes the club is asked to assist an organization, but mostly the volunteers initiate, plan and execute community service projects on their own. Rotary sponsor Jerry Richman says he occasionally "throws out ideas, not in a pushy way, but to germinate a seed when suggesting activities.

Howard County Police and Hammond High officials continue to search for those who vandalized the school's football field and electrical and phone wires last weekend.Hammond Athletic Director Bob Maxey said the vandals dug four holes, each about 3-by-4 and 3 feet deep, around the 50-yard line of the football field.The culprits also broke into a box and cut four electrical cables, Maxey said, interrupting power to the concession stands, press box,scoreboard and public address system, along with the computer that runs the sprinkler system.

When a play takes place in a hotel, it is helpful if the set includes walls. Oakland Mills High School staff and students were planning a production of Ask Any Girl in the fall, but they returned from summer vacation to find that all of their sets - built and saved over 10 years - had been discarded during a school construction project. So they turned to a group of students at Hammond High School who are good at building walls, doors, windows, stairs and other pieces that literally set the stage for school plays in Howard County.

A graduating class that teachers and administrators say was among Hammond High School's most polite and goal-oriented bid farewell to the school yesterday at a commencement ceremony that filled the University of Maryland Baltimore County's field house.Parents, grandparents and friends cheered as the last of the 245 graduates received a diploma, a handshake and a yellow flower marking the end of four years at the school.Throughout the ceremony, students reminisced about their high school careers and talked about the future.

Acting on a tip from two students, a Howard County police officer yesterday arrested a 15-year-old freshman carrying a semiautomatic handgun in his waistband at Hammond High School in Columbia. Two students reported to a teacher that they had overheard their classmate talking about having a gun. The teacher relayed the students' suspicions about 10 a.m. to the police officer at the school. The officer removed the student from class and, during a search, found an unloaded gun in his waistband and an ammunition clip filled with nine or 10 rounds in his pants pocket, said Pfc. Jennifer Reidy, a spokeswoman for the department.

After eight hours of matching wits with teams from across the region yesterday, Howard High School's squad earned fourth place and a guaranteed spot in a national scholastic competition this June during an academic showdown yesterday at Hammond High School in Columbia. A Rockville team from Richard Montgomery High School took the top spot, followed by Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt and Quince Orchard from Gaithersburg. "I'm wiped out. Now I've got to go home and do my [Advanced Placement]

In a whirling burst of passionate desire, the streetcar travels through Hammond High School. An intense, haunting performance of A Streetcar Named Desire at Hammond left the audience sitting awed in their seats, waiting in suspense for each scene. Blanche DuBois, love-ravaged and hopeless, takes refuge in her sister Stella's small house. Events lead to many heart-wrenching arguments and beatings, and Blanche's developing despair becomes increasingly evident as the play progresses. Actress Julia Joseph powerfully plays Blanche, portraying the deep, insecure character very effectively.