Hammond Middle School

MICHELLE GLEDHILL of Hammond Middle School called to report on the achievements of eighth-graders this spring.The eighth-graders decided to make a difference in the community.They've been involved in activities such as food drives. But the students wanted to try something different.They decided to pay for a bassinet for Howard County General Hospital's neonatal unit -- by bowling.Two bowling alleys donated time, footgear and expertise.The 208 members of the eighth grade collected pledges for pins knocked down.

The Howard County Board of Education approved recently the schematic design for the Hammond Elementary School and Hammond Middle School renovations and 100-seat expansion. Construction on the project, which is scheduled to be completed August 2011, is expected to combat overcrowding of schools along the U.S. 1 corridor, according to school system officials. "This is needed and helpful in balancing the [U.S. 1] growth," said Joel Gallihue, the school system's manager for school planning.

An article in Sunday's Howard County edition incorrectly stated the location of tomorrow's presentation on the county schools' technology magnet program. It will be held at 7 p.m. at Hammond Middle School.The Sun regrets the error.

Hammond Middle School has been the recipient of an unusual amount of star treatment this past month: an honorary dinner with political leaders in Annapolis, a visit by the state school superintendent, and a flag-raising ceremony with musical accompaniment. The Laurel school is basking in the glow of being named a 2008 Maryland Blue Ribbon School, an honor bestowed upon schools that meet stringent state and national requirements for achievement and improvement. Hammond Middle is one of six schools in Maryland to win the award.

* Laurel: 8100 block Aladdin Drive: Someone smashed a window of a 1987 Sterling at the Hammond Middle School Thursday.* 9600 block Barrel House Road: Someone stole a $60 speaker from an unlocked truck Wednesday.* 9200 block Livery Lane: Someone smashed a window of a 1983 Ford Crown Victoria and stole a $450 stereo system Wednesday.

Jennie Thomas has been collecting books for nine months.The 12-year-old Hammond Middle School sixth-grader has assembled books about all Maryland counties, the Orioles and the United States Senate, to name just a few.But the books aren't for Jennie's own library. She's been collecting them for a yearlong school project and will donate them at the end of the month to a Baltimore elementary school in need of library books.The project is part of the school system's "Type III" program, a component of the Gifted and Talented program.

Hammond Middle School in North Laurel has been named a model "Peace School" because of its sharp reduction in the number of fights and suspensions, state officials announced yesterday. The Maryland Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission, chaired by Robert M. Bell, chief judge of the state Court of Appeals, said the school also was honored for its higher Maryland School Performance Assessment Program scores in every category. "Hammond Middle School's singular achievements illustrate the critical need for peace initiatives in all of our schools," Bell said in a statement.

Howard County school board members are focusing on crowded Ellicott City and West Friendship elementary schools and enrollment growth at Hammond Middle School in this year's school redistricting battle.The board is less concerned this year than it was a year ago about enrollment problems at Centennial and Wilde Lake high schools, board Chairman Dana F. Hanna said."The perception last year was that the high school was the hot-button issue," he said. But galloping enrollment at St. John's Lane, Waverly and West Friendship elementaries has claimed this year's spotlight, he said.

When Jennifer "Jennie" Thomas wants to help those in need, the Hammond Middle School student doesn't ask just anyone for support.She calls on the celebrities -- Clint Eastwood, Gloria Estefan, Norman Schwarzkopf and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.They are some of the 29 respondents to letters she sent asking for autographed items that could be auctioned to raise money for a needy school in Baltimore."I like to do community stuff," Jennie said. "I just hope that it helped."This is the second year Jennie, 13, has raised money for James McHenry Elementary School, for her gifted and talented class project.

BROWNIE TROOPS are required to perform community service work every year. Troop 1345 of Bollman Bridge Elementary in Jessup recently earned a community service badge for its efforts to help three area families. Assistant Principal Kimberlyn Pratesi learned that three local families needed help with groceries and asked the troop to help. Under the organization of Sue Marino, a Brownie mother, the girls gathered two baskets of pantry items and one basket of cleaning supplies. On March 23, they met with Brownie parents Bob Dodson, Betsy Diehl and Clara Hendrick to assemble the goods.

The first of three Howard County teachers arrested this year after being accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with students has been fired from the school system, and the superintendent has recommended termination for the other two. Joseph Samuel Ellis, 25, a history teacher at Glenelg High School, had been on paid administrative leave from Jan. 8, when he was arrested, until March 7. A closed-door decision by the Board of Education on April...

The Hammond Elementary School PTA will sponsor a free concert for the community at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Hammond Middle School gymnasium, 8110 Aladdin Drive, North Laurel. "Almost Recess," an a cappella group from the Washington area, will perform percussion, vocals and harmonies. Vocalists and instrumentalists from Hammond Elementary will open for the group. Information: Elaine Povich, 301-490-2832. For a sample of the group's music, go to almostrecess.com. Around Town Open house -- The Open Arms Christian Child Development Center, a ministry of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Laurel, will hold an open house from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. today with tours, entertainment and an opportunity to register children for summer camp and fall programs.

Dressed in a long, flowing authentic Nigerian robe and multicolored head dress, David Larner, assistant principal at Hammond Elementary, might have raised a few eyebrows last school year when he walked the halls on any other school day. But during the school's annual multicultural event, Larner, who is of Irish and Russian descent, fit right in as he wore his ethnic garb. Hammond Elementary will resemble a United Nations gathering at 7 p.m. Wednesday when pupils from 23 countries participate in "A Taste of Culture."

In 1989, a class of seventh-graders from North Laurel's Hammond Middle School became Howard County heroes by raising money to save a historic schoolhouse from demolition. Now, 15 years and $400,000 later, Pfeiffer's Corner School in Elkridge has been restored to its original condition with the exception of a few modern installations and will be ready for public use this fall. The school, which is at Rockburn Branch Park, will serve multiple purposes. "It will be used for historic interpretation," said Clara Gouin, a park planner.

For 14 years, a beaten-up building deteriorated in a clearing near a Howard County highway, looking as if no one cared whether it stood or fell. Quite a few people cared, in fact. Crusading seventh-graders saved the 19th-century, one-room schoolhouse from bulldozers in 1989, raising $16,500 to move it to the clearing in the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area as a temporary stop on the road to restoration. The seventh-graders are now college graduates, but the schoolhouse was never moved to its permanent location, a lesson in the difficulties of historic preservation and the slow-moving wheels of government.

AS A counselor at Atholton High School and later at Hammond Middle School, Charlotte Saji touched the lives of hundreds of students. But as a pioneer of peer mediation in the Howard County school system, she left a legacy of peace that continues to influence countless lives. Saji, who lived in Silver Spring with her husband, Benjamin Saji, died of breast cancer in July at age 62. In the early 1990s, Saji contacted peace activist Emma Byrne, a member of Community Building Howard County, to speak at a forum on world peace at Atholton High School.

A former Howard County teacher was fined and ordered to perform community service yesterday for providing beer to six pTC Hammond Middle School seventh-graders last spring.Todd Keith Greenleaf, 28, was ordered to pay a $200 fine and complete 120 hours of community service after pleading guilty in Howard District Court to three counts of providing alcoholic beverages to a minor.Mr. Greenleaf, of the 8700 block of Tamar Drive in Columbia's Long Reach village, bought beer and malt liquor for the Hammond Middle School students and then allowed them to drink the alcohol at his apartment June 13 -- after the last day of classes at the North Laurel school.

Happy holidays to all! Bollman Bridge Elementary School has won an award for encouraging character education in its curriculum from the Maryland Center for Character Education. The school not only encourages good behavior; it rewards it. Those of us who remember childhood can recall what fun it was to torment substitute teachers at school. We thought they were fair game. Most of them didn't know us, so we felt safe from retribution. Lunchtime was also an opportunity to display high spirits.

Cars were racing, tractors were pulling, cranes were lifting and spectators were cheering yesterday at Wilde Lake High School. The occasion was the seventh annual Technology Challenge, sponsored by the Technology Education program for Howard County schools. About 400 student technophiles from area elementary, middle and high schools met to test the performance of their masterpieces. Forget the standard stand-by-your-display-and-talk-about-seedlings-type science fair. The technology fair was all about action, with four dynamic challenges for each age group.

Happy holidays to all! Bollman Bridge Elementary School has won an award for encouraging character education in its curriculum from the Maryland Center for Character Education. The school not only encourages good behavior; it rewards it. Those of us who remember childhood can recall what fun it was to torment substitute teachers at school. We thought they were fair game. Most of them didn't know us, so we felt safe from retribution. Lunchtime was also an opportunity to display high spirits.