Scholarship Money

The Anne Arundel Young Farmers will hold its 18th annual auction tomorrow to raise scholarship money for students interested in agriculture. While the auction always draws a large crowd, interest in the scholarship money has dwindled.Young Farmers has not awarded a scholarship since 1996 -- not because applicants are not qualified, but because no one has applied, said Greg Wayson, a Young Farmers member.While Young Farmers members attribute the lack of interest to a declining number of students pursuing agricultural studies, educators say interest in agriculture-related fields is growing and the real problem may be the eligibility rules for the scholarship.

State senators yesterday overwhelmingly defeated an effort to remove themselves from direct involvement in the awarding of up to $138,000 a year in scholarships to their constituents.As many as 16 senators put aside their campaign promises in voting to retain senatorial influence over the controversial $6.5 million scholarship program.Taking a step toward reform, the Senate gave tentative approval to a measure that would require senators either to turn over their scholarship money to the state scholarship board for distribution based on need or to set up committees in each of their legislative districts to dispense the money.

After years of political stalemate in Annapolis, the most powerful supporter of the state legislature's one-of-a-kind scholarship program says he will back a bill next year to eventually eliminate it.While details remain hazy, Sen. President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. said he expects legislation that would eliminate the program within four years or phase it out over the same time period. The pool of scholarship funds -- $7.9 million this year -- might then be allocated by the apolitical state scholarship administration or at the community level, he said.

Ooops. Last week, when we talked about ASPIRE Inc. (Association for Severna Park Improvement, Renewal and Enhancement) we failed to mention that the new organization's secretary/treasurer is Linda Zahn, executive director of the Greater Severna Park Chamber of Commerce.& Information: 647-8402.For more than a month in auditoriums throughout the county, lTC caps and gowns have been de rigueur. Eager seniors have lined up to receive their diplomas, then shed their commencement covers like butterflies celebrating freedom.

The scam known as Maryland's legislative scholarship program becomes a bigger embarrassment with each passing year.That's the 125-year-old program in which Maryland's 141 delegates and 47 senators annually bestow scholarships worth millions of dollars on their constituents. No other state has such a program -- and no state needs one.Elected officials have drawn charges of political favoritism by giving the grants to the children of associates and campaign workers. Some legislators have even displayed the breaktaking gall of handing out scholarships to members of their own families.

Not unlike Pavlov's dog responding to the clang of the dinner bell, I can't help getting a warm feeling whenever I hear the name of a certain Maryland politician.It's all because this pol -- let's call him Senator Pavlov -- gave me a few hundred dollars in state scholarship money each of the four years I attended a private Maryland university.Well, this dog is about to bite the hand that fed him.I have nothing against the good senator. I've never even met the guy. And certainly my parents and I appreciated the scholarship money.

Dennison Paolino gets $1,200 a year in scholarship money from three state legislators in Anne Arundel County. Her father, Thomas J. Paolino, happens to be president of the county teachers union, which endorsed the three lawmakers in the last election.Coincidence?Her benefactors -- Sen. Philip C. Jimeno and Dels. W. Ray Huff and Charles W. Kolodziejski -- say yes.Ms. Paolino, a junior at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, is a good student from a middle-income family. She's just the kind of person many lawmakers say they try to help with their controversial $7 million scholarship program.

Deepan Patel has waited tables and worked in a buffet serving line for more than two years at Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville.He also attends Catonsville Community College -- with the assistance of the residents he serves.The residents get a little emotional about the students who are among the 850 employees at Charlestown and who, they say, make life a little more pleasant for them.They support their feelings with cash by contributing to the students' education through a scholarship fund that has raised more than $200,000 in less than six years.

Some of the legislators reacted as if they had been slapped -- hard.They argued with, and in one case harangued, citizens and fellow lawmakers who urged them to give up control of a $7 million college scholarship fund that they dole out to constituents.The atmosphere in the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday grew noticeably tense as half a dozen witnesses urged the delegates to turn over the scholarship money to a nonpolitical state board that would distribute it more fairly.They said the current program is a political perk for incumbents, one that helps them win favor with grateful families.

County Owes Debt To Man It's FiringAs a member of the County Council, I accept the right of the county executive to appoint and fire heads of departments. But I am disturbed over the county executive's decision to terminate the services of Tom Neel.In 1982, the failure of our sewage treatment plants was the campaign issue. We had approximately 200 sewage spills every year from our pumping stations and over 400 violations of our discharge permits. . . . Elected officials attempted to correct the deficiencies and ensure improvement in the quality and efficiency.

Keisha Hogan, 28, of Columbia said that without a scholarship to Howard Community College, she would have to work more hours, which would be difficult to balance with classes, studying and caring for two children. "Every little bit [of scholarship money] works towards something, because college costs," said Hogan, who has a 9-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter. "Scholarships allow us to free up the time to go to school." Last week, Hogan and more than 80 other students had an opportunity to express their appreciation in person to the sources of their financial support at HCC's student/donor reception on the Columbia campus.

Leaping horses, socializing supporters and a family-friendly atmosphere have drawn spectators to Howard Community College's Grand Prix for 20 years. But the true appeal for organizers has always been the scholarship money it raises for students. The equestrians and the entertainment will return to the Columbia campus Saturday, and college officials say the need is greater than ever. Applications for financial aid have risen 19 percent from fall 2007 to this year, said Nancy Santos Gainer, an HCC spokeswoman.

A senior official in the state comptroller's office has recommended that legislative auditors look into "unusual" accounting practices at the Maryland Higher Education Commission. John D. Kenney, director of the General Accounting Division, also said yesterday that he will ask the commission's chief of accounting to stop spending money out of a "nonbudgeted" state account - where spending authority controls are less stringent. The account has included millions in federal grant money. Generally, nonbudgeted funds in the state treasury are used as temporary holding accounts for money that is not appropriated by the General Assembly.

When Michelle Bedke was in 10th grade, her father was forced to retire. Suddenly, the family had no money for her college education, she said. Bedke applied for as many college scholarships as she could find and received four, she said. "All I had to pay to go to school was $150" a semester, said Bedke, now in her first year at Howard Community College. Last week, the 18-year-old got to thank at least one of her benefactors in person, at a college-sponsored lunch specifically for scholarship donors and the students who benefit from the money they give.

Bill would restrict scholarship program Prohibiting state legislators from giving scholarships to their relatives or to the families of their colleagues would help restore public trust in the General Assembly, an Anne Arundel County senator told a House of Delegates committee yesterday. Sen. Bryan W. Simonaire, a Republican who sponsored a bill restricting the $11-million-a-year legislative scholarship program, said lawmakers should be held to the same ethical standards when doling out scholarships that they are when hiring staff.

A group of students from an inner-city Chicago neighborhood listened recently as renowned neurosurgeon Ben Carson talked about nerds in the 'hood. He spoke about having lived as many of the students themselves live - the product of an impoverished, single-parent home, battling low self-esteem, poor grades and a white-hot temper. But when he got his act together and his grades improved, Carson found himself the brunt of derision and ridicule from fellow students who thought rebelling against book learning was cool.

The worst moment of the pageant came soon after the teenager walked on stage: She flubbed the aerobic fitness routine. Ronke Olaleye was concentrating so much on smiling, on convincing the audience that she was "high energy," she says, that she forgot the steps she had rehearsed all week. Always resourceful, though, the 16-year- old improvised a few moves and rejoined the other contestants. She prayed her smile hid her disappointment - and shifted her remaining hopes into positive thoughts about her vocal performance.

In support of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s proposal to increase need-based student financial aid, two lawmakers urged a Senate committee yesterday to back bills that would transfer most or all of the money in Maryland's legislative scholarship program to a need-based fund. Sen. Sandra B. Schrader, a Howard County Republican, and Sen. James Brochin, a Baltimore County Democrat, are pushing two different bills, but both told the Senate Education, Health and Environment Committee that they believe it is time to change how the $11 million in legislative scholarship money is distributed.

CHICAGO - With neatly pressed shirts and polished shoes, students enrolled in a rigorous marketing class modeled after Donald Trump's reality show The Apprentice look less like college students and more like anxious business executives. And they take their work almost as seriously. One student, after being eliminated from the competition, walked out in tears, shielding her face with a notebook to prevent a student film crew from chronicling her reaction. Just as on Trump's NBC program, the students in Northern Illinois University's "Marketing Apprentice" course have been assigned a weekly task and had their performances videotaped for review.

THE HORRIFIC events of Sept. 11 have touched the lives of people around the nation. Mount Airy resident Michael Cavaliere channeled his feelings into his work. A professional musician and songwriter, he has written and recorded a compact disc, I Didn't Expect to See You (Here So Soon), dedicated to the victims of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. "I was thinking about all the souls lost, and the next step for me was to imagine what happened in the spiritual realm - to look at this event from God's point of view," Cavaliere said: Tell me all about your lives, your husbands and your wives All about the special people you hold dear ... I've got a banquet planned for you Get to know each other, as you pass the food around Though I'm willing and I'm able And I've still got lots of room I didn't expect to see you here so soon The folk-rock song has been played on the Braddock Heights radio station WJTM.