School Cafeteria

A Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School student was attacked by six others and stabbed in the back in the school cafeteria about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to city school officials. The suspects were detained by school staff and are being charged as adults with aggravated assault; only one is believed to be a student at the school, according to schools spokeswoman Edie House. The injured student was treated by school nurses and taken to an area hospital with minor injuries. School officials are unsure how the suspects got into the building, located in the 3500 block of Hillen Road.

Until this year, the only items that resembled produce on Blessin Giraldo's school lunch tray were berry-flavored Popsicles and Fruit Roll-Ups. But now, the Baltimore eighth-grader's tray features beds of greens and fruits and vegetables that are available at her middle school through a salad bar option that is sprouting up in school cafeterias around the city. "I can go to lunch now and know I won't leave without eating," said Blessin, who attends the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women.

Anna Pauline Briscoe, a retired cafeteria manager in Baltimore's public schools and housing activist, died of cancer Friday at a daughter's home in East Baltimore. She was 84. Born Anna Pauline White in Abingdon, she moved to Baltimore with her family and graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in 1935. Mrs. Briscoe had worked as a food service worker and cafeteria manager at Lombard Junior High School and Dunbar High School for more than 20 years before retiring in the late 1970s.

Boy, 15, fatally stabbed; 'person of interest' held A 15-year-old boy was found fatally stabbed early Tuesday inside a house in the 2400 block of Llewelyn Ave. in East Baltimore, according to police. The boy's name was withheld pending notification of family members, police said. The boy was stabbed several times in his upper body and was found about 5 a.m. in a closet. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said a person of interest had been detained after several search warrants were executed.

Despite the noise, crowds and chatty friends surrounding her in the Arundel High School cafeteria, Aleshia Highland was finishing her physics homework and her lunch. The senior from Odenton planned to spend the last half of her new 50-minute lunch period with a book club called the Socratic Cafe. She couldn't join when the group met after school because she has to catch a bus. The extended lunch period also gives her extra time after school. "It eases up on homework that you have to do at home," she said.

Figuring drab cafeteria decor and stainless steel do little to stimulate young appetites, Anne Arundel County public schools have put their money where the mouths are.One by one, beginning last year with Broadneck High School, cafeterias are being transformed with bright colors and signs into food courts -- just like the ones in the local shopping mall."

The Parent-Student Evening Speaker Series, offered by the Chesapeake High School guidance department, will offer a series of community programs every first Wednesday of each month.Series presentations are at 7 p.m. in the school cafeteria, and cover a variety of topics for local residents. The Oct. 7 topic is "Preparing for the Options: Gaining Skills for Work During High School."For more information, contact the Chesapeake High School guidance department at 255-9600.

The Glenelg High School PTSA's Safety Committee will sponsor a discussion about how decisions are made to delay school start times when weather conditions are poor. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 25 in the school cafeteria. Glenn J. Johnson, director of transportation for Howard County schools, County Councilman Allan H. Kittleman, school board members, school bus contractors, and representatives from the Department of Public Works will attend. The PTSA is collecting used cellular phones and charging cords for school bus drivers who have no other means of communication en route.

Swansfield Elementary School will celebrate its 30th birthday this year, and to prepare for the celebration, which will be scheduled for the fall, the school is collecting photos, mementos and stories from Swansfield's past. The materials will be displayed at a community birthday party. Former students, staff members and neighbors who would like to share their memories and memorabilia should call PTA President Maria Taylor at 410-997-5637. As a prelude to the birthday celebration, the school will open a time capsule created by pupils 10 years ago at 10 a.m. Friday.

Thanks to the hard work of more than 55 student and staff volunteersof Archbishop Spalding High School, as well as more than 50 local businesses and members of the Northern Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce, area families in need this holiday enjoyed a wonderful Christmas party on Dec. 21 in the school cafeteria.Aside from the multitude of donations -- the food, toys and photos with Santa -- for almost 150 children the real spirit of Christmas was found in the volunteers.Twenty Chamber members, the wrestling team, cheerleaders, both varsity and junior varsity squads and members of the staff at Spalding,worked hard to make the party a special event.

A Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School student was attacked by six others and stabbed in the back in the school cafeteria about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to city school officials. The suspects were detained by school staff and are being charged as adults with aggravated assault; only one is believed to be a student at the school, according to schools spokeswoman Edie House. The injured student was treated by school nurses and taken to an area hospital with minor injuries. School officials are unsure how the suspects got into the building, located in the 3500 block of Hillen Road.

The typical lunchtime conversation as the work week wound down centered on plans for the weekend. I mentioned that I would be attending my 45th high school reunion, and the youngsters - I had 30 years on most of those at the table - looked at me askance and tried to figure my age. "Why would anyone want to do that?" one asked. "I never want to go back there." Be that as it may, I love going back to the Institute of Notre Dame, an all-girls Catholic school in the city, if only for a few hours every five years.

Erika Henderson winces when she thinks of the food served up in the cafeteria at her Howard County high school - especially the wheat crust pizza. "It's disgusting," said Henderson, a senior at Oakland Mills High. "It's cheap food with no seasoning." But on a recent day, as she lunched on microwaveable instant noodles she brought from home, Henderson and the other students in culinary arts class were taking up a challenge to change things. They sliced onions and dipped them in batter, tweaking a dish they hope will win a place on the county's school cafeteria menu next fall.

Anne Arundel County students who eat breakfast at school may soon have to do without whole-grain cinnamon rolls. In Carroll County, school cafeterias are stretching their vegetable supply by making more soups. And in Montgomery County schools, tomatoes are being replaced in lunch salads by less-pricey carrots. The global food shortage and the resulting spike in the cost of milk, grains and fresh fruits and vegetables are squeezing school lunchroom budgets in Maryland and across the nation.

Despite the noise, crowds and chatty friends surrounding her in the Arundel High School cafeteria, Aleshia Highland was finishing her physics homework and her lunch. The senior from Odenton planned to spend the last half of her new 50-minute lunch period with a book club called the Socratic Cafe. She couldn't join when the group met after school because she has to catch a bus. The extended lunch period also gives her extra time after school. "It eases up on homework that you have to do at home," she said.

Ruth M. Pahl, a longtime cafeteria manager for Baltimore County schools, died Tuesday at Copper Ridge in Sykesville after a long battle with dementia. She was 84. Mrs. Pahl was a resident of Eldersburg for more than 25 years before her illness. Ruth M. Westgate was born in Baltimore, one of five children. She attended Baltimore County public schools and married Walter C. Pahl Sr., a Baltimore County firefighter, in 1941. Mr. Pahl died in 1993. Mrs. Pahl worked for 30 years in Baltimore County public schools cafeterias and retired from the cafeteria at Deer Park Middle School.

Every Sunday morning, while Columbia stretches and blinks its eyes, a few members descend on the cafeteria at Running Brook Elementary School. By 8: 20 a.m., they are hard at work, unloading stereo equipment, laying down carpets, unfolding cribs and card tables. They move fast, not talking much, sweating in their Sunday best.They work magic. Before long, religious music fills the room. There's a refreshment table with hot coffee, a literature table with pamphlets about Jesus Christ and a smiling woman at the door saying good morning.

Boy, 15, fatally stabbed; 'person of interest' held A 15-year-old boy was found fatally stabbed early Tuesday inside a house in the 2400 block of Llewelyn Ave. in East Baltimore, according to police. The boy's name was withheld pending notification of family members, police said. The boy was stabbed several times in his upper body and was found about 5 a.m. in a closet. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said a person of interest had been detained after several search warrants were executed.

Arming 200 elementary school pupils with paint and brushes sounds like a recipe for disaster. But the idea turned into a masterpiece at Running Brook Elementary School. For two weeks in April, fourth- and fifth-graders worked in groups of seven on a mural of the Wilde Lake community for the school cafeteria. The mural will be unveiled officially Thursday at the school's spring concert. The mural runs the length of the cafeteria - 4 feet by 30 feet - and incorporates the tiniest details, down to dozens of people enjoying the surroundings that include Wilde Lake and a bike trail.

You may recall the name of your second-grade teacher, the year you learned to multiply or that nasty scrape from falling off the monkey bars. But chances are, your memories of the school cafeteria are even more acute. Sticky buns baking in the oven, the gossip and pranks, the cafeteria ladies themselves: Together, they've left an indelible impression on former students who decades later can describe the fear or thrill of buying a school lunch for the first time and rhapsodize over the peanut-butter fudge served for dessert.