Seventh Grade

Numbers jumbled in Samantha Abeel's head. She was in seventh grade, and she couldn't count money or tell time or remember phone numbers."It was hard, because a lot of teachers said, 'You look normal. You don't look like you have a learning disability,' " Ms. Abeel said. "They didn't realize you don't have to have eight eyes or look like you're from Mars to be learning disabled."Ms. Abeel, who enters 11th grade this fall, was in Baltimore last week during a tour to introduce her remarkable book, "Reach for the Moon" (Pfeifer-Hamilton Publishers, $17.95, 48 pages, all ages)

Two years ago, when Sade Miller was in fifth grade at Ridgely Elementary School in Denton, she decided to raise money for the hospice in Caroline County. Instead of holding a bake sale or asking the adults in her life for money, Sade (pronounced Sha-day) decided to teach the dance in Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video to nearly 100 students in her school, who then performed it at several venues in town. "We didn't charge admission," said Sade, now 12 and in seventh grade at Lockerman Middle School.

Six students from St. Jane Frances School were selected from 18 participants at the school as winners of the Optimist Oratorical Contest.The students were asked to write an original four- to five-minute speech on the topic "Listen to Me." District winners will receive a $1,500 scholarship.The winners are:* First place -- Christopher Holub, seventh grade, and Lauren Hammond, sixth grade.* Second place -- Mary Margaret Kay, seventh grade, and Matthew Naylor, seventh grade.* Third place -- Mia DiBene, sixth grade, and Bradley Gannon, seventh grade.

Someday, members of this year's seventh-grade class at Wilde Lake Middle School might be at the forefront of efforts to eradicate such social ills as genocide, animal cruelty, homelessness and deforestation. The students are learning about social problems both at home and abroad, and on Wednesday night, they presented speeches about causes that have piqued their interest as part of Voices of Youth, a charity fundraiser. The event comes on the heels of the students learning about the conflict in the Sudanese region of Darfur.

St. Paul's Lutheran plans to open middle schoolSt. Paul's Lutheran School will open a middle school beginning with sixth grade in 1997-1998, adding a seventh grade in 1998-1999 and an eighth grade in 1999-2000.The church is at 308 Oak Manor Drive in Glen Burnie.Information: 410-766-5790.Pub Date: 7/11/97

A class of seventh-grade students from Northwest Middle School recently participated in the Maryland Mathematics League contest.Winners are: Sarah Guynn, first place; Shane Collins, second place; Danny Rupp, Jonathan Byrd, Jason Billings and April Wantz, third place.The contest for seventh-graders consisted of 40 multiple choice problems with a 30-minute time limit.

Last time, we asked: What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving and why? Students at Burleigh Manor Middle School in Ellicott City responded.I am thankful for many things this Thanksgiving. One is my grandfather's health. He was having some trouble earlier this year, and I am very happy that he is healthy now. I am also thankful that my family has enough money to be able to live a happy life.Amanda Hill, seventh gradeI am most thankful for my family and my friends. I am thankful for my family because they are always nice to me. I always love having them at Thanksgiving.

When Tomi Williams moved to Howard County from Ann Arbor, Mich., as a sixth-grader, he made a huge effort to make new friends. Sometimes, he says, he went a bit too far, becoming the class clown to get their attention. When his efforts backfired, his mother opted for a year and a half of home schooling midway through seventh grade. Williams later arrived at River Hill High School grounded and mature enough to win over not only his schoolmates but peers throughout the county. Now a junior, Williams was recently named next year's student member to the county Board of Education, earning the votes of students in middle and high schools.

Baltimore County schools are adopting a new screening system to determine which of its seventh- and eighth-grade pupils need additional reading instruction. Under the new system, outlined at a school board meeting last night, all 26 middle schools in the county will use the same standards to assess pupils' reading levels. School officials are evaluating the reading skills of the current sixth-graders, who will be the first class affected. All Baltimore County pupils receive reading instruction through sixth grade.

The revised Harford County middle school sex education curriculum - that includes material on sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy - should be taught in seventh grade because of inconsistency in instruction and time taken away from gym classes if the lessons are taught in eighth grade, a committee told the Board of Education last week. In February, the board brought its middle schools in line with most others in the state by approving a revised sex education curriculum that is slated to be taught in eighth-grade physical education classes, starting in September.

When Tomi Williams moved to Howard County from Ann Arbor, Mich., as a sixth-grader, he made a huge effort to make new friends. Sometimes, he says, he went a bit too far, becoming the class clown to get their attention. When his efforts backfired, his mother opted for a year and a half of home schooling midway through seventh grade. Williams later arrived at River Hill High School grounded and mature enough to win over not only his schoolmates but peers throughout the county. Now a junior, Williams was recently named next year's student member to the county Board of Education, earning the votes of students in middle and high schools.

After months of searching, the family of Phylicia Simone Barnes welcomed her home Saturday, but it was hardly the reunion they had prayed for. Family and friends gathered for an emotional afternoon funeral service at Springfield Baptist Church in Conyers, Ga., to remember the teen who went missing from a Northwest Baltimore apartment complex four months ago while visiting family over Christmas. "We are so grateful to announce that Simone is no longer lost, no longer missing," said Pastor Eric Wendel Lee Sr. at the start of the service, which the church broadcast over the Internet.

Connie and Nancy, my best friends since the seventh grade." That's how I have always introduced them, or told stories about them. The same identifying phrase. "My best friends since the seventh grade." Connie and Nancy, my best friends since the seventh grade, and I are on what we have begun to call our Wedding Tour. Though we have tried to get together every year or so for a girls' weekend away, our children are now providing that opportunity for us with their weddings.

His family remembered the boy who loved to read Harry Potter and excelled in elementary school. Ty'wonde M. Jones turned 13 this year and seemed to sprout in height overnight. But the family also lamented some of the choices the youngster had made in his short life - hanging with friends who repeatedly got into trouble, staying out past 2 a.m., some run-ins with police. Thursday, Ty'wonde was stabbed to death and left in an alley a block from his home in Northwest Baltimore's Park Heights neighborhood.

When Wilde Lake senior forward Blair Burnett started playing organized basketball in the seventh grade, it was obvious how much catching up he had to do in all facets of the game, he said. After earning second-team All-County honors last season, the 6-foot-4 Burnett is averaging 16.5 points and eight rebounds as the Wildecats' go-to player and team captain. Burnett, a member of the National Honor Society with a weighted 4.0 grade point average, is the school's Student Government Association president and the drum major in the band, and he plays golf.

A veteran center midfielder who also plays several other positions for the defending state Class 2A champion, Eastern Tech's Cindi Nickles was an All-Baltimore County selection last season. Last week, the senior helped the No. 11 Mavericks to a share of the county title, a 0-0 tie with Loch Raven. Since seventh grade, she has played for the Greater Harford Soccer Club. She has also played lacrosse for the Mavericks. Enrolled in the Allied Health career major at Eastern Tech, Nickles plans to become a nurse practitioner.

The Baltimore County Board of Education approved minor changes in the school system's standardized testing schedule and set the 2001-2002 school year calendar at a meeting last night, the last for Superintendent Anthony G. Marchione, who will retire June 30. At the meeting, the board presented Marchione, who has worked as a teacher and administrator in Baltimore County for 45 years, with a portrait of the superintendent that will hang at school system...

Dan Li, a seventh-grader at Ellicott Mills Middle School, knows what he wants to be when he grows up. "I'm pretty sure I want to be a neurosurgeon," he said. But he still enjoyed the school's annual career day Friday, especially the presentation from two Maryland state troopers, who brought along drug-sniffing dogs. "I don't want to pursue it," the 13-year-old said of a career in law enforcement. "But it was really interesting." Now in its fourth year, career day at Ellicott Mills has become a popular springtime activity for seventh-graders.

Three years into national education reforms that strive to close achievement gaps, the rate of academic progress among special-education pupils and English language learners continues to pose a challenge for Carroll County schools officials. In Carroll, one elementary school and two middle schools failed to make the mark this year, mainly because of weak performances in reading and math among special-education pupils on the Maryland State Assessments, according to preliminary data released last week.