Severn School

For the first time in its long history, Severn School, noted for high school lacrosse, is starting a baseball program."It is my pleasure to announce that Severn School is going to inaugurate baseball aspart of our spring sports program," said Admirals athletic director Fred Hewitt."

The sizzle echoed through the halls of the Center of Applied Technology North in Severn, emanating from the school's culinary arts baking and pastry lab, where it was joined by a tempting aroma. Normally, a restaurant kitchen would be responsible for such sounds and smells, but this day it was students and the Culinary Institute of America. Former staff from the Culinary Institute of America were instructing students as part of "Teaching with the CIA," a day of culinary education for Washington-area students interested in careers in the food service and hospitality industry.

Being a senior in high school athletics can be a wonderful experience. Sometimes.It's wonderful if you're one of the 15 seniors who make up the Severn School boys lacrosse team. But it could prove a bitter memory if you're one of the 13 seniors on the Severna Park squad.Tenacious and talented Severn (12-5) made it to the Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference boys' lacrosse playoffs Saturday with a 10-6 victory over Gilman.Jason Wade scored three goals, and Milford Marchant added a pair as the Admirals took the final playoff spot in the MSA A Conference.

An aspiring professional wrestler died last week after he struck his head while practicing maneuvers at a Severn wrestling school, Anne Arundel County police said Wednesday. Quentin Latrell Washington, 25, of District Heights in Prince George's County died Friday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center of injuries he sustained last Thursday evening at Gillberg's Pro Wrestling Academy. An investigation by homicide detectives uncovered no indication of foul play or suspicious circumstances surrounding Washington's death, police said.

It's mid-October. A deeper blush of red and gold envelops the trees, warm blankets are back on the beds, and the smell of politics is in the air.The general election may be a week and a half away, but voters at Severn School already have gone to the polls to elect student leaders for the year.The sophomore class selected as its president David LaChapelle, son of Mr. and Mrs. Adrian LaChapelle of Severna Park; and Daniel Odenwald, son of Mrs. Lynn Odenwald, also of Severna Park, as vice president.

Most schools don't open their basketball seasons until next week, but Wayne Fowler's debut as Severn School's varsity boys coach Wednesday was one to remember.Severn opened with a 76-74 double-overtime win at always-tough Calvert Hall, and the Severn JV made it a sweep of the Cardinals by 55-54, also in double overtime, with Admirals eighth-grader Denard Melton scoring 42 points.John Vereen (22 points) and Alhamisi Simms combined for 43 points to spoil the return of Mark Amatucci as Calvert Hall's varsity coach.

PARENTS HAD GOOD reason to smile Saturday morning as they watched Severn School's Class of 2000 parade across the Boone House lawn in their burgundy caps and gowns. Among the 86 talented seniors, 70 percent have been accepted by their first-choice schools of higher learning, including Yale, Stanford, Vanderbilt and Georgetown universities, and the College of William and Mary. Two who shone most brightly were co-valedictorians Jason Alonzo, son of Bernardino and Andrea Alonzo of Arnold, and Katie Johnson, daughter of Richard and Brenda Johnson of Annapolis.

The Severn School Chorale will make its national television debut on Friday, Dec. 3, during "CBS This Morning." The 27-member choir, under the direction of Eric W. Van Dervort, will perform the show's theme song, "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning."The chorale has competed in three international competitions. Most recently, the choir was awarded a Bronze Medal in the 1993 Anglo-International Music Festival held in London, England.The chorale also will perform at the Hammond Harwood House in Annapolis on Dec. 10 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. as part of the Hammond Harwood House holiday celebration.

Alumni of Severn School can take a sentimental journey this Friday and Saturday back to the school for its 15th annual Alumni Weekend.Events are planned Friday evening for graduates of 50 years or more.Saturday begins with a 9 a.m. coffee reception. At the alumni meeting, retired Navy Cmdr. Robert B. Pirie Jr., Class of 1950, will be named Distinguished Alumnus. A 1955 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Robin, as he was known by his friends, was a Rhodes Scholar.Julian A. Domenech Sr., upper school principal; R. Edward Strange, Class of 1970; and Wendy E. Jones, Class of 1983, will be inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame.

The Severn School plans to start construction soon on a new gym and fitness center with help from a $5 million gift - the largest in the school's history - from a Baltimore-based developer. A charitable foundation set up by Edward A. St. John, founder and CEO of St. John Properties Inc., announced the gift to the private middle and high school yesterday. Construction on the $10 million Edward St. John Athletic Center, which will feature a multipurpose field house with two basketball courts, could begin as early as this summer, said Kristyn Kuhn, a spokeswoman for the school.

One of Lauren Morrell's earliest memories involves a family hike and a candy wrapper, which explains why the 16-year-old from Arnold is now the student representative to the Severn Riverkeeper group and why, the day she turned 15, she applied to become a Pangaea Young Explorer, trying to help a world-renowned adventurer named Mike Horn save the planet. Her passion began with summer trips to the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York -- and that little piece of trash. "We were on top of a mountain, and my father just picked it up and said, 'I just hate it when people litter the mountain,'" Morrell recalled last week at the Severn School in Severna Park, where she is a senior.

A keen knowledge of geography and some good fortune helped Neel Lakhanpal take first place Friday at the Maryland leg of the 23rd annual National Geographic Bee. "Some questions were hard, and I had to think a lot," said the 13-year-old seventh-grade student at Severn School in Severna Park. "It takes a little bit of luck. Some of the questions that others got I would not have known the answer. " Economics had a part, too, in the final question. Neither Neel nor Adam Rusak, a seventh-grader at Lakelands Park Middle School in Gaithersburg, had missed a single question as they entered the championship round.

J. Marshall Bruce Jr., a clinical psychologist and teacher who headed the English department at Boys' Latin School for more than two decades, died Wednesday of heart failure at the Presbyterian Home of Maryland in Towson. The longtime Elkridge Estates resident was 89. Mr. Bruce, the son of a Mount Royal Avenue automobile dealership owner and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised on Greenspring Valley Road. After graduating from Gilman School in 1939, he entered Princeton University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1943.

Howard Wentworth Wheeler Jr., a retired salesman and lacrosse fan, died May 28 of complications from heart and lung failure at his Annapolis home. He was 68. Mr. Wheeler, the son of an architect and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Severna Park. He was a 1959 graduate of the Severn School, where he played varsity lacrosse and football. He attended the University of Maryland, College Park, where he also played lacrosse. During the early 1960s, he served in the Army at Fort Hood, Texas, where he earned the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Ribbon and Marksman Badges.

The National High School Baseball Coaches Association selected Calvert Hall's Carlo Crispino Stadium as the 2009 BCA/Profile National High School Field of the Year on Friday. Calvert Hall, the District 2 Field of the Year Award winner, was one of eight schools representing districts across the country eligible for the award. College bowling: UMES moved up to No. 2 in the National Tenpins Coaches Association women's poll. Vanderbilt took over the top spot from Nebraska. College wrestling: Third-ranked Hudson Taylor won five matches, including three by pinfall, to take the 197-pound title Sunday at the Penn State Open and become the winningest wrestler in Maryland history with 140victories.

Schools closing for spring break Anne Arundel County public schools will be closed Thursday through April 13 for Easter/Spring break. Schools will re-open April 14. Information: 410-222-5000. AACC open house Anne Arundel Community College will hold an open house for the noncredit, continuing education program in truck driving 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Glen Burnie Town Center Arundel Center North, Room 420. Information: 410-777-2325. An "AACC Information Session" will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Center for Applied Learning and Technology, Room 107, 101 College Parkway, Arnold.

SPRINKLERS HAVE been blasting away at Severn School, watering the rolls of sod installed this summer on the athletic field.The school is getting more than a spruce-up this year. A student center is under construction by the Annapolis architectural firm of Alt, Breeding and Schwarz and is expected to be completed by February, and a handsome brick sign is being built at the school's Maple Avenue entrance.This edifice in mortar and brick is something of a metaphor for the enduring quality of a school that opened in 1914 as a preparatory school for young men hoping to enter the Naval Academy.

CHANGE usually comes to Old Severna Park quietly in the guise of a new family moving in or a new business opening, so we can't help but notice the imposing new structure rising from the staid old grounds of Severn School.What we're witnessing is the construction of a new, 32,000-square-foot student center that will give the 84-year-old institution a much-needed full-size theater and auditorium.Until now, the school has made do with the gym or the Teal Academic Center.The student center is Phase 1 of the Campaign for Severn: Charting the Future, the first capital campaign sponsored by the school in 15 years.