Students

I was a bit confused by the letter Jeff Nelson wrote regarding the need for a White Student Union at Towson University. For the record, "white" is how most people would describe me. That's no more a part of my heritage than the fact that my eyes are blue. Now I claim no particular expertise in racial matters, but it seems to me that being black comes with a heritage, much more so than being white. White people in the U.S. were spared slavery, Jim Crow, segregation and having to struggle for equal rights.

Someday, Burleigh Manor seventh-grader Lauren Shen might go to Google and see what the Internet search engine is displaying to millions of users throughout the country: her artwork. Lauren, 12, is the state's winner in a Google-sponsored national contest called Doodle 4 Google, which challenges students in kindergarten through 12th grade to create their own version of Google's ever-changing home page logo. The altered versions of the logo are known as "doodles. " Google launched the contest in 2008 and also holds it in other countries.

While the University of Maryland won't be able to reap most of the rewards of joining the Big Ten athletic conference until the move becomes official in July 2014, it will start benefiting from its academic counterpart — the Committee on Institutional Cooperation — this year. Officials from the university and the CIC met this week in College Park to start hammering out the details in preparation for this July, when Maryland and Rutgers University are set to join the 13-member cooperative, which includes the 12 Big Ten schools plus the University of Chicago.

Baltimore City school officials say the nearly $1.2 billion budget the system unveiled last week will fund a raft of new academic endeavors, among them a new team to upgrade instruction in the sciences to meet the higher standards of the new national "core" curriculum and additional programs for academically gifted students. This is all to the good if it helps the city attract and retain more young families with children for whom strong public schools are often the most important factor in choosing where to live.

College students taking out subsidized federal student loans will see their interest rate double in July unless Congress comes to the rescue. The rate on subsidized Stafford loans is a fixed 3.4 percent, but that's set to expire and revert to 6.8 percent for new loans issued starting in July. (Old loans stay at their current rate.) Subsidized loans, for which the government pays the interest while students are in school, are awarded to those in financial need. Unsubsidized loans, for which borrowers pay the interest, already charge 6.8 percent interest.

The Towson University Alumni Association Board of Directors supports President Maravene Loeschke and her commitment to advance our alma mater's focus on student success and academic excellence. Since Ms. Loeschke's arrival, Towson alumni have witnessed countless examples of her enthusiasm and devotion to Towson University. Her love for students is evident in everything she does. Dr. Loeschke's leadership - transparent, compassionate, inclusive and decisive - has served her well in making difficult, sometimes heart-wrenching decisions.

Before Lauren Preston opened the cover of the book "Spring" to read to her pre-kindergarten class at Mary Ann Winterling Elementary School, her students excitedly told her why, and showed her how, the season was underway. Daffodils - not just "yellow flowers" - were appearing from beneath the soil, they said. Hyacinths were blooming, they demonstrated with the slow unfolding of their tiny fists. And butterflies were emerging, the students showed by flapping their curled arms. In pre-K classrooms around Baltimore's school system, subtle changes like interactive reading are having a substantial effect in helping prepare 4-year-olds for elementary school - addressing an achievement gap that city schools have faced for years.

Kenni Patrick, a student at St. Vincent Pallotti High School, served as a page for the North Carolina House of Representatives, in Raleigh, N.C. The daughter of Kenneth and Tanya Patrick, of Laurel, she was sponsored by Rep. Julia Howard (Republican-Davie, Forsyth). Pages spend a week at the General Assembly assisting members and their staff and learning about the structure of North Carolina government.

You know you're exceptional at managing money when your parents come to you to borrow an occasional $10 or $20 — and you're just 7 years old. Wilde Lake High School senior Taylor Bruner has long had been adept at money matters, and that has developed into an interest that may reap dividends not only after after high school, but also help her and three other like-minded students at Howard County's Applications and Research Lab win a state finance...

Yawar Raza and Catherine Turner , both of Laurel, were named to the dean's list for the winter quarter at Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, N.Y. Raza is a third-year student in the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, while Turner, a second-years student, is in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences. Alexandra Durso and Jacqueline Sams, both of Laurel, were among the 300 James Madison University students who embarked on 30 spring break trips around the country and world.