Summer Program

Howard County's summer Head Start program for children about to begin kindergarten is fighting to keep operating despite major cuts in state funding. Bita Dayhoff, director of the county's Community Action Council, the private nonprofit group that runs the preschool program, said the state's budget problems have led to reductions of more than half the $103,000 in state money the program received in fiscal 2009. That amount dropped to $55,000 in fiscal 2010 and fell again to $44,000 in the fiscal year that began Thursday, she said.

The Borromeo String Quartet promises to put on quite a show when it opens the season for Candlelight Concert Society on Saturday, Oct. 20, at 8 p.m., at Howard Community College's Smith Theatre, but the intermission also looks like it will be fun. That's because a cake and refreshments will be served at intermission to celebrate Candlelight's 40th anniversary. "The huge birthday cake will be the first of our anniversary year events," said Candlelight's artistic director, Holly Thomas.

A group of students spending part of their summer at Swansfield Elementary have taken a giant step toward becoming citizens of the world, but they will also reap more tangible benefits from a federal grant that is immersing them in Chinese. Numerous researchers have linked studies of foreign languages with higher test scores, including on the SAT. The growing globalization of commerce makes the ability to communicate effectively with people in other parts of the world more marketable than ever, particularly when you're speaking a principal language of the world's most populous nation.

Baltimore County Public Library's summer reading club had the most participants ever this year, with more than 48,400 taking part. That was an increase of more than 2,400 participants over last year's program, library officials said. The program began 35 years ago and is designed to help students keep up their reading over summer vacation. People of all ages could join the reading club, which ended in August. The program had about 3,500 participants in 1984, when officials began keeping statistics.

The Baltimore Police Athletic League is seeking program coordinators who can earn up to $10 an hour working in PAL centers during the summer session that runs from June 14 to Aug. 20.Candidates should apply by May 7 and have experience teaching, mentoring or coaching. Sessions featuring academics, athletics and arts will run from 9: 30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.Mail or send a resume and cover letter by fax to PAL Summer Program Coordinator Job Search, 601 E. Fayette St., Baltimore 21202.

The United Way of Central Maryland has awarded a $1,500 grant to support Food and Fun, a summer program for children who live in the Bishop Garth apartment complex in Westminster.The program will provide lunch and regularly scheduled activities to children in kindergarten through fifth grade."We are grateful and excited that the United Way has chosen to support this program," said the Rev. Marjorie Decker of Westminster United Methodist Church, a volunteer who helped organize the program.

This summer, while other youngsters are splashing in the pool, 40 Howard County students will be trying to find the value of "X" and learn the composition of the iron atom.The new, five-week Summer Bridge Program, sponsored by the school system's Black Student Achievement Program (BSAP), lets black middle and high school students take mathematics and science lessons to help prepare for the academic challenges of the next school year.The enrichment program begins June 27 and ends July 29 at Howard Community College.

Sarah Chamberlin of Bel Air is participating in a five-week Summer Program for Women in Mathematics sponsored by the mathematics department of George Washington University in Washington. The program is in its ninth year of encouraging female students in mathematical disciplines by offering them an opportunity to interact with women who have pursued careers in mathematics in academia, industry and government, said Murli Gupta, professor and director. Chamberlin, one of 16 women chosen to participate in the program, is a junior at Hollins University in Roanoke, Va. The George Washington program consists of four major topics, which change each year.

Celestine Johnson, teacher and mom, is just one of the kids this summer.Just one of the 30 students in Duane Sabiston's crash course in oil painting -- part of the Baltimore County school department's summer art enrichment program. Another student is Mrs.Johnson's daughter, Betserai. Mrs. Johnson and her daughter are classmates in the two-week workshop winding up at Cockeysville Middle School.Betserai has participated in the summer program for the past two years, but this is her mother's first try -- and the first brush with oil painting for both.

SUMMER BRINGS changes in just about everyone's schedule, especially if you have school-age kids. If you haven't enrolled your pride and joy in a summer program, you still have time.The county Department of Recreation and Parks will be sponsoring summer activity centers again this year. Centers for children in kindergarten through sixth grade will be at George Fox Middle and Bodkin, High Point, Jacobsville, Lake Shore, Solley and Sunset elementary schools.The program runs from 8 a.m to 2: 30 p.m. on weekdays from June 28 through Aug. 6. The cost is $130.

Amber Barner has had a summer job through the city's YouthWorks program seven times, every year since she was 14. But this time is different. This time her job will outlast the summer. That twist comes courtesy of Baltimore's fledgling effort to encourage businesses to hire young adults directly through the city's program, rather than simply donate money to help cover their wages elsewhere. Wells Fargo, part of YouthWorks' new Hire One Youth initiative, decided to hire at least one young person for a permanent job. "It's my first time working at a bank," said Barner, 20, a teller at the company's Hamilton branch.

As pedestrians scurried through the sunshine that bathed Patterson Park this week, 12-year-old Daniel John took refuge under a tree, poring over a book, enjoying a space all his own. "If I were at home, I'd probably be watching TV for over seven hours," said the rising seventh-grader at Montebello Elementary/Middle School, who is living at a local shelter. Daniel is one of 130 Baltimore city and county students who are finding stability in a summer learning program exclusively for homeless students — a population that has ballooned in the city and doubled in Baltimore County in the last five years.

Two Baltimore City high school students were awarded a $1,500 scholarship and paid summer internship at the Maryland Science Center as the recipients of the Maryland Science Center's Dr. H. Bentley Glass Scholarship, according to a release sent by the center.  Diamonique Clark, who attends Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Rita Gunter, a student at Western High School, were each named recipients of the scholarship that for nearly 50 years has...

It's late on a steamy August morning. Forty scholars and their lecturer have been at their studies for a couple of hours. One of the more challenging courses in the summer program at Anne Arundel Community College is already well under way. But there are no desks or chalkboard. The classroom is a gym, and six young people are walking the floor on stilts. Eight more spin plates on sticks, and one weaves his way through the commotion on a bicycle the size of a ringmaster's hat. Welcome to Circus Camp, a five-day, 40-hour expedition through the big-top arts in which comedy is king, the teacher is a clown and the students — county children between the ages of 7 and 14 — will be able to conquer the course material only if they can manage not to take themselves too seriously.

A group of students spending part of their summer at Swansfield Elementary have taken a giant step toward becoming citizens of the world, but they will also reap more tangible benefits from a federal grant that is immersing them in Chinese. Numerous researchers have linked studies of foreign languages with higher test scores, including on the SAT. The growing globalization of commerce makes the ability to communicate effectively with people in other parts of the world more marketable than ever, particularly when you're speaking a principal language of the world's most populous nation.

Craig Benjamin Jr. said that before enrolling in Howard County schools' Chinese Summer Learning Camp, he knew how to say "hello" in Mandarin. In fact, many kids know "ni hao" because it's part of the name of the popular children's television series, "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. " But the rising fourth-grader now also knows how to count to 100, say his first name and denote each ocean — all in Chinese. He is among several dozen of the county's schoolchildren who have spent the summer immersed in the program that school officials hope will be the first step in offering a foreign language program in elementary schools.

This mayor of Baltimore had no problem making decisions. He knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it."We need lots of trees for oxygen," said 13-year-old Bruce Pendles, who played the part of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke during a morning session of Baltimore's Project RAISE (Raising Ambition Instills Self-Esteem). "If I were really mayor, I would clean up Baltimore. I would organize people to clean up their neighborhoods and then to clean up the water."Bruce Pendles' civic vision springs out of a summer program that started inner city youth thinking about the environment.

As pedestrians scurried through the sunshine that bathed Patterson Park this week, 12-year-old Daniel John took refuge under a tree, poring over a book, enjoying a space all his own. "If I were at home, I'd probably be watching TV for over seven hours," said the rising seventh-grader at Montebello Elementary/Middle School, who is living at a local shelter. Daniel is one of 130 Baltimore city and county students who are finding stability in a summer learning program exclusively for homeless students — a population that has ballooned in the city and doubled in Baltimore County in the last five years.

Rita Allan is a biology teacher in the Howard County school system and was a biologist for 20 years before that, so when she learned that the Colombian boy who would be visiting her family likes science and nature, she took special note of their shared interest. Still, she and her husband, Steve, chose to keep their expectations low when they signed on with Kidsave International to host Duvan, an 11-year-old orphan, in their Columbia home for just over four weeks this summer. The couple, who have no children and have been awaiting the call to care for a child since becoming licensed foster parents in December 2009, didn't want to set themselves up for disappointment.

Students at Howard County's Summer Initiatives for Talent Development program think kids shouldn't spend their summers watching television or hanging out with friends when they can extract DNA from fruits and vegetables or debate whether schoolchildren should get paid for good grades. "I thought it would be fun to get an education during the summer," said Cambria Miles, a rising sixth-grader at Murray Hill Middle School in Laurel and one of more than 400 students taking part in the summer program where students engage in courses and activities that cultivate their interests and expand what they've learned during the school year.