Team Members

We've placed a large full-length mirror near the entranceway to our Baltimore facility that team members and visitors pass. Across the top of the mirror, we post banner messages such as "Smile! You're entering a world-class organization and we're glad you're here!" We change the messages every few weeks and send an e-mail announcing that the first 10 team members who come to the human resources office to state the new message receive a small prize. Change is the key to making this work.

This episode was practically perfect, you guys. I won't spoil it in the first paragraph, but the teams are still in India and I think some bad karma came around to gently nudge a few people. I wouldn't have minded a swift kick to some people's behinds, but the gentle nudge wasn't too bad. The first four teams leave within 45 minutes of each other. Poor JJ has a cold. They head to a temple to receive a traditional blessing from a head priest. Sometimes these brushes with other religions bring out some rude remarks, but not this time, everyone was cool.

Two county 4-H dairy judging teams took top honors at the Maryland State Fair Saturday.The junior and intermediate dairy judging teams from Carroll placed first in the state. The senior team placed fourth.Junior team members were Amanda Holland of Uniontown, Kristin Myers of New Windsor and Jeena Rinehart and Justin Thomas, both of Taneytown.Two junior team members also won individual honors. Rinehartwas first overall in the state, and Thomas placed first in the "reasons" category.In dairy judging contests, 4-H'ers are required to evaluate several cows of the same age and compare them with their knowledge of an ideal cow. They also must justify their evaluation with oral reasons.

Members of the Baltimore County Police Department's dive squad will be honored tomorrow for their efforts to rescue residents during Hurricane Isabel last year, officials said today. Baltimore County police Chief Terrence B. Sheridan will bestow the Medal of Honor to members of the Special Services Section Underwater Recovery Squad at 11 a.m. during a special ceremony at the Public Safety Building in Towson. During the rescue missions, divers carried elderly victims to inflatable boats, and the team members regularly held on to the sides of their boats after they were filled to capacity to allow more victims to be carried.

Big games almost always have great back stories, and the 2013 Super Bowl, won by the Baltimore Ravens over the San Francisco 49ers, is no exception. Here are five books that could be crafted from the team members involved in Sunday's game. My bet is that at least one will be written within a year. -- The Fall and Rise of Ray Lewis. On the night of the 2001 Super Bowl in Atlanta, a promising young player is ensnared in a street fight and charged with murder. Lewis pleads guilty to a lesser charge, while two other defendants are acquitted of murder.

Francis Scott Key High's boys cross country team was honored Jan. 9 by the Carroll County Board of Education for winning the state championship title at Hereford High on Nov. 10.Team members are seniors, Michael Bales, David Cox, Mitchell Jones, Richard Ruskey and Jason Wilhide; junior, David Cavey; and sophomore, Justin Wildesen.The team's coach is James Bullock, motor development specialist at Robert Moton Elementary.

For the past four years, Tom Ehart has been Tonya Kolodziejski's soccer coach in some capacity.It's a player-coach relationship that began at Brooklyn Park High with Ehart as an assistant during Kolodziejski's freshman and sophomore seasons. It lasted through two indoor seasons and continues with the newly formed Severna Park Alliance Under-19 club team, the 21-year-old Ehart's first head coaching position."He taught me a lot about being a defender and about not being timid," said Kolodziejski, 17, a two-time All-County defender who will be a senior at North County this fall.

A PANEL of high school girls will discuss "What I Wish Someone Had Told Me" as the finale of Computer Mania '96 on Feb. 17 from 9 a.m. until noon at the Howard Community College Business and Technology Training Center, 7651 Gateway Drive.Computer Mania offers technology career information to 250 of this year's Howard County Public Schools' eighth-grade girls.Four women -- Shirley Collier, president of Paragon Computer Services Inc.; Shelley Johnson, supervisor of educational technology for the Howard County Board of Education; Nancy Ennis, technical resource teacher; and Marie DeAngelis, gifted and talented resource teacher -- coordinated the day of workshops that will be presented by professional women including Ms. Collier, Jane Bourke, Casey Berryman and Donna Wilmer.

The videotape the Bosnian Olympic bobsled team brought to Clarksville Middle School yesterday opened with the glory of the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, then jumped to today's war-ravaged Balkan city, where the hillside bobsled run has been used as a sniper's nest.Just before the 12:30 p.m. seventh-grade social studies class arrived, bobsled team brakeman Igor Boras screened the videotape for teacher Norma Rose because he was concerned that the bloodshed depicted might disturb the students.

Hit your buzzers if you can answer this question: How many juniors and seniors does it take to get to the Super Bowl in the Baltimore/Washington/Central Virginia "It's Academic" Tournament? Bzzzzzzzttt. None -- if you're talking about Howard High School. Howard's "It's Academic" team -- all sophomores -- won the Baltimore area's championship game last month, advancing to the televised quiz show's Super Bowl for the first time in at least 10 years. They'll compete against the winners of the Washington and Central Virginia area competitions Saturday.