Technology Magnet

THE RIVER Hill High School chapter of the Maryland Technology Honor Society has been visiting middle schools to tell the future high school students about the Technology Magnet program. Senior Aneesha Griffin is leading a committee of society members whose mission is to inform students about the program. Howard County's Technology Magnet Program offers a combination of regular high school studies and technology courses. Students take a normal program and participate in school activities at Long Reach or River Hill high schools.

Instructor Rod Pratesi glanced at the chart shown on the overhead projector and asked his class a question: "Do we have a debit or a credit for merchandise inventory?" Hands were raised, the answer -- debit -- given. The six students in the class were all paying close attention. Pratesi, until recently a teacher at Atholton High School, has moved to Howard County's Applications and Research Laboratory as part of a plan to transform the county's technology magnet into a career academies program designed to serve more students.

DANCING, DINNER and auctions are just part of the fun expected by the Glenelg High School Booster Club as it organizes its annual bash.TC This year, the organizers plan a new menu and impressive silent and live auctions for the March 9 event at Turf Valley Country Club.Cris Farley, Patty Lewis, Sharon Keeny and Carole Asbury are accepting donations for the auctions. They are seeking donated tickets for sporting events; restaurant dinners, lunches and brunches; use of vacation homes; and services, such as grass-cutting, snowplowing, manicures and haircuts.

The class of energy, power and transportation students started in January with high expectations. By the end of the year, all 28 would secure internships in engineering, build a car that runs solely on electric power and work together as teams and, ultimately, friends.But questions persisted as the Long Reach and River Hill high school students gathered the first few days in the garage-like classroom in the county's Applications and Research Lab in Ellicott City.Would they get along with each other?

The Baltimore County school board approved Tuesday a magnet program in technology for Cromwell Valley Elementary School, which will reopen next fall.The curriculum will relate computer technology to traditional elementary skills in mathematics, language, science and social studies and will focus on hands-on projects. The school will have a video production studio, a greenhouse and a science laboratory. Through computer-assisted programs, children will be able to progress at their own pace.

Howard County technology magnet students will be able to enter Howard Community College with college credits for their high school work under a series of agreements signed yesterday between the county school system and the college.The agreements were described by school and college officials as a milestone in the development of the magnet program, which began last fall as a rigorous, high-tech replacement for the county's old vocational-technical program."These agreements facilitate an opportunity to build on the skills [students]

The Howard County school board's decision this week on whether to expand the new and very popular technology magnet program isn't just a matter of carving out extra classroom space and setting aside more money.The board also faces a more troubling question Tuesday afternoon: Can Howard's business community come up with more than 1,000 internships a year for high school students?It's a question that won't be answered definitively until today's freshmen become seniors, leaving many magnet students and their parents concerned.

An article in Sunday's Howard County edition incorrectly stated the location of tomorrow's presentation on the county schools' technology magnet program. It will be held at 7 p.m. at Hammond Middle School.The Sun regrets the error.

After a week learning about Howard County's new technology magnet program, 13-year-old Dave Wilson wants to learn more. "It's all sparking my interest," Dave said yesterday while using a computer to discover the nutritional value of his previous day's meals.Dave's positive response -- and those of many of the 130 other incoming high school freshmen attending a weeklong introductory program -- counters lingering doubts about whether students would sign up for the new technology magnet program scheduled to open in fall 1996.

School board to meet with students, hold public forum Nov. 14 The Board of Education of Howard County will hold a luncheon meeting with student leaders at noon Nov. 14 in the boardroom at the Department of Education, 10910 Route 108, Ellicott City. The board's regularly scheduled meeting will follow at 4 p.m. The afternoon session and an evening session, which begins at 7:30 p.m., will begin with a public forum, where visitors may speak on any topic of interest or concern. Advanced sign-up is preferred: 410-313-7197.