Student members of the Charles County Association of Student Councils (CCASC) recently elected new officers for the 2012-13 school year.

The new CCASC officers are:

• Dion Anderson, president, junior, Westlake High School;
• Ciara Albrittain, first vice president, freshman, La Plata High School;
• Taylor Ivy, second vice president, eighth grader, John Hanson Middle School/rising freshman at North Point High School;
• Dasia Spriggs, secretary, junior, Westlake; and
• Joseph Perriello, middle school representative, seventh grade, Mattawoman Middle School.

Each year, CCASC officers are elected by student delegates in the spring. Schools develop their own methods for selecting CCASC student delegates. Each high school sends 15 delegates to monthly CCASC meetings; each middle school sends 10 delegates.

The CCASC is an organization consisting of student leaders from the county's six high schools and eight middle schools. These students meet throughout the year to discuss issues and concerns, as well as provide input to school system leaders on programs and policies.

Charles County Public Schools provides 26,700 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 35 caring community schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.

The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Dr. Patricia Vaira, Title IX Coordinator and Section 504 Coordinator (students), or Keith Hettel, Section 504 Coordinator (employees/adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, Maryland 20646; (301) 932-6610/870-3814. For special accommodations call (301) 934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event.

Fifteen North Point High School students advance to the national Skills USA competition after winning first place at the state event held May 5 at the Center of Applied Technology North, located in Anne Arundel County. They will represent Charles County Public Schools at the national event scheduled for June 25-26 in Kansas City, Mo.

The first-place winners are:

• Brandon Morrison, senior, Criminal Justice;
• Elizabeth Prinkey, senior, Culinary Arts;
• Stephanie Agbe-Davies, senior, Health Occupations Professional Portfolio;
• Kha-Ai Tran, junior, Medical Math;
• Majesta Kitts, senior, Medical Terminology;
• Alexander Corbin, junior; Alphonso Lopez, junior; Noah Gibson, sophomore; Ashlynn Stanley, sophomore; Joel Rogers, freshman; Alyssa Moffat, junior; and Breanna Spangler, junior; Quiz Bowl; and
• Margaret Campbell, Julia Sutherland and Kiersten Rawson, juniors, Tech Prep-Health Science.

The following North Point students also placed at the state event:

• Jacqueline Veasey and Alexandra Garner, seniors, American Spirit, second place;
• Sarah Younan, senior, Health Occupations Professional Portfolio, second place;
• Lauren Brown, senior, Medical Assisting, second place;
• Bria Butler, senior, Medical Terminology, second place;
• Katie Doran, senior, Nurse Assisting, second place;
• Jacqueline James, senior, Preschool Teaching Assistant, third place;
• Aaliyah Bailey, senior, Customer Service, third place; and
Rosemary Crowl, Valen Gordon, Brooke Hayes and Alauna Martinez, seniors, Health Knowledge Bowl, third place.

Students from the Robert D. Stethem Educational Center also competed at the state level. The following students earned awards:

• Abram Brooks and Isaiah Perez, juniors, Web design, fourth place;
• Kelly Dingess, James Graves, Alyson Hughes and Tashara Mitchell, juniors, Broadcast news, seventh place; and
• Garrett Moreland, junior, Photography, ninth place.

The Skills USA/VICA regional competition is a showcase event for career and technology students in the tri-county area. The students compete locally and continue through the state and national levels. The philosophy of the competition is to reward students for excellence, to involve industry in directly evaluating student performance and to train students for employer needs.

Charles County Public Schools provides 26,700 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 35 caring community schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.

The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Dr. Patricia Vaira, Title IX Coordinator and Section 504 Coordinator (students), or Keith Hettel, Section 504 Coordinator (employees/adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, Maryland 20646; (301) 932-6610/870-3814. For special accommodations call (301) 934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event.

The Board of Education of Charles County's work session scheduled for Monday, May 21, has been canceled. Their next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 12, at 1 p.m. in the Board room at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building.

All Board of Education meetings are aired live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, as well as streamed live on the school system website at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live/.

Charles County Public Schools provides 26,700 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 35 caring community schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.

The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Dr. Patricia Vaira, Title IX Coordinator and Section 504 Coordinator (students), or Keith Hettel, Section 504 Coordinator (employees/adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, Maryland 20646; (301) 932-6610/870-3814. For special accommodations call (301) 934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event.

Hundreds of books lined the hallways of William B. Wade Elementary School on April 27 as part of a schoolwide book swap and ice cream social held for parents and students. The event was held to promote literacy and family involvement in the school community.

More than 300 community members attended the event, which featured a book swap in which participants could trade in a gently used book for a new item. Students created bookmarks to sell and proceeds were collected to help purchase new books for the Wade library. The event also allowed for student involvement in creating, buying and selling bookmarks which provided hands-on learning experiences with the exchange of money and economical concepts.

Other activities at the event included an ice cream social where participants were able to interact with one another while participating in a raffle for door prizes, sessions on reading strategies and digital resources, the General Educational Development (GED) and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs. Members of the Charles County Public Libraries were also at the event and provided guests with materials to sign up for a library card and information on the new library in the Waldorf community.

The event was coordinated by Mary Beth Long, a third-grade teacher at Wade who was assisted by the book swap committee, staff, the Wade Parent-Teacher-Organization (PTO), Principal Virginia McGraw and Vice Principal Nancy Seifert.

Charles County Public Schools provides 26,700 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 35 caring community schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.

The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Dr. Patricia Vaira, Title IX Coordinator and Section 504 Coordinator (students), or Keith Hettel, Section 504 Coordinator (employees/adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, Maryland 20646; (301) 932-6610/870-3814. For special accommodations call (301) 934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event.

Teams from Dr. Thomas L. Higdon, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd and Indian Head elementary schools, as well as Mattawoman Middle School, placed in the 2012 Save the Bay Robotics Challenge held May 5 at North Point High School. The event was sponsored by the U.S. Navy and National Defense Education Program and is part of the 2011-12 Indian Head Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) In-School Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program.

The "Purple Robots" team from Higdon was named the overall winner at the elementary school level. Team members are fifth graders Caleb Griffith, Taylor Gascon, Abigail Mattingly, Sydney Maddox and McKenna Simpson. Their team also received first place in the robotics and research proposal categories. In the robotics category, students complete eight challenges with their robots on a constructed challenge board. In the research proposal category, teams are judged on research conducted on aspects of the Chesapeake Bay. The team was required to present their research during a 10-minute interview.

The "MMOTT Bot" team from Mattawoman was named the overall winner in the middle school division of the competition. Team members are seventh graders Madison Hutson, Tanner Nau, Makaila Sanders and Timothy Staudmyer. The team also won first place in the robotics challenge at the middle school level, second place in the research category and third place in the teamwork event. In this category, students are interviewed and judged on their ability to work together as a team.

The "Plasma Robots" team from Higdon was named the second overall winner at the elementary level. Team members include fifth graders Jarett Mulloy, Dillon Clancy, Carly Rodgers, Shelby Latimer and Katelynn Gordon. The team also received second place in the robotics category.

The "Bay Kids" team from Indian Head received first place in the technical interview category. In this category, students are judged on the construction and programming of their robot and must provide a demonstration. Team members are fifth graders Jenna Clark, Kathryn O'Clare, Ariel Smith and Nicolette Smith.

Higdon's "Robo Blasters" team won second place in the teamwork category. Members include fifth graders Katie Czysz, Alyssa Simpson, William Stanley, Ryan Summy and Emily Wise.

Indian Head's "Bay Sharks" team won second place in the technical interview category. Members include fourth graders Zakri Asiala, Josiah Fenwick, Brendan Outland and Tiger Tu.

The "Bay Rockers" team from Indian Head received third place in the teamwork and technical interview categories. Team members are fifth graders Perzya Addison, Jordan Banks, Briana Hicks, Sydnei Huff, Azanaa Hutchinson and Brianna Springs.

Dr. Mudd's "Earth Protectors" team was named fourth overall at the elementary school level and received third place in the robotics category. Team members are fourth graders Shannon Austria, Daniel Berry, Sammaria Felton, Adriana Imes, Joseph Mahoney and Shannell Matthews.

The event featured two levels of competition: one for elementary school teams and one for middle school teams. Teams were required to complete challenges with their robots, including cleaning up a power plant, delivering oysters to the bay, preventing land erosion, scanning water for crab populations, dredging a river and searching for pollutants. Teams also participated in teamwork and technical interviews, and were judged on their research projects. Students Theodore G. Davis, Matthew Henson and Piccowaxen middle schools, as well as schools from St. Mary's and Montgomery counties, also competed in the event.

The top two teams in each category receive a four-day trip to Smith Island, located on the Eastern shore of Maryland, next month. During the trip, students will work with volunteer engineers from NSWC to learn about wildlife, conditions of the Chesapeake Bay and camping in the outdoors.

The program was launched at the competing Charles County schools earlier this school year. Over a period of 16 weeks, engineers from the Indian Head and Bethesda-based Carderock Naval Surface Warfare Centers, and technical students from the College of Southern Maryland serve as mentors to help students work with robotics, engineering challenges and scientific investigations studying the Chesapeake Bay. Each mentor spent at least two hours of class time with the students at each school per week.

At the elementary school level, student teams worked to build and program robots capable of performing up to eight different robotics challenges within a period of three minutes. Teams also selected one of the eight challenges for their research proposal.

At the middle school level, student teams worked to build and program robots capable of performing up to six challenges. Teams also selected one of the six challenges for their research proposal.

The program also requires students to conduct scientific investigation on different issues within the Chesapeake Bay. Expert lecturers visited each school once a month to speak to teams about water and marine life in the Chesapeake Bay.

Charles County Public Schools provides 26,700 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 35 caring community schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.

The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Dr. Patricia Vaira, Title IX Coordinator and Section 504 Coordinator (students), or Keith Hettel, Section 504 Coordinator (employees/adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, Maryland 20646; (301) 932-6610/870-3814. For special accommodations call (301) 934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event.

Students and staff at Berry Elementary School celebrated career readiness throughout the month of April and established a theme – Discovering your Dreams – to highlight the importance of personal responsibility, academic success and the pursuit of higher education. During April, the school held several activities, ranging from a college gear day in which teachers wore clothing to represent the colleges and universities where they studied, to a student activity showcased in the school lobby in which students identified regalia from specific schools.

Staff also coordinated information about their specific college or university and created a display for students to learn about the range of college experiences. In addition to the school display, staff developed special daily morning announcements to showcase information about different careers.

The month-long celebration culminated in the schoolwide Career Day titled "Dressed for Success," which was held April 27. Principal Marvin Jones held a special ceremony in which students were asked to stand and share their career aspirations, and more than 90 presenters were invited to the school to discuss different career opportunities available to students.

Career choices highlighted as part of Career Day included nursing, mechanical engineer, dog training, fitness coach, event design, sports writer, dentist, college professor, real estate agent and police officer. Presenters included were parents, business owners and community members.

Charles County Public Schools provides 26,700 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 35 caring community schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.

The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Dr. Patricia Vaira, Title IX Coordinator and Section 504 Coordinator (students), or Keith Hettel, Section 504 Coordinator (employees/adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, Maryland 20646; (301) 932-6610/870-3814. For special accommodations call (301) 934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event.

• Jacob Brezina, an eighth-grade student at Piccowaxen Middle School, participated in the National Geographic State Geography Bee held March 30 at Catonsville Community College. Brezina, the winner of the Piccowaxen Geography Bee, took a written test to qualify for the state competition. The Bee was created and developed by the National Geographic Society to increase student knowledge about the importance of cultural and physical geography in society. Questions include topics about cultural geography, U.S. geography, landforms and bodies of water. Schools coordinate their own Geography Bees annually and students take a written qualifying test to be eligible to compete. For more information on the program, visit http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/.
• As part of the Read for My School campaign, sponsored by We Give Books and the Pearson Foundation, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Elementary School recently received 194 free books to add to the school's library. The national campaign challenged public elementary school students, staff and parents to read 150,000 books online within 30 days. Participating schools earned books to add to their library collection, and the maximum amount of books a school could receive was 500. Visit www.wegivebooks.com for more information.
• More than 85 students at Maurice J. McDonough High School participated in a schoolwide Pi-Athlon to celebrate Pi Day on March 14. Pi Day is an international holiday celebrated on March 14, since 3, 1 and 4 are the three most significant digits of pi in the decimal form. The competition was created to get students involved in math outside of the typical classroom setting and to promote friendly competition among students. Students competed in teams of five in three different events: Bowling for Pi, Pi Trivia and Pi-Low. Each team rotated through 20 minute sessions at each event and overall scores were combined to determine first-, second- and third- place. Each team received a Pi Day medallion and the first-place team received mini trophies. Students on the winning team, G² or Geometry Girls, were sophomores Andranay Peyton, Nichelle Simmonds, Julie Whitney, Bridget Cunningham and Danae Grant. Schools celebrate Pi Day differently, from eating pie to creating song lyrics. Pi is an irrational and transcendental number, meaning it will continue infinitely without repeating.

Charles County Public Schools provides 26,700 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 35 caring community schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.

The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Dr. Patricia Vaira, Title IX Coordinator and Section 504 Coordinator (students), or Keith Hettel, Section 504 Coordinator (employees/adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, Maryland 20646; (301) 932-6610/870-3814. For special accommodations call (301) 934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event.