Yolanda Judge, president of the Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) at C. Paul Barnhart Elementary School, was selected as Charles County’s 2015 semifinalist in the Maryland Parent Involvement Matters Award program. As the county winner, she is now eligible to be chosen as a finalist for the state award. The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) created the awards program to recognize Maryland parents who have made contributions to public education and to highlight the positive impact parents have on public schools. The award recognizes parents from school systems in Maryland, and features five levels of criteria: communication, volunteering, learning, decision making Read more…

Two North Point High School students will compete in events at the National Leadership Conference in Chicago this summer after earning first- and second-place awards at the Maryland Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Leadership Conference held April 23-25 in Hunt Valley. North Point junior Aisha Barnes earned a first-place award in the Job Interview category, and Joel Magee, also a junior at North Point, earned a second-place award in the Networking Concepts category. Students who earn a first- or second-place award at the state level advance to the national conference, scheduled for June 24-27. FBLA conferences include more than Read more…

Teams from Dr. James Craik and Mary H. Matula elementary schools earned the top spots in the Elementary Math Challenge, held Saturday, April 25 at Theodore G. Davis Middle School. The event is for fourth- and fifth-grade students and is a two-part mathematics challenge that includes both team and individual competitions. Teams from all Charles County public elementary schools competed. The team challenge requires each team to solve four reasoning and problem solving questions within a 30-minute period. Craik’s fourth-grade team earned first place with a score of 146 out of 21 competing teams. Team members are Gabriel Dinnea, Mackenzie Read more…

Twenty-seven North Point High School students advance to the national Skills USA competition after winning first place gold medals at the state event held April 18. They will represent Charles County Public Schools at the national event scheduled for June 22-26 in Louisville. The first-place winners are Sarah Alvarez, senior, Advertising Design; Estefany Garcia and Jordan Johnson, juniors, American Spirit/Interview; Jerry Delph, senior, Cabinetmaking; Suha Ansari, Mercedes Clark and Amy Zheng, juniors, Career Pathways – Health Science; Leah Pennington and Alyssa Raqueno, juniors, Community Service; Patricia Atkinson and Dylan McCabe, juniors, and Stephanie McCarter, senior, Crime Scene Investigation; Nicholas Wiegand, Read more…

Students from Charles County Public elementary and middle schools competed in the 2015 College of Southern Maryland Junior (LEGO) Division robotics challenge held Saturday, April 11, at the La Plata campus. The annual event is part of CSM’s Institute of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (iSTEM), which provides programs to encourage students to pursue careers in STEM fields. Eight Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) teams earned awards at the event. Fifty teams from schools in Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties, as well as local private schools, competed in the event. This year’s competition was titled “Nature’s Fury,” and required Read more…

School system, county and state officials will join St. Charles High School students May 15 to officially dedicate Charles County’s seventh high school, which opened in August.  During the same ceremony, the school system will also dedicate the pool in memory of former Board Member Donald M. Wade, who is credited with securing the pool for St. Charles. The 6:30 p.m. dedication is open to the public. Students and staff will provide tours of the school following the ceremony. St. Charles opened for students on Aug. 25 for the 2014-15 school year. Some construction continues on the pool, which is Read more…

J.C. Parks Elementary School was named one of only two Maryland schools selected for the U.S. Department of Education’s 2015 Green Ribbon Schools (GRS) Award. The honors were announced April 22 by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In announcing the national award recipients, Duncan said the selected schools demonstrate strong examples of innovative learning and civic engagement. “These honorees are compelling examples of the ways schools can help children build real-world skillsets, cut school costs, and provide healthy learning environments,” Duncan said. “The U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools are an inspiration and deserve the spotlight for embodying Read more…

Members of the St. Charles High School JROTC presented the quilt blocks for the AIDS Memorial Quilt at the St. Charles High School Gymnasium during an opening ceremony on Monday. The JROTC spread blocks across the gym floor for public viewing this week. Linda Fenlon, program coordinator at the Charles County Department of Health, told the audience the AIDS quilt is an educational tool to inform about the lives lost to AIDS and the growing problem of HIV. She said there are 34 million people living with HIV and AIDS, which have no cure. “It’s a visual reminder of the Read more…

Six Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) Destination Imagination teams advance to the global finals tournament, scheduled for May 19-24 in Knoxville, Tenn., after winning first, second or third place at the state competition held April 18 at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. The following teams earned a spot to compete in the global tournament as a first-, second- or third-place winner at the state level: The Improv Games challenge: T.C. Martin Elementary School, The Neon Improv-ers team, first place at the elementary level. Student members are Sarah Thacker, fifth grade, and third graders Kincade Burroughs, Autumn Forsythe, Peyton Lauterborn, Read more…

Tyra Saverson, a senior at North Point High School, was named the Career Research and Development (CRD) Student of the Year for 2015 at the annual employer/employee breakfast held April 17. Saverson has worked in the print shop at North Point since August 2014. In her positions, she is tasked with several responsibilities including ordering parts and supplies for equipment, handling print requests and scheduling maintenance and repairs for machines in the print shop. Saverson was selected for the award following three levels of competition both at the school and county levels. Committees composed of staff members, community members and Read more…