To have an item listed mail to 10220 River Road, Suite 303, Potomac, MD 20854, e-mail to almanac@connectionnewspapers.com, or fax to 703-917-0991. Deadline is Thursday at noon for the following week’s paper. Photos and artwork encouraged. Unless otherwise noted, all events are in Potomac. If you have any questions, call Rebecca Halik at 703-226-1653.
The 2006 Girl Power Summer Computer Camps, geared for girls in grades 6-8, are offered from July 17 to 28 at the Rockville campus. Girls in grades 7-9 who have experience using Windows and are on or above grade level in math are eligible to take the 2006 Computer Programming for Middle School Girls camp to be held from July 17 to 28 at the Germantown campus. All sessions are from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Total cost for each session is $450 and $675 for out of state residents. For more information about the camps and registration, call the Commission for Women at 240-777-8330 or visit www.montgomerycountymd.gov/cfw.
The Franklin Schools of Rockville received one of 11 A's given out in Montgomery County for recycling. The grade was handed out by Montgomery County Government's Department of Public Works and Transportation.
The Montgomery County Board of Elections seeks 1,000 students in grades 6-12 to serve as Election Day student aides. Students and their guardians must attend mandatory training in July/August for students to serve on Election Day and receive Student Service Learning credits. Students will be placed according to home addresses into neighboring precincts. U.S. citizenship is not a pre-requisite to participate. Interested students should send the following information: student and guardian's full name and e-mail address, home address, phone numbers, school name and address, grade level (as of fall 2006), shift preference and language spoken (including sign language). Information should not be sent later than June 1 to gilberto.zelaya@montgomerycountymd.gov or fax to 240-777-8632.
Montgomery County Public Schools honored Kimberly C. Oliver, kindergarten teacher at Broad Acres Elementary School, at a "hometown reception" in the cafeteria of Springbrook High School. Oliver recently was named 2006 National Teacher of the Year. Broad Acres students and staff, parents, and community members greeted their teacher of the year, many of them for the first time since Oliver received the national recognition. Members of the Board of Education, Superintendent Jerry D. Weast and other officials also participated.
Rock View Elementary School is one of 25 schools in the nation selected as a finalist in the Seventh Annual National School Change Awards program, sponsored by the American Association of School Administrators, Pearson Education and the Fordham University Graduate School of Education. The award was created in 1999 to recognize formerly underperforming schools that have become exemplary. Rock View's school improvement efforts and status as an award finalist will be recognized at the national awards ceremony on Monday, July 10, at Fordham University's Lincoln Center Campus in New York City.
Washington Episcopal School (WES) in Bethesda welcomed a delegation of Polish and Ukrainian elementary students, school administrators and city officials to their school as part of a nine-day, three-city United States cultural exchange sponsored by UPS. This year visiting students from the small towns of Lipa and Sierakosce, Poland, and Nizankowice, Ukraine joined their American hosts in class, at lunchtime and outdoor games while the adults toured the facilities and learned about American education from school administrators. As a farewell, WES students treated the visitors to a concert of popular Broadway melodies, both instrumental and vocal.
Two Duke University seniors from Potomac were among the 32 recipients selected for prestigious Rhodes Scholarships:
* William L. Hwang is a triple major in biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and physics. He is also part of a research team developing electrical chips to quickly perform chemical analyses of small amounts of a substance. In 2003, he co-founded a non-profit organization, United InnoWorks Academy Inc., that develops creative science and engineering programs for young people from underprivileged backgrounds.
* Rahul Satija is a senior majoring in biology and music with a minor in math. He has been carrying out research in bioinformatics, currently focused on the sea urchin genome and smallpox virus. Awarded a Goldwater Scholarship for his scientific work, he is also concertmaster for the Duke Symphony Orchestra, first violinist of a student string quartet and holds Duke's only music performance scholarship.
Students in nine elementary schools have been working hard this year to stage performances of original operas. Each opera is a student creation from start to finish. Opera performances are scheduled at these elementary schools:
* Fox Chapel: "Once Upon a Genius," May 31, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m.; June 1, 9:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
* Kensington Parkwood: "All Because of a Fishing Net," June 7 and 8, 7:30 p.m.