On March 5, for the second time, Sherwood students will be participating in the Maryland ProStart Student Invitational. Schools from all over Maryland participate in the contest that challenges each school’s team to make an appetizer, a starch, a protein, a vegetable and a dessert with just two butane burners in one hour and awards $750,000 total in scholarships to the top three teams. The team that comes in first will represent Maryland on the national level in San Diego in April.

      Thirteen new wireless surveillance cameras were installed throughout the school building over winter break, bringing the total number of surveillance cameras to an all-time high of 42.

 

 

 

Next year, Principal Gregory and other staff members will embark on the planning process for the implementation of small learning communities (SLC), also referred to as academies, at Sherwood during the 2009-10 school year.

"A CDC study released today [March 11] estimates that one in four young women between the ages of 14 and 19 in the United States - or 3.2 million teenage girls is infected with a sexually transmitted disease [STD]." This startling statistic from the 2008 National STD Prevention Conference resulted in much discussion locally and nationwide as to what should be done about the alarming number of teen girls with STDs.

"Just three more hours," was all sophomore Dylan Aldrich could think to himself as he walked into the classroom early on the morning of his third and final HSA. "Three hours until all of this is over." Though he was completely at ease while taking each of his HSAs and did not set aside any time to prepare for them, Aldrich is still annoyed that he even had to take them. "They are just too much, especially because people find them so easy," says Aldrich, an honors student, "They are unnecessary."

Increasing availability of online courses has begun to change the traditional way of obtaining credits necessary for graduation. These online courses allow the internet to take the place of the classroom.

Given new gadgets like MapQuest Gas Prices, a special MapQuest addition that helps you find the cheapest gas anywhere in the entire United States, many Americans clearly are looking for ways to battle the rise in gas prices. The cheapest gas can be found nine miles away in Glenelg for $3.90 per gallon. And while some students are noticing their wallets are a little lighter lately, others rely on their parents to pay for gas.

Juniors Zhaojie Jiang and Alejandro Mantilla were both invited to test their bridge designs on April 25th at the International Wooden Bridge Challenge in Chicago. Jiang and Mantilla finished first and second, respectively, in the state of Maryland to qualify for the event.

      Since Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett’s direction to all county government departments to save two percent of each of their respective operating budgets, MCPS has implemented several expenditure restrictions to save the required $37 million from its budget.

      This year, there have been seismic shifts in both the number of students applying to schools and the number of schools students are applying to. Effects at the college level have yet to be seen since schools will continue to accept the same number of students regardless of how many apply. For students, however, it is becoming strikingly apparent that as expectations are rising, admission rates are decreasing. This leaves many with much uncertainty as to their educational future. As if the admissions process is not grueling enough.

      School, money, drugs, alcohol, sex, gossip, college applications. These pressures and problems, among others, overwhelm teens and make it hard for them to feel at peace every day. Conflicts arise because students are stressed and struggling to come to a resolution with a problem they have—this is where peer mediation comes in.

      The phrase "critical thinking" has become a recent mantra among educators as a central learning goal. As Valerie Strauss reports in a recent Washington Post article, "Institutes, foundations, councils and centers are devoted to thinking about critical thinking. Conferences are held on it, papers are written and books are published. Standardized tests are given to assess it, and educational programs are sold with a proposed path to the promised critical-thinking land."

      Deciding what courses to offer for next school year often entails more than enrollment numbers and set course listings. Though the number of students requesting classes on schedule cards widely determines which ones will be offered, many other considerations come into play in creating the master schedule.

      Plans to radically renovate the Olney Town Center are moving forward, and the Carl M. Freeman Companies plan to start work by 2010.

      Beginning today, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) will attend the three-day 2008 State Leadership Conference in Hunt Valley, Maryland to go head-to-head against FBLA clubs around the state in competitions showcasing their expertise in a host of business skills and techniques.

      The course selection cards for next year’s Freshman Class list only one course that fulfills the technical education requirement. The change is due, according to Career and Technology Education resource teacher Jason Daigle, to revision of the technology education requirements at the state level. To comply with these new conditions the county has audited every technology course currently offered. Only three met the new requirements, and of those three only Foundations of Technology is currently taught at Sherwood. 

      "I was a serious drug user all three years that I went to Sherwood, but I was never caught for any of the things I did in high school because my teachers wouldn’t notice. They actually found me a joy to be in class. The days I wasn’t high on drugs, my teachers would actually ask me what was wrong with me," says Zach,* a Class of 2007 graduate.

      While it may not have been talked about openly at the time, teen pregnancy was at an all-time high during the 1950s. Since then, although the United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the western industrialized world, the number of pregnant teenagers statistically had been decreasing significantly. That is until 2007.

      Back in the 1980s, the "Apples for Students" program was the only real means for earning computers for Sherwood. By collecting and submitting receipts from Safeway and Giant, the school could receive new computers, but no budget was allocated for further purchases. In contrast, the 21st century has brought a greater appreciation for technology in education and under Technology Modernization, or "Tech Mod," MCPS budgets money at each school every four years for the purpose of upgrading hardware, software and server equipment. With this school year’s conclusion, Sherwood will receive these upgrades for the second time as part of the program.

      Superintendent Jerry D. Weast wrote a memo to the school board members, on December 21, 2007, that stated that students who take the Advanced Placement (AP) exams will not take a final exam 2nd semester but instead have a "culminating activity." For those students who decide to not take the AP exam, they will have to complete the "culminating activity" as part of the quarter grade and take a final.

      One hundred and twenty seniors registered to vote for the coming primary election during the week of January 10-16, through Sherwood’s voting registration drive. In response to a new rule change in a Maryland law that allows 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections, Global Studies Program Coordinator and AP Comparative Government teacher Lisa Vardi organized a registration drive.

      While most students went from class to class reviewing material for semester finals with their teachers during the second week of January, one teacher’s departure on maternity leave left students in three different math courses without a teacher, a long-term substitute or a clear path to review.