It operates in over 117 countries and is the largest owner of retail property worldwide. It's one of the nation's largest toy distributors and has more playgrounds than any other private company in the country. Its mascot is recognized by 96 percent of American schoolchildren, second only to Santa Claus. And it stuffs 47 million people a day with fries, Cokes and Big Macs.
Two MCPS students were diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) in January, prompting MCPS to conduct skin tests between Feb. 8 and 10 for 229 students and faculty members who had been in contact with the diagnosed students.
Centered in the midst of Forest Glen, a series of aging fortress-like buildings known as the National Park Seminary tower over a green landscape. Within the premises, broken glass litters the walkways, gutters hang uselessly from sagging rooftops and graffiti scores the walls of the buildings.
On the frigid morning of Jan. 20, swarms of people trekked through sludge and snow across Washington, D.C., to the base of the Capitol to anxiously await the 55th Inaugural events.
They trudge through Blair's glass double doors dragging their feet and with their backpacks slumped over a shoulder. Outside it's dark and the sky is just beginning to show signs of day. Their eyes are heavy and their movements slow as they walk to first period. They are Blazers¯exhausted and sleep-deprived.
Area high-school students met with Bruce Laingen, former U.S. ambassador to Iran and hostage during the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979.
In December of 2002, sophomore Cyndy Dumay phoned her mother to wish her a happy birthday. Instead of jubilation on the other end of the line, Dumay heard her mother's shaky voice as she described how two days earlier, men had terrorized civilians on the dusty streets of her neighborhood with tear gas. The gas had burned her mother's skin and had also caused vomiting among her relatives back in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Dumay's home until age 12.
On April 5, 1968, Joe Parks, a black junior, and about 25 other students exited their classrooms and gathered in front of Blair's porch doors. The students, a majority of whom were black, marched outside and circled the school building in memory of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who had just been murdered. Later, several students marched off school property to take part in the rioting in the nation's capital.
Blair social studies classes took part in discussions about sexual harassment during the week of Nov. 10 in accordance with an MCPS initiative to address the issue, which is prevalent in high schools.
Combs in hand, two black girls work diligently and delicately to finish cornrowing their friends' hair amidst the bustle of 5A lunch. Next to them, three Latino boys are sprawled out among the benches talking, and a few feet away, two white students finish their lunches before the whole group rises and joins the student body of the most diverse school in Montgomery County—a school that 50 years ago accepted only white students.