At the start of her sophomore year at Blair, senior Estefany Carrillo would walk into the science office, and explain her situation to any teacher there who would listen. After days of this, she finally got what she had been asking for: classes equal to her ability, not far below.
Every vacation when he heads to the beach, Magnet teacher Robert Donaldson takes along a swimsuit, towel and one extra special item: a steak knife.
Blair held its first outdoor whole-school pep rally in three years today outside in the stadium to celebrate spring sports teams. The rally concluded with a powderpuff football game, which was the first one in years.
The Blair boys' track team remains undefeated after Tuesday's tri-meet against Blake and Rockville, bringing their season record to 4-0. The girls' team also defeated both schools, with a score of 95-42 against Blake and 112-15 against Rockville.
Seated at a table in the Media Center, two students quietly write in numbers on partially completed Sudoku puzzles. Piled on the table around them are stacks of blank puzzles, waiting for students to come by and fill them out. The pastel sign above the students announces the presence of one of the media center's newest features, the Puzzle Place.
It can prevent cancer, it can save lives, but in Maryland, it is not yet required for middle school girls. It is Gardasil, the newly released vaccine that protects against the human papillomavirus (HPV), a disease that can lead to cervical cancer. While there is opposition from parents and controversy over how the maker of the vaccine will benefit from state mandates requiring the vaccine, Maryland has made a mistake in not passing the legislation potentially preventing thousands of cervical cancer cases.
Parking permits for second semester will be distributed beginning today. The list of students who have been granted permits will be posted after school outside the financial office.
This year, the SGA simplified the procedure for evaluating grant proposals for clubs. In previous school years, clubs could make fund requests to the SGA year-round. To streamline this process, the new procedure required all clubs seeking funds to file grant proposals by Dec. 6, according to senior David Hu, SGA director of club services.
Blair students swept the awards at the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) that was held Jan. 4 and 5 at Georgetown University.
The PTSA painless fundraising committee, led by parent Carol Smalls, has found a few simple ways for Blazers and their parents to help the school without any extra effort.
Blair's Chamber Choir and Jazz Combo will performon Dec. 16 as one of the various holiday events occurring in Downtown Silver Spring this December.
The fall sports awards ceremony was held Nov. 14 in Blair's SAC. The 340 athletes who participated in the fall season were honored for both their athletic and academic performances. Coaches from each team honored individual athletes in four categories: Most Valuable Player (MVP), Outstanding Senior (OS), Most Improved (MI) and Coach's Award (CA).
The PTSA is currently requesting submissions for this year's Reflections Program under the theme "My Favorite Place." The Reflections program is sponsored by the national PTA to encourage participation in the arts.
Although much of the fervor surrounding it has dissipated, the ID policy and other administrative decisions remain a mystery to the school's students and parents. While the media-dubbed "student uproar" has subsided, this lack of understanding raises a legitimate concern about the overall communication in all school matters between the administration and the Blair community.
The lunch bell has rung. But instead of heading for the SAC, pulling out a lunch to eat or standing in the cafeteria line, Amy, a junior, walks straight out the Colesville side door. Ignoring Blair's closed lunch policy, she leaves campus for McDonald's, risking suspension for a bite of freedom and fast food.
Buoyed by the success of the Homecoming spirit week, the SGA is planning many new events for the rest of the school year. According to SGA president Eric Hysen, the SGA has many more events in store than it has held in previous years, including several charity drives and a downcounty spirit week.
Principal Phillip Gainous discussed the new ID policy at the PTSA meeting held yesterday at 7:30 p.m. in the media center. A newly revised copy of the policy, updated yesterday afternoon, was distributed at the meeting.
The new ID policy will be discussed at the upcoming PTSA meeting on Tuesday Oct. 17. The meeting will give parents and students the opportunity to share their opinions on the new policy with the school administration.
Four college fairs will be held in the Washington D.C. area in the beginning of October. All fairs will feature representatives from colleges and universities which will give students an opportunity to learn about the institutions and ask questions about the admissions process.
At a time when college frenzy can begin the moment a student steps through the doors of high school, Harvard has just taken a step toward making the frenzy last longer.
So far, senior Allen Zhang has raised only $300, but in China, each dollar is enough to support a student's basic needs for one day. And his visit to China has showed him the need for each one of those dollars.
Blair students were honored at the Montgomery Blair High School Awards Night held May 31. Awards, given to over 100 students, came from the community and Blair departments to mark achievement in sports, arts and scholarship.
The Blair Auditorium hosted Blair's anual Spring Sports Awards Banquet, honoring the spring athletes, last night at 7 p.m. Team coaches presented players with awards for Most Valuable Player (MVP), Most Improved (MI), Outstanding Senior (OS) and Coach's Award (CA) awards. Scholar athletes were recognized as well.
Four Blazers qualified for the state track meet after the 4A West regional meet held May 17 and 18 at Churchill High School. Senior Queen Momo and juniors Muhammad Roberson, Ashlyn Sinclair and Halsey Sinclair all met the time or distance requirements necessary to advance in their respective events.
After rain postponed the second part of the Montgomery County track and field championship May 11, the meet continued at 3:30 p.m. on May 12. The girls' team placed sixth overall in the county.
Halsey Sinclair placed first in the mile today at the Montgomery County track championship meet before it was postponed due to lightning. Ashyln Sinclair followed close behind, placing third in the mile.
Blair's It's Academic club placed 11th out of 774 teams in the world in the spring 2006 Knowledge Master Open (KMO) competition on April 26. With a score of 1685 out of 2000 points, Blair again fell behind Richard Montgomery High School's team and placed second in the state of Maryland.
Blair teams captured the first five spots at today's Envirothon competition, held at the Montgomery County Agricultural History Farm Park in Derwood, Maryland. Team CX, comprising juniors Olivia Buzek, Justin Chow, Jeff Guo, Ben Li and Alex Pei, placed first with a total of 436.5 points out of a possible 500.
The Blair music ensembles captured first prize out of 15 schools for the best overall music program, as well as the adjudicator's award and the prize for best overall instrumental group, at the Heritage Music Festival in New York City this past weekend.
The Takoma Park Middle School annual field trip to Florida will be discontinued, according to Magnet coordinator Scott Degasperis. This year's trip, which students made in February, will be the last, and the Magnet program will select a new destination for future years.
Two Blair students and a Blair teacher were honored by the Siemens Foundation with Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement, which recognize high achievement in the Advanced Placement (AP) program.
Junior Matthew McClain is an accomplished athlete, having played soccer and basketball for Blair. But when he appeared at the first day of lacrosse tryouts, he had held a lacrosse stick only a handful of times. And without a junior varsity (JV) lacrosse team at Blair, he had no choice but to try out for the varsity team.
After seven events, both the boy's and girl's track teams were in the lead against Rockville with scores of 40-6 and 30-17 respectively. They were able to hold onto this lead to finish the meet with a win for both teams.
Blair and the PTSA are working on a plan to allow parents to safely drop off students on the University Blvd. side of the school, a location more convenient for many parents. Currently, the only authorized drop-off point is in the Colesville parking lot, but many parents chose to leave students in the morning in the University Blvd. parking lot, creating dangerous congestion.
The Blair Computer Team placed second in the 16th annual University of Maryland Computer Programming contest held March 11.
A stark white sheet covers an autopsy table. To the left are five skulls showcasing the effects of sword blade, hammer and gunshot wounds on the human cranium.
"In line with local laws and policies, parts of the result are not listed." Written in Chinese characters, this message appears across the bottom of a web page after a search. Unfortunately Google, a company that has prided itself on its accurate, unbiased web searches, has hypocritically decided that censorship is acceptable when there is money to be made.
Three Blair students advanced to the "Awards of Excellence" level as part of the Reflections Program, an arts achievement and recognition program sponsored by the national PTA. The students' entries will be judged by the Maryland PTA, and the winning entries, announced March 3, will continue to the national level.
Blair teacher Jeanette Simmons was selected as a winner of the Haywood All-Star Teacher Award, sponsored by the Washington Wizards, based on an essay written by sophomore Morgan Nixon. Simmons was one of ten teachers from the Washington, D.C., area to receive this award.
The Education Health and Environmental Affairs Committee of the Maryland Senate held public testimony on Feb. 8 for SB249, a bill to require automatic external defibrillators (AED) in all Maryland high schools. This bill was introduced by State Senator Sharon Grosfeld in response to the death of Andrew Helgeson, Blair class of 2005, from sudden cardiac arrest last May.
College Board is considering a split-up of the SAT that would allow students to take only one of the three sections — Critical Reading, Math and Writing — at a time. This proposed change will be reviewed at the May meeting of the College Board SAT committee and would allow students to improve their scores by retaking chosen sections in one sitting.
These chocolate chip cookies are good for any occasion. Be it a birthday, potluck, class party or a combination of all three, chocolate chip cookies are always a favorite. Easy to make and even easier to enjoy, these cookies are the ideal sweet.
Inside room 241, a small group of students gather on Tuesday afternoons, huddling around a line of black Dell computers. On the computer screens, green text glows against a black background as the students type the code of BlazerNet, code that takes the Internet from Blair to Blazers' homes.
Ashlyn Sinclair and Halsey Sinclair finished third in the 800 meter and 3200 meter races respectively at the Howard County Winter Fest Dec. 17 at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Center.
DEC. 14, PG SPORTS AND LEARNING CENTER- Blair's indoor track team showed promise at the first MCPS Developmental Meet of the season today at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Center. All MCPS high schools ran in this developmental meet, where no scores or rankings were recorded.
Blair excelled in the distance and sprint medley relays at the Howard County/Montgomery County Track Challenge at the Prince Georges County Sports and Learning Center on Dec. 10. Girls' relay teams placed third in distance medley and fourth in the sprint medley, while boy's relay teams finished fourth in the distance medley and seventh in the sprint medley.
Blair's It's Academic team placed ninth out of 794 schools worldwide in the Knowledge Master Open, held in the Blair IMC on Dec. 7. In Maryland, the team placed second behind Richard Montgomery High School. KMO is an international academic competition which tests students' knowledge on topics ranging from science and math to humanities, history and trivia.
It was 9:45 p.m. on a Friday when Rahul Satija received a call that would lead him to Atlanta and, later, on a path to Oxford University. He was informed that he was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship, and that his interview would be held in Georgia.
Two Blair graduates were chosen as 2006 Rhodes Scholars, entitling them to a prestigious graduate school scholarship given by Oxford University in England.
During the month of October, teachers and staff of MCPS took steps become more active â€" literally. Kaiser Permanente teamed up with MCPS to create "Walk for Your Life," a program that offers a $5,000 education grant to the school that has the most steps per participant in the month of October, with results pending.
The girls and boys cross country teams improved their records over last year, finishing up the season with 8-1 and 4-5 record, respectively. The girls had an especially successful regular season, with only one close loss to Magruder. Throughout the season, the runners worked hard to improve their times. "I think everybody was a lot more serious about running and practice," says coach Angelique Bosse.
Three Blazers competed in the Maryland State Cross Country meet, held Nov. 12 at Hereford High School in Parkton, Maryland. Juniors Ashlyn Sinclair, Halsey Sinclair, and Joshua Uzzell all placed in the top 50 in the Maryland 4A region race.
Blair teachers Robert Donaldson and John Goldman were recognized for their impact on teaching as part of the Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars Program at the University of Maryland.
The weather is getting colder. The rain is pouring down. The leaves are changing color. Little monsters are jumping off the walls on sugar highs. It seems that that spooky time of the year has finally come once again.
As the ball flies toward her, senior Sarah Rumbaugh jumps up into the air to head it. Suddenly, another player smashes into her, toppling her over. As she hits the ground, her legs lock and she tears the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her knee. Her soccer season is cut short, and the varsity girls' soccer team has lost its captain - for the sixth time. The captain's curse has struck again.
Both the boys and girls cross country teams achieved wins against Blake and Paint Branch at today's meet at Blake. The girls' team also beat Sherwood, but the boys lost by ten points.
The girl's cross country team achieved two victories today against Damascus and Paint Branch, but suffered their first loss of the season to Magruder, who narrowly defeated Blair by one point. The boy's team won over Paint Branch, but fell to Magruder and Damascus.
On junior Lotte Giza's first day of school, she was like many Blazers who might have been asking themselves, "Why am I here? I should be at home!" What separated Giza from the others was the fact that Giza's home is across an ocean, thousands of miles away in Hamburg, Germany.
The first greeting customers get at Momo Taro Sushi in Rockville is from a gold cat just inside the entrance that waves its left paw to all who enter. The next greeting patrons get comes from one of the hosts or hostesses, who graciously seat guests at a table or sushi bar. Larger groups can request more private, traditional style seating on the side of the restaurant, complete with cushions to kneel on.
When Alexandra Gunnison, former Blair student, saw the horrific images of Hurricane Katrina's destruction on the news, she decided to take action. She gathered a group of friends and went to the Safeway parking lot at Four Corners and started washing cars to raise money for the hurricane victims this past Saturday and Monday.
A team from Blair represented Montgomery County at the Maryland State Envirothon, held on June 23, 2005 at the Harford Glen Education Center in Bel Air, Maryland. The team of five sophomores placed 8th out of 17 teams at the event, with a total score of 438.67 out of 600 points.
Team CX has the lead in the County Envirothon. From left to right: Ben Li, Olivia Buzek, Jeff Guo, Alex Pei and Justin Chow
InToneNation sings Christmas carols in room 244 on Dec. 23.
Olivia Buzek, BlazerNet president Kevin McGehee and Julie Kaufman work on the code for BlazerNet.
What hides behind the CAP office door? Why, a witch, a surgeon, and...Bigfoot?
Tasteful and holiday-colored, secretary Cherrie Avery's outfit brings a classy touch of Halloween to the Main Office.
English teacher Michael Horne makes a bold statement with his shirt.
The Media Center doesn't just have a great collection of spooky books, it also has some very festive librarians who showed their spirit on Halloween.
Senior Sophie Esparza chases after a soccer ball during practice.
Blair students and volunteers held a carwash on Sept. 3 and Sept. 5 at the Four Corners Safeway to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The group raised more than $1,500 over the two days.