If you drove along Route 97 in Glenwood on Saturday, May 9, you probably saw members of the Glenwood Middle School Leo Club standing by the road waving to you. They were attracting attention for their bicycle collection drive, which resulted in an incredible 202 bikes being donated to the Bikes for the World organization.
Ten students from the Leo Club spent most of their Saturday twisting handle bars and removing pedals and training wheels from bicycles that have been sitting unused for months or even years. They also collected two sewing machines, three wheelchairs and many sets of crutches and walkers as part of an experimental collection for Bikes for the World. The sewing machines and medical equipment will be sent along with the bicycles to places in the world where they are needed.
The students were helped by David Brown, principal at Glenwood and a Leo Club advisor, and Mary Powers, sixth grade English teacher and a Leo Club adviser, who were greeting members of the community as they made donations. Glenwood Lions Club members Joe Long, Harrison Morson and Larry Orwig spent the day busily working on the bicycles to get them ready for shipment.
The number of bicycles was the second highest number collected since the Leo Club started this project in 2008. That year they collected 204 bicycles. The Leo Club and the Glenwood Lions would like to thank the community for their generosity, and Race Pace Bicycles for their support.
The music students at Folly Quarter Middle School recently performed at the Hershey Park Music Festival with students from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland schools. Folly Quarter swept the top awards at the festival.
The Concert Band earned First Place in their division with an Excellent rating. The Symphonic Wind Ensemble also earned a First Place and an Excellent rating. The Advanced Chorus took First Place in their division with an Excellent rating. The Concert Chorus took First Place and earned a Superior rating, which was the highest possible rating. The Chamber Symphony took First Place and earned an Excellent rating. The Symphony Strings took First Place and earned a Superior rating, with the highest score of any ensemble in the Festival, making them Best Overall Orchestra. That made for a complete sweep of First Place awards.
The Symphonic Wind Ensemble missed Best Overall Band by just one half point, but was beaten by the Folly Quarter Concert Band, which meant they were the top two bands in the whole festival. Stacey Sartor, Choral Director, Andrew Spang, Band Director, and Patrick Walls, Orchestra Director, are rightfully proud of their talented musicians.
The end of the school year is rapidly approaching and Amy Syversen, the band director from Dayton Oaks Elementary School, is proud to announce the Band Musicians of the Month for May. Congratulations to Kousalya Gaddam, clarinet; Mariam Shah, clarinet; Taylor Uem, flute; Katie Coleman, flute; Erika Borowski, flute; Alexander Cui, trumpet; Demetre Koutras, percussion; Anthony Meoni, trombone; Kai Christensen, trombone; Asher Albert, trumpet; Tristan Sisk, trumpet; Thomas Zhou, trumpet; Eric Roth, trumpet and Jacob Niv, trumpet.
In addition ,there are new members of the group of Super Scale Stars at Dayton Oaks. These students have memorized all nine major scales to four sharps and four flats, plus the chromatic scale. Megan Ball, percussion; Kathleen Maiorana, tuba, and Ryan Weinberg, tuba join Whitney Ye, percussion; Ocarina Lin, oboe; Kristina Kim, flute and Taylor Uem, flute in this group of outstanding musicians. All of these students impress Syversen every day with their hard work and good attitudes.
We are very fortunate to have such great music programs available to students in Howard County, with wonderful directors who work hard teaching our children to enjoy making music.
Calvary Lutheran Church and the Lisbon Volunteer Fire Company are holding their quarterly Community Blood Drive on Tuesday, June 2, from 2 to 7:30 p.m. The blood drive will be held at the Lisbon Volunteer Fire Company Social Hall. For additional information, call Calvary Lutheran at 410-489-5280 or http://www.calvarylutheranmd.net. You can also call 1-800-RED CROSS to schedule your life-saving donation.