SPRING HAS sprung. Everything is glorious outdoors, and frustrated gardeners are beginning to see an end to forced inactivity.
The sense of exuberant renewal also is being felt in our neighborhood schools.
The Bollman Bridge Elementary School student government reports that the "Pasta for Pennies" drive was a success. The school collected $2,740.57 to benefit the Leukemia Society.
The 57 cents tacked on to the impressive sum collected by the children is a clue to how the money was raised.
It consisted mostly of pennies. For a month, Bollman Bridge pupils have been raiding piggy banks and coffee cans and looking under sofa cushions, gathering all the pennies they could find.
Congratulations to Joy Hogan's fifth-grade class, which collected $344.80 -- the most collected by any class. The pupils' good work brought them a pasta lunch, courtesy of the Olive Garden Restaurant.
Bollman Bridge pupils are achieving in other areas, too. Second-graders Chris Smith and Griffin Page placed second in the Maryland Engineering Challenge last month at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.
The school also is represented in two exhibits. Portraits by pupils Morgan McClure and Gregory Szalkowski are on display this month at the central branch of the Howard County Library.
Miniature clay gateways to imaginary places by pupils Zachary Cooke, Carmen Goodlier, Jennifer Klube, Christine Kuhn and Matthew Lehtonen are on display at the library's east Columbia branch, in observance of Youth Art Month.
Forest Ridge Elementary pupils have work on display in a show called "Shaping Elegant Problems that Enable Children's Voices" at Howard County Center for the Arts, 8510 High Ridge Road, Ellicott City.
Work by Shea Teems, Scott Templin, Kevin O'Neil, Meredith Halloran and Tara Martucci will be on display there until April 24.
Help wanted
Looking for a middle-of- the-day, part-time job? Recess and cafeteria monitors are needed at Forest Ridge Elementary.
The hours -- from 11 a.m. to about 2 p.m. -- are great for seniors and mothers of young schoolchildren, early enough to allow mothers to be home by the time children arrive from school.
Information: 410-880-5950.
'Reflections'
Students at Hammond High School have been recognized in the national PTA's "Reflections" contest.
The theme this year is, "Suddenly you turn around and "
Chad Clay, Andrea Alexander and Jeremy Miller represented Hammond High School in the literature category at the county-level judging last month.
Scott Sines entered "Witches in My Feet," an original drum piece that took third place. Scott will represent Howard County in the state-level competition.
With assistance from teachers Dave Griffin, Alicia Feddor and Ken Zachmann, and financial support from Blimpies and the PTSA, the Hammond Science Fair netted more than 150 displays of student projects.
Prizes were awarded for biology, chemistry, technology and Earth science.
The grand winners were Sarah Haack and Erin Shinholt for their project, "What do Feeder Mice Choose to Eat?" Feeder mice are bred to be fed to pets, such as snakes, that require live prey.
Other winning projects covered a wide range of subjects -- from hurricanes and earthquakes to the effects of music on concentration and the efficacy of sun screens.
Congratulations to all who participated and to first- and second-place winners Michael Sandler, Josh Roth, Liz Braganza, Adrienne Ruhf, Sara Rosendorf, Melanie Bricker, Michelle Kobler, Jessica Porter, Jesse Wieman, Anastasia Salter, Cheryl Altschuler, Jeff Tobin, Langdon Campbell and Justin Whitehead.
Workplace education
"Take your Daughter to Work Day" has been changed to "Take Your Child to Work Day," on the grounds that boys also need to learn what their parents do at work.
Patuxent Valley Middle School reminds parents and grand- parents that the day, April 22, is coming soon. The school expects that many parents will take advantage of the opportunity. Pupils will not be penalized for missing school.
The staff is asking parents to think about ways to make their child's visit to the workplace as interesting and meaningful as possible -- wise advice for all of us from committed educators who know that learning is not confined to school.
Pub Date: 3/26/99