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Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
School notes: FCPS student wins 'If I Were Mayor' contest
A student from Frederick County Public Schools was named a winner of the 2025 'If I Were Mayor' essay contest. Eliza Wood, a student at Middletown Elementary School, was recognized alongside 10 other students in the state by the Maryland Municipal League and Maryland first lady Dawn Flythe Moore. The 2025 essay contest theme was 'Building Community for a New Generation.' Students wrote the essays as if they were mayors of their cities or towns. Students wrote about concepts like 'building inclusive and safe communities' and 'making sure basic needs are met so residents can reach their full potential,' according to a press release. During the ceremony, Moore said to the students: 'There is not a single room you don't belong in.' 'You are the future of our state, and we cannot wait to see all that you achieve,' she said. The contest was sponsored by Maryland Municipal League and the Maryland Mayors Association. Oakdale Elementary to host STEM summer program Oakdale Elementary School is scheduled to host the Camp Invention enrichment program over the summer. The nonprofit STEM program for students in kindergarten through sixth grade is scheduled to be at Oakdale Elementary from June 23 to 26. The program is from the National Inventors Hall of Fame in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Camp Invention features student activities that 'tap into their natural curiosity and use their creativity to solve problems,' according to a press release. This year's program called 'Discover' will feature hands-on activities, such as building a claw machine out of cardboard, assembling a custom control panel and building an animation device. Registration for this summer is available at West Frederick, Whittier earn Purple Stars West Frederick Middle School and Whittier Elementary School are the first two schools in Frederick County to receive the Maryland Purple Star School designation. The Maryland State Board of Education recognizes schools with this award for 'outstanding support of military-connected students and their families,' according to a United States Army press release. The schools also demonstrated a 'strong commitment to easing the educational and social-emotional transitions faced by children in military families,' according to the release. Schools had to meet four criteria to qualify for a Purple Star award: appointing a military liaison, creating online resources, implementing a peer-led transition program and providing staff training on military culture. Randi Gonzalez, a special education program assistant at Whittier Elementary, was named the military liaison for the elementary school. 'It's more than a symbol, it's a representation of our community's resilience and inclusivity,' Gonzalez said in the release. Frederick High alumni plaque The Frederick High School Alumni Association donated a cast bronze plaque to display outside the front door of the school. The plaque features the school's motto, 'Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve.' Thomas Sterner, the founder of Art Factory studio near Union Mills, was commissioned to create the plaque. The high school's alumni association was incorporated in 1944, according to association President Debbie Richmond. She wrote in a statement that the association has provided student scholarships as well as held spring and Christmas dances for decades. 'The plaque is donated with fond memories and hope for future generations,' Richmond wrote. Send school-related news to Esther Frances at efrances@
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Yahoo
Board game event raises funds for organization to keep teen's memory alive
Trinity Ripley loved board games, her father said. So her family decided to focus the first fundraiser for the organization formed in her memory around board games. 'Trinity was full of life and laughter. And she was great at bringing everyone together,' her father, former Brunswick City Councilman Vaughn Ripley, told the people gathered at a building in Brunswick City Park Saturday for a fundraiser for the group Trinity's Children. The organization will raise money to increase awareness for issues around addiction, fentanyl, alcohol, overdose, and mental health, her mother, Kristine Ripley, said. Trinity, 18, died on Dec. 13, 2023, after taking half a pill that she thought was Percocet that was laced with fentanyl, she said. She would have turned 20 on Feb. 10. There were several dozen board games of various types and formats, stacked on each of the tables at Saturday's event. 'Let's have some fun and let's make a difference, folks. Game on,' Vaughn Ripley, said urging players to begin playing. At one table, Brad Wells and Karl Musser were playing Flamecraft, in which villagers in the form of dragons go to different shops to gather supplies, Wells said. 'It is a very peaceful game," he said. Wells said the event offered a chance to spend an afternoon playing games and supporting a good cause. He said he loves video games, but board games offer a different, more tactile experience. Musser said he knows Vaughn Ripley through gaming events, and met Trinity once or twice. He said he likes the social aspect that board games provide. 'It's an excuse to get together,' he said. Trinity loved to play board games, and they wanted to do a family-friendly event for the organization's first fundraiser, her father said. He said he hopes to use his relationships with officials in other municipalities in the county and the Maryland Municipal League to hold events to raise awareness about the dangers of fentanyl. Kristine Ripley said her daughter struggled with alcohol use and mental health issues, and had been sober for two weeks before she died. 'She was struggling with something, and we never got to the bottom of it,' Kristine said. Trinity was part of the Brunswick community, a friendly and 'very bubbly teenager,' City Councilwoman Angel White said Saturday. The event was in Trinity's memory, but also to focus on the general issue of drug use and the dangers of fentanyl, she said. 'We don't want this sad story in other people's lives,' she said. Leigh Anderson, a longtime friend of the Ripley family and the secretary for Trinity's Children, helped with Saturday's event. She said she met Kristine at a group in Frederick for new mothers, and their children grew up together. Trinity was always engaging, the kind of teenager who would talk easily with adults when others might tend to keep to themselves, she said. Anderson said she lost her stepson to an overdose in 2012. 'I hate to say it, but it's another thing that binds us,' she said. Parents always think about what they could have done differently, she said. But she said it's also important for them to forgive themselves for not always seeing all of the signs. Ultimately, all people can do is make kids as aware as possible of the dangers of drugs, she said.
