BHS Principal Talks Student Accomplishments

The following letter comes from the desk of Broadneck High School's principal, David G. Smith. The principal writes a monthly letter to parents and guardians of the school to keep them informed of happenings at BHS.

I am pleased to announce that sixty-nine members of our senior class are candidates for the AP Diploma Endorsement. In order to be eligible for this honor, students must: (1) earn a minimum of five AP credits, (2) completed AP classes in four of the five content areas (Languages, Social Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Computer Science and/or Fine Arts), (3) earned all A’s and B’s in AP classes taken (one C is allowed if it is balanced by an A) and (4) sat for a minimum of 5 AP Exams. Students who earn this honor will wear a Silver Cord at Commencement.

I am constantly concerned about the threats and dangers that your sons and daughters/our students face in terms of drugs and alcohol. As warm weather returns and the end of the school year approaches, these concerns intensify. It is particularly important that graduating students and their parents understand that violation of certain School Board policies will prohibit the student’s participation in all senior activities. Specifically, School Board policies on possession, consumption, or distribution of alcoholic beverages, controlled or counterfeit controlled dangerous substances, non-controlled substances as defined by law or other intoxicants at any time during the last four weeks of school prior to the last scheduled day for graduating seniors or during the time between the last scheduled day and the graduation ceremony, whether the activity takes place on school buses, within a school building or upon any school property, or during any school, school related or Board sponsored activity, whether held on school property or at locations off school property shall prohibit the student from participation in all senior activities including proms, award and graduation ceremonies. The effective date of this provision is Tuesday, May 2, 2013.

Preparations for the 2013–2014 school year are well under way. On March 22, students received a copy of their course requests for the coming year. As noted in the previous newsletter, requests for “I have changed my mind” kinds of changes must have been made by May 1. May 2 through August 23 will be a Black Out period for such requests (new registrations will continue during this time). A final opportunity to make corrections to student schedules will be available between August 26 and September 10 based on Board Policy as stated on page 29 of the Parent Information Handbook. Here is a link to the current version of that document: http://www.aacps.org/html/Parents/parenthandbook.pdf. Please note this timeline outlined above. Thank you.

A note to parents of members of the Class of 2014 (Rising Seniors); many of our seniors need only a few credits to meet graduation requirements. While I encourage seniors to either take a full schedule of courses or take advantage of the Jump Start Program at AACC, I recognize that some will not. It is very important that seniors, who have partial day schedules, understand that it is quite possible that the courses they are assigned will not fall into first and second block. Seniors should not make arrangements for jobs until they know their school hours for the coming year. Jump Start students should schedule their AACC classes later in the day to avoid conflicts. Finally, seniors who have partial day schedules will be expected to leave school when their classes have finished for the day.

Congratulations to our National History Day winners: Maura Campbell - 1st place Senior Individual Exhibit - Joan of Arc: A Turning Point for Nationalism; Joseph Tayman - Honorable Mention – Louis Armstrong-Sharing America's Music with the World; Riley Yanchulis and Caroline Parsons - BWI Award-9/11 and John Joseph-Honorable Mention - The Revolutionary War. Also, congratulations to Quinn Lemmon who took first place in the Parole Rotary 4-Way Speech Contest at BHS, Quinn went on to represent BHS at the district competition.

Broadneck High School senior Jacob Lettie earned the third-place grand award for his mathematics project Developing a Definition of a Mathematical Quantity by his Own Intuitive Means in the 46^th annual Anne Arundel County Regional Science and Engineering Fair. In addition, Jacob is also one of 550 semi-finalists who have advanced to the final round of the 2013 Presidential Scholars Competition.

Congratulations to our Senior Art Show Winners: 3-D: Maggie Kirby—3rd Place for Glittery Nest; Pottery: Jeff Ward—1st Place for Shipwreck and Coordinators Choice Award: Sarah Barrecca—2nd Place for Ripple.

Seven Broadneck High School students were recently recognized as Carson Scholars. Congratulations to: Blair Bristow, Ryland Bristow IV, Else Droof, Adam Greene, Connor Jaenke, Ashleigh Sullivan and Taylor Sullivan. In addition, Adam Greene was recently honored as a Maryland Scholar Athlete by the National Football Foundation.

Scholarships for Scholars awarded Jacob Lettie the Dr. Edward J. Anderson Scholarship-$7,000; and Adam Greene received the Physical Education Scholarship-$5,000. Congratulations to Jacob and Adam.

This is the time of year when many of our students are recognized for their outstanding accomplishments. There are many more who either have been honored or will be honored. Many will be recognized at various events that occur as the school year concludes. I am proud of each and every one of them.

I wish you and yours well as the school year concludes. From here on out, the days will fly by with AP and HSA Testing and events that mark the conclusion of our Seniors’ high school experience. I wish you well as we enter this very busy and exciting time of year