Maryland Community Newspapers Online
County Councilman Eric Olson (D-Dist. 3) of College Park will be taking a walking tour of Berwyn Heights beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Town Hall, 5700 Berwyn Road.
"The councilman's been doing these walking tour meetings around his district for the last two years and we're about to wrap up the last few these next few months," said Dannielle Glaros, Olson's chief of staff. "We're doing Berwyn Heights and some of the communities in College Park and University Park. We love doing them. The community loves them because the councilman gets to their community on a local level and they get a chance to talk to him about their concerns and issues."
For more information, call 301-952-3060.
Greenbelt resident joins cultural conference
Greenbelt resident Leslie Alston, 16, joined 79 other women on Aug. 9 at Lesley University for the weeklong Women2Women Cultural Connection and Leadership Conference in Boston, Mass. International conference members were from countries including Azerbaijan, Egypt, Israel, Kuwait, Pakistan, Palestine, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
"We had about 200 applicants and people were selected based on their essays, recommendations and their leadership experience," said Kara Doran, media relations specialist with conference sponsor Empower Peace. "Leslie is a member of the Junior National Honor Society and religion education teacher and captain of her softball and field hockey teams."
The participants, ages 15-19, were selected on the basis of academic achievement, community service, essays, extracurricular activities and recommendations. The conference is intended to provide the women with the opportunity to learn, network and acquire leadership and professional development skills.
Alston, a junior at St. John's College High School, was able to hear from leaders including Lesley University President Joseph Moore, Jim Roosevelt, grandson of Eleanor and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Victoria Budson, the executive director of the Women and Public Policy program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Participants also served at the Food Bank or New England Medical Center, learned self defense and performed songs/danced in a concert.
"We received so much support from the Boston community and wanted the girls to take the time to think how lucky they were and give back," Doran said. "I think they all had a great time. They've all been in touch with each other and we've gotten great responses. There's a Facebook group that they're all a member of where they've been sharing pictures and writing messages."
Greenbelt Scouting Night
Greenbelt Cub Scout Pack 202 is hosting its Join Scouting Night at 7 p.m. Sept. 11. Youth from first through fifth grade as well as their parents are invited to participate.
Meeting are held at the Greenbelt Community Church; 1 Hillside Road in Greenbelt.
For more information, visit the Web site at www.pack202.org
UM wins eighth straight copter competition
Eight University of Maryland, College Park students in the Department of Aerospace Engineering won the 2008 Annual American Helicopter Design Competition.
Team members, Brandon Bush, Choong Yun Lee, Jeong Hwan Sa, Cal Sargeant, Rick Sickenberger, Monica Syal, Evan Ulrich and Nick Wilson beat out rival Georgia Tech and the Naval Academy.
This is the eighth consecutive year that the University of Maryland has won the competition.
The objective of the competition was to design helicopter capable of operating from an unprepared area and that minimizes energy consumption. The helicopter needed to be capable of vertical takeoff and landing.
The students developed the design during a one-semester helicopter design class.
The class is co-taught by Professor Inderjit Chopra, Senior Research Scientist VT Nagaraj and Visiting Professor Marat Tishchenk.
Beltsville native completes basic training
Beltsville native and Army Specialist Joel E. Mays graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C . on May 30.
During the nine-weeks training session, Mays studied the Army mission, history, tradition and core values, physical fitness, and received instruction and practice in basic combat skills, military weapons, chemical warfare and bayonet training, drill and ceremony, marching, rifle marksmanship, armed and unarmed combat, map reading, field tactics, military courtesy, military justice system, basic first aid, foot marches, and field training exercises.
Mays graduated in 2002 from Central High School in Capitol Heights and received a bachelor's degree in 2006 from Johnson and Wales University, Providence, R.I.
Needle Arts Society celebrates five years
The College Park Needle Arts Society will be holding a back-to-school open house from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 12 at the Old Parish House, 4711 Knox Road to commemorate its fifth anniversary. Current society members will be on hand to showcase work they had previously made, put on a demonstration of individual crafts and skills and help new members get started with their own projects.
As another fifth anniversary project, society members decided to tabulate the number of individual needle arts projects they knitted, crocheted, needlepointed, cross stitched or quilted over the last five years. They totaled over 700 projects.
Most of the 700 projects were made as gifts for friends of the members or given to charity.
For more information, contact Leslie Montroll at 301-277-9630 or e-mail
cpneedlearts@earthlink.net.