John Ford and John Miller

The public is invited to a preview of the Academy for Lifelong Learning’s 2019 winter/spring semester on Thursday, January 24 from 4:00-6:00 pm. The event will be in Van Lennep Hall at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md.

At the preview party, participants will hear about new programs, meet ALL members and course leaders and enjoy refreshments from Piazza Italian Market. ALL’s programs are open to all, although those who are members of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum receive a discount on fees.

This semester ALL at CBMM will offer 31 courses, presentations and events, all planned, led and facilitated by volunteers. Running from January 29 through June 4, 2019, the programs range from one-time events to eight-session courses. Topics include literature, music, world affairs, history, nature, literature, photography, self-improvement, memoir writing, wine and cheese tastings, local authors and more. Courses are given on the CBMM campus in St. Michaels as well as in Easton and Oxford.

New course leaders and programs this term include Charlie Yonkers with “A Sense of Place,” Samantha Pitts with “The Language of Birds”; Michael Cone with two courses, “Genealogy” and “A History of Unionville”; Joe DePetro, Jr with “The Wines of Spain and Italy,” Emily Chandler with “Cheese Tasting,” Linda King with “St. Michaels Classic Car Museum,” Joe Koper with “The Day the Music Died,” “Stroke and TIA” with Walid Kamsheh, MD and “A Docent-led Tour of the Naval Academy,” with Charles Swift, PhD.

“There are returning leaders and subjects, too,” said Glory Aiken, ALL President. “Dr. Wayne Bell will give his birding course and field trips, John Ford and John Miller will conduct “The Seven Soliloquies of Hamlet” and “America through the Eyes of Charles Dickens,” and Raymond Vergne will present “Don Quijote, Part II.” Also returning are Mark Scallion (nature), Phil Hesser (local history), Martin Zell (photography), Angela Crenshaw from the Harriet Tubman Museum, Suzanne Sanders (tarot card reading), Judy Amdur at the keyboard, Dodie Theune on “Life Reimagined,” “Our Strange Universe” with Rich Wagner and horticulturalist and author Ruth Roger Clausen. ALL is also offering three non-fiction book discussions with Gil Gleim, Jim Adams and Rich Harrison, as well as the Great Decisions Discussion Program with Paul Carroll”.

The Academy for Lifelong Learning is affiliated with the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and is dedicated to exploring ideas, exchanging knowledge, and sharing experiences. Course details and fees are available in the new catalog and on ALL’s website, cbmm.org/ALL. To register for programs or to receive the catalog and e-newsletters, please contact Laurel Seeman at 410-745-4947 or lseeman@cbmm.org.

To become a member of CBMM, go to cbbm.org.

Last January 11, Kent School students in grades four through eight competed in the 2019 school-level National Geographic Geography Bee. Lennox Franks, a sixth grade, student won the school-level competition and a chance to compete in the Maryland State Bee.This is the first time Lennox has made it to the finals of the school-level Bee. Fifth grade student, Lia Schutwas the runner-up this year. After several rounds in the school Bee, Lennox and Lia emerged as the finalists and the two battled through several tie-breaker rounds with questions about South America, Central America and Asia.

Two students qualified in preliminary rounds completed in fourth through eighth grade earlier this month.  Finalists were: Peri Overton and Tyler Dunlap (4^th grade) Alternate, Oliver Morris competed in place of Peri since she was not able to attend, Harrison Laveryand Lia Schut (5th grade), Lennox Franks and Gavin Larrimore (6th grade), Allie Butler and Eddie Gillespie (7th grade), and Kolby Brice and Aiden Lafferty (8th grade.)

Winner and Runner up: Lennox Franks and Lia Schut

Patrick Pearce, Middle School History and Geography teacher at Kent School coordinated the Bee this year. “I am grateful to my colleagues and special guests for helping to coordinate and judge the 2019 Geo Bee. I am proud of all of the students who competed last Friday. In her next step of the competition, Lennox will take a written test to see if she qualifies to move on to the Maryland State level.”

According to the National Geographic Bee web page, “Each year, thousands of schools in the U.S. participate in the National Geographic Bee using materials prepared by the National Geographic Society.  The contest is designed to encourage teachers to include geography in the classrooms and spark student interest in the subject and increase public awareness about geography.”Pearce continued, “The National Geographic Bee fits seamlessly with Kent School’s commitment to history and global studies. Our students learn about the world and different habitats in Kindergarten. Global Studies continues in third grade and is woven through the middle school history curriculum in grades five through eight as the students explore American History and our connection with countries around the globe.”

For more information about Kent School visit www.kentschool.org, email tcammerzell@kentschool.org or call 410-778-4100 ext. 110. Kent School, located in historic Chestertown, MD is an independent day school serving children from Preschool through Grade 8. The School’s mission is to guide our students in realizing their potential for academic, artistic, athletic, and moral excellence. Our school’s family-oriented, supportive, student-centered environment fosters the growth of honorable, responsible citizens for our country and our diverse world.

Radcliffe Creek School is pleased to announce the launch of the Sylvia and Julien Baxter Legacy Society to recognize donors who have generously included Radcliffe Creek in their estate plans.

The Baxter Legacy Society is designed to encourage donors to consider ways they can help ensure the school will have the resources necessary to sustain it far into the future. Members can include alumni, parents and grandparents, faculty members, past and current, and those wishing to honor the school’s original investors through the Founders’ Fund. By providing gifts through their wills or various charitable gift agreements, members gain the satisfaction of directing their gifts to five important areas: general endowment to ensure the school’s sustainability; financial aid; faculty support; capital improvements, and academic and athletic programming.

The Baxter Legacy Society recognizes the Florida couple who have supported scholarships at the school since its inception and have now added a significant bequest for the Sylvia and Julien Baxter Scholarship at Radcliffe in their estate plans.

“We have watched the remarkable growth of Radcliffe Creek School since its founding 23 years ago under Molly Brogan Judge’s leadership. The school transforms the lives of these extraordinary students who attend, and we are pleased to have made provisions in our estate plan to sustain the scholarships we have supported on an annual basis for many years,” said Sylvia Baxter.

“Financial aid is a critical component of the Radcliffe Creek School annual budget. Without adequate resources devoted to scholarships, students who could otherwise benefit from all that the school offers would be unable to attend,” she continued. “My husband, Dooley, and I are pleased that we are able to help future generations this way.”

Meg Bamford, Head of School, remarked, “We are so grateful to the Baxters for helping us to launch this instrumental legacy fund. The notion that generous supporters of our school continue to give by recognizing us in their estate is so moving. It is clear that the additional gifts to the Baxter Legacy Society will have a huge and lasting impact on our school’s ability to continue to change the trajectory of many students’ lives.”

Radcliffe Creek School is an independent day school with the mission of empowering children in a dynamic
environment that celebrates unique learning. For more information about the Legacy Society, Radcliffe Creek or Little Creek, the school’s preschool, which includes programs for children from infancy through pre-kindergarten, please call 410-778-8150 or visit www.radcliffecreekschool.org.

The Saints Peter & Paul Athletic Department is pleased to welcome Alison Beyer as the new head coach of the Sabres Women’s Lacrosse program.

Beyer, a 1997 graduate of Saints Peter & Paul, has been actively involved with the sport since her days as a Sabre. Upon graduation from Saints Peter & Paul, Beyer played at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh as well as trained in Australia with the USA U19 lacrosse team.

Alison returns to the sidelines of Saints Peter & Paul as the varsity head coach after serving as the middle school coach from 2003-2008 and coaching with Talbot lacrosse and the Dark Horse lacrosse club. “I feel honored and blessed to have the opportunity to coach the Saints Peter & Paul women’s varsity team. It is a bit nostalgic and I am excited to get the program back to where it once was. I had a fantastic experience playing lacrosse here and I hope to create that same experience for my players. I am looking forward to the girls achieving the level of play I experienced and am eager to support them in their efforts, both academically and athletically”

Director of Athletics Pat Tracy commented, “We are thrilled to have Alison rejoin the Saints Peter & Paul community as our next women’s lacrosse head coach. Her passion and energy as a coach and mentor will be invaluable to the growth of our student-athletes on and off the field. There is no doubt that the program will continue to move in a positive direction under her leadership.”

On Wednesday, December 12, Dr. Lisa Damour addressed scores of guests at the Garfield Center for the Arts. Hosted by Kent School in Chestertown and The Gunston School in Centreville, Dr. Damour led her audience through seven stages of transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood referencing her 2018 book entitled Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood.

Earlier in the day, Dr. Damour addressed Kent School faculty and Middle School students. In her session with faculty Dr. Damour provided excellent information and tactics for handling conflict. She said, among middle School students “conflict is a given. Our job is to help them handle conflict in a healthy way.” In her session with students she explained that the healthy way to handle conflict is ‘pillaring’ which allows a child to stand up for him or herself while being respectful of others.

Following her session at Kent School, Dr. Damour traveled to The Gunston School for sessions with their faculty and students. In her address to high school students, Dr. Damour explained the role of stress in human development.Dr. Damour explained the positive aspects of stress—how it helps us grow and become stronger, as well as the benefits of developing stress management techniques.

Heads of School John Lewis and Nancy Mugele pictured with Dr. Lisa Damour (center).

Finally, on Wednesday evening, Dr. Damour greeted members of the greater community at the Garfield Center for The Arts where she expanded on the themes of conflict, stress and the need for adolescents to know and feel anxiety. She explained that anxiety is our natural defense that alerts us of danger or difficult situations. Teenagers should use that feeling of anxiety to guide them in decision making. Dr. Damour generously answered questions from the audience and then stayed to sign copies of her 2016 book.

In his introduction of Dr. Damour, John Lewis, Head of The Gunston School, humorously expressed his general doubts regarding popular books on adolescence, but described Dr. Damour’s book Untangled as magnetic, accurate and endlessly helpful in understanding the transitions teenagers undergo.

Nancy Mugele, Head of School at Kent School said Dr. Damour writes the monthly “Adolescence” column for The New York Times, serves as a regular contributor to CBS News, maintains a private psychotherapy practice, consults and speaks internationally and serves as the Executive Director of Laurel School’s Center for Research on Girls.

Dr. Damour’s lecture is made possible by the KudnerLeyon Memorial Fund at Kent School, The Gunston School and the Garfield Center for the Arts. While admission is free, pre-registration is encouraged by calling 410-778-4100 ext. 100 or emailing rsvp@kentschool.org.

Kent School serves children from Preschool through Grade Eight on its scenic campus on the bank of the Chester River in historic Chestertown. For more information call 410-778-4100 ext. 110 or visit www.kentschool.org. The Gunston School, located on the Corsica River in Centreville, is a coeducational day school serving students in grades 9 through 12.