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Paint Branch High School
HONOR ROLL
4^th Grading Period – June 2008

Click here for easy to print Honor Roll (pdf)

Abbadi, Soad H
Abraha, Rosa G
Adebayo, Rofiat A
Aghguiguian, Ani S
Akede, Elizabeth O
Akula, Sarah A
Aniyikaiye, Opeoluwa B
Arah, Olisa 
Ashu, Enaka B
Aslam, Sulaiman K
Azubuike, Chizoba 
Bagio, Jheinifer 
Balogun, Mayowa 
Banson, Ian M
* Barnes, Carol J
Battle, Courtney T
Bii, Iscar C
Blanchard, Katie N
Buabuchachart, Alan 
Burriss, Danielle M
Butler, Michelle A
Calderon, Luis A
* Canubas, Lorenz D
Carey, Cathleen L
Chaiyarat, Phimchanok 
Chane, Eden 
Chhabra, Arjun S
Christopher, Garland R
Chu, Melody P
Clem, Caitlin 
Cohen, Kathryn M
Collignon, Taylor 
Dawit, Nighisti 
Dematatis, Julia V
Denny, Abigail 
Djampouop, Sonia N
Duffy, Dakota N
Durai, Priyanka 
Dzierzanowski, Elizabeth A
Edelberg, Brandon W
* Edinborough, Kevin A
Espinoza, Valeria K
Etchu, Eleanor M
Farace, Andrea L
Fean, Samantha T
Ferguson, Michelle P
* Fernandes, Matthew 
Flores, Tiana V
* Ford, Megan E
Frimpong, Ama B
Ganesan, Sidharth 
Gomes, Yves G
* Grant-Broadus, Rachel J
Gulian, Mamikon A
Gyimah, Evans 
Hall, Kathleen N
Hamilton, Lauren 
Han, James T
Harrington, Thomas A
Heiss, Rachel E
* Ho, Patrick 
* Horstkamp, Katlyn R
Huynh, Alfred C
Itana, Hawi I
Jackson, Alexander M
* Jacob, Salena M
Jacobs, Brian H
Ji, Chu-Qiao S
Kapur, Arun 
Kapuscinski, Michelle 
Kashfipour, Safoura 
Katta, Ramesh K
Kettell, Chloe M
Kim, Kyungwan 
Kim, Michelle B
Kind, Amanda E
* Kunz, Michael C
Lay, Amanda T
Le, Monica 
Le, Richard A
* Lee, Yae Chan 
Leiva, Dania Y
Lowe, Nathaniel D
Lucan, Chloe E
Lukas, Amanda K
Maeng, Sonny 
Martinez-Bonil, Laura D 
McGrath, Casey J
* McGrew, Kathleen A
Missah, Ellen 
Mistry, Shruti 
Mueller, Alexander J
* Muppala, Reshma 
Ngo, Jessica M
Nguyen, David 
Njafuh, Cynthia N
Nnamani, Chidera 
Obeid, Priscilla R
Okonofua, Sandra 
Okunji, Chidiebere O
Oni, Oluwatimilehin 
Orwenyo, Terri N
Paris, Francess E
Park, James J
Patel, Darshan G
Patel, Parth 
Phifer, Larissa E
Porter, Joel E
* Rao, Sneha 
* Rethnaswamy, Perry J
Rirksopa, Benjamin 
Robles, Eric A
Saeed, Fathiyya 
Sartor, Eduardo 
Sayre, Christina L
* Schneider, Kathryn E
* Schultz, Emma A
Schultz, Todd A
Shah, Parth 
* Sharpe, Katherine M
* Sharpe, Natalie L
Shittabey, Abifoluwa 
Siebenberg, Allisson E
Silverman, Jordan 
Smythe, Seynique A
Soniregun, Mofoluwaso 
Strassberger, James A
Straub, Elaina D
Sumner, Eric B
Suri, Manpreet 
* Swaminathan, Anjna K
Syed, Amad H
* Sylla, Mariame 
Tadesse, Kirubel B
Tagoe, Ivan P
Tezera, Amen 
Tinne, Melvis N
Tobon, Karen E
Toledo, Amanda P
Tolentino, Hector R
Tolentino, Ricardo 
Toliver, Jordan A
* Tran, Alan T
* Tran, Megan T
Ukaegbu, Oyinyechi A
Ukegbu, Jennifer O
* Vandeyar, Javier 
Vidaurre, Grecia Y
Vodela, Meghana S
Weiser, Gary 
Wilkins, Patrick M
Winley, Deena R
Wolde, Mikias G
Wright, Brett L
Wright, Timothy R
Yaunan, Sanjiv S
Yee, Daniel C
Yeh, Christopher 
Yorklush, Charles E

Abbas, Mariya 
* Abel, Brent S
Abera, Tsebaot K 
Adewusi, Olutoba A
Adkins, Jared M
* Ahmad, Maria 
Ahmed, Asif U
Amadiobi, Eziaku 
Andoseh, Bemi J
Ayodele, Temidayo A
Bandon-Bibum, Chrysantus 
Bean, Kevin D
Bechtoldt, Alison M
Bediako, Yaw A
* Bernstein, Karen M
Biloa, Stacymurie D
Boateng-Botwe, Rhoda 
* Bouvier-Lyons, Maya A
Bradshaw, Lauren K
* Brimmer, Charles B
Burns, Cody 
Campbell, Valerie J
Cardenas, Daniel M
Carr, Amy M
Chang, Sarah 
Chi, Naomi M
Chopde, Rakesh N
* Chopra, Natasha 
Chowdhury, Saurav R
* Chung, Scott 
* Dalal, Sonia P
Dang, Anhquan 
Dayrit, Nique Jelen S
* Devkota, Mandisha 
Divakarla, Sneha M
Do, Andy 
Do, Uyen N
Dustin, Danielle 
Duval, Korine A
Eakin, Brian C
Edwards, James K
Eyow, Liban A
Fadeyi, Temi M
Faustin, Sabrina 
Friedman, Steven J
Goodie, Keondra E
Graham, Nigel A
Gregoire, Daniel L
Grinberg, Julia 
Gudenius, Brandon M
Herath, Thilini L
Herrera, Fernando D
Heuber, Stephanie 
Hoang, Minh T
Hodgson, Janelle S
Howard, Redmond J
Isaac, Kishore D
* Jacob, Christina M
Jenifer, Regina 
* Jewett, Xavier C
Jones, Ashanti 
Kals, Amy 
Kang, Ho Young 
Kelley, Shamus 
Khan, Shoaib M
* Kind, Patrick J
Kwon, Paul H
Laudwein, Evelyn B
Le, Dongha 
Lee, John 
Lively, Sarah L
Logan, Shawn M
Lopez, Walter O
Magnus, Julianna I
Malleck, Adam T
Maniwang, Stephanie V
Marapaka, Abhinay 
Marchica, Louise P 
* Mekonnen, Michael 
Menta, Karthikeya 
* Michnewich, Matthew J
Moores, Colleen 
Morgan, Matthew D
Nguyen, Amanda L
Nguyen, Vu 
Nibber, Avneet 
Nibber, Jesspaul S
Njosa, Nora A
Noyes, Michael D
Ocran, Cindy 
Okorafor, Tavie 
Okunji, Uzoamaka E
Outlaw, Olivia R
Pabari, Manshi G
Pae, David J
Paik, Danielle H
Palilingan, Sheryl 
Patel, Beenaben G
Perret, Sarah E
Pham, Michael V
Pradhan, Ujina 
Prakash, Saurabh 
* Rubio, Cindy 
Sabade, Natasha S
Sabir, Mohammed M
Samuel, Jamal A
Sanford, Ayana 
Sani, Abdullaziz 
Sen, Ashley 
Seto, Ashley 
Shah, Khushbu B
Shaikh, Mazin 
Sheth, Shraddha N
Shinholser, Logan E
Singh, Gurashish 
Siripanichgon, Panit 
Smith, David R
Snyder, Colleen G
Sonty, Adam C
Statham, Arielle C
Stone, Kayla C
* Swaminathan, Rajna K
Sylla, Fatoumata Y
Taylor, Tiffany M
Tcheimegni, Joel F
Tesfai, Naomi 
Tesfaye, Blain 
Tesfaye, Yeesalem 
Tran, Jessica A
Tran, Michael T
Truong, Nguyen T
* Tse, Bradley C
* Valdez-Lopez, Luis E
Vargas, Jesse J
* Walters, Andrew R
* Werner, Jessica N
Wistar, Cass C
Wray, Sarah L
* Wyche, Malcolm K

* Indicates student earned all grades of "A"

Click here for easy to print Honor Roll (pdf)

 Nineteen Paint Branch Seniors Honored at
Top Scholars Recognition Dinner

Paint Branch High School will be celebrating academic excellence by honoring nineteen seniors who represent the top 5% of the graduating class of 2008.   The Top Scholars Dinner will be held at The Oak Room, Sandy Spring, Maryland on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 6:00 pm. The honored students are being recognized for their academic excellence over four years at Paint Branch and will be given plaques to commemorate their achievement. 

The students being honored are: 

Angela Aloi

Katherine Atallah

Nathalie Baptiste

Sarah Blanchard

Shanu Eapen

Christina Heng

Kyle MacNamara

Claudia Ngo

Chinyere Okunji

Linh Pham

Chelsea Preister

Rachel Rosario

Sehar Sabir

Nicholas Schmedding

Evan Smith

Sanata Sy-Sahande

Michelle Tabisz

Noelle Tom-Wigfield

Xuemin Zhang

Each student was asked to pick their most influential staff member at Paint Branch and those staff members will also be honored.  The staff members the students chose are: 

Dr.  Mary Ellen Antiochos

Ms. Dina Beatty

Ms. Christine Blakely

Ms. Lisa Blighton

Mr. Brian Eichenlaub

Ms. Faye Johnson

Mr. Richard Lee

Ms. Pamela Leffler

Mr. Stuart Miller

Mr. Colin Reinhard

Ms. Mary Simons

Mr. Jeff Sullivan

Mr. Bryan Walker

Mr. Brian Woodward

Mr. David Zalesk

Paint Branch Senior Wins
National Principal’s Leadership Award Scholarship

          Burtonsville, MD – Sehar Sabir, a Paint Branch High School senior has been named the National Finalist of the Principal’s Leadership Award Scholarship, co-sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and Herff Jones, Inc.  One hundred national PLA winners were chosen from among more than 4,500 applications to receive a $1000.00 college scholarship.  From the 100 winners, nine recipients were selected as Regional Winners and will receive an additional $500.00 scholarship.  Finally, one student was selected from the nine Regional Winners as the National Finalist and will receive an additional $7,000.00 scholarship, making the total scholarship award Ms. Sabir has won $8,500.00.

            Ms. Jeanette Dixon, Principal at Paint Branch High School announced the award.  “We are very proud of Sehar and of all her accomplishments here at Paint Branch,” stated Ms. Dixon.

            Participating high school principals from across the country could nominate one senior high student to compete in this year’s program.  Winners were selected on the basis of their leadership skills, participation in service organizations and clubs; achievements in the arts and sciences; employment experience; and academic record. They also were required to write an essay.

            “Students nominated for the PLA scholarship not only demonstrate academic excellence, but also extraordinary performance in leadership and service to their schools and communities – traits that are more important now than ever before,” said Rocco Marano, director of student activities, NASSP.  “I am always impressed by the outstanding achievements of students like Ms. Sabir, and NASSP is proud to recognize her.”

            In recognizing leadership in cocurricular activities as well as academic performance, the PLA scholarship recognized the importance of a well-rounded education.   Cocurricular activities are an essential part of the school curriculum.

While at Paint Branch High School, Ms. Sabir has been the President of the Student Government Association, the Vice President of the National Honor Society, and the Opinions Editor of the Mainstream, the Paint Branch school newspaper.  Ms. Sabir has also been a Senate Page in the 2008 session of the Maryland General Assembly, and participated in the Washington Post’s Ninth Annual High School Writing Seminar and Scholarship Program this spring.  Ms. Sabir was also selected to receive the Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship and is a Finalist for a National Honor Society (NHS™) scholarship.  

This fall, Ms. Sabir plans to attend the University of Maryland, College Park, Honors Program and double major in journalism and government and politics.

58 Paint Branch Students

Win Awards at the Montgomery County Media Festival

Fifty-eight Paint Branch High School students won a number of awards at the annual Montgomery County Media Festival on April 17, 2008 held at the American Film Institute (AFI) in Silver Spring.  The students’ works were part of over 500 entries by 1400 students from 68 schools in Montgomery County.

Animation:

Jonathon Bartee, Nathaniel Butler, Lorenz Canubas, Douglas Coates, Darius Davis, Reyna Dunlap, Alexis Fearing, Phillip Gayle, Barrett Goldberg, Andre Gregory, Dylan Haje, Harifah Hendrickson, Xavier Jewett, Sebastian Joseph, Kyle Krespan, William Lee, Alex Measday, Nneka Payne, Jez Siarez, Jordan Stephens, Emma Williams, and Alex Yee – First Place – Stop Motion Entertaining (Paint Branch High School Summer Institute Animation 2007)

Tristan Alleyne, Stacy Biloa, Sarah Blanchard, Sarah Chang, Abike (Bebe) Dedo, Bich-tram Ha, Rachel Heiss, Jose-Lorenzo Jimenez, Corbin Jones, John Kashfi, Michael Kunz, Dongha Le, Marc Lowe, Michael Mekonnen, Matias Mesfin, Duyen Nguyen, Ruby Park, Sierra Reynolds, Marcela Rodriguez, Cathey Siu, Anjna Swaminathan, Alan Tran, and Grecia Vidaurre – Second Place – Stop Motion Procedural  (Hello, my name is . . .)

Digital Art and Design:

Jose Lorenzo Jimenez – Second Place, Commercial Design

Cindy Rubio – Third Place, Digital Art – “painterly”

Titi Huynh – Third Place, Digital Photography

Live Action:

Andy Zepp, Jaimie Metellus, Sarah Koolhof, KC Lanigan, Julian Lantry, Jared Adkins, Jazz Narang  – First Place, Entertaining (Halloween Special)

Noelee Wishart – Third Place, Informational (AP Classes)

News Programs:

Sarah Koolhof, Andy Zepp, Jared Adkins, Sandra Williams, Jaimie Metellus – Third Place, News Magazine (Scroogekins)

Photography:

Jason Baez – Second Place, Photo Journalism – Monochrome (Home)

Paint Branch Computer Students Take 2^nd Place in
Montgomery College High School Computer Programming Contest

On Friday, April 11, 2008, Michael Mekonnen, Gary Weiser, Menal Modha, and Simba Marufu competed in the Annual Montgomery College Programming Contest held at the Rockville Campus.  The Paint Branch team was one of ten teams to compete. Paint Branch won 2^nd place in the competition in a very competitive environment.  Other schools involved included Blair, Springbrook, Richard Montgomery and Poolesville high schools.

The students won a trophy to be displayed at the school, and each student received computer science textbooks and USB thumbnail drives.

Competition involved working as teams to solve a series of twenty Java programming problems – basically small exercises that tend to be classical problems in computer science – some introductory, some intermediate, and some advanced level problems.  Each problem was worth a certain number of points based on how well the solution worked and the difficulty of the problem.  Students had a two-hour block in which to solve as many problems as possible.

This was the first time that Paint Branch competed in the competition.  Bethany Petr, the team’s coach, is in her fourth year teaching computer programming at the school.

For more information about the competition, please go to:    https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/~ggrinber/2008MCProgrammingCompetitionWebSite/2008MCProgrammingCompetition_index.htm 

Paint Branch High School
HONOR ROLL
3^rd Grading Period – April 2008

Click here for easy to print Honor Roll (pdf)

 Abangma, Yaya O 
 Acheampong, Valerie S
* Adams, Sara 
* Ahmad, Sobia 
 Ahmad, Tanzeel M
 Akamune, Joycelyn I
 Akinnola, Ifeolu A
 Allen, Madison K
 Aluko, Mosopefoluwa E
 Amanuel, Medhane T
 Ambroise, Marthe A
 Amenabar, Edwin A
 Anumgba, Earvin 
 Anyiam, Juliette U
 Awojoodu, Olusola J
 Aylay, Elenor 
 Banks, Ashlea M
 Barbagallo, Taylor G
 Belina, Detti H
* Bose, Sanchita 
 Brown, Tyler M
 Buvawala, Vivien M
 Caicedo, Neila J
 Camara, Saffie S
 Campbell, Britney R
 Chen, Jeremy M
 Chen, Jessica L
 Cherinet, Hayeder A
 Cho, Eunice H
 Chung, Judith D
 Coaxum, Blake F
 Connolly, Erin E
 Conrad, Chelsey J
 Dang, Christina N
 Delgado, Xochilt N
 Dement, Paige M
 Depperman, Kinyatta J
 Do, Magdalene Q
 Dohvoma, Lydia P
 Dominah, Gifty A
 Drameh, Aji M
 Ebanks, Nicole S
 Fitta, Meron A
 Glatt, Samuel B
* Grady, Rebecca B
 Granny, Olivia 
 Han, Edward S
 Hasan, Syed M
* Hauprich, Katrina L
* Heralal, Sangeeta 
 Herrfurth, Mattias G
* Heuber, Allison 
* Hollis, Rachel E
 Hoover, Garrett M
 Hunt, Colby 
 Hussein, Hamda A
 Johnson, Melissa L
* Johny, Angeline 
* Jones, Courtney E
* Joseph, Sebastian M
 Kalsi, Amy 
 Kaufman, Samuel J
 Keane, Jeffrey B
 Khama, Sharon 
 Khan, Sabrina 
 Lewis, Cherisse 
 Lim, Phanith P
 Lively, Brett H
 Lubin, George-Ann 
 Madden, Anna F
* McClain, Rebecca D
 McMahon, Rachel E
 Measday, Alexander H
 Medina, Joshua M
 Mensah, Joey E
 Miller, Mariah A 
 Minda, Desta 
 Mohamed, Hayatt 
 Moses, Ryan K
 Munanka, Corazon R
 Muniz, Michelle G
 Myers, Shalay S
 Myint, Sundi K
 Newman, Shayna R
 Ngako, Patrick E
* Ngenge, Kelly A
 Ngo, My T
 Nguyen, Brenda 
 Nguyen, David M
 Nguyen, Jennifer T
 Nguyen, Tony T
 Nnamani, Amaka C
 Nwanna, Chinomso T
 Ortiz, Elelbin A
 Ortiz, Maria 
* Parkhurst, Alyssa M
 Pham, Cherry 
 Pilla, Naomi 
 Pinnock, Nykolaus A
 Portillo, Cesia S
 Puri, Divya C
 Rager, Christopher J
 Rahman, Ameera T
* Rehwoldt, Miles C
 Rhoads, Grace E
 Robar, Kayla J
 Rock, Jeanlouis 
 Rollakanti, Suman S
 Sabia, Stephen H
 Saldanha, Thiago H
 Sando, Princess K
 Savoy, Brandyce E
* Scanga, Emily C
 Schneider, William M
 Serra, Katelyn N
 Seto, Daren J
 Shaukat, Henna J
 Singh, Harleen K
 Stewart, Victoria E
 Sulieman, Saleh 
 Tesfai, Ariam 
 Tesfaye, Bezait 
 Thanki, Neha S
 Thomas, Jannel S
* Tizabi, Daniela R
 Tsao, Tracy 
* Tse, Jillian 
 Udoh, Otobong I
 Umanzor-Villat, Rubidia N
 Valencia, Angeline T
 Vu, Dennis A
* Werner, Samantha R
 Wiggins, Xavier K
 Willacy, Tiffany 
 Wilson, Tory 
* Wright, John L
 Yee, Alexander K
 Yitagesu, Abigia W
 Yun, Melody G
 Yutuc, Katherine 
 Zemen, Rahel 

 Abbadi, Soad H
 Abraha, Rosa G
 Abramson, Zuri N
 Adebayo, Rofiat A
 Akinkuowo, Omowasola M
 Aniyikaiye, Opeoluwa B
 Arah, Olisa 
 Ashu, Enaka B
 Aslam, Sulaiman K
 Azubuike, Chizoba  
 Bagio, Jheinifer 
 Balogun, Mayowa 
 Banson, Ian M
* Barnes, Carol J
 Battle, Courtney T
 Bii, Iscar C
 Blanchard, Katie N
 Buabuchachart, Alan 
 Burriss, Danielle M
 Butler, Michelle A
 Calderon, Luis A
 Canubas, Lorenz D
 Carey, Cathleen L
 Chane, Eden 
 Chhabra, Arjun S
 Christopher, Garland R
 Chu, Melody P
 Clem, Caitlin 
 Cohen, Kathryn M
 Collignon, Taylor 
 Corkran, Christine M
 Davis II, Gerald A
 Dawit, Nighisti 
 Dematatis, Julia V
 Denny, Abigail 
 Duffy, Dakota N
 Durai, Priyanka 
 Dzierzanowski, Elizabeth A
 Edelberg, Brandon W
* Edinborough, Kevin A
 Eslin, Ashley M
 Espinoza, Valeria K
 Farace, Andrea L
 Fean, Samantha T
 Ferguson, Michelle P
* Fernandes, Matthew 
 Flores, Tiana V
* Ford, Megan E
 Frimpong, Ama B
 Ganesan, Sidharth 
 Gomes, Yves G
 Grant-Broadus, Rachel J
 Gulian, Mamikon A
 Gyimah, Evans 
 Hall, Kathleen N
 Hamilton, Lauren 
 Han, James T
 Harrington, Thomas A
 Ho, Patrick 
 Horstkamp, Katlyn R
 Hunter, Justin A
 Itana, Hawi I
 Jackson, Alexander M
* Jacob, Salena M
 Jacobs, Brian H
 Janoskie, Kelly M
* Ji, Chu-Qiao S
 Kapur, Arun 
 Kashfipour, Safoura 
 Katta, Ramesh K
 Kettell, Chloe M
 Kim, Kyungwan 
 Kim, Michelle B
* Kind, Amanda E
 Kuhn, Eric S
 Kumar, Sapna C
* Kunz, Michael C
 Larraabee, Erin M
 Lay, Amanda T
* Lee, Yae Chan 
 Lowe, Nathaniel D
* Lukas, Amanda K
 Maeng, Sonny 
 Martinez, James A
 Martinez-Bonil, Laura D 
 McGrath, Casey J
 McGrew, Kathleen A
 Mirza, Sofia J
 Missah, Ellen 
 Mistry, Shruti 
 Mueller, Alexander J
* Muppala, Reshma 
 Ngo, Jessica M
 Nguyen, David 
 Njafuh, Cynthia N
 Nnamani, Chidera 
 Obeid, Priscilla R
 Ochoa, Daniela A
 Offodile, Nnaemeke M
 Okonofua, Sandra 
 Oni, Oluwatimilehin 
 Osong, Tiffanyann 
 Patel, Darshan G
 Patel, Parth 
 Perdomo, Amanda B
 Phifer, Larissa E
 Porter, Joel E
 Ramirez, Giancarlo 
* Rao, Sneha 
 Reardon, Renee' A
 Rethnaswamy, Perry J
 Rirksopa, Benjamin 
 Saeed, Fathiyya 
 Sartor, Eduardo 
 Sayre, Christina L
* Schneider, Kathryn E
* Schultz, Emma A
 Schultz, Todd A
 Seleznow, Michael B
 Shah, Parth 
* Sharpe, Katherine M
* Sharpe, Natalie L
 Shittabey, Abifoluwa 
 Silverman, Jordan 
 Smythe, Seynique A
 Straub, Elaina D
 Suri, Manpreet 
 Swaminathan, Anjna K
 Syed, Amad H
* Sylla, Mariame 
 Tadesse, Kirubel B
 Tagoe, Ivan P
 Tinne, Melvis N
 Tobon, Karen E
 Toledo, Amanda P
 Tolentino, Ricardo 
 Toliver, Jordan A
* Tran, Alan T
 Tran, Megan T
 Ukaegbu, Oyinyechi A
* Vandeyar, Javier 
 Vodela, Meghana S
 Weiser, Gary 
 Wilkins, Patrick M
* Wolde, Mikias G
 Wong, Don 
 Wright, Timothy R
* Yaunan, Sanjiv S
 Yee, Daniel C
 Yusuf, Samy 

 Abbas, Mariya 
* Abel, Brent S
 Abera, Tsebaot K
 Adams, Jasmine S
 Adkins, Jared M
* Ahmad, Maria 
 Ahmed, Asif U
 Alleyne, Victoria D
 Amadiobi, Eziaku 
 Andoseh, Bemi J 
 Bean, Kevin D
 Bechtoldt, Alison M
 Bernstein, Karen M
 Biloa, Stacymurie D
 Boateng-Botwe, Rhoda 
* Bouvier-Lyons, Maya A
 Bradshaw, Lauren K
* Brimmer, Charles B
 Burns, Cody 
 Campbell, Valerie J
 Cardenas, Daniel M
 Carr, Amy M
 Chang, Sarah 
 Chi, Naomi M
 Chopde, Rakesh N
* Chopra, Natasha 
 Chowdhury, Saurav R
* Chung, Scott 
 Dalal, Sonia P
 Dayrit, Nique Jelen S
 Desmangles, Jean M
 Devkota, Mandisha 
 Divakarla, Sneha M
 Do, Andy 
 Dustin, Danielle 
 Duval, Korine A
 Eakin, Brian C
 Edwards, James K
 Eyow, Liban A
 Fadeyi, Temi M
 Fernandus, Liejo 
 Friedman, Steven J
 Goodie, Keondra E
 Granados, Gilbert A
 Gregoire, Daniel L
 Grinberg, Julia 
 Gudenius, Brandon M
 Guzman, Vanessa I
 Herath, Thilini L
 Herrera, Fernando D
 Hislop, Tarik N
 Hoang, Minh T
 Hodgson, Janelle S
 Howard, Redmond J
 Isaac, Kishore D
* Jacob, Christina M
 Jenifer, Regina 
 Jewett, Xavier C
 Jones, Alexus 
 Kals, Amy 
 Kang, Ho Young 
 Kanu, Rasheeda K
 Khan, Shoaib M
* Kind, Patrick J
 Kwon, Paul H
* Laudwein, Evelyn B
 Le, Dongha 
 Lee, John 
 Lively, Sarah L
 Lopez, Walter O
 Lucero, Nancy 
* Magnus, Julianna I
 Malleck, Adam T
 Maniwang, Stephanie V
 Marapaka, Abhinay 
 Marchica, Louise P
 Martin, Andrew N
* Mekonnen, Michael 
 Menta, Karthikeya 
* Michnewich, Matthew J
 Miller, Mindy S
 Moores, Colleen 
 Moran, Victoria Y
 Morgan, Matthew D
 Nguyen, Amanda L 
 Nguyen, Vu 
 Nibber, Jesspaul S
 Njosa, Nora A
 Nusta, Julie N
 Ocran, Cindy 
 Ofori-Dankyi, Ben 
 Okorafor, Tavie 
 Okunji, Uzoamaka E
 Outlaw, Olivia R
 Pabari, Manshi G
 Pae, David J
 Paik, Danielle H
 Palilingan, Sheryl 
 Paris, Franklyn F
 Park, Jong S
 Poulos, Francis T
 Pradhan, Ujina 
 Prakash, Saurabh 
* Rubio, Cindy 
 Sabade, Natasha S
 Sabir, Mohammed M
 Samuel, Jamal A
 Sanford, Ayana 
 Sani, Abdullaziz 
 Sen, Ashley 
 Seto, Ashley 
 Shah, Khushbu B
 Shaikh, Mazin 
 Sheth, Shraddha N
 Shinholser, Logan E
 Siddiqui, Saania Z
 Singh, Gurashish 
 Siripanichgon, Panit 
 Smith, David R
 Sok, Chamrong 
 Sonty, Adam C
* Swaminathan, Rajna K
 Sylla, Fatoumata Y
 Tesfai, Naomi 
 Tesfaye, Yeesalem 
 Tounkara, Mohamed 
 Tran, Jessica A
 Tran, Michael T
 Truong, Nguyen T
 Tse, Bradley C
 Udoh, Nsikak 
 Valdez-Lopez, Luis E
 Vu, Stephanie T
* Werner, Jessica N
 Williams, Christina A
 Wistar, Cass C
 Wray, Sarah L
 Wyche, Malcolm K

 Abangma, Manyi B
 Akinkuowo, Omotola T
 Allen, Jordan T
 Aloi, Angela M
 Alvarez, Diana J
 Alvin, Antonea R
 Amenabar, Caroline R
 Ansari, Azam A
 Atallah, Katherine A
 Austin, Lashawnda D
 Baez, Jason M
 Bagayoko, Salimata H
 Bah, Alhaji I
 Baptiste, Nathalie M
 Baptiste, Nikita A
 Barnes, Scott W
 Bass, Glenn T
 Beah, Peter Y
* Berger, Leanne 
 Blanchard, Sarah L
 Brady, Bonnie K
 Brand, Charles F 
 Bronson, Briana M
 Brown, Michael J
 Bui, Sally T
 Carr, John V
 Chan, Wai L
 Chlebowski, Alexandra J
* Chlumsky, Adrienne L
 Choppala, Rohini S
 Clermont, Daphney 
 Davis, Brittni A
 Dedo, Abike D
 Eapen, Shanu P
* Essick, Danielle L
* Essick, Nicholas L
 Essick, Zachary S
 Etchu, Lydia M
 Etwaroo, Katrina P
 Fernandes, Patrick M
 Fuentes, Juan D
 Giles, Jasmine D
 Giordano, Kimberly 
 Gugsa, Natnael T
* Hauprich, Kelly A
 Havasy, Patricia M
 Heng, Christina L
* Hession, Kimberly M
 Hubscher, Molly J
 Hussain, Maryam Q
 Hussain, Tehreem Q
 Huynh, Uyen K
 Irons, Larissa L
 Johnson, Jeshurun S
* Jolles, Gregory 
 Jones, Allison 
 Jones, Nasreen B
 Jones JR, John D
 Kang, Jeannie H
 Kaye, Brian L
 Kim, Daniel S
 Kizito, Lynette 
 Kromah, Haja J
 Kuhney, Julia 
 Lay, Christine S
 Lethbridge, Daniel J
 Loesberg, Danielle B
 Lutz, Michael T
* MacNamara, Kyle 
 Maddox, Jacob 
 Maniwang, Paula V
 Mayes, Sara A
 Mehari, Meharit T
 Metellus, Jaimie 
 Miller, Steven M
 Mills, Ross M
* Modha, Menal G
 Mohapatra, Sidhartha 
 Morton-Warren, Latashia T
 Moses, Nicholas 
 Naqvi, Sabah F
 Ndeh, Azah 
 Newson, Paige A
 Ngassa Djapa, Sidoine 
 Ngo, Claudia M
 Ngomba, Brenda T
 Nguyen, Brian C
* Niedermair, Christina Y
 Nwanna, Chima 
 Ofumbi, Melissa J
 Okunji, Chinyere I
 Opabajo, Irene A
 Pandit, Raina 
* Park, Hyun M
 Park, James H
 Patel, Ami A
 Perciavalle, Rocco  
 Petska, Samuel 
 Phall, Yaawa 
* Pham, Linh R
 Pham, Stephanie H
 Posthuma, Katelin M
 Posthuma, Stephanie A
 Powell, Adam C
 Preister, Chelsea E
 Pung, Kurtis M
* Reynolds, Sierra 
 Rivas, Victoria 
 Rodriguez, Nataly E
* Rosario, Rachel A
 Rozario, Joan T
 Rubio, Mauricio 
 Sabir, Sehar F
* Saleh, Awrad S
 Schlesinger, Elijah 
 Schmedding, Nicholas A
* Segovia, Joana M
 Serpas, Rachel N
 Singh, Sidak 
 Smith, Evan F
 Sok, Thavy 
 Sos, Shoubry 
 St. Louis, Brittney N
 Steele, Cristen R
 Stubblefield, Ronald E
 Sy-Sahande, Sanata R
 Tabisz, Michelle 
 Tadesse, Semeon B
 Teague, Jessica D
* Tidwell, Jordan P
 Tizabi, Jonas J
 Tom-Wigfield, Noelle G
 Trotta, John L
 Tukei, Kevin O
 Turner, David C
* Tylka, Joseph G
 Vandeyar, Christine A
 Vaughn, Eric C
 Wade, Danielle L
 Wakar, Christine 
 Wiggan, Toni-Ann K
 Wilkinson, Mark A
 Xayamath, Johnny 
 Yates, Brendan P
 Yoon, Grace 
 Zepp, Andrew P
 Zhang, Xuemin 

* Indicates student earned all grades of "A"

Click here for easy to print Honor Roll (pdf)

Paint Branch Student Wins Prestigious
Washington Post Scholarship

Paint Branch Senior, Sehar Sabir, has been selected to participate in the Washington Post’s Ninth Annual High School Writing Seminar and Scholarship Program.

            The four-Saturday seminars, starting on March 8, 2008 and running through March 29, 2008, are designed to help high school students interested in journalism careers.

Washington Post reporters and editors serve as instructors for the seminars which are designed to help build the participants’ reporting and writing skills.  In addition to Post professionals, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, will meet with the students at the March 8th seminar for a newsmaker interview.  A Washington Post political reporter will join the students and interview Congresswoman Norton. 

            Ms. Sabir is the Opinions Editor of the Mainstream, the Paint Branch school newspaper, and a second year journalism student.  This is the fourth year in a row in which a Paint Branch journalism student has been chosen to participate in this prestigious program.

Four Paint Branch Teams Win the

MCPS Sportsmanship Award

Four Paint Branch Varsity teams won the Montgomery County Sportsmanship Award for the Fall 2007 season.

The award winning teams are: the Field Hockey team, coached by Dan Feher; the Varsity Football team, coached by Mike Nesmith; the Varsity Girls Soccer team, coached by Danielle Prietz and the Varsity Girls Volleyball team, coached by Nicole Shields.

The teams earned the award due to the school’s effort in promoting sportsmanship, and support and courtesy towards officials.   Sports officials, school administrators, athletic directors and assistant athletic directors all vote on each of three areas:  the play and conduct of the school’s athletes, the coach’s sportsmanship and fans behavior during games.

According to Jeff Sullivan, PB Athletic Director, “Our student-athletes did a tremendous job this fall not only in playing the game, but setting an example and tone of sportsmanship for the entire school year.  Our students, parents and all our fans have much to be proud.”

Sponsored by Target Field Trip Grant

On Friday, February 15, 2008, Paint Branch freshmen from the Theodore Roosevelt House will be participating in a field trip to Sagamore Hill at Oyster Bay, Long Island.  This field trip is being sponsored by a $1000.00 Target Field Trip Grant to help bring learning to life for students.  The Theodore Roosevelt House grant was selected from more than 16,000 applicants from around the country.

            The field trip will include a guided tour of the family home and the Theodore Roosevelt Museum from the National Park Service

            The Theodore Roosevelt House was established as one of four Paint Branch Smaller Learning Communities (SLC).  The other three houses are the Dr. Ben Carson House, the Dolores Huerta House and the Rosa Parks House.  The houses are designed to break the freshmen class (over 500 students) into four, smaller distinct Smaller Learning Communities with a group of core common teachers who could better focus on the needs of the students in their house.

            Sagamore Hill was the Theodore Roosevelt’s family home where he and his second wife, Edith Kermit Carow raised their children Alice, Theodore Jr., Kermit, Ethel, Archie, and Quentin.  Sagamore Hill was also Theodore Roosevelt’s “summer White House” from 1902 to 1909 and witness to many national and international events.  It was at Sagamore Hill in August, 1905 where Roosevelt separately met the envoys of warring Russia and Japan.  Here, he brought the delegations together and crafted the Portsmouth Peace Conference resulting in the September 5, 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth (New Hampshire) which ended the conflict and earned Theodore Roosevelt the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906.

Three Paint Branch Students Selected for Prestigious
Howard Hughes/National Institutes of Health Internship

Paint Branch High School, Academy of Science and Media, is pleased to announce that juniors Brent Abel, Uzoamaka Okunji and Shraddha Sheth were selected as Howard Hughes Medical Institute/National Institutes of Health/Montgomery County Public Schools (HHMI/NIH/MCPS) Student Interns for the 2008 – 2009 school year.  They will start their internship in June 2008 which culminates in a presentation of their research in May 2009.

Howard Hughes/NIH internships are highly prized and unique internships offered to high school students in their senior year.  Only 22 students each year are selected from Montgomery County high schools. 

It is rare to have three students selected from the same high school.  This continues a long tradition of having several students a year awarded Howard Hughes Internships.  Last year, Paint Branch had two students win this internship, Claudia Ngo and Chinyere Okunji, and they will present their research in May the Howard Hughes Symposium.

Three Paint Branch Students Chosen ass

Maryland General Assembly Pages

          Paint Branch High School seniors Lishan Amde, Arpan Duttaroy and Sehar Sabir have been chosen as pages for the 2008 session of the Maryland General Assembly. 

            Each page will serve two nonconsecutive weeks in either the House of Delegates or the State Senate.  During the thirteen weeks of session, each page will serve one week during the first eight weeks and return for his/her second week during the last five weeks. 

While a page, the duties will revolve around the schedule of the chamber to which he/she is assigned.  The students will work with members in their offices and on the House and Senate floors, filing legislation, answering phones, working with staff in committees, and essentially, doing whatever is needed to help keep the legislative process moving smoothly and efficiently.

            Ms. Sabir is the Paint Branch Student Government President, Ms. Amde the SGA Vice President, and Mr. Duttaroy the Senior Class President.  All three students are extremely interested in government and politics and both Ms. Sabir and Mr. Duttaroy are interested in studying international relations in college.

Paint Branch Jazz Band Performs This Friday Evening

The Paint Branch Jazz Band will be performing at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Friday, February 1, 2008 at 7:00 pm. They will be performing a variety of music including swing, latin, bossa nova, rock and more. All are encouraged to dance to all the musical selections. Tickets are $10.00 per person in advance and $12.00 at the door.

St. Mark’s is located at 12621 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20905. For more information call St. Mark’s at 301-622-5860.

Paint Branch Seniors Participate in
Washington Brain Bee

On Wednesday, February 6, 2008, Paint Branch seniors Nicholas Schmedding, and Menal Modha participated in the National Capital Area Brain Bee sponsored by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences, and American Association for the Advancement of Science and held at the Dana Center, Washington, DC.

A number of schools throughout the area participated, including Richard Montgomery, Churchill, Montgomery Blair, St. Anselm’s Abby, Suitland, and Roosevelt Senior High School in Washington, D.C.

According to Paint Branch AP Psychology teacher, Faye Johnson, “the great thing is that these students spent so much of their ‘spare’ time studying neuroscience for the competition along with their regular load of courses.” 

Paint Branch One-Act Plays This Friday

This Friday, February 1, 2008, Paint Branch Perspectives students present the Second Annual Festival of One-Act Plays.  This is a one time showing at 7:00 pm in the Auditorium.  Tickets are $5.00.

The night will consist of four student-directed one-act plays, and one teacher-directed play.  The plays range from a 1950’s teen-date to a modern relationship via Post-It Notes.

 There will be something for everyone, and is sure to make you giggle!

Panther of the Month Awards for February 2008

9th Grade - C.J. Rager

10th Grade - Sneha Rao

11th Grade - Kishore Isaac

12th Grade - Brittany Thomas

Click here for past recipients

Paint Branch High School
HONOR ROLL
2^nd Grading Period – February 2008

Click here for easy to print Honor Roll (pdf)

* Indicates student earned all grades of “A”;

Click here for easy to print Honor Roll (pdf)

Podosek and Hardy milestones
only part of the Panther story

by Dan Greenberg | Gazette Staff Writer
Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008
Click Here For Gazette Article

Paint Branch boys basketball coach Walt Hardy was honored for winning his 150th game at Paint Branch. Photo by J. Adam Fenster⁄The Gazette

It only takes one word to summarize the careers of Paint Branch head basketball coaches Heather Podosek and Walter Hardy: commitment. But that one words means so much. It was commitment for which the two longtime Panther icons were honored Friday, between games of their boy-girl doubleheader against Northwood. A ceremony commemorated milestone victories for each the previous week — Podosek reached 300 career high-school wins with the girls team’s victory over Wheaton, while Hardy hit 150 as the Paint Branch boys coach against Kennedy.

But win totals are only a microcosm of the commitment Podosek and Hardy have had for their programs, and the school itself. Besides the legwork they do with their teams, they also help fill the additional roles that make the Panthers’ athletic program go.

‘‘We’re very fortunate to have two people like that in varsity basketball positions, because it’s more than just basketball for both of them,” said Paint Branch Athletics Director Jeff Sullivan, also the girls junior varsity coach under Podosek from 1998-2003. ‘‘Heather’s also my assistant AD for me, and Walter coaches boys and JV girls volleyball.

‘‘Of course they’ve won a lot of games, but what gets lost in the shuffle are the things they do behind the scenes, whether it’s the phenomenal job they do getting their players into college, taking them bowling or out for pizza, just the involvement they have. They bleed burgundy and gold; both true Panthers.” Different paths led Podosek and Hardy to Paint Branch, with the latter’s more direct. Hardy is homegrown, a 1985 Paint Branch alum who came back to teach at the school in 1992. He coached the JV boys for six years before taking over the varsity squad in 1998.

Coach Podesek, Paint Branch Girls coach was honored for winning her 300th game at Paint Branch. Photo by J. Adam Fenster⁄The Gazette

Podosek, conversely, is well-traveled. After going from Charles Blake (N.J.) High to George Mason University as a player, she became a graduate assistant at Texas Woman’s University, where she was named the Women’s Sports Foundation Graduate Assistant of the Year in 1991. She coached at Eastern Hills (Tex.) High, started the boys basketball program at the Lab School (D.C.) and led Rockville for two years before taking over at Paint Branch in 1997.

Both have won Class 3A state championships at Paint Branch, Hardy in 2000 and Podosek in ’01. Both have had consistently good teams, Hardy winning 66 percent of his games and Podosek an astronomical 83 percent. And both have sent multiple players to Division I college programs, including Jamaal Wise (Rhode Island), Jason McAlpin (Maryland), Rochelle Coleman (Syracuse) and Ashley Alexander (Loyola).

‘‘Obviously there’s a lot of success there for our programs; and really we work together a great deal,” said Hardy. ‘‘I just have a great relationship with Heather, really. Never any problems with scheduling practices, her kids are always at our games, ours always at hers. ... It’s nice to be able to bounce ideas off each other and we’re both excited for one another. I’ve even dressed up as a panther at one of her playoff games.”

Podosek and Hardy are also part of a small fraternity of just five Montgomery County Public School head coaches to have been with their current teams for 10 years or more. The others are Dan Harwood of the Magruder boys, Dennis Drown of the Quince Orchard girls and Steve Pisarski of the Damascus girls.

‘‘In her state championship year, they beat us in the final 10 seconds of the game; I remember it well,” said Pisarski, who started at Damascus the same year Podosek started at Paint Branch. ‘‘I’ve known Heather for a long time and her record speaks for itself. ... You can’t win without players, but it doesn’t seem to matter if their players are O.K., really good or great, they’re still winning, no matter what.”

She and Hardy have the respect of their peers, but they also have it from one another. Amidst the wins and losses, it’s their mutual commitment to their school that commands respect.

‘‘I don’t think people realize how great a coach Walter is,” said Podosek. ‘‘It’s not always Jamaal Wises that they’re winning with. He does a hell of a job to get the absolute most out of his players.”

Click Here For Gazette Article

NCAA Recruiting Policies Presentation at Paint Branch High School

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Paint Branch Sports Booster Club is hosting Tyler Fleming, Associate Athletic Director at Catholic University, on Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 7:00 pm at the Paint Branch High School Auditorium speaking on NCAA Recruiting Policies.  This is the third year the Booster Club has hosted such a program.  The first two years focused on Division I Athletics.  This year, the program will focus on the Division III level.

Parents, coaches and athletes, from all MCPS High Schools are welcome to attend.  This is a great opportunity for all high school athletes thinking about competing in college to get valuable information from a knowledgeable source and great presenter.

PAINT BRANCH 6th SCIENCE EXPO FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2007

The Paint Branch High School SCIENCE EXPO will be held on Friday, December 14, 2007. The EXPO will run throughout the school day in the Media Center and small gym for our students and guests.

The SCIENCE EXPO combines scientific research with innovative ways to present student work. There will be interactive physics demonstrations, games and contests, green schools displays, genetic disorder and virus display boards, chemistry demonstrations, applications of DNA technology, traditional inquiry-based science fair projects, anatomy powerpoint presentations and 3-D models, blood pressure screenings, crime scene re-enactments focusing on the forensics science of a crime and box car races -- all of which relate to scientific topics. Area scientists from the Washington Academy of Sciences, middle school students from Briggs Chaney, Francis Scott Key and White Oak Middle Schools and teachers from the Northeast Consortium will all be on hand to participate in the scholarly research, fun and wonder of the various aspects of this year's SCIENCE EXPO.

PAINT BRANCH STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN HISTORY DAY

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2007

The Paint Branch High School History Day will be held on Thursday, December 6, 2007. The History Day will run throughout the school day in the Media Center for Paint Branch students and guests.

American history students will have projects, ranging from scholarly papers, exhibits, powerpoint demonstrations, documentaries and group exhibits all revolving around the theme: Conflict and Compromise.

This year’s theme is determined by the National History Day Program.  This national program is a year-long education program that culminates in a national contest every June. This year, the contest will be held June 15 - 19, 2008 at the University of Maryland.

Paint Branch is unique in that the National History Day project is incorporated into the Gilder Lehrman American History program and Honors United States History classes so that students gain valuable research and presentation skills.  Students work will be judged at Paint Branch History Day and the top papers and projects will then be submitted to compete in the Montgomery County National History Day in March, where Paint Branch students are a perennial participant.

 The winners of that competition then advance to state wide competition at Montgomery College, Rockville Campus, in April.  Only then, those winners advance to the national competition in June at the University of Maryland

Over the past years, Paint Branch students enrolled in the Gilder Lehrman American History  Program have won both Montgomery County and Maryland competitions, advancing to the National Competition and winning second place

For more than twenty-five years the National History Day program has promoted systemic educational reform related to the teaching and learning of history in America's schools. The combination of creativity and scholarship built into the NHD program anticipated current educational reforms, making National History Day a leading model of performance-based learning.

Paint Branch Student Nominated for National Scholarship Program

          Burtonsville, MD – Sehar Sabir, a Paint Branch High School senior and member of the Paint Branch High School National Honor Society, has been nominated to compete in the National Honor Society scholarship sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

            Ms. Jeanette Dixon, Principal at Paint Branch High School announced the nomination, which places Ms. Sabir in the national competition. This year the program will once again award $200,000 in college scholarships. As a feature for the 2008 program, special recognition and additional awards will be presented to state and regional winners, along with the selection of one national recipient who will receive an additional $13,000 award.

            High school National Honor Society chapters from across the country were eligible to nominate two senior high members to compete. Nominees were selected on the basis of their leadership skills, participation in service organizations and clubs, achievements in the arts and sciences, employment experience, and academic record.   They also were required to write an essay.

            "Students nominated for the NHS scholarship not only demonstrate academic excellence but also excel in the areas of service, leadership, and character," said Rocco Marano, director, NHS. “In recognizing leadership in co-curricular activities as well as academic performance, the NHS scholarship recognizes the importance of a well-rounded education.   Co-curricular activities are an essential part of the school curriculum.” 

            The National Honor Society (NHS) and the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) are the nation's premier organizations that recognize outstanding middle level and high school students who demonstrate excellence in the areas of scholarship, leadership, service, and character. NHS™ and NJRS ™ are proudly sponsored by NASSP.   NASSP – the preeminent organization and national voice for middle level and high school leaders – also sponsors the national Association of Student Councils (NASC), which promotes and provides leadership development opportunities to prepare and empower students to serve their schools and communities.  For more information, visit www.nhs.us.

PANTHER PRIDE  - November 2007

• Congratulations to Sehar Sabir and Arpan Duttaroy who have been selected to be pages for the Maryland General Assembly in 2008. We are very proud of our SGA and Senior Class Presidents.
   
• Kudos to Menal Modha who received $100.00 and a certificate at the Mark Curtis Awards sponsored by the Art and Humanities Council. Olutoba Adewusi, Ashley Sen, and Shradda Sheth also received certificates for excellence in humanities courses.
   
• Thank you to Commander DeCavage, Chief Williams and the cadets in the NJROTC program for their participation in the annual Silver Spring Thanksgiving Parade on Saturday November 17th. We appreciate the great job you did representing Paint Branch.
   
• And finally we are very proud of Zachary Graves, Natnael Gugsa and Robel Berhe who won Academic /Leadership Awards at the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Achievement Program.

 

Paint Branch High School
HONOR ROLL
1^st Grading Period – November 2007

Paint Branch math teacher named
one of best in state
by Danny Jacobs | Gazette Staff Writer
Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007
Click here for Gazette Article

Colin Reinhard was a self-described ‘‘memorizer” in his high school math classes, knowing when to perform functions but not understanding why. It was not until he saw the applications of mathematics during college-level civil engineering classes that the ‘‘why” made sense. ‘‘It all clicked,” he said. Now, as a fourth-year math teacher at Paint Branch High School following jobs as a civil engineer, Reinhard tries to make math ‘‘click” each day for his students while having fun in the process. ‘‘It’s cliché that you learn something new every day, but it’s true,” he said. ‘‘That’s why I enjoy it so much.”

Lauren Kasmir⁄The Gazette Alex Measday, a freshman at Paint Branch High School, listens to teacher Colin Reinhard during an honors geometry class Monday morning. Reinhard, a math teacher at the Burtonsville high school, was named one of four outstanding teachers in the state last month by the Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Reinhard, 28, was honored last month as one of four outstanding teachers statewide by the Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The award came as a surprise to Reinhard, who applied two days before its deadline only at the suggestion of Eileen Greenberg, chairwoman of Paint Branch’s math department.

Greenberg was impressed observing Reinhard teach various levels of math, particularly how he engaged calculus students by mixing their newly learned skills with prior knowledge to solve problems. Moreover, Reinhard allowed the students to arrive at answers however they wanted to, only afterward ensuring the underlying concept in the lesson was understood, she said.

‘‘I saw exemplary teaching,” Greenberg said. ‘‘He just sees the big picture.”

Reinhard sees himself as another student in the classroom, working with classmates toward a common goal. ‘‘I may have a little more knowledge, but I’m sharing it with them and together we’re going to see what we can do,” he said. ‘‘Nothing makes a kid feel like they know how to do it than to see everyone can do it differently and we all got to the same place.”

The strategy is mutually beneficial, Reinhard said. The students feel more at ease and confident to share their ideas and Reinhard can then incorporate the ideas he did not consider into future lesson plans. ‘‘I provide them with a toolbox and I don’t tell them what they’re going to make,” he said.

Rajna Swaminathan, a 16-year-old junior who has Reinhard both as a calculus teacher and coach for the school’s math team, said the teacher makes math fun.

‘‘Calculus can be dry, but he makes it a lot better,” she said.

At the same time, however, Reinhard demands a lot from his students, asking more from his calculus class than what is required on the Advanced Placement exam, Swaminathan said.

Reinhard believes the contrast is a necessary balance. ‘‘It’s OK to be silly because we get the job done,” he said. ‘‘If we remain serious all the time, it takes the excitement out of it.”

Reinhard knew he would one day become a math teacher after taking, on a whim, an introductory education course on secondary mathematics as a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh. He just did not know when. Reinhard interned with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers while still in school and then was hired to design retention ponds with a small Maryland State Highway Administration contractor following graduation, moving to the area after his future wife, Melissa, got a job as a software engineer in Baltimore.

But Reinhard said after two years of designing retention ponds, he was simply plugging numbers into ready-to-use formulas instead of using his own math skills, like a chef using someone else’s recipe. It was an appropriate metaphor, considering two of Reinhard’s favorite hobbies are cooking, particularly recreating recipes of dishes he has eaten at restaurants, and do-it-yourself home renovation projects. So he went to graduate school for teaching at Johns Hopkins University before starting at Paint Branch.

‘‘I knew I needed a career that I could reach as many people as possible,” he said.

On Monday, Reinhard attempted to reach the freshmen and sophomores of his honors geometry class about congruent triangles and the rules that govern them. Reinhard moved back and forth between demonstrating postulates on the white board (he is allergic to chalk, an irony he enjoys), and helping students with individual work. Students called out answers in a conversational manner instead of waiting for Reinhard to call on them.

Reinhard spoke calmly, slowing to emphasize key terms, and kept a smile on his face throughout the 45-minute class. He frequently bantered with students, teasing one boy about his favorite football team and asking a girl who used to have long hair her reaction when she cut it short.

Reinhard jokes that the state teaching award will give him ‘‘Olympic gold medallist syndrome” and leave him wondering what is next. But he believes he can maintain his teaching passion for the foreseeable future.

‘‘I don’t think I’ll ever lose that spark,” he said. ‘‘I live for this.”

Click here for Gazette Article

Paint Branch Mathematics Honor Society Inducts New Members

The Paint Branch Mathematics Honor Society held its annual induction ceremony on Monday, October 22, 2007 in the school’s Media Center at 2:30 pm.  Juniors and seniors were selected for this honor by earning a GPA of 3.5 or higher in all of their high school math courses taken at Paint Branch.  Parents and friends are invited to congratulate the newest members of the society. 

The Mathematics Honor Society is in its sixth year.  Potential members complete an application process, must have a 3.5 average in mathematics, and at least completed Algebra Two. The mathematics teachers review the applications before making the final selections. 

Twice a month, each member of the society tutors underclassmen in math skills or provides extra help to students preparing to take the state’s Algebra High School Assessment test.

The 2007 - 2008 members are:

Paint Branch Students Inducted in
Academy of Finance Pinning Ceremony

The Rebecca F. Baber Academy of Finance held its annual pinning ceremony on Thursday, October 4, 2007 in the school’s Media Center.  Seniors were selected for this honor by completing a prescribed set of Academy courses and completing a paid six week internship over the summer.  Parents, internship sponsors, teachers and friends were in attendance to congratulate the newly pinned members of the academy. 

As part of the pinning ceremony, several students made presentations about their summer internship experiences and what they had learned at their respective jobs.   They shared how the coursework over the past three years prepared them well for the challenges they faced in the work environment. The academy students’ excellent presentations were often peppered with humorous stories of events and occurrences of what, for many, was their first paid working job. 

The Rebecca F. Baber Academy of Finance is in its fourth year at Paint Branch.  Members take a series of courses in the academy including Banking and Credit, Accounting, Financial Planning, Entrepreneurship, Economics and World Finance, International Finance and AP Microeconomics.  Part of the requirement is to work a minimum of 120 hours in a paid internship during the student’s junior or senior years.

The Academy of Finance students also operate a Montgomery County Teacher’s (MCT) Credit Union branch in the school.  Twice a week, the bank opens to students and teachers.  Academy student’s handle deposits, withdrawals, and educate students on the services available at the bank.

The 2007 - 2008 members are:

Paint Branch Art Teacher Named
 Most Outstanding New High School Art Teacher in Maryland

Kristina Disharoon, has been selected Most Outstanding New High School Art Teacher in the state of Maryland.   She will be awarded this honor October 19, 2007 at the Maryland Art Education Association annual convention at Towson University. 

Ms. Disharoon received both her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Arts in Teaching from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. She began her career at Paint Branch High School in the fall of 2005 where she still currently teaches Digital Art, Foundations of Art and Painting.

Ms. Disharoon’s proudest accomplishments to date are the awards won by students from the Digital Art department that she so passionately built. She is a firm believer in enriching her instruction by constantly supplementing her own education, including recent AP Studio Art teaching certification.

To stay involved with her school and students, Ms. Disharoon has been the Ultimate Frisbee coach, runs the Art Club, is the senior-class sponsor, and is leading a group of students on a tour of Italy during spring break in March, 2008.

 Paint Branch Mathematics Teacher Named
 Maryland Outstanding Teacher

Paint Branch Mathematics Teacher, Colin Reinhard, has been named a Maryland Outstanding Teacher from the Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics. 

            Mr. Reinhard’s award will be presented on Thursday, October 18, 2007 at the Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics Awards Banquet and Annual Meeting to be held at the Turf Valley Inn and Resort.  Mr. Reinhard is one of four outstanding Maryland mathematics teachers selected.

Mr. Reinhard was recognized for “demonstrating quality in mathematics instruction in Maryland.”  Mr. Reinhard is in his fourth year at Paint Branch High School and has taught AP Calculus BC, Honors Pre-Calculus, Honors Geometry, Geometry, Algebra and inclusion Geometry classes.

            Mr. Reinhard is also in his second year as the sponsor of the Paint Branch Math Honor Society and the coach of the Math Team, the Paint Branch Mathletes.  The Math Honors Society is made up of Juniors and Seniors with a math GPA of 3.5 or greater who work as peer tutors during lunch for other Paint Branch math students.

            This is Mr. Reinhard’s second career.  Prior to becoming a math teacher, Mr. Reinhard was a civil engineer. 

PAINT BRANCH YEARBOOK TAKES TOP HONORS AT THE
COLUMBIA SCHOLASTIC PRESS ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL COMPETITION

The Paint Branch Yearbook, Felidae, was named a Gold Medalist in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Annual yearbook competition. 

Felidae was commended for its “wonderful” photography, “clear writing” and overall format which was highly praised as “very good,” along with the senior superlatives (“good quotes and fun pictures”), as well as layouts and design which were “clear and well planned.”

The creative theme “Defined” was developed from all the “bits and pieces of time that made up high school: this is how we were defined.”   The judges commented the theme was “very clever,” in how it was “carried out . . . sort of like a teaching tool (the definitions) – which are directly related back to education. Very clever.”

Felidae earned near perfect scores in the areas of Overall Concept, Coverage, Writing and Design. 

Emily Burke, now a freshman at University of Maryland, College Park was the Editor-in-Chief of the Gold Medal winning yearbook. 

Adrianne DelCotto is in her third year as Felidae Advisor.  Felidae has won a number of awards from Columbia Scholastic Press Association and The National Scholastic Press Association over the past years.