Charles County Public Schools In Focus

• The third annual The Whatever Floats Your Boat Regatta was held Tuesday, May 23 at Henry E. Lackey High School. One of the goals of the regatta is to encourage ingenuity and excitement about recycling. Students take everyday items that would otherwise be discarded and use them in novel ways to give them a second life. The challenge is to build a boat that can hold a team member. The team member has to paddle 50 meters down the pool in competition with other boats from their class. Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental, AP chemistry, and AP biology students were given a set of guidelines for materials that they could and could not use in the construction of the boats. They were given one week to construct their boats.

• Henry E. Lackey High School presented Charging Forward Family Fun Night on Wednesday, May 10. The event allowed family, students, and staff to interact in a learning environment while displaying the Growth, Relationships, Excellence, Accountability, and Teamwork — GREAT philosophy. After having a spaghetti dinner prepared by the school’s culinary club, parents and students attended sessions about BYOD technology use in the classroom, Pairing Passages English reading for meaning and core math, along with some family games.

• Henry E. Lackey High School continues its partnership with the Students Rebuild organization to take part in its annual Students Rebuild Challenge during April. This year’s challenge was to make and mail in paper “hands” to support impoverished youth in Nicaragua and Indonesia through increased access to educational programs. The Bezos Family Foundation will donate $1.90 for each “hand” that Lackey mails to the organization. Teachers sign up to bring their classes to the library to work on the project, and students can make hands during Charger Time too. Last year, the school made more than 7,000 pinwheels for the organization and raised nearly $15,000. The year before Lackey made more than 5,000 bookmarks and was selected to participate as an ambassador school, Skyping with the village in Malawi that benefited from the organization’s efforts.

• Four or five kindergarteners from each class are picked randomly to participate in a recess club once a month at Malcolm Elementary School. Each student gets a turn to join the club during the school year. Teachers work with students on a craft, science project or something else fun during their recess time.

• Malcolm Elementary School held a Career Day May 23. Organized by the school counselor, Brittany Williams, the event was for students in third through fifth grades. Presenters represented law enforcement, farming, animal care, education, health and wellness, and other fields. Each presenter spoke about their career for about 15 minutes, and some brought in activities for the students.