The Gunston School’s Rocketry Team recently concluded its most active and ambitious season yet, with 19 students participating in the 2025 American Rocketry Challenge (ARC)—the nation’s largest middle and high school rocketry competition. Guided by mentors Dr. Ken Wilson, Mr. Ryan Reading, and Dr. Mariah Goodall, students began meeting in October, devoting 11 weekends to designing, building, and testing their own rockets using raw materials supplied by the school.

This year’s ARC challenge required students to engineer a rocket capable of carrying two hen eggs, mounted sideways, to an altitude of 790 feet. After reaching that height, the rocket had to separate into two sections that would descend independently via parachute, with the egg-containing section landing exactly 42 seconds after launch. In addition to meeting these complex design criteria, students had to pass safety inspections, conduct flight simulations, and work collaboratively through challenges in construction, testing, and troubleshooting.

The student-led program was coordinated by senior Emma Sharp, who served as the team’s “Rocketry Tsar.” She oversaw logistics, documentation, and supported team problem-solving throughout the year. During the fall semester, while Emma participated in the Chesapeake Watershed Semester, junior Connor Joyce stepped in as “Rocketry Rasputin,” offering critical support with rocket design and simulation software.

The Gunston rocketry students were divided into four teams. Team Mini Apollo, led by Eamon Schopfer ’26, came the closest to achieving the altitude goal, reaching 837 feet—just a 6% deviation from the target. Team Stellar Stooges, led by AJ Friedrich ’27 and including Nevin Porter ’26, Denis Hein ’26, Aiden Filer ’26, and Tiago Paul ’27, drew attention for their rocket’s striking Maryland flag design. The team’s craftsmanship and artistic execution stood out, and the rocket flew straight and true in testing, though it also experienced occasional issues with parachute deployment.

Team Sparrow, led by Tommy McGeady ’25 alongside teammates Trevor Janssen ’25, Jed Cohen ’26, and Andrew Shingledecker ’27, took a bold approach with a rocket design featuring mid-body canards in addition to traditional tail fins. Team Short Rocket, which included Logan Kile ’25, Kyle Dixon ’27, Blake Algier ’26, Tai Davis ’28, Caden Quiron ’26, and Grant Edgar ’28, focused on innovation. Logan designed a clustered-engine rocket powered by three motors and incorporating student-designed 3D-printed parts. The rocket passed inspection and was cleared for launch at Red Glare, but a loose electrical connection in the ignition system prevented liftoff. The team plans to attempt the rocket’s first full launch at Gunston later this spring.

These four teams of 19 students attended the Red Glare Rocketry Festival in Church Hill, Md., and brought five rockets for launch. Each team underwent formal inspections with the Range Safety Officer before heading to a professionally managed launch field, where rockets were flown one at a time. In addition to their ARC rockets, students launched a two-stage rocket built from a kit by Connor Joyce ’26, a tube-fin rocket, and a scale model of NASA’s Space Launch System, which is designed to return humans to the moon. Nearly all the rockets featured custom-designed 3D-printed components fabricated by students themselves.

“While the teams did not advance to the ARC national finals, the season was marked by bold design choices, meaningful learning experiences, and a deepened understanding of engineering, collaboration, and persistence,” said Dr. Wilson. “Students definitely finished the program with a stronger foundation in aerospace and STEM fields, as well as a sense of pride in the growth and creativity they demonstrated throughout the year.”

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Founded in 1911, The Gunston School is an independent, nonprofit, nonsectarian, coeducational, college preparatory high school located on 75 waterfront acres in Centreville, Maryland. Visit gunston.org for more information.

The Talbot County Board of Education has approved leadership appointments for the 2025-2026 school year effective July 1, 2025.

Mrs. Catessa Cain has been promoted to Principal of Easton Elementary.  Mrs. Cain earned a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from West Chester University and a Master of Arts in TESOL from Salisbury University.  She holds Maryland Administrator II Certification, and has been an Assistant Principal at Easton Elementary since 2019.   

Mr. Todd Stoker has been promoted to Principal of St. Michaels Middle High following the retirement of  Mrs. Theresa Vener in June.  Having served as Assistant Principal at Easton Middle since 2021, Mr. Stoker holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Clemson University, and a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Phoenix. 

Dr. Lisa Devaric will transfer to Easton High School as Principal.  Dr. Devaric served as Principal at Easton Elementary (Dobson) from 2015-2020, and Easton Elementary (Dobson and Moton) from 2020 to present. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Towson State University, a Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Coppin State University, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from University of Maryland Eastern Shore. 

Ms. Sherry Spurry will transfer to the Talbot County Education Center as a Curriculum Supervisor in the office of Teaching and Learning.  Ms. Spurry has a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from Salisbury University.  She has been Principal at Easton High since 2020, having previously served as principal at Easton Elementary – Moton, and White Marsh Elementary.

Mr. Corey Devaric will become Principal of White Marsh Elementary, following Ms. Kim Seidel’s retirement at the end of the school year.   Mr. Devaric holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from York College and a Master of Arts in School Leadership from Wilmington College, as well as Administrator II Certification.  He has been Principal of Tilghman Elementary since 2022.

Mrs. Alison Strickland has been appointed Principal of Tilghman Elementary. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Human Studies and a Master of Arts in Teaching from St. Mary’s College.  She later earned a Certificate in School Administration and Organizational Change from Towson University.  The current Curriculum Supervisor for Fine Arts and Library/Media, she previously served as Assistant Principal at White Marsh Elementary and Easton Middle. 

Mrs. Kristen Tilghman will join the Administrative Team at Easton High School as an Assistant Principal. Mrs. Tilghman earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics – Secondary Education from Salisbury University and a Masters of Education in School Leadership from Wilmington University.  She has served as Maryland Blueprint Implementation Coordinator since 2022, and was Curriculum Supervisor for Gifted and Talented Programming and Grades 7-12 Mathematics.  

Appointments are forthcoming for Assistant Principal positions at Easton Middle and Easton Elementary Schools.  

“This is an exciting time for our District,” said Dr. Sharon Pepukayi, Ed.D. “These outstanding leaders will take the helm as we implement our new Strategic Plan for FY26 – FY2030. In the coming school year, we will Transform and Perform in Every Way to provide the best possible education for the children of Talbot County.”

Building African American Minds (BAAM) is proud to announce a transformational $1 million gift from Dr. Eileen Amy Ryan of Rochester, NY, to endow and expand its Girls Program. This generous investment will enable BAAM to extend its reach to middle school girls starting this fall, providing them with a safe, supportive, and empowering environment to learn and grow.

Dr. Ryan, a transgender woman, is deeply committed to fostering mentorship, acceptance, and opportunity for girls and young women. “This notion of women mentoring girls is very powerful to me,” she shared.

With this endowment, BAAM will strengthen its commitment to uplifting young women by offering expanded programs and mentorship opportunities. Dr. Ryan’s gift underscores her belief that women should support and uplift one another, regardless of individual experiences or societal constructs. “To me, it’s an immense privilege to do this,” she said.

Dr. Ryan, who provided a part of the seed money to start BAAM’s girls program in 2020, is also a major supporter of Girls Rock and The Avenue, two Rochester-based arts organizations that empower girls, women, and the LGBTQ+ community. In addition, she serves on the Board of Directors for Lambda Legal, a national organization dedicated to advancing the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals.

BAAM Executive Director Dina Gomes Daly expressed deep gratitude for the gift, noting that it will ensure the long-term sustainability of the Girls Program. “This endowment is a game-changer for BAAM and the young women we serve. Eileen’s generosity will provide girls with the mentorship, education, and support they need to thrive.”

BAAM remains committed to fostering excellence in education, mentorship, and personal development for young people. With this gift, the organization takes a significant step forward in ensuring that girls have access to the same life-changing opportunities that have long been available to boys through BAAM’s programs.

For more information about BAAM and the Girls Program, please visit www.baaminc.org or contact Dina Gomes Daly at [email protected].

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About BAAM 

Building African American Minds (BAAM) is dedicated to empowering African American youth through education, mentorship, and leadership development. Founded in 2004, BAAM focuses on providing African American boys and girls with the resources, support, and opportunities they need to excel academically, grow personally, and become leaders in their communities. Through a range of innovative programs, BAAM fosters academic achievement, character development, and a commitment to community engagement.

This month, Kent County Public Schools highlighted the work of 15 teachers and staff members as part of its annual awards program.

Each school honored their Teachers of the Year and Support Employees of the Year on Thursday, March 13 with surprise presentations of balloons and flowers.

Special recognition also was given this month to the four nominees for the annual Promising Educator award.

An awards ceremony will be held Wednesday evening, April 16 to announce the countywide Teacher of the Year, Support Employee of the Year and Promising Educator Award winner.

The honorees are, by school:

Galena Elementary School

Rebeka Wooters, Teacher of the Year

Amanda Jackson, Support Employee of the Year

Abigail Saxton, Promising Educator

 

H.H. Garnet Elementary School

Kathleen Devine, Teacher of the Year

Regina Jones, Support Employee of the Year

Madison Kendall, Promising Educator

 

Rock Hall Elementary School

Drew Walters, Teacher of the Year

Maria Gordilla-Terreros, Support Employee of the Year

Breanna Reardon, Promising Educator

 

Kent County Middle School

Cheryl Fracassi, Teacher of the Year

B.T. King, Support Employee of the Year

 

Kent County High School

Johanna Cohen, Teacher of the Year

Ralph Johnson, Support Employee of the Year

Gabriella Crisham, Promising Educator

Patrick McColigan, Promising Educator

 

Central Office

Mirelle Kraus, Support Employee of the Year

 

Whoever is named the Kent County Public Schools Teacher of the Year on April 16 will join a cohort of winners from the state’s 23 other school systems all hoping to be the Maryland Teacher of the Year.

 

This story was updated at 6:44 p.m. EDT.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education demanded in a letter to state education leaders on Thursday that they certify all K-12 schools in their states are complying with an earlier Dear Colleague letter banning diversity, equity and inclusion practices if they want to keep receiving federal financial assistance.

The department’s sweeping order gives K-12 state education agencies 10 days to collect the certifications of compliance from local school governing bodies, and then sign them and return them to the federal department.

The new demand stems from a February letter threatening to rescind federal funds for schools that use DEI, or race-conscious practices, in admissions, programming, training, hiring, scholarships and other aspects of student life.

Craig Trainor, the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said “federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,” in a statement Thursday.

“When state education commissioners accept federal funds, they agree to abide by federal antidiscrimination requirements,” Trainor said. He added that “unfortunately, we have seen too many schools flout or outright violate these obligations, including by using (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another based on identity characteristics in clear violation of Title VI.”

He did not cite examples in the statement.

Trainor said the department “is taking an important step toward ensuring that states understand — and comply with — their existing obligations under civil rights laws and Students v. Harvard.”

In the February letter, Trainor offered a wide-ranging interpretation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2023 involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. The nation’s highest court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions.

Trainor wrote that though the ruling “addressed admissions decisions, the Supreme Court’s holding applies more broadly.”

The four-page letter raised a slew of questions for schools — from pre-K through college — over what exactly falls within the requirements.

The department later released a Frequently Asked Questions document on the letter in an attempt to provide more guidance.

In the document, the department noted that it’s prohibited from “exercising control over the content of school curricula” and “nothing in Title VI, its implementing regulations, or the Dear Colleague Letter requires or authorizes a school to restrict any rights otherwise protected by the First Amendment.”

The agency also clarified that “programs focused on interests in particular cultures, heritages, and areas of the world” are allowed as long as “they are open to all students regardless of race.”

Teachers unions react

Meanwhile, legal challenges are already underway against the Dear Colleague letter, including one spearheaded by the American Federation of Teachers and another from the National Education Association.

“In the middle of a school year, the president is trying to bully the very same school districts that he insisted, just a few weeks ago, should be in charge of education,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a Thursday statement.

Weingarten added that “this is a power grab and a money grab — and it’s also blatantly unlawful.”

“We know the administration wants to divert federal education funds into block grants, vouchers or tax cuts, but it’s simply not legal; only Congress can do that. Further, federal statute explicitly prohibits any president from telling schools and colleges what to teach, and funds cannot be withheld on the basis of Title VI Civil Rights Act claims without due process,” she said.

In a Thursday statement, Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said “educators and parents know that teaching should be guided by what is best for students, not by threat of illegal restrictions and punishment.”

“That is why we sued the Trump administration — and we stand by our lawsuit,” she said.

“This latest action by the Trump administration to shut down free speech and coerce educators to abandon inclusive practices at school remains illegal and unconstitutional as we pointed out in our legal filing,” she added.

Last updated 6:44 p.m., Apr. 3, 2025

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by Shauneen Miranda, Maryland Matters
April 4, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

 The Samuel and Margaret Gorn Foundation recently awarded a grant to Radcliffe Creek School (RCS) to revitalize the School’s makerspace by creating a new STEM workshop within it. The $35,771 grant will create the dedicated space—named “The Samuel and Margaret Gorn STEM Workshop”—and fund a new climate control system, room renovations, as well as furnishings to bring RCS’ makerspace, which had closed due to challenges that arose during the pandemic, back to life.

“Radcliffe Creek’s makerspace has traditionally been at the heart of the immersive learning experience we offer,” Head of School, Peter Thayer, explained, “Multisensory instruction is a key component at RCS, and this generous gift will provide our students with an exciting opportunity to learn STEM concepts in physics and arithmetic in a practical, hands-on way. We are grateful to the Samuel and Margaret Gorn Foundation for their support of this impactful project.”

This award will also make it possible for RCS to purchase the tools and materials needed to create a woodshop and bring the School’s traditional boat building program back to life. For many years, a longtime faculty member offered a wooden boatbuilding program where students learned to build and repair traditional vessels, such as wooden skiffs and log canoes. This year, two volunteers from the community, bringing decades of wooden boatbuilding experience, have begun leading the new boatbuilding course, “STEM to Stern: Boatbuilding 101.” Offered this spring to a group of sixth, seventh and eighth graders, the weekly after school program works with students to build a 12-foot wooden skiff.

Dr. Susan Grant, president of the Gorn Foundation, remarked, “The board and I are genuinely excited to support RCS’s mission to provide the opportunity for hands-on instruction that fosters and enhances learning for their students.”

After the skiff is completed this spring, the School will offer the new STEM workshop for faculty to utilize for future enrichment classes and creative woodworking projects, such as building bird houses and bat boxes to support wildlife on the school’s 11-acre wooded campus.

The Garfield Center for the Arts has opened its annual call for play and musical titles for production consideration. Suggestions and proposals can be made by Directors who would like to present a play or musical in the 2025 season as well as by interested community members, patrons of the Garfield Center and arts participants. All proposals must be received by the Garfield Center by midnight on Sunday, April 27, 2025.

Directors are encouraged to submit a list containing multiple titles (no more than 7). The more plays or musicals that each Director proposes, the better the chances are that a director may be selected to direct a production for the season.

Director proposals should give, for each title given, the full and accurate title of the play or musical, its playwright or author(s), casting requirements, and a synopsis. In addition, if the royalty company that owns the rights for the title is known, Directors should include that information. Directors are asked to provide an estimated number of rehearsal weeks that the title would require prior to opening (from the week of auditions up to and including dress rehearsal week). Last, if the Director intends to take some sort of conceptual approach to the production title, a brief description of the concept is required.

Accompanying their list of title submissions, directors must submit a small bio and resume of recent past theatrical experience along with their 2026 calendar year availability.

The GCA Programming Committee is also developing an institutional list of titles that do not have current directorial interest but would be considered good titles for future production. Any community members, patrons and participants who would like to suggest titles for the institutional list are encouraged to do so. For institutional list submissions, multiple title suggestions are welcome, but there is no requirement to give more than a single suggestion. Also, addressing why a title would be a good fit for the GCA and how it would engage the Eastern Shore community is helpful.

Detailed information on submitting a proposal is also available on the GCA web site at

http://garfieldcenter.org/directors/.

Title proposals should be submitted by email to [email protected]. Once received, submissions will be acknowledged with a response email. Directors will be informed of the final selections once the Programming Committee has chosen the season.

The teachers and staff who led the production of “The Lion King Jr.” musical at Kent County High School were recognized with this month’s Golden Anchor award.

Lori Armstrong, Jodi Bortz, Anna Lill, Noel Morris, William Poore, Stephanie Spencer and Kaitlyn Wright received their awards from the Kent County Board of Education Monday night, March 10.

The Golden Anchor award is presented each month to staff members or groups of employees who exemplify the mission and core values of Kent County Public Schools.

“Kent County Public Schools is an anchor organization that creates an environment of academic excellence through a collaborative, equitable and rigorous learning community,” the mission statement reads.

Nominations may be submitted by Kent County Public Schools staff members, parents and students.

This month’s honorees helmed the production of “The Lion King Jr.” that ran the Feb. 28 through March 1 in the Kent County High School auditorium. More than 1,000 people came to see the show that featured elementary, middle and high school students.

Armstrong and Wright served as directors, with Bortz as the musical director. Lill, Morris and Spencer helped with the production design and costuming. Poore led his Makerspace program students in creating 3-D printed masks.

“Their efforts extended beyond directing and coaching,” said Kent County High School Principal Kris Hemstetter in presenting the awards. “They guided students in designing breathtaking puppets, masks and intricate set pieces, fostering both artistic and technical skills.”

Hemstetter gave a special thank you to the Kent Cultural Alliance for its sponsorship of the production and spoke about of the importance of arts in education.