Blog

Conversation with Author Kate Anderson Brower

New York Times best selling author Kate Anderson Brower visited the school today for a special Conversation. The students are studying the U.S. Government this year and are reading her fascinating and accessible book The Hill: Inside the Secret World of the U.S. Capitol. The students had loads of questions from their reading of the book as well as about her experience covering Presidents, First Ladies along with the regular people – cooks, carpenters, Capitol police – who work behind the scenes..

Ms. Brower was keenly interested in the students lives and views.  It was an extremely engaging and interesting conversation and Ms. Brower was very generous with her time staying well past the scheduled hour and a half. Her visit included a lengthy tour of the school building and taking the time to personalize and sign each of the students’ copy of The Hill.

Kate Anderson Brower is the author of The Residence and First Women, as well as Team Of Five, First In Line, and the children’s book Exploring the White House.  She is a CNN contributor and she covered the Obama administration for Bloomberg News. She is also a former CBS News staffer and Fox News producer. Kate has written for the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and the Washington Post.

It was a real honor to have Ms. Brower visit with us.  Special thanks to Martha Marani and Charm City Books for making this possible.

Welcome Allison Brown and the Young Playwrights Seminar

Through the kindness of Baltimore Center Stage, the Young Playwrights Seminar is back again this year! This seminar which runs weekly through the first week of January teaches the students the structure and art of playwriting that culminates in each student producing a 10 minute play.  The plays are then entered into a regional contest where the plays chosen are professionally produced and performed at Center Stage.  The Community School has had two students in the last several years whose works have been chosen – Ronan Guilfoyle and Hector Rivas.

We are very fortunate to have Artist Allison Brown teaching this seminar.  Ms. Brown is a multi-talented artist, writer, designer and entrepreneur and brings her enthusiasm and gift for dynamic storytelling to our students.

Thank you Baltimore Center Stage! We are excited to work with Allison.  Keep your eyes out for more on this adventure!

Student Honors Veterans

In Honor of Mary Pat

Mary Pat Clarke, a good friend and long time member of the TCS community, has passed.

From our earliest beginning, Mary Pat was always an advocate for our school and all of the students in it. She came to know each student throughput the years, offering encouragement and personal support. She brought many political leaders and speakers to the school, developed an co-taught a class, and spoke to the class more times than I can count. She fought for us in zoning hearings, helped resolve conflicts with the city when needed, stood beside us as we worked to improve education and other issues and was just a steady and consistent presence over nearly 5 decades.

She will be missed by so many and our life, though not the same without her, is so much better because she was in it.

Conversation with Harold Young

Baltimore City Children and Youth Fund (BCYF) program officer Harold Young was our guest in our weekly “Conversation with…” series. BCYF is committed to funding and supporting youth programs in Baltimore City while assisting them in building their capacity and effectiveness.  They also provide networking opportunities to bring these groups together.  TCS is in its second year of being supported by BCYF.

Besides BCYF and a career in youth and social service work, Harold is also an actor who just finished a film and a stand up and improv comedian. He engaged in an enjoyable and meaningful conversation with students where he shared his background and the work of BCYF .  He was also keenly interested in each of the students and their experiences, challenges and goals. This is his second visit with us.

We appreciate Harold and the entire team at the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund.