Hillsmere Elementary Starts New Program For Hungry Students

Parents and staff at the school started the Backpack Buddies program to help nearly 150 students at the school who may not get enough to eat over the weekend.

Hillsmere Elementary School has started a Backpack Buddies program to help children who routinely show up to school hungry. More than 140 students at Hillsmere Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price school meals. Monday through Friday they get breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria, but over the weekend they sometimes don’t get enough to eat, according to a release. So parents and staff at the school launched the Backpack Buddies program, modeled after similar programs at other area schools. The idea is to provide easy-to-prepare weekend meals for needy students. Each week, volunteers will fill backpacks with food items based on a set menu, according on the release. On Friday, participating students will take home a food backpack and …

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Joe Van Deuren

10:10 am on Thursday, February 16, 2012

Congratulations to this dedicated group of parents and volunteers. The South County Rotary has a similar program in 2 schools in South County, Bountiful Backpacks. All of us working together is a wonderful show of unity in our county in the fight against hunger.   more ›

Pie in the Face for Hillsmere Principal

School administrator goes to extreme measures to motivate students in Harvest for the Hungry food drive. Last year it was duct tape.

What did your child do at school today? Hillsmere Elementary students got to throw a pie at principal Mary Wagner and watch as she reluctantly ate squid. Sound like a dream sequence from Diary of a Wimpy Kid? Maybe, but for a packed auditorium of Hillsmere students, it was very real and very messy...and gross...and great fun. This unusual activity was a reward for student participation in the Harvest for the Hungry Food Drive: Kids Helping Kids, an effort sponsored by Anne Arundel County Public Schools to benefit the Anne Arundel County Food Bank. Public elementary, middle and high schools throughout the county collected nonperishable food and monetary donations from October to Nov. 4 hoping to exceed the 142,992 pounds of food and $97,476…

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Patch Whiz Kid

Whiz Kid of the Week: Nhiyhana Nutter

Nhiyhana and her fellow Boys & Girls campers spent much of the summer displaying acts of kindness to others.

Whiz Kid's Name: Nhiyhana Nutter and Boys & Girls Club campers from across Anne Arundel County who spent the summer focusing on showing acts of kindness to those around them. Whiz Kid's Age: 9 Whiz Kid's School: Hillsmere Elementary Whiz Kid's Accomplishment: As a camper at the Bates branch of the Boys & Girls Club of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County this summer, Nhiyhana has been learning about the importance of being kind. This past summer, the various clubs across the county worked toward a goal of performing 1 million acts of kindness. Nhiyhana performed 1,000 acts of kindness. Jessica Clark, a program assistant for the Bates Boys & Girls Club, said Nhiyhana was the “compliment queen," providing compliments and helping others feel …

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Maxwell: 'Fantastic Education is Happening at Hillsmere'

Superintendent visited Hillsmere Elementary on Tuesday as part of opening day traditions.

As superintendent of Anne Arundel County public schools, Kevin Maxwell is accustomed to fielding tough questions. This skill was demonstrated Tuesday morning in Ms. Ferrer’s third grade class at Hillsmere Elementary when a room full of 8-year-olds peppered him with a difficult line of questioning. “Have you ever driven a bus?” “Who hires the bus drivers?” “Can we have an MSA test for music class?” “Do you own the schools?” As Maxwell explained his management of the county’s 125 schools with about 10,000 employees and more than 76,000 students, one young scholar summed it up for him: “So, you are like the principal of principals?” Since becoming superintendent in 2006, Maxwell has scheduled a tour of county schools around opening day. This …

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UPDATE: Rare Earthquake Shakes Up Greater Annapolis

The Safeway on Forest remains closed and Hillsmere Elementary School was cleared after the smell of gas.

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake rocked Greater Annapolis and the rest of Anne Arundel County Tuesday afternoon at just before 2 p.m. The shaking lasted several seconds and grew in intensity. Currently there are no reports of damages, though the quake managed to knock some items off shelves and photos off the wall. All of the county schools were evacuated and in Greater Annapolis, Hillsmere Elementary School was re-evacuated after officials smelled gas. County firefighters investigated the building and determined it to be safe. Students were allowed back into the school at about 3 p.m. Several offices at Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC) were evacuated, as were the shops and Bow Tie cinemas at the Annapolis Harbour Center were evacuated after …

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Jennifer Batten

5:12 pm on Tuesday, August 23, 2011

That's funny Ann, my high school freshman said the same thing!   more ›