South county students raising funds for cancer research

Caleb Cross, 9, of Edgewater, bowls a frame for Central Elementary School's Relay for Life fundraiser held at the Annapolis Bowl in Annapolis. The group raised more than $1,600 for cancer research.

Photo by Mitchelle Stephenson - For The Capital

By Mitchelle Stephenson

Published in the Capital January 29, 2009

The Human Relations Club at Central Elementary School in Edgewater took advantage of an early dismissal day Jan. 12 by hosting a bowling party for any student who could raise $20 toward the club's Relay for Life team.

Relay for Life is the signature fundraising activity for the American Cancer Society. In the late spring, teams gather in parks, high schools, fairgrounds and other locations nationwide to rally for cancer research.

One person from each team is supposed to be out on the track or path throughout the night. Central Elementary and other schools in the area have had Relay for Life teams for years; raising thousands of dollars for cancer research.

The 2009 Relay for Life event in south county will take place at South River High School on June 5 and 6.

The bowling party at Annapolis Bowl on Generals Highway was packed with families and faculty.

Denise O'Neal, music teacher at the school and the pledge tally collector at the door, said they were hoping to raise $500 toward the school's team efforts. She later called and joyfully reported that they had raised $1,600 - over three times their goal. They had 81 bowlers in all.

Caleb Cross, a fourth-grader at Central, collected $20 in pledges and was bowling with his family and some neighbors. "I thought at first I wasn't doing so good, but after a while I got better," he said.

Kori Talbott, a physical education teacher at the school and chairman of the Human Relations Club said she got the idea to host a bowling fundraiser because of a local "In School Bowling" program run by Paul Dhyse, and funded by Walter and Mike Hall, the owners of Annapolis Bowl, Severna Park Lanes, as well as the Greenway Bowl in Odenton.

Paul said that the in-school bowling program is currently running for free in nearly 100 public and private schools throughout the county. Schools sign up at the beginning of the year for their three-week time with the equipment, which includes six carpeted, nine-foot bowling lanes, special pins and regulation size three- to five-pound bowling balls.

Paul comes to the schools to help with the setup and includes a full curriculum, which marries physical education activities along with scoring rubrics to enhance students' math skills.

Since Central had just wrapped up its participation in the in-school bowling program the party was "a good extension of what they'd learned and an opportunity for them to practice their skills," Kori said.

Last week's presidential inauguration brought extra excitement to many south county residents who were able to attend the swearing-in, the parade, or an inaugural ball.

Colin Wilson, 14, of Mayo, was lucky enough to be able to not only witness all three, but to be a part of a weeklong youth-leadership conference centered around the inauguration.

Last summer, a Central Middle School teacher recommended Colin to participate in a youth leadership conference in Washington. While there, he heard motivational speakers and met with congressmen and other government leaders.

This past fall, Colin got a special invitation to return to Washington to participate in the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference which brought 15,000 top-tier high school students from throughout the country to the nation's capital for inauguration week. They were housed at hotels in Washington and northern Virginia, and each day were brought to different locations to hear speakers like Colin Powell, Al Gore, and Eric

Weihenmayer, an adventurer, who in 2001 became the only blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

They also got to attend a luncheon of the Creative Coalition, where they met with celebrities like Billy Baldwin and others. "They all recited quotes from very important people, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and so on," Colin said.

The highlight was that Colin had prime seats to the swearing-in with his group, as well as the inaugural parade and finally a black-tie youth ball that ended the week's conference activities.

"It was really great. To be that close to something that historic was inspiring," Colin said. "His (President Obama's) speech was really good too."

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