Montgomery Blair High School
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Montgomery Blair High School is a Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, public school named for Montgomery Blair, a lawyer who represented Dred Scott in his United States Supreme Court case, and served as Postmaster General under President Abraham Lincoln. It was originally built at 313 East Wayne Avenue, in Silver Spring, where it overlooked Sligo Creek, a tributary of the Anacostia River. The campus has since moved to a long-vacant tract of land on University Boulevard by the Capital Beltway. Some students and alumni affectionately refer to it as Blair. It is a member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology (NCSSSMST), and appears to be the only member school that is not a specialized secondary school, because the majority of its students are not enrolled in the school's specialized programs. In 2005, thirteen Blair seniors were semifinalists and four Blair seniors were finalists in Intel Science Talent Search (ISTS).
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History
When the school opened in 1925, it was called Takoma-Silver Spring High School. Within ten years, the school was over capacity, and in 1935 it was relocated to 313 Wayne Avenue and named for Montgomery Blair. In 1992, it became the first high school to host sections of the AIDS memorial quilt. In 1998, it relocated once more to a larger space (known as the Kay Tract) on University Boulevard, eliminating one of the few remaining undeveloped tracts of land in that area of Silver Spring. This move, however, was not without its fair share of controversy due to conflicts concerning the particular location to which the school should move. On February 5, 1998, President Bill Clinton, and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair appeared (http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/videoconference/) at Montgomery Blair High School during a state visit. Montgomery Blair has also welcomed other government officials in recent years, including a 2003 visit by United States Secretary of State Tom Ridge and Secretary of Education Rod Paige.
Notable alumni
Notable alumni of Blair High include:
- Carl Bernstein, journalist who broke the Watergate scandal for The Washington Post
- Kiran Chetry, journalist
- Connie Chung, television journalist
- Dominique Dawes, Olympic Gymnast (transferred to Gaithersburg High School due to coaching changes)
- Matt Drudge, internet personality
- Steve Francis, National Basketball Association player for the Orlando Magic
- Stan Greenberg, pollster for Bill Clinton and others
- Goldie Hawn, actress
- Sylvester Stallone, actor (transferred soon after enrollment)
- Ben Stein, actor, professor, game show host, and speechwriter for President Richard Nixon
- David Vanterpool, National Basketball Association player for the Washington Wizards
Academics
Because of its Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science Magnet Program, and its Communication Arts Program, the school attracts students from across the entire county. The school is one of the few US high schools to have a .edu domain name, with its internet connection going live in the late 1980s. The school is also home to the award winning print newspaper Silver Chips (http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/section/printedition.php) and online newspaper Silver Chips Online (http://silverchips.mbhs.edu).
The school attracts over 3400 students from the surrounding residential area, including several hundred brought via bus from throughout Montgomery County. The magnet program, which was initiated as a desegregation program, accounts for about four hundred students within the school.
Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science Magnet Program
In 1985, Montgomery County Public Schools opened its Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science Magnet Program within Montgomery Blair High School. The magnet program offers accelerated, interdisciplinary courses in science, mathematics, and computer science for highly able students particularly interested in these subjects.
Ninth and tenth grade Magnet students take four courses each semester within the Magnet curriculum (science, mathematics, research, and computer science), and four courses each semester in other disciplines (English, fine arts, foreign language, physical education, social studies, etc.) with the rest of the Blair student body. This allows Magnet students to take full advantage of Blair's wide variety of traditional high school offerings, advanced placement, and honors courses. Juniors and seniors have fewer required Magnet courses, and therefore complete their schedules with electives. Since Magnet students have a number of extra academic requirements, Magnet students have an eight-period day, instead of the normal seven-period days of most county high school students. (The count of periods does not include a lunch period, which is not counted because it does not have a separate number.)
No discussion of the Magnet program is complete without mentioning the Senior Research Project (SRP). While not strictly required, completing an SRP is strongly encouraged, and the vast majority of students choose to do so. Begun in the spring of junior year, the students complete independent, original study on topics of their choice in the sciences or (less commonly) the social sciences. Usually, the project will involve an internship at one of the many prestigious research institutions in and around Montgomery County, Maryland, including the National Institutes of Health, the University of Maryland, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Carnegie Institute. After completing their research, the projects are written up in formal scientific papers and presented at the Magnet Research Convention, which takes place each year in early spring.
Magnet students have been finalists in the Westinghouse/Intel Science Talent Search (including taking first place in 1996 and first runner up in 1999), National Merit Semifinalists (more Semifinalists than any other school in the Maryland for nine years running), Montgomery County Science Fair Grand Award Winners, first place winners in the International Science and Engineering Fair, Montgomery County Mathematics League champions nineteen straight years, Super-Quest finalist teams, national winners in the NASA Space Science Student Involvement Project, American Computer Science League National Championship Teams, Grand Winner of the Physics Olympics for the Baltimore/Washington Metropolitan Area, first place winners in the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, and much more. The average SAT score for the magnet program consistently falls above 1500.
Communication Arts Program
The Communication Arts Program at Montgomery Blair High School was established three years after the Math, Science and Computer Science Magnet Program opened in 1988. This program, more commonly known by its nickname "CAP," strives to provide a comprehensive approach to the humanities and the media by offering accelerated, interdisciplinary courses in English, social studies and media production for participating students. The CAP also places a great deal of importance on social awareness and community service.
While not a magnet on the scale of the math, science and computer science program also housed at Blair, the CAP also manages to attract highly able students from all around the county to be a part of their program. Admission to the program, like the Magnet, is highly selective. Students may be eligible to join the CAP if they are a member of the Downcounty Consortium of high schools and/or were a member of the Humanities and Communications Magnet Program at nearby Eastern Middle School, and after undergoing a rigorous application process. Applicants must have a B average or better in honors-level English and Social Studies courses. The CAP admits approximately 75 students every year, but a very small amount of students are admitted to the program after the first semester of freshman year. Once admitted to the program, students are required to successfully complete the twelve CAP courses, maintain a minimum 2.75 GPA, and complete the CAP Portfolio to graduate with the CAP certificate.
The CAP Portfolio is, essentially, the final, defining and most important project of the CAP experience - assembled in senior year, students choose all of their best work in a variety of categories (writing skills, media literacy skills and creative skills among others) completed for classes that are a part of the program's curriculum. After students have put together their Portfolio to the satisfaction of CAP faculty members, they undergo interviews on their contents - failure to put together a Portfolio or failure of the interview process may result in removal from the program.
External links
- Montgomery Blair High School (http://www.mbhs.edu/)
- Communication Arts Program (http://cap.mbhs.edu/)
- Science, Math, Computer Science Magnet (http://mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/)
- Blair Network Communications (http://bnc.mbhs.edu/) (school television station)
- Silver Chips Online (http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/) (school newspaper)