Summer Days Math & Science Camp for Girls

I've had the very great pleasure of knowing Tracy Davenport, Founder and Director of Summer Days Math & Science Camp for Girls, for several years now, and she's one of those people that, the longer you know her, the more you admire her.

Tracy is a woman who, as a girl, was good at math & science. And as a girl, particularly in those formative years from ages 9 to 15, she discovered that for a lot of girls it wasn't "cool" to be good in those areas. Tracy, being who she is and having been raised in a family that encouraged her math & science aptitude, went to college and became an engineer, but she realized that the lack of women in her profession may have had something to do with girls moving away from math & science at this critical age.

So she set out to do something about it. In 1995 she founded Summer Days Math and Science Camp for Girls right here on the Shore in Kent County, www.mathandsciencecamp.com. This one week experience offers a rich and diverse program for middle school girls, many of whom attend on scholarship, and inspires them to visualize themselves as future scientists, mathematicians, engineers and rocket scientists (well, that's my wording, not Tracy's, but they could be if they wanted).

         

Camp also serves as an opportunity for girls to develop self-confidence and the skills to maintain positive, supportive relationships with one another which they can then practice in their home, school and professional environments throughout their lives. The girls live and study on the campus of Washington College in Chestertown, an inspiration in itself to envision themselves there one day. In fact, last year I was fortunate enough to attend "camp graduation" and Washington College President Baird Tipson himself congratulated the girls on their learning and told them he would "look forward to their applying to Washington College" in the future.

When I asked Tracy where most of her referrals come from, she said from mothers and grandmothers who want their daughters and granddaughters to have the opportunity to pursue education in fields that they didn't have. So if you're one of those Moms or Grandmoms, Tracy won't be surprised to hear from you.

For many of the girls, this represents an almost life-transforming experience. I am reminded of a poster I have that says "I am not the same having seen the moon shine from the opposite side of the world". It speaks to the power of experience to open our eyes to a whole different realm of possibilityes. That's a pretty powerful accomplishment for a week! For many girls, the experience of being in a rural environment and in nature and on the water, is something they will remember for years. And it's augmented by visits from women working in math and science who come to talk to the girls about their experiences and careers, and to encourage them to pursue their dreams.

Indeed, it's an accomplishment that has not gone unnoticed. Summer Days Math and Science Camp for Girls has received national attention from the The Association of Women in Science Magazine and National Public Radio. In 2002, the camp was recognized with the Maryland Excellence in Minority Achievement Award. There are more awards, but it would embarrass Tracy to mention them all, so please just go to www.mathandsciencecamp.com and read about them. And if you want to get a peek at some happy campers, here you go! As the young folks say, "Peace out".

Cooking it up with the KCHS Culinary Arts Program

Cooking It Up With

the Kent County High School

Culinary Arts Program

You'll be seeing this photo a lot in the next couple of weeks. No, it's not a casting call for "Top Chef" - at least not the television show. These are the students of the Kent County High School Culinary Arts Program, and their instructor (front and center) John Keller.

I first found out about the Program last year as part of the Taste of the Town committee (do you have your tickets yet for our 2nd Annual Taste of the Town?? Go to www.tasteofchestertown.com to purchase online or find local spots to purchase them). There was a photo of them in the Kent County News as they were heading off to a statewide competition. So this year when we started planning Taste of the Town (really, you need to go get that ticket now!) we decided the most fitting beneficiary for the event was the Kent County High School Culinary Arts Program.

Which is how we met John Keller and his terrific group of students, ranging from the 10th through 12th grade. John was my guest last week on Homegrown and Green on the radio - AM 1530 WCTR - where he told us a little about himself and his background. Having worked as a professional chef across the East Coast and in Europe, John arrived on the Shore 12 years ago as the chef at The Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels. No slacker, him.

Not only does John teach at Kent County High School, he also teaches at Chesapeake Community College, and some summer programs as well. But you can tell from talking to him that his heart lies with the Culinary Arts Program.

The Program is one of the Career Technology Pathways at the High School, providing professional-grade training to our local youth in a variety of areas. He talked about how "vo-tech" 20+ years ago was for "the kids who weren't going to make it to college, so may as well teach them a trade". Today's Pathways are vastly different, emphasizing professional career-focused skills. I hope Jack Steinmetz over at the Kent County Office of Economic Development and Cindy Genther, Executive Director of the Kent County Chamber of Commerce, caught the show and are reading this - the County's future work force and entrepreneurs and rarin' to go! And with our vibrant tourism industry and a host of inns, and restaurants ranging from casual to fine dining, it's a great fit to have local kids professionally trained for local and regional employment.

When representatives of the Taste of the Town committee first sat down and talked with John we asked him what the Program needed, and chef's uniforms were at the top of the list. Because when you're working toward being a professional, you have to act, feel and look like one and take it seriously. So thank you to Linda Dawson and PNC Bank who stepped up as Chef In Training sponsor, enabling the Program to purchase uniforms and to participate in Taste of the Town.

So last week Bob Ramsey of The Finishing Touch in downtown Chestertown took himself out to the High School and took this photo of the students in their new uniforms. You'll see it in the April 9 edition of the Kent County News. And you can meet them in person at Taste of the Town where they'll be serving up Chocolate Dipped Macaroons - YUM! - and competing for the title of Best Taste of Chestertown in the Dessert category. And Bob, being who he is, after making them take several "serious" shots, said - "Ok, now one just horsing around". Ain't life grand??

Just Another Ho Hum Weekend on the Shore

There are things about living on the Eastern Shore that just make life worth living. I'm reminded of it every day by the sheer grit of people holding on, doing something new, being themselves. My favorite today, as we drove past Downey's on Route 213 in Chestertown, was the Girl Scout Troop selling cookies under threatening skies, holding up a sign saying DRIVE THRU GIRL SCOUT COOKIES. Who needs Facebook when you have this kind of ingenuity?

We had forgotten about the monthly breakfast put on by the local Masonic Lodge (always a favorite! Look for their sign on Route 291 between 213 and lower High Street), so headed to the Village Bakery and Cafe owned by some pretty terrific Eastern Shore entrepreneurs, Ruth and Bethany Stoltzfus.

These ladies run a really great restaurant and bakery - breads, donuts, pies, danish, cakes - oh yum! - and serve a mean breakfast and lunch. This week they began serving dinner on Thursday, Friday and Saturday as well. And I'm pretty sure I overheard the waitress saying soon they'd be having live music during dinner. If you haven't been there, you must give it a try. You can also get a sample of the terrific food they serve at Taste of the Town on Sunday, April 26 from Noon to 4 in Wilmer Park just past downtown Chestertown www.tasteofchestertown.com. You can read more about Taste of the Town on our Projects page.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The weekend for me started Thursday afternoon with a special dinner from Procolino's Italian Eatery.

Two of my other favorite entrepreneurs Salvatore & Vincenzo Scotto run a pretty terrific operation at Procolino's Italian Eatery, and its popularity is proven by the regular lines of people ordering pizza, subs, calzones and main courses. They even offer something called a Killer Salad which, given the opportunity, I would live on them. Grilled chicken, roasted red peppers and eggplant, olives and mozzarella, you can make dinner and lunch the next day. Plus they throw in a few garlic knots - you haven't lived until you've eaten these. And you can at Taste of the Town. Worth the price of admission! They recently remodelled their back room and the atmosphere is pure bistro!

Friday, the weekend got kind of interesting. We are fortunate enough to live near both farmland and a creek. The wildlife is pretty spectacular - herons, hawks and osprey, resident foxes, jumping fish, and snakes in impressive sizes. Occasionally I hear a barred owl during the night. But our most prestigious residents are a nesting pair of bald eagles who live in the neighboring field. They fish in the creek and come eat their catch in one of our dead trees (left there expressly for that purpose). They seem to like it here and that's fine by us. I drove up our lane one day this week and they were sitting on the branch next to their nest, looking things over.

So yesterday my husband wasn't surprised to see one of the eagles hanging out in the marshy area off the creek. But he was surprised when he saw the eagle again in the same spot after about an hour. A little more observation revealed that he (we're making assumptions about the eagle's gender) was injured. So first a call to the Department of Natural Resources who gave us names and numbers of regional rescue groups which led to a few more phone calls, one of which led to our friend Trams.

Now by all rights, it should be someone else's turn. Trams Hollingsworth, after all, was our first posted article (you can read it in Feature Archives), and her spectacular photos grace our About Us page. But the Shore really is a small place, and some people just keep popping up. Turns out, Trams is a part of Tri-State Rescue but, to quote her in our first phone call "I don't know about catching an eagle. . ." Well, after a chat with rescue-experienced local vet Mike Forney, who assured her there's nothing to it, as wildlife rescues go, Trams and her husband Billy headed over, armed with a blanket and a rather large net. (Mike couldn't come. He was taking his wife Kirsten, who owns Dockside Emporium in downtown Chestertown, out to dinner at the Village Bakery).

Our eagle wasn't sure what to make of all this, but Trams has her ways. After trekking through muck and brambles and approaching from behind him, with Billy moving in with the net, everything was in place. And in a movement that seemed like nothing at all, they had succeeded in performing a rescue mission.

We heard them talking through the steps Mike

told them to do to secure the eagle and voila - wrapped up in a pink blanket, the eagle made his way toward help.

And when they called Mike Forney to say "Mission accomplished", he told them to just swing by the Village Bakery and they'd figure it out from there.

So here are the updates: It was a very tired, hungry eagle who'd sustained an injury to his leg. Saturday Trams transported him to a rendezvous with Tri-State Rescue where he's going to eagle rehab. Everyone feels good about his prognosis, and we await word on his return to our back field. I understand Trams took a lot of pictures, so there's more to come, but that's her story to tell.

Meanwhile, I'll have to content myself with the osprey building their nests, here on the Shore.