2003-04 Annual Report - Harford County Public Schools

Emily Schmidt’s artwork is cover for MSDE card
When State Superintendent of Schools Nancy Grasmick went
looking for artwork to grace the cover of the Maryland State
Department of Education’s 2003 annual holiday card, there was
no doubt the one it would be. In the spring of 2003, the 13-year
head of the state’s public school system saw a snowy, forest scene
done in tempera paint by then eight-year-old North Harford
Elementary third grader Emily Schmidt, and she didn’t have to
look any further.
Dr. Grasmick instructed her staff to inform the Graceton Road
youngster that her artwork, showing a forest of white birch with
cardinals and blue birds flitting from a snowman to the snowaccented
trees, would be the cover for the greeting that was sent
to friends of Maryland education throughout the world this holiday
season.
“I was very surprised and it made me happy,” said the daughter
of North Harford Elementary fifth grade teacher Lisa and local
businessman Jerry Schmidt. “I’ve always liked to paint and
draw.”
Emily’s teacher Lisa Campbell said she could tell from the start of
the class project this past January that her prize pupil was creating
something extraordinary.
The project had students working 50 minutes, one-day each for
three weeks, saw them start with a plain piece of 12” by 18” gray
construction paper, use white paint with darker shading to depict
the snow on the floor of the forest, and then color in the white
STATE OF ARTWORK - Emily Schmidt’s artwork was
used to grace the cover of the official Maryland State
Department of Education’s holiday greeting card for
2003. Emily and her art teacher, Lisa Campbell, proudly
display the work the student did last year as a third
grader.
birches with their darker accents and limbs. After that, students put their individual touches
on the artwork, with Emily placing a snowman to the right of her work, a birdfeeder hanging
from one of the limbs and the two brightly-colored birds.
“We’re all very proud of Emily, it is quite an honor,” said Mrs. Campbell.
Emily, a straight ‘A’ student, is also an accomplished athlete, playing youth basketball, soccer
and lacrosse. In addition, she sings in the Jarrettsville United Methodist Youth Choir and
plays handbells there. She also plays flute and sings in her school’s chorus.
Emily has a younger brother, Kyle, who is a student at North Harford Elementary.
Aaron Nuzman, a
2004 senior at
Aberdeen High
School, was the
only college-bound
student in Maryland
and one of just 38 in
the United States to
achieve a perfect
36, the highest possible
composite
score, on the
December 2003
national test administration
of the ACT
Assessment. About
PERFECT - Aaron Nuzman was the only student
in Maryland and one of just 38 nationwide
in the class of 2004 to score a perfect 36 on his
ACT college entrance exam.
2,000 Maryland students and more than 332,000 from across
the nation completed the ACT college entrance exam on
December 13, 2003.
Nuzman among elite to
record perfect ACT score
Mr. Nuzman, son of Dwayne and Susan Nuzman of Aberdeen,
received a letter from ACT chief executive officer Richard L.
Ferguson pointing out that he should have a choice of the
widest possible range of future educational options. ACT
scores are accepted by virtually all US colleges and universities.
The ACT consists of tests in English, mathematics, reading and
science. Each test is scored on a scale of 1 to 36. A student’s
composite score is the average of the four test scores. For purposes
of comparison, the average composite score for the
national high school graduating class of 2003 was 20.8.
Advertisement