School News Important Dates Coming Soon Art & Basketball Shelton Hawkins, an Art Teacher at St

Charles County Public Schools It’s All About Teaching and Learning. School News Important Dates Coming Soon Art & Basketball Shelton Hawkins, an art teacher at St. Charles High Virtual plays set School, is on the cover of the Maurice J. McDonough High School January/February edition of is hosting a virtual play Friday, Jan. 8, and Shore Magazine, a publica- Saturday, Jan. 9. The drama department tion focused on the people and will stream “Game of Tiaras (one-act): lifestyle on the Eastern Shore. Stay-At-Home Edition” by Don Zolidis. A Easton native, Hawkins The show is set to stream virtually on Jan. spent time during quarantine 8-9. Interested viewers can access the link bettering his community with online at https://mhsdrama303.booktix. his creativity. Before 2020 com/. Check the website for updates. The kept people indoors, Hawkins drama department is also collecting com- combined his love of basketball munity donations on its website to support and art to start Play In Color, a production costs. Questions can be directed project that transforms outdoor to Jana Heyl, McDonough drama director, basketball courts into usable at [email protected]. works of art that foster a sense Westlake High School Westlake High of community. Read more on School is hosting two virtual events this Page 2. month. The drama department will stream “The Day the Internet Died” by Ian Mc- Wethy and Jason Pizzarello starting Jan. 15, and “Identity Play; or Who You Are If You Think You Are” by Jon Jory and Jason CCPS delivering meals to a neighborhood near you Pizzarello starting Jan. 22. Both shows will run for a week. Interested viewers should Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) is expanding its mobile meal bus service to more email the Westlake theatre arts department locations in Charles County. School buses started to deliver meal bags Jan. 6 to additional to request a link. Email requests should locations convenient for all students and their families. Buses will deliver mobile meals to the be sent to Westlake teachers Bryan Gros- sites Monday through Friday. bach at [email protected], or Jackson Additional sites will be added as they are finalized. On days when CCPS calls an inclem- Long at [email protected]. The depart- ent weather code or delay, mobile meal service is canceled. ment is also collecting community dona- Mobile meal bags are free for all children ages 2 to 18 and include heat-and-serve food tions to support production costs. Check items, similar to items included in weekend meal bags handed out at CCPS curbside meal donations can be sent by mail to Westlake distribution sites. High School, Attn: Theatre Arts Depart- Curbside meal sites operate 7 to 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Monday through Fri- ment, 3300 Middletown Road, Waldorf, day. Details about the CCPS curbside meal sites are posted here. MD 20603. Children can pick up mobile meal bags or parents can pick them up. Parents pick- Board meets Jan. 12 ing up meal bags without their child present must show some form of identification for The Board of Education of Charles their child (student ID card, report card, birth certificate). Parents, caregivers and guard- County will meet Tuesday, Jan. 12. The ians should check meal bags for any items that may cause a dietary or allergy issue for a meeting will be held virtually. The meeting child. Items that may be included in mobile meal bags are posted on the CCPS website at starts at 1 p.m. https://tinyurl.com/y738e2ca. The following is the mobile meals schedule. Children, families and/or parents can pick up Schools, offices closed a meal bag from any of the sites listed below, Monday through Friday. Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) 10:30 to 11 a.m. schools and offices are closed Monday, Jan. • Pinefield neighborhood community park, bus will stop on the shoulder by the park, 18, in observance of Martin Luther King 2224 Pinefield Road, Waldorf, MD, 20601 Jr.’s birthday. See MOBILE MEALS, Page 3 January 8, 2021 H-153 School News Notebook On the cover The Board of Education of Charles County honored outstanding employees at its Decem- ber meeting including Wanda Woodland, in- structional assistant, F.B. Gwynn Educational Center, left; and Trevor Gillum, computer ana- lyst, General Smallwood Middle School. Mental health website CCPS Student Services recently launched a website dedicated to providing mental A basketball court at Idlewild Park in Easton was transformed into a functional health resources for students and their fami- piece of art with the help of St. Charles High School art teacher, Shelton Hawkins. lies. School counselors and school psycholo- gists work to support CCPS students and SCHS teacher’s talent is a ‘Shore’ thing families with efforts being highlighted at A St. Charles High School art teacher is Hawkins was invested in his community. https://www.ccboe.com/ss/mental-health/. The experiencing what it’s like to be the subject A third year teacher at St. Charles, site sheds light on the support available for of a work, rather than the creator. CCPS students. The page can be accessed from Hawkins is also a working artist who re- Shelton Hawkins recently landed on the Quick Links, Students and Parents tabs at furbishes outdoor basketball courts with the cover of Shore Magazine, a publication www.ccboe.com. art. The concrete canvases meld two of his centered on the people and way of life on loves — basketball and art. the Eastern Shore. The endeavor — Play In Color — Arts teacher awards The magazine named Hawkins one of The Charles County Arts Alliance (CCAA) started in his hometown of Easton after the local millennials making a difference in Arts Teacher of the Year Award is a new pro- Hawkins noted the once bustling basket- the world. gram honoring an elementary, middle and high ball court in Idlewild Park sat dormant. He said the cover and accompanying school teacher who exemplifies excellence article are a result of projects he embarked Working with local leaders to secure fund- in arts education. The program honors three on during the COVID-19 quarantine. ing, the courts at Idlewild Park and another Charles County’s arts educators with recogni- “I used the time to really focus on find- at Moton Park were expanded, resurfaced tion and financial support for guiding students ing my voice, standing up for what I believe and painted in the summer of 2019. The while navigating circumstances brought on in,” Hawkins said. “I feel it’s important to colorful designs are part of a national art by the pandemic. Nominations may be self- try and give back to the community.” movement transforming neglected courts submitted, by the teacher’s current or former He worked with Converse on a CO- into pieces of oversized and useable art students, parents of the students, the teacher’s VID-19 campaign, and he was the project meant to strengthen community bonds. professional colleagues or a school admin- manager for a painting of the words “Black Hawkins said it was Phillips who istrator. To fill out a nomination form, go to Lives Matter” on Race Street in Cam- helped him figure out he didn’t have to https://forms.gle/ZpUh3iMf7SbvCe898. The bridge. choose between art and basketball. “Shout deadline to submit a nomination is Feb. 5. The painting of the street was complet- out to Ms. Phillips,” he said. “She showed Employee Assistance Program ed by community members and its design, me that I could be into art and basketball.” created by Eastern Shore artist Miriam “He was a great kid with a lot of en- CCPS has an Employee Assistance Pro- Moran, incorporated the Maryland flag and ergy,” Phillips remembered about meeting gram (EAP) provider, Deer Oaks EAP Ser- an image of Harriet Tubman, Hawkins’ Hawkins in his sophomore year of high vices. The EAP benefit covers six confidential great-great-great aunt. school. They struck a deal back then — short-term counseling visits for contracted “I am so excited about all the projects employees who work more than 20 hours per he’s affiliated with,” said Leith Phillips, art if he made the effort to devote an hour of week and their immediate families. Deer Oaks chair at St. Charles and Hawkins’ former class to his artwork, he could spend the last coordinates with CCPS’s health plan for cases teacher at Easton High School. “I knew 30 minutes in class decompressing. that require treatment under the medical bene- when I asked him if he wanted to interview At the time, Hawkins didn’t think his fit. For information, call 888-993-7650 or go to [for a teaching position], he would be an art was any good. “I always told him that https://www.deeroakseap.com. The asset to Charles County and the students he it’s about the process and how art makes member login and password are ccboe. would come in contact with.” you feel,” Phillips said. “Everyone has a Long before the quarantine of 2020, voice when creating art.” January 8, 2021 Page 2 School News MOBILE MEALS continued from Page 1 • Potomac Heights Community Center, parking lot, 822 Gly- oline Drive near Caroline Jones Park, 720 Caroline Drive, La mont Road, Indian Head, MD 20640 Plata, MD 20646 • William B. Wade Elementary School, parking lot, 2300 Small- 12 to 12:30 p.m. wood Drive, Waldorf, MD, 20603 • Charles Landing South, bus will stop at the shoulder of Blair • Bel Alton Volunteer Fire Department, parking lot, 9765 Bel Al- Road, near the main entrance to the apartments, 41 Jameson ton Newtown Road, Bel Alton, MD 20611 Court, Indian Head, MD 20640 11 to 11:20 a.m.

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