Thanks to Jane Colson for calling and sharing news of a Glenelg High School class reunion. Back during her school days, Jane was known as Mary Jane Long. She was the class president for the first graduating class of Glenelg High School, the Class of 1959. Classmates recently gathered at the Lisbon Fire Hall to celebrate their 50th class reunion.

While the school celebrated their 50th anniversary last year (based on a date on a school cornerstone), the school did not officially open until the fall of 1958. The first senior class to graduate the following spring, in 1959, contained 48 students. Twenty-three graduates, along with 23 guests, were in attendance at the reunion. Eleven former classmates are now deceased.

Classmates enjoyed a dinner served by the Ladies Auxiliary of the Lisbon Fire Hall, all the while having a great time renewing old friendships and catching up on the past 50 years.

The Glenelg alumnus who travelled the farthest for the reunion came from Colorado, but others also travelled from out of state, coming from Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina, Indiana and Pennsylvania. For the classmates who attended, each one received a special memory book, put together by the reunion committee.

Each page of the book was dedicated to a member of the class of 1959. It contained their high school photo, as well as a summary of what each person has been doing for the past 50 years.

An additional book was given to Glenelg High School to be kept in the school archives. Now that many of the classmates have reconnected, they are looking forward to keeping in touch in future years, and also to more reunions.

Several classmates had been gathering over the past few months to help plan the reunion and make it a memorable day for all. Thanks to Joan Fountain Bennett, Dixie Everhart Mertz, Mary Jane Long Colson, John Mayne, Rufus Harbin, Martha Mathis, Bettie Schooley and Clare Schwartz for all their hard work.

Speaking of Glenelg High School, each year I share news of Glenelg's ranking in Newsweek's Annual Top 1,500 High Schools in America. In this annual survey, schools are ranked according to a ratio of the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school divided by the number of graduating seniors.

Our own Glenelg High School continues to move up the list, coming in at No. 720, up from 965 in 2008 and 1,026 in 2007. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 5 percent of public schools measured this way. Several other Howard County High Schools also made the list.

To view the complete article, go to www.newsweek.com/id/201160/?q=2009/rank/701.

Students at Dayton Oaks Elementary School ended the school year learning about the many ways to protect our environment and go green. Toward the end of the school year, they decided to try to set a world record for collecting jeans for recycling. Students collected 97 pairs of jeans and other denim products that were sent to the National Geographic's Guinness World Record to be recycled. Way to go green!

Maybe you have already noticed, if you have been stopping by the local library to catch up on your summer reading, but there has been a change to library hours, effective July 1. Due to budget constraints, all Howard County Library branches will open one hour later Monday through Saturday. The new library hours are Monday-Thursday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.

Please be aware that only the Central and Miller Branches are open on Sundays year-round. The other branches will resume Sunday hours on Sept. 13.

For more information, call 410-313-7890 or go to www.hclibrary.org.

In closing, a few weeks ago I shared news of the Geist family girls -- Kelly, Leslie and Olivia -- who scored a three-fer at Folly Quarter Middle School this past year: one sister was in each grade.

In mentioning their younger brother, Russell Jr., I mistakenly stated that he had completed kindergarten this past year. In fact, Russell Jr. has just completed pre-school, but is looking forward to starting kindergarten this fall.

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