Over the past few weeks, I shared news of the Western Howard County Relay for Life which took place June 20-21, and highlighted some of the local community members who participated in the event. Not long after this information appeared in the paper, it was brought to my attention that another community member deserves recognition for his fundraising efforts for the American Cancer Society.

Matt Beck, a Glenelg resident and a rising junior at River Hill High School this fall, has worked hard this past school year to raise money for Relay for Life.

He participated in the Howard County Relay for Life, which took place June 6-7 at Hammond High School. Beck has the distinction of being the top individual fundraiser for that event. He raised $5,550. How you may ask? Beck has been busy baking over the past months. Making gourment cookies, he would provide a dozen to anyone who would donate $25 for his cause.

Beck has thoroughly enjoyed this fundraising experience, and plans to continue his fundraising efforts for next year's Relay for Life. His goal is to double the contributions he received this year, so he hopes to raise more than $11,000 in 2009.

His fundraising will begin in August, again with sales of his gourmet cookies. To meet his goal, Beck will need to bake almost 450 dozen cookies! Keep an eye on this column for information about where and when you can purchase Beck's cookies.

The kids have been out of school for a few weeks now and I still have bits and pieces of school news trickling in. Folly Quarter Middle School would like to recognize their Students of the Month for May: sixth-graders Bryce Bentson, Alex Gramkow, Anna Kermes, Sheena Patel and Garrett Sherbs; seventh-graders Maribeth Blonchek, Ben Carta, Maggie Clements, Ryan Doyle and Austin Reza; and eighth-graders Evanna Dahan, Jordan Geibel, Kathleen Hawkins, Amani Jones, and Megan Pawtowski.

In other Folly Quarter Middle School News, they were pleased to share that several of their students were recently recognized by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth. Each year, this institution recognizes top students from Maryland in grades 2-8 for academic excellence. At a recent awards ceremony, four Folly Quarter Middle School students were recognized in this way. Congratulations go to Maribeth Blonchek, Suman Chaki, Mark LaPointe and Elric Zhang. Elric also received the award for SAT/ACT High Honors for grades 7-8. Job well done!

Finally, the NAACP also recently recognized some of our local schools. Dayton Oaks Elementary was honored by the NAACP with a distinguished honor for staff devotion to eliminating achievement gaps among all students, especially black youth.

The award was based on results from the 2007 Academic Report Card which entails reading and math MSA scores as well as attendance and suspension records. Additionally, Folly Quarter Middle School has been recognized by the NAACP as one of the schools receiving A's and B's on the analysis of performance and attendance for black students.

A family friend recently gave us a call. He had been concerned about some swelling in his legs and had gone to the doctor to have it checked out. One of the first things they did was check his blood pressure -- which was so high he was immediately rushed to the hospital, where they admitted him for a few days until they had his pressure under control.

Now that is a bit of an extreme case, however high blood pressure is serious business. Howard County General Hospital staff will be on hand at the Glenwood Branch Library Monday, July 7, 3:30-5:30 p.m. They will provide free blood pressure screenings and monitoring.

For more information, you can call 410-313-5577. They will offer a second screening and monitoring July 21 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

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