Barbara Ingram School

Hagerstown resident Connor Buckley said he wanted to learn more about the technique of playing the piano, which is why he attended Piano Academy camp at the Barbara Ingram Summer Arts Academy. “I wanted to learn a little more than just playing notes written on a page,” he said. “There were certain things I wanted to improve on.” Connor, 13, will be going into the eighth grade at E. Russell Hicks Middle School this fall. He took part in the camp's piano recital Thursday, playing a solo piece and a duet.

The $370 Bill Dorsey Scholarship for Barbara Ingram School for the Arts was awarded to Brianna Arnemann. The scholarship was established in honor of 2008 People's Choice Award winner, the Rev. Janice Dorsey, and named for her late husband, Bill. The fund will support scholarships for students at Barbara Ingram School for the Arts. 

The graduates were the show and the stars Thursday night as the 2-year-old Barbara Ingram School for the Arts held its first graduation ceremony. Last year's graduating class was so small only a reception was held, and the students participated at their home schools' graduation ceremonies, Principal Michael Thorsen said. The ceremony for this year's 28 graduates was held at the Bridge of Life church across the street from the downtown Hagerstown arts school. The graduates and audience gave Vincent Groh a standing ovation for donating the building that serves as the arts school.

Proceeds from the Tim Rotz Variety Show on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at The Maryland Theatre will benefit Barbara Ingram School for the Arts. The show features young Hannah Richardson and student performers from Barbara Ingram School for the Arts. Tickets cost $15 and can be purchased at www.mdtheatre.org or by calling 301-790-3500.

The Hagerstown-Washington County Chamber of Commerce and the Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission recently presented a check for $3,220 to the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts. The groups donated $10 from each ticket sold for the Washington County Business Awards to the school.   The Phantasmics, a musical theater ensemble from the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts, performed a collection of song and dance routines for those who attended the business awards ceremony.

Barbara Ingram School for the Arts has a new vocal and instrumental music teacher. Melissa J. Mackley replaces music teacher Matthew D. Albright, according to school system spokesman Richard Wright. Mackley's appointment and Albright's separation from service were part of a personnel package the Board of Education approved with a 6-0 vote Tuesday. Board member W. Edward Forrest was absent from the meeting. - Julie E. Greene

The choral performance of “This Could be the Start of Something Big” on Friday night by Barbara Ingram School for the Arts students kicked off “A Celebration of Firsts” presented by the school's foundation at Hager Hall in Hagerstown. The fundraising event featured performances by the school's seniors and recognized the work of retiring principal Michael T. Thorsen. Through ticket sales and sponsors, the performance-packed event raised about $30,000 for the school and the artist-in-residence program, said foundation executive director Mimi Dickinson.

Hoping to raise $100,000 to pay salaries for adjunct teachers at Barbara Ingram School for the Arts, the school's foundation held a balloon auction Friday evening at the Hagerstown Regional Airport. The Barbara Ingram School for the Arts Foundation was auctioning 17 hot-air balloon sculptures that were painted by local artists and have been on display in University Plaza and along downtown Hagerstown streets, Mimi Dickinson, the foundation's development director, said before the event.

Washington County residents have an added incentive to watch the Orange Bowl college football contest Tuesday night between Florida State and Northern Illinois in Miami Gardens, Fla. Thirteen students from Hagerstown's Barbara Ingram School for the Arts will perform during halftime at the Discover Orange Bowl, part of a choreographed dance performance that includes 450 performers, said Andrea Masciocchi, the dance director at the Barbara Ingram school....

With the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts less than two years old, educators are still working out which courses are the best to offer and adding more advanced and individualized classes as the school adds more upperclassmen. On Tuesday night, the Washington County Board of Education voted 7-0 to approve course changes for the downtown Hagerstown school. Clyde Harrell, director for curriculum and instruction for prekindergarten through 12th grade, said school system officials also took into consideration information they gleaned from other arts schools.

The choral performance of “This Could be the Start of Something Big” on Friday night by Barbara Ingram School for the Arts students kicked off “A Celebration of Firsts” presented by the school's foundation at Hager Hall in Hagerstown. The fundraising event featured performances by the school's seniors and recognized the work of retiring principal Michael T. Thorsen. Through ticket sales and sponsors, the performance-packed event raised about $30,000 for the school and the artist-in-residence program, said foundation executive director Mimi Dickinson.

It was a feast for the eyes, ears and appetite Thursday night as the spotlight shone on City Center's offerings of cuisine, art and music. Taste of the Arts, the third event of its kind in Hagerstown's Arts and Entertainment District, offered a dozen locations, with restaurants, caterers and organizations each presenting eats as well as entertainment, including the instrumental and vocal stylings of Barbara Ingram School for the Arts students....

Monday, May 13 Barbara Ingram School for the Arts - Dance recital at The Maryland Theatre, 7:30 p.m.; Parent Guild meeting; vocal concert rehearsal, 4:30 p.m. Boonsboro Elementary - MSO Brass Quintet performance, 9 a.m. Boonsboro Middle - STARS event, 1:30 p.m. Lincolnshire Elementary - Book fair (all week) Old Forge Elementary - Mornings with Moms, 7 a.m.; PTA meeting, 7 p.m. Pleasant Valley Elementary - Kindergarten registration, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; MSO concert for grades one to three, 10 a.m.; PTA executive meeting, 3:15 p.m. Sharpsburg Elementary - Kindergarten registration, 8:30 to 9 a.m.; Rockin' Reading breakfast for kindergarten to grade two Springfield Middle - Band Boosters meeting, 6 p.m.; PTA meeting  in media center, 6:30 p.m.   Tuesday, May 14    Barbara Ingram School for the Arts - Vocal concert at Trinity Lutheran Church, 7:30 p.m. Boonsboro Middle - Grade-eight panoramic class picture, 9 a.m. Clear Spring High - Future Business Leaders of America membership meeting, 3:30 p.m. E. Russell Hicks Middle - AVID committee meeting, 2:30 p.m.; STEM night, 6 to 8 p.m. Pleasant Valley Elementary - Chess Club, 2:20 p.m. Sharpsburg Elementary - Spring band concert at Boonsboro High, 6:30 p.m. South Hagerstown High - Choir concert in auditorium, 7 p.m. Springfield Middle - STARS breakfast, 7 a.m. Williamsport High - Orchestra concert in auditorium, 7 p.m.   ...

Consultant studies are a two-way street. First, the study has to be worth something; second, the group for whom the study was performed has to be willing to act on it. Seems as if we got one out of two. A recent study to assess Washington County's economic state of things was, for a consultant study, surprisingly detailed and comprehensive. For review, here were some of the details:  It pressured the Washington and Annapolis delegations to fund the widening of Interstate 81 to six lanes, as West Virginia and Pennsylvania are already doing.

More than 500 people wandered past the artworks of hundreds of Washington County middle and high school students during a reception Sunday at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, taking in works such as “Golden Eyes” and “This is Not the Death Star.” Those were two of the three first-place winners in the exhibit, which featured more than 1,100 works by county secondary students. A clay and acrylic bust, “Golden Eyes” was submitted by Nahja Collins and the orb-like clay “Death Star” by Jenna Baker, both students at the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts.

  Band and orchestra students at Barbara Ingram School for the Arts will combine with the Potomac Valley Youth Orchestra of Montgomery County, Md., to present a Mother's Day concert of music for large orchestra. The concert will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday at The Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown.  Featured on the program will be Overture to Arthur Sullivan's “The Yeoman of the Guard,” the “Presto Finale” to Mozart's Symphony No. 36, Gershwin's “Little Rhapsody in Blue” with pianist Jessan Groenendyk, and Rossini's Overture to “The Italian Girl in Algiers.”  Also featured at the concert will be Potomac Valley Orchestra's concerto competition winner Marie Hodges performing Beethoven's Violin Sonata in F. Barbara Ingram will feature All-State alto saxophonist Hansu Sung in Eugene Bozza's Improvisation and Caprice.

I was a thespian in high school, which I was never proud of because I though it had some sick, negative sexual connotation to it. Enough cool kids were thespians, which made me feel a little better about it, but I was still nervous enough that I more or less assumed thespians didn't get asked to the prom. I was in enough plays that I was considered to be a decent thespian - I think it worked on a point scale - although I could not help but notice that I was never cast in the role of Hamlet, if you know what I'm saying.

Washington County Public Schools will present the Swingin' in the Park Jazz Festival Saturday at the Doub's Woods Pavilion in Doub's Woods Park behind Emma K. Doub Elementary School. The event will feature local middle and high school jazz bands. The annual event is coordinated by Gary Rupert of Smithsburg High School and is free to the public. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.   The event started in 1998 to showcase the county's middle and high school jazz bands.

Here are some of the things happening in Washington County Public Schools this week: Tuesday, April 30   Eighth-grade Day on the Job   Barbara Ingram School for the Arts - Visual- arts open studio, 4:30 p.m. E. Russell Hicks Middle - Power Hour Homework Club, 2:30 p.m. Pleasant Valley Elementary - Chess Club, 2:15 p.m.; Good Citizen Luncheon Sharpsburg Elementary - Spring pictures, 8 to 10:30 a.m.; staff picture, 2:30 p.m. ...

Alex Moore said some of his friends joked with him that he was already like Professor Callahan because Moore can be evil. But the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts student doesn't see himself that way, and Moore said he had to work at perfecting the character of the pompous professor in “Legally Blonde - The Musical.” Will Bureau is a young, confident-looking student at the arts school, but he said it was tough being the condescending boyfriend...