Higher Education

F&M Trust GREENCASTLE, Pa. - Tracy D. Burger recently joined F&M Trust as an assistant financial services officer and assistant community office manager at the bank's Greencastle office. Burger will be responsible for meeting the needs of consumers and businesses with the appropriate banking solutions to manage and grow their money. She also will build, enhance and expand customer relationships through deposit services and lending in the Greencastle area. Burger has more than 18 years of experience in the banking industry.

-SEPT.19, 2009 LUTHERVILLE, Md. - Frederick H. Spigler Jr. died Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, at College Manor in Lutherville, Md. Born and raised in Hagerstown, Md., he lived in Salisbury, Md., for six years, and lived in Lutherville since 1965. He graduated from Hagerstown High School in 1946, graduated from University of Maryland with a B.A. degree in education in 1954, received an M.A. in American history in 1955, and a Doctor of Education in 1988. He served in the U.S. Army from 1946 to 1948, and from 1950 to 1951.

SMITHSBURG -- Mitchell Belella of Smithsburg has received a $1,500 scholarship from Delcan Corp. This is the second Delcan scholarship Belella has received. Belella is a sophomore at McDaniel College who is pursuing a bachelor of science degree in business administration. He maintained a 3.06 grade-point average in his freshman year while he competed for the college in varsity basketball. Belella, a St. Maria Goretti High School graduate, spent his first summer in college as a camp counselor passing on his knowledge of basketball to participants at the Mid-Maryland Sports Camp.

BALTIMORE - Five Washington County students were among the 143 Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholars named by the Maryland State Department of Education for 2009. They are: o Jill Helmstetter, Hancock Middle-Senior High School o Steven Wolfe, Grace Academy o Andrew Bitner, Boonsboro High School o Christopher Bradford, North Hagerstown High School o Bethany Garnand, Smithsburg High School Each honoree receives a four-year scholarship worth up to $1,500 per year, to be used for undergraduate study at any institution of higher education based on cost of attendance.

Last week's question: In the wake of a renewed attack on its funding, Del. Christopher Shank has proposed changes to University System of Maryland-Hagerstown to make it more like a center in Southern Maryland, where the Hagerstown center's chief critic hails from. What's your view? o Do it. If we can't beat 'em, we might as well try to be like them. - 2 votes (7 percent) o Good idea. When it comes to education, elected officials always know better than people who work in the field.

ANNAPOLIS -- The University System of Maryland at Hagerstown would get a 1 percent increase in funding under a recommendation adopted Friday by a Senate committee. The Senate committee also decided to strike down a budget amendment approved by the House that would create a task force to study USM-H's viability. Del. LeRoy E. Myers Jr., R-Washington/Allegany, who offered the amendment, said even if the task force is not approved by the General Assembly, he still plans to pursue a study of how the center could be improved.

As lawmakers debate budgets and wait for answers about the state's future revenues, I would like to take a few moments to sing the praises of the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown. While I have been in Western Maryland for just under three years, I have a pretty good idea of the impact of the USM-H on downtown Hagerstown. The state's investment of more than $15 million did more than renovate two vacant, deteriorating buildings into a state-of-the-art educational facility.

ANNAPOLIS -- A Southern Maryland lawmaker's desire to cut state funding from the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown is a ploy to secure more money for a higher education center in his district, USM-H Executive Director C. David Warner said Friday. Warner was referring to Del. John L. Bohanan Jr., D-St. Mary's, who heads a subcommittee that will make a decision on USM-H funding. Bohanan said Friday he disagrees with Warner's statement. Bohanan supports a funding cut for USM-H, but pledged Thursday that no action would be taken that would end USM-H's operations.

HAGERSTOWN -- Even at 10 years old, it's not too soon to think about college, Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot told fourth-graders on Monday. Franchot urged students in a Pangborn Elementary School class to ask their parents to start saving money for their higher education. Franchot was joined by Joan Marshall, executive director of College Savings Plans of Maryland, an independent state agency. Later, he toured the new school, two years after seeing cramped conditions at the previous Pangborn Elementary building, which since has been torn down.

HAGERSTOWN -- A state lawmaker who tried to divert funding from the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown last year visited the campus for the first time Wednesday, promising not to ask for similar cuts this year. However, Del. John L. Bohanan Jr., D-St. Mary's, did say he would investigate a wiser use of taxpayer money for higher education and said that some money for USM, including the Hagerstown campus, could be reduced. Last year, as chairman of a House Appropriations subcommittee, Bohanan pushed to eliminate all $2.1 million for fiscal year 2009 for USM-H and spread it among several non-USM higher-education centers, including one in his district.