Young Adults

It's tough to be a college student. Out of their parents' home, holding down a job and trying to do well at school, today's college students work hard to achieve goals their parents, communities and schools have set for them. The everyday pressures they feel to succeed are high. And then there's the economy and a person's first career. According to a poll conducted by CBS News and MTV of young adults between the ages of 18 and 29, young people expect that economic problems will be the main concern their generation will have to deal with over the next 20 years.

Name of business: transitions LLC Owner: Donna Stevenson Swope, LCSW-C Address: 22 Broadway 1st Floor W, Hagerstown Opening date: May 1 Products and services: Psychotherapy for adults and young adults Market area: Hagerstown, Frederick Md., Waynesboro, Pa., Chambersburg, Pa., Martinsburg and Shepherdstown, W.Va., areas. How did you get into your business, or what motivated you to start it? "I was in private practice for 16 years and then worked at Brook Lane Health Services for the last five years in order to update my clinical skills within a managed-care environment.

In my last column, I started to present a blueprint for redeveloping downtown Hagerstown . The blueprint is based on a March 2005 Brookings Institution report by Christopher Leinberger titled “Turning around Downtown: Twelve Steps to Revitalization.” That column presented the six steps that must be taken by local government to create an environment conducive to revitalization of downtown. Step 1: Capture the Vision. The Goal, Objective & Strategy Statement announced by the City and the Economic Development Commission does articulate a vision, but it does not provide enough direction to be considered a strategic plan.

Captive Free will present a family concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 29, at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Greensburg, Md. Admission is free; there will be a free-will offering. Light refreshments will be served after the concert. Captive Free is a Christian ministry team from Minneapolis, Minn., made up five young adults who devote a year to traveling around the East Coast presenting uplifting concerts, puppet skits, games and other activities that present a Christian message to teens.

The Luck of the Draw "Sports Day" a Youth M.O.V.E. Social Event will be from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 17, at Parks & Rec Gym at Pangborn Elementary School, 195 Pangborn Blvd., Hagerstown. The event is for young adults ages 16 to 25 who are supported in the child serving systems. To register, contact Kathleen at 240-818-3537 or kphillips@mdcoalition.org .

Fulton Financial Corp. has announced the recipients of its 2012 scholarship awards.  The scholarships, which are awarded to children of the corporation's employees, are given to young adults who are in college or are planning to begin college this year. Katherine Noll of Williams-port, who is attending Shepherd University, received one of the scholarships. Noll is the daughter of Ellen Noll, who works at the Smithsburg branch of The Columbia Bank. For more information about the scholarships, go to www.fult.com .

HAGERSTOWN -- A pregnant teenager kneels on the floor, her face in her hands, as the baby's father walks out the door. A young, stressed-out mom vents about having no time to study for final exams. A pair of young adults shares fears of STDs, unplanned pregnancy, gossip and lost self-respect. These are the concepts selected by a local organization this year to convey one central message to local teenagers: "Sex Has Consequences. " The winning advertisements, selected in the categories of print, radio and short film, respectively, were created by local teenagers and young adults for the Washington County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition's second annual "Sex Has Consequences" ad and film contest.

GREENCASTLE, Pa. -- Before Andrew Mowen left on his first trip outside the country, the 17-year-old from Greencastle wasn't sure whether he'd enjoy traveling. Despite more than 20 hours on a plane, he now wants to explore more and maybe even study at a Buddhist temple. He was impressed by Thailand's monks and the country's culture on a recent 10-day excursion through Summer Global Experience. "It was just nice to be there, somewhere different," he said. Andrew participated in a weeklong Leadership Academy through Lancaster (Pa.)

marlob@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - Some vacation! Sixteen hours in a car, sleeping on an air mattress on the floor, eating plain jelly sandwiches after the peanut butter disappeared, all the while doing back-breaking chores from sunrise to sunset for eight days. Now that those young adults from Tri-State Fellowship are back home in Hagerstown, they can't wait to turn around and head back to the Gulf Coast for another go at hurricane cleanup. "All of us are going back," said Julie Horst, wife of Arnold Horst, who facilitated the two teams from the Cearfoss-area church in spending the first eight days of 2006 in Covington, La., which was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Court representatives working with juveniles who have committed sexual offenses have an option to send them to a treatment program before they are released back to society, the Franklin County (Pa.) Criminal Justice Advisory Board was told Thursday. Dr. Vito DonGiovanni spoke on behalf of the Sexual Responsibility and Treatment Program at Torrance State Hospital, 45 miles east of Pittsburgh. Specific timelines must be met for entrance into the program, which came about under Pennsylvania's Act 21 of 2003, DonGiovanni said.

Writer-director Alonso Mayo has had his filmmaker's dream come to fruition: the premiere of his first full-length feature film. "It's exciting," Mayo said during a phone interview from a vacation in Lawrence, Kan. Mayo's film, "The Story of Luke," opened in limited release on April 5. For Hagers-town audiences, the film will be shown at the Maryland International Film Festival-Hagerstown  Saturday, April 13, at Academy Theater. The 34-year-old said he was in high school when he realized he wanted to become a filmmaker.

Jean Elizabeth Gilbert, 89, of Silver Spring, Md., and formerly of Williamsport, Md., died Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, at Casey House in Rockville, Md. Born April 13, 1923, in Hagerstown, Md., she was the daughter of the late George Edgar and Anna Isabelle Bowers Harne. She was preceded in death by her former husband, Donald D. Gilbert, on Aug. 19, 1995. She graduated in 1941 from Hagerstown High School. She was retired from Fairchild Corporation. She was a member of Church of the Brethren.

Fulton Financial Corp. has announced the recipients of its 2012 scholarship awards.  The scholarships, which are awarded to children of the corporation's employees, are given to young adults who are in college or are planning to begin college this year. Katherine Noll of Williams-port, who is attending Shepherd University, received one of the scholarships. Noll is the daughter of Ellen Noll, who works at the Smithsburg branch of The Columbia Bank. For more information about the scholarships, go to www.fult.com .

Greater Campher Temple, 125 Bethel St., will host vacation Bible school  from Monday, Aug. 13 through Friday, Aug. 17, from 6 to 8 p.m., with a different meal served each night before the start of the program.  The discipleship camp will teach participants how to become a follower and not a fan, in addition to the opportunity to learn, share, explore and have fun.  While it is open to those ages 3 to young adults, adults can also take part...

Name of business: A&T Athletic Training Owners: Tony Allen and John Custer Address: 120 Commerce Circle, Kearneysville, W.Va. Opening date: March 1, 2012 Products and services: Health and fitness, personal training, small-group training and team training. The business also is working contracts with The Woods in Hedgesville, W.Va., for personal training and fitness classes, and a personal-training contract with Total Fitness in Inwood, W.Va.

The Luck of the Draw "Sports Day" a Youth M.O.V.E. Social Event will be from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 17, at Parks & Rec Gym at Pangborn Elementary School, 195 Pangborn Blvd., Hagerstown. The event is for young adults ages 16 to 25 who are supported in the child serving systems. To register, contact Kathleen at 240-818-3537 or kphillips@mdcoalition.org .

In my last column, I started to present a blueprint for redeveloping downtown Hagerstown . The blueprint is based on a March 2005 Brookings Institution report by Christopher Leinberger titled “Turning around Downtown: Twelve Steps to Revitalization.” That column presented the six steps that must be taken by local government to create an environment conducive to revitalization of downtown. Step 1: Capture the Vision. The Goal, Objective & Strategy Statement announced by the City and the Economic Development Commission does articulate a vision, but it does not provide enough direction to be considered a strategic plan.

 In Carol Larese Millward's novel, "Star in the Middle," teen mother Star raises her child while also dealing with the everyday stresses that come with being a teenage girl. On top of that, the baby's father absolutely refuses to admit that the baby is even his. Millward said the main point to writing her first young adult novel was that she wanted teenagers to be more aware of teen pregnancy. "I wanted to raise that awareness," Millward said in a telephone interview from her Elkton, Md., home.

Who's losing faith in the direction of the Catholic Church? To the editor: I was surprised and alarmed to read the column that appeared in the Dec. 1 Herald-Mail titled "Losing faith in direction of the Catholic Church," written by Bonnie Erbe. Erbe unfairly and erroneously attacked a broad spectrum of issues concerning the Catholic Church. Her statement that more educated parishioners have left the church is totally false. That the church has receded as a religious and cultural force is also false.