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Northwestern High School hosted a special meeting Saturday for the parents of ESOL, or English for speakers of other languages, students.

Northwestern Parent Liaison Patricia Benavides said the meeting was held to inform parents and students in their native languages about graduation requirements. Speakers also spoke about attendance, truancy, general school policies and High School Assessment exams.

"We just want to make sure that we're trying to do as much as we can to reach out and inform our parents, and we don't want them to use language as a barrier," Benavides said.

Mount Rainier Elementary School celebrates 100th day

Students at Mount Rainier Elementary School celebrated the 100th day of school on Feb. 13 with a number of activities.

Students in pre-kindergarten through second grade made headbands and glued 100 pieces of macaroni to pieces of paper. They also drew pictures of what they think they would look like in 100 years. A teacher read Margery Cuyler's book, "100th Day Worries," and students rotated from class to class every 20 minutes to do a different activity with a different teacher.

In the final event, students helped bake a cake and held a party.

Local organizations

in receive outreach grants

Four area organizations received grant money through the Prince George's Community Foundation's National Harbor Community Outreach Grant Fund.

End Time Harvest Ministries in Riverdale was given $23,000 to support a career development program for 70 high school students. The Engaged University in Riverdale received $13,500 to support youth and community programs and $2,000 for capacity-building. Brentwood-based Family Crisis Center of Prince George's County received $25,000 to support a youth development program focused on healthy relationships and reducing violence. The Literacy Council of Prince George's County in Hyattsville received $12,500 for its "Ready for College, Career and Community" program and $12,500 for capacity building.

Hyattsville looking for

election judges

The city of Hyattsville is looking for election judges for its upcoming election in May.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on May 4. Judges will work from 6 a.m. until about 8:30 p.m.

The city needs 20 judges, with four judges working at each of the city's five polling places.

Judges have to be city residents, registered voters and attend a mandatory training session. Officials will be paid. Call City Clerk Doug Barber at 301-985-5009.

Riverdale Elementary

holds open house

Riverdale Elementary School is hosting an open house for parents of future students.

The event will be from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Monday at the school's library at 5006 Riverdale Road. Bagels and juice will be provided to parents, who can ask questions, take a tour of the school and visit classrooms, meet the principal and a school board representative.

Parents can RSVP to Dannielle Glaros at 301-779-5915 or dmglaros@

gmail.com.

Bladensburg daughter helped raise money for heart research

The daughter of Bladensburg resident Adriane Reed participated in the First Baptist Church of Salisbury's annual Go Red Fashion Show on Friday.

Shakeria Reed is a member of Salisbury University's Passion for Fashion student organization, which presented the show to raise money for the National Women's Heart Association.

Reed is a sophomore psychology major and a member of freshman honor society Phi Eta Sigma. She graduated from Washington, D.C.'s Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in 2007.

Northwestern hosts events for Music In Our Schools month

Northwestern High School will join other schools throughout the county to celebrate Music in Our Schools month in March.

The National Association for Music Education officially designated March as Music In Our Schools Month as a way to focus on music education in schools nationwide. The theme this year "Music! Just Imagine…"

Northwestern High School in Hyattsville will host the middle and high school band assessment on March 13 and 14. Secondary bands will perform for adjudicators who will give feedback that will be used by teachers to improve instruction and the band's quality. Upper level bands will perform during the high school band festival on March 19 and 20 at Northwestern High. The secondary orchestra festival assessment for secondary orchestra groups is on March 21.

MIOS Month was celebrated statewide starting in 1973 and now is a month-long celebration.

Boys and Girls Club

baseball and t-ball

The Hyattsville, Mount Rainier and Brentwood Boys and Girls Club is registering 5 to 13-year-olds for baseball and t-ball.

New players are welcome. Teams will play 10 to 15 games starting in May until late June on both weekday and weekend evenings. Practices begin in April. Contact Jeff Mang at 3918@gmail.com or 202-637-8703 or visit http://hyattsville.wetpaint.com/

page/HMB+Baseball.

Casa of Maryland

fundraising with buy-a-brick

Local immigrant-rights advocacy group Casa of Maryland launched its "Buy a Brick Campaign" on Wednesday to raise money for its new headquarters in Langley Park.

Proceeds from the bricks will help pay for the renovation of the new Multicultural Center and CASA headquarters, formerly the historic McCormick-Goodhart Mansion, and some programs and services.

Donors can have their bricks engraved for $100 and placed in the front walkway or back patio of the center. The bricks cost between $100 to $500, and donors can also sponsor a brick costing $50 for a low-income family.

Bricks are available for purchase until June 30. Visit www.casade

maryland.org or call 301-270-7471.

Ugandan children

performed in Hyattsville

A traveling group of Ugandan children performed on Friday and Saturday at two Hyattsville-area churches.

The Watoto Children's Choir sang songs and told stories to raise awareness for African children. The group is part of the Watoto Child Care Ministries, which cares for more than 1,500 children who have lost one or both of their parents to AIDS or other causes.

The group performed on Friday at the Church of the Living God at 1417 Chillum Road and on Saturday at the Metropolitan Seventh-day Adventist Church at 6307 Riggs Road.