Big Train to host Rescue Squad night

The game starts at 7 p.m. and takes place at Shirley Povich Field in Cabin John Regional Park, 10600 Westlake Drive, Bethesda. Tickets cost $2-7 and kids 5 and under are free.

For more information, call 301-98301006 or visit www.bigtrain.org.

Resident is outstanding alumnus at Penn State

Henry Tomes, a Chevy Chase resident, was recently recognized by his alma mater, the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State, with the Outstanding Liberal Arts Alumni award from the College’s Alumni Society Board.

In 1963, Tomes marked an important milestone by becoming the first African-American to enter and graduate from the College’s Psychology program with a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. He went on to break down other racial barriers, becoming the first African-American and first psychologist to serve as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health.

For 24 years Tomes served as executive director of the American Psychological Association’s public interest program, which is responsible for developing the 148,000-member group’s positions on public policies. He retired from that post in 2005. Throughout his career he has strived for greater diversity in the college and his profession, while also sharing his expertise with the college through its mentor program and by conducting lectures and discussions with graduate students and faculty in the college’s psychology department.

Resident named theater festival apprentice

Stephanie Jordan of Chevy Chase was recently named a 2008 VSA arts Williamstown Theatre Festival apprentice. Jordan will be learning about the different aspects of professional theater through stage performance classes and hands-on work at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts this summer.

Every summer, the Williamstown Theatre Festival Apprentice Program offers 70 promising students classes in acting, voice, and movement, including discussions and master classes with acclaimed theater professionals. Students learn about the business side of theater through rotating work assignments.

VSA arts is committed to providing opportunities for emerging artists with disabilities, and for the third straight year is supporting the apprenticeships of promising young theater students with disabilities.

Jordan, a current student of theater at Montgomery College, aspires ‘‘not only to act, but to be able to start my own theater company one day.” Her credits include appearances with the Kirov Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival, and as a Nibelung in the Washington National Opera’s production of ‘‘Das Rheingold” (director Francesca Zambello). In addition to her work onstage, Jordan, who has Asperger’s syndrome, served as assistant stage manager for Bard Summerscape’s production of ‘‘Genoveva” and Solas Nua’s ‘‘Scenes from the Big Picture.”

VSA arts is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1974 by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith to create a society where people with disabilities learn through, participate in, and enjoy the arts.

On campus ...

*Nicholas Evoy of Bethesda, received the Biomedical Engineering Distinguished Service Award for outstanding service to the academic community.

Evoy is the son of Howard Evoy and attended Walt Whitman High School. He is majoring in biomedical engineering, is expected to graduate in May 2009.

*Caitlin O’Connell of Bethesda was named to the Dean’s List for the spring semester at Wake Forest University. Students who achieve a grade point average of 3.0 or higher are named to the list.

Bethesda residentwins clean air award

Bethesda resident S. William Becker recently received the S. Smith Griswold Outstanding Air Pollution Control Official Award from the Air & Waste Management Association.

The award is presented for outstanding accomplishments in the prevention and control of air pollution. Becker is executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, where he serves state and local air regulators in development and implementation of laws, regulations, policies, and strategies.

Founded in 1907, the Air & Waste Management Association is a nonprofit, nonpartisan professional organization that provides training, information, and networking opportunities to thousands of environmental professionals in 65 countries. For more information, visit www.awma.org.

This column is for you. Share your good news! Feel free to send press releases and news tips. Contact Stephanie Siegel via e-mail at ssiegel@gazette.net, phone at 301-280-3006, fax at 301-670-7183, or snail mail at 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20877.