8/2/2019 Washington Latin -- 40 of 42 Seniors Already Placed w 1.5m in Scholarships

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The CurrenT Wednesday, april25, 2012

Wednesday, April 25The D.C. State Board of Education will hold a meeting to review a proposal

to reinstate a senior thesis as a graduation requirement. The meeting will beginat 5:30 p.m. in the Old Council Chambers at One Judiciary Square, 441 4th St.NW.

Thursday, April 26The D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board will hold its monthly meeting,

which will include consideration of a revised concept for a nine-story hotel to bbuilt as a rear addition to the First Church of Christ, Scientist, at 1770 Euclid St

The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in Room 220 South, One Judiciary Square, 444th St. NW. The D.C. Department of Transportation will hold a public meeting on prelimi -nary engineering design options under consideration to replace the 27th Streebridge over Broad Branch. The meeting will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. inthe Rock Creek Nature Center, 5200 Glover Road NW.

Monday, April 30Mayor Vincent Gray will hold a Ward 1 town-hall meeting on the D.C. budget

from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Columbia Heights Educational Campus, 3101 16thSt. NW. The West End Friends group will hold its annual meeting at 7 p.m. at the WesEnd Library, 24th and L streets NW.

Wednesday, May 2The Friends of the Tenley Library group will hold its annual meeting, which

will feature board elections and a review of new and upcoming library technology. The meeting will be held in the large meeting room at the Tenley-FriendshipLibrary, 4450 Wisconsin Ave. NW.

The week ahead

By BETH COPECurrent Staff Writer

Crys Latham wrote a recommendation letter forevery one of the 42 graduates from Washington LatinPublic Charter School this year. And 40 of those seniors from the schools first graduating class will enrollin four-year schools in the fall.

Forty-two letters was a lot, but I also started lastsummer, said Latham, who was hired as the first col-lege counselor at Latin in summer 2010.

In the 21 months since Latham came on board, shehas created a college-prep program from scratch at theclassically focused charter school. And her results havebeen notable.

As of last week, 70 percent of the colleges studentsapplied to had accepted them. That translates into 113schools, stretching from D.C. to Paris to Washingtonstate.

On top of that, the students about half of whomwill be the first in their family to attend college haveso far racked up more than $1.5 million in scholarshipoffers.

How many kids do you know today who will gradu-ate from school with no debt? said head of schoolMartha Cutts, a former National Cathedral Schooladministrator who joined Latin five years ago, in theschools second year of operation.

When you think of the parents of those 42 seniors, those parents took an enormous leap of faith, saidCutts. And now I can say thank you to them.

No doubt, the parents will be thanking her right back.Theyll have that opportunity at the schools June 8

graduation at Georgetown Universitys Gaston Hall.For senior Anaka Osborne, the date will mark the end

of her East Coast schooling. Osborne was one of twoWashington Latin students to win full rides from thePosse Foundation, which sends its beneficiaries toschool in groups posses of about 10 to providethe support of a peer group and has covered the full costsof more than 4,000 students since 1989. Osborne willattend Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.

Everywhere you are, you can see the ocean,Osborne admitted of the schools appeal. But its still a

drive to the beach.Counselor Latham said she was thrilled about

Osbornes scholarship. She described Osborne asbeloved in this community: She remembers peoplesbirthdays, she says hello, shes very intuitive about oth-ers emotions, Latham said.

And she said Osbornes academics arent half-badeither. She has this amazing system for note taking with all these colors, said Latham. Anaka is a teachersdream, and she just totally deserves this. [Shes] just

Washington Latin tograduate first seniors

See Latin/Page 11

Photo courtesy of Washington Lain Public Charter School

Fariss Nabih, left, is one of many Washington Latinstudents who have won scholarships. The graduat-ing class has racked up over $1.5 million in offers.

By BRADY HOLTCurrent Staff Writer

After an illegal animal trap badlyinjured a raccoon in North ClevelandPark this month, concerned neigh-bors and the Washington HumaneSociety are trying to figure out whoset the trap and to make sure theydont do it again.

Resident Cindy Snyder found theanimal in her yard near 38th andYuma streets April 7. Its front legwas caught in the metal trap, anddespite chewing off its paw the rac-coon had been unable to free itself.

Washington Humane Societyenforcement officer Jennifer Gardnerestimated the animal had been drag-ging the trap around the neighbor-hood for a week before it was freed.The injuries were so severe that theraccoon had to be euthanized.

I think people need to be awareof the amount of damage they inflict

before they set these things,Gardner said in an interview, notingalso that the leg-hold style of traphas long been illegal in the District.

The Humane Society is offering a$1,000 reward for information lead-ing to the arrest and prosecution, on

charges of animal cruelty, of theperson or people who set the trap,and has posted fliers around theneighborhood. Gardner said it waslikely a pest-management companythat set the illegal trap, and that any-one who has seen a company vehicleor who saw the raccoon should con-tact the society at 202-723-5730.

We really need to get to the rootof this, said Snyder. A cat couldhave stepped on this, or a dog. Somebody put out a trap that wasincredibly inhumane; its illegal, andit tortured this animal.

Group offers reward after illegal trapping

By BRADY HOLTCurrent Staff Writer

After privately reaching consen-sus with neighbors about its devel-opment plans, Wesley TheologicalSeminary received ZoningCommission approval for its campusplan last Thursday, allowing it toconstruct a new 76-bed dorm over-looking University Avenue.

The seminarys small size, therelatively minor scope of its propos-als and ready concessions to neigh-bors helped expedite the process,which has dragged out for months atother Northwest universities.

Wesley, which is located justnorth of American University alongMassachusetts Avenue, first intro-duced its campus plan proposal lastfall, and its only Zoning Commission

hearing took less than two hours.Given the recent experience

with AU, many neighbors have

commented that Wesley Seminarysapproach to the community has beena breath of fresh air, testified SpringValley advisory neighborhood com-missioner Tom Smith, referring tothe nearby universitys hotly con-tested campus plan, which theZoning Commission recentlyapproved despite many objections.

Wesley Seminarys new four-story dorm will run parallel to theexisting Straughn Hall on the cam-pus western edge. The school willuse that extra space to renovate itsexisting dorms to include fewer butlarger rooms, and it will convertsome of those into office space.Officials hope to have the new dormopen by August 2013.

In response to community con-cerns, the seminary redesigned theplanned building to locate the big-

gest windows away from the neigh-borhood, promised not to sell severallots it owns along University Avenue,and is working with neighbors todevelop a landscaping plan. Also,seminary officials agreed to extendthe campus plan term through 2025,meaning that any major changes tothe campus that werent addressed inthis years zoning approval will needto go through a full public process.

The bottom line is this is amodel that shows that the campusplan model can work and does nothave to be confrontational, Smithsaid.

Smith added that neighbors alsocompromised on some aspects of the

Wesley Seminary wins approval for new dorm

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