Today I had the real pleasure of attending the Educational Exchange IV where it was encouraging to hear School Superintendent Jim Richmond speak on new opportunities for Charles County and its students. The “green” high school coming to the St. Charles community will be built and operated using many green products, methods, and smart technologies. It brings such promise to our county wherein students will have environmental technology studies, including real life problem solving opportunities. Most importantly, graduating students will enter the job market ready for the future jobs in new green technology. I am grateful to Governor Martin O’Malley for approving 300 more student placements, and to U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski who secured 5.5 million dollars toward this school with its high tech, digital classrooms. Our county benefits tremendously from their support.
Also on the agenda was a fascinating presentation by guest speaker Dr. Amitabha Ghosh, a planetary geologist serving as the missions operations person for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. He helped develop, and currently monitors, the Mars Rover activity. This advanced robotic vehicle is shedding light onto this mysterious planet and showing us that there are many geologic similarities between Earth and Mars. Who knows how much can be learned about our own planet from these studies in far off space?
This enlightening event was held at North Point High School in Waldorf where the Culinary Arts students prepared the lunch for us and did a great job as always.