Community Toasts School's Name Change, National Achievement Designation

Sollers Point Principal Ed Fangman

Officially, the event at Sollers Point Technical High School on June 4th was held to formally rename the school and to celebrate the school's 2003 registration to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), a national recognition of quality performance and student achievement.

Unofficially, the event more resembled a community-wide class reunion as former Sollers Point Junior-Senior High students mingled and reminisced or pored over aging yearbooks and photograph displays.

The day's unmistakable theme was not lost among the event's dignitaries, either. Again and again they came to the podium, there within the airy confines of the Sollers Point Technical High School gymnasium, not only to celebrate a school's heritage and achievements but also to honor a supportive community's sense of itself.
As they spoke, it seemed that each of the dignitaries had been touched in a personal way by the spirit of Sollers Point.

Guests view archival material at Sollers Point

There was Baltimore County Schools Superintendent Dr. Joe A. Hairston, who recalled how he first heard of Sollers Point's high school long before ever coming to Baltimore County. "I heard so much about Sollers as a young man because my roommate in college (Rev. William Cain) was a graduate," he said. "I didn't understand about the school then. But I understand now - about a community and its school and that enduring idea of pride and achievement."
And there was Baltimore County Board of Education member James Walker, his wife from the neighborhood and himself a former teacher at the old Sollers Point Junior-Senior High School. Commenting on the school's name change, he seemed ready to take on no less an authority than William Shakespeare.

BCPS Superintendent Dr. Joe Hairston

Quoting the Bard's famous passage from "Romeo and Juliet" -- "What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet." - Mr. Walker respectfully took exception. "There are times when a name is more than just a name," he said softly. "There are times when a name brings with it distinction, a moment of recognition, or a flurry of beautiful memories. Today is such a time."

The June 4th celebration was made possible, in part, by a March vote of the Board of Education. Sollers Point Principal Ed Fangman had petitioned the Board to allow the school to streamline its name from the unwieldy Sollers Point / Southeastern Technical High School to simply Sollers Point Technical High School, and the Board enthusiastically agreed.
"The name has changed about six times, so I hope this will be the last time," said Mr. Walker. "There are times in Baltimore County when we do happen to get it right. We got it right when we kept Carver in the name for the school in Towson, and we're on the money again today."

Guests found plenty of memories among the old yearbooks and photographs

So is the modern-day Sollers Point Technical High School, said County Executive James Smith. The school was the first in the nation to achieve the ISO standard three years ago, he said, and repeating the success this year again places Sollers Point among an elite group of schools and businesses nationwide.

"Already this year, 160 Sollers Point students have been placed (in jobs) from Sparrows Point to Westminster," Mr. Smith said. "Let's face it, this place is humming."
Don Arnold, President of the Board of Education, said the school's ISO designation is the envy of many businesses. "These are businesses that have been working very hard for it for a number of years," he said. "It is a proud moment for Sollers Point."

The ISO registration process is usually achieved by business and industry organizations to verify that products and services are of the highest quality. Sollers Point is the only school in Maryland and the only technical high school in the nation to hold the designation.
"It's a big deal, a really, really big deal, that this school has won a national ISO achievement," said Dr. Michael Galiazzo, Executive Director of the Regional Manufacturing Institute and a Dundalk native. "This achievement is about the school, but it's also all about the community, and it's all about heart."

James Smith

About 175 guests attended the June 4th event. Amid festive red, white, and black balloons, old classmates and neighbors hugged and chatted and snacked on a lavish smorgasbord of food prepared by the school's culinary arts students.

Built 56 years ago for $1.13 million, Sollers Point Junior-Senior High School opened for African-American students in 1948. Under the leadership of Principal Charles Fletcher, the school's first senior class of 43 students graduated in 1949.

Today, Sollers Point Technical High School is a regional magnet school that serves about 800 students through a unique relationship with its magnet partner high schools, Patapsco, Dundalk, Chesapeake, Kenwood, and Sparrows Point.

James Walker

Sollers Point provides students with technical programs in three clusters. Concentrations in Human Services, Communications, and Transportation/Construction/Manufacturing provide students with opportunities for advanced training, college study, and careers for the future.
"Not just anyone can attend this school. All the students here have proven themselves in some way," said student Shawtair Thompson, whose home school is Dundalk High but who has attended classes at Sollers Point for three years. She plans to attend college and study law. "This school gives me choices and opportunities I don't get at other schools."

 

Chairman of the Baltimore County legislative delegation and Maryland State Del. Joseph J. Sonny Minnick

Event Speakers

Story and Photos by Charles Herndon Communications Officer