9/8/08

Teachers throughout the school are working to fulfill the vision of helping all students become problem solvers and creative and critical thinkers.

 A hawk is a fitting symbol for Vincent Farm Elementary School, says the school’s principal, Anne Gold.  The students of Baltimore County’s newest school overwhelmingly selected the hawk as its mascot. “It is known for its versatility; it is able to soar the sky, but focus on the earth. That will be a good slogan for our students to remember as they work to achieve their academic and personal goals.”

The school, which serves the northeast neighborhoods of White Marsh, Rossville, Glenmar, and Middle River, opened in August with a state-rated capacity of 700 students but with an estimated initial enrollment of about 400. That leaves plenty of room for future students in a part of Baltimore County that is growing rapidly. In March, Baltimore County’s Board of Education approved boundary lines for the new school designed primarily to relieve student overcrowding at Chapel Hill and Glenmar elementary schools.

Principal Anne Gold confers with a Vincent Farm teacher on opening day.

For students from prekindergarten to grade 5, Gold says, “this school is all about strategic thinking.” Proven strategies will be used, Gold explains, to nurture academic-minded and high-achieving students. “I want our students to be problem solvers and creative and critical thinkers. If children learn thinking strategies, everything else will fall into place.”

Located on a pastoral site along Ebenezer Road, the 95,000-square-foot Vincent Farm Elementary is environmentally friendly – the first BCPS school to be cooled and heated through geothermal energy systems. The school features 32 classrooms, two music rooms, an art classroom, two stationary and six mobile computer labs, and a television studio.

Superintendent Dr. Joe A. Hairston and Board Vice President Ed Parker, seen here with Principal Anne Gold, were among the many special guests touring Vincent Farm Elementary School on the first day of school.

Each classroom boasts an LCD projector mounted to the ceiling to assist with lessons, while the building itself has wireless Internet access. In the primary grade classrooms, teachers – all of whom work with laptop computers – can use interactive “whiteboard” technology that resembles a souped-up chalkboard. And in the higher grades, educators will work with “digital slates” – interactive, hand-held tablets that teachers and students can use to display their work on an electronic classroom chalkboard.

For veteran educator Gold, who previously was principal at Lansdowne Elementary School, opening a new school yields exciting opportunities. Earlier in the summer, she sat down with her staff and established a vision for the new school, a school handbook and student code of conduct, and a safety plan. She also met with parents over the summer and provided support as they began developing a PTA chapter.   

Throughout Vincent Farm Elementary School, teachers and students immediately went to work – teaching and learning.

With staff and community involvement, Gold says, the school has a bright future. “Our students know they are in a safe, nurturing learning environment, a school that’s well-stocked with the very latest educational materials and tools, state-of-the-art all the way. This is an amazing place.”

To learn more about the school, go to vincentfarmes.bcps.org

Story and photos by Charles Herndon, communications specialist. Photo selection and editing by Yuan F., an intern in the Office of Communications and Towson High School senior

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