The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • A6

6 THE BALTIMORE SUN NEWS WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2013 Seven schools apply for charters from city board Kerr literary prize goes to senior from Delaware By Erica L. Green The Baltimore Sun GENE SWEENEY JR. BALTIMORE SUN PHOTO Tim Marcin, left, is congratulated by Kathryn Moncrief, chair of the English department at Washington College on the Eastern Shore. William C. March Elementary School proposes becoming the National Education Partners, William March Elementary School Campus, targeting students "at risk of not reaching their full potential;" The Green Street Academy has applied to convert from its current model as a "transformation school," a combined middlehigh school with an environmentally oriented curriculum, to two charter schools that serve middle and high school students; The Monarch Academy Public Charter School proposes opening a Southeast Baltimore campus in 2014 to serve kindergarten through eighth grade, with a mission to produce students "who are prepared for high school and who understand that the goal of life is to serve a cause larger than one's self." After the presentation, school board Commissioner David Stone said he was surprised by the number of middle school programs this year.

Commissioner Jerrelle F. Francois noted that many of the applicants' missions didn't seem unique. "A lot of things they said they want to do, we already have in a lot of our traditional schools," Francois said. "I want to know how they are different." The school board will hold a public review on the new charter applicants June 4 and will vote on recommendations to award or deny licenses June 1L In February, the school board revoked the contracts of several schools, among them the charter licenses of Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy Middle School and Baltimore Freedom Academy, and the "transformation school" Baltimore Civitas MiddleHigh School. The board, which was split on the recommendations by Alonso, voted to cancel the contracts of Civitas and Baltimore Freedom Academy and close them at the end of the school year.

While the all-male, Bluford Drew Jemison's East Baltimore campus lost its charter license, it will remain open as a traditional program. erica.greenbaltsun.com twitter.comEricaLG "I have no idea what I'm going to do with the money." Tim Marcin Tim Marcin wins Washington College award of $61,000 for his body of writing By Carrie Wells The Baltimore Sun As the five young writers sat with bated breath, Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post book critic Michael Dirda told them that a life of wordsmithing would bring them pain. One of them would soon win the nation's most lucrative literary award, the Sophie Kerr Prize, and experience a moment of greatness. Dirda spoke to those who lost "You will feel heartbroken for a while, but if you pursue a literary career, it's best to get used to that feeling," he said. On Tuesday night at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Washington College bestowed its annual Sophie Kerr Prize on Tim Marcin, a 22-year-old graduating senior from Wilmington, who hopes to pursue a career in sports journalism.

In his collection of poems and creative non-fiction, Marcin also made note of the difficulty in putting life into words. 'Writing is wrangling an overwhelming world," Marcin wrote in the introduction to his portfolio, "condensing it into something lucid, almost inherent Like a tiny aperture capturing a big blue sky." The prize is named for Sophie Kerr, a fiction writer and magazine editor who grew up on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Kerr left most of her estate $500,000 to Washington College upon her death in 1965, creating the prize, a line of scholarships and a fund that brings prominent writers to campus. Kerr stipulated that the college give half the income from the bequest annually to the senior showing "the most ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor." This year, that figure is $6L192. This is the first year the prize The city school board is considering proposals for seven charter schools that include two named for female trailblazers, another attempt at an all-male, college-preparatory program in East Baltimore, and an elementary school for at-risk youths.

The new programs were presented to the Baltimore school board Tuesday as part of the district's annual charter application process. The applicants, the majority of which want to open in 2014, had made it through at least one round of interviews with a district charter advisory board. The presentations come amid heightened scrutiny for independently run schools, after the city school board earlier this year revoked the licenses of several high-profile and popular programs. The applicants are entering a process that has become more stringent in the last two years. In 201L the city school board approved CEO Andres Alonso's decision to deny all six applicants seeking charter status.

Last year, the schools chief recommended to approve only two of four applications. Now, the city school board will consider granting charter contracts to three single-gender programs: Barbara Jordan Academy for Girls, which would serve girls in kindergarten through fifth grade with a social justice-themed curriculum; Lillie May Carroll Jackson School, which would offer an "experiential learning community" to prepare girls in grades five through eight for the most rigorous high schools. The school's operators would be the Girls Charter School which school officials identified as a nonprofit organization created by Roland Park Country School; The Banneker Blake Academy of Sciences and the Arts, which would open in East Baltimore in 2015 and offer boys in grades six through eight a rigorous, college preparatory program. Three current schools are looking to convert to charter schools or expand: announced. "It's surreal, kind of like, you think it's a dream, have to process it all.

You kind of try to make yourself think that you're not going to win, so I have no idea what I'm going to do with the money, but I guess that's a nice problem to have." An 11-member committee at the Chestertown college pored over two -dozen portfolios from graduating seniors before picking Marcin's 42-page portfolio. The finalists were Emily Blackn-er, 2L of Perry Hall; Maegan Clearwood, 2L of Middletown; Jillian Obermeier, 23, of Gaithersburg; and Bond Richards, 23, of Norfolk, Va Contestants were allowed to submit forms of writing including fiction, poetry, critical writing and screenplays. "Right there, that's the heart of the thing, what makes the viscous words move," Marcin penned in his musings on writing. "So I thought, Springsteen and Dylan, not necessarily that they're my favorite musicians, but when Springsteen sings, it's authentic and Dylan, with a harmonica, and a voice like chalk. cwellsbaltsun.com twitter.com cwellssun was awarded in Baltimore.

The past two years, the Kent County college sent its prizewinner to Manhattan, with the notion that the graduate would be closer to the center of the literary world. Before that, the award was presented at graduation, with no named finalists, but the school's leaders felt that added anguish to the already emotional event of graduation for those who did not win. The check for the prize will be presented during the college's graduation ceremony Sunday. Marcin said he's not yet sure what he will do with the money and plans to attend Northwestern University in Chicago in the fall to study journalism. His writings included a story about life as a camp counselor, an account of being in Boston amid the recent marathon bombings, and poetry about teen romance.

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