Local Students to Mark Graduation Today

Both schools will hold their ceremonies at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center.

Seniors from two area high schools will don their caps and gowns Thursday for graduation ceremonies at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center. In the morning, students, families, and faculty from Parkdale High School will assemble at the arena, where proceedings are set to begin at 9 a.m. Later, at 1:30 p.m., Hyattsville's Northwestern High School will also conduct its graduation ceremony at the arena. Earlier this month, Parkdale honored a long list of seniors with departmental and special awards, including valedictorian Ruth Petite-Homme and salutatorians Nina Roselle and Orozco Manio. Heavy traffic is expected near the Comcast Center before and after both events (as well as for two additional ceremonies taking place on Friday).

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Olson, Baker Set to Appear at District 3 Town Hall

The event will run Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Parkdale High School.

District 3 County Councilmember Eric Olson is set to hold a town hall for constituents Thursday evening at Parkdale High School. The event will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the school's auditorium (6001 Good Luck Road, Riverdale, MD). County Executive Rushern Baker is also scheduled to speak at the event at 7:00 p.m. The 3rd councilmanic district includes University Park, Riverdale Park, Riverdale Heights, and Riverdale Hills, among other areas.

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Editor's Notebook

Week in Review

Last week it was politics, parties and participation.

On Monday, Patch reported on the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department's first annual 5K race through the city. Seventy-six runners varying in age from 10 to 75 participated. The top male and female performers, Garret Ash and Erica Morardi, posted times of 27:04 and 33:06 respectively.  On Tuesday, Toby and I made homemade peanut butter and oatmeal dog treats. There's a little video here so you can check out just how tasty they were. On Wednesday, Patch started rolling out its series of video interviews with Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-Md.) and his contender former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. The last installment of this four-part series will run on Monday. On Thursday, Patch served up an update on local crime. Over the past five months, 40-50…

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Football Attendance Low, ADs Debate the Cause

Whether it's due to indifference or frugality, the bottom line is people simply aren't attending football games at Northwestern or Parkdale High School.

Baseball may be America's pastime, but football is America's sport. The high school quarterback, varsity captain and homecoming king, with his cheerleader girlfriend latched to his arm, is an iconic American image. Street stickball left the conscience of this country along with Carter Administration. In its place came Joe Montana, Gatorade, Brett Favre and John Madden video games.  In a time where a Monday night matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans, two of the NFL's bottom feeders, gets higher television ratings than the National League Championship Series between the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies, there is simply no evidence to support the case that this country is not football-obsessed. …

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Parkdale Downs Northwestern, 3-1

The Parkdale boys soccer team beat Northwestern on Tuesday.

The Parkdale High School boys' soccer team opened its season against a series of tough opponents, while Northwestern cakewalked past three lesser foes. The difference in preparation was apparent in their meeting on Tuesday, as the Panthers pulled away in the second half for a 3-1 victory over the Wildcats, in what was an extremely physical contest at NHS. "High Point was physical, and then Duval was also a physical game," Parkdale coach Dalitso Chinkhota said of his team's early schedule. "So, by the time we came to see these guys, we had already been through what we would consider the toughest, as far as physical-wise. Overall, I was pleased." Tuesday's game featured a total of nine yellow cards and one red card, along with numerous hard …

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