Students showcase their talents at state summer learning centers

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Alexandra Cruz-Wright, 12, paced the stage, pivoting with purpose. Hands planted in pockets and eyes fixed on the audience, she recited lines from Shakespeare’s “Othello.” If she was nervous, it didn’t show.

“It took me a long time to memorize the lines,” said the rising seventh-grader at the Waldorf School of Baltimore, adding, “It’s hard [acting like] a guy.”

Cruz-Wright performed with about 30 classmates Tuesday at Baltimore’s Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center in a showcase of Maryland’s Summer Centers for Gifted and Talented Students.

Nearly 1,000 students attend the state’s 17 summer learning centers to sharpen their skills in subjects including fine arts, mathematics, engineering, paleontology, aquatic research, and law and government.

The program is funded with state money and student tuition.

“It really shows you the talent that resides in all of our students,” Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Nancy Grasmick said. “When these students go back to school, they will be able to build on their summer experience.”

The program, in its 40th year, has seen a significant decline over the past 20 years due to lack of funding, said Stephanie Zenker, a state education specialist and the director of the Summer Center program. But it’s still popular — this year, more than 1,400 students applied for 935 spots.

On Tuesday, girls clad in sequined dresses slid across the floor in unison as songs from “The Wiz” blared in the background. Saxophonists played along to the thumping of their teacher’s bass guitar on the Miles Davis track “All Blues,” and a vocal group sang tunes from the musical “Dreamgirls.”

“I like showing everyone what we learned,” said Cheyenne Tools, 10, a rising fifth-grader at Middlesex Elementary School in Baltimore County.

mmcilroy@baltimoreexaminer.com