For More Information

Please call Ellen Mischke at 410-778-4525.

Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 7pm
Dress: Cocktail Attire
Tickets: $50 per person or $800 for a reserved table of 8
RSVP: By October 20

Click here for a PDF of invitation.

"Dance with the Stars" Fundraiser

Local “Stars” to Strut Their Stuff In Dance Fundraiser for Horizons

In an evening billed as a celebration of community and dance, local “Stars” will compete in the first-ever “Horizons Dance with the Stars” event Nov. 8 in the Kent School Gym. The fundraiser, which gets underway at 7 p.m., will be a fun-filled take-off on the popular “Dancing with the Stars” television show, which pairs celebrities with professional ballroom dancers to compete on the dance floor. Both prior to the event and that evening during the competition, friends and supporters will cast their votes for particular dance pairs through cash or check donations to Horizons.

Based at Kent School since 1995, the Horizons summer program provides academic and cultural enrichment along with swim lessons and field trips for low-income students referred by Kent County’s public schools. The goal is to keep them motivated and on-grade when they return to the classroom, and to help them develop the will and confidence to set high goals for themselves.

Kent School donates use of its campus and administrative support for the program. Head of School Michael Schuler will be among the dancers competing for dollars and a trophy on Nov. 8 Others Stars include Kent School parents Pete Brocker and Dr. Andrew Ferguson; and Sud Deringer, the husband of Lower School science teacher Pam Deringer.

Also competing for Horizons donations will be Dr. Jerry O’Connor, Super Fresh manager Donald Greene, actress and café owner Jen Friedman, Prince Theater artistic director Lucia Foster, Select real-estate agent Brenda Stango, and Courtney Phelps, who hosts the Humane Society’s local cable show “Think Pawsitive.” The only husband-and-wife team to dance together will be Leslie Prince Raimond, director of the Kent County Arts Council, with partner Vince Raimond.

Congressman Wayne Gilchrest and Mayor Margo Bailey will serve on the judge’s panel, along with Professor Karen Smith, the chair of the Dance Department at Washington College, and dentist and former University of Maryland basketball standout Neil Brayton. Kent School teachers Jim Landskroener and Melissa McGlynn will serve as emcees, and music teacher Kate Bennett will be deejay.

Former national ballroom champions Darryl and Lucia Calloway head the dance pros; Lucia taught at Kent School for many years. Other experienced dance participants who will dance with the Stars include Jim Fouss, Diane Landskroener, Jennifer Tosten, Cherae Ensor, John Schratweiser, Robert Sullivan, and Asa Trinh Thorp.

Tickets at $50 a person will include heavy hors d’oeuvres from Occasions Catering and an open bar. Reserved tables for eight near the dance floor are $800. To reserve tickets or a table or to learn about business sponsorship opportunities, please call co-chairs Kay MacIntosh (410-778-9271) or Rob Thompson (410-708-8276) or leave a message at the Horizons office at 410-778-4100, ext. 7.

Horizons

If you are a public school child whose parents or guardians have limited financial resources, the summer months might loom long and tedious. However, if you happen to live in Kent County, you might be fortunate to be one of the 60–70 children enrolled in Horizons Student Enrichment Program at Kent School and be able to look forward to six weeks of learning, playing, swimming and nurturing.

In 2005, Horizons celebrated its 10th anniversary. The founding Head of School, Joan Merriken, and faculty member, Susan Comfort, brought this outreach program to Kent School in 1995. Modeled after the highly successful program at Country Day School in New Canaan, Connecticut, Horizons at Kent has grown significantly in its ten years.

This summer, we have enrolled children from kindergarten through eighth grade in classes no larger than 14 students. Each class is directed by a head teacher and two assistants with additional help from volunteers. This ratio of adults to children provides each child individual attention during all aspects of their six-hour day, which begins with academics and ends with swimming, field trips or some other form of recreation.

Through generous in-kind support, Kent School makes its campus facilities available to Horizons during the summer program, and Kent County Public Schools provide breakfast and lunch for these children. The requisite funds necessary to run the program are raised completely independently from Kent School although many donors support the mission of both organizations.

That said, however, each year students at Kent School undertake at least one project to show their support of Horizons. We have had successful bathing suit, holiday toy and new book drives over the years, and Kent School students send birthday cards and other greetings to Horizons students. Additionally, several former Kent School graduates have returned to their campus as paid summer assistants or volunteers, maintaining ties to Kent School and the community at large.

If you have questions about Horizons Student Enrichment Program at Kent School, please don't hesitate to call Ellen Mischke, at 410-778-4525 or e-mail horizons@friend.ly.net.