Do you know how to ask “the bomb” question?
The city?s Northwestern High School?s journalism class certainly does, and it was preparing one for an early morning news conference with Mayor Sheila Dixon on Thursday.
“It?s the tough question you ask after asking several easier questions,” sophomore Devon Fleming, 15, explained as students debated whether to ask Dixon about the rising crime rate, or if she had gubernatorial ambitions.
Dixon, who has touted improving city schools as one of the key goals of her administration, appeared at her alma mater Thursday morning to give the class a brief civics lesson. But the students were more interested in asking their own questions.
“What has changed since you attended Northwestern?” asked Dalton Hawkins, a sophomore.
“The graduation rate,” Dixon replied. “When I attended, almost all the students graduated; now I believe only 200 out of 900 who started did.”
Other questions included if she kept in touch with her high school friends, which she said she did, and if a run for the U.S. presidency wasin the offing.
“No,” Dixon said, laughing. “I like working at the municipal level.”
The journalism class is part of the Northwestern?s Public Relations and Communications Academy, a five-year-old program that touts high graduation rates and almost 100 percent college placement. The 15 graduates of the class of 2005 were all accepted by colleges and received nearly $350,000 in scholarship money.
Emily Ensign, who teaches the journalism class, is part of Teach for America, a national program that recruits and places recent college graduates in schools throughout the country. Ensign said that moving to Baltimore from Minnesota to teach has been just as interesting as meeting the mayor.
“I love it here,” she said. “The students are great.”
Dixon, who fielded questions from each student in the class, offered some sage advice while posing for a group photo. “Don?t let what you don?t have define what you can do,” she said.
As for the “bomb question,” no problem for the city?s new leader.
“Will you do a better job than Martin O?Malley?” a student asked.
“He did a great job,” she said without flinching. “We?re just going to build on it.”
