Q&A: Glen Burnie High School Student Jean Gillingham

Patch caught up with student Jean Gillingham, 17, a senior at the school, on Tuesday between classes. The Glen Burnie resident and historian for Glen Burnie High's National Honor Society (NHS) chapter spoke about the many community service projects the group has been involved with this year and what life is like at the school.

We stopped her to ask Five Questions...

Glen Burnie Patch: Tell me about some of the community projects you've worked on with the National Honor Society.
Jean Gillingham: We did a trick-or-treat event with UNICEF and raised a couple hundred dollars. And there's a student here, Malcolm Washington, who has cancer and needs to be treated. So we've been raising money for him [by painting faces at a football game and collecting donations during lunch]. He's home-schooled now. We fundraise because it gives us a sense of community and helps different causes by giving them money and helping them with their financial needs. And it brings us together.

Glen Burnie Patch: What are your plans after high school?
Jean: I'm going to college. I've been accepted at Towson and Loyola so far and I'm going to choose between the two of them. I'm OK going to either. I'm going to study writing—creative writing. I want to be an editor and write novels.

Glen Burnie Patch: What other extracurricular activities are you involved in?
Jean: National Art Honor Society for drawing. I'm a thespian. There are auditions today [Tuesday] for Mystery at Shady Acres—it's a comedy.

Glen Burnie Patch: What do you do in your free time?
Jean: I spend a lot of time doing homework and applying for scholarships. But I like to hang out with my friends and play video games.

Glen Burnie Patch: What do you like about going to Glen Burnie High School?
Jean: I like the people here. I've met a lot of really nice people, especially Ms. [Kathryn] Smit, [the NHS adviser].