Washington College Women’s Soccer Team Safely Back on Campus After Bus Fire Cancels Opener

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Washington College women’s soccer team was back on campus safe and sound after a bus fire en route to their first game of the season. The team was barely out of Kent County, not yet to Church Hill on Maryland Route 213, when the bus taking them to their afternoon game at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va., caught fire.

Team members seated at the back of the bus first noticed smoke coming in from a vent near the bathroom. They alerted the team coaches and the driver, who pulled over to the side of the highway.  Players say there was one panicky moment when the hydraulic system that opened the coach’s doors failed, but the driver was able to open the door manually. The team waited a safe distance from the bus and watched as smoke turned to flame.

Local volunteer firefighters arrived to put out the fire, and College vans transported the players back to campus. There they met with a team of administrators and counselors that included Athletic Director Bryan Matthews, two health center crisis counselors and Director of Student Development Beth Anne Langrell. Although most of the passengers were able to get their personal items off the bus, a handful of the players did lose valuables that included electronics.

The bus was operated by Gene’s Limousine Service, based in Federalsburg, Md.  The College is awaiting the results of the investigation into the fire being conducted by the State Fire Marshal and the Maryland State Police.

Athletic Director Matthews stressed that the first priority was the safety and wellbeing of the students. He praised the quick and responsible actions of the players and coaches in evacuating the bus safely and thanked the emergency first responders who came to the scene. “It’s not the way we wanted to open the women’s soccer season,” he said, “but we are certainly thankful that no one was injured.”

The game against Randolph-Macon has been postponed without a make-up date. On Sunday, September 2, the Shorewomen travel to Allentown, Pa., to play Cedar Crest College. That game begins at 2 p.m.  

TEDxChesterRiver Brings Thought-Provoking TED Talks Concept to the College Campus June 30

"The Tolkien Professor" Corey Olsen will speak at TEDxChesterRiver.

CHESTERTOWN, MD—A local version of the popular TED talks will bring a dozen speakers to the Washington College campus Saturday afternoon, June 30. Organized by Chestertown resident Elise Kolaja, the half-day event, TEDxChesterRiver, is scheduled for 1 to 6 p.m. in the Gibson Center for the Arts, and will host a range of notables, from former Congressman Wayne Gilchrest and guitar maker Paul Reed Smith to human-animal bonding expert Meg Daley Olmert—all to address the broad theme of “Where We Belong.”

College Athletic Director Bryan Matthews will talk about how parents
can best help their children successfully navigate college life.

Also included on the roster are two experts from Washington College—Athletic Director Bryan Matthews and English professor Corey Olsen. Matthews will draw from both personal and professional experience for his talk, “College as a Family Affair: Navigating the Maze.” He and his wife, professional singer Sue Matthews, have sent two sons off to higher education, and he’s helped guide thousands of other students through college over the course of his career. “I contend that there needs to be a serious reframing of the relationship between colleges, students and parents,” he says. “Particularly, parents need to change their approach to the college project. They don’t need to cut the cord, just stretch it.”

Professor Olsen, a noted Tolkien expert, will explore the connection between academia and technology. His starting point will be his own successful experiences as the online “Tolkien Professor,” podcasting about the fantasy author’s works. Olsen’s book, Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” will be published this fall by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Organizer Kolaja says the theme of the 12 brief talks in this inaugural TEDxChesterRiver is “Where We Belong.” Each talk attempts to chart in some way where we fit in “among the species and in nature, in our culture, in history and prehistory, and even in the universe,” she says. A complete schedule and list of speakers is on the event web site: http://tedxchesterriver.com/.

Founded in 1984 by architect and graphic designer Richard Saul Wurman, TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a series of global conferences founded to disseminate “ideas worth spreading.” TED talks have been given by thoughtful notables ranging from poet Billy Collins to software billionaire Bill Gates and singer-activist Bono. The series has grown in scope and popularity over the years and has distributed its talks on the Internet since 2006. To accommodate the increasing demand for intellectual stimulation and discussion, TED founded TEDx, which allows independent organizers like Kolaja to use the TED license and format in their community with locally selected lecturers.

Tickets for the Chestertown event can be purchased on the TEDxChesterRiver website (http://tedxchesterriver.com/) at $30 per seat. Registration will close end of day Thursday, June 28.  Admission includes a beverage break and a happy hour reception. For more information about TED or footage of past TED talks visit www.TED.com.

KICK Film Festival to Screen Documentaries "Play Again," "Hoop Dreams" and Kolaja's "Season in D3"

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Chestertown’s first KICK Film Festival will bring two award-winning documentaries and a new video series on Shoremen basketball to the Garfield Center for the Arts Sunday, April 22. Sponsored by the Chestertown Spy, Washington College Department of Athletics, and the Echo Hill Outdoor School, this year’s inaugural KICK Festival aims to inspire students and community members alike with stories about dedicated athletes and the value of sports and outdoor play.

The Festival will kick off at 2:30 Sunday with the award-winning documentary Play Again, which explores the increasing loss of outdoor “playtime” for American children and its impact. The Play Again screening is sponsored by Echo Hill Outdoor School and has special meaning for the School’s associate director, Andrew McCown. “For forty years Echo Hill Outdoor School has been exploring nature with children, and Play Again confirms our belief in the importance of maintaining a human connection to the natural world,” he says. “It is about the value of spending time outside and what may be lost if we do not.”


That evening at 7:30, the focus will turn to basketball, with the award-winning documentary Hoop Dreams, which critic Roger Ebert praised as “one of the best films about American life that I have ever seen.” The movie (view the trailer here) tells the stories of two African-American teenagers recruited to play for a predominantly white high school with an outstanding basketball program. The two young men take 90-minute commutes to school, enduring long and difficult workouts and practices, and adjusting to a totally new social environment. The film raises a number of important issues concerning race, class, economic division, education and values in contemporary America.

“We selected Hoop Dreams as our first film because it remains the gold standard of what a sports documentary is all about,” says Bryan Matthews, director of athletics at Washington College. “I think it will be as meaningful to our college students as it will be for the students at Kent County High. It shows, in very dramatic ways, how the life of the body intersects with the life of the positive mind.”

Washington College men’s basketball head coach, Rob Nugent, who recently gained national headlines for his team’s sportsmanship, will introduce the film. As a bonus with strong local ties, Chestertown-based filmmaker Kurt Kolaja, whose 2010 documentary on the Kent County Marching Band won top honors at the Chesapeake Film Festival, will screen selections from his latest, an online documentary series on DIII basketball. Kolaja and his camera followed the Washington College Shoremen through a full season of practices and games to create a portrait of the coaches and scholar-athletes that personify Division III sports.

Students at Washington College and Kent County High School will be admitted to all films for free. All other adults are asked to make a donation at the door ($10 suggested). The Garfield Center for the Arts is located at the Prince Theatre, 210 High Street, downtown Chestertown. Click here to reserve tickets. For more information, visit the Garfield Center website or call the box office at 410-810-2060.