Chesapeake Runner Takes Historic Seat

By: Keith Mills

Collin Wojciechowski will never forget sitting on the back porch of his family's summer home in Ocean Pines, listening to his uncles Don, Tim, Bill, Kevin and Paul talk sports and politics. He'll also never forget sitting in the living room of his Uncle Tim's house in Millersville, mesmerized by the veteran teacher's take on American history and government.

And he'll never forget the day in February when he awoke on a frigid Saturday morning at 6 a.m. and drove to Washington, D.C., with his cousin Erin to meet Sen. Barack Obama.

"We were 35th in line out of 18,000," Collin said.

Did you get to meet him?

"Shook his hand. It was awesome."

And so is Collin Wojciechowski, a junior at Chesapeake High School in Pasadena. He is an honor student who runs cross country and track, and on July 1, he will take his place in Annapolis as the latest student to sit on the Anne Arundel County Board of Education.

He will also have a full vote on the board and is believed to be the only high school student in the country with full voting privileges on a school system's board of education.

"It's something I am very proud of, and I am well aware of the responsibility that comes with it," Wojciechowski said.

That is no surprise since Wojciechowski comes from a family of teachers, educators and coaches who use holidays, reunions, birthdays and summer vacations to offer their opinions on people making news and discuss anything and everything that is going on in society -- from who will make a good president to who should bat cleanup for the Orioles to whom the Ravens should take in the upcoming NFL draft.

"It all started on Church Street," said Tim McMullen, Wojciechowski's uncle and one of the most successful high school baseball coaches in state history.

McMullen, a former history and American government teacher at Brooklyn Park and Broadneck, won state baseball championships at both schools and is in the Maryland State Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame.

McMullen, sisters Sharon and Susan, and brothers Don, Bill, Kevin and Paul would eat dinner at their northern Anne Arundel County home and then sit around the table for hours, talking issues with their father Donald, a colonel in the U.S. Army.

"That's where it began," Tim McMullen said. "Now, it's a part of my household, Kevin's, Susan's. It's tradition. We make sure we have dinner together and use that time to sit around and talk about things. Whatever's going on, we'll talk about it. I really believe that's a settling influence on the family."

Susan McMullen is now Mrs. Richard Wojciechowski. The two met at Brooklyn Park High School, where they were both honor students and athletes. Richard played lacrosse while Susan played soccer and ran track -- and competed with her brother Tim, who also coached indoor track and football.

***

"I want to introduce a special member of our family," Don McMullen said last Sunday before more than 100 family and friends at their belated St. Patrick's Day celebration at the Patapsco State Park in Catonsville. "He was just elected to the school board of Anne Arundel County, and we are all extremely proud of him -- Collin Wojciechowski."

Don McMullen lives in Ocean Pines and is one of the uncles Collin says helped influence his interest in politics and public service.

"The back porch at Cannon Drive," he said. "I guess that's where I really first started to hear my uncles talk about politics and sports. And the living room of Uncle Tim's. Being a history and government teacher, he was always talking about current events and things that were going on. For me it was great."

Don and Tim were often joined by Collin's parents and the other McMullen brothers for what would become rousing discussions. Bill McMullen is a longtime soccer official in the Baltimore area while Kevin McMullen, a former soccer coach at Brooklyn Park, Broadneck and Urbana, is the assistant men's soccer coach at Mount St. Mary's University. Paul McMullen is the award-winning sportswriter who has also published two books, one on the history of Maryland men's basketball and another on swimmer Michael Phelps.

"I'll say this," Collin said. "It's never dull at things like this. I love it."

Collin has been his school's class president since eighth grade, but he won't run for senior class president because of his election to the school board by his peers.

Collin, Jarrett Ley of Severna Park and Shelby Heineke of Annapolis were finalists for the board seat. Last month, all three traveled to South River High in Edgewater to address an assembly of 300 students who then voted.

Collin won the election based on a speech he gave regarding school budget cuts and their effect on substitute teachers, field trips, school safety and middle school schedules.

"He came home and said he was going to give this a shot," said Richard Wojciechowski, Collin's dad. "It's really amazing to see how far he's taken this. Obviously, we're proud of him."

"Now, I know where to go for advice," laughed current school board member Ned Carey, who played on Tim McMullen's first state championship baseball team at Brooklyn Park 28 years ago. "Collin is exactly what the student-member program is all about. It's great that he's going to be joining us. He will do a great job."

It was Tim McMullen's daughter Erin, a graduate of Old Mill High, who Collin joined at Sen. Obama's rally last month and who is giving her cousin a little guidance as to where he may attend college.

"Erin went to American University," Tim McMullen said, "and Collin is looking at American as well."

"It was very impressive," Collin said. "Erin's really helped me figure out where I want to go."

"I've always been impressed with Collin's ability to listen," Tim McMullen said. "He'd sit back and listen, take it all in and then he'd ask a question or make a comment and it was always well thought out. Very intelligent. I tell you what, of all the accomplishments our family has ever had, Collin's is as special and unique as any of them."

ALLEN, LINGNER, HORN HONORED BY MSADA

Dunbar's Barbara Allen, Carver Vocational-Technical’s Greg Horn and Sparrows Point's Russ Lingner were among the area athletic directors honored at last weekend's Maryland State Athletic Directors Association Conference in Ocean City.

Sheila Wooters of the Connelly School of the Holy Child of Potomac was honored as the state's Athletic Director of the Year. Lingner received the award for Baltimore County and Horn for Baltimore City, while Allen won the prestigious National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Award.

"Barb's honor was well deserved," said longtime Forest Park coach and athletic director Obie Barnes.

Just a few days before the start of Dunbar's football season, Allen and the entire Poets community were rocked by the loss of football coach Ben Eaton, who died suddenly in late August.

Allen and the current group of Dunbar coaches, led by Lawrence Smith, joined with the Poets followers, the school's volunteer support group, to help players deal with the devastation. They responded by winning their second straight state championship.

"They were an amazing group of young men," Allen said. "I remember when Ben had his surgery, Tavon [Austin] was the first person to come see him in the hospital. Those kids loved him."

Allen and Ben's widow, Sandra, were regulars as the Poets rolled through the regular season and then pounded Allegany for the Class 1A state championship.

"Sandra was just a rock through all of that," Allen said. "She would walk down to the field after games and kids would hug her and gather around her. Her strength was amazing."

So was that of Ben Eaton Jr., the former All-State linebacker at Gilman who has spent this past year at Mercersberg Academy in Pennsylvania and will play his college football next fall at Lafayette College.

"We're all so proud of Ben Jr. and how he handled this,” Allen said. “And now he's going to be playing college football."

Ron Belinko, who along with Jill Masterman runs Baltimore County's interscholastic athletic program, and Bob Wade, coordinator of athletics for Baltimore City, also attended the conference.

Hazing and the increased gang influence among athletes were among the many topics discussed by more than 100 statewide athletic directors who attended the three-day conference. University of Maryland broadcaster Johnny Holliday was guest speaker.

POLY AND WESTERN TAKE HENDRICKS INVITATIONAL

Freddie Hendricks has spent his entire adult life teaching and coaching. As coach at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical, he built one of the state's premier track dynasties, though the school never had a track. Mervo has a track now and hosts the Freddie Hendricks Invitational, named after the retired Mustangs icon.

Baltimore Polytechnic’s boys and Western's girls won this year's Hendricks Invitational, thanks to some outstanding performances from their relay teams. Poly won the 800-meter relay and finished second in the 1,600 while Western won the 400 and 3,200 relays and finished second in the 1,600 and third in the 800.

Destane Stokes won the 100-meter dash for Western while Poly's Lee Reynolds (100-meter) and Lemuel Pridgen (400-meter) won individual titles for coach Steve Williams' Engineers.

Western Tech finished third in the boys event behind Glasgow High of Delaware. Meade finished second in the girls event and Aberdeen third. Jermol Dix of Western Tech won both the boys 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles while Meade's Anna Grimes and Jasmine Martin finished 1-2 in the 3,200-meter run.

Issue 3.16: April 17, 2008