HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014 05-24 Education Notes: News from schools near you PIONEER PRESS Education notes: News from schools near you
Pioneer Press TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press MAY 2 9 2014 TwinCities.com
Posted.Sat May 24 23:01:00 MDT 2014
Education notes
--A middle-school Quiz Bowl team from Mounds Park Academy in Maplewood finished 12th out
of 128 teams--the highest finish of any team from Minnesota--at the national tournament.Team
members are Travis Mudge,Kate Van Hecke, Pranay Somayajula and Ryan Guggenheim. In
individual competition,Van Hecke finished 31st and Declan Dahlberg finished 53rd out of 661
players.
--Stella Cotner,a student at Central Middle School in White Bear Lake,won the regional VFW
Patriotic Art Competition and is moving on to state competition.Her artwork depicts the
reflection of an American flag.
--Students of Ben Kirkham,language arts teacher at White Bear Lake Area High School-North
Campus,swept the ninth-grade level of the Father of the Year essay contest run by the National
Center for Fathering. Nine out the 10 winners were Kirkham's students,and students Abby Walker,
Sam Engrav,Tori Popham and Taylor Potts placed in the top five. Kirkham and the winners and
their fathers will be invited to an awards ceremony and a Twins game.
--Carver Elementary in Maplewood and Castle Elementary in Oakdale were among 10 U.S.
schools recognized by the Welcoming Schools Program of the Human Rights Campaign
Foundation.The schools were honored for their work around school climate and bullying
prevention.
--Five students from Maplewood Middle School received blue ribbons for their Project Citizen
projects presented at the state Capitol.Sami Bonn and Rachel Zierdt did their project on the loss
of the bee population through the use of pesticides;Gwen Riley,Jemima Cooke and Dawson
Moore presented creating more restrictions for government surveillance.
--Two projects by students at John Glenn Middle School in Maplewood earned blue ribbons in the
Project Citizen program at the state Capitol.A presentation on Native Americans Day was
created by Alex Zuk,Christene Merrill,Sydney Peterson and Dan Law.A project on gifted and
talent students in schools was presented by Ashley Olson,Jocelyn Wittmann and Alexa Peterson,
who also won the championship purple ribbon.
--Four elementary schools in the Mounds View district are among 30 Minnesota schools identified
as leaders for creating positive learning environments for students by using a program called
Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports.Bel Air,Turtle Lake,Sunnyside and Valentine Hills
schools were recognized as Sustaining Exemplar Schools.The program aims to support
positive behavior,improve school climate and increase student achievement.
--Economics students from Mounds View High School in Arden Hills placed among the top
schools in the Harvard Pre-Collegiate Economics Challenge,a series of written and quiz bowl
competitions.The team of Carly Bandt,Chance Carnahan,Abraham Chen,Chris Collins,Jered
Everson, Eric Martin, Emily Ruan and Sam Rush took second place in the written competition and
was among four teams to make it to the quiz bowl semifinals.