Monroe boy attends national conference

Jacob Elledge, 12, a seventh-grader at Monroe Middle School, recently attended the National Junior Leaders Conference, sponsored by LeadAmerica at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md.

Jacob spent 10 days at the university earning college credit while studying leadership skills, forensics and crime scene investigation. Jacob was chosen based on academic achievement and was the youngest participant, with most students from high schools across the country.

Local students named commended scholars

Nine Snohomish High School seniors received letters of commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Corp. for demonstrating exceptional academic promise as juniors taking the preliminary SAT test last year. They are Connor Burns, Nicole Ford, Anna Gillan, Alex Hakso, Alexander Langer, Timothy Persson, Annie Stoller-Patterson, Chapman Strong and Will Thomsen.

Mariner High School students Cassandra Settle and Cody Schroeder also were named commended students in the National Merit Scholarship Program.

About 34,000 commended students have been recognized throughout the nation for their exceptional academic promise, having placed within the top 5 percent of more than 1.4 million students who entered the 2008 competition.

Honor for budget analyst

Monica Sandoval, a budget analyst for learning support services in the Marysville School District, has received the honorary lifetime membership award from the Marysville PTSA Council. She was presented with the honor at the council’s meeting Sept. 26.

Six local students are aerospace scholars

The Washington Aerospace Scholars program has several local graduates in its inaugural year.

Theyare Miranda Benner and Sean Kelly of Cascade High School in Everett, Rocio Martinez of Mariner High School, Joseph Hoff of Mountlake Terrace High School, Cullen Walsh of Kamiak High School, and Jacob Nourigat of Snohomish High School.

They are among 95 students from across the state who qualified for the Washington Aerospace Scholars Summer Residency program.

To qualify, they spent six months studying online through a NASA-designed program. They were selected to attend one of two residencies hosted by The Museum of Flight this summer.

During their residency experience, they collaborated with the other students on the design of a human mission to Mars. During their experience, they were guided by professional engineers, scientists, university students and certificated teachers.

In addition to the design of the human mission to Mars, they and the other students also participated in a number of hands-on engineering challenges. These challenges included model rocket design, construction and launch; lander design, construction and deployment; rover design, construction and obstacle course competition; and payload lofting. Students also received briefings from experts in the field of engineering and space exploration, as well as behind-the-scenes tours of the Boeing assembly plant in Everett and several laboratories at the University of Washington.

Washington Aerospace Scholars is an educational program for high school juniors from across Washington State. The WAS program emphasizes science, technology, engineering and math, and encourages students to consider careers in these fields.

More Stanwood students tackling AP calculus

Stanwood High School had a record 26 students take the college level Advanced Placement calculus exam last spring.

Of those students who tested, 16 received what is considered a passing score of 3, 4, or 5.

In the past, only two to four SHS students typically took the AP exam each spring.

Totem Middle School teacher gets radio mention

Sixth-grade teacher Jennifer Schmidt was chosen STAR 101.5’s “Teacher of the Week” after being nominated by student Spencer Steffins.

Schmidt got a surprise visit to her Totem Middle School classroom from an on-air personality along with some prizes.

Lake Stevens honors four employees

Nominated and selected by their peers, four Lake Stevens School District employees will be recognized for creating a positive, caring and productive school environment through exceptional effort, dedication or performance in their areas of responsibility at a school board meeting Wednesday.

September recipients of the district’s APPLE Award are Diane Story, secretary at Skyline Elementary; Toni Plemel, secretary at Glenwood Elementary; Dave Bartlow, principal at Skyline Elementary; and Rebekah Fox, special education teacher at Glenwood Elementary.

Wednesday’s meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. in the educational service center, 12309 22nd St. NE.

Boeing helps with math for Marysville schools

The Boeing Company has committed $40,500 to the Marysville School District in support of its “Meeting the Math Challenge: Improving Math Teaching and Learning for Teachers and Students” campaign.

Local graduate

Kyle Ridgeway of Mukilteo, a 2003 graduate of Kamiak High School, has received a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif. He is now attending graduate school at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, Colo., pursuing a doctorate of physical therapy degree. He intends to finish by May 2010.

CWU announces summer honor roll

The following students placed on the honor roll for the summer quarter of 2007 at Central Washington University:

Arlington: Jason Flones, Brandon Nysether, Marie Louise Scollard

Bothell: Jason Henne, Tanya McAdams.

Edmonds: Sara Allen, Elise Dann, Elisabeth Gribble, Chris Hanson, Judi Rouse, Jamie Wang and Abigail Zebor

Everett: Sanna Estes, Benjamin Wasilowski, Tami Baker and Renny Wulandari

Lake Stevens: Terri Bates

Lynnwood: DeAnn Gough, Scott Yerger, Caitlin Doonan, Cassandra Chalker and Walter Phillips

Marysville: Grant Sjostrom and Kiley Verbon

Mill Creek: Amy Brown, Kelly Goman

Mukilteo: Angela Park and Skye Grace

Snohomish: Travis Massoth and Patricia Ransom

Stanwood: Michele Allen

Tulalip: James Orr

Woodinville: Lara Samford

EvCC breaks ground on undergrad center

Everett Community College broke ground for its new undergraduate education center, Gray Wolf Hall, last Thursday.

Opening in 2009, Gray Wolf Hall will be home to the University Center of North Puget Sound and classes in the humanities, social sciences and communications. The building will be immediately south of EvCC’s Parks Student Union and Jackson Center.

Gray Wolf Hall is the second of four new academic buildings planned for EvCC. The 77,000-square-foot center will meet EvCC’s need for modern classrooms and student study space.

“Everett Community College is undergoing major changes now that will shape the college’s future for decades to come. Gray Wolf Hall is part of that transformation,” said EvCC President David Beyer. “Bringing the University Center to campus will make it even more convenient for students to pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees from our university partners.”