School Winners
Published 10:08 pm Sunday, February 7, 2010
Park Place student wins National Geographic Bee
Christian Avalos, a seventh-grade student at Park Place Middle School in Monroe, won the school level competition of the National Geographic Bee on Jan. 14 and a chance at a $25,000 college scholarship.
Brad Roland, another seventh-grader, came in second place. The school-level bee, at which students answered oral questions on geography, was the first round in the 22nd annual National Geographic Bee, sponsored by Google.
Avalos and other school-level winners will take a written test. Up to 100 of the top scorers in each state will be eligible to compete in the state bee on April 9.
The National Geographic Society will provide an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for state champions and teacher-escorts to participate in the National Geographic Bee national championship on May 25 and 26. The first-place national winner will receive a $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society and a trip to the Galapagos Islands.
Monroe students tops in district VFW essay contest
“What Makes Our Country Great?” That is the question third-, fourth- and fifth-graders pondered as they wrote essays for this year’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Essay contest.
Middle school essays answered the question, “When is the right time to honor our military heroes?”
Monroe students did well this year, according to LaVette Moser, coordinator of the contest for Post and Auxiliary 7511. More than 191 essays were received from all of Monroe’s grade schools, and 68 from Monroe Middle Schol and Park Place Middle School.
School winners move up to compete at the district level, which represents most of Snohomish County. Monroe students won at every grade level in the district competition and were honored with certificates and monetary awards at a dessert event in January.
The district winners include:
Third grade: Andrew Tippett, Chain Lake Elementary School
Fourth grade: Max Vermenlon, Chain Lake Elementary School
Fifth grade: Kyle Gagnon, Fryelands Elementary School
Sixth grade: Jared Cogar, Monroe Middle School
Seventh grade: Taylor Skadan, Monroe Middle School
Eigth grade: John Pang, Park Place Middle School
Third-grader Andrew Tippett also placed second in the state level competition held Jan. 16 and 17 in Wenatchee.
Kokanee Elementary raises funds for Haiti
In a school project that took on a life of its own, the Haiti Coin Drive for UNICEF raised $5,325 in one week in January.
The project began with Kokanee Elementary School in Everett. A partnership with local sports teams helped to push the event over the top.
Coins were collected at Kokanee Elementary and the Everett AquaSox offices, as well as before the Washington Stealth’s Jan. 22 game. In addition, the AquaSox donated an additional $500 and the Stealth donated all proceeds from program sales at their game to the drive.
Collectively, more than $2,942 in coins and $2,383 in cash and check were donated in less than a week’s time.
Rotary honors Aces High School students
Joshua Ayling and Reyna Saldana, both seniors at Aces High School in Mukilteo, have been honored by the South Everett-Mukilteo Chapter of Rotary District 5050 for their commitment to academic success and their individual achievements.
Ayling, recognized as November’s student of the month, is currently ASB council secretary and is involved with the school’s yearbook committee. He plans to attend Edmonds Community College in the fall to study health sciences. His ultimate goal is to become an emergency medical technician.
Saldana received the student of the month honor for December. While attending Aces, she has developed her artistic talents, currently designing and custom painting shoes for her senior project. After graduating in June, she’d like to attend the Art Institute of Seattle to study Web design and graphic and visual arts.
Firefighters graduate from EvCC training
Seventeen Everett Community College Fire Academy recruits earned Firefighter 1 and Hazardous Materials Operations certification after completing 15 weeks of training in December.
“The training has been intense, but the recruits have proven themselves worthy of the name firefighter,” said Russell Colmore, director of the Emergency Services Program.
Graduates include: Andrew Dunn, Bobby Haskell, Ryan Krahmer, Jessica Meyer, Thomas Miskimin, Aaron Morrow, Aaron Muntz, Courtney Murdoch, Victor Nelson, Andrew Pfeifer-DeLeon, Trevor Riecks, Eric Ruggirello, Nick Salsbury, Cesar Santana, Earl Troutman, Steven Vargas and Hallan Watkin.
The drillmaster for the group was Dave Neyens, a retired battalion chief with the Everett Fire Department.
Everett Community College’s fire science degree program runs two Firefighter 1 academies each year in the fall and spring. Classes for both academies next year will meet at night.
The next academy begins Aug. 31. The academy meets the standards for Washington State Patrol Firefighter 1 and Haz-Mat Operations certification. Recruits receive training and certification at the Washington State Fire Academy for live fire training.
Students can earn a 90-credit associate’s degree in technical arts in fire science.
Local student takes first at speech tournament
St. Mary Magdalen School seventh-grader Celina Georgeadis recently won first place in the junior editorial commentary cateogory at the Seattle Prep Speech Tournament in Seattle.
Georgeadis’ speech was about the death penalty. She was also one of six finalists for dramatic reading.
Snohomish students support Haiti relief
Little Cedars Elementary School in Snohomish suspended ice cream and popcorn sales recently for one week and asked students to bring their quarters to school and donate them to the disaster relief effort in Haiti instead.
Little Cedars students typically buy about $100 each of both products, so students were hoping to be able to donate $200 by the end of the week.
Students ended up exceeded their goal and will be donating more than $1,000 to support the relief effort in Haiti.
Students at other Snohomish schools are pitching in too. Riverview Elementary School is running a Water for Haiti fundraiser, using water bottles to collect donations for the American Red Cross. Emerson Elementary School is also raising money for the Red Cross, and several other schools are planning fundraisers that will take place over the coming weeks.
Cascade graduate on Seattle U. dean’s list
Alyssa Landry, a 2008 Cascade High School graduate and a 2004 St. Mary Magdalen graduate, was recently named to the dean’s list at Seattle University.
She is the daughter of Kathy and Gunnar Gjerde of Everett.
Send School Winners items to Amy Daybert, 425-339-3491, adaybert@heraldnet.com.
