school winners

Monroe math whiz finishes well

Bethany Garver, a sophomore from Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, placed first in the state-level Math Kangaroo competition for her grade level and went on to finish in eighth place in the national competition.

The competition, in which an estimated 6 million students from 60 countries participate, includes written tests of 30 grade-level questions. Sky Valley is the only school in Snohomish County to participate.

Garver is currently taking pre-calculus. She has qualified to take calculus at the college level and plans to enroll in Running Start next year.

Rotary honors Snohomish students

The Snohomish Rotary Club recognized secondary school students of the fourth quarter from Centennial Middle, Glacier Peak High, Snohomish High, and Valley View Middle schools. They are Gabriel Tonks, Danika Morrison, Callie Bircher, Samantha Fatkin, Monisha Nand, James Fuchs, Tiffany Chang, Mary Ellen Martinsen, Chanel Cain, Lyndsey Ditz, Alexander Platis and Alexis Sunagel.

Jackson alum heads to Yale

Kelly Serafini, a 2004 graduate of Jackson High School, received the Seattle Pacific University Outstanding Graduate Student Award. She also was nominated for the President’s Citation Award. Serafini graduated with her doctorate in clinical psychology on Friday.

While at SPU, Serafini worked with high school teens struggling with addictions through Project READY (Reducing the Effects of Alcohol and Drugs on Youth). “We actually intervene at a crucial place in a student’s life,” Serafini said in a SPU magazine article.

Serafini now continues on to Yale University’s School of Medicine, where she was accepted for post-doctoral work with a leading psychiatry researcher.

Club competes in Ash Kicker race

The Running Club from Brier Terrace Middle School camped out the weekend of May 18 at the Toutle River Resort in Castle Rock to compete in an adventure 5k called the Ash Kicker. The race is a fundraiser for the United Way of Cowlitz/Wahkiakum Counties.

Students, parents and coaches braved the course, climbing over barriers, crawling through ice cold water, and getting downright muddy. Brier Terrace runners finished in the top three spots in their wave and boasted the top two fastest runners, Sophia Nelson and Katherine Gustafson, out of the of race’s 800 female participants.

Other student runners included Graeme Hafford, Kendall Yackley, Stuart Harrison, Jason O’Connell, Olivia Olson, Klara Gaspers, Katherine Gustafson, Sophia Nelson, Vesta Baumgartner, Nicholas Reeb and Beck Fosberg. Club advisors Ryan Treadway and Rhonda Hagen organized the trip.

Cadets test the waters with ROVs

Student cadets attending the Everett High School Navy JROTC program recently completed an eight-week introduction to naval engineering. As part of the course, cadets built their own remotely operated vehicles. The culminating activity had students test their ROVs in the pool at the Everett YMCA with help and support from the Naval Station Everett Fleet Diving Detachment.

The SeaPerch Program is sponsored by the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research and managed by the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Foundation. Locally, the NJROTC Booster Club also lent support.

See photos and video of the event at http://tinyurl.com/EHSSeaPerch.

DAR honors Marysville teen

Cadet Melissa Cook, a member of the Marysville School District Navy JROTC, was presented May 16 with a Medal of Award from the Pilchuck Chapter of the Daughters of the American Colonists.

Cook is a sophomore at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, where she is active in NJROTC. She was chosen for her academic standing, leadership, patriotism and service in school activities.

The Marysville NJROTC also was the recipient of the Distinguished Unit Award.

Monroe students support food bank

During the month of April, the Monroe Rotary Students of the Month spearheaded a food drive for the Sky Valley Food Bank.

Selected from applicants at Monroe High School, the 12 students arranged for food drives at Albertsons, Safeway, Fred Meyer, Grocery Outlet, and each of the elementary schools as well as several churches. Together they brought in 4,615 pounds of non-perishable food and $2,583.94 to help the food bank.

The students are Danika Marzluff, Hannah Hanson, Madeline Sabel, Brithni Urrutia, Deborah Irwin, Madison Bertrand, Nicole Reams, Mitchell Price, Erin Harris, Mallory Suggs, Forrest Arnold, and Elizabeth Stima.

WAS Scholars named

The Washington Aerospace Scholars program recently named students accepted to one of the four WAS Summer Residency sessions to be held in June and July at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. Washington Aerospace Scholars is a competitive educational program, based at Seattle’s Museum of Flight, for high school juniors from across the state.

Local students accepted to phase two: Samuel Hopkins from Everett (Mariner High School), Zachary Frohardt from Lynnwood (King’s High School), Spencer Anderson from Lynnwood (Mariner High School), and Joseph Guerrero and Mario Guerrero, both from Snohomish (Glacier Peak High School).

The boys are among 160 students who qualified for the summer residency program from 283 students who applied in November. To qualify, they spent five months studying a University of Washington and NASA-designed, distance-learning curriculum via the Internet. They were selected based on their performance. During the residency experience, they will collaborate with the other students on the design of a human mission to Mars.

Beverly is best in book battle

The Edmonds School District held a Battle of the Books on May 31 for students in grades 4-6. In all, 132 top readers participated. Teams of students answered questions about books from the Edmonds School District’s Best Book Club. The list includes 2013 Sasquatch and Young Reader’s Choice books.

The first-place trophy went to the team from Beverly Elementary School: Lyudmila Torchilo, Sophia Menton, Isabel Reonal and Anna Kim. Edmonds and Sherwood elementary schools took second and third place, respectively.

Local National Merit Scholars named

National Merit Scholarship Corporation named winners of Corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships in April and National Merit $2,500 scholarships in May.

National Merit Boeing Scholarships: Christine E. Wolf, Camano Island, homeschool; Jacqueline M. Causbie, Edmonds, Holy Names Academy; Alice X. Huang, Everett, Kamiak High School; Alexander J. Leat, Everett, Archbishop Murphy High School; Deborah J. Peterson, Everett, Everett High School; Kevin W. Baron, Mukilteo, Kamiak High School; Younsu C. Kim, Mukilteo, Kamiak High School; Yvana Tran, Mukilteo, Kamiak High School; Anna M. Pisac, Snohomish, Snohomish High School

National Merit $2,500 Scholarships: Rachael Sol Lee, Lynnwood, Meadowdale High School; Julie X. Xia, Mukilteo, Kamiak High School; Max A. Vilgalys, Woodinville, Archbishop Murphy High School.

Lake Stevens, Granite Falls teens honored

The Rotary Club of Lake Stevens gave $5,000 in scholarships to six high school students from Lake Stevens and Granite Falls high schools at a ceremony May 24.

Lake Stevens: Keith Acfalle plans to study chemical engineering at the University of Washington; Blake Sander plans to study engineering and pre-medicine at the University of Washington; Ryland Ploeger plans to study criminal trial law at Gonzaga University; and Joe Hendrickson plans to study biochemistry, science and medicine at the University of Washington.

Granite Falls: Emily Schneider plans to study elementary and secondary education at Western Washington University; and Pooja Sethi plans to study computer engineering at the University of Washington.

Lake Stevens awards $17K in scholarships

The Lake Stevens Education Foundation recently awarded more than $17,000 in scholarships on behalf of the foundation, local businesses, families and service organizations. Scholarships were awarded at the Lake Stevens High School Senior Scholarship Awards ceremony May 29.

Scholarship recipients (some received more than one): Mawuli Attipoe, Brad Barry, Frazer Carpenter, Erin Ellis, Mallory Gipson, Lisa Hartwell, Mandy Henrichsen, Joseph Hendrickson, Ryan Lian, Nathaniel Moore, Kimberly Mota, Chelsea Pahls, Colin Patzer, Karen Plemel, Rylie Ploeger, Nicolette Rindero, Tory Rothgeb, Stefan Sorensen and Alec Yuetter.

Student journalists win awards

Two local students from Western Washington University received awards at the Washington Press Association awards ceremony on April 20 at the Museum of Flight in Tukwila for their work on The Western Front.

Alex Peterson of Edmonds won first place in the sports news category. Paul Grzelak of Arlington won three awards for commentary, one in features and two in arts and entertainment.

EWU awards scholarships

Kahlee Barrio has been awarded an Avista Scholar Scholarship for $2,500 for the 2013-14 academic year at Eastern Washington University.

Barrio graduated from Lakewood High School in 2010. At EWU she works as the English Language Institute receptionist. She is currently a junior studying business management at EWU.

Jessika Barlow was awarded a General University Toni Dustin Scholarship for $1,700.

Barlow is a 2010 Lynnwood High graduate. At EWU, she mentors, coaches volleyball and is an AVID tutor. She is currently a junior studying health and fitness and secondary education.

CC students complete leadership program

A new consortium of educational groups launched the Latino Leadership Institute, a program that encourages young Latino and Latina college students to become active leaders in their communities and across the nation.

Several local students were among the first to graduate from the program in a ceremony held Saturday at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon. The program, which included leadership workshops and a cumulative group project, is managed by a Lynnwood group.

Everett Community College: Claudia Umaña, Karla Rios, Noemi Galvan, Ubaldo Ruiz and Miriam Zaragoza.

Edmonds Community College: Aquino Juan, Jacqueline Gonzales, Juan Marin, Marvin Perez and Merari Rosas.

Teacher, business owners honored

Park Place Middle School band teacher Ansgar Duemchen and the owners of Ben Franklin Craft and Frameshop, Adrian and Deanna Taylor, were recently honored for their contributions to the Monroe School District by the Sno-Isle Region 109 of the Washington Association of School Administrators.

Duemchen received the Student Achievement Leadership Award. The Taylors received the Community Leadership Award.

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