West metro school briefs

MINNETONKA DISTRICT

The Spanish immersion kindergarten class at Minnewashta Elementary School in Excelsior helped Señorita Lacy Hladky train for her first marathon by running a kid-sized marathon of their own -- and tracking their progress in Spanish.

Hladky ran the Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday in memory of her father, Larry Hladky, who died Oct. 6, 2007, after he was diagnosed with the brain disorder, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Lacy Hladky said she wanted to raise awareness of the disease and found a good way to involve her students.

"Not only does it help with numbers and Spanish, but as a teacher, you look for meaningful experiences for your kids that relate to everyday life," Hladky said.

Each day during their math lesson, Hladky's students broke into teams of four. After stretching to counts of one through eight in Spanish, each team ran a one-mile relay, or one-quarter mile each. Students didn't have to run if they didn't want to, but most of them were excited to participate, Hladky said.

The students understood that Señorita Hladky was running for her father, and they wanted to help. After each run, they shouted in unison, "Corremos por Larry" -- "We run for Larry."

Then came the math. After the kindergartners counted their miles, they calculated the distance left to complete a marathon. The students compared their finish times with each other and marked off their progress on the classroom marathon map, all in Spanish, Hladky said.

"It's given me the extra motivation when I'm out there running," Hladky said. "Not only do I think of my dad, but I also think of my kids who run every day around that track for my dad."

On Oct. 24, Hladky's Minnewashta Spanish immersion class will have a fiesta to celebrate. Then they'll sing "Feliz cumpleaños a Larry," (happy birthday to Larry) because Oct. 24 was Larry Hladky's birthday.

CHASKA

The school board unanimously approved changing the legal name of the school district from Chaska to Eastern Carver County. In selecting an official name, the state uses the community in which the district administrative offices reside unless local school board action creates a different legal name.

Because the district serves Carver, Chanhassen and Victoria in addition to Chaska, the board decided a more inclusive name was necessary. "School District 112" will continue to be used as well.

HOPKINS

Mary Jo Martin, Hopkins Public Schools' lead nurse and West Junior High's school nurse, was named the Minnesota School Nurse Administrator of the Year by the School Nurse Organization of Minnesota.

Hopkins West Junior High students will volunteer 3,000 hours over three days this month to help local nonprofits.

The Helping Hands community service project will get students to participate in service projects such as fall raking and yard work for Minnetonka parks and Minnetonka Senior HOME, making cards for Give@theTroops, packing food for Feed My Starving Children and making fleece blankets for the Humane Society.

RICHFIELD

The City of Richfield was recently awarded a $50,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Transportation to study the safety issues of walking and biking to school.

The city will use the "Safe Routes to School" study to come up with ideas for safer walking and bicycling conditions for Richfield students.

Parents can give feedback by answering survey questions at www.richfield.k12.mn.us.

WAYZATA

Anton Strezhnev, a Wayzata High School senior, was the only student in Minnesota to earn a perfect score of 240 on the Preliminary Aptitude Test (PSAT) last spring. Other than taking the practice test, Strezhnev said he didn't do anything special to get ready, but credits his classes for preparing him.

Strezhnev is considering seven schools to attend next fall. His first choice is Stanford. He'd like to pursue a degree in philosophy or international relations.

Senior Noah Rosenthal also earned a perfect score of 36 on the ACT last spring. Rosenthal's goal was to get a 34. To prepare for the test, Rosenthal used the ACT practice book. Next fall, Rosenthal would like to study economics or finance at the Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania.

MINNEAPOLIS

More than 200 University of Minnesota students, many Minneapolis public school graduates, were honored last week as part of the Wallin Scholars Program.

Winston R. Wallin, a former CEO of Medtronic and graduate of Minneapolis' South High, and his wife, Maxine Houghton Wallin, launched the scholarship program at South High in 1992 for high-achieving students with financial need and motivation to graduate from college.

It later expanded to include high school students in the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Anoka-Hennepin school districts. Other local organizations, including the Junior League of Minnesota, Medtronic and M&I Bank, also have established joint scholarship programs.

Since its inception, the Wallin Scholars Program has donated $23 million worth of scholarships to about 2,000 students at colleges in Minnesota and across the nation.

For more information about the Wallin Scholars Program or to donate, visit www.wallinscholars.org.

AIMÉE BLANCHETTE, PATRICE RELERFORD