Burnsville- Eagan-Savage

Harriet Bishop Service Club receives Red Wagon Award

The School Service Club in District 191 has been selected to receive the 2014 Lt. Governor's Red Wagon Award for increasing civic engagement and showing exemplary leadership.

The award is given by the Minnesota Alliance with Youth.

The student-led club was started in 2012 by Shrey Pothini, then a third-grader. With 90 members, the club has now logged a total of 2,500 hours volunteering on various projects. Members meet twice a month to learn about a local nonprofit, then plan a project to help that organization.

This school year, the club has sent school supplies to Guatemala, organized a hair-donation drive to make wigs for cancer patients and made fleece blankets for the Humane Society. The club will be honored at the Red Wagon Awards Reception on June 9.

District to hold final Conversations event

Burnsville-Eagan-Savage Superintendent Joe Gothard will host this year's final Community Conversations event later this month. The theme of the night is Student Success, and it will feature a group of Burnsville High School students talking about challenges as well as things that help them to do well. What can a community do to help students be successful?

The conversation will be held at 7 p.m. on May 20 at the Senior Campus Commons in the upper level of the Diamondhead Education Center, 200 W. Burnsville Pkwy. Refreshments will be provided, and free child care is available. Child care must be reserved ahead of time by calling 952-707-4100, as spots are limited.

Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan

Four District 196 juniors win national writing awards

Four District 196 juniors have won Certificates for Superior Writing in the 2014 National Achievement Awards in Writing sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Yodahe Heramo, Andrew Kemp and Helen Matsoff from Eagan High School and Apoorva Malarvannan from Eastview High School were selected. Of the 796 juniors who were nominated by their English teachers, 164 received the honor.

The awards were established in 1957 to encourage high school students in their written work and to recognize some of the country's best writers. Students receive a certificate and card that they can attach to their college applications, and NCTE gives colleges an annual list of award recipients.

West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan

Teacher wins award for excellence

Peter Bohacek, a physics teacher at Henry Sibley High School, is the recipient of a 2014 WEM Outstanding Educator Award for Teacher Achievement. Along with the honor, he will receive $15,000.

Bohacek is one of six educators being honored by the WEM Foundation and Synergy and Leadership Exchange for outstanding contributions to student learning. He is one of two recipients of the Teacher Achievement Award in the state.

A physics teacher for 12 years, Bohacek developed a new way of teaching physics called direct measurement video. The videos use time-lapsed or high-speed video with graphics overlaid so that students can make measurements in real time — an update to traditional textbook physics problems.

Bohacek also created the Chemistry and Physics Demo Team to promote a passion for science.

Shakopee

District seeking new committee members

The Shakopee Public Schools counseling department is currently working to align with the American School Counselor Association's National Model. The model requires the district to create an advisory council. The Shakopee Schools Counseling Advisory Committee is made up of parents, teachers, school counselors, administrators and community members and will review the school counseling program. They will also make recommendations about its activities and results, along with setting and monitoring goals.

The committee meets four times a year at before-school sessions. Any parent or staff member who wants to serve on the committee should contact Michael Jensen at 952-496-5179 or mjensen@shakopee.k12.mn.us

ERIN ADLER