Briefs: New Life German students win language award

A portion of County Road 83 will be closed Tuesday through Friday as crews continue work on the Hardwood Creek Pedestrian Trail grade project in Forest Lake.

The road, also known as 11th Avenue SW., will be closed between Centennial Drive and N. Forest Road. Detours will be posted.

Other construction projects beginning this week include mill and overlay work on County Road 8 between Hwy. 61 and Goodview Avenue.

Work is scheduled to begin Tuesday and last for two to three weeks, county officials said.

Host families needed in June for pro bike racers Organizers of the Nature Valley Grand Prix are looking for people to host two or more riders who will participate in the professional bike race, which runs June 13-17 in St. Paul, Minneapolis, Cannon Falls, Stillwater and Menomonie, Wis.

More than 300 cyclists are expected to ride in the event, which is now in its 14th year.

Hosts will provide a place to sleep, bathroom with shower, laundry facilities and a place for riders to store food from June 12-17. Cyclists are responsible for providing their own food, cooking, laundry and transportation. For information call 612-309-7192.

Visitors will be able to "test drive" the Da Vinci surgical robot and tour the clinic at 2900 Curve Crest Blvd.

Robotic surgery, also offered at St. John's Hospital in Maplewood, has been used for prostate removal, colorectal surgery, thoracic procedures and hysterectomies.

Achtung! 8 New Life students win award Eight students from New Life Academy have won the Language Award given by German College in the Schools program. The students received the award during a statewide competition at the Mayo Auditorium in Rochester, Minn.

Marissa Giere, Kaitlyn Hawn, Markus Werner, Nolan Johnson, Emily Chang, Dan Sleper, Taylor Paulson and Shelby Derrick created a 3-minute video incorporating vocabulary and topics they studied during the school year. They created a skit, wrote the script and taped and edited their project.

More than 450 students from 25 schools participated in the CIS awards program. Exchange students from Homburg and Schwabmünchen in Germany participated in the German American Partnership Program.

The school board approved raising the cost of a meal at the three high schools by 15 cents, to $2.15. Prices at middle and elementary schools will rise by 10 cents, to $2.10 and $1.80, respectively.

The changes will go into effect for the 2012-13 school year. There will be no change to the cost of adult meals, breakfast or milk.

Historical Society awards scholarships to 3 students The Washington County Historical Society recently awarded scholarships of varying amounts to three college students. Recipients were Miles Wagensteen, of Woodbury, Anna Peterson, of Stillwater, and Parker Foss, of Mahtomedi.

Wagensteen, Woodbury High School's 2009 Art Student of the Year, is studying history and studio art at the University of Minnesota-Morris. Peterson, who is currently on a study abroad program in Paris and Vienna, is studying music performance, history and French at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. Foss, who has helped the society with research projects and is a member of the St. Croix Vintage Base Ball Club, is studying history and English literature at Bethel University in Arden Hills.

The annual scholarships were funded through a grant by the DeLonais Foundation.

Brendon Schwirtz will take over as principal at Willow Lane Elementary School, replacing Barb Kearn, who had been a principal in the district for the past 15 years. Kearn is retiring. Schwirtz is an assistant principal at Northport Elementary in the Robbinsdale School District and has previously held teaching and leadership roles in Colombia, South America.

Kayleen Baskin will be an assistant principal at White Bear Lake High School North Campus. Baskin has been with the Austin (Minn.) School District since 2002, where she has served as a teacher, assistant principal and in the athletics department.

Gretchen Harriman, the district's curriculum and program development coordinator, will assume the role as leader of the White Bear Lake Area Learning Center. She will take over for Julia Jilek, who is retiring. Jilek has had the position since 1998.

National Cancer Survivors Day celebration is set Cancer survivors and their friends and family members will gather at the Prom Center next Sunday for the 2012 Many Faces of Hope, an event that coincides with the 25th annual National Cancer Survivors Day.

The Oakdale celebration, designed to show that life after a cancer diagnosis can still be meaningful, will run from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Festivities will include exhibits, entertainment by Sarafina, celebration luncheon and a keynote address "Changing World of Cancer" by Dr. Mark Moyad, director of Preventive & Complementary Medicine at the University of Michigan.