School briefs: Area students recognized as National Merit semifinalists

Nearly two dozen Washing- ton County-area students were named this month as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists.

They are among about 16,000 high school seniors nationwide who will compete for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million -- awards to be offered in the spring. The slate of semifinalists represents less than 1 percent of all U.S. high school seniors.

About 1.5 million juniors from 22,000 high schools entered the program by taking the 2011 PSAT, which is also the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. About 15,000 of the 16,000 semifinalists are expected to advance as finalists in February.

Semi-finalists who attend Washington County-area schools or who are home-schooled in the county include:

Forest Lake High School: Mary M. Kasl and Erica Rapheal

Mahtomedi High School: Claire E. Belisle, Jason D. Kuennen, Thomas W. Neumiller and Karna S. Ringhamu

St. Croix Preparatory Academy: Michael J. Douglass

East Ridge High School: Colin R. Scheibner and Christopher Y. Wang

Math And Science Academy: Rachel D. Glick and Iram Shafqat

Woodbury High School: Edward Y. Liu, Kinsey H. Philips, Daniel C. Pilon, Jack E. Thomas and Angela Yang

Home schooled: Jessica J. Shaklee

Woodbury welcomes sports hall inductees Retired NFL placekicker Chip Lohmiller and longtime boys' basketball coach Del Schiffler will be among eight former Woodbury High School standouts to be inducted this week into the school's Hall of Fame.

At 4:15 p.m. Friday, inductees and their families will be on hand for a public reception in the high school media center.

About 6:45 p.m. Friday, honorees will be introduced in the football stadium prior to kickoff of the Royals' homecoming game against White Bear Lake.

Lohmiller was an all-state kicker for Woodbury during the early-1980s. He then starred for the Gophers in college and played nine seasons professionally, seven with the Washington Redskins.

Schiffler was coach when the high school opened in 1975 and held the job for 25 years.

Other inductees are: Kathryn Hughes, Class of 1985, Heidi Lundervold, 1995; Michael Robb, 1978; Douglas Schneider, 1990; Michelle Sherman, 1988; and Mary Vaaler, 1985.

Participants who complete the course, approved by the National Safety Council, can get a 10 percent discount on insurance for three years, under state law.

People who've taken the course before can renew their status by attending a refresher class from 6 to 10 p.m. Oct. 4, also at Century Junior High. To register, call 651-982-8303.

Economist/author set for education speech "Education in the Age of Creative Destruction" will be the subject of a free public lecture to be given at Century College Monday by economist Arnold Kling.

The lecture, part of the college's speaker series, is set for 7 p.m. in the East Campus Lincoln Mall.

Kling has worked for the Federal Reserve Board and Freddie Mac and is the author of five books, including "From Poverty to Prosperity: Intangible Assets, Hidden Liabilities and the Lasting Triumph Over Scarcity" and "Unchecked and Unbalanced: How the Discrepancy Between Knowledge and Power Caused the Financial Crisis and Threatens Democracy."