SOUTH METRO
National Merit semifinalists namedNearly 40 south-metro high school seniors were on the list of about 16,000 National Merit semifinalists released last week by the non-profit organization that runs the program. They are:
Apple Valley High: Maren Loe; Burnsville (home school): Jenny Fendos, Nathan Klein; Convent of the Visitation School in Mendota Heights: Natalie Vandenburgh; Eagan High: Alexander Anderson, Nathaniel Bonshire, William Thomas, Carl Winge; Eastview High in Apple Valley; Reid Anderson, Mikyla Carpenter, Lamisa Chowdhury, Nicholas Havlicek, Jane Kagan, Zane Larwood, Nitin Prasad, Andrew Solfest, Mariel Supina, Samantha Zarate; Henry Sibley High in Mendota Heights: John O'Leary, Mark Rosno; Lakeville North High: Anthony Joyce, Thomas Joyce, Ryan Simmons, Madison Solheid; Lakeville South High: Ruth Nelson; St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights: Richard Nunez, Samuel Rock; New Prague High: Daniel Buvarp; Northfield High: Jasmine Barksdale, Muriel Carpenter, Parker Patterson; Rosemount High: Scott Miller; Prior Lake High: Samuel Prohaska; Shakopee High: Patrick Ernst, Jeffrey Qiu; Trinity School at River Ridge in Eagan: Henry Gray, Charlie Leighton, Dominic Mak; Simley High in Inver Grove Heights: Avery Garon, Angelina Omodt-Lopez.
These students have the chance to be considered for roughly 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $34 million that will be offered in the spring. More than 1.5 million high school juniors went through initial screening for the awards by taking the PSAT. The semifinalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors.
PRIOR LAKE-SAVAGE
High school certified by federal EPAPrior Lake High School has been certified as an Energy Star building by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The school has lowered its energy consumption by nearly 30 percent with the help of its staff and energy-efficient lighting, appliances and HVAC equipment.
ROSEMOUNT-APPLE VALLEY-EAGAN
School board seeks one new memberThe Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school board is accepting applications to fill the vacancy created when board member Kevin Sampers resigned last month.
Applications are due by 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 27. Forms are available at www.district196.org or by calling the superintendent's office at 651-423-7749.
The board will consider applications from any district resident who would be eligible to run for office in a school board election.
Finalists will be named at the board's Oct. 10 meeting. The board will interview those people and choose one of them on Oct. 27. The new board member will be sworn on Nov. 14 and serve the rest of Sampers' term, which expires in January of 2014.
