West school briefs: Benilde-St. Margaret's holds open house

Benilde-St. Margaret's School will host an open house for prospective students and their parents on Thursday.

The open house will take place from 8:30-10:30 a.m. Coffee will be provided, followed by a school tour at 9 a.m. and a question-and-answer period at 10 a.m.

To preregister, go to www.BSMschool.org/impor tant-dates. To schedule a campus tour, e-mail admis sions@BSMschool.org. For more information, contact the admissions office at 952-915-4345 or visit www.BSMschool.org.

The Wayzata Public Schools Education Foundation has awarded five grants in its 2013 "From Excellent to Exceptional" grant program, totaling more than $18,000.

At Birchview Elementary School, a grant will go to a science, technology, engineering and math program that uses engineering principles to teach students how to design and build a machine.

Greenwood Elementary School won a grant to developing online learning modules that students can use 24/7 for hands-on activities and other online learning tools.

At Sunset Hill Elementary School, a grant will buy ukuleles for fifth-grade students. At East, Central and West middle schools, a grant will pay for e-books. And at the high school, a grant will help Project SCORE! for broadcast media and journalism-related classes.

Three Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion School fifth-graders and an Eden Prairie High School junior won top spots in the Eden Prairie Optimists' club essay contest.

Canyon Pergande placed first, Lincoln Arora placed second and Sophie Stukenborg placed third in the fourth- through sixth-grade category of the contest.

Andrew Yang placed first in the 10th-12th-grade category, and qualified for the Optimist International District Essay Contest.

The Eden Prairie winners received gift cards and certificates of recognition.

The Edina Education Fund awarded 16 innovation grants totaling $55,652 to Edina Public School programs last month.

South View Middle School recently collected more than 10,000 containers as part of a drive to cut down on the number of plastic water bottles in the lunchroom.

For every beverage can or bottle collected, Conservation Minnesota donated a dime and will present students with a check for $1,000. Students plan to use the money to buy a hydration station where they can fill water bottles.

The drive was part of an effort to increase awareness of the Recycling Refund Act, a bill that may be considered by the Minnesota Legislature to encourage recycling of cans and bottles by requiring retailers to collect a 10-cent deposit for each beverage container purchased.

Bloomington Public Schools is unveiling a first-of-its-kind high school program for profoundly gifted students.

Dimensions Academy, a program for very gifted students in grades 4-8, is expanding to the high school level starting this fall.

Four Hopkins School District alumni were inducted into the Hopkins Athletic Hall of Fame this month.

The honorees are:

Gary Hoehn, the district's first individual state champion in wrestling who went on to play football and wrestle at the University of North Dakota.

Colleen (Manchester) Flaherty, who earned 17 varsity letters and went on to run cross-country and track at Stanford University.

Tammy (Stanius) Brandt, who was a varsity standout in soccer, basketball and softball and went on to compete at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.