The New Poet’s Society held an awards ceremony for student writers on April 20 at Lake Washington High School’s Cadle Theatre. Students from Redmond, Lake Washington and Eastlake High Schools competed against others from their school and final poetry selections were then forwarded to the New Poet’s Society to be considered for scholarships and other prizes.
The top prize, known as the Judge’s Choice Award and scholarship funds of $1,200 went to Kotomi Yamamura from Eastlake for her poem “Revelation.”
First runner-up, Max Maser from Lake Washington, earned $800 in scholarship money. Second runner-up, Emma Heil from Eastlake, received $600 for her poem “Empty.” Third runner-up was Sydney Veltkamp from Redmond, who received $400 for the poem “Pocket Change.”
Lake Washington’s other finalists, Jeff Myers and Jennifer Swasey, received gift cards from Parkplace Books in Kirkland and SoulFood Books in Redmond.
The New Poet’s Society was created by Redmond poet, novelist and instructor R.E. Smith whose first book “A Sweeter Understanding,” was a silver medallion winner for the 2007 Bill Fisher Award at the PME Benjamin Franklin Awards. His second book “The Window Ledge” has also been well-received by a national audience.
Smith has already begun plans for the 2009 New Poet’s Society contest and hopes to increase fundraising to reward more young people for their creativity. For information, e-mail rsmith2@hotmail.com.
Student wins national merit scholarships
Sukhdeep Singh, a student at Kirkland’s International Community School, recently won corporate-sponsored merit scholarships through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The scholarship is awarded annually for children of Boeing employees.
Singh plans to pursue a career in medicine.
Stella students stellar in Latin exam
Eighteen students from Stella Schola Middle School placed in the top 85th percentile in the nation in a national Latin competition last month.
In mid-March, seventh grade students at Stella Schola Middle School in the Lake Washington School District participated in the National Latin Exam. The one-hour test consisted of 40 questions ranging from Latin root words and verb conjugations to questions regarding a multi-paragraph story in Latin which the students had to translate in their heads. Over 134,500 students took the National Latin Exam this year, including students from all 50 states and 11 foreign countries, including Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, England, Italy, Japan, Mozambique, New Zealand, Poland, Zimbabwe, and, for the first time, students from Brazil.
The 18 from Stella Schola earned themselves certificates and purple ribbons. Three students scored in the top five percent in the nation on the exam; Zein Charania (scored 38), Michael Pavlov (scored 38), and Merlin Erickson (scored 39).
Service group hands out scholarships
The GFWC Kirkland Woman’s Club hosted it’s fourth annual Senior High School Music Competition April 20, using the event to hand out a number of scholarships to top local high school musicians.
Performers from throughout the Lake Washington School District vied for financial scholarships provided by Club, with first place winner Evan Uebelaker of Juanita High School taking home the $1,000 prize for his Stamitz Concerto on viola. Second place winner Matthew Zhou of the Kirkland International Community School took second place and $700 for a Chopin piece on the piano. Calvin French-Owen, also of the International Community School, took third and a $400 prize.
Area College Student Selected for Summer Research at Occidental College
(Los Angeles, CA — April 17, 2008) Kirkland, WA resident Anders Eliasen, a member of the class of 2010 at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA, is one of approximately 100 students at the college who have been selected to live and work on campus this summer pursuing independent research projects.
Eliasen is working with Professor Don Deardorff, a professor of Chemistry, conducting research to study the Formal Synthesis of (-)-codonosinine.
Research at this level is an opportunity rarely presented to undergraduates. Most scholars do not participate in faculty-led research until graduate school. According to Chris Craney, professor of Chemistry and Occidental’s director of Undergraduate and Sponsored Research, “Occidental views summer research as a vehicle to promote inquiry in unsolved questions and as a framework for the mentorship of future scholars. In many cases this is the first chance students have to engage themselves fully in the life of scholarship. For this 10-week period, this is all they’re doing.”
About Occidental: Occidental College is a small, highly selective liberal arts college, located in the Eagle Rock section of Northeast Los Angeles, between Pasadena and Glendale. In the past decade, Occidental students have won six Marshall scholarships, six Truman scholarships, 24 Fulbright fellowships, 15 Coro fellowships, 19 Goldwater Science scholarships, 6 National Science Foundation graduate fellowships, and 10 Beckman scholarships.
– END –
