The following is a round-up of Bellingham School District students and their recent national and statewide awards:

Sehome Students Win Highest Honors in
National WordMasters Challenge

Three teams of Sehome High School students recently won highest honors in the WordMasters Challenge, a national competition for high school students that requires critical analysis of different types of poetry and prose. Out of 559 high school teams throughout the United States, Sehome's 10th grade team placed second; the 11th grade team placed fourth; and the 12th grade team tied for second place in the nation. Sehome English teacher Jim Gaines supervised the teams.

Students must analyze text that ranges from the short fiction of John Steinbeck to Shakespeare and contemporary nonfiction, all of which convey layers of meaning not always apparent to students on a first reading. They then answer questions similar to those posed on the SAT or Advanced Placement exams in a classroom activity, after which responses are sent to WordMasters for scoring.

Several Sehome students also took individual honors: Junior Laura Jones and senior Molly O'Keefe both earned perfect scores. Sophomores Dylan Marriner and Catherine Moore placed among the 13 highest-scoring 10th graders nationwide. Juniors Derek Campbell, Matt Goldfogel and Mike Fazio, and seniors Troy Greig, Devin Majkut, Greg Coulter, Philip Renoud, Joel Klineburger and Rita Sodt placed, respectively, among the 89 highest-scoring 11th graders and 132 highest-scoring 12th graders. Sophomores Kate McCracken and Maggie Liu placed among the 80 highest 10th grade scorers. Sophomores Matt McGarry, Christie Thompson, Patricia Vanderbilt, Max Willis, Laura Crandall and Heidi Hunt, and seniors Chloe Binderup, Mike Guzman, Anton Ypma and Catherine Anne Harris all earned honorable mention for high achievement.

For more information about WordMasters, contact (201) 327-4201.

Sehome Senior Selected for National Science Forum

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson announced this week the names of the two graduating high school seniors selected to represent Washington state at the National Youth Science Camp this summer.

Rita Sodt, a senior from Sehome High School, will travel to West Virginia at the end of June for a three-week, all-expenses paid science program in the Monongahela National Forest. The second student selected from the state is Spencer Backus, a senior from University Prep in Seattle.

Each state is invited to send two students who have a keen interest and background in the sciences to this educational camp, where all of the participants have an opportunity to exchange ideas with leading scientists and other professionals from the academic and corporate worlds. Students also present seminars covering their own areas of research and interest. All of the students' costs are covered by the National Youth Science Foundation.

For more information about the National Youth Science Camp and the upcoming summer program is online: http://www.nysc.org/

Squalicum High School Jazz Band Records CD, Performs in Seattle

Squalicum High School is one of 12 schools from Western Washington selected to participate in KPLU's School of Jazz program where students worked with a professional musician, then went to a recording studio in Seattle. 

"These are some of the finest high school jazz bands in the country, and it is a great honor that Squalicum is among them," says Edd George, director of the Squalicum Jazz Band.

The students'  CD is being released on April 25 and all the bands will perform at Benaroya Hall on April 24. Cut 8, "Nasty Magnus" (Quincy Jones), on the CD is 
performed by the Squalicum Jazz Band with guest soloist Dave Keim on trombone.
For more about the CD, see http://www.kplu.org/schoolofjazz.html