Geography Awareness Week offers open house, displays
Into which sea does the Danube River flow?Where is Nairobi National Park?
Which South American desert is considered the Earth's driest?
Such questions were answered by children earlier this year. And now, Utah residents can check their knowledge as part of Geography Awareness Week, ushered in by a gubernatorial proclamation Friday. (The answers: Black Sea, Kenya, Atacama Desert.)
This year's theme is Geography and Technology, showing how communication technologies are changing the definition of community. Teachers have received lesson plans and activities for the week.
An open house will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 19, at the Davis School District's Kendell Building, 70 E. 100 North, Farmington. Displays will be presented by the Utah Geographic Alliance, Utah universities and the Automated Geographic Reference Center.
Freedoms Foundation, airline sponsor an essay contest
Southwest Airlines and the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, a nonprofit civics education organization, are co-sponsoring a national essay contest in which students can win two round-trip tickets between any two cities served by Southwest.
The contest, coinciding with the Thanksgiving holiday, has the theme "Freedom to be Grateful." It is open to all U.S. students in grades four through 11.
Contest entries must be 100 words or less and will be judged on the basis of content, sincerity, originality, creativity and writing ability. Judges will select one winner from each category -- grades four through seven and eight through 11. Winners will be announced in December.
For a complete set of rules and an official entry form, visit the Freedoms Foundation's Web site at (www.FFVF.org). All entries must be postmarked by Nov. 30, 1999, and include the writer's name, address, telephone number, age, grade and school. All entries become the property of Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.
West High yearbook staff wins some national honors
The West High yearbook staff has won national awards of excellence.
The 1998-99 staff received the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's gold medal and first-place awards from National Scholastic Press and the American Scholastic Press Association.
The yearbook is titled, "It's About Time."
Nominations are being taken for the Huntsman Awards
Know of a great teacher, principal or volunteer who deserves $10,000?
The Huntsman Awards for Excellence in Education is seeking nomination forms for the 2000 awards. Six teachers, three administrators and a volunteer receive the awards every year.
"Utah is blessed with an abundance of talented and dedicated public educators," said Christena Huntsman Durham, awards chairwoman. "The Huntsman family is honored to play a small role in recognizing the valuable contribution these gifted people make to the future of our state and our nation."
Nomination forms are available at public schools, the local PTA or at (www.huntsman.com/haee). The submission deadline is Feb. 21.
Juniors invited to compete for scholarship and tour
The EF Global Citizen Awards scholarship program is offering a $1,000 scholarship and free 10-day educational tour of London and Paris.
High school juniors, who must be nominated through their schools, are asked to write an essay about how a travel experience enhanced their global citizen qualities. U.S. and Canadian students may enter.
Contact your school's guidance or career development office for more information or visit (www.eftours.com). The application deadline is Feb. 15.
38 aides will be honored for classroom contributions
Thirty-eight Utah teacher aides will be recognized this week for their contributions to the classroom.
The group will be honored at the Fifth Annual Paraeducator Conference, sponsored by the State Office of Education.
Local winners include:
Karla Christensen, Larue Fillerup, Gwen Hillier and Wendy Noyes, Davis School District; Koralynn Drake, Linda Kristine Glasgow, James Baez, Diana Fillmore, Debra Youngdell, Myrna Baumann and Barbara Black, Granite School District; Judy Hancock and Randi Oliver, Jordan School District; Pat Fischio and Carol Mathis, Murray School District; Collette Prothero and Trish Webb, Nebo School District; and Tracy Biorge and Karen Young, Tooele School District.
Jordan team places 7th in national floriculture event
A Jordan School District team has placed seventh in the National Floriculture Career Development Event.
The team from Jordan Technical Center competed against 44 others last month, testing their skills in production and retailing of flowers, plants and foliage. They also completed exams, identified plant materials and demonstrated customer service and problem-solving skills.
Team members are Seth Duncan, Jordan High; Melanie Francom, Hillcrest High; Talasisha Bracken and alternate Chandi Winder, Bingham High. Meeja Foster was the team's coach.
In individual competitions, Francom received a $500 and Duncan a $250 scholarship.
Social work program at U. offers online doctorate
To serve the large population of professional social workers without ready access to a doctoral program in their communities, the University of Utah has developed a technology-enhanced doctoral program.
Modeled after the Graduate School of Social Work's successful Web-based master's program, the pilot Ph.D. program is specifically designed to meet a growing need in social work education, say administrators.
Scheduled to begin in June 2000, the pilot program will be administered once with 10-15 students and then reviewed before admission of another group in 2003.
It will combine brief, intensive face-to-face teaching methods with technology-based instruction.