Inside our schools: 8th-grader receives Spirit of Community award
Aubrey Neal’s wanted to go on the eighth-grade trip to Washington, D.C., ever since she started the sixth grade at Woodland Middle School. Just months away from the big trip, she found out she’ll be getting a sneak preview. And it’s all thanks to how she spent her summer vacation.
The 14-year-old is one of two Idaho students honored with a Prudential Spirit of Community award from Prudential Financial and the National Association of Secondary School Principals. The Woodland office staff nominated her for the award after hearing of the time she spent volunteering at a children’s camp in Post Falls last summer.
Aubrey will travel to Washington, D.C., next month to accept the award, along with 100 other student winners from the 49 other states and the D.C area. A freshman from Eagle in Southern Idaho is Idaho’s other winner.
The day she found out she’d won “was like one of the best days ever of my life,” she said. She’d told the office staff about her experience volunteering long hours at Camp Ka-Mee-Lin. They had an application for the award and decided Aubrey would be a good nominee.
“We sent it in not expecting to get anything back. It was a big surprise when I walked in and the principal was like, ‘Oh, Aubrey. You’re going to Washington, D.C., ” she said.
Aubrey will be in Washington May 5 through May 7 with her mother, Jill, a longtime volunteer with the school district.
Along with the all-expense paid trip, Aubrey gets an engraved plaque and $1,000. She plans to use the cash for her long-scheduled trip to D.C in June with other eighth-graders.
“I’ve wanted to go on that trip ever since the sixth grade,” she said.
Aubrey isn’t volunteering right now, but she plans to find something to do this summer. She’s looking at a hospital volunteer program, or she might return to the summer camp.
“I like doing something different every year,” she said.
Mock me and I’ll sue you
A team of Lake City High students is one of three teams to win a mock trail competition for the North Idaho region and will compete in the state competition in Boise Monday and Tuesday.
Students Samantha McKinley, Jessica Ruf, Wes Sebring, Jessica Ove, Kole Raynor, Katie Deming and Natalie Colla will join about 300 other high school students on 33 teams from 21 schools across the state. The team is led by government teacher Sandy Biondo and local attorney Mike Palmer. First- and second-place winners at the state competition will represent Idaho at the national level.
At the regional competition, teams competed in three rounds held in actual courtrooms. Teams took on both defense and prosecution roles. Each courtroom had three judges. Usually a real courtroom judge, an attorney and an outside community member selected the winners.
Scholastic team advances
Also in Boise Monday and Tuesday will be seven students from the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy.
The school’s scholastic quiz bowl team aced the Idaho National Laboratory regional tournament in Moscow last week, routing a team from Troy by 80 points and a team from Potlatch by 235. The team scored 260 points in that match – a record for its division in the tournament. The students then beat seven-time regional champion Logos Secondary School 180 to 100 to clinch the regional championship.
“The Charter Academy is the North Region champion, and we have the new first-place trophy for the display case to prove it,” sounded an announcement over the school’s public address the day after the competition, according to an e-mail from the team’s coach, teacher Scott MacPhee.
The team consists of seniors Julian Lemke, Alex Kramar, Justin Horne and Jacob Lauer; junior Emily Morrow and sophomores Harrison Lemke and Michael Mitchell.
Kramar and Julian Lemke were selected as members of the six-person all-region team.
Prior to the regional competition, the team placed second in the Inland Empire Academic League. That’s higher than any North Idaho school has ever placed in the league, which consists of schools from Eastern Washington and North Idaho.
The academy took second in the state competition last year. The championship game will be shown on Idaho Public TV. Check your TV listings.