Students earn Congressional Awards
Area high school students were recently honored at North Idaho’s first Congressional Award Ceremony at Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene.
Bronze medals were awarded to Blake Alfson and Sariah Vieira of Lakeland High School, Jennifer Brooks, Jordan Finney-McRoberts and Megan Kobrick, of Lake City High School, Coleman Paul Boyer of Coeur d’Alene High School, Kate Johnson of Coeur d’Alene Academy, and home-schooled students Daniel Hooper, and Caitlin O’Linger.
These students completed a minimum of 100 hours of voluntary public service, 50 hours of personal development, 50 hours of physical fitness and an overnight expedition or exploration.
Sen. Mike Crapo, Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna, State Treasurer Ron Crane and State Controller Donna Jones were in attendance at the ceremony recognizing the students’ efforts. Congratulatory remarks were sent by Sen. Jim Risch and Congressman Walt Minnick, who were unable to attend the event.
According to a press release from the Congressional Award Council of Idaho, Cindy Jesinger, executive director of the Council said, “These young Idaho volunteers stand ready to help our state when we’re facing a few economic challenges.”
The Congressional Award was established in 1979 and is open to young people between the ages of 14 and 24 for commitment and dedication to public service, physical fitness and personal growth.
The event was sponsored by the Idaho State Broadcasters’ Association.
For more information, visit www.congressionalaward.org or e-mail idahocongressionalaward@gmail.com.
Post Falls High robotics team rocks rookie season
The Post Falls High School robotics ream competed in the FIRST Robotics Microsoft Regional in Seattle last weekend and proved to be more than just a rookie team of robot-jocks – a phrase they used to describe themselves.
The team was seeded eighth out of 65 after seven qualifying matches. They were made team captains for the competition alliance and defeated the No. 1 seed in the quarterfinals, advancing to the semifinals.
The semifinals consisted of a best-of-three match set. PFHS tied the first, won the second, and lost the third match. They played a four-match tiebreaker, but lost when another team on their alliance had a system failure. They finished their rookie season in official matches at 14-7-1.
Team members are Ricky Allen, shooter, Nick Morfitt, drive team, Chris Kolar, drive team, Bennie Dean, drive team, Hugh Fenton, lead scout, Nick McDrummond, pit captain, Enmar Abrams, performing programmer, Maria Hernandez, business manager, Ariel Best, graphic arts/design, Nathan Peyton, build and design, Nathan Brooks, assistant programmer, Everett Cole, team captain, Matt Legard, Brandon Fair, Trenton Miller and Jonathan Dinkel.
According to a press release from Post Falls High School, robotics coach Salvatore Lorenzen said, “I’ve played sports and coached and competed at many levels, this experience took the best aspects of team sports and combined them with 21st-century smarts to challenge students to use their minds and hands to design, build, program and play with a robot. While building the robot is impressive, what’s more impressive is how these kids formed a strong team in such a short timeframe.”
Future plans for the PFHS Robotics team and their robot, “Romar Mod-6,” is to visit area elementary and middle schools and give presentations and demonstrations. Lorenzen has also challenged his students to become mentors in the FIRST Lego League kids, beginning in the fall.