Two students from technical schools in the Upper Valley are among the five whom the Vermont Agency of Education (AOE) nominated to represent the state in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program.
The AOE nomination qualifies Shelby Andrews, who attends the Randolph Technical Career Center (RTCC), and Gabrielle Jolley, a student at River Bend Career & Technical Center in Bradford, to compete for a top-20 national ranking for vocational students. Vermont’s five vocational nominees and 20 students from college-prep high school programs were honored at the Vermont Statehouse on Monday night.
Andrews, a resident of Rochester, Vt., earned her license as a nursing assistant in 2016 by completing RTCC’s Health Careers I studies program. She also gained three college credits through a dual enrollment program at the Community College of Vermont and is pursuing nine more college credits by studying medical terminology, modern literature and introductory psychology. She is aiming for a career in dental hygiene.
Jolley, who was home-schooled on her family’s farm in Groton, Vt., until age 15, is a senior at Blue Mountain Union High School in Wells River. She is licensed as a nursing assistant in New Hampshire as well as Vermont. In her second year taking technical courses at River Bend, she is maintaining a grade-point average of 4.0 as well as taking courses in psychology and nutrition through the Fast Forward program at Vermont Technical College, in Randolph. She plans to pursue a career as a veterinarian.
Each year, up to 161 students from around the United States are named Presidential Scholars for combining excellence in the classroom, as well as leadership at their schools and in their communities.
At Monday’s Statehouse ceremony, the Agency of Education also conferred special recognition on Jatawni Bass of Wells River, a Blue Mountain Union senior who is maintaining a grade-point average of 4.0 in the cosmetology program at River Bend.
Lebanon High School recently named junior Kainat Altaf as its student of the month for December. In addition to maintaining a challenging schedule of honors courses in math, science and the humanities, she competes in swimming and for the school math team, and volunteers with Youth in Action and at Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s Aging Resource Center.
In nominating Altaf for the award, teachers described her as “contemplative, kind, hard-working, proactive and optimistic.”
Dothan Brook School counselor Rebecca Lallier attended first lady Michelle Obama’s final public address last week at the White House, along with the other four of her peers nominated for the School Counselor of the Year Award by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA).
To learn more about the award, visit vnews.com/Dothan-Brook-Counselor-Finalist-for-National-Award-5254628.
Green Up Vermont is inviting schoolchildren in kindergarten through grade 12 to enter its annual contests for designing posters and for writing.
The deadline to submit entries is Jan. 30. Posters must be 11 by 14 inches, created by hand without computers, and include the words “Green Up Vermont.” Writings can be in the form of a poem or an essay of up to 200 words about the state’s Green Up Day. The grand prize for each contest is $250.
On the upper righthand corner of the back of each creation, the contestant must list her or his name, grade, county, home address, name and phone of parent or guardian, name of school (if a classroom project), address, phone number and teacher. Entries should be snail-mailed to Green Up Vermont, Post Office Box 1191, Montpelier, VT 05601 or delivered to Green Up Vermont’s office at 14-16 Baldwin St. in Montpelier.
To learn more, visit greenupvermont.org or call 802-229-4586 or 1-800-974-3259.
Starting this month, New Hampshire residents pursuing their high school equivalency diplomas will pay $20 to take each of the five tests in the battery of exams.
The New Hampshire Department of Education previously charged test-takers $95 to undergo the full battery of five tests over a period limited to 12 months. The new arrangement eliminates the need to pay transfer fees for taking an individual exam in a different testing center among New Hampshire’s 29.
To learn more about the equivalency exams and about locations of testing centers, visit nhadulted.org, email Sarah Ladd Bennett at Sarah.Bennett@doe.nh.gov or call 603-271-6701.
The New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game and the New Hampshire Audubon Society are inviting Granite State teachers to apply for grants supporting programs that encourage students to learn by exploring the outdoors.
Grants in previous years have gone to projects establishing gardens for wild pollinators, outdoor learning areas, solar-powered bird baths, building trails and ponds, and installing bird feeding stations.
Jan. 30 is the deadline to submit applications for Schoolyard Action Grants. To acquire an application and learn more, visit nhaudubon.org.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304. Education-related items and announcements also can be sent to schoolnotes@vnews.com.