Noah Ebel of St. Joseph recently received the Augustana Trustees Scholarship, based on his outstanding academic achievement and performance in the Distinguished Scholars Competition, from Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D.
Three St. Joseph students were recently named to the spring semester dean’s list at St. John’s University. They, their parents and majors are as follows: Benjamin Carlson, son of Michelle and Tom Carlson, senior, environmental studies; Benjamin Evenson, son of Marne and Mark Evenson, junior, Hispanic studies; and Spencer Frie, son of Elaine and Roger Frie, senior, music major.
Adelaide Carlson, daughter of Michelle and Thomas Carlson of St. Joseph, was recenty named to the spring semester dean’s list at the College of St. Benedict. She is a first-year environmental studies major.
Tanner Walsh of St. Joseph was recently named to the spring dean’s list at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
St. Joseph’s Kennedy Community School YES! Team wins awardThe St. Joseph Kennedy Community School YES! Team was awarded the Energy Efficiency and Conservation YES! Award for their 2012-13 project accomplishments. For their efforts, the team received $250 in award funding to be used in future YES! team work. This award was sponsored by Southwest Initiative Foundation and AgStar Financial Services.The Kennedy Community School YES! team was led by teacher Rick Wilson and included 11 students. These students successfully asked their PTA for a grant to install a retrofitted hydration station in their lunchroom. It has been installed and has been a huge hit. They plan to retrofit another hydration station in their school next year. They also created and administered a survey for their fellow students about their attitudes on recycling. They are taking that data and developing a plan of action to increase Kennedy Community School’s recycling efforts. This will include building lessons about recycling at Kennedy Community School. In addition they hosted a Black Out Day at their school to promote turning off lights and other devices that use electricity.YES! is a unique experiential learning program where youth in grades 7-12 engage in hands-on learning and undertake meaningful projects that not only lead to dramatic demonstrations of renewable energy technology and conservation practices, but also build skills that will directly impact their future in education and our workforce like creativity, innovation, problem-solving, communication, teamwork and project management. These projects also expose students to how science, technology, engineering and math are applied in real life. During the 2012-13 school year, 32 YES! teams participated around central, southwest and southern Minnesota. This is Kennedy Community School’s first year participating in the YES! Program.The Kennedy Community School YES! team is not the only one winning awards: the YES! program was recently awarded the Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s 2013 Environmental Education award. The MEI awards annually honor innovative projects that have achieved extraordinary environmental results by harnessing the power of partnership.YES! empowers youth to partner with their community to create economic and environmental vitality through hands-on learning and team-based projects. The YES! program is a partnership of Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center and Southwest Initiative Foundation. Funding for the 2012-13 season was provided in part by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, a constitutionally-established permanent fund for protecting and enhancing Minnesota’s environment and natural resources, as recommended by the LCCMR. Additional support was provided by Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, AgStar Financial Services and several other businesses and organizations. For more information about YES!, visit www.youthenergysummit.org.
