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Daniels’ activities and interests include the following: Sartell High School Girls Swim Team, Art Club, assisted with set design for several high school plays, painted several murals in Sartell High School at the request of various faculty members, currently working directly with artist Willicey Tynes on another mural project, volunteered at church for the Wednesday Night children’s program and Vacation Bible School. Piano player, avid reader and in the fifth year of studying Spanish. Work experience includes lifeguard and water safety instructor for Sartell Community Ed and Summer Recreation.
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Devin Peterson, son of Kristina and David Peterson and a sixth-grader at Sartell Middle School, recently received third-place honors for his poem “A Military Child,” in U.S. Sen. Al Franken’s (D-Minn.) second annual “My Experience as a Military Child” poetry contest. His poem will be displayed in Sen. Franken’s Senate office.
“Military families sacrifice so much, and children are no exception when they miss out on time with loved ones who serve,” Sen. Franken said. “It was clear from reading Devin’s entry his family has given a lot to our country and deserves our thanks. I’m grateful he entered this contest and was touched by his poem.”
The contest took place in April, which is both the “Month of the Military Child” and “National Poetry Month.” Sen. Franken initiated the poetry contest for military children in Minnesota in 2012 after his wife, Franni, suggested he do so in order to thank the families of service members. Sen. Franken received dozens of submissions from students all throughout the state of Minnesota.
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The Sartell Middle School fifth-grade Math Masters team recently participated in the Minnesota Math Masters Tournament at the Sartell Middle School on Saturday, April 27. The team finished first place out of a field of 25 teams. Pictured (left to right) are Coach Carly Larson, Janagan Ramanathan, Luc Westling, Jacob Wieland, Zachary Elliot and Sam Fernholz.
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Shaun Curtis, son of Nancy Curtis, St. Cloud (formerly of Sartell), and the late Gerald Curtis, was recently initiated into the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society at the University of Minnesota-Crookston. Eligibility for membership in the society is based on a cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 or better during the first term of college while a student is enrolled full time. Achieving this high level of academic performance is an accomplishment that less than 20 percent of college freshmen reach. Curtis is a 2012 graduate of Sartell High School. He is currently majoring in computer software engineering at the U of M-Crookston.
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Three Sartell students were among 900 student recognized for academic achievement during Honors Day convocation May 3 at St. Olaf College, Northfield. Honors Day recognizes students who have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.60 or higher on a 4.0 scale. The convocation also recognizes students who have been awarded scholarships and fellowships, including Fulbright scholars, Goldwater scholars, and senior members of leadership and academic honor societies.
Samuel Engelsgjerd, son of Nancy and Mark Engelsgjerd, is a chemistry and mathematics major; Katherine Nash, daughter of Vickie Nash and Don Dewitt, is an undecided major; and Grant Wintheiser, son of Maria and Robb Wintheiser, is a biology major.
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Three St. John’s Prep students recently earned top scores in the National Spanish Exam.
The are the following: freshman Sydney Lo, daughter of Rachel Schuneman and Yang Lo of Sartell, earned bronze-medal status, level 2; sophomore Andrew Bender, son of Dorothy Soukup-Bender, Sartell, and Dan Bender, St. Cloud, earned bronze-medal status, level 3: junior Lindsay Zerfas, daughter of Vicki Ray, Sartell, and Pat Zerfas, Elk River, earned honorable-mention status, level 3.
More than 2,300 students in Minnesota took the exam. Awards are based on national performance. Bronze medalists ranked above the 74th percentile while honorable mention ranked from 50th-75th percentile.
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PickItUp collects 110 pounds of trash at Sartell fishing pier
On May 8 and 9, a small group from the PickItUp Foundation did a cleanup project at the Sartell fishing pier park. More than 110 pounds of fast-food wrappers, cans, plastic bottles and paper products were collected for proper disposal. Two 55-gallon contractor bags of twigs and weeds were also picked up and the larger downed tree branches in the park were stacked at a central point for Sartell crews to haul away.
The PickItUp Foundation is a non-profit based in Sartell. The foundations’ directors have removed more than 20,000 pounds of trash during the last three years from many local parks and quite a few national public-use areas as well. Mississippi River Park, Quarry Park, Boundary Waters, St Croix Scenic Riverway, Zion National Park, Superior National Forest and various beaches on the national watch list have all had cleanup efforts with the PickItUp Foundation.
The idea behind the PickItUp Foundation was born from hiking- and mountain-biking treks in the red rocks of southern Utah and on canoe trips to the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area. Too many times, when miles from a dropin point or road, various items of trash were found discarded: old sandals, water bottles, old mountain-bike innertubes, broken sunglasses, glass bottles and more. Soon, a large garbage bag was a normal part of an excursion into the back country…and it always came back full of trash.
The PickItUp Foundation works from grants and voluntary donations, but encourages everyone to make an effort to pick up after yourself when using our shared public parks, forests and waterways.
For information, contact scott@pickitupfoundation.org or PickItUp Foundation, PO Box 437, Sartell, MN 56377.
