Today marks the first day Idaho high school students are allowed to apply for state-sponsored college scholarships.
Earlier this year, the Legislature consolidated scholarship programs and moved $5.9 million of funding into the Opportunity Scholarship program.
The scholarship is a renewable award the offers need- and merit-based scholarships to students graduating from Idaho high schools or earning their GED and who enroll in a state school.
A list of information and eligibility requirements is available on the Idaho State Board of Education’s website.
Students applying for the scholarships need to take their SAT, ACT or COMPASS college entrance exam this month in order to have results available in time for the March 1 application deadline.
NWPE awards grants
Two Nampa School District teachers and a Boise High School English teacher won financial awards or scholarships from Northwest Professional Educators.
Fourth-grade teacher Anthony Haskett from Ronald Reagan Elementary won $460 to buy iPods for his students to use in creating multimedia presentations. Also in Nampa, Skyview High School choir and Spanish teacher Joie Cariaga won $500 to put toward iPads that will be incorporated into the classes.
Boise High School English and literature teacher Heather Marr won a $500 scholarship to present and attend the National Council of Teachers of English conference in Boston.
Twice a year, NWPE awards $500 teacher scholarships and classroom grants to educators. Additionally, $250 New Classroom Startup Grants are available to beginning teachers who apply before the Dec. 31 deadline.
Cariaga and Haskett are both members of the nonprofit NWPE, a nonunion professional education association.
More groups voice support for Idaho Core Standards
The presidents of College of Idaho and Northwest Nazarene University published an op-ed in the Idaho Statesman, voicing their support for the state’s new K-12 standards in mathematics and English language arts.
“All Idaho students, whether they attend a public or private university, deserve the chance to be successful academically so that they can be successful in life. That’s why we wholeheartedly endorse the successful implementation of the Idaho Core Standards. The standards establish a new baseline for what our state’s public school students learn in math and English. They will become a better means to prepare our young people for the rigors of a postsecondary education and for the modern workplace,” wrote David Alexander of Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa and Marvin Henberg of the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
The presidents of Idaho State University, Boise State University, University of Idaho, and Lewis-Clark State College published a letter of support for the Idaho Core Standards in May.
On Nov. 8, the Idaho School Boards Association voted during its annual meeting to publicly support the standards.
A group of more than 20 educators and businesses have joined a coalition called Idahoans for Excellence in Education, started in July by the Idaho Business for Education (IBE), which also supports Idaho Core Standards.
Sugar Salem students to speak with President Carter
Sugar Salem High School will celebrate the anniversary of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) by joining President Carter on a live videoconference with only four other high schools around the country. Carter will speak to the students about the impact of ANILCA, which doubled the size of the National Park Service, before answering student questions.
A live web stream will be available beginning at 11:45 a.m. on Monday at Idaho Public Television’s website: http://idahoptv.org/INSESSION.
More event information and resources are available on the National Park Service website: http://www.nps.gov/teachers/
This program is part of the Presidential Primary Sources Project, a collaborative program sponsored by the U.S. Presidential Libraries and Museums, the National Park Service, the Internet2 K20 Initiative, and other stakeholders, including the Idaho Education Network. For more information: https://k20.internet2.edu/
Share your school’s news with Idaho Ed News
Does your school or district have news you would like spotlighted by Idaho Education News?
Send announcements, award recognitions, feature story ideas and more to Editor Jennifer Swindell via email.
