Class notes

Schools in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties received $109,000 from Wells Fargo Bank to help fund educational programs. Recipients in San Mateo County included Foster City Elementary in Foster City, Hillsdale High in San Mateo, Hoover Elementary in Redwood City, John Gil Elementary in Redwood City, Martin Elementary in South San Francisco, McKinley Elementary in Burlingame, Mills High in Millbrae, Park Elementary in Burlingame, San Mateo High in San Mateo, Sequoia High in Redwood City, South San Francisco High in South San Francisco, Spruce Elementary is South San Francisco, Sunnybrae Elementary in San Mateo, Taft Elementary in Redwood City, Taylor Middle School in Millbrae and Woodside High in Woodside.

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The San Mateo County Office of Education received a $113,797 grant to help thousands of displaced children throughout the state. The grant is part of the $15.5 million in Foster Youth Services County grants distributed this week.

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The San Mateo-Foster City School District will hold the ninth annual magnet school information fair in the Performing Arts Center at Bayside Middle School, 2025 Kehoe Ave., San Mateo on Nov. 8 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The night is designed to provide parents with an in-depth look at the eight magnet schools and programs within the district for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The deadline to apply is Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007.

For more information visit www.smfc.k12.ca.us or call 312-7700 ext. 7758.

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Skyline College invites the community to an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly renovated gymnasium and physical education complex, 3300 College Drive, San Bruno, on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 4:15 p.m. The event also celebrates the first game of the new women’s basketball team. Guests are invited to stay for the game, which begins at 5:30 p.m. For information visit www.SkylineCollege.edu or call 738-4325.

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Menlo School’s Drama Department celebrates high-risk creativity in the arts in the upcoming presentation, "Improvalot!” a completely original evening of fully unscripted theatre celebrating Improvisation in the Arts. Thursday, Nov. 16 through Sunday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m., with additional 2 p.m. matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday. $5 for students. $9 for adults. Florence Moore Auditorium, Menlo School Campus, 50 Valparaiso Ave., Atherton. For more information call 330-2001 ext. 2333.

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The San Bruno Park Elementary School District’s 100 year anniversary celebration continues with a multi-cultural dance assembly honoring our celebrated diversity 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 22 Belle Air School, 450 Third Ave., San Bruno.

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Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, former Boston Globe staff writer, Latina Magazine’s "Woman of the Year,” Time magazine’s pick as one of the 25 most influential Hispanics in the U.S. and author of the new YA novel rating, spent Oct. 13 talking to three periods of creative writing students at Menlo-Atherton High School.

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Skyline College will host its annual Holiday Job Fair, with more than 25 employment representatives from the Bay Area, on Wednesday, Nov. 8, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Building Two, cafeteria, 3300 College Drive, San Bruno. If you are seeking full-time, part-time and/or holiday seasonal work, dress for success and bring your resume to this event. Be prepared for on-the-spot interviews. Free. For more information call Ivy Velasquez at 738-4337.

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Redwood City Elementary, San Mateo Union High, Sequoia Union school districts and Stanford Schools Corporation were all named as recipients of a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Incentive Award. A total of $5.4 million was handed out to teacher around the state to educators teaching in low-performing schools. Redwood City and San Mateo earned $10,000 each. Stanford raked in $25,000. Sequoia scored $40,000.

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A number of students in the county qualified as Commended Students in the 52nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Approximately 34,000 students throughout the nation are honored this year for their exceptional academic promise.

Notre Dame High School seniors recognized include Paulina Chognard, Natalie Hackworth, Kelsey Hayes, Megan Pencek and Emily Wyatt and Carlmont High seniors Kimberly Chang, Rebeca Lent, Anna Peale, Alexandra Cottong, Kikolai Kalnin, Jacquline Kimmey, Ashwin Kumar, Chen Ling, Gina McClurg, Robert Phung, Kevin Sakuma, Charles Scaezlein, Sneha Somasekar, Natalie Tam and Peter von der Porten.

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Mercy High School in Burlingame opened a new reading and writing center on campus. The center, located in room 109, allows students to drop in for help and is the new home of the Mercy Excellence Magazine. For more information about the center visit mrwc.squarespace.com or e-mail Jennifer Wells at jwells@mercyhsb.com.

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The Peninsula Community Foundation awarded more than $375,000 in college scholarships this year. Through the foundation’s 19 scholarship programs more than 100 students received scholarships this year. Among those recipients were Aragon High graduate Sylvia Leung, who is attending the University of California at Berkeley and received a $5,000 scholarship and Lost Altos High School graduate Huan Zhou, who received $8,000 from two scholarships and is attending Harvard University.

Class notes is a weekly column dedicated to school news. It is compiled by education reporter Heather Murtagh. You can contact her at (650) 344-5200, ext. 105 or at heather@smdailyjournal.com.