Class notes

Amistad, an advanced placement scholar and active community volunteer student, will attend monthly meetings at the county seat of government at County Center and serve in subcommittees focused on helping diverse populations and citizens, especially youth, throughout San Mateo County.

Amistad is active in basketball and theater productions at Hillsdale High School. She hopes to pursue a degree in the medical field in college.

***

San Mateo Elk’s Lodge No. 1112 made a difference in the community in October when it surprised local teachers with cases of paper and pencils. Donations were made to the following elementary schools: In San Mateo: Parkside, Borel, Sunnybrae and Beresford; in Burlingame: Roosevelt, McKinley and Washington; and in Millbrae, Lomita Park.

***

Serra High School seniors Rohan Acharya and Danny Shea are semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Acharya, a resident of Redwood Shores, will pursue engineering next year in college. Shea, a San Bruno resident, plans to study psychology.

In September, officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the names of approximately 16,000 semifinalists in the 57th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors will have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $34 million.

***

Seven Serra High School seniors were named Commended Students in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program. Kevin Arms (San Mateo), Faraz Fatemi (Foster City), Luke Longinotti (Burlingame), Jacob Goell (Foster City), Michael Glassmoyer (Redwood City), Nathan Zimmerer (San Carlos) and Sean-Patrick Zurcher (Foster City) learned of the honor at the end of September.

About 34,000 Commended Students were recognized across the nation for exceptional academic promise. Commended Students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million teenagers who entered the 2012 competition by taking the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

***

In the fall, the Sequoia High School Alumni Association awarded $5,440 to teachers at Sequoia High School under its annual "Cherokee Grants” program as well as $125 to the Cheer Team. The "Cherokee Grants” program was established to fund the purchase of instructional equipment, materials or services that are not included in the current Sequoia Union High School District budget. Grant applications are given to every Sequoia High School teacher. The "Cherokee Grants” Committee studies each request and makes a decision as to how money can best be spent to benefit the most students or the most worthy programs.

This year, 22 teachers have been awarded grants to fully fund or help contribute to items and programs including a class set and audio CD sets of a book regarding immigration for International Baccalaureate Spanish, a field trip to Ardenwood Farm in Fremont for special education, a trip to France for the French class, art supplies for the art program, a field trip to the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco for special education, books for English literature, white boards for ninth-grade algebra support, geometric solid figures for geometry, subscriptions for the French class, motivational posters for mathematics, graphing calculator software for mathematics, registration fee to attend the National Association of College Admissions Counseling for the guidance department, a subscription for World Language, CD players and batteries and battery chargers and carrying cases for books on CD for English reading special day class, training and support for interdisciplinary work for English language development/mathematics/art, stuttering severity instrument for special education, newspaper staff attendance at the National High School Journalism Convention in Seattle for journalism, sewing machines for the clothing class, a 50-inch plasma HDTV for dance and physical education dance classes and a trip for first generation college students to tour colleges in Northern California and Oregon for the Advanced Via Individual Determination class.

Anyone who would like to support the program can send a check to the Sequoia High School Alumni Association, P.O. Box 2534, Redwood City, CA 94064, stipulating that the funds are to be used for the "Cherokee Grants” program or via PayPal on the Association’s website.

Class notes is a 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.