Class notes

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Derek Kenmotsu of Foster City, was recently promoted to the rank of 1st lieutenant and is currently serving as an infantry platoon leader in A Company 1/72nd armored regiment, second infantry, at Camp Casey, Korea, 11 miles from the DMZ..

He received his bachelor of science degree in international relations from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2006. Kenmotsu was nominated by U.S. Representative Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo/San Francisco, to attend the academy, upon graduation from Aragon High School in 2002.

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A committee of staff, students, Parents and alumni partnered to create the Sequoia High School Hall of Fame to celebrate Sequoia High School’s more than 100-year-history of academic excellence and community presence. The Sequoia High School Hall of Fame will recognize alumni and staff who exemplify/demonstrate the following: Leadership and peer recognition; a high level of morality/ethics/integrity; entrepreneurial talent or career experience at Sequoia; positive contributions to society, Sequoia High School, and/or the community; and overcoming obstacles will be considered.

The committee hopes inductees will be an inspiration for generations of the Sequoia High School community-past, present and future. The committee’s goal is to host an induction ceremony on the Sequoia campus in October 2008. Nomination forms must be received by Feb. 29, 2008. For more information and nomination forms visit www.sequoiahs.org.

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Through Dec. 20, third grade students in Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties will be the recipients of the "Macmillan Dictionary for Children,” especially designed to help young readers discover the power of words. In 1985, Rotary declared basic literacy to be a pre-condition to the development of peace.

"What better time of year than this to provide a gift of words to the peacemakers of the future? We are particularly grateful for the 39 Rotary clubs in this district who raised $75,000.00 to purchase the books and will deliver them to classrooms,” said District Governor Brian McLaren.

In San Mateo County, books will be donated to Green Hills Elementary School, Spring Valley School, Lomita Park Elementary School, Meadows Elementary School, Brewer Island Elementary, Audubon Elementary and Foster City Elementary.

The "Gift of Words” is just one of the literacy projects implemented by Rotary. Rotarians believe that literacy empowers people and serves as the foundation for virtually all forms of education as well as being an essential component of poverty reduction, social inclusion, and economic development. Each year, many thousands of books are donated to schools by the 1.2 million members of Rotary who wrote the book on helping others.

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Notre Dame High School yearbook editors were named in November. This year, Cassandra Bass, Emma Clark, Taylor Common, Chelsea Cwieka, Alissa Eggli, Danielle Eggli, Charlene Gemora, Christen Kelly and Kristen Lowe will lead the publication of the "Torch.”

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UNIDAS Club at Notre Dame High School sponsored a bake sale fundraiser for the Mission District Principals' Alliance whose goal it is to provide new textbooks for underprivileged students in Catholic elementary schools. In November, UNIDAS sent a check for $400.

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Andrew Woodard, managing partner of KCW Properties LLC, a real estate investment company with offices in Eugene, Ore., and Lafayette, was appointed to the Menlo College Board of Trustees.

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This year's freshman class officers at Notre Dame High School are President Emma Swayze; Vice President Kim Cervantes; Secretary Treasurer Danielle Dungo; Activities Director Gurpuran Singh; Athletics Director Chole Lepart; and Historian Marissa Garcia.

Nicole Prasad, Janet Brazil, Johanna Molina, Anna Lippert, Tala Berro, Annika Nousiainen, Crystal Llamas, Victoria Stuart, Erica Hooton and Melanie Cole were elected as advisory presidents.

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Notre Dame High School's Boosters Club raised $13,500 at their crab cioppino dinner. The money will be used to benefit the school's athletic department.

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Angie Coiro was selected by KSCM-TV to host Spotlight!, the public television station's upcoming new series about high school movie-makers. Slated to premiere on KCSM this summer, Spotlight! Is a five-part series intended to promote and support the work of high school film-makers.

For more information about Spotlight! Visit www.kscm.org/spotlight.

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Nine Carlmont High School seniors were named as commended students in the 53rd annual National Merit Scholarship Competition. These students were among about 34,000 commended students throughout the nation who are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. They placed among the top 3.6 percent of more than 1.4 million students who entered the 2007-2008 competition by taking the 2006 preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

The commended students include Ilona Chadwick of San Carlos; Emily Chen of Redwood City; Sam Herskovitz of San Carlos; Cherise Lau of Redwood City; Ellen Perry of San Carlos; Brad Saund of San Carlos; Ming Stephens of Redwood City; Peter Wong of Redwood City; and Christopher Wright of San Carlos.

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Notre Dame High School students Ariana Afshar, Amanda Alcantara, Anne Chiramberro, Catherine Coleman, Laura Cowell, Rose Friedland, Katrina Moberg, Megan Pencek, Samantha Smiley and Emily Wyatt qualified for the advanced placement scholar with distinction award by earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all advanced placement examinations taken and grades 3 or higher on fove or more of these exams.

Adrianna Echandi, Roxanna Farshchi, Carolyn Gaines, Abigail Gluck, Kelsey Hayes, Michelle Hernandez, Yasmine Kalami, Jennifer Slotnick and Holly Willis qualified for the advanced placement scholar with honor award by earning an average grade of 3.25 on all AP tests taken and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams.

Giselle Alvarez, Elizabeth Avakoff, Paulina Chognard, Megan Claire, Rachael Dickson, Neena Goswamy, Natalie Hackworth, Elyssa Hawkins, Amanda Howard, Miki Koga, Ashley LaTorre, Abbie Lieberman, Samantha Prasad, Alezzandra Ram, Samantha Rollandi, Rebecca Shields, Miranda Sulley, Elizabeth Vichez and Marianne Vivien qualified for the AP scholar award by completing three or more AP exams with grades of 3 or higher.

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.