Class notes

Led by President Bill Chow, 10 members of the Rotary Club of Foster City handed out the dictionaries to each student as they entered the assembly. The students sat patiently through the requisite Rotary speeches and then participated in a short exercise showing them how to use their new educational tool — by looking up the words volunteer and service before returning to class; each student clutching their very own brand new dictionary.

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Sixteen members of Menlo School’s Class of 2009 have been named Merit Semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Program. These students will continue in the competition for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards, worth more than $35 million, that will be announced next spring.

Menlo School’s Semifinalists are: Jay Baxter of Hillsborough; Daniel Crankshaw of Menlo Park; Kenneth Diekroeger of Woodside; Daniel Fremont, Amy Ousterhout, Jeremy Pope and Jeremy Rossman of Palo Alto; Mark Hudnall of Los Altos; Natalie Johnson of Portola Valley; Alexandra Lai of South San Francisco; Lisa Lam, David Miracchi and Daisy Shih of Los Altos Hills; Jeffrey Liebovich and Joseph Pinsker of San Carlos; and John Renschler of Redwood City.

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Benjamin Fox Elementary School PTA will host a free community electronic waste collection for the convenient drop-off of unwanted consumer electronic equipment from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10 in the school’s parking lot, 3110 St. James Road, Belmont.

This e-waste collection is part of Fox School’s larger recycling program. All proceeds from this collection go to campus beautification, and physical fitness equipment.

Volunteers will be on hand to assist with the collection of e-waste. Simply pull into the parking lot, drop off your unwanted electronics, and go. The event is being co-sponsored by Electronic Recyclers International. For more information visit fox.brssd.org.

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High school, middle school and elementary school students in San Mateo County are learning fundamental financial skills for success in a new variety of innovative lessons provided at no cost by the dedicated efforts of San Mateo Credit Union. The classes are provided in partnership with Junior Achievement Worldwide.

JA’s mission is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in the global economy by teaching financial literacy, entrepreneurship and workforce readiness. SMCU’s commitment is to give back to the community it serves by promoting financial literacy to schools and community organizations and participating in local programs. This year, for the seventh year in a row, SMCU’s and its team of staff members held a JA day for students at John F Kennedy Elementary school in Daly City.

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Hundreds of girls from San Mateo, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties will have the opportunity to make hand lotion, be a disease detective or a crime scene investigator during the Expanding Your Horizons Conference on Saturday, March 21 from 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Skyline College, 3300 College Dr., San Bruno.

Sixth through 12th grade girls are encouraged to participate in hands-on workshops to learn about career opportunities in math, science and engineering from professionals in the field.

The event, which marks the 29th time that Skyline College has hosted the conference, will feature Titina Ott, vice president of Global Customer Services at Oracle, Inc., delivering the keynote address. Other presenters include marine biologists, engineers, chemists and molecular geneticists during this all-day hands-on exploration of science, math and engineering.

The $10 registration fee includes lunch and workshop materials. Registration is required by March 14 and may be made by downloading a registration form from www.skylinecollege.edu/eyh.

For information contact Christine Case at case@smccd.edu or 738-4376.

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The 2008 Notre Dame High School Torch yearbook was awarded First Place with Special Merit and Outstanding Cover by the American Scholastic Press Association. The judge wrote, "Your yearbook is one of the most outstanding publications seen by this judge. Your staff has been successful in chronicling the past few years that have changed the lives of your students. This yearbook should remain on bookshelves and produce fond memories for all the seniors and any underclassmen in your school.”

The production staff members for the 2007-2008 yearbook publication included editors Cassandra Bass, Emma Clark, Taylor Common, Chelsea Cwieka, Danielle Eggli, and Charlene Gemora. Staff members were Mia Aguillon, Emma Battles, Ivette Black, Kristina Budnik, Shayna Celaya, Sarah Davis, Antoinette Dee, Amanda Deering, Katie Delfs, Alyssa Jepsen, Christen Kelly, Elviza Kho, Kristen Lowe, Bridget Mahoney, Nancy Montes, Priyanka Odedra and Gianna Rossi.

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Society for Science & the Public named 30 of the nation’s top young scientists as finalists of its 2008 SSP Middle School Program— America’s premiere science competition for middle school students.

Christopher Sauer and Jonathan Zdasiuk from Portola Valley were selected as finalists with their project, "An Engine with Nothing Inside? Building a Magnetohydrodynamic Drive.”

Finalists will travel to Washington, D.C. in October to compete for $40,000 in scholarships and awards, with the top winner receiving a $20,000 award from the Society for Science & the Public. Each finalist will receive at least $500 in awards. The 2008 finalists were selected from over 75,000 students who entered local science fairs nationwide in 2007–2008. From this pool, over 1,900 students submitted written entries and were narrowed down in early September to 300 semifinalists, representing 42 states and Puerto Rico.

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Hillsdale High School placed second in the Oct. 10 dance competition called The Battle of the Bay.

Nine schools competed at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center. Students spent five hours a day after school practicing the week leading up to the competition. The Hillsdale High dance team is coached by Lance Martina and Amalie Araujo — both Hillsdale grads.

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.