Learning briefs 4/22/03

Area students attended sophomore pilgrimage

Local students Clay Mothershead and Jason Schenimann recently attended the annual sophomore pilgrimage in Jefferson City, which introduces students to state government.

The two were sponsored by Quest Club, General Federation of Women's Clubs of Missouri.

Mothershead, son of Russ and Kim Mothershead, is a student at Kelly High School, where he is involved in basketball, Beta Club, FBLA, FFA and student council and student government. He is a member of First Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau.

Schenimann, son of Tammy Schenimann and the late Darrell Schenimann, is a student at Scott City High School, where he is involved in National Honor Society, science club, baseball, basketball and football. He is a member of St. Joseph Church.

Kelly high student meets governor at FBLA event

Julie Vetter, an FBLA member from Kelly High School, recently met with Gov. Bob Holden on a trip to Jefferson City, where she toured the Capitol and volunteered at the Jefferson City Samaritan Center.

After hearing an explanation of the opportunities FBLA provides to students, Holden declared Feb. 9-15 as FBLA-PBL Week in Missouri.

Padgett honored with teacher of year award

Carrie Padgett, a native of Cape Girardeau and daughter of Dr. Edwin Smith of Cape Girardeau and the late Janet Smith, was recently honored with the Teacher of the Year Award in the Metro School District in Nashville, Tenn.

Padgett, a graduate of Central High School, teaches kindergarten at DuPont Elementary School. She was chosen from 125 teachers, and will go on to participate in regional and state Teacher of the Year competitions.

Area students earn citizenship award

Charles Flint, a student at Jackson High School, and Rebecca Cook, a student at Delta High School, were among 15 high school seniors honored April 17 in Jefferson City for receiving the Outstanding Achievement in Citizenship Award.

The Missouri Legislature established the award 13 years ago. Nearly 60 students were nominated for this year's award. Winners are chosen by the Missouri Bar's Advisory Committee on Citizenship Education.

College student honored for community counseling

Dayna Northington of Scott City was recently named a U.S. National Collegiate Winner in community counseling.

Northington was nominated by Dr. Phil Parette, a professor at Southeast Missouri State University, where she is a student.

She is the daughter of Arnold and Connie Killian, and the granddaughter of Orville and Marie Burns and John and Jewell Killian, all of Scott City.

Foreign language festival winners announced

The Southeast Missouri State University annual Foreign Language Festival was held on April 4. Over 300 students from area schools participated in spelling bee and tongue twister competitions in French, German and Spanish.

Area winners by school and category:

Cape Girardeau Central High School -- Spanish beginning spelling bee: Ben Bostic, Philip Brotherton and Garrett Ozbun; German beginning spelling bee: Karl Bratcher, Nick Redfearn, and Brandon Simmons; German beginning tongue twisters: Scott Brueckner, Stephanie Schaffner and Brandon Simmons; Spanish beginning tongue twisters, Chris Griffith, Jackson Hill and Amber Pierce; French beginning spelling bee, Catherine Hayward; Spanish advanced spelling bee, Erin Herbst; German advanced spelling bee: Melissa Mack, Darren Neels and Alex Schroeder; German advanced tongue twisters: Melissa Mack, Darren Neels and Alex Schroeder; and French advanced tongue twisters: Bonan Wang.

Jackson High School -- French beginning tongue twisters: Casey Anderson and Lucas McIntosh; Spanish advanced tongue twisters: Todd Diebold and Leah Wright; French beginning spelling bee: Kelley Lichtenegger and Lucas McIntosh; French advanced spelling bee: Clayton Stockard, Holly Stockard and Kerry Thell.

St. Vincent High School in Perryville -- Spanish advanced spelling bee: Julia Schremp.

Seniors get highest rating for science presentation

Two seniors at Central High School received the highest rating possible for a presentation at the Missouri Junior Academy of Science April 18.

Jennifer Troutman and Megan Ladd won their way to last week's state finals with a presentation on bamboo titled, "A temporal study of the affects of flowering on a Ruendinaria gigantiea."

Troutman and Ladd competed in Warrensburg, Mo., against other high school students from throughout Missouri.

Two students place fifth at technology conference

Garett Dugan of Cape Girardeau and Matt Fischer of St. Louis, two Southeast Missouri State University business students, finished fifth in the nation at the eighth annual Association of Information Technology Professionals National Collegiate Conference on March 28 at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

The two students are in the bachelor of science in business administration program at Southeast. They placed fifth in the information technology network design competition.

-- From staff reports