Education Notebook

Muñoz to hold 1st listening session

Rochester Superintendent Michael Muñoz, who began work as the district's leader on July 1, is planning to hold his first meet and greet Saturday (Aug. 27) from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. at Dunn Brothers Coffee, 120 Elton Hi
lls DriveN.W. Rochester.

Five of the district's seven school board members are also expected to be present. The listening session is the first in a series the superintendent says he wants to hold. Rochester is also gearing up for the first day of school set for Sept. 6. Muñoz is scheduled to address and welcome back
the district's employees at a return-to-school rally at 8 a.m. at John Marshall High School.

WSU fishing team goes to regional championship

As a person who has fished only a handful of times, fishing in my mind has always been associated with quiet lonely vigils where a person can commune with this thoughts.

But there is competitive side to the sport I'm just beginning to learn about. Winona State University students Cade Laufenberg and Zac Cassill are heading to a regional championship hosted by Southern Illinois on Oct. 6 through 8 on Lake Kinkaid. I'm looking forward to interviewing them and learning more about how they got into competitive fishing.

Aside from the enjoyment the sport brings, the competitions offer a chance to win a little money. By taking third in the National Guard FLW College Fishing Central Division last June, the WSU pair earned the WSU Fishing Club a combined $2,000 donation. At the regional championship, they will have an opportunity to compete for $12,000 for the WSU Fishing Club, a $12,500 unrestricted donation and a Ranger 177TR bass boat valued at $25,000.

And should they reach the national championship, they'll get to compete for the really big money.

Work on new Lourdes High School proceeds

Received this statement from the Rev Kevin Connolly and Ann Felton, co-chairs of the Rochester Catholic Schools Board of Trustees, about the latest developments relative to the proposed Lourdes High School. We had heard about the possibility of a ground-breaking, and they responded with this statement:

Site preparation continues in anticipation of beginning construction on the new Lourdes High School facility. Weis Builders, construction managers for the project, will oversee this next round of site preparation. We have received permission from Bishop John M. Quinn, Diocese of Winona, for the footings to be dug and put in for the new school.

We are awaiting 'alienation of the land' paperwork
to arrive from the Vatican, because the purchase agreement with Mayo Clinic for the sale of the current Lourdes High School cannot be signed until the alientation is done. 'Alienation' is a Canon Law term that means to separate the land from its owner. Any piece of property that is worth more than $5 million must be alienated through the Vatican.

The capital campaign continues and finalizing of financing details is being completed. We are optimistic that authorization will be received to continue building throughout the winter months.

Rochester students win national computer competition - again

BDPA-Southern Minnesota stands for Black Data Processing Associates-Southern Minnesota. It's not the easiest name to remember, but the six high school students who represented the team at this year's national competition make it difficult to forget.

For the fifth consecutive year and sixth out of seven years, the Rochester team took first place in a national contest that measures computer skills. The highlight of the competition is a seven-hour programming project. This year, students were required to create a web application to allow customers to configure and purchase computer orders based on an inventory of electronic parts from multiple vendors.

This year's team included: Hassan Hassan, Zakaria Ahmed, Daniel Sheppard, Herchran Singh and Adwait Walimbe. 

"While our goal this year was to win, I'm most proud of our students not for the first place result, but for their preparation, work ethic and teamwork throughout the year leading up to the competition," said Zachary Garbow, who serves as technical director and lead instructor. 

WSU among 'Best in the Midwest'

Winonoa State University sent out a press statement this week, touting its selection as among the 153 schools named "Best in the Midwest" by the Princeton Review.

It was the eighth consecutive year that WSU has received the designation from the nationally known education services company.

In total, 629 colleges across the Midest, Northeast, West and Southeast were named "regional bests," according to the Princeton Rivew. The schools represent about 25 percent of the nation's 2,500 four-year colleges.

The Princeton Review's annual "Best Colleges: Region by Region: rankings are based on sttudent opinion data from the schools. Students are asked to rate their own school on several issues - from the accessibility of their professors to quality of the campus food - and answer questions about themselves, their fellow students and their campus life.