Education Notebook

Lincoln K-8 Choice School receives Lowe's $65,000 grant

The zebrafish project at Lincoln K-8 Choice School continues to garner attention - and money.

This morning, Rochester Public Schools announced that Lincoln K-8 Choice School had been awarded a $65,000 grant from Lowe's Toolbox for Education, the home improvement firm's foundation.

Officials say the the money has been used to upgrade Lincoln's zebrafish lab, a research classroom created two years ago when Lincoln began apartnership with Mayo Clinic's Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology. That partnership began with the Integrated Science Education Outreach (InSciEd Out) program, which involves Lincoln teachers working with Mayo Clinic scientists to design lesssons that enourage a hands-on approach to studying.

The grant has enabled Lincoln to fund improvements in its Zebrafish Lab with new, state-of-the-art microscopes and cabinets, countertops, datalines and outlets. It also expanded the number of workspaces available to the students. The's science classroom has benefited, too, with new lab stations with enhanced electrical capacity and wireless ports. Lincoln will also purchase microscopes and digital cameras to allow students to capture images of embryos as they develop and perform measurements on those embryos.

"As the popularity of our Science Education Outreach program grows, student experiments have become more complex and space in existing classrooms was limited," said Principal Jim Sonju. "The equipment additions will provide greater learning opportunities to our students."

On the eve of Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony, Rochester Catholic School officials have released drawings of the new $30 million Lourdes High School that will be built in northwest Rochester. 

It's an impressive-looking school.

The U-shaped structure, which will be located in the area of Seventh Street and Industrial Drive Northwest, centers on a courtyard around which an auditorium, chapel, classrooms and library, cafeteria and gymnasium are arranged. 

A big turnout is expected at the ground breaking on Tuesday, Oct. 18. It will feature the entire Lourdes High School student body. Music will be provided by the high school band. Students representing classes from 2012 to 2023 will take part in turning over the soil. Bishop John Quinn, who will give the benediction, will also apparently fulfill a lifelong dream of operating heavy construction equipment.

These drawings might be too small to get the full effect of how the building will look (I had to reduce them to get them to fit within my blog). But they do give you an idea why Catholic school officials are excited about the future. Here's how the school is supposed to look from the front: 

And the floor plans: 

Rochester superintendent reads in his PJs

Rochester superindentent Michael Munoz this morning was reading to students at Gibbs Elementary School. Gibbs has instituted a reading program similar to one at Pinewood Elementary School, which depends heavily on getting parents involved and setting aside quiet time for students to read. Here, Munoz stresses the importance of reading - in his pajamas.

Introducing your 2012 National Merit semifinalists

They are among the nation's brightest high school students.

The National Merit Scholarship program announced the names of 16,000 semifinalists in the 57th annual competition, including a strong contingent from Rochester and area school districts.
By reaching the semfinalists' stage, students have an opportunity to compete for some 8,300 merit scholarships worth more than $34 million. The scholarships will be offered in the spring.

Students from Rochester include: (Century High School) Marianna H. Bible, Kirk R. Busche, Paige E. Hazelton, Ryan H. Heath, Riya Madan and Frank J. Peng; (Home school) Thomas W. Nath; (Lourdes High School) Jacob E. Nordman, Michael J. Nowakowski, Victoria T. Smith and Emma C. Tschann; (John Marshall High School) Eduardo S. Cabral and Amy E. McMeeking; (Mayo High School) Hannah M. Findlay, Christina R. Hagan, Michael H. Ishita
ni, Keith Kallmes, Nitya D. Mankad, Gulnar Z. Mirza and Emily C. Voldal; (Schaeffer Academy) Abigail W. Driscoll.

Students from area districts include Joel Torgeson from Pine Island and Amelia R. Brooks from Lake City.

Students enter the annual competition by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. About 1.5 million juniors took the test. The semifinalist winners represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors.