Education notes: News from schools near you

- Twenty-one high school seniors from the east metro and western Wisconsin have won National Merit Scholarships in 2015, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corp., with more recipients to be announced May 27 and July 13. In the end, about 7,600 students will be given scholarships worth about $34 million. Local recipients are Jessica Kostecki of Apple Valley High School; Paige Frank, Chisago Lakes High School; Cameron Swenson of St. Paul, De La Salle High School in Minneapolis; James Li, East Ridge High School in Woodbury; Muskaan Goyal, Shretij Kapoor and Justin Lu, Eastview High School, Apple Valley; Kathryn Almquist, Farmington High School; Elaine Smith, Hudson High School; George Fisk, Irondale High School, New Brighton; Kyle Binder, Lakeville North High School; Kenji Cataldo, Mahtomedi High School; Matthew Ehren, Mounds Park Academy, Maplewood; Joseph Gehler, River Falls High School; Katrina Orthmann, Rosemount High School; Vincent Dzik, St. Paul Central High School; Neerja Thakkar, St. Paul Academy and Summit School; Noah Ruh and Alexander Eitzman, Stillwater Area High School; James Terry, White Bear Lake Area High School; and Kenneth Huang, Woodbury High School. 

DAKOTA COUNTY
-- Students from the four Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan high schools earned a total of 16 awards for journalism and video production from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences-Upper Midwest Regional.

Casey Metcalfe, a history teacher at Dodge Middle School in Farmington, is one of 25 teachers selected for the National Endowment for the Humanities Education Program. He will attend a summer institute called Voices Across Time: Teaching American History through Song.

RAMSEY COUNTY
-- Varun Mangalick of Mounds View High School in Arden Hills was one of two Minnesota students recognized as a 2015 U.S. Presidential Scholar. There were 141 high school seniors who were recognized by the program for their accomplishments in academics or the arts. Mangalick cited mathematics teacher Dan Butler as his most influential teach
-- Three people who work for White Bear Lake Area Schools received recognition from outside the district. A KS95 Teacher of the Week honor was given to Matoska International kindergarten teacher Katie Novotney; Minnesota Public Radio's Teacher of the Week section featured high school band teacher Jeremy Rockford; and the Minnesota School Public Relations Association's New Professional award was given to communications specialist Stephanie Crock.
-- Seven people were recognized by the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale school board for their service to the district's community education programs. Teachers Pang Xiong and Miriam Yang received the Community Contribution Award; Pam Jakes, the Community Educator Award; Dustyn Montgomery and Antenhe Tena, the Community Education Youth Award; and Jessie and Tom Helmbrecht, the Senior Friend Award. The awards are called EXCEL, for "Excellence in Community Education Leadership."

WEST METRO
-- A University of Minnesota team has an award-winning plan for filling vacant lots in North Minneapolis with sustainable homes. The university's 14-member Team OptiMN beat 32 teams from 27 universities in the U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored Race to Zero, a competition to design cost-effective, zero-energy homes for mainstream builders. 

WISCONSIN
-- Dr. Jason Staszko, who served as a U.S. Marine combat physician, and William Dobson, who was an economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan, have been honored by the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Alumni Association. Staszko received the 2015 Outstanding Young Alumni Award, and Dobson received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Staszko graduated in 2000 with a degree in biology and is the associate medical director for emergency services and co-director of trauma services at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee. In 2006, he was deployed to Ramadi, Iraq, where he cared for soldiers and was responsible for the staffing and daily operations of his Battalion Aid Station. Dobson, a 1959 graduate, is emeritus professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has served as an agribusiness economist with the Babcock Institute for International Dairy Research and was professor and chair of agribusiness at Massey University in New Zealand. 

- The University of Wisconsin-River Falls Foundation hosted its first online giving day, the Falcon 5K, on May 1. A goal of $5,000 was set based on results at similar universities, but the campaign raised $18,585 in just 12 hours.
Information for Education Notes may be sent to Josh Verges, jverges@pioneerpress.com, for St. Paul schools and higher education; Christopher Magan, cmagan@pioneerpress.com, for Dakota County schools; or to Deb Mazzocco, dmazzocco@ pioneerpress.com.