West metro school briefs: Kennedy team wins gold at national competition

Kennedy team wins gold at national competitionKennedy High School's SkillsUSA team was awarded a gold medal after winning first place in the 48th National Leadership and Skills Conference held in Kansas City, Mo.

The award recipients include Opening and Closing Ceremony team members Lydia Mwambi, Hermela Daniel, Gina Shuck, Anna Zhao, Shelby Spurlin, Emily Zhao and Michaela Mahon.

In the last four years, Kennedy's Opening and Closing Ceremony team has competed at the national level -- winning 8th place in 2011 and 10th in 2010.

SkillsUSA is a national organization serving high school students who are preparing for careers in technical, skilled and service occupations.

Incoming senior achieves perfect ACT scoreJoshua Fourre earned a perfect composite score of 36 on a recent ACT test. He will be an Eden Prairie High School senior this fall.

While the number of students earning a perfect score varies from year to year, roughly one-tenth of one percent will achieve a 36, according to ACT.

The ACT consists of test in English, mathematics, reading and science. Each test is scored on a scale of 1 to 36, and a student's composite score is the average of the four test scores.

Jons' project was about preventing food waste caused by mold. She will be a freshman at Central Middle School in Eden Prairie this fall.

Along with the other finalists, Jons will have the opportunity to work directly with a 3M scientist during a summer mentorship program. Over the course of the summer, the finalists will create an innovation that solves a problem with guidance from their mentor as they develop ideas from a concept into an actual prototype, which they will present at the competition's final event at the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul on Oct. 15-16.

During the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge final event, Jons and the other finalists will compete in a series of three different challenges. Each challenge will be scored independently by a panel of judges. The winner will receive $25,000, a trip from Discovery Student Adventures and the title of "America's Top Young Scientist."

Benilde-St. Margaret's team takes eighth in roboticsBenilde-St. Margaret's Advanced Competitive Science Program placed eighth in the world at the RoboCupRescue tournament held in Mexico City June 18-24.

The group was the only program from the United States to qualify and also the only high school group selected to compete. The BSM students who made up the Red Knight RoboRescue Squad were Teddy Brown, Levi Caffes, Sam Conley, Patrick Freese, Alex Herbst, Emily Herrmann, Carter McNew, Nicole Sauer, Paul Sonsalla and Brian Tobelmann.

Other countries who took part in the most recent competition included Germany, Iran, Japan, Mexico, South Africa and Thailand. BSM finished ahead of universities from Japan, South Africa and two from Mexico.

Read more on the group's blog at www.acsatbsm.wordpress.com.

Students to dispose of lead fishing tackleHopkins students will be hosting a "Get the Lead Out" event on July 12 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the parking lot of Hopkins High School located at 2400 Lindbergh Drive, Minnetonka.

Community members can bring their lead sinkers, jigs and lures and exchange them for non-lead tackle. The students will arrange for the safe disposal of the lead lures.

Lead is a toxic metal that can have a negative impact on wildlife and the natural world. Get The Lead Out is a statewide initiative to remove lead lures from Minnesota lakes.