45 Boise seniors named National Merit Finalist

The Boise School District announced 45 high school students were selected as National Merit Finalists in the 62nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The high school seniors now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $33 million that will be offered in April.

“This significant achievement is the result of their hard work and our commitment to providing the advanced, rigorous coursework and the highly skilled teachers students need to earn this national recognition,” said Boise Schools Superintendent Don Coberly.

The pool of nationwide finalists represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors. The group was selected out of 1.6 million students who earned qualifying PSAT scores for achieving the highest scores.  To become a finalist, a semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal, write an essay, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier qualifying test performance.

For a complete list of Boise finalist click here.

Win a $1,000 technology grant

Here’s how to apply

• Write or create an essay or video – explain how you’re learning and applying cyber safety in the classroom.
• Fill out a submission form by April 30.
• The winner will receive Visa Reward Cards worth $1,000. You must apply it to the purchase of technological equipment or supplies for your classroom.

Caldwell students head to robotics world championship

A group of Caldwell High School seniors won the VEX Robotic State Championship at Wood River High School on Saturday. The team now qualifies to compete in the VEX Robotics World Championship in Kentucky on April 19-25. 

The team competed in tournaments year-round at the regional and state levels. The competitions are sponsored by the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation, a Texas-based organization dedicated to inspiring science and technology learning.

Bonneville seeks input regarding growth

Trustees in the Bonneville School District will be holding two public meetings geared at gathering feedback on ways to handle growth.

“The meetings are being held primarily to hear from the patrons,” said district spokesman Phil Campbell.

Here’s a breakdown of when and where:

• March 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Sandcreek Middle School Cafeteria
• March 16 at 7 p.m. in the Rocky Mountain Middle School auditorium.

Last summer, Bonneville superintendent Chuch Shackett told Idaho Education News that the number of enrolled kindergarteners in 2016 exceeded the number of high school graduates in 2015 by about 200 kids.

The district broke ground for a new 1,500-student high school in August, and has long grappled with growth in Ammon, one of East Idaho’s fastest-growing towns.