SCHOOL NEWS BRIEFLY

Firth High invites veterans to lunch

Firth High School will host a Veterans Day program at 9 a.m. Nov. 11.

All veterans, their families and interested community members are welcome to attend. The Firth High Key Club will serve a luncheon for the veterans after the program. For information, call Stewart Portela at 346-6812.

Skyline High sweeps journalism awards

The Skyline High School journalism department earned high honors at the 2009 fall journalism conference last week at Idaho State University.

The conference was sponsored by the Idaho Student Journalism Association. The Westside Story newspaper won a Best of Show award in the large school division and the Behemoth yearbook took third place.

Senior Devin Quigley won Best of Show in graphics and a $100 scholarship for an editorial cartoon, for which he also earned a superior ranking. Yearbook adviser Becky McGuyer was awarded the Idaho Journalism Teacher of the Year. Individual award winners were:

Devin Quigley, editorial cartoon superior; Melissa Tanner, newspaper sports photo - superior; Caitlyn Lewis, yearbook student life photo - two excellents; Amy Wilde newspaper news/feature photo - two honorable mentions; Amy Wilde, yearbook sports photo - honorable mention; Christine Weber, yearbook copy proficiency - proficient.

School program grants up for grabs

The Idaho State Department of Education will award $1.7 million in grants to fund after-school programs for the 2010-11 school year. Grant applications are due Jan. 29.

School districts, municipalities, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations and private corporations are eligible for these grants. Successful applicants will receive funding for as long as five years.

Five free bidder's workshops are scheduled across Idaho for those considering applying. The eastern Idaho workshop will be Friday Nov. 6, at the Pocatello School District Office, Board Room, 3115 Pole Line Road, Pocatello.

All workshops will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break. To register for the workshops, learn the other four dates and sites or to view the grant application, please visit www.sde.idaho.gov/site/cclc/grants.htm or contact Camille McCashland, Program Specialist, at (208) 332-6960.

Schools receive tree project grant

Jefferson County students will plant trees next spring thanks in part to a grant from the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation. The $1,250 grant was provided to the High Country Resource Conservation and Development Area to support a sound barrier project at the Midway Middle School and the Jefferson Elementary School.

The schools are located near a busy highway and the windbreak project should help reduce noise levels, improve privacy and provide protection from the wind while students are on the playground or waiting for buses.

The grant will help purchase the trees, which children will plant with the assistance of the Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District and local volunteers during a field day in 2010.

Campus tour set for North Idaho College

The North Idaho College Admissions Office staff will lead prospective students on a campus tour, an advising workshop and a question and answer session beginning at 9 a.m. Friday during November's First Friday campus visitation program. The tour will start in the Driftwood Bay Room of NIC's Edminster Student Union Building, 1000 W. Garden Ave., Coeur d'Alene. Prospective students and parents can sign up by calling (208) 769-3311 or e-mailing admit@nic.edu.

From Post Register reports