K-12 notebook: Jamestown students take 1st, 3rd at LifeSmarts

Teams from Jamestown High School took first and third in North Dakota's 2011 LifeSmarts competition in Bismarck, the attorney general's office announced.

A team from Ray High School took second.

Members of the winning team are Ashley Mueller (captain), Alec Redmann, Ryan Sanders, Mikaela Walker and Nick Watne. The coach is Marchel Krieger.

They move on to the national competition in Los Angeles April 30-May 1.

Jamestown teams also took first and third in last year's event.

Eleven teams from nine schools qualified for the championship. The teams battled through 10 rounds of questions on personal finance, health, safety, the environment, technology, and consumer rights and responsibilities. The top three teams advanced to the finals.

Other schools represented at the state event include: Northern Cass, Central Cass, Kindred, Burke Central, Milnor, New England (two teams) and Wing.

The event is hosted by the Consumer Protection Division and sponsored by Gate City Bank, Capital Electric Cooperative, North Dakota Securities Department Investor Education Fund, North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives, Capitol Trophy, and the North Dakota National Guard.

Skating for kids

Students from Fargo North High School's DECA chapter and hockey squad raised $150 and collected 79 teddy bears in a "Skate for the Kids" fundraiser for the YWCA.

The cash and toys were collected at the Jan. 29 Spartans home game against Grand Forks Central, said McKenzie Leier, a project chairwoman.

The event was originally envisioned as a fundraiser for Sanford Children's Hospital, but the hospital required the bears to be packaged, and few of the toys met that rule, she said.

Worldly and wise

MaryBeth Stensgard, a counselor at Fargo's Carl Ben Eielson Middle School, has been named North Dakota Middle School Counselor of the Year for 2011.

The award is given out by the North Dakota School Counselors Association. She's been a member of the organization for 12 years and has served as its middle school vice president.

In addition, the counseling staff at Carl Ben Eielson, including Stensgard, Jason Baumgartner and Patricia Bathie, recently received the Award for Counselor Excellence from the state school counselors group.

The award ranks the Carl Ben Eielson program as one of the best programs in North Dakota.

Right on target

Fargo Shanley's 11th annual Dodgeball Tournament raised $1,560 for the Central Asia Institute.

Altogether, 22 teams dipped, ducked, dodged and dived to help the nonprofit organization that builds schools and promotes public health in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Central Asian countries.

This year's winning team, "Off," successfully defended its title from last year. Members are Lincoln Voss, A.J. Jacobson, Joshua Berg, Grady "I love Dodgeball" Meyer, Carly Mickelson, Maddie Little and Ali Schweigert.

Second place went to "Prestige World Wide." The other semifinalists were "Lights Out" and "Lights On." The remaining quarterfinalists were "Thunder Down Under," "Preston Place," "Hyunyong and the Americans," and "Blood Bath and Beyond."

The tournament was sponsored by the Junior Classical League, also known as the Latin Club.

The theme was "Dodging Illiteracy."

The Central Asia Institute is co-founded by Greg Mortenson, who attended Concordia College.

Head to Wonderland

Cheney Middle School will host a trip to Wonderland Thursday through Saturday.

The West Fargo school's theater department is presenting Disney's "Alice in Wonderland, Jr."

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 per person with free admission for children in kindergarten and younger.

Reserved tickets may be purchased in the office at Cheney Middle School, (701) 356-2090, or general admission at the door.

The school is at 825 17th Ave. E.

Bee all you can be!

Todd Scheuring, a seventh-grader at Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Junior High School, won the school competition for the National Geographic Bee.

He has taken the written test to determine if he will be one of the top 100 scorers to compete at the state competition April 1 in St. Cloud. Results should be back in early March, said Kerri Westgard, the school- and state-level coordinator for the contest.

State champions are eligible for the national finals in Washington, D.C., in May.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Helmut Schmidt at (701) 241-5583