PUPILS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PUPILS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Chamber orchestra honor
BOARDMAN -- The Boardman High School Chamber Orchestra was selected to appear in performance at the 2004 Ohio Music Education Association Professional Conference held earlier this month in Columbus. The group was chosen through a taped audition from hundreds of applicants from throughout the state.
The chamber orchestra also will perform and compete at the next OMEA State Orchestra Adjudicated event at Gahanna-Lincoln High School at the end of the month.
The chamber orchestra, an honors group, is made up of the top string players in the Boardman Orchestra program who audition for placement. They can be heard at every concert or contest performance of the Boardman High School Orchestras. Many chamber orchestra students go on to major or minor in music after high school, and many receive scholarships from universities.
While in Columbus, students attended concerts and presentations at the OMEA convention site and performed for Ohio's music teachers. The group is under the direction of Michele Vari with assistance from Ron Ryan and Frank Dispenza.
Word Power Challenge
LIBERTY -- Two W.S. Guy Middle School pupils will compete Friday in the Ohio level of the Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge. Eighth-grader Jaedon Sell and seventh-grader Jeff Infante qualified to attend by performance in a school-level contest of oral and written questions. State champions advance to a national competition in March to vie for scholarships of up to $25,000.
K-12 NEWS
St. Charles benefit dinner
BOARDMAN -- The St. Charles Home & amp; School Association will host a "Sunday Spag-tacular Dinner" from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 29 at the school, 7325 Westview Drive. Proceeds will benefit St. Charles School. Costs are $6 or $7 for adults and $4 for kids 10 and under. Children 3 and under are free.
Show for young artists
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Steel Valley Art Teachers Association sponsors the 14th annual Elementary Art Recognition Program from 1:30 to 3 p.m. March 7 at The Butler Institute of American Art. Sponsor is Farmers National Bank. Kindergarten through sixth-grade art teachers in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties are invited to choose artwork to display. Call (330) 547-8418 or visit www.svata.org.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Lecture on Mayan culture
CHAMPION -- Dr. Peter Dunham, noted archaeologist on Mayan culture, will present a free slide lecture, "Maya Anew," at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Lecture Hall A at Kent State University Trumbull Campus. Dunham, of Cleveland State University/National Geographic Society, is the director of the Maya Mountains Archaeological Project, a survey of the Maya Mountains in Belize. Reservations are not required but are encouraged. For more details and to make reservations, call Verna Williams, (330) 675-8862. The public is welcome.
Cuban critic, poet to read
YOUNGSTOWN -- A poetry reading by Rafael Almanza will take place at 7 p.m. Friday in the Ohio Room at Kilcawley Center, Youngstown State University, part of the YSU Reading Series 2003-2004 and is sponsored by the university's Poetry Center. Almanza is considered one of the most important critics and poets of his generation in Cuba and has published literary and artistic criticism both there and abroad. His reading will be in both Spanish and English. Host will be YSU professor Ivania del Pozo; professor Steven Reese will translate.
EDUCATOR NEWS
Catholic education event
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Rev. Ronald J. Nuzzi of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown was one of 250 participants in a National Catholic Educational Association symposium on the future of Catholic education in America, held in January in Washington, D.C. Father Nuzzi, also director of the University of Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education's Leadership Program, also attended a visit to the East Room of the White House. There, President Bush addressed symposium attendees.
Stipends for Twain course
The Mark Twain House & amp; Museum in Hartford, Conn., is offering stipends for 100 teachers to attend the weeklong "Tom, Huck and You: Teaching Mark Twain in the Classroom" at the museum. Funds are available through a $123,000 "Landmarks of American History" grant to the museum from the national Endowment for the Humanities. Application deadline is March 15. Visit www.MarkTwainHouse.org or www.NEH.gov.
COLLEGE NEWS
Nuclear medicine program
SALEM -- Kent State University Salem Campus has received $250,000 worth of radiology equipment from St. Thomas Hospital in Akron to be used as part of the university's nuclear medicine program. Program director Janet Long helped secure the donation, and plans are under way to create a nuclear lab at the campus this summer.