Extra Credit

Extra Credit is a service of the Morgan Hill Times dedicated to
highlighting the accolades, news and events that happen at each
school in your community paper. If it’s important to you and your
school, the Times would like to share that information with the
community. Submit information online at www.morganhilltimes.com or
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8th Annual Morgan Hill Environmental Poster Contest Kicks Off

Morgan Hill students can win $100 in the city’s Eighth Annual Environmental Poster Design Contest. The theme of this year’s contest is ‘Clean Creeks!’, and entries should relate to keeping our creeks and storm drains clean, or other topics that promote care for our environment. 

In addition to a $100 first place prize in each grade category, all winners will receive a certificate signed by Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy.  The deadline for entries is 5pm on April 7. Entries must be submitted to Morgan Hill City Hall, 17555 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037, ATTN: Poster Contest.

Entries will be judged in three categories:  Grades K – 3, grades 4 – 6 and grades 7 – 12. Entries from each grade category will be selected as finalists and the winners will be chosen by the public from noon to 4pm at the City of Morgan Hill Art & Science Fair on Earth Day, Saturday, April 22, 2006, at the City of Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center. First place, second place, third place, and honorable mention will be selected for each grade category.

The posters should be no larger than 11 inches by 17 inches, and have a one-inch border on all sides (a blank space between the art and the edge of the paper).  Students can use any material, but entries should be easy to reproduce with a scanner. Art must be dry when it is submitted. The student’s name, telephone number, address, age, school name, teacher’s name, and grade level must be on the back of each entry.  All entries must be original work.  Clip art and copies of other work will be disqualified. 

Winning entries become the property of the City of Morgan Hill.  Other entries must be picked up between April 24 and April 28 at the Morgan Hill City Hall.

Questions: contact the City of Morgan Hill Environmental Programs Division, 779-7247.

Students and Teachers Can Win Big at Earth Day Art & Science Fair

Use ‘Cleaner Creeks!’ in an Art or Science project and you might come away with some extra cash! This April, projects on storm water drains or beverage container recycling will earn $500 for one Morgan Hill classroom, and over $1200 is up for grabs for Morgan Hill students in this competition.

The Third Annual Earth Day Art & Science Fair, sponsored by the City of Morgan Hill, will be held at the Community and Cultural Center on Saturday, April 22. Funded by the California Department of Conservation, the fair is designed to educate and motivate the community to recycle and reuse drink containers, like water bottles and soda cans. New this year is a focus on keeping our creeks and storm water drains clean.

Morgan Hill students are invited to submit projects that promote clean creeks or the recycling, reduction or reuse of drink containers. The three judging categories are: Grades K – 3, grades 4 – 8 and grades 9 – 12.  Students may work in teams as long as they are in the same age category or individually. Students can review the entry form for some great ideas or use the suggestions for inspiration. For example, students can:

– Draw a poster that shows or encourages recycling of soda cans, water bottles or other drink containers

– Make a coloring or activity book that teaches kids how important it is to recycle drink containers instead of throwing them in the trash.

–  Use drink containers, such as juice bottles, water bottles or soda cans, to create an art project: make a sculpture or a collage – whatever you can imagine.

Entry forms will be sent to all Morgan Hill Schools. Students can check with their teacher or school office. Forms can also be downloaded from the Art & Science Fair website at www.EarthDayArt.com.           

Intent To Enter forms are being accepted now through April 1 and need to be mailed, attention Katherine Filice, to 65 Fifth Street #100, Gilroy, CA 95020 or delivered to City Hall at 17555 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill CA 95037. Intent to Enter forms received by Feb. 27 will be entered into a special early-bird prize drawing.

Project entries must be dropped off at the Community and Cultural Center, 17000 Monterey Street, on April 21. On Earth Day, April 22, judging will be at 1pm, with a public reception from noon – 4pm Entries must be picked up between 4pm and 5pm on April 22 from the Community Center.

St. Catherine Students Compete in National Word Power Challenge

Five students at St. Catherine Catholic School were named champions of the grade-level challenge of the Reader’s Digest National Word Power Challenge on Jan. 12.

The grade-level challenge, at which students answered oral and written questions challenging their vocabulary skills, completes the local-school component of the annual Reader’s Digest National Word Power Challenge.

Thousands of schools across the United States participate in the challenge. Grade-level champions now take a written test to determine top scorers among 4th and 5th graders in the state who will receive recognition and awards; the top 100 scorers in 6th, 7th and 8th grade will be invited to compete in the state championship on March 20 for the title of state champion.

Reader’s Digest will provide an all-expenses-paid trip to Orlando, Florida for state champions and their respective teacher/escorts to participate in the Reader’s Digest National Word Power Challenge national championship in April. The first-place national winner will receive a $25,000 college scholarship.

Grade Level Champions

BRYN HERDRICH – 8 grade

ALEXANDER KOZLOWSKI – 7 grade

STEVEN LINDER – 6 grade

CHRISTOPHER SPLEES, JR. – 5 grade

NICOLE QUINONES – 4 grade