School notes: Cancer awareness, Gold Awards and fine dining

Gold ribbons for cancer awareness

To raise awareness of childhood cancer, hundreds of gold ribbons were tied around trees on five area high school campuses on Aug. 31.

Gold is the color chosen to commemorate September’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Led by a newly formed group representing students from Blue Valley North, Blue Valley Northwest, St. Thomas Aquinas, Pembroke Hill, St. Teresa’s Academy and Rockhurst high schools, the ribbon tying kicked off a month of athletic events and fundraisers to raise awareness of and financial support for the fight against pediatric cancer.

More than 40 Kansas City area families have had a child treated at St. Jude, the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. The public can donate to Kansas City’s “Team Up for St. Jude” effort by visiting: https://stjude.org/teamupkansascity.

Olathe Northwest track coach honored

Olathe Northwest’s Dee Bell has been named the 2016 Kansas State High School Athletic Association’s 6A Track and Field Coach of the Year.

Bell is beginning his fourth year as head track coach at Olathe Northwest. He is a graduate of Olathe East High School and was part of its 2007 state championship track team.

Olathe North grad wins Scout awards

Alyssa Klinzing, a 2016 graduate of Olathe North High School, earned the prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award and was recently honored as Scout of the Year by the Kansas Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The Girl Scout Gold Award is a seven-step process that must be completed in order. Steps include identifying an issue, investigating thoroughly, building a team to help, creating a plan of action, presenting your plan and gathering feedback, taking action, educating and inspiring.

Broadmoor Bistro dining to begin

The dining season began Sept. 14 at the Broadmoor Bistro, Shawnee Mission School District’s restaurant run by culinary arts students. The restaurant at Broadmoor Technical Center, 6701 W. 83rd St., is open to guests on Wednesday evenings throughout the school year and holds special events with guest chefs throughout the year. For more information: www.broadmoorbistro.smsd.org.

Shawnee Mission students succeed on ACT

Shawnee Mission students taking the ACT college-readiness assessment continue to earn composite scores above the state and national levels. In 2016, Shawnee Mission students earned a composite score of 23.9, compared with the Kansas composite of 21.9 and national composite of 20.8. The Shawnee Mission district score also was higher than the state and national performance in all subject areas of the ACT, including reading, English, math and science.

KSU student gets study-abroad scholarship

A Merriam native has won a Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship to study in Germany this academic year. Anna Rose B. Meyer is a Kansas State University senior majoring in English-creative writing and German. The Gilman Scholarship gives U.S. undergrads up to $5,000 to participate in study-abroad programs. More than 3,000 applied for fall 2016, and about 850 received scholarships. Scholarships are awarded to students with financial need and the potential to assume significant roles in a global economy.

Meyer is studying creative writing and German at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany.

Compiled by Rick Hellman/Special to The Star

This story was originally published September 15, 2016 at 5:16 PM with the headline "School notes: Cancer awareness, Gold Awards and fine dining."