Johnson County school notes: National Merit semifinalists, CAPS and more

National Merit semifinalists

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. has announced the names of nearly 16,000 semifinalists in the 62nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

The Olathe School District has 21 National Merit semifinalists:

▪ Olathe East High School: Mason Crabtree, Brock Kaufmann, Matthew Miller and Travis Nebeker.

▪ Olathe North High School: Sabrina Bogart, Adam Coffman, Dylan Honors, Ethan Johnson, Alexander Kolar, Alexis McCalla and Arvind Subramanian.

▪ Olathe Northwest High School: Cole Brabec, Sumner Holtzman, Zachary Kulphongpatana, Michael Lacy, Greta Lundy and Logan Rance.

▪ Olathe South High School: Bethany Bluel, Nicholas Hinman, Emmalee Reed and Kyle Wetter.

Fourteen seniors in the Shawnee Mission School District have been named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists:

▪ SM East: Haley J. Bell, Coleman E. Brockmeier, Kate M. Haefele, Peter R. Haynes, Katherine A. Kuhlman, Eli H. Kurlbaum and Yashi Wang

▪ SM Northwest: Trent A. McHenry and Hannah E. Gruman

▪ SM South: Emma K. Stapp

▪ SM West: Jonah R. Berggren, Alexandria K. Gambill, Alissa D. Gilmer and Hannah J. Parker

Blue Valley’s CAPS earns national recognition

P21, The Partnership for 21st Century Learning, has designated Blue Valley’s Center for Advanced Professional Studies as an exemplar school for 2016-2017.

“Being named a 21st Century Learning Exemplar through P21 is a tremendous honor for CAPS,” said Corey Mohn, executive director. “Our program strives to be a north star, inspiring students to find passion and purpose through self-discovery and exploration of professional paths. This designation will motivate our program to keep pushing the bleeding edge of innovation in K-12 education to maximize positive impact in our world.”

Journalism teacher honored

A Blue Valley Northwest teacher will be honored for sharing his passion for journalism with students nationwide.

Jim McCrossen is one of eight educators who has been selected to receive the National Scholastic Press Association’s Pioneer Award. He will be honored at the Journalism Education Association/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention.

McCrossen is in his 26th year teaching journalism students in the Blue Valley School District, including 24 years at Northwest, where he advises the Horizon yearbook, The Express newspaper and BVNWnews.com.

The Pioneer Award is the press association’s highest award.

Kansas teacher of the year finalist

Blue Valley North vocal music teacher Jason Sickel has been named a Region 3 finalist for the 2017 Kansas Teacher of the Year award.

As a finalist, Sickel received a $2,000 cash award from Security Benefit, corporate partner for the Kansas Teacher of the Year program. He is now eligible to be named Kansas Teacher of the Year, which will be announced Nov. 19.

Sickel has been with the district for three years.

Olathe students, staff receive honors

Sophia Schneider, a seventh-grader at Mission Trail Middle School, was selected as one of 60 students to serve as a state student ambassador for Fuel Up to Play 60, a health and wellness program. The program encourages kids to eat nutrient-rich foods and engage in 60 minutes of physical activity daily.

“Sophia is such a talented, creative young woman. She works extremely hard,” said program advisor Tyler Barney.

▪ California Trail Middle School orchestra instructor Sherry Wann will present a one-hour workshop at the American String Teachers Association conference in Pittsburgh in March 2017. Her workshop focuses on daily stretching techniques for young orchestra musicians. These techniques aim to prevent repetitive strain injuries in students.

▪ Two Olathe North High School seniors have been named to National Association for Music Education All-National Honor Ensembles. They will perform in November at the organization’s convention in Grapevine, Texas. To make these ensembles, students had to be selected to All-District Ensemble and then to the Kansas Music Educators Association All-State Ensembles before competing with students from all 50 states for spots in the All-National Honor Ensembles.

Cole Bellamy was named to the organization’s All-National Honor Choir, and Nicole Allen was named to the All-National Honor Orchestra.

Compiled by Rick Hellman, Special to The Star

This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 10:21 AM with the headline "Johnson County school notes: National Merit semifinalists, CAPS and more."