2009-2010 Student Celebrations
Morgan Gee, 7th grade student of Pamela and Dail Bruderer from Nampa, is dually enrolled with I-DEA. This allows him to compete at his local brick and mortar school East Valley in the athletics program. He recently competed in wrestling on local, district and state levels and came out shining, placing 1st at Nampa High on the local level then went on to place 5th in district, 6th in state. For his final victory he placed 5th in the Gladiator, a world-wide competition including wrestlers from as far away as Japan, held at the Idaho Center in Nampa. Congratulations to you Morgan for your accomplishments!
Elizabeth Easterbrooks, 4th grade daughter of Donald and Jennifer Easterbrooks from Post Falls, has collected 180 pairs of pants for her Operation hope fundraiser. This project started as a writing project and quickly turned into a full-blown fundraiser. Operation Hope is a local charity that provides clothing for the disabled, elderly, foster children, victims of tragedy and those in financial need. Elizabeth asked if she could organize a fundraiser to collect children’s pants. She wrote letters to friends and family, created a facebook page, and made posters to pass out. Her goal was to collect 100 pairs of pants in one month. She surpassed her goal and collected over 180 pairs of children’s pants. She worked very hard and was inspired to continue to work with Operation Hope in the future. She will volunteer her time in their local shop as well as future fundraisers. Elizabeth received a medal where she was honored at the Post Falls Mayor's Youth Awards ceremony by Mayor Clay Larken, and the Post Falls Mayors Youth Awards Committee.
I-DEA students take part in the American Lung Association’s community awareness project; STAND (Support Teens against Nicotine Dependency). Students from left to right; Betrese Boudro, Alicia Lockwood IDFY VP, Jeremy Ashenbrenner IDFY Sect., Tadelech Boudro, Mirena Sharpe.
Alex Aiton, 7th grade daughter of Ashley and Jennifer Aiton from Blackfoot won an iPod Touch in the Idaho Math Cup sponsored by Apangea. With Apangea, students earn points by completing math lessons and problems; they can then turn those points in for awards. Apangea holds many contests throughout the year, and the Math Cup is held each March. During the month of March students tried to earn as many points as they could. Each region in Idaho had a winner, and Alex earned the most points (over 8000) for Region 2. Her younger sister, Ashley, also an I-DEA student, told Alex about the contest, and they both worked hard all month. Alex was presented with the iPod Touch on April 12 by a representative from Apangea. We are all extremely proud of her accomplishment!
Stephanie Reed, 12th grade daughter of Steven and Darla Reed from Ririe, won a $9000 scholarship package from ISU and was accepted into ISU's Honor's College. She heard about this program when she was nominated, then invited, to An Exclusive Evening of Opportunity sponsored by ISU's Honor's College. To be considered for the Honor’s Program and this scholarship package, Stephanie had to earn top grades, her ACT scores had to be above the 85th percentile, and she needed to demonstrate her leadership abilities. Stephanie then had to submit a three- to five- page paper that she had previously written for a grade in any class. Her submission was a fun, quirky, love-crossed fiction.
Stephanie has JRA, which is childhood arthritis, but she never let that slow her down. When she was a freshman, Stephanie was the only underclassman in Student Council. She was in the Honor's Club, and was the JV Cheerleader Co-captain. She has been on Swim Team, winning many blue ribbons. She has spent several summers in high demand as a swim instructor. Because she was taking Dual Credit courses, when she graduates, Stephanie will have18 credits of her college core requirements already behind her.
Stephanie received the “I Love ISU” Freshman Four-Year Scholarship, the Samuel Horne Bennion Honor's Scholarship, the Leadership Scholarship from the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, and a Housing Scholarship.
Stephanie plans to get an Honor's Degree with a Bachelor's in Elementary Education at ISU, then go on to earn a Master's.
In addition, Stephanie was awarded the ChairScholars Foundation Scholarship, worth $12,000! She was notified by the Founder of ChairScholars, Dr. Kiem, himself in a phone call.
Scott McKenzie, 11th grade son of James and Becky McKenzie of Boise, was selected for the Idaho Aerospace Scholar Program. The program is offered in conjunction with SDE and other Idaho affiliates as part of a larger program where select students, based on their course performance, will have the opportunity to attend an expense-paid week-long summer resident academy at NASA Ames Research Center in California and at Boise State University. To get into the program, student applications were reviewed and selected by a committee hosted by the State Department of Education.
Mirena Sharpe a junior at I-DEA and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sharpe of Post Falls won Grand Prize in the 1st annual Kootenai Family Alliance Video Contest. The winning videos will be shown at the Riverstone Regal Cinemas in Coeur d’Alene. Congratulations Mirena in your commitment to healthy choices! To see the video visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/RealTeensReelChange
Future City Team Takes First Place
Our I-DEA Future City team took first place again at the regional
competition and is heading to Washington, D.C., for the national
competition! In addition to first place, this team also won two special
awards for: Excellence in Systems Integration and Best Sim City. Future
City is an engineering competition for 6-9th grade students and includes
computer design, essays, model building and presentation. This was the
largest team ever for I-DEA with 15 students: Rachel Macho, Ryan Joyce,
Jacob Middleton, Kayana Turner, Alex Anthon, Andre' Boliou, Spencer
Boliou, Gabrielle Boliou, Carolyn Williams, Addison Williams, Shareya
Tabor, Hannah Welburn, Isaac Wells, Jayel Wells, and Phillip Wright.
Dual Credit Students
I-DEA juniors and seniors this year have taken or are currently enrolled in 125 dual credit courses at colleges throughout Idaho. This represents a substantial increase in dual credit enrollment for our school. We were recently awarded a $1800 grant from Idaho National Laboratory to support our dual credit program and to encourage students to pursue advanced coursework in math and science.
Ailene MacPherson
Ailene MacPherson, a senior at I-DEA and daughter of Dave and Susie MacPherson from Deary, is a finalist for the National Merit Scholarship program. This distinction is given to just 15,000 high school seniors across the United States for their outstanding performance in high school and excellent marks on the PSAT test taken early in their Junior year. Academically, Ailene is I-DEA’s top student in class rank, having earned a 4.0 GPA overall. She has participated in the Deary High School cross country and track program, the Moscow High School swim team, is a Junior Volunteer and officer at Gritman Hospital and has volunteered at her church, the Moscow Food Bank, and the neuroscience fair held annually at WSU. Currently Ailene has a full year of courses scheduled at the University of Idaho as a Dual Credit student. Her plans are to go to WSU and major in computational neuroscience.
Sarah Kastning
Sarah Kastning, daughter of Tim and Karen Kastning of Rathdrum, has been chosen by the IDFY staff to serve on the 2009-2010 Youth Advisory Board. Sarah is one of six students that make up the board, she is also serving as President for the North IDFY Chapter this year. Congratulations Sarah!
