Local schools awarded
'Active Schools' grants
LOCK HAVEN - Four local schools have been selected to receive an Active Schools grant for the 2010-11 school year.
According to state Rep. Michael K. Hanna Sr., D-Lock Haven, Dickey Elementary School, Robb Elementary School and Woodward Elementary School in the Keystone Central School District, as well as Bellefonte Elementary School, each will receive a $5,000 grant through the state Department of Health's federal Preventative Health and Health Services Block Grant and and additional $10,000 from a match-funding organization.
The objective of the Active Schools Grant Program is to support schools that are making child health a top priority with a goal of having every child physically active for 30 minutes each school day. Active Schools are encouraged to work with parents and local community groups and organizations to help kids get the additional 30 minutes of daily exercise they need before and after school and on weekends.
The program helped more than 16,500 middle school students in Pennsylvania in its first year. In its second year, it will serve more than 17,000 elementary school.
Funding for the Active Schools program is made available through a public-private partnership between the state health and education departments and six foundations and health insurers.
Susquehanna Bank seeks
contestants for video contest
Susquehanna Bank is participating in the "Lights, Camera, Save!" video competition, which allows students 13 to 16 years old to be directors and movie makers while recording their thoughts about the value of saving money.
It's a way to get kids thinking about the importance of saving and its impact on their financial future. Videos can be up to 90 seconds in length and are due by Nov. 1.
Susquehanna is participating in the video contest organized as part of the ABA Education Foundation's Teach Children to Save program. To participate, students may visit the bank's website, www.susquehanna.net, to download an entry packet with contest details.
Susquehanna will host a first round of local-level judging, awarding prizes of Visa gift cards valued at $500, $250 and $100 to the top three qualifying videos. The bank's top-winning video will be sent on to compete on the national level for a chance at prizes including $3,000, $1,500 and $500 in U.S. Savings Bonds and an iPod Touch.
Student awarded
national scholarship
A heating, ventilation and air conditioning design technology student at Pennsylvania College of Technology has received a $2,000 award from the National Association of Oil Heat Service Managers.
Bradley T. Rydbom, of Tipton, was granted one of nine scholarships in honor of Dave Nelsen, of the Kurz Oil Corp., who was the trade association's education chairman at the time of his death in 1998.
The Nelsen scholarships are open to anyone attending or planning to attend a technical college or trade school and who is involved in the industry. As part of his winning effort, Rydbom wrote a 600-word essay to answer the question, "What are your goals and why do you wish to better yourself within the oil heating industry?"
"As a student studying heating, air conditioning and refrigeration, I am excited to see the changes that are being made in the heating industry because they are changes that are going to affect my career and how I go about doing my job," he wrote, noting the technological improvements that have helped increase reliability, maintenance and efficiency.
"I am glad to be part of an industry that is evolving and making advancements, and not one that is declining and becoming less important."
He received his associate degree in heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology in May; then -"because I knew there was so much more to learn and ... that I will have a very good chance at receiving an excellent job after graduation," Rydbom explained - he enrolled in the bachelor-degree major.
The scholarships were awarded during a May conference in Providence, R.I., which Rydbom was unable to attend. As in past years, Penn College was represented at the event by Richard C. Taylor, associate professor of plumbing and heating.
Forestry students
honored for GPAs
Two forest technology students in Pennsylvania College of Technology's School of Natural Resources Management each have been awarded a $150 scholarship by the Council of Eastern Forest Technician Schools for their 4.0 grade-point averages.
Laurie A. Nau, of Jersey Shore, and Regan J. Swartzentruber, of Lewisburg, were among the recipients chosen from CEFTS member institutions, which include nearly 30 schools with forest technology programs in the eastern United States and Canada.
A third Penn College student, Gregory M. Christina, of Summerhill, received a certificate of honorable mention from the organization for his academic achievements.
The organization recognizes scholastic high achievers through its North American Forest Technician Honorary, which rewards students who have a minimum 3.3 GPA in their major classes and a 3.0 overall average. Swartzentruber and Nau tied for the first-place award, along with four students who had perfect GPAs at other schools (Glenville State College, Haywood Community College and Allegheny College of Maryland).
"It is students like these that make my job as a professor easier," said Dennis F. Ringling, a forestry professor at Penn College's Schneebeli Earth Science Center and a past chairman of CEFTS.
