Four sets of congratulations for local students and schools. First, Greg Dirks of Fauntleroy sends this note about his son Matthew Dirks, a Kennedy High School senior:

He was recently named “Merit Scholar” by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and was awarded with a $2500 scholarship. He is also a Washington State Scholar and will be attending a lunch hosted by Governor Gregoire on May 20th in Olympia. He will be attending the University of Chicago in the Fall. Matthew also led Kennedy’s Knowledge Bowl team to win the State Championship, beating out 65 schools including Lakeside and Garfield.

Greg adds that Kennedy had a pep rally this afternoon to celebrate. Meantime, congratulations are in order for the Seattle Lutheran High School fastpitch team, which won its fourth consecutive league championship by beating Rainier Christian last night. Bil Hood from SLHS says, “The Saints went undefeated in league and hope to continue a 3-year run of State Tournament appearances.” The district tournament starts next Friday; keep an eye on seattlelutheran.org for the latest.
Now, two items from the Seattle Public Schools “School Beat” newsletter, sent out within the past few hours:

Chief Sealth High School students Max Forbes and Lydia Duncan took second place in the novice division at the Puget Sound Computer Teachers Association programming contest held April 25. They competed against 25 teams representing 10 schools in the area. The novice team of students Megan Korling, Yousef Hassan and Paul Duncan also competed.

The Chief Sealth PTSA is participating in West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day tomorrow – stop by the school for not just shopping, but also a bake sale and hot dogs. West Seattle High School is participating in WSCGSD too, with a Grad Night Fundraiser sale and car wash. Second item from School Beat came with a photo:

Madison sixth-graders create China museum

A team of 150 students on Madison Middle School’s sixth-grade Apollo Team created an ancient China museum as a school project. Students were given two weeks to conduct research on the ancient civilization of China. Then, from their research findings, they created handcrafted artifacts. Exhibit cards described the artifacts, its significance and the dynasty. Students put the artifacts together for their peers and community members to view. Some students received a “Best in the Museum Award.”