Academy of the Master students present holiday play
In the mood for some holiday festivities? Students at the Lutheran Academy of the Master in Coeur d’Alene, are performing their annual Christmas pageant tonight in the school’s gymnasium.
The show, “The Christmas You Always Dreamed Of,” is a “Christian version of Scrooge, in a nutshell,” said Kurt Wandrey, a pastor at the Lutheran Church of the Master.
The school’s students will sing carols during the pageant, and about 20 are part of the play’s cast. Children from the church’s Sunday school also will participate.
Judy Shock, the school’s drama teacher, is running the show. A graduate in theater from the College of Santa Fe, Shock has a strong background in performing arts and is a member of the Actors Guild.
“She is a true gift that we have in North Idaho,” said Shelly Matthews, the school’s director.
The cast and crew have been rehearsing since late October, meeting two days a week.
The school’s enrollment has doubled in the past two years. It began in 1996 as a preschool with 12 students. By 2004, there were 70 students in preschool through fifth grade. Now there are 140.
The pageant begins at 7 p.m. at the school at 4800 Ramsey Road. Performances also are scheduled for Sunday and Dec. 24 at 4 p.m.
State scholarships
High school seniors have until Jan. 15 to apply for a number of state scholarships. The state Board of Education recently implemented a new online system that allows students to apply for the scholarships by filling out just one application on the Internet.
Visit www.boardofed.idaho.gov/scholarships to apply for scholarships including the Robert R. Lee Idaho Promise scholarships, the Governor’s Challenge Scholarship and the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship.
The Board of Education recently unanimously endorsed a proposal to the Legislature asking for more financial aid for Idaho’s students. Idaho offers merit-based scholarships like the ones mentioned above but very little need-based aid, according to a news release from the board. Idaho gives about $17 per student in need-based aid compared with the national average of $387. The board’s proposal calls for more than 650 high school graduates to receive up to $3,000 in state aid to further their education beginning in 2007.
NIC grants
Various departments at North Idaho College received grants from the NIC Foundation last week.
Of the 33 grant applications submitted by NIC faculty, staff and student organizations, 19 were awarded, totaling $50,707.
The largest grants include: $3,000 to the NIC Children’s Center for kitchen appliances, a dishwasher and cookware to improve the efficiency of food preparation in serving more than 15,000 meals per year; $4,748 to Instructional Media Services for Extron control systems for classrooms in Ponderay and Bonners Ferry to allow for simplified operation of classroom equipment; $5,000 to the Chemistry Department for automated data collection kits to allow students to collect data in a fraction of the time humans could write or even think; $3,061 for the NIC Center for Educational Access for learning materials for sign language interpreters to study for the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment; $3,000 to the NIC Center for Educational Access for two Dell computers for the assistive technology lab that will allow students and support staff to access assistive technology software; $4,500 to Career Services for three Dell computers to be added to the Career Center for students to access career-related websites and software to help them identify their educational, career and personal goals; $5,055 to the Biology Department for microcentrifuges that allow for greater concentration of digested DNA fragments and a thermal cycler to conduct the polymerase chain reaction technique in the lab. This technology prepares students to link academic course content with applied laboratory techniques.
For a complete listing, visit the www.nic.edu
The NIC Foundation has awarded 149 grants totaling $668,887 over the past 13 years.