Student honored for report on school water quality

Mirviss reported on the failure to address potential lead contamination in her school’s water supply. The article was originally published in the Feb. 1, 2007, issue of the Montgomery Blair High School newspaper, Silver Chips.

Mirviss and her faculty advisor will receive an expenses-paid trip to Stockholm, Sweden, to attend and report from the 2007 Stockholm Water Symposium on Aug. 11-17. She will receive a $1,000 scholarship from ITT after a story is published about the experience, according to a news release from ITT.

Edison students advance to national skills competition

Thomas Edison High School of Technology students Stephanie Rubio and Leslie Langoria took first-place honors in their respective categories during the Maryland SkillUSA Skills Championships for career and technical students.

Rubio took first place in cosmetology and Langoria in nail care. They are eligible for the national competition in June, to be held in Kansas City, Mo.

Other Edison students who placed in the competition were:

Second place: Nathalie Waffo, basic health care skills.

Third place: Kelisha Hickerson, basic health care skills; Nelson Chen, bulletin board; Felisha Hickerson, bulletin board; Tatiana Redmond, Web design; Christian Cuzume, Web design.

Fourth place: Mike Greenberg, advertising design; Seth Reeder, computer maintenance technology; Deanne Gourdine, cosmetology; Paulaine Aledor, job interview; Kenuch Doroma, job skills demo A.

Paint Branch newspaper takes first place in contest

For the fourth straight year, the Paint Branch newspaper, Mainstream, achieved a first-place finish in the American Scholastic Press Association’s Annual newspaper competition, and this year, the paper earned a Special Merit designation for the first time.

First Place with Special Merit is awarded to a publication that scores over 900 points out of a 1,000 point scoring system. Mainstream earned 945 points, according to a news release from the school.

Mainstream staff writer Sanata Sy-Sahande was awarded Best Editorial for ‘‘You Can’t Say Anything You Want To!”

Paint Branch seniors Christine Tang and Hirdash Matta are the co-Editors-in-Chief of the Mainstream. Brian Woodward is in his fourth year as advisor.

Einstein student to attend leadership conference

Miriam Stevens, a ninth-grader at Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, has been selected to attend the National Student Leadership Conference on ‘‘Inside the Arts” during the summer at Fordham University in New York City. Students will attend specialized workshops and classes and hear guest speakers from a variety of fields.

Stevens is part of Einstein’s Visual Arts Center program and is involved in arts, music and sports-related activities at the school and outside the classroom.

Paint Branch students’ work honored at film festival

‘‘Don’t Trash Your Papers” and ‘‘Don’t Trash Your Plastics,” two animated public service announcements created by 20 Paint Branch High School students, were awarded an honorable mention March 21 at the Student Environmental Film Festival at American University, Washington, D.C.

The event, hosted by American University’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking and Earth Echo International, showcased the talents of emerging ‘‘green communicators” by screening short films and media presentations created by university and high school students.

The Paint Branch PSAs show the many products in which paper and plastic can be recycled, with one product transforming into another, according to a news release from the school.

The videos were created during a five-day workshop taught by visiting artist Leila Cabib and funded by Paint Branch High School’s signature program in science and media.

Animators were Claudia Alfaro, Heather Applewhite, Mario Araya, Sarah Chang, Emily Dematatis, Rachel Fricke, Andrew Heskett, Molly Hubscher, Ti Ti Huynh. George Kamau, Shoaib Khan, Erika Long, Jyna Maeng, Kebba Marenah, Hector Neira, Ruby Park, Sophia Park, Rajna Swaminathan, Joel Uchidi and Albert Valencia. The narrator is Samantha Myers.

Springbrook student named semifinalist in program

Springbrook High School senior Benjamin L. Singer-Howard was named a semifinalist in the 2007 Presidential Scholars Program. More than 500 academic semifinalists were selected for their performances on college entrance tests. Forty-one additional semifinalists were nominated by the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts.

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