Report Card

Mike Sciacca

April has been designated National Child Abuse Prevention Month and to

launch its ninth annual Blue Ribbon campaign, Prevent Child Abuse-Orange

County is staging a variety of activities to raise awareness.

Taking part in the festivities, scheduled at the Santa Ana Zoo, is

Edison High School sophomore Brianna Hill who won the annual essay

contest in 10th through 12th grade category.

“I basically just wrote about how parents need to pay attention to

their children each and every day and how children really need their

support,” Hill said.

Hill was one of two Orange County winners in the essay contest. She

will be on hand to receive an honor from Prevent Child Abuse-Orange

County and said she is scheduled to read her essay to Huntington Beach

Union High School District officials later this month. On the night of

April 16 she will be honored at the California Angels baseball game.

Hill entered the contest under the guidance of Edison High English

teacher Linda Carpenter, who also serves as the school’s academic coach.

A new surface from old tires for Eader

Eader Elementary School will have its playground refurbished with new

surfacing materials made from recycled tires, thanks to $565,648 in

grants awarded to community and school parks and playgrounds statewide by

the California Integrated Waste Management Board.

The board is the state’s primary recycling agency and a part of the

California Environmental Protection Agency. The board announced the award

of the playground cover grants to 26 cities, counties and school

districts statewide.

Eader School will receive $11,873 in grant funding, said Dick Masters,

maintenance and operations supervisor for Huntington Beach City School

District.

The money will be used to provide playground matting for the area

under and around Eader’s playground equipment, he said.

In the current grant cycle for 2001-02, the Waste Management Board had

received 43 applications requesting more than $1 million in funding. The

program is intended to provide individual grants of up to $25,000. Each

application was evaluated on overall need.Applications are currently

being accepted for next year. The deadline is June 7.

Two students buzz to state spelling bee

Two students from Huntington Beach schools have qualified to compete

Friday in the 2002 National Geographic Bee State competition at Cosumnes

River College in Sacramento.

Helen Nolde, an eighth-grader at Sts. Simon & Jude School and Kyle

Ramer, an eighth-grader at The Pegasus School, were two of 103 students

statewide to quality for the competition. The competition begins Friday

with preliminary round competition at 8:30 a.m. followed by the final

round beginning at 11 a.m.

Nolde and Ramer will be asked to put their knowledge to the test as

they display their understanding of the world and its geography,

economics, politics, cultures and religions.

The state winner will advance to the national finals scheduled for May

21-22 in Washington D.C. The first place winner will receive $25,000 in

college scholarship money.

A meeting of the minds, youth leadership conference

Huntington Beach Union High School District will hold a youth

leadership conference April 11.

The four-hour event, which will run from 8 a.m. to noon, will include

dialogue, problem solving and interaction between district students and

district and city officials.

Guest speakers will include Dick Harlow, chairman of the Huntington

Beach Chamber of Commerce, Supt. Susan Roper and Bob McKnight, president

and CEO of Quicksilver, Inc. The event will be held in the district

office at 10251 Yorktown Ave.