Education Notebook: School news and events for June 25-July 1, 2015

ONLINE UNIVERSITY TO OFFER DEGREES IN HIGH-DEMAND SECTORS

The establishment of Western Governors University was to be announced June 16 after the creation of a memorandum of understanding by Gov. Brian Sandoval to establish a partnership between the state and the nonprofit nationally recognized university. Nevada is the sixth state to establish a partnership with WGU, which will be the state’s only online, competency-based university. Its mission is to expand access to high-quality, affordable higher education for working adults in the state. It will offer accredited bachelor’s and master’s degrees in four high-demand sectors critical to building Nevada’s economy: kindergarten through 12th-grade teacher education, information technology, business and health professions, including nursing.

For more information, visit wgu.edu.

TEAM FROM ST. VICTOR COMPETING IN ECYBERMISSION COMPETITION

Students from across the U.S. were set to arrive in Hunt Valley, Md., June 15 to compete as national finalists in the U.S. Army’s 13th annual eCYBERMISSION competition. The eighth-grade team TMT from St. Victor Catholic School, 4246 S. Eastern Ave., was among those teams participating. The Web-based science, technology, engineering and math competition is designed to cultivate student interest in STEM by encouraging students in grades six through nine to develop solutions to real-world problems in their communities.

Twenty national finalist teams were chosen from 60 regional finalists, with national finalists focusing their projects on one of seven mission challenges that affect their communities: alternative sources of energy; the environment; food; health and fitness; force and motion; national security and safety; and robotics.

As national finalists, each team member received a $2,000 U.S. Series EE Savings Bond and a paid trip to compete for the first-place national award in their grade. National winning teams were set to receive up to $9,000 in U.S. EE Savings Bonds, valued at maturity.

For more information, visit ecybermission.com.

LETTERS ABOUT LITERATURE WRITING CONTEST WINNER HONORED AT CEREMONY

A ceremony was set for June 17 in the governor’s office at the Grant Sawyer Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., to honor Letters About Literature reading and writing contest Level 1 winner Charlotte Thaler and Level 2 winner Tazreean Ahmed.

The contest is for students in grades four through 12 and is sponsored by the U.S. Library of Congress Center for the Book in Washington, D.C. Students were asked to read a book, poem or speech and write to that author (living or dead) about how the book affected them. Letters were judged on state and national levels.

The program is sponsored in Nevada by the Nevada Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book.

For more information, contact Robbie DeBuff, library consultant, at 702-755-8065 or rdebuff@admin.nv.gov.

LAS VEGAS SANDS ANNOUNCES GRANTS

Las Vegas Sands is expanding its corporate citizenship commitment in Las Vegas to provide homeless youths increased educational resources and support year-round but especially during the summer school break, when they are at a higher risk to lose focus on their education.

LVS plans to provide a $60,000 grant for the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth to fund computers, books, scholarships and other career resources for its drop-in center, 4981 Shirley St. It also plans to provide a $45,000 grant for Street Teens, which will allow the organization to expand its infrastructure and provide more educational resources at its drop-in center.

ROGERS FOUNDATION GIVES GRANTS TO BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS, PARK ELEMENTARY

Park Elementary School, 931 Franklin Ave., recently received a $100,000 Gift of Knowledge grant from The Rogers Foundation to purchase iPads as a literacy learning tool for second- through fifth-grade students.

The foundation also gave a Gift of Imagination grant worth $91,804 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada and Las Vegas Philharmonic to purchase instruments and tablets for a music program set to kick off in three locations.

This was in addition to the $100,000 Gift of Innovation grant received by the Coral Academy of Science.

For more information, visit therogers.foundation.

BEST MATTRESS DONATES FUNDS FOR TITLE I HOPE PROGRAM

Best Mattress, in support of the Title 1 Homeless Outreach Program for Education (Hope) of the Clark County School District, has donated $2,500 to help students fund their first year of college.

The Title I Hope is a program that works to remove obstacles for homeless students, helping to enroll them in school and educate school personnel, parents and unaccompanied youths of the educational options under the McKinney-Vento federal law.

FALL SAFEKEY REGISTRATION TO OPEN JULY 27

Registration for fall 2015 Safekey is set to open at 7 a.m. July 27 at the Safekey main office, 416 N. Seventh St.

Office hours for registration are set to be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Registration is $20 per child’s account, per school year and $7 for a morning pass and $10 for an afternoon pass.

Payments can be made at recreation.lasvegasnevada.gov, by calling 702-229-3399 or in person at the office. The program is a prepaid service. Financial assistance may be available for qualifying families. Hours vary

per site, and not all sites offer a morning program.

For more information, call 702-229-3399.

SUPPLY DRIVE TO BENEFIT RONNOW ELEMENTARY

Matt Smith Physical Therapy and Desert Valley Therapy are hosting a school supply drive through June 26 to benefit Ronnow Elementary School, 1100 Lena St. The public is invited to drop off supplies at any of the Matt Smith Physical Therapy or Desert Valley Therapy locations. Suggested supplies are backpacks, paper, pencils, crayons, washable markers, scissors, erasers, glue sticks, tissue, colored pencils, pocket folders, rulers or binders.

Ronnow is a Title 1 campus, which means at least 40 percent of its students come from low-income families.

For more information, call 702-256-9738. For locations, visit mattsmithpt.com or desertvalleytherapy.com.

LEADERSHIP ACADEMY OF NEVADA ENROLLING STUDENTS

The Leadership Academy of Nevada is expanding and has added a limited number of seats for the 2015-16 school year. It focuses on developing principled leaders through delivery of a liberal arts education using cutting-edge technology. It offers instruction to students in grades six through 12 throughout the state.

Regularly scheduled enrollment information meetings are held online and in Las Vegas so parents and students can learn more.

For meeting dates, times and locations, visit lanv.org.

SPARK! POETRY WRITING & RECITATION COMPETITION TAKING ENTRIES

Clark County high school students are invited to submit original poems for the Vegas Valley Book Festival’s Spark! Poetry Writing & Recitation Competition. Modeled after the national Poetry Out Loud competition and the Scholastic Writing competition, the contest will have students reciting their poetry during the book festival that is scheduled for Oct. 17.

The first-place prize is $300, second place is $200 and third place is $100. Students are asked to present three original poems to be judged by a panel consisting of poets, authors, educators and other community members. Panelists will use scoring guidelines to assign numerical values to the evaluation criteria.

Three presentation rounds are planned. Students who register through Sept. 30 will be eligible to present one poem in the first round. The top six will present in the second round, and the top three in the third round will determine first, second and third place. Scores will be cumulative. Students must present the poems they submitted on their registration form.

For guidelines and a registration form, visit vegasvalleybookfestival.org. For more information, contact Maryjane Dorofachuk, Nevada Arts Council arts learning coordinator, at 702-486-3738 or mdorofachuk@nevadaculture.org.

LIBRARY TO HOST MONEY SMART CAMP FOR MIDDLE SCHOOLERS

The camp program Money Smart Middle Schoolers is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. June 29 at the Sahara West Library, 9600 W. Sahara Ave.

Co-sponsored by Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada, the camp will teach students in sixth through eighth grades about money and budgeting.

Registration is required, but the camp is free. For more information, call 702-507-3631.