Three teams from McKendree University will compete live on the Internet Wednesday for a piece of $100,000 in prizes.
Students from three McKendree teams are amongst the finalists in the TradeKing $100,000 Campus challenge. They were asked to create a smartphone app for the online stock trading company to help it do its business.
McKendree's three teams are:
* Myron Hicks, Trent Sondag
* Dustin Page, Michael Cox, Albert Cooper
* Joshua Wilhelm, Brandon Nigro
Page, a senior from O'Fallon, Cox, a junior from Mascoutah, and Cooper, a junior from Columbia, have been informed that they are among five finalists in the contest and that they have won at least $3,000.
According to McKendree spokeswoman Lisa Brandon, finalists will present and explain their apps at 6 p.m. Go to www.apicampuschallenge.com/media to watch the finals live on the web.
The students at Cathedral School in Belleville used their celebration of Catholic Schools Week to collect "Pennies for Pets" to support the efforts of the Belleville Area Humane Society, according to Principal Kay Bennett. The humane society's "Pup Squad" came to school and the students got to meet some its rescued pets and to learn about all that can be done to provide good homes for lost or abandoned pets. The students collected a total of $798.54 with the second graders collecting the most per student -- more than $12 -- which earned them a pizza party provided by Raymond's Place in Belleville.
Immaculate Conception School in Columbia took first place over the weekend in the medium school division at the MathCounts regional competition at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. A total of 122 students from 13 schools competed.
Seventh-grader Jake Heet was honored as the top scoring member of the ICS team and Elena Biske was honored as the top scoring sixth-grade student at the competition. MathCounts is a national event locally sponsored by the St. Clair chapter of the Society of Professional Engineers. It seeks to promote math achievement in middle school students.
Holland Construction Services Inc. will be building the new addition to St. Clare Catholic School in O'Fallon. Work on the three-story, 16,400-square-foot addition to the existing school is expected to start this summer. Preliminary plans include nine new classrooms, a science lab and library. Additional parking and a new student drop-off area also are included in the plans.
We'd like to hear from you as we plan articles about District 201's new program to help at-risk students stay in school and graduate. (Please see ``School within a school'' in Tuesday's BND or at bnd.com for background.)
What questions do you have about the program and next steps? Do you have first-hand experience with similar programs elsewhere, as a parent, student or educator? If you are a parent of an at-risk student, what do you think of District 201's plan? Please send your comments and questions to swuez@bnd.com or to Scott Wuerz, the BND, PO Box 427, Belleville, IL, 62222.
Do you have an item for Education Matters or a school-related tip? We want to know about it. Send your ideas to swuerz@bnd.com or call 239-2626.
