Education - Deadline for applying for Morgan Gray Scholarship is March 31

The deadline for applying for the fifth annual Morgan Gray Scholarship Fund is March 31. The amount of the scholarship has yet to be determined, but more than $3,000 has been awarded since 2005.

The scholarship for Rowan County students who have been homeschooled for at least their junior and senior years was established in memory of 11-year-old Morgan Gray, a Rowan County homeschool student who was killed in an automobile accident in November 2001.

Applicants must be a full-time student accepted by a college, university, nursing, business or trade school; present evidence of good character by participation in extracurricular activities including community affairs, church, employment and other endeavors; and show proof of home schooling during the junior and senior years of high school.

A student can apply during any year that they attend college but can only be awarded the scholarship once. Applications will be reviewed by a committee selected from the community by the administrators of the scholarship.

Applications can be found in the Homeschool Vertical file at the Rowan County Public Library in Salisbury or online at www.rchsa.com.

Questions can be directed to Peter Gray, 704-267-5131 or petergray@carolina.rr.com.

Knollwood recognitionsFor March, Knollwood Elementary School is recognizing 68 students for their outstanding behavior in integrity/honesty. In celebration they will have lunch with some of the administrators and receive a certificate.

Kindergarten — Selena Goodlett, Dayshun Davis, Eduardo Amaya, Ashley Frye, Utah Brown, Jesse Phillips, Oscar Martinez, Jackson Allred, Payton Lemly, Connor Floyd, Kayn Castro, Ethan Lingle, Braden Honeycutt, Grayson McDaniel, Keighly Martin, Matthew Yattaw.

First grade: Gage Chandlee, Hector Sandoval, Grissel Medina-Hernandez, Kacee Settlemyer, Caitlin Browning, Kaitlyn Blackwell, Seth Eagle, Alyssa Jones, Selvedin Muskic, Arlene Albarran, Jesenis Perez, Javier Vargas.

Second grade: Adem Bektic, Lisa Roberts, Madison Hathcock, Kriss Deras, Tiffany Herrera, Alex Mercado, Thairell Parks, Olivia Shorter, Jaylen Albarran-Guiterrez, Joseph Jones.

Third grade: Chyna Sykes, Andrea Cervantes, Emma Davidson, Molly Yow, Grace Williams, Bryan Kasprzak, Kandyce Safrit, Buddy Fisher, Maren Shumaker, Tony Rodriuges.

Fourth grade: Olivia Lisk, Aileen Sanchez, Nelly Diaz, Ahmed Mustafic, Lea Smith, Braxton Rogers, Xena Bost, Atzhiri Juarez.

Fifth grade: Hunter Hastings, Bailey Campbell, Rufino Carbajal, Virginia Garcia, Daisy Sanchez, Marysol Cardona, Amer Muskic, Samantha Liddle, Maggie Hollar, Bethany Roberson, Erika Davis, Alfredo Alberto, Vanessa Smith.

Bostian Elementary

Bostian Elementary School has received a $2,000 Teach Award from Best Buy Co. Inc. for integrating interactive technology into its classroom curriculum.

Bostian has adopted the North Carolina IMPACT Model of technology integration in its K-5 program. In this model, classroom teachers, as well as technology, media, art, music and physical education teachers collaborate to create technology infused units.

These collaboration sessions yield a variety of engaging curricular units. A DLP projector and large display area will make a number of things possible at Bostian Elementary School. These items have been installed in the Media Center of the school.

The Media Center is the largest physical area in the school other than the cafeteria or gymnasium. Staff can currently reserve the Media Center to use for instruction, to work on projects and to display them.

Teachers have not been able to reference software programs and Internet material from a computer to demonstrate for an entire class at one time. The library has not had the necessary equipment in the past. With this projector and large display area, teachers will be able to do this, even for multiple classes at one time. This ability to present to a larger group will save teachers time and also free up the Media Center for other activities.

Student projects that integrate technology will be better showcased in the Media Center with this additional equipment.

Terry Sippel, school technology facilitator and person who submitted the Best Buy grant, says, "Schools are constantly looking for funding sources and the Best Buy grant was a wonderful opportunity. It was also nice to find out that the grant was evaluated on technology activities already taking place in a school as opposed to technology activities a school was hoping to do in the future."

Principal Lisa Sigmon says, "I appreciate the community support from Best Buy, our PTA, and others who have helped us acquire the technology that we have in place. We want others to know us as being on the cutting edge and being a leader as a 21st Century School. We are very proud of all the programs we have in place. Our staff, students, and parents have worked very hard to get where we are."

Since 2003, the Best Buy Teach Awards Program has rewarded schools that creatively integrate interactive technology into their curricula. Over the past five years, nearly 6,000 schools nationwide have received $17 million in Teach Awards in Teach Awards, reaching 1.5 million K-12 students.

Bus drivers of monthRowan-Salisbury Schools Director of Transportation Judy Burris has recognized the following employees for exemplary service as bus drivers for February.

A bus driver must adhere to all the duties and responsibilities set forth by the Rowan-Salisbury Schools Transportation Department and are nominated by their bus coordinator for this honor each month.

North area: Laurie Wilson, North Rowan Middle School, North Rowan High School (Bus 101).

East area: Gerry Brown, Morgan Elementary School (Bus 119).

West area: Mike Miller, West Rowan Middle School, West Rowan High School (Bus 315).

South area: Mike White, Erwin Middle School, Southeast Middle School (Bus 100).

Salisbury area: Daryl Vaughters, Overton Elementary School (Bus 134).

Special Needs: Karen Deal, (Bus 97).