Education

Paul Drakos to Speak at Geological Society Tuesday

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY News:

Wheeler Geologic Area near Creede, Colo. Courtsy/LAGS

Dr. Paul G. Drakos, Senior Geologist and Vice President of Glorieta Geoscience, Inc. in Santa Fe is the featured speaker for the Los Alamos Geological Society meeting, set for 7:30 p.m., Tuesday July 17 at the Christian Church, 92 East Road, Los Alamos.

Drakos’ talk is entitled, “Soil-stratigraphic framework, timing of recent eolian events, and preservation of archaeological sites on the Pajarito Plateau.”

Stratigraphic relationships and soil characteristics provide a geomorphic Read More

Mesa Public Library’s Authors Speak Series Presents New Mexico’s Centennial Story Teller Joe Hayes

MESA PUBLIC LIBRARY News:

Join Joe Hayes for a family evening of fun and tall tales in English and Spanish at 7 p.m., Thursday July 26 on the lawn at Fuller Lodge, weather permitting, inside if not, presented by Mesa Public Library.

Bring a picnic and come early to get a good spot for this beloved, official New Mexico Centennial storyteller and former teacher with Los Alamos Public Schools.

As Hayes notes, “I’ll tell a selection of favorite stories gleaned from New Mexico’s diverse cultures. I’ve been traveling the state with my stories for more than 30 of the 100 years of statehood, Read More

LAHS’s Holly Erickson Earns $60K at International Science Fair

Los Alamos High School student Holly Erickson at the International Science Fair in Pittsburgh in May. Courtesy photo

By Kirsten Laskey

Los Alamos High School student Holly Erickson and her science project, “Intelligent Self-Assembling System using Robotic Cells” started out on a local stage but ended up on an international one.

Erickson, who will be a senior this year, participated in the International Science Fair held May 13-18 in Pittsburgh.

She competed in the electrical and mechanical engineering division and received a $60,000 scholarship to go to Florida Technical College.

“It Read More

UNM-LA Presents Summer Programs for Kids & Teens

Courtesy/UNM-LA

By Bonnie Gordon

The staff and faculty of UNM-LA are excited to welcome kids and teens to the campus when UNM-LA presents two unique programs for those in grades 4-12 this summer.

UNM-LA will host “University Experience,” from July 23-27. This program is a newly designed and invigorated version of what was once called “Children’s College.”

This program includes two components, the “University Adventures” program for students entering grades 4-7 and “University Explorations” for older students entering grades 7-12.

Seventh graders may select either program, depending Read More

Board Approves LAHS Bus Loop, Landscaping and Parking Lot Work

Photo: The Los Alamos High School Bus Loop Committee met with the architect July 3 to review options that were presented at Tuesday’s School Board meeting. Courtesy/LAPS

By Kirsten Laskey

Say goodbye to a dirt lawn and a parking lot with helter-skelter lanes at Los Alamos High School.

The proposed bus loop and landscape project were approved at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

The bus loop project, which received a unanimous vote, involves replacing the existing sidewalk along Smith Auditorium and P-Wing with a new six-foot wide sidewalk.

Additionally, a bus loading and unloading Read More

Annual Stoddard Scholarship Awards Announced

Photo: Emily Lucero.

By Karyl Ann Armbruster

How does the Caldera National Preserve relate to the Stoddard Scholarship? Steve Stoddard, a member of the original trustees of the Valles Caldera who attended many meetings to decide the fate of the Caldera, was given a per diem stipend.

Rather than spend that money on his family, he placed it in an account.

By the time all was settled with the Valles Caldera, there was a significant amount of money set aside. Steve and his wife Barbara realized that what they both valued was the work that teachers and nurses do for our community and state. 

With that Read More

Kiwanis Honors Anna Carroll with Jay Wechsler Scholarship

The Kiwanis Club presents Los Alamos High School graduate Anna Carroll with the Jay Wechsler Scholarship Award. From left, Kiwanians Morrie Pongratz and Don Casperson, Becky Oertel (daughter of Jay Wechsler), Carroll, Deborah Wechsler (daughter of Jay Wechsler) and Carroll’s parents David and Janice Carroll. Jay Wechsler was a lifetime Kiwanian who passed away last year. Carroll served as a member of Key Club International and was the Division Lieutenant Governor, was active in Girls Scouts and Teen Court and plans to attend Smith College in the fall to study neuroscience. Photo Read More

PEEC Shares Bug Zoo with Community

 

Families packed into the Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC) Tuesday to see a fascinating program about arthropods “bugs” including spiders, scorpions, beetles and more. It was given by The Harrell House of Natural Oddities, a traveling educational program, which local resident Linda Hull, at left, read about and then suggested to PEEC’s Becky Shankland. PEEC was able to arrange for their visit. Photo by Beth Cortright

The Harrell House of Natural Oddities visited PEEC Tuesday and shared an array of interesting creatures with community members of all ages.

Read More

Kiwanis Club Recognizes Megan Kelley

Kiwanis Club members from left, Don Casperson and Morrie Pongratz present Los Alamos High School graduating senior Megan Kelley with an educational scholarship check. Kelley’s parents Lori and Craig are at right. Kelley performed in many local ballets with Dance Arts Los Alamos (DALA), was a Key Club member and is planning to attend the University of California at Santa Barbara in the fall to study physics. Photo by Sharon Stover Read More

Public Invited to Meet Raptors at PEEC Tuesday

PEEC News:

Angel, a Mississippi Kite from the Raptor Center.Courtesy/SFRC

The Santa Fe Raptor Center will bring beautiful birds of prey to PEEC at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday July 17, as part of the Summer Family Evenings series of programs. 

Summer Family Evenings are free for PEEC members, and this evening is just $5 per non-member family, which will be donated to the Raptor Center. 

Laura Swartz will bring variety of raptors to PEEC, including the Raptor Center’s newest educational bird, Angel.  

Angel is a Mississippi Kite. She is a beautiful young raptor with a distinctive and attractive Read More

Kiwanis Presents Scholarship to Ben Schilling

The Kiwanis Club recently recognized Los Alamos High School graduating senior Ben Schilling pictured here with from left, his mother Lori , father Scott and Kiwanis Club President Kristy Keane. Schilling is attending New Mexico Tech in Socorro this fall to study mechanical engineering. He said that he had a great school experience at LAHS and when asked to name one positive item, he stated the students and teachers. When asked to name one issue he would like to see changed or improved at LAHS, Schilling stated that there should be more hands-on learning. The Kiwanis Club recognizes graduating Read More

School Board Meets at Speech Theater Tonight

 

The Los Alamos Public Schools Board of Education meets at 5:30 p.m., today in the Los Alamos High School Speech Theater.

Agenda items include a discussion of the recently released State “Report Cards” on the quality of Los Alamos schools, recommendations for landscaping and for the new bus loop at the high school, and an update on the Los Alamos Middle School and Aspen Elementary School construction projects.

The public is encouraged to attend.

  Read More

High School Bus Loop Plans Move Forward

LAPS News:

The Los Alamos High School Bus Loop Committee met with the architect July 3 to review the high school bus loop option that will be presented to the School Board at the July 10 meeting.

This most recent iteration is slightly different than the options discussed at the work session June 28.

The most noticeable change is the addition of visitor/administrative parking on the corner of the bus loop that had been considered as a location to pile snow.

Anticipated costs will be provided as soon as available.

This newly revised option does the following: replaces the existing sidewalk along Duane Read More

PED Releases School Report Card Grades

New Mexico statewide distribution of school report card grades:

Courtesy/LAPS
 

LAPS News:

The New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) released school report card grades today across the state and Los Alamos Public Schools received high marks.

Four of the seven Los Alamos schools earned “A” grades and three earned “B” grades:

  • Barranca Mesa Elementary School – A
  • Los Alamos High School – A
  • Mountain Elementary School – A
  • Pinon Elementary School – A
  • Aspen Elementary School – B
  • Chamisa Elementary School – B
  • Los Alamos Middle School – B

“The high marks were reflective of the fine academic Read More

Boy Scout Troop 22 Completes Philmont Cavalcade

Standing on top of Mount Baldy from left, Jonathan Osden, Matthew Davenport, Miles Barkley, Walter Barkley, Jack Barkley, Ben Shirey, Bridger Spearing, Alex Shirey, Robert Shirey, Brad Morley, Steven Calhoun, Devon McCleskey, Nick Greenfield and Dane Spearing. Courtesy Photo

Boy Scout Troop 22 of Los Alamos has completed the cavalcade at the Philmont high-adventure camp in Cimarron.

Eleven boys, aged 14 through 16 and three adults, spent eight days riding horseback through the rugged mountains of northeastern New Mexico near the Valle Vidal.

Starting at base camp, this group was often Read More

Column: Open Meeting Called Into Question

 
By Gene Schmidt
Los Alamos Superintendent of Schools

The Los Alamos School Board strives with great diligence to comply with the statutory rules for conduct of its open meetings in order to ensure transparency in government.

A Special Board meeting was held on May 24, 2012 to approve the 2012-13 Operating Budget.

At that meeting, the Board acted to amend the salary provisions of two collective bargaining agreements with existing school employee bargaining units in order to assure that employee contracts drafted at the end of the school year properly reflected the salaries authorized Read More

Kiwanis Presents Scholarship to Katelyn Littleton

The Kiwanis Club presented an educational scholarship check recently to Los Alamos High School graduate Katelyn Littleton who will attend Texas Tech University to study animal science in the fall. The Kiwanis Club recognizes graduating seniors for their commitment to the community with financial support. Littleton, center, is the 2012 Los Alamos County Rodeo Queen joined by her father, Paul Littleton, and Kiwanis Club President Kristy Keane. The Club meets every Tuesday at noon at the Masonic Lodge. Photo by Sharon Stover  Read More

PEEC Offers Hike to Veronica Springs with Dorothy Hoard

PEEC News:

On Saturday, July 7, Dorothy Hoard will lead a Natural Wonders of Los Alamos hike to Veronica Springs to see the wild Veronica that blooms in the seeping spring water. 

The hike is free and open to the public. Participants can meet at 9 a.m., at PEEC or at at 9:30 a.m., the trailhead at American Springs Road (Forest Road 181.)

PEEC’s Natural Wonders of Los Alamos series of outings aims at showing newcomers and natives interesting and beautiful places they may have never visited. 

In May, Janie O’Rourke led a hike to the Cave of the Winds, and in August, Sarah Gustafson will take Read More

Bug Zoo Comes to Summer Family Evenings at PEEC

PEEC News

The Harrell House of Natural Oddities will be bringing some of the world’s most unusual creatures to PEEC at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday July 10, as part of PEEC’s Summer Family Evenings series.

The program is free for PEEC members, and $10 per family for non-members.

The Harrell House is a family-run business based in Santa Fe, and dedicated to educating the public about arthropods. 

The Harrells travel the country putting on insect shows and will bring their critters to PEEC Tuesday. 

Their collection includes tarantulas, scorpions, centipedes, crabs, and more, and they’ll present Read More

Search
LOS ALAMOS

ladailypost.com website support locally by OviNuppi Systems