Oak Ridge Today

Photos: Oak Ridge High School Convocation

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Oak Ridge High School Convocation June 1 2016 Panorama 800x319

Oak Ridge High School seniors are pictured at Convocation in the ORHS Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, June 1, 2016. (Photo by Julio Culiat)

 

Convocation for Oak Ridge High School seniors was Wednesday. Graduation is today (Thursday, June 2).

Here are two pictures from the Wednesday night Convocation by Julio Culiat.

The Commencement ceremony starts at 7 p.m. today on Blankenship Field.

Graduation Celebration, a free, all-night party for high school graduates in Oak Ridge, starts at 10 p.m. in the Oak Ridge Civic Center. [Read more…]

ORHS junior running for City Council, wants to represent youth

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Mark Lenoir

Mark LeNoir, right, a junior at Oak Ridge High School, is running for Oak Ridge City Council in November. (Submitted photo)

 

A 17-year-old junior at Oak Ridge High School is running for Oak Ridge City Council, and he said he wants to represent the city’s youth on the seven-member body.

Mark LeNoir, the first candidate to publicly announce a City Council campaign this year, at least to Oak Ridge Today, will turn 18 on October 5, about one month before the November 8 election.

On Wednesday, LeNoir said he kicked off his campaign a few weeks ago at a banquet for Youth Leadership of Oak Ridge at the DoubleTree Hotel.

“My biggest thing is that there is a lot of unrepresented youth in this town,” LeNoir said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “It’s kind of stayed on the same path for the last 20 years. I want to get change happening.”

LeNoir said he wants more cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, including possibly having the city take over the American Museum of Science and Energy, or AMSE, and Clark Center Park. [Read more…]

Graduation Celebration, an all-night party for high school graduates, is June 2

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Graduation Celebration 2015

Three graduates from 2015 celebrate at Graduation Celebration. This year’s event is June 2. (File photo courtesy Matt Reedy/City of Oak Ridge)

 

Graduation Celebration, a free, all-night party for high school graduates in Oak Ridge, will host its 19th annual event at the Oak Ridge Civic Center, from 10 p.m. June 2 until 5 a.m. June 3. It is seeking volunteers and donations to help with this community-wide effort to keep youth safe on graduation night, a press release said.

“We are so glad to be able to offer this wonderful event to our graduates,” said Debbie Magill, chairperson of the event. “It shows our youth that the City of Oak Ridge cares about them and is proud of their accomplishments. We could not put on this event without the generous support of the Parks and Recreation Department, the Oak Ridge Youth Advisory Board, and the citizens and businesses of our city.”

All of the city’s high school graduates‚ whether from Oak Ridge High School, local home schools, or private schools—are invited to the free event. The party features activities such as inflatables, bingo, Sumo wrestling, SCUBA in the Civic Center pool, face painting, board games, and the annual “balloon drop.” More than $13,000 in prizes and scholarships are given every year in what has become an annual favorite event among the city’s youth. [Read more…]

UCOR awards mini-grants for local school projects

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UCOR Education Mini-Grants

UCOR has announced 20 winners in its Education Mini-Grant Program. Schools in Anderson, Knox, Loudon, Knox, Morgan, and Roane counties were eligible to submit proposals. (Photo submitted by UCOR)

 

UCOR has announced 20 winners in its Education Mini-Grant Program.

The Mini-Grant Program was designed to recognize and support excellence in teaching by providing funds to assist classroom teachers for specific projects or curricula, focusing primarily on science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, a press release said.

Schools in Anderson, Knox, Loudon, Knox, Morgan, and Roane counties were eligible to submit proposals. Applications were screened and awardees selected using a blind process that prevented members of the selection panel from knowing the names of the teachers or the schools.

The UCOR Mini-Grant committee has selected the following projects for 2016: [Read more…]

Fifteen students, including one from ORHS, named as Haslam Scholars at UT

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Oumar Souleymane Diallo

Oumar Souleymane Diallo

Fifteen students, including one from Oak Ridge High School, have been named to the 2016 cohort of Haslam Scholars at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. There are 14 students from Tennessee and one from North Carolina.

The ORHS student is Oumar Souleymane Diallo.

A student from Hardin Valley Academy, Sophia Cui, is also among the incoming students.

The Haslam Scholars Program is UT’s premier four-year scholarship program. Each year, the program admits 15 first-year students from the university’s Chancellor’s Honors Program and supports them with the university’s most prestigious and generous named scholarships. [Read more…]

Roane State girls basketball camp set for July 18-22

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Roane State Community College women’s basketball coach Monica Boles will host her annual girls basketball camp July 18-22 at the college’s main campus in Harriman.

Girls from age 7 through rising high school seniors are invited to participate in the camp. The camp schedule is 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 9 a.m.-noon on Friday.

“The main focus of our camp is to provide girls with the opportunity to improve their fundamental skills and knowledge of the game through drill work and competitive play in a positive basketball environment,” Boles said. “The camp is a great place for players of all ages to experience success and build self-confidence” [Read more…]

Roane State boys basketball camp set for June 27-July 1

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For more than 20 years, the Roane State Community College men’s basketball program has conducted dedicated, detailed skills instruction during boys basketball camps instructed by head coach Randy Nesbit.

This year’s session at the Roane County campus gym for ages 8-high school seniors will be June 27-July 1, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m.-noon on Friday. [Read more…]

Technology grant helps St. Mary’s School become ‘one-to-one’ school

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1st grade chromebooks

Through the help of the St. Mary’s Legacy Foundation, St. Mary’s School in Oak Ridge is now the first diocesan school to offer “one-to-one” technology. The school used a grant of $29,200 to install wireless infrastructure and purchase dozens of Chromebooks to fulfill the goal of providing a Chromebook for every student in grades 1-8. (Submitted photo)

 

St. Mary’s School now a one-to-one school thanks to grant from St. Mary’s Legacy Foundation

Through the help of the St. Mary’s Legacy Foundation, St. Mary’s School in Oak Ridge is now the first diocesan school to offer “one-to-one” technology. The school used a grant of $29,200 to install wireless infrastructure and purchase dozens of Chromebooks to fulfill the goal of providing a Chromebook for every student in grades 1-8.

The St. Mary’s Legacy Foundation also awarded a second grant of $11,765 to replace the outdated and unrepairable public address system in the school.

On May 4, Bishop Richard F. Stika; Sister Mary Marta Abbott, diocesan superintendent of schools; and Terry Frank, Anderson County mayor were among several guests who attended the celebration, a press release said. The event began with a tour of the school to see how students use the Chromebooks in the classroom, from spelling games in first grade to experiments in the middle school science lab. [Read more…]

Spencer Wilson receives Myrick-sponsored ORPSEF Scholarship

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Spencer Wilson

Oak Ridge High School senior Spencer Wilson, center, is pictured above with Teresa Myrick, right, and ORHS teacher Deni Sobek. (Submitted photo)

 

Spencer Wilson grew up fishing in the lakes and mountain streams of the area, an activity that fostered his interest in the environment. The Oak Ridge High School senior, who plans to pursue his interest in fish and the environment in college, has received the $1,000 Tim and Teresa Myrick Scholarship.

The scholarship is awarded annually to a hard-working student interested in environmental science, a field of study important to Tim Myrick. Spencer plans to major in aquatic biology, continuing to build on his lifelong interest.

“Spencer has an interest in the environment, a desire to work and ‘play’ outside. He is an avid fisherman, which was one of Tim’s favorite pastimes,” said Deni Sobek, Advanced Placement Environmental Science teacher at ORHS, who recommended Spencer for the scholarship. He was a student in Sobek’s class in his junior year.

In 2012, Myrick and his wife Teresa pledged $25,000 to the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation’s “Making the Critical Difference” campaign for grants and scholarships. Their pledge provides an annual scholarship to a top AP Environmental Science student, as well as grant funds to be awarded to ORHS Science Department applicants. [Read more…]

Tonight: ORHS Band concert plus a thank-you for an instrument donation

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2016 ORHS Band Seniors

The 2016 Oak Ridge High School Band Seniors are pictured above. (Photo by McEachern Photography)

 

The entire Oak Ridge High School Band, and especially the seniors, would like you to attend their final concert today (Thursday, May 26) in the ORHS Performing Arts Auditorium, a press release said.

With the end of class and advanced placement and standardized testing at this time of year, scheduling time with students to prepare a quality concert is always a challenge, the press release said.

“Of course, our seniors have also been making decisions to launch into colleges from California to New York and all over the state of Tennessee—more distraction when it came time to rehearse,” the release said. “But talent will out, and our 28 seniors, the entire band, and band staff are looking forward to entertaining the community with an outstanding and diverse program.”

The evening will open with performances from the Percussion Ensemble, including two senior solos on marimba by Ethan McDaniel and Andrew Gillenwaters. [Read more…]

College Fair at Oak Ridge Public Library on Wednesday

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You can learn how accessible a college degree has become on Wednesday afternoon at the Oak Ridge Public Library.

The College Fair is scheduled from 12:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 25.

The East Tennessee College Alliance, or ETCA, can help new high school graduates and busy working adults alike arrange flexible class schedules and financial options that make earning a college degree more achievable than ever, a press release said. [Read more…]

Photo: Tennessee education commissioner speaks at ORHS Honors Night

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Candice McQueen at ORHS Honors Night May 23 2016

Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen, left, speaks at the Oak Ridge High School Honors Night on Monday, May 23, 2016. (Photo by Julio Culiat)

 

Oak Ridge High School celebrated the accomplishments of this year’s graduating senior class with Honors Night on Monday, May 23. The celebration was in the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center.

Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen spoke at the ORHS Honors Night. Here is a photo by Julio Culiat.