ACHIEVEMENTS.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Teacher to attend program in France

Tim Rake, a French teacher at South Eugene High School, will participate in a four-week seminar this summer in France. Rake was selected from a national applicant pool to participate in one of 31 study opportunities sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, which supports seminars and institutes at colleges and universities around the world.

The seminar, "Theatricality and Reality in Modern French Drama," will be held in Avignon in conjunction with one of Europe's major theater festivals, the Festival d'Avignon.

Sheldon student wins state geography challenge

Alexander King has won the state AAA Travel High School Challenge Geography Challenge. In addition to receiving a $1,000 scholarship, he will participate in the national finals in May in Orlando, Fla., and try for a $25,000 scholarship. King is a sophomore at Sheldon High School.

Cody Witham, also a Sheldon High student, placed in the top five in the state competition.

Counselor's story wins equipment for school

An entry in a "Funniest Classroom Stories" contest by Laurene Larson, a counselor at South Eugene High School, has won an overhead projector and transparencies for the school. Her entry can be found at www.3mclassroom.com/promo5.html.

Local teams place in state tournament

Teams from Cal Young Middle School and Pleasant Hill High School recently took second place in their respective divisions at the Destination Imagination State Tournament at Oregon State University. Their challenge was "A Change in Direction." The Pleasant Hill High School team, Theater SmARTS, also received a DaVinci Award for the creativity of its sets and costumes.

The Pleasant Hill Junior High School team took first place in viDIo Adventure and received a Renaissance Award for the engineering of its technical device. The team will attend global finals in Knoxville, Tenn., in late May.

Students named semifinalists in national program

Wells O'Bryrne and Nathan Reiff have been named semifinalists in the 2003 Presidential Scholars Program. The two South Eugene High School students are part of a group of six Oregon students and 500 students nationally who will compete to be named a Presidential Scholar.

Final selection will be announced in May by the Commission on Presidential Scholars, which will select a boy and a girl from each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and U.S. students living abroad. Winners will be invited to a ceremony and activities in Washington, D.C., in June.

The program was established in 1964 to recognize some of the nation's most distinguished graduating seniors.

Thurston business students take top honors

Two members of the Thurston High School chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America recently took top honors at the 2003 FBLA State Leadership Conference in Portland.

Jeff Benard placed first in Word Processing 1 and Kellen Hollenbeck placed first in International Business. Other members won fourth place through 10th place in various events.

FBLA is a national student organization that highlights leadership development, business knowledge and skills, business community partnerships and community service. First-place winners are eligible to attend the FBLA National Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas.