COMMUNITY NEWS TEACHER WINS AWARD FOR INSPIRING KIDS.

Nancy McIntyre, a ninth-grade biology teacher at Chaminade College Preparatory School in West Hills, earned the 2006 Toshiba/Nations Science Teachers Association ExploraVision Inspiration Award, Toshiba America Inc. announced last week. She was one of five teachers in North America honored for her longtime dedication to and involvement with ExploraVision.

The ExploraVision program requires students to research scientific principles and current technologies, then use that research to design technological breakthroughs that could exist in 20 years. Since the program's inception 14 years ago, more than 210,000 students have submitted entries.

Instructing her students that each project should somehow ``improve the quality of life for a living organism,'' McIntyre incorporates ExploraVision as an integral part of her biology curriculum. After the recent California wildfires, three of her students came up with the idea of creating a special protective suit for firefighters that used a cooling system similar to that used in space suits. A local engineering firm expressed interest in creating a prototype.

McIntyre will go to Washington, D.C., to receive the Inspiration Award at the 2006 ExploraVision weekend, June 7-11.

Ryan Vig, a seventh-grader at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, took first place at the California State Science Fair in downtown Los Angeles last week. This goes with his second consecutive win at Sierra Canyon's annual science fair and his second-place finish at the Los Angeles County Science and Engineering Fair.

Vig's project was called ``What Material for an Acoustic Instrument Soundboard has the Widest Range of Response?'' It was one of 26 entries in the applied mechanics/structures and mechanisms/manufacturing category.

In all, 967 sixth- through 12th-grade students from 390 schools took part in the competition. Vig earned a $250 prize, and the Discovery Channel has invited him to enter its Young Scientist Challenge this summer.

Sierra Canyon sixth-grader Amanda Allen also earned an honorable mention at the competition.

Prem Reddy, chairman of the board of Sherman Oaks Hospital, donated $1 million to the Circle of Care Foundation, the foundation announced at its annual fundraiser last week. The foundation provides funds for services and programs at various local hospitals.

Among them is the Circle of Care Leeza's Place in Sherman Oaks, which assists people affected by memory disorders. The foundation also honored its founder, TV personality Leeza Gibbons.

``Through this generous gift, the Circle of Care will be able to help families coping with memory disorders to get much-needed support and services, offering hope for the future and creating a better quality of life for caregivers and their diagnosed loved ones,'' Gibbons said.

Woodcrest School student Lindsey Gilford was accepted into the People to People World Leadership forum, People to People International announced last week. She earned the nomination because of her outstanding scholastic merit, civic involvement and leadership potential.

Gilford will join a select group of students in Washington, D.C., next April to study American leadership during times of national challenge and prosperity, participating in small-group discussions and visiting some of the United States' most prominent monuments and institutions.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower founded the People to People Student Ambassador Program in 1956 to foster world citizenship.

California Deputy Director of Community Affairs Michelle Kleinert visited West Hills' Kadima Hebrew Academy on Friday. During her visit, she spoke to students at an assembly as well as in their classrooms, and the students put on a play for her about peace.