Education Extra Achievements.

Byline: The Register-Guard

THEY'VE GOT MERIT: Eighteen Eugene School District students qualified as semi-finalists on the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. They are: Megan Anderson from Churchill High School; Emily Ventura from Sheldon High School; and Zachary Brewer, Heather Brule, James Corner, Matt Cummins, Michael Davidson, Joel DeVore, Samuel Farina-Henry, Laura Gladstone, Alex Hongo, Jessica Jobanek, Theodore Johnson-Freyd, Erin Noble, Wellis O'Byrne, David Platt, Nathan Reiff and Noah Strycker, all from South Eugene High School.

BEST IN STATE: The only two Oregon students who qualified in the College Board Advanced Placement State Scholar Award are from Eugene: Felicia Katz, a South Eugene High School graduate, and Pat Philips, an Oak Hill School graduate. The awards are given to one male and one female student in each state who does the best on the most number of advanced placement course exams. In 2002, more than 900,000 students in 14,000 schools took more than 1.5 million AP exams. Katz and Philips took their last exams in the spring of 2002 when they were seniors. Katz is now a student at the California Institute of Technology and Philips is studying at Middlebury College.

MATH WHIZZES: South Eugene High School student Theodore Johnson-Freyd and Roosevelt Middle School student Rebecca Freund are two of 149 students across the country to receive $1,000 scholarships from the Mathematical Association of America. More than 230,000 students took a three-hour, 15-question exam, as well as other rounds of exams, in the competition. The scholarships are provided by the Akamai Foundation.

LOCAL HONORS: The Eugene Delta Rotary Club has honored Keith Hazen-Diehm from Sheldon High School and Ellen Hagan from Marist High School as students of the month for their scholarship and community involvement.

TOP TEACHERS: The Iota chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa, an international sorority promoting excellence in education, honored nine Springfield teachers last week. Recognized at a celebration at the district administration center were: Barbara Long of Agnes Stewart Middle School, Jim Payne of Brattain Elementary School, RosaLinda Case of Centennial Elementary School, Carole Horton of Gateways Learning Center, Jeanne Richardson of Mohawk Elementary School, Bill Smith of Thurston High School, Vicki Ferrenburg of Yolanda Elementary School, Bill Bowers of Springfield High School and Oregon's Athletic Director of the Year, and Sheila Goodrich of Walterville School and Springfield's Teacher of the Year.