As the end of the school year approaches, graduating seniors eagerly look forward to participating in the time-honored tradition of the graduation ceremony.

But for top seniors at high schools throughout the Elk Grove Unified School District, there is also another event to look forward to as their senior year draws to a close - the "Evening of Recognition for Outstanding Scholars" for the Class of 2012.  EGUSD honored the top 93 graduating seniors in the district at two events held on April 30 at the Sheldon High School Performing Arts Center for comprehensive high school seniors and May 1 at the Cosumnes Oaks High School Culinary Arts Center for alternative high school seniors.

In addition to honoring and recognizing the top senior scholars from each EGUSD high school, the scholars also had the chance to recognize a teacher or mentor who made a difference in their lives.  These important individuals were also honored at the Outstanding Scholars event.

Top seniors in the Class of 2012 have gathered an impressive list of accomplishments, which includes acceptance to top colleges across the country - such as Stanford University; Harvard University; Princeton University; Columbia University; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Berkeley; California State Polytechnic University (Cal POLY); Cornell University; University of Southern California; and New York University - to pursue a variety of majors, including biomedical, aerospace, electrical, structural, civil and computer engineering; chemistry; environmental science; biological sciences; communications; international relations; molecular and cell biology; history; English; computer science; business administration; neuroscience; pharmacy; architecture; marine biology and managerial economics.

The Class of 2012 will also leave their mark at their high schools throughout the district, having participated in an assortment of volunteer and enrichment activities, including sports (tennis, soccer, baseball, cross country, volleyball) and clubs and electives (class officers, Interact Club, FIRST Robotics team, Mathletes, Science Olympiad, yearbook, theater, Cooking Club, Link Crew, Academic Decathlon, MESA). 

Barbara Comstock Morse Elementary School hosts College/Career Fair

You're never too young to start thinking about college and a career.

That's the mantra at Barbara Comstock Morse Elementary School.  The school hosted their first College & Career Fair on Friday, May 4.

"The college and career fair was designed to expose our students, in grades kindergarten through sixth grade, to various career and college choices early in life," said Stacey Campbell-Skipper, school secretary at Morse and coordinator of the event.  "It was also designed to inspire our students to consider a variety of educational and professional opportunities that will be available to them later in life."

Students were encouraged to wear either college spirit wear or to dress in the attire of the profession they're interested in.  All Morse students took a college and career tour through the multipurpose room where they had the chance to speak to various representatives from educational institutions and local businesses.  Primary students in grades K-3 toured the fire truck provided by the Sacramento Fire Department and spoke to firefighters about their daily tasks.  The police K-9 unit was also on hand to answer questions from students.  Reporters from CBS 13 also gave 15-30 minute presentations in various classrooms about their occupations and the importance of college.

The college and career fair featured representatives from the following educational institutions and businesses: Sacramento Fire Department; a police K-9 unit; Laguna Creek Ortho; Blactastic Book Authors; California State University, Sacramento; EGUSD school nurses; anchors/reporters for CBS 13; Sacramento Public Library; Morse Elementary's librarian; Sacramento City Council Member Bonnie Pannell; County of Marin; First Premier Bank; Chick-fil-A; California State University, Chico; The Stanley Girls Learning Health Center for Children, Tupperware, CDI; Excel Photography; Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD); Sacramento Ballet; Edward Harris, Jr. Middle School; Encore Dance Studios; and the U.S. Marines.

Campbell-Skipper has high hopes for the future of the event.

"It's our goal to make this an annual event so that our students will have a high level of college and career awareness before they start middle school," Campbell-Skipper said.  "Some students may not have the opportunity to discuss their future goals at home; therefore, providing an outlet for students to think about their future is not only essential but necessary.  Our top goal for this event is to expose, expose, expose."

Franklin High School students win Microsoft web design contest  

Four Franklin High School students - Philson Wong (team captain), Justin Hua, Sophia Yan and Kyle Kneeland - were selected as the Grand Prize winners for the California Mathematics, Science, Engineering and Achievement (MESA) Northern Region in "Microsoft Bliink," a MESA web design contest.

The Bliink competition challenged high school students to design and develop websites aligned to the theme "Imagine a better future for families, communities and businesses made possible with technology and the skills and knowledge you have gained through MESA" by using the Microsoft Expression suite of software tools.  Teams of two to four members were judged in four different areas: creativity/original ideas, communication, organization /navigation and visual presentation/design.

As Grand Prize winners of the competition, each member of Franklin's team received an XBox360 Console, Kinect and two XBox360 games.

Microsoft Bliink is a pre-collegiate competition that provides teens with hands-on experience creating websites and engages them in exploring careers in technology.  Click here for more information about the Microsoft Bliink competition.