Kretsinger named semifinalist for National Merit Scholarship
By Bobbi Mlynar
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Three Emporia High School seniors were recognized for their achievements on National Merit Scholarship tests Wednesday during a board of education meeting at the Flint Hills Special Education Co-op.
Board President Grant Riles announced that Hallie Kretsinger, daughter of Mary and Brock Kretsinger, has been named a semifinalist in the 2007 National Merit Scholarship program. She is one of 16,000 semifinalists who will compete for 8,200 merit scholarships valued at a total of $33 million.
Chase Ihde and Mary Yanik were recognized as commended students through the program. He is the son of Arthur and Bernadette Ihde; she is the daughter of Joe and Betsy Yanik.
Yanik and Ihde, as commended students, are among the top 5% of students taking the qualifying test.
The board approved a request from Patricia Smiley, director of integrated services, to accept a $102,000 grant from Kansas State University. The five-year grant, awarded on a year-to-year basis, will finance Project Destiny, a high school equivalency program for migrant students.
"We're one of three sites in Kansas to receive the grant," Smiley said.
Smiley asked approval to hire a full-time site coordinator, a half-time migrant recruiter and a one-quarter-time teacher assistant. The positions would be for one year.
The contract for the grant will be available at the next board meeting on Nov. 8th. The board approved the request on a 6-0 vote.
The board trimmed $57,733 from a $4.32 million construction project at Emporia High School. During the board meeting Oct. 11th, the board had approved hiring Rinner Construction of Topeka to build the new fitness and weight rooms at the school, and had reserved the right to eliminate or change some aspects of the project that would not affect its quality.
The changes were approved on a 7-0 vote. The vote tally changed during the evening when Kevin Nelson, who had been out of town, joined the board meeting in progress. Another member, Mike Crouch, was out-of-state on business and attended the meeting by telephone.