Los Gatos Weekly-Times

On Campus

Students recognized in essay contest

During Red Ribbon Week in local schools, which ran Oct. 17-28, Community Against Substance Abuse held its annual essay contest, in which elementary and high school students submit short pieces on how and why they stay free of drugs. First-place winners were Sara Triplett of St. Mary's School and Shane Rogers of Fisher Middle School. Taking second place were Justin Zebb of St. Mary's, Tiffany Claar of Fisher and Kristin Kalman of Los Gatos High School. Honorable mentions went to Adam Davis of St. Mary's; Gianna Cardinale, Alyssa Chavez and Kelly Olson, all of Fisher; and Therese Rehder of LGHS. Unique mentions went to Lauren Manley of St. Mary's and Matthew Benedetti, Tessa Cote and Jonathon Yip, all of Fisher.

Two LGHS seniors win national award

The National Council of Teachers of English has recognized Los Gatos High School seniors Dee Dee Barber and Biren Kamdar as some of the country's most outstanding writers and recipients of the NCTE Achievement Awards in Writing. The Achievement Awards program is administered in the spring of junior year; students write prose or verse pieces on impromptu themes under supervision of proctors. Barber is president of the LGHS Interact Club and is active in Speech and Debate, the Astronomy Club, student government, drama and several community service clubs. She is considering attending college at Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown or Stanford universities. Kamdar is editor-in-chief of the LGHS El Gato newspaper and vice president of the Math Club, and is active in Speech and Debate and the Astronomy Club. He is considering attending Stanford, Northwestern, Harvard or Yale universities.

LGUSD personnel now have email

All Los Gatos Union School District personnel, including teachers and administrators, can be contacted by parents or students through the district's email system. Type the individual's last name, followed by @lgusd.k12.ca.us. If there is more than one person with the same last name, add the first letter of the first name, such as jsmith@lgusd.k12.ca.us.

St. Andrew's award goes to Los Gatan

John Petersen, a Los Gatos seventh-grader at St. Andrew's School in Saratoga, is the first recipient of the school's Geoffrey Andrew Ladd Discovery Award. The award was set up by family and friends in memory of 11-year-old Geoffrey, a St. Andrew's student who died suddenly last year. Each year, a sixth- or seventh-grader exemplifying Geoffrey's citizenship, curiosity and passion for learning will receive the award, which consists of an educational adventure/learning trip to Australia. John, a friend of Geoffrey's since kindergarten, traveled to Australia this summer with his family, collected artifacts (including a didjeridoo), kept a detailed journal and took photographs. With help from his family, he compiled a CD-ROM chronicling the journey, which he presented to students and gave to the school library.

Los Gatan takes Bellarmine stage

Los Gatos resident Russell Zimmerman was seen in a leading role in Bellarmine College Preparatory's production of We're All Guilty. The drama, which ran Nov. 14-16 and 21-23 at the school's Benson Theater, depicted courtroom proceedings.

'Cyber students' wanted for contest

Mountain Lake and Brøderbund software companies are holding their third annual CyberKids/CyberTeens International Writing and Art contest, open to all youths between the ages of 7 and 16. There are three categories: fiction, art and games/puzzles. Fictional stories should be typed, original and not more than 15 pages. Original artwork may be done using any type of media (including pencils, paint and crayons) or with a computer graphic program. Games or puzzles must be suitable for posting on the World Wide Web, such as crosswords, word searches, hidden pictures or computer games. Among the prizes are a subscription to WebTV, computer software and cash. Deadline is Dec. 31. For an entry form, contact your local school.