COOPER ENVIROTHON TEAM CAPTURES THIRD PLACE – The John Cooper School fielded two teams in the 2012 Texas Envirothon Competition held at Stephen F. Austin State University. The varsity team captured top awards in specific categories and a third-place finish overall.

The varsity team was led by captain Christina Bray and include Hanna Tait, John Cuyler Burton, Yarlini Vipulanandan and Arielle Coughlin. The team won third-place overall and in specific categories, placed first in aquatics, second in soils, and second in wildlife. Biology teacher Dr. Tina Davies is the club’s faculty sponsor.

Members of the junior varsity team include Laura Densmore, Amanda Leary, Ji-Heon Ahn, Carson Pepper and Jenaya Ferguson.

Envirothon is an academic, extra-curricular environmental and natural resource education program and competition designed for high school students. Teams of five students work together to answer questions focusing on aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife and a current environmental issue.

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MCYS YOUTH WORK TO BUILD CONFIDENCE AT CAMP WATSITUMI – Approximately 111 youth from Montgomery County Youth Services came together for a week of challenging activities and excitement at MCYS’ Camp Watsitumi in Conroe.

Camp Watsitumi is an annual event providing an opportunity for youth in the community to enhance problem solving, communication and teamwork skills through a variety of physical activities on a challenge course.

Campers range in age from 7 to 17 years and are divided into teams, each of which is guided by camp facilitators. Teams work together to take on activities such as rock walls, balance beams, blind-folded pole climbs, and a zip line. Following the activity, they discuss the challenges faced, what they can do to improve, and how they can relate what they’ve learned to real-life situations. The purpose is to promote positive self-esteem and teach conflict resolution.

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HOSPITAL JUNIOR VOLUNTEERS AWARDED COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS – The Auxiliary at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital held its Junior Volunteer Banquet to recognize graduating high school seniors and outgoing officers. Each year, part of the funds raised by the MHTW Auxiliary is applied to this scholarship fund.

Receiving scholarships were New Caney High School – Sabrina Nichols, ($3,500); College Park High School – Edgar Gachie ($3,000), Carol Champion ($2,500), Harica Kodakandla ($2,500), Marc Limsiaco ($1,500), and Alicia Dunn ($1,000); Oak Ridge High School – Victor Sahagun ($1,500); The Woodlands High School – Raneem Ashrawi ($1,000) and Samantha Beacher ($1,000); Klein Oak High School –  Brittany Macal ($1,500); and Magnolia High School – Leslie Murray ($1,000).

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MITCHELL INTERMEDIATE SERVICE CLUB CONTRIBUTES TO LIFESTRAW – Mitchell Intermediate’s LC5 class Service Club called H2O (Heroes 2 Others) chose LIFESTRAW as its charity. The students were very diligent in their research and determined that Rotary Clubs were the best way to insure every dollar earned made it to those in need.

Students raised $780 and contributed approximately 300 volunteer hours to this project. The students earned the money in a variety of ways: selling water and snacks at the school’s Paint the Path Pink Breast Cancer Walk; “Spirit Night” at Chick-fil-A with 20 percent of the proceeds donated by Chick-fil-A; and the remainder of the money was made from donations and games.

In addition, donations were accepted during the Wax Museum project. Fifth-graders researched a famous person and then dressed as that person in a “wax museum” created in the cafeteria. When family members and other students pushed a “button” the statue came to life and told about that person’s life and accomplishments.

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COOPER GRAD TO COMPETE IN OLYMPICS – Ediz Yildirimer, a 2012 graduate of The John Cooper School, has qualified to compete for his homeland of Turkey at the London Olympic Games.

This will be Ediz’s second time to swim for Turkey in the Olympic games. In 2008, at the age of 14, he was the youngest athlete on the Turkish swim team that competed in Beijing. On June 28, Ediz was notified that he qualified to compete in London. He is scheduled to compete in the 1500 event on the morning of Aug. 4.

Ediz has been swimming since he was the age of 6. He began swimming with The John Cooper School swim team and The Woodlands Swim Team under coach Tim Bauer in August 2009, when he enrolled at Cooper as a foreign exchange student. He swims distance freestyle in the 400, 800 and 1500.

Ediz has chalked up an impressive number of records and swimming accomplishments. In 2011, he held the U.S. record in the 1650 for his age group and, at just 17, currently holds the national record in Turkey for the 800 and 1500. He won the last two European Junior Championships in the 800 and two bronzes in the 1500.

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COOPER ART STUDENTS HONORED AT CARNEGIE HALL – Cooper visual art students who were gold and silver medalists in the national adjudication level of the art portion of the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards were honored for being among the top young artists in the country at formal ceremonies that were held at Carnegie Hall in New York City on June 1.

Katie Parkerson received a Gold Medal recipient in painting; Keenan Lashier was awarded a Silver Medal for his art portfolio of work. Visual Arts Department Chair Bob Mosier and visual arts faculty members Jayla Ash Davis and Karen Fearon were honored with national medals.

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VBS AT LORD OF LIFE LUTHERAN PROVIDES WATER WELLS – Vacation Bible School at Lord of Life Lutheran Church concluded with more than 150 kids enjoying crafts, music, games and Bible study.

This year’s focus was on raising funds for Water to Thrive, a nonprofit that provides water wells in areas of the world where children are denied access to an education because they must walk several miles a day to collect water for their families.

Lord of Life previously provided a well in Kasadoran, Ethiopia, and this year’s Vacation Bible School funds, along with the contributions of a private donor, will build another well to bring clean water to a village in need.