Woodbury
High school student wins competition
Carolyn Domroese, a student at Woodbury High School, won the Minnesota regional Brain Bee, earning a shot to compete against some of the best and brightest young minds in the country in a national neuroscience competition in Baltimore later this month.
Domroese beat out 30 other students from across the state, including a fellow Royal, Michelle Mao at the regional competition Feb. 5 at the University of Minnesota. Mao also finished in the final six, according to a South Washington County Schools news release.
For winning the competition, Domroese received $175 cash, a $30 gift certificate to the university's bookstore and an all-expenses-paid trip and entry into the U.S. National Brain Bee Competition in Baltimore in March, the release said. There, she will compete against dozens of other regional winners from around the country for an opportunity to move on to the international competition, which will be held in Washington, D.C.
Contestants will be tested on their knowledge of a variety of brain-related topics, including intelligence, emotions, Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia, organizers said.
Some of the sample questions asked of contestants include: What kind of molecules are semaphorin, ephrin, neuropilin and plexin? Sonic hedgehog is important for the development of what part of the nervous system?
Mahtomedi
Language arts teacher survives cut for honor
Virginia Mancini, a language-arts teacher at Mahtomedi High School, remains in the running for the 2014 Minnesota Teacher of the Year award.
She was the lone candidate from a Washington County-area school district to advance to the semifinal round.
Education Minnesota, the state teachers union, announced last week that Mancini was one of 33 teachers to survive the cutdown from an initial field of 128 candidates statewide. Mahtomedi High had a semifinalist in last year's competition, too.
This year, the county initially had four candidates in the mix.
The selection panel is expected to meet again in late March to select about 10 finalists for the honor. The Teacher of the Year is to be named on May 4.
