Corvallis native leads Relay for Life

Wellesley College first-year student Eleanor Crummé has brought Wellesley College into the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life All-University event for the first time. On April 11 at Harvard University’s Gordon Track, 83 Wellesley students on 11 teams participated, after raising more than $6,000 in donations, the third highest total for participating colleges.

At age 2, Crummé underwent surgery for adrenal cortical cancer. When her mother, a cancer survivor herself, asked about her baby’s prognosis, doctors said Eleanor was the seventh child they had operated on for the illness — and the only survivor.

Now cancer-free, the 19-year-old native of Corvallis fights to raise money and awareness for the battle against cancer. At the event, she will address Relay for Life participants as the Luminaria speaker and talk about the importance of remembering the experiences of those lost to cancer.

CV students tapped for science awards

A number of Crescent Valley High School students recently received awards at the Northwest Science Exposition.

Teresa Chan and Riti Gupta received an honorable mention within the Engineering Materials and BioEngineering category.

Curtis Peterson, Raymond Ehlers and Sean Skylingstad placed third within the Energy and Transportation category. Each received a $3,000 a year scholarship, renewable for four years for the College of Engineering at Oregon State University. They also each received a $4,000 scholarship at Lewis & Clark College.

Julia Semprini placed second within the Environmental Analysis category. She received a $5,000 a year scholarship, renewable for four years, for any discipline at OSU. She also received an $8,000 scholarship at Lewis & Clark.

Elliott Finn and Rob Livesay placed first in the Plant Sciences category. Each received a $12,000 scholarship at Lewis & Clark.

Lipi Gupta, Marissa Minato and Molly Ward received an honorable mention within the Plant Sciences category. They also were given the Outstanding Project in Plant Biology Award, sponsored by the OSU Department of Botany and Plant Pathology.

Maddie King, Logan Copper and Jamie Roberts received the Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award, sponsored by NOAA. They also received the IEEE Special Award.

Chelsea Thaw and Kat Maggiulli received the award for Outstanding Sustainability Project n OMSI.

Alex Humphrey received the Award for Outstanding Sustainability Project n OMSI and the Award for Excellence in Scientific Research in Environmental Health, sponsored by the Oregon Environmental Health Association.

John-Nicolas Furst received the Award for Outstanding Sustainability Project n OMSI.

College honors

Washington State University, Pullman, Wash. — Erica Kemp, a junior in civil engineering from Corvallis, received the 2008 WSU President’s Award.

Cheldelin student in geography bee

Nakul Sridhar, an eighth-grader at Cheldelin Middle School, recently competed in the 2008 Oregon Geographic Bee. Bees were held in schools with fourth- through eighth-grade students throughout the state. School level winners took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. In each of the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Dependents Schools and the U.S. territories, the National Geographic Society invited the students with the top 100 scores to compete at the state level.

This was his second time at the competition. He also qualified to compete at the state level in his sixth-grade year.

LBCC scholarship

Amanda Garcia has been awarded a Marguerite Scholarship in the amount of $450 from the Oregon State Chapter of P.E.O. Sisterhood for use at Linn-Benton Community College during spring term. Amanda is working towards a certificate in juvenile corrections and was sponsored by P.E.O. Chapter FU. The P.E.O. Sisterhood is a philanthropic educational organization dedicated to providing educational opportunities for women. Scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic record, character, seriousness of purpose and financial need.

Waldorf student gets football honor

Ian Black, a fifth-grader at the Corvallis Waldorf School and son of Susan McDonald and Kurt Black, recently received a 2007-08 Pop Warner Football All-American Scholar, honorable mention.

Ian is also involved in Heart of the Valley Children’s Festival Choir, Rainbow Dance Center and Benton County Radio Control Airplane Club.

High school students get scholarships

Anna Fausett and Sami Keim from Corvallis High School, Andy Harvey from Philomath High School, Holly Leder from West Albany High School, Tyler Turner from South Albany High School and Benjamin Zoon from Central Linn High School recently were named winners of the tenth annual $1,000 Tomorrow’s Leaders Today college scholarships sponsored by OSU Federal Credit Union.

Fausett plans to get an animal science degree at the University of Idaho. Keim hopes to help develop every child into a well-rounded and responsible citizen, and will study Elementary Education at Linfield College. Harvey plans to attend Linn-Benton Community College and Oregon State University, where he will study exercise and sports science. Leder will study at the University of Oregon and pursue a career in speech pathology. Turner looks to advance to either Oregon State University or the University of California at Berkeley to study physics. Zoon is planning to study computer science.

Founded in 1998, the TLT scholarship program seeks to honor excellence within OSU Federal’s teen members. Over the last decade, the 71 students receiving the $1,000 scholarships have gone on to pursue careers as doctors, computer scientists and engineers among other vocations.

Vina Moses elects new officers

At their annual meeting, the Vina Moses Board of Directors elected George Abele to the position of president, Scott Elmshaeuser to vice president, Alice Mills Morrow to secretary, and Peg Obrist to treasurer. Additional board members include Dave Thomas, Gene Edinger, Russ Youmans and newly elected member Ron Thiesen.