Denton County teens take part in Boys State

Denton American Legion Post 71 recently sponsored the participation of 23 Denton County high school students in Boys State, a weeklong session on government.

The boys, who attend five area high schools, attended the annual weeklong program at the University of Texas at Austin, where they learned about the rights and duties of a citizen and received objective and practical training in city, county and state government.

Participants were elected to various offices and participated in activities that exposed them to portions of government such as legislative sessions, court proceedings, law enforcement presentations and assemblies. The event was held June 6-12.

Local participants in 2009 Boys State included Guyer High School students Chris Allen, Sam Bruce, Clayton Hettinger, Nathan Hines, Alex Luna, Kyle Mahan, Austin Otto, Jaykishan Patel, Matt Price, Ryan Smith, Ryan Vigil and Justin Wood; Denton High School students Austin Featherstone, Will Hayes, Will Huslig, Cameron Ratcliff and Charles Shelton; and Liberty Christian School students Hayden Anderson and Chad Corley. Other participants included students from Flower Mound High and one home-school student.

Boys State delegates must have completed 11th grade and have at least one semester of their senior year yet to complete. Students interested in attending next year’s annual event can contact their high school principal or government teacher. For more information, call the Denton American Legion post at 940-382-7315.

DENTON ISD

Denton school district offices closed Friday

The Denton school district administration offices will be closed Friday in observance of the Fourth of July. Offices will reopen at 7:30 a.m. Monday.

Braswell nominated for superintendent award

Denton school district Superintendent Ray Braswell was named Tuesday as a nominee for the Superintendent of the Year award sponsored by the Texas Association of School Boards. Since 1984, the program has recognized exemplary superintendents for excellence and achievement in educational leadership.

Braswell is one of 16 superintendents nominated for the award.

Candidates are chosen for strong leadership skills, dedication to improving educational quality, ability to build effective employee relations, student performance and commitment to public involvement in education. Superintendents are eligible for nomination by their school boards. Local nominees are submitted to a regional selection committee, which chooses one nominee to send to the state selection committee.

The state committee will interview regional winners in August in Austin and select five state finalists. The Superintendent of the Year will be announced Oct. 3 at the TASA/TASB Convention in Houston. The winning superintendent also receives an award from Balfour.

Widmer named district health services director

Jennifer “Jonita” Widmer, school nurse for Crownover Middle School, was named director of health services for the Denton school district on Tuesday. Board trustees made a unanimous vote to hire her to the position in a midday meeting.

Widmer, 54, who has been with the district for nine years, will direct all the health and wellness programs and supervise the district’s school nurses. She will be replacing Theresa Grant, who is retiring in December.

“Mrs. Widmer brings a tremendous amount of nursing experience to our health services department. As one of the district’s school nurses, she has the medical skills, background and competence necessary to fulfill this position,” said Dr. Roger Rutherford, assistant superintendent for academic programs, in a news release.

Widmer is responsible for piloting many successful health programs and initiatives at Crownover. The school received the “It’s a Snap” national award in 2004 for promoting hand-washing and hygiene and decreasing absenteeism. She accompanied four students and three staff members to Washington, D.C., to accept the award, along with $2,000 for the school. Two years later, Crownover was named national runner-up for the same program.

Widmer has organized annual campus blood drives and received four grants from the Denton Public School Foundation for student programs at Crownover.

Earlier this year, Widmer was named School Nurse of the Year for Region 11, representing the North Texas area. She also earned national school nurse certification from the National Board for Certification of School Nurses. Additionally, she received a $1,500 Award for Excellence in Texas School Health.

In the community, she developed an instructional program to teach insulin administration to adult diabetics for the Denton County Health Department and has served as a Relay for Life volunteer. She has also been a columnist for Kid Life, the magazine for elementary students and their parents published jointly by the Denton Record-Chronicle and the Denton school district.

Widmer previously worked at St. Paul Medical Center, Parkland Memorial Hospital and Westgate Hospital. She was director of surgical services and outpatient services for the former Flow Memorial Hospital in Denton in the mid-1980s.

She and Kathy Malmberg, school nurse at Hawk Elementary School, developed the New Nurse Academy for nurses joining the school district.

Widmer received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Texas Woman’s University, where she is working on her master’s degree in nursing education. She received her associate degree in nursing from Dallas County Community College.

Denton High School

Three girls participate in Bluebonnet program

Three Denton High School students participated in the Texas Bluebonnet Girls State summer program recently.

Sara Kangas, Kate Morales and Kelsie Vogds were among the 500 Texas female high school juniors who participated in the weeklong session at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin June 14-20.

The program, funded by the American Legion Auxiliary, focuses on educating girls about government at the city, county and state levels. Participants learned about how the Senate and House of Representatives operate, what it means to write and pass legislation and how to campaign. Girls also learned about how city, county and precinct governments are organized and how to participate as citizens and voters.

Kangas said the program provided her with an “invaluable experience” in which participates learned to adapt, handle college life and participate in government. She said it gave participants “a life-changing experience.”

“Girls State takes vulnerable girls and transforms them into better citizens and better people. It revitalized my hope in my fellow generation and in humanity itself,” Kangas said.

Ryan High School

Ryan students present findings in Washington

Two Ryan High School students this week are in Washington, D.C., presenting on their experiences using UniServity, a social networking program in which students can connect with and learn from other pupils as well as professionals around the world.

Courtney Wilson and Megan McBee, accompanied by their world geography teacher Jay Swafford, are presenting their use of the program at the 30th annual National Educational Computing Conference.

Pamela Kachka, a curriculum technology specialist at Ryan High, said they are helping to prepare students who will soon implement the program, likened to “education meets MySpace.” She said they are providing a student’s perspective of how the program is used.

Kachka said the students were asked by UniServity to come speak after participating in a project called “Around the World in 80 Days,” in which students get to know other students worldwide while learning about their cultures.

Last fall, the Denton school district became the first district west of the Mississippi River to offer the program to its three main high schools. District officials at the time said the program would create a platform for teachers and students to gather global perspectives. Students create online portfolios — similar to MySpace profiles — where they can post projects they’re working on and receive feedback from the program’s 2 million or so global users.

PONDER ISD

Student chosen for Governor’s School

Ponder High School student Trevor Watson recently participated in the Texas Governor’s School, a three-week program that focuses on students’ abilities in math and science. The program is open to students after their 10th-grade year.

Watson was one of more than 100 students selected to participate in the intensive summer program, funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the ExxonMobil Foundation. Watson, district officials said, is one of the first from Ponder to participate in the program.

Students participating in the 2009 class explored the theme of “How Advances in Science and Technology Affect Our World.” Students also took courses that prepared them for college planning and enhanced writing skills.

Watson said in an e-mail that he would recommend the program to other students.

“The three weeks of summer you give up are outweighed by the insight, ideas and academic education you gain,” he said.

The summer program took place June 7-27 at the University of North Texas.