Cyndi Loza

Local groups will donate their time and paint to upgrade the facilities of a resources center in the Washoe County School District. The school district’s Family Resource Center, located in a mobile unit near Bernice Mathews Elementary School, will be painted by Mike Steedman, owner of Truckee River Paint, and volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sparks. The center is also working with Youth Artworks to coordinate a mural. The groups will began painting the center’s offices at 2750 Elementary Drive on May 3.

ICDA anniversary

Nevada’s first and oldest charter school, I Can Do Anything Charter High School, will celebrate its 10th anniversary on April 1 with a gala dinner and fundraiser. The event is open to public and will be held at John Ascuaga’s Nugget.

The school hopes to use the money raised to help fund the purchase of a school building. The school rents their current location at 1195 Corporate Blvd. Suite C.

Items can be donated for the auction and tickets to the event are on sale. Contact the school at 857-1544 for more details on how to donate items or purchase tickets, or visit www.icdachs.com.

AP and IB exams

High school upperclassmen enrolled in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses will begin taking their examinations on May 5.

Students can earn college credits through Advanced Placement examinations. The International Baccalaureate program is recognized in the United States and abroad as a pre-university educational program. The IB curriculum is taught in more than 2,100 schools in 125 nations and administered by the International Baccalaureate Organization.

Multimedia equipment for Swope

Swope Middle School is working to raise funds for the purchase and installation of new multimedia equipment. A fundraising event, “Brownies & Bids,” will take place at the school, 901 Keele Drive, starting at 6:30 p.m. March 27. School officials hope to help generate enough funds through the event for multimedia equipment such as Hitachi LCD projectors and Lumen Document cameras. These upgrades would allow teachers to project Power Point projects, textbook pages, and other images onto a large screen for all students to view.

Honorable mentions

The following individuals have distinguished themselves recently in education:

Reed High School seniors Taelor Baldwin and Christina Bennett won gold medals in the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) State Apparel Construction competition. The awards recognize skills in clothing construction techniques, creative abilities, knowledge of design principles and the ability to properly fit a garment.

Baldwin and Bennett also are third-year students in Rita Campbell’s “Fashion, Textiles and Design” program.

The president of Reed’s FCCLA chapter, Baldwin designed and constructed a 1950s-style dress, along with a red stretch knit sweatshirt, and entered both in the FCCLA Apparel Construction competition. She received gold medals on both garments.

The vice-president of Reed’s FCCLA chapter, Bennett designed and constructed a black “baby-doll” style dress with an empire waist.

The Reno Air Racing Foundation has awarded $2,300 in savings bonds to the winners of the Reach for the Stars Young Researchers Awards at the Western Nevada Regional Science & Engineering Fair. Students in grades K-8 were eligible to enter exhibits. Awards will be presented to six of them.

Katie Fisher, a sixth grader at Coral Academy of Science, won a gold medal and a $500 savings bond for her exhibit, titled “What Makes a Fabulous Flight.”

Lake Tahoe School sixth-grader Matthew Mooneyham won a gold medal and a $500 savings bond for his exhibit, “Airfoils vs. Critical Angle of Attack.”

Grant Dieter and Nick Overgaard, both sixth graders at Van Gorder Elementary School in Sparks, won a gold medal and $500 savings bond each for their exhibit, entitled “Lift.”

Sam Georgeson, a third grader at Jessie Beck Elementary School, won a silver medal and a $200 savings bond for his exhibit exploring “Which Wing Shape Glides the Farthest.”

Hugh Gallagher School fifth-grader Ben Sigel won a bronze medal and a $100 savings bond for his exhibit, entitled “The Great Paper Airplane Race.”

Awards were presented Saturday at Lawlor Events Center.