Students earn academic honors, Boy Scout achievements and more | News and Notes

Local residents earn academic honors

Compiled by Ana Karen Perez Guzman

Local residents earn academic honors

Reed Kennaday of Maple Valley was named to the fall 2016 dean’s list at Florida Institute of Technology.

To be included on the dean’s list, a student must complete 12 or more graded credits in a semester with a semester grade point average of at least 3.4.

Alexandra Smith of Covington has earned placement on the Gonzaga University president’s list for fall semester 2016. To be placed on the list students must earn between a 3.86 grade and 4.0 grade point average.

Steven Beres of Covington was named to Gonzaga’s dean’s list for fall semester 2016. To be placed on the list he had to earn a 3.5 to 3.85 grade point average.

King County awarding funds

Owners of historic barns and other agricultural-related structures could be eligible to receive grant funding to help stabilize and extend a building’s useful life through King County’s “Barn Again” historic preservation grant program.

Applications are now being accepted to receive the funding. The project was relaunched in 2016, which provided a total of $235,000 to nine qualifying projects.

To be eligible for 2017’s “Barn Again” funding, barns, outbuildings and agriculture-related community spaces must still convey their historic character. They must also be more than 40 years old and located in King County and in need of substantial repair. Grants will be in the range of $5,000 to $50,000.

The guidelines and application forms can be found at www.kingcounty.gov/barnagain. Applications are due April 21.

Local students honored

Alexander Maloy who is a junior at Kentwood High school and his brother Joshua Maloy who is an eighth grader at Mattson Middle school were both honored on Jan. 5. They were honored for earning their Eagle Scout rank, the highest youth achievement in Boy Scouts.

They both completed all rank advancements from Scout to Life. Alex earned 33 merit badges and Josh earned 26 merit badges.

They are both working toward earning more badges to qualify for Palm advancements. They are also preparing to attend the 2017 National Scout Jamboree in July in West Virginia as members of a contingent representing the Chief Seattle Council.

Safe driving scholarship

Tahoma High School senior Tierra Wilson won the $2,500 2016 scholarship, out of 59 students who submitted an entry. Wilson used her passion for traffic safety to create a two-minute video outlining how she is helping to reduce road fatalities among her peers.

To enter the scholarship, teens were asked to submit a video answering the following question, “How can you as a new driver help to reduce road fatalities among your peers?”

With nearly 3,000 teens involved in deadly vehicle crashes in 2015, Driving-tests.org wants to help change this and offers an annual $2,500 Safe Driving College Scholarship to a teen who uses their creativity to encourage safe driving behaviors among their peers.