The Congressional Award is the U.S. Congress' award for young people between the ages of 14 and 23. The program is goal-oriented and non-competitive. Participants work toward a set number of hours for each medal (Bronze, Silver, and Gold, each of which requires more hours than the previous). There are four areas in which they need to participate: Volunteer Public Service, Physical Fitness, Personal Development, and an Expedition/Exploration. The hours are cumulative; although the Silver medal requires 200 hours of public service, the Bronze requires 100, so only another 100 is needed to accumulate enough hours for the Silver. The Gold medal requires 400 hours of public service, but this turns out to be only another 200 hours because of the cumulative situation.

Volunteer Public Service tends to be the hardest of the areas to complete, since A) This area requires more hours than any of the other areas, and B) Although most participants are already involved in activities that meet the requirements for Personal Development and Physical Fitness, community service is something they usually aren't involved in already. Fortunately, participants are allowed to have more than one community service project lined up to reach the number of hours needed. Service work in private businesses, religious organizations, or political areas is not allowed, unless it can be clearly shown that the work serves not only the specific organization, but the community at large.

Physical Fitness is one of the easiest areas to complete: all that is required is a sport or fitness training. 50 hours of physical fitness are required for the Bronze medal, 100 for the Silver, and 200 for the Gold.

Personal Development is a little less obvious, but still one of the easier areas. Activities such as playing a musical instrument, learning a new skill (non-physical), doing crafts, joining an acting group, and even an activity such as dog training are acceptable. The personal development area requires the same number of hours as physical fitness.

The Expedition/Exploration area stretches participants to adapt to new locations and become more self-reliant. Camping trips do count, but they need to be in locations new to the participant. The participant must also play an active role in planning and organizing the trip. For example, a Girl Scout trip in which the adults planned everything would not be acceptable. Trips that aren't wilderness excursions, such as journeys to other states or countries, are acceptable. Tip: the Gold medal expedition/exploration is the area that is most often rejected by the Washington, D.C., office. To ensure your expedition/exploration being approved, write to the D.C. office before the trip, outlining exactly how you'll be participating and how you'll be challenged, to make sure it's acceptable. The Bronze medal requires at least 10 hours of activity, including at least one night in a shelter or tent. The Silver medal requires at least 20 hours and at least two nights, and the Gold requires at least 40 hours and at least four nights.

All areas are goal-oriented: participants set goals for themselves, ranging from specific ("I'll cut my mile running time in half") to more general ("I'll improve my running form"). Once participants have reached the required number of hours and achieved their goals, a validator (an adult who has experience in the certain area) signs off on a form, saying that the participant fulfilled the requirements. Once all areas have been validated, an advisor (an adult who is with the participant through the program to give advice) signs off on the whole thing. For each area, participants must write up their activity and how they reached their goals. Tip: no one tells participants about this, but especially for the Gold medal, each area must be finished before the participant begins recording hours going toward the next medal. For example, if a participant has finished her personal development and expedition/exploration, she must finish her community service and physical fitness hours before recording personal development and her expedition/exploration going toward her next medal.

Idaho has one of the largest numbers of Congressional Award participants each year, and therefore has its own office. Check out their web site at http://www.idahocongressionalaward.org, or the national web site at http://www.congressionalaward.org.

Future City

What is Future City? In this program, students work together in teams of 3 or more with guidance from an engineering mentor and teacher to design their very own city of the future. The team first uses SimCity software to create their vision of a city of the future. They then build a scale model of the city and the students also write an essay on a designated topic of no more than 500-words. This year's topic is "Creating an Engineering Feasibility Plan for a specific redevelopment area in a Future City" Finally, 3 students present (without computers or videos) their city to a panel of judges at the local regional competition. Though this competition has been going on for 14 years nationally, this year will be Idaho's 2nd competition.

What are the Goals of Future City? The program is intended to foster interest in math, science and engineering through hands-on, real world applications in a fun and exciting way. The program can be used to span curriculums, from math and science to language arts and social sciences, satisfying many different learning objectives based on information from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Academy of Science. Included in the handout package is information on how the program applies to many National Standards Objectives, Benchmarks and Performance Indicators. It is easy to see that the program is a productive investment both for the teacher and the students and is an excellent hands on learning experience for students.

Who can participate in the Idaho Competition? 7th and 8th grade students in public, private, parochial and home schools in Idaho can participate. Each school may bring up to three teams to the Regional Competition, but only one from each school can advance to the finals in the regional competition and move on to the national competition.

What does the program cost? The cost of the program is $25 plus the cost of the model but for a limited time we are waving the registration fee so sign up today! One copy of the Sim City software is provided to each school. As for construction of the city model, the maximum allowance for material costs including presentation materials is $100. The use of recycled materials is encouraged (some teams have used all recycled material).

What is the timeline of the program (when do students beginning working on their cities)? Registration materials are mailed out in August. The next 5 months are spent working first on the program at your own pace with milestones in December for submittal of the city computer disk design and essay and the model completed by competition day.

When is the Regional Competition? The 2nd Idaho Regional Competition will be held at Boise State Saturday January 14, 2006. All ten schools (Foothills School of Arts and Science - Teacher Patrick Rose, Parma Middle School- Teacher James Freeman, Emmett Junior High - Teacher Laurie Clemens, Teton Middle School - Teacher Frances Lord, Treasure Valley Math and Science Center - Teacher Anne VanderVeen, Jerome Middle School - Teacher Norma Odiaga, RiverStone Community School - Teacher Aurele LaMontagne, East Junior High of Boise - Teacher Joanna Smith, Cross Roads Middle School of Meridian - Teacher Echo Payton and Lowell Scott Middle School of Meridian - Teacher Debbi Trumbull) have signed up to participate again as have a home school team and team from Middleton Middle School.

What if you win the local competition? At the state competition special awards and the top 3 teams as well as all participants are recognized. If we have 25 teams registered teams, the winning team is provided with airfare and hotel accommodations (3 students, teacher and engineer mentor) to the national finals in Washington DC. 1st place at the national competition receives a trip to the US Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. Scholarships, computers and savings bonds are also awarded. But we need 25 teams to sign up!

When is the Deadline to Register? The deadline to register is October 15th, however if schools register now we are waving the $25 registration fee. We need 25 teams signed up in order for the competition to be considered a regional event so that we can send the winning team from Idaho to Washington D.C. So sign up today!

How do get for more information about the program? You may also contact Lynn Olson (lolson@toengrco.com, 323-1578 ext 255) or Bill Holder (whholder@terracon.com, 323-96520), with any questions as well as visit the national Future City website at www.futurecity.org and the Idaho Future City website at http://sections.asce.org/sis/future city.html.

How do I sign up or who do I contact for more information? You can signup through the national website (www.futurecity.org) or by e-mailing the local regional coordinator, Bill Holder (whholder@terracon.com, 323-96520), or Lynn Olson (lolson@toengrco.com, 323-1578 ext 255), with your school's information indicating that you are interested in signing up. Remember to sign up today at no cost for this great program!

Description provided by Future City

Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth

Since 1979, the Center for Talented Youth (CTY), a division of The Johns Hopkins University, has identified top academic students in grades two through eight and provided them challenging educational programs through their 10th grade year. In residential summer programs, online classes, and conferences, gifted students meet others like themselves, stretch their creative and intellectual wings, and discover where their special talents may take them.

CTY conducts an annual Talent Search that annually enrolls students in grades two through eight from over 10,000 schools. Students scoring in the 95th percentile or higher on tests taken in school are qualified to enroll. They then take special tests that provide them and their families with further useful information about their math and verbal reasoning abilities.

Some students will qualify to take a summer or online course with CTY. All CTY Talent Search students can enroll in CTY’s Family Academic Conferences—short format courses on subjects ranging from marine science to college and career explorations.

CTY's unique distance education program provides challenging academic courses all year long for eligible students in grades K through 12. Like CTY's summer programs, the distance courses are varied, demanding and very appropriate for our highly able students. Unlike the summer programs, however, students can take courses all year long, and make significant progress in a subject by working from their homes or schools.

When an eligible student enrolls in a CTY distance course, the course materials are mailed to the student's home. A highly qualified CTY instructor introduces the student to the course, and provides instructions, encouragement and guidance. Course materials vary, depending on subject and level. Many include a CD-ROM or online materials and require access to a computer with Internet connection. Most students interact extensively with the instructor using e-mail, telephone, progress reports, or by means of an interactive Internet-based whiteboard. Some courses also include interaction with other students using a Web-based discussion system.

CTY makes intensive efforts to reach out to traditionally underserved groups to participate in CTY's talent search testing and academic programs, and we offer financial aid to qualifying families. For more information, contact us by email (ctyinfo@jhu.edu) or call 410-735-6278. Visit the CTY web site at http://www.jhu.edu/~gifted/.

Mathcounts

MATHCOUNTS® is a national enrichment, coaching and competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement through grassroots involvement in every U.S. state and territory.

With over 22 years of experience, MATHCOUNTS is one of the country's largest and most successful education partnerships involving volunteers, educators, industry sponsors and students. President George W. Bush and former Presidents Clinton, Bush and Reagan have all recognized MATHCOUNTS in White House ceremonies. The MATHCOUNTS program has also received two White House citations as an outstanding private sector initiative. Particularly exciting for our Mathletes® were the hour-long ESPN programs on each of the past three National Competitions.

Each year, more than 500,000 students participate in MATHCOUNTS at the school level. They tell us that their experience as a Mathlete is often one of the most memorable and fun experiences of their middle school years.

For more information, check out the Mathcounts web site at http://www.mathcounts.org, or e-mail them at info@mathcounts.org.