North Side High School music teacher Edward King was just that – king for a day.
Carol Knorr, an adult storyteller, stood on the Allen County Public Library stage Wednesday wearing overalls and a big pink bow in her blond hair.
For the next hour, she would be known to students as Junie B. Jones, the quirky, adventurous first-grade star of a well-known children’s book series by Barbara Park.
“Why did the banana go to the doctor?” she asked a crowd of students from St. Jude Catholic School and Bethlehem Lutheran Church and School.
“Because he wasn’t peeling well!” shouted one of the students, who had memorized the jokes in the books.
Children’s librarian Becky White said about 920 area elementary students from different schools have come to see Knorr’s performance.
“Junie has a lot of adventures that they can identify with,” she said.
Many, she said, had read all 27 books in the series.
White said the Junie performance, the first of its kind at the library, was meant to encourage reading and introduce young children to the library. The show was so popular, she said, that the library might consider hosting the performance again next year.
“It was really fun,” said 8-year-old Kayela Vogan, a second-grade student at St. Jude. “It was the first time I’d ever been down to this part of the library before.”
Events
• Snider High School is hosting a New Driver Car Control Clinic on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The clinic runs from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday in the cafeteria and from 8 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the parking lot.
The cost is $179 per teen-parent team. For more information, call 1-800-862-3277.
Recognitions
•University of Saint Francis students Melissa Lachat, Joseph Baumgartner and Justin Budreau won the Anthony D. Moore Award.
•University of Saint Francis education professor Nancy Hankee received the Advisor of the Year award.
•Esther Kaufman of Grabill has been selected as the winner of the “Reaching My Generation for Christ” essay contest.
•Kristen Alcala, an eighth-grader from Ligonier, won first prize in the 2010 Breaking Barriers Essay Contest conducted by Major League Baseball and book publisher Scholastic.
•Brendan Murphy, a senior at Canterbury High School, is a finalist in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program.
•Northwood Middle School student Karris Sims won the Fort Wayne Community Schools 2010 Middle School Persuasive Speech Contest with a speech titled, “Do Americans Show Lack of Respect for President Obama?”
•Indiana State University student Scot Sauers won the 2010 Jeffrey L. Schrink Outstanding Senior Award and the Hines Memorial Medal and was named an Alan C. Rankin Distinguished Senior Award finalist.
• Bishop Dwenger High School student Bobby Widner won the National Federation of Independent Business Young Entrepreneur Foundation/Edward J. Bowman Young Entrepreneur Award.
•Millikin University student Emily K. McKee received the Daneil J. & Elinor Gage Student Activities Award.
•The Riverview Middle School History Club placed first in the Hoosier History Bowl in the middle school division.
Registration
•Concordia Lutheran High School will offer classes in algebra, geometry, English, U.S. government, world history and economics to area students in grades 8 through 12. Courses run Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sessions run from June 14 through July 2 and from July 5 through July 23. Cost is $275. Call 483-1102 for more information.
•Fort Wayne Community Schools will offer two drivers’ education sessions this summer at Anthis Career Center, 1200 S. Barr St. The first is from June 14 to July 2; the second runs from July 12 to July 30. The courses are open to students, regardless of whether they attend FWCS, who are at least 15 years old before the session begins. For more information, visit the FWCS website at www.fwcs.k12.in.us or call 467-1089.
•Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne is collecting applications for its summer youth program, Life After High School. This year the program’s focus is “Digging Up Your Roots: Telling Your Family’s Story” and will provide a summer activity, guidance on opportunities after high school, and an introduction to college life.
The deadline for application is June 11. To apply, contact Christopher Riley at 481-6847 or rileyc@ipfw.edu. Priority for registration will be given to those who participate in free or reduced-price lunch programs.
