WILLISTON A regional preliminary to the Miss North Dakota Scholarship Pageant will be held at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 11 in the Williston High School Auditorium. Plans are to award the titles of Miss Williston, Miss Williams County and Miss Dakota Territory. Winners will receive cash scholarships and other prizes and will compete for the state title in June. The winner of Miss ND will compete for the title of Miss America. The Miss America Pageant system is the largest provider of scholarships for women in the world.
Eligibility for young women to compete for Miss Williston include: Must live or have a permanent address within 30 miles of Williston or attend college in Williston. Eligibility for young women to compete for Miss Williams County or Miss Dakota Territory include: Must live in or go to school anywhere in North Dakota. Miss contestants can be seniors in high school through age 24.
In addition to the Miss titles, several youth titles will be awarded. Categories are Little Miss: grades one through three; Pre-Teen Miss: grades four through six; Junior Miss: grades seven and eight and Outstanding Teen: grades nine through 11. Plans are to award titles for Williston, Williams County, Dakota Territory, and in the Pre-Teen category, a Chokecherry Miss will be named. The winner of this title will reign over Williston's Chokecherry Festival in August. Youth winners receive scholarships and other prizes and compete in the state Youth Pageant held in June in Williston. The winner of Miss North Dakota's Outstanding Teen will compete for additional scholarship money at Miss America's Outstanding Teen.
The number of titles to be awarded will depend upon the number of contestants in each Miss and Youth category.
To enter the Miss or Youth pageant, send e-mail to willistonpageant@hotmail. com and information will be sent to you. There is a $75 sponsor fee to enter the Miss or Youth pageant. Deadline to register is Feb. 3. For more information, call 770-2241 or 770-2459.
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Verendrye announces student programs
Verendrye Electric Cooperative has beefed up its annual scholarship program by doubling the amount awarded. The award amount was increased to $1,000 from the previous level of $500.
To be eligible, students must be dependents of members of Verendrye Electric and must be high school seniors or college freshmen who will be attending a college or vocational school in the fall of 2012.
Each year, Verendrye and Basin Electric Power Cooperative team up to award three scholarships, one in each Verendrye director district. Students must complete an application, which is available online at (www.verendrye.com/programs/services/scholarships) or by calling or visiting Verendrye Electric's offices in Velva or Minot. Applicants are required to include a recent academic transcript, copy of a college entrance exam (ACT or SAT scores), a one-page essay and an appraisal completed by a teacher, counselor or supervisor. For questions about the scholarships, call (800) 472-2141.
The company is also advertising its Verendrye Electric's Youth Tour contest. The deadline is Jan. 30. The winner of the Youth Tour contest is awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C.
Contestants must be a junior or senior in the fall of 2012 and must be served by Verendrye Electric. The contestant must submit an essay to Verendrye which is no longer than two double-spaced, typed pages on the topic: "What would your day be like without electricity?"
The winner will join a group of students from North Dakota and Montana on the trip, which includes a tour of Washington, a visit with the North Dakota congressional delegation, a boat ride on the Potomac River and a dance attended by students from across the nation. If you have questions about the contest, contact Tom Rafferty at 852-0406.
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Girls to learn about nontraditional careers
DIVA Tech, a nontraditional career day for girls in eighth through 11th grade, will be held from 8:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Jan. 21 at the Northwest North Dakota Career and Technical Center attached to Minot High School-Magic City Campus. The event is free to female students. Each student will receive a free T-shirt and lunch.
The girls will be participating in hands-on activities related to computer networking and repair, auto mechanics, auto body and repair, welding, engineering and construction. These activities will be directed by program teachers and female student assistants to increase awareness of high skill, high wage educational opportunities. Bryn Halgrimson, a representative from Job Service ND, will give an NDWIN presentation featuring the occupations available in North Dakota. Parents are welcome to attend the NDWIN session.
The event is sponsored by the Minot Public Schools and funded by the Minot Public School Foundation and a "Preparing Students for Nontraditional Fields" grant from the North Dakota State Department for Career and Technical Education.
For more information and to print a registration form, go to (tinyurl.com/2012DIVA)
The deadline to register is Jan. 18.
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Applicants sought for MSU alumni scholarships
The Minot State University Alumni Association is accepting applications for its annual scholarships through Feb. 15. The scholarship application form is available online at (www.minotstateu.edu/alumni/scholarship. shtml) or a paper copy can be requested from the alumni office at 858-3234.
"We are excited to offer this opportunity to students. Last year, the MSU Alumni Association awarded over $20,000 in student scholarships, and we are committed to awarding close to the same amount this year," said Janna McKechnie, director of alumni relations and annual giving, in a press release.
Students who received an MSU Alumni Association Scholarship in the past and are junior, senior or graduate students can also apply for the Peggy Wittliff Memorial Scholarship. This $4,000 scholarship is paid over the full academic year.
For questions, contact McKechnie at 858-3234 or send e-mail to janna.mckechnie@minotstateu.edu.
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Contest open for families coping with Alzheimer's
Family caregivers know all too well the devastating effects of Alzheimer's on the families of seniors living with this incurable disease.
According to the Alzheimer's Association, an estimated 5.1 million people 65 and older have Alzheimer's disease. They likely will lose one of their most treasured possessions: memories.
The "I Will Remember for You Family Reunion Giveaway" contest recently launched by the Home Instead Senor Care network can help those families keep their memories alive.
Submit a story in either written or video format about your experience with a family member living with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias for a chance to win a family reunion. Essays and videos need to:
Share how Alzheimer's has impacted your life.
Talk about the role that memories and remembering have played in your family, especially with regard to your family member who now has or had Alzheimer's.
Share specific stories or examples of how you and your family members cope or coped with challenges of Alzheimer's disease.
Tell why you deserve to win a family reunion.
Entries must be submitted by 10:59 p.m. Jan. 31. Three finalists will be notified by a judge's panel by Feb. 15. Online voting to select the grand prize winner will occur from March 28 through June 30.
The "I Will Remember for You Family Reunion Giveaway" contest's grand prize winner will have the opportunity to experience an unforgettable family reunion. The event, funded by Home Instead, Inc., the franchise of the Home Instead Senior Care network, will include activities to help family members create and capture special memories together such as a scrapbooking and shadow box station, a memory booth to capture videos, photos or written thoughts, and assistance from a professional family historian to create a family memory anthology.
Attendance of the family member with Alzheimer's disease will be left to the discretion of the grand prize winner. If the individual with Alzheimer's does not attend, the Home Instead Senior Care network will arrange for a local office to provide the family member with in-home care services during reunion activities.
"We hope this contest will help turn some of the negative aspects associated with this disease into proactive projects that will preserve family memories for generations to come," said president and chief operating officer Jeff Huber of Home Instead, Inc.
The grand prize winner will be announced to the public in November 2012, following the family reunion event.
For more contest details, go to (www.rememberforalzheimers.com), and for additional information about Alzheimer's disease including a blog and resources, visit (www.helpforalzheimersfamilies.com).
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Book discussions planned in Williston
WILLISTON Looking for a new read this winter? The James Memorial Art Center and the Williston Community Library along with the N.D. Humanities Council are sponsoring Dakota Discussions: America by Food. This series features three books to complement the upcoming Smithsonian exhibit "Key Ingredi- ents" at the James Memorial Art Center in March and April.
January's selection is Dean Hulse's "Westhope: Life as a Former Farmboy." In this memoir, Hulse explores what the farm land means to him. February's selection is Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" which exposed meat packing industry corruption and exploitation of the working class in 1906. March's selection is Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" which explores her family's conscious choice to eat food produced locally for a year.
To obtain the first book, please stop by the Williston Community Library, 1302 Davidson Drive. "Westhope: Life as a Former Farmboy" will be available starting Monday. Books are provided on loan from the North Dakota Humanities Council and must be returned during the book discussions. Subsequent books will be distributed at the book discussions.
Participants are encouraged to read each book and attend the monthly book discussion. Participants are not required to read every book or attend every discussion. Book discussion dates are Feb. 5, March 1 and April 1 and will begin at 2 p.m. in the James Memorial Art Center, 621-1st Ave. West.
Dakota Discussions is not another book discussion group. Instead, Dakota Discussions hopes to teach people to love literature and increase the level, scope and amount of literature people consume. It strives to strengthen critical thinking skills and foster civil discourse between people by creating a space that encourages the exchange of ideas and questions.
For more information, contact the James Memorial Art Center at 774-3601 or the Williston Community Library at 774-8805.