Education Buzz for Sunday, May 22

University High wins 10th straight National Academic Decathlon title

University High School won its 10th straight National Academic Decathlon Small School Championship title at the virtual finals in late April with a score of 36,306.80 out of a possible 48,000 points.

UHS was represented by coach Sean Canfield and team members Fayyaz Ahamed, Philip Canoza, Lillian Torres, Hanna Anderson, Lauren Antt, Joshua Stair, Michael Perales, Michael Seley and Nathaniel Whitaker.

The U.S. Academic Decathlon includes 10 events in a scholastic competition for teams of high school students.

Fresno County Office of Ed honors 8 SMART schools

Eight Fresno County schools – five from Central Unified – will be honored with the Superintedent’s Model Arts (SMART) award, the Fresno County Office of Education said.

The schools being honored are: El Capitan Middle, Harvest Elementary, Madison Elementary James K. Polk Elementary and River Bluff Elementary, Central Unified; Indianola Elementary, Selma Unified; and Jefferson Elementary and Quail Lake Environmental Charter, Sanger Unified.

The awards ceremony is May 24 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel located at 2233 Ventura St. in downtown Fresno.

The schools are receiving recognition for achieving equity and providing access to high-quality arts education programs for their students, the office of education said.

The ceremony will feature performances by students from the honored schools. The event is free and open to the public.

Clovis teacher wins special ed award

A teacher from Clovis Unified School District was honored with the Special Ed Teacher of the Year Award on May 11 at a banquet sponsored by Fresno State’s Kremen School of Education

Meaghan Young, a resource specialist program teacher at Gettysburg Elementary School, was given the award at the Carolyn Dobbs Special Education Teacher of the Year Banquet.

UCLA honors grad Rafer Johnson

Rafer Johnson, the Kingsburg High School graduate who went on to become a two-time Olympian and later helped start Special Olympics, has a new honor: the UCLA Medal.

That title was bestowed on him May 17 in recognition of his work with Special Olympics.

Johnson went to UCLA and earned a degree in physical education. He got a silver medal in the 1956 Olympics as a decathlete, and then won the gold in the competition four years later. As captain of the U.S. Olympic team, he was the first African American to carry the American flag during opening ceremonies.

The UCLA Medal was established in 1979 as a way to honor graduates whose work exemplifies the ideals of the university.

FCOE receives $100,000 arts grant

The Fresno County Office of Education is receiving a $100,000 Arts Work grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

FCOE will use the grant to expand the Any Given Child program to rural school districts that are bringing back the arts for students.

Any Given Child is a partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts that leverages community resources to provide a high-quality arts education for all transitional kindergarten through eighth grade students.

Welty scholarship started at CHSU

California Health Sciences University has established the John Welty and Sharon Brown-Welty Scholarship Endowment with an initial anonymous pledge of $50,000.

The pledge and a goal to increase the endowment to $500,000 was announced during a reception honoring the Weltys for their efforts to increase access to higher education in the Valley.

John Welty served as president of Fresno State from 1991 until his retirement in 2013.

CHSU was founded by the Assemi family in 2012. It plans to open up to 10 post-graduate colleges to train health care professionals.

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Education Buzz for Sunday, May 22."