Kenmore Middle School sixth grader Inmar Castillo-Hernandez received the AAA National Lifesaving Medal. Castillo-Hernandez is one of eight students nationally to receive the award. Castillo-Hernandez was nominated for his actions as a fifth grade safety patrol at Carlin Springs Elementary School. He patrolled the bus loop at Carlin Springs where on June 12, he pulled a Pre-K student out of harm’s way during dismissal. As a teacher was leading a line of students to the bus, one child broke free from the line and started running toward the bus lane. Castillo-Hernandez stopped the child and pulled her back onto the sidewalk, preventing her from entering the lane where a bus was moving forward. The three teachers who witnessed the act stated that if Castillo-Hernandez had not reacted as quickly as he did, the child would have been seriously injured. The awards ceremony will take place on May 30 at the AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Foundation for Safety & Education annual Outstanding Safety Patrol luncheon in Baltimore.

The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers announced that 15 APS students have received recognition in the National Scholastics Art Competition.

Gold Medal:

Wakefield High School junior Emily Hambridge: Stripped (Mixed Media)

Yorktown High School junior Lincoln Matta: Exhaustion (Drawing)

Wakefield High School junior Mohammed Rahman: My Possessions (Drawing)

Yorktown High School senior Bri Sandoval: Super Nova (Drawing) & Transhumanism (Drawing) (2 awards)

H-B Woodlawn senior Helen Westergren: Paper Construction (Fashion)

Silver Medal:

Washington Lee High School senior Margaret Barry: Girl Considers Skull (Painting)

Wakefield High School junior Tess Canino: 2013 Dinosaur Calendar (Design)

Yorktown High School junior Griselda de leon: Bullied (Ceramics & Glass)

Yorktown High School senior Zana Gankhuyag: Phantom (Printmaking)

Yorktown High School junior Maddie Harple: Fractured (Ceramics & Glass)

H-B Woodlawn eighth grader Brian Mctyre: Crack Of Light (Photography)

Wakefield High School junior Marina Ralph: Gently Down The Stream (Photography)

Washington Lee High School junior Natalia Rodas-Calderon: Old Man (Painting)

American Vision Medal:

Wakefield High School senior Rossnelly Salazar: Third Wheel (Drawing)

Arlington Career Center students won 80 medals at regional SkillsUSA competitions on Jan 26.

Culinary Arts District Competition – Jan. 26

Culinary Arts Gold – Dameyon Dalante

Culinary Arts Bronze – Salina Ogbe

Food Preparation Assistant Gold – Patrick Dassira

Food Preparation Assistant Silver – John Hoye

SkillsUSA District Competition – Jan. 29

Job Interview Gold – Aisha Farooq and Darby Grover

Job Interview Silver – Kalyn McNulty

Auto Maintenance Gold – Aaron Herrera

Auto Maintenance Silver – Frank Painter III

Automotive Service Technology Bronze – Cristian Gudiel

Photography Gold – Ai Van Thi

Photography Silver – Dakota Crawford and Jimmy Adams

Photography Bronze – John Pagan and Eric Michael Berthold

Commercial Baking Silver – Sylvia Ali

Nail Care Technology Gold – Charlotte Hepler

Broadcast News SkillsUSA District Competition – Feb. 9

Radio Communications Pre-produced Gold – McKenzie Nelson, Charles Phillips, Manny Vasquez, Hugh Vasquez, Andrew Wagner, Joey Cimento, Jeremy Cannon and Crosby Sensibaugh

Television (Video) Production Gold – Jeremy Cannon, Evan Horowitz, David Aronson, Crosby Sensibaugh, Peter Brown and Maryam Oukib

Television (Video) Production Silver – Emily Bennett and Fred Wolf

Television Broadcast News Gold – Jeremy Cannon, Sarah Grabman, Darby Grover, Evan Horowitz, Julia Harris, Maryam Oukib, Jasmine Robinson, Peter Brown, Joey Cimento, Kyle Lusby, Karin Rojas-Grajeda and Fred Wolf

Television Production Cut Only Gold – Jeremy Cannon, Crosby Sensibaugh, Evan Horowitz, Brian Kaplan, Sarah Grabman, Jasmine Robinson, Austin Harple, Julia Harris, Emily Bennett, Maryam Oukib and Peter Brown

Television Production Cut Only Bronze – Jonathan Veizaga, Kelvin Bonilla Clavijo, Michael Ali, Karin Rojas-Grajeda, and Patrick Rath

Television Production Special Effects Gold – Jeremy Cannon, Evan Horowitz, McKenzie Nelson, David Aronson and Sarah Grabman

Television Production Special Effects Silver – Ivan Kurilla, Sandra Medrano and Darby Grover

Television Production Special Effects Bronze – Hugh Vasquez and Manuel Vasquez

3-D Animation Gold – Enkh-Amar Tserendorj, Jordan Lymus, Jeremy Crawford and Austin Tyras-Reed

Ad Design Gold – Linda Hernandez, Yanina Saavedra, Kevyn McNew, Juan Pablo Lozan and Ochirnyam Baasandorj

The following students were named to the Dean's List for the fall 2012 semester at Washington University in St. Louis. Claudia Sara Landazabal and Shelby Leigh Tarkenton.

Wakefield High School junior Madeline Brophy, Teen Parenting Program senior Karla Vasquez and Washington-Lee High School senior Henry Conklin participated in Poetry Out Loud’s Virginia Region 4A competition at Signature Theatre on Feb. 22. The students won their school-level competitions in December. Conklin won the regional competition and represented APS at the state competition in Richmond on March 14. He was eliminated in the third round.

Elizabeth Wahle of Arlington, a member of the class of 2016 at Providence College, recently spent a week working with Habitat for Humanity as part of the College's Alternative Spring Break 2013 program. More than 230 Providence College students participated through the Habitat campus chapter at Providence College. Wahle worked on a home project in Cleveland, Ohio.

Ashley Fredericks, Mary Harford and Kathleen McLean have been named to the fall 2012 dean’s list at Eckerd College.

Nathan Hughes, a first-year student majoring in mechanical engineering, has been named a Charles O. Thompson Scholar at Worcester Polytechnic Institute for the 2012-2013 academic year.

The following Virginia Tech students were among those honored at the university's fall commencement ceremony held Dec. 21, 2012, in Cassell Coliseum: Emmanuel Deleon received a bachelor of science degree in psychology from the College of Science. David Keegan received a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from the College of Engineering. Martin Monnard received a bachelor of science degree in business in hospitality and tourism management from the Pamplin College of Business. Laura Gutierrez received a bachelor of arts degree in international studies from the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. Aurora Martin received a bachelor of arts degree magna cum laude in chemistry from the College of Science. Egziael Buzuayehu received a bachelor of science in civil engineering degree in civil engineering from the College of Engineering. Michael Binkley received a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from the College of Engineering. Ryan Buescher received a bachelor of science cum laude degree in economics from the Pamplin College of Business. Elizabeth Daly received a bachelor of science degree in hospitality and tourism management from the Pamplin College of Business.

Jessica Neupane, the daughter of Ram and Goma Neupane, participated in the 37th Annual Military School Band Festival on Feb. 22-24. She played the flute in the band. She is a sophomore at Randolph-Macon Academy.

Washington-Lee High School senior Luisa Banchoff and Yorktown High School junior Olivia Stavrou both received Scholastic Writing Awards. Banchoff has earned a gold medal for her senior portfolio for the second year in a row. Only fifteen students in the country received this honor, which comes with a $10,000 scholarship. Additionally, Stavrou received a silver medal for dramatic script.

The following students have been named to the dean’s list at Savannah College of Art and Design: Kimberly Davies, Mary Hudgins, May Li Lynch and Aubrey Metcalfe

On Sunday, March 24, Hampden-Sydney College senior Zachary James Madison was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society for college men and women. Zach serves as a Resident Advisor, played shortstop/second base on the varsity baseball team his first three years at H-SC, and was named to the All-ODAC Academic Baseball Team each of those years. He is a member of the Big Brother Program, the honor society Sigma Tau Delta (English) and the social fraternity Phi Gamma Delta. An English major, he is a graduate of Yorktown High School and is the son of George and Carol Madison.

Jeffrey Culver is the recipient of a 2013 Rochester Institute of Technology Distinguished Alumni Award.

Culver, who graduated from RIT in 1982 with a degree in criminal justice, is the director of corporate security for the World Bank, where he is responsible for the safety and security of the bank's operations and personnel in Washington, D.C., and in 128 country and regional offices around the world. Prior to that, he spent 24 years working for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

David Cooper, Julia Fairweather, Thomas Newman and Jenny Chan were named to the dean’s list at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Dana Warnecke and Justin Guastaferro earned a spot on an honors list at Purdue University.

Joseph Molinaro recently graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Molinaro earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in industrial design.

Corey D. Grant is a recipient of the National Achievement Scholarship, worth $2,500. Corey is a student at Wakefield High School and interested in computer engineering.

Kathleen McLean, a member of the class of 2015 at Eckerd College, was one of 30 sophomores to be named a Peter Pav Freshman Scholar by Eckerd's Phi Beta Kappa chapter, Zeta of Florida. McLean is pursuing a degree in international relations and global affairs.

Emil Christensen presented research at the Colonial Academic Alliance Conference at the University of Delaware. Christensen, a junior physics major at James Madison University, presented on “Understanding Supermassive Black Hole Accretion Through H2O Nega-Maser Statistics.”

Wakefield High School senior Corey Grant was named a National Achievement Scholarship winner. Grant will receive a $2,500 scholarship underwritten by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Katie Svoboda, a 6th grade student at Saint Ann Catholic School was one of 600 students to enter the KidsPost Poetry Competition. Her poem, “The Journey for Toast” was selected as one of 10 published in the April 21 issue of the KidsPost section of the Washington Post.

Oyudari Baatartsogt, a student at Northern Virginia Community College, has been awarded a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. She will graduate summa cum laude from NOVA in May 2013 with an associate of arts degree in psychology. A native of Mongolia, Baatartsogt came to the United States in 2008 to complete her senior year of high school as an exchange student in Mechanicsville, Va. She enrolled at NOVA in 2010 to study psychology – an area of interest she plans to continue to pursue at both the bachelor and master’s level. Baatartsgot, an honors student, has not selected a college to attend yet. She is waiting to hear back from Stanford University, Cornell University and Georgetown University. While at NOVA, Baatartsogt was involved with various activities, including the Student Government Association and the International Club. She was also a tutor at the Alexandria Campus’ Academic Center for Excellence.

The following local students recently were initiated into the honor society of Phi Kappa Phi: Anne Buckalew, David Elliot, Lori O'Neill, Jessica Rimer, Patricia Happ and Kathrine Kirstein.

Arlington Public Schools has been awarded the Bronze Level of Distinction for excellent performance in the Healthier U.S. School Challenge. APS will receive a $16,000 monetary award that will be split among 32 schools so that they can continue to serve healthy meals. Each APS school will receive a plaque signed by a USDA official and a banner to display in their school.

Yorktown High School sophomore Margaret Doyle was awarded first place in the animal science category at the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair earlier this month. Doyle was also awarded a second place society award from the Virginia Tech Undergraduate Statistics Club.

In addition, Washington-Lee High School junior Mishu Barua and freshman Marisa Shotwell were both recognized as science talent award winners by the Virginia Dental Association at the fair. Yorktown High School students Henry Love and Julian Thomassie received the U.S. Army Award in engineering, environmental science, earth science, math, computer science, physical sciences, and the life sciences, engineering.

Justin Grover graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a master of science degree in computing security and information assurance from RIT's B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences in the winter 2012-13 quarter.

Zachary Raff is a doctoral student in economics and was named a Self Graduate Fellow, 2012-2016 at University of Kansas’ awards ceremony.

Seven 4th grade students from Key Elementary School won first prize in the Virginia State Odyssey of the Mind competition on April 13 in Aldie, Va. By winning, they will advance to the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals at Michigan State University, May 22-25. The Key team worked on a problem called “The Pet Project.” To solve the problem, the team engineered and built three different vehicles to carry parts to an assembly area where a pet was put together. They presented the problem in the form of a skit, for which they wrote a script and created props and scenery. The team also performed in the spontaneous part of the competition where they had less than eight minutes to learn about and solve a problem. Team members who will be competing in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals are Grace Danaceau, Malva de Boor, Lily Dropkin, Jackson Gray, Avery O’Kane, Joshua Rosenberg, and Anna Wood. They were coached by Geneva Moores.

The Virginia/Washington, D.C., affiliate of the National Center for Women in IT held its second annual Award for Aspirations in Computing ceremony March 23 at the Virginia Tech Research Center -- Arlington, honoring a high school teacher and 14 high school students for their efforts to, respectively, teach and learn computer science. Kyla Bouldin of Washington-Lee High School was one of the students honored.

Alaina Ford graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from Flagler College.

This summer, 25 Arlington Public School students will attend the Governor’s School for Academics, Mentorship, Visual and Performing Arts or the Foreign Language Academy. To gain admittance to the program, students had to apply and go through a highly competitive process. Students applying for the visual and performing arts program were also required to complete an arts audition at the district level. Then candidates moved on to compete at the state level.

Governor’s School for Academics, Mentorship, Visual and Performing Arts:

H-B Woodlawn: Christopher Arthur, math/science/technology; Ariana Chaivaranon, math/science/technology; Matthew Cleaveland, math/science/technology; Christine DeRieux, agriculture; Charles Mai, arts; and Marisa Wright, arts. Wakefield: Madeleine Megargee, math/science/technology and Lena Mobin, arts. Washington-Lee: Mishu Barua, math/science/technology; Hannah Fitzmaurice, humanities; Annika MacEwen, math/science/technology; Adriana Mitchell, humanities; Meredith Sweeney, arts; Nathan Ullberg, arts; Sterling Webster, arts and Maria Winchell, humanities.

Governors’ Foreign Language Academy

H-B Woodlawn: Undrakh Demberel, Spanish and Noah Goodwin, French. Washington-Lee: Sarah Angell, French and Dagny Hankins, Japanese. Yorktown: Madeleine Donovan, Spanish; Hanna Halleck-Pinkleton, German; Elana Margois, French; James Patton, Latin and Nicholas Rudman, Latin.

The Civic Coalition for Minority Affairs will honor 91 African and African-American Arlington Public School students in its 21st annual awards ceremony. The Civic Coalition for Minority Affairs is a council of representatives from civic, religious and social organizations of Northern Virginia. Committed to excellence in education, the group endeavors to foster high academic achievement through its annual awards ceremony honoring high achieving African and African-American students in grades 5, 8 and 11. This year's winners include:

Elementary Grade 5: Kristen Alleyne, Oakridge; Galilee Ambellu, ASFS; Ablaaza Andargachew, Campbell; Kalkidan Ausink, Long Branch; Trinity Chambers-Puryear, Claremont; Benjamin Charles, ATS; Tamari Coles, Oakridge; Kiera Collins-Joseph, Claremont; Cameron Cummins-Smith, Glebe; Aaliyah Dade, Drew; Markos Daget, Campbell; Agasi Desta, ASFS; Xaviar Goodman, Barcroft; Mia Hakken, Oakridge; Chelsie Harris, Abingdon; Ethan Hemmings, Henry; Ishaq Ishaq, Henry; Truniya Joaquin, Drew; Charlotte Joyner, Abingdon; Kayla Fluitt, Randolph; Camille Lewis, Abingdon; Sarah Mbayo, Oakridge; Isaiah Mefford, Abingdon; Matthewos Mesfin, Abingdon; Eman Noraga, Long Branch; Frances Osugi, Claremont; Addison Phelps, Jamestown; Jade Taylor, Drew; Ashton Taylor, Drew; Treyvon Todd, Long Branch; Summer Grace Williams, ATS;

Ajani Wilson, Randolph; Noh Woldeyseus, ASFS; and Yohana Yilma, Barcroft.

Middle School Grade 8: Kylin Adams, Gunston; Ananiya Admassu, Gunston; Tasnim Alam, Jefferson; Syed Anderson, Jefferson; Abenazer Bayou, Swanson; Christian Clark, Jefferson; Jordan Dixon, Williamsburg; Jauhmar Ellick-McAllister, Gunston; Jayda Glenn-Dickerson, Kenmore; Yordanos Kassa, Kenmore; Summer Matlack, Gunston; Dorothee Mulumba, Swanson; Jamel Northover, Williamsburg; Peace Pius, Swanson; Nadia Rhodes, Jefferson; Leana Spain, Jefferson; Heaven Swinson, Jefferson; Zeru Tadesse, Kenmore; Michal Tefera, Gunston; Helen Teklu, Gunston; Biruktawit Tibebe, Gunston; Gregory Turner, Kenmore; Christine Wanda, H-B Woodlawn; Nia Webb, Kenmore; and Haben Yosief, Jefferson.

High School Grade 11: Kidist Asegahegn, Wakefield; Biruktawit Assefa, H-B Woodlawn;

Daniel Brown, Wakefield; Chelsey Coles, Wakefield; Bethlehem Demissie, Washington-Lee; Moussa Dia, Washington-Lee; Lysa Diarra, Washington-Lee; Marquise Downs, Washington-Lee; Yoel Fessahaye, Wakefield; Selasi Fynn, Washington-Lee; Nevyat Gebru, Washington-Lee; Sofonias Getachew, Washington-Lee; Tsion Habtamu, Wakefield; Natsinet Haile, H-B Woodlawn; Noah Harrington, H-B Woodlawn; Derek Henderson, Washington-Lee; Joshua Inyangson, Washington-Lee; Dawit Jabessa, Washington-Lee; Haiylu Kibret, Yorktown; De’Jah Lee, Washington-Lee; Kendall Logan, Yorktown; Alaa Mohamed Ali, Washington-Lee; Kirsten Pettaway, Wakefield; Edna Samron, Washington-Lee; Naomi-Michela Simatos, Washington-Lee; Mia Turner, Wakefield; Mikayla Venson, Yorktown; Craig Wanda, Washington-Lee; Marisa Wright, H-B Woodlawn; Misrak Yifru, H-B Woodlawn; Tesay Yusuf, Wakefield; and Nia Zekan, Washington-Lee.

Kirby Elyse Wright received a bachelor of science in business administration degree from the College of Business Administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln at commencement exercises May 3-4, 2013.