Briefly

Book battle brewing

All 28 Kent School District elementary schools will be represented at the district’s long-running “Battle of the Books” competition June 6 at Glenridge Elementary School, located at 19405 120th Ave. S.E. in Renton.

Lake Youngs Elementary School is the defending champion in the seventh-year event, which began in 2002 with three schools participating and has grown each year.

The Battle of the Books reading incentive program encourages students to carefully read quality books. Student teams collaborate to remember important plot elements as librarians challenge them with questions. Multiple teams within each building compete for the right to represent their school in the district finals.

Past Kent winners include Grass Lake Elementary, Meridian Elementary, Emerald Park Elementary, Sawyer Woods Elementary, Emerald Park Elementary and Lake Youngs Elementary. For more information, visit www.kent.k12.wa.us/library/botb/botb.htm.

Writer wins contest

Cedar Heights Middle School student Steven Weier recently placed first in the fifth- through eighth-grade writing category of the Jacob Friedman Holocaust Writing & Art Contest.

Weier received a $200 award for his victory May 4 at the Holocaust Remembrance Day Community Program at the Herzl Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation on Mercer Island. All first-place winners in the writing contest had the opportunity to read an excerpt from their entry during the program.

The contest is open to students in grades 5-12 in Washington, and this year there were almost 800 entries from over 70 schools. throughout the state. This contest provides students with a creative means to express their feelings and demonstrate their knowledge through writing and art. It gives students the opportunity to reflect on the Holocaust and to understand how its lessons impact their lives.