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Stephen Kind and Matthew Warren, both freshmen at Paint Branch High School, won first place in the Final Frontiers Engineering Competition for their entry in a challenge to design a tower made out of office paper and masking tape. Each tower had to support the weight of ten rolled quarters for at least ten seconds. Entries were judged based on the height of the tower divided by the weight of the tower.

Their tower, designed after the Eiffel Tower, stood over four feet tall and weighed 10.07 grams. Both students are part of the Physics 9 class at Paint Branch High School, where 9th grade students can take physics as freshmen, and biology and chemistry in their sophomore year. The Final Frontiers competition is a hands-on engineering competition hosted each year since 1992 by Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

Silver Spring resident

awarded scholarship

Silver Spring resident Meresiet Kidane has been awarded a scholarship by the Two Ten Footwear Foundation, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit dedicated to strengthening the footwear community with financial, social and educational support and services. Kidane will use the award to attend the University of Maryland in College Park.

The foundation's scholarship program was established in 1969 to provide need-based scholarships to people in the footwear, leather and allied industries. Annual awards range from $200 to $3,000 and may be renewed.

Students to hold used

car and computer sale

The Montgomery County Students Automotive Trades and Information Technology foundations will hold a used car and used computer sale 9-11 a.m. Dec. 12 at Gaithersburg High School.

All vehicles are Maryland inspected and computers are Dell Pentium IV desktops. For pricing and details, visit www.autocareers.org or www.itfcareers.org or call 301-929-2197.

All proceeds from the event will go to the Automotive Trades and Information Technology foundations. The snow date for the sale is Dec. 19.

Gaithersburg High School is located at 314 S. Frederick Ave.

For more information on the automotive or information technology programs, visit www.foundations

office.org or call 301-929-2190.

Sandy Spring Friends to hold open house, winter carnival

Sandy Spring Friends School will hold an open house and annual Winterfest fair on Saturday.

Winterfest will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., while the open house will be held from 10 a.m. to noon.

For the open house, the school requests families to arrive no later than 11 a.m. in order to have sufficient time to tour the campus. No reservations are necessary.

Those unable to attend but still interested in visiting are asked to call the admissions office at 301-774-7455, ext. 115.

Winterfest, which is free and open to the public, will feature food, music, breakfast with Frosty the Snowman, art and jewelry for sale and more.

For more information, visit www.ssfs.org.

Fundraising book fair

at Barnes & Noble

The Montgomery County Public Schools Educational Foundation in conjunction with Barnes & Noble Booksellers will hold a fundraising book fair Thursday through Saturday.

During that time, a portion of all book and music sales made at the any of the stores nationwide will be donated to the foundation. Shoppers must present a special voucher number, 595355, at the time their purchase is made.

Special events for children will be held at the Rockville Barnes & Noble Booksellers store, located in the Montrose Crossing Shopping Center at Rockville Pike and Randolph Road, during the promotion.

The events are as follows:

Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m. — "Polar Express" story time with activities and snacks.

-Dec. 5, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. — Educator Appreciation Day. Teachers will receive 25 percent off books and 10 percent off music.

-Dec. 5, 11 a.m. — Costume character and story time.

-Dec. 5, 2:30 p.m. — Reading and book signing with Shawn K. Stout, author of "Fiona Finkelstein, Big-Time Ballerina!!"

The MCPS Educational Foundation in a nonprofit organization that provides funds for programs that the annual school budget cannot support, including funding for special equipment, technology grants and programs for at-risk students.

For more information, visit www.mcpsfoundation.org.

Reading volunteers needed

The Ruth Rales Comcast Kids Reading Network is seeking volunteers to tutor second grade students in reading at public elementary schools throughout Montgomery County.

Volunteers will work with the same student for one hour each week. Training and all materials are provided.

For more information or to sign up to volunteer, call 301-279-3890 or visit www.montgomeryschoolsmd.

org/readingnetwork.

Parent advisory council meetings set

Montgomery County Public Schools' Parent Advisory Council has set its meeting schedule for the 2009-2010 school year.

The council provides input on communication and parent involvement and holds parent advocacy trainings.

All meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. at the Department of Family and Community Partnerships, 850 Hungerford Drive, Rockville. Remaining meeting dates are Jan. 11, Feb. 24, April 12 and May 12.

For more information, call 301-279-3100.

Items appropriate for this column should be sent to syarborough

@gazette.net. Items are used on a space-available basis.

School-closing procedures outlined

It's getting to be the time of year when winter weather may disrupt school operations, forcing schools to close, dismiss early or delay opening.

Announcements of school closings or delays are made as early as possible, generally in time for news broadcasts that begin at 5 a.m. If schools are closing early, the announcements are made by 11 a.m.

There are several ways to get the latest information on closings or delays.

-MCPS QuickNotes e-mail news service will send emergency information to subscribers. To sign up visit www.mcpsquicknotes.org.

-MCPS home page http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/ will display emergency announcements in bold red letters at the top of the page.

-ASK MCPS Telephone Information Center at 301-309-6277 has English- and Spanish-speaking operators available from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

-MCPS information line, 301-279-3673, has recorded information 24 hours a day.

-MCPS Cable channel 34 and local radio and TV stations will broadcast the information

-MCPS will Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcps.

-Schoolsout will text message your cell phone with school emergency information There is a fee for the service, but emergency information is available by e-mail without a fee at http://www.schoolsout.com/.