Five Auburn schools were awarded the Picturing America Grant, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities, conducted in cooperation with the American Library Association.

Auburn Mountainview and West Auburn high schools, and Cascade, Olympic and Mt. Baker middle schools will implement the Picturing America program in the fall.

The innovative program brings masterpieces of American art into classrooms and libraries nationwide. Students and citizens will gain a deeper appreciation of America’s history and character through the study and understanding of its art.

MS chapter

awards scholarships

One-hundred Washington state students who have multiple sclerosis or whose parents have the disease have been awarded scholarships from the National MS Society, the Greater Washington Chapter has announced. Auburn’s Matthew Malkowicz is a first-year recipient, while Maariet Schmid is a second-year recipient.

The scholarships, totaling $300,000, were made possible by contributions from a number of sources, including The O’Donnell Family Foundation, Schoenfeld Gardner Foundation, Lockwood Foundation, The Norcliffe Foundation and Alfred and Tillie Shemanski Testamentary Trust.

The annual program was established in 2005 specifically for students in Washington state.

Recipients were selected based on academic performance, financial need, volunteer and extracurricular activities, and essays they wrote about the impact MS has had on their lives.