Andover High School senior Emma Yu has been recognized as a top scholar by three national organizations.

• The U. S. Presidential Scholars program named Yu a Emma Yu candidate, one of the nation ' s highest honors for high school students. Around 650 students are named candidates and the Commission selects up to 161 U. S. Presidential Scholars each year.

• Yu was recently named a 2026 Coke Scholar by the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. Yu was one of 150 students who will receive a $ 20,000 scholarship from Coca-Cola. She was selected from an initial pool of over 107,000 applications across the country of students who exemplify superior leadership, service, and academics, who are change agents positively affecting others in their communities.

• She was also recently named a National Merit Scholarship finalist and is in the running to earn one of 2,500 scholarships for $ 2,500.

Yu is also the founder and executive director of Asian American Pacific Islander( AAPI) Youth Voices, a youth-led 501( c) 3 non-profit organization committed to empowering young individuals to express themselves and celebrate their culture, traditions, languages, and more. n

Ten Anoka-Hennepin student-athletes have been nominated for the Minnesota State High School League( MSHSL) Triple A Award for the 2025-26 school year.

Each year, the MSHSL honors studentathletes who excel in Academics( 3.0 GPA or better), Athletics( at least one MSHSLsponsored athletic activity) and Arts( MSHSLsponsored debate, one-act play, speech, visual arts, and instrumental or vocal music). The award is given to one senior female and one senior male in the state.

Alison Oswell

Sadie Heger Kayden Larson

Anoka, Blaine, Champlin Park and Coon Rapids high schools represent Region 5AA while Andover High School is in Region 7AA for the MSHSL Triple“ A” Award.

Each school in the state can nominate one senior female and one senior male student for consideration. Triple“ A” Award recipients are selected through a multi-level process involving member schools of the league, the league’ s administrative regions, and a special committee of educators, business leaders, and members from the fine arts and athletics communities. n

Sydney Burnevik Tennyson Smith

Wesley Anderson

Jack Zellmer

Nicholas Keenan

Jack Bridenstine

Blaine High School( BHS) juniors Danica Scofield, Taison Scofield, Lincoln Vang, Amogh Patil, and Cayden Moua earned second-place honors at the America’ s Future Summit held March 9-10 in Willmar, Minn. The summit aims to empower the next generation of student leaders, approaching the nation’ s 250th anniversary.

The team competed against other student leaders from across the state, earning a $ 1,000 prize to fund a clean-energy solution. The summit, coordinated by the pro-democracy nonprofit Civic Bridgers, was designed to equip students with the collaborative skills needed to solve pressing civic challenges through expert mentoring and hands-on workshops.

The event highlighted the impact of civic leadership programs that encourage students to bridge connections and drive positive change. n

This year’ s theme was " My Vision of Kindness." Students were encouraged to create a poster with that message in mind, and they delivered a variety of themes to spread kindness in their schools. Over 150 posters representing each school’ s winning submissions advanced to the final balloting and the winning entrants were awarded at the January 26 Anoka-Hennepin School Board meeting. The selected artwork is shared on the district website and displayed in schools across the district. Winning entrants include:

• Landon Daly, kindergarten, McKinley Elementary.

• Brynlee Jarvis, first grade, McKinley Elementary.

• Gabe Zuk, second grade, McKinley Elementary.

• Maggie Purves, third grade, Oxbow Creek Elementary.

• Liam Miller, fourth grade, Sunrise Elementary.

• Jenny Chen, fifth grade, Jefferson Elementary.

ANOKA-HENNEPIN SCHOOLS PREPARE STUDENTS FOR LIFE.

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Art by Maggie Purves, third grader, Oxbow Creek Elementary

• Kirra Davis, sixth grade, Oak View Middle School.

• Madeline Parrott, seventh grade, Anoka Middle School for the Arts.

• Amelia Lynch, eighth grade, Anoka Middle School for the Arts.

• Fatima Muhamed, ninth grade, Blaine High School.

The annual kindness poster

• Caring teachers- make meaningful connections and support students.

• Schools of choice- award-winning specialty and magnet options focus on arts, science, math, engineering. contest helps create a safe and welcoming environment for students by promoting kindness and antibullying. The contest promotes kindness as a positive call to action to counteract the negative impact of bullying, and Anoka-Hennepin’ s core values of respect, responsibility, appreciation of diversity, integrity, and compassion are the basis of kindness. n

• Rigorous academic options- opportunities to explore college and career pathways.

• Activities and programs help students feel connected and inspired.