Voluntary prekindergarten

The Osceola County School District’s Voluntary Prekindergarten Program (VPK) will run Monday through Friday, June 15 through July 29, from 7:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. at two locations: Osceola Center for Early Learning at the Ross Jeffries Education Center and Chambers Park Community Center.

This free program is open to incoming kindergarten-age students who have not already attended a VPK program. The prekindergarten administrative office will remain open five days a week throughout the summer to support the VPK program.

Teachers receive national recognition

Three outstanding Osceola County educators have been selected as Summer Scholars from a national applicant pool to attend one of 34 summer study opportunities supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The teachers are:

• Rachel Slone, teacher at Osceola High School, will participate in a workshop entitled “America’s Industrial Revolution.” The one-week program will be at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. The 80 teachers selected to participate in this program will each receive a $1,200 stipend to help cover their travel, study and living expenses.

• Alissa Jean, teacher at Bellalago Academy, will participate in a workshop entitled “Abraham Lincoln and the Forging of Modern America.” The one-week program will be at the Southern Illinois University campus in Springfield, Ill. The 80 teachers selected to participate in this program will each receive a $1,200 stipend to help cover their travel, study and living expenses.

• Alyson LeBlanc, social studies resource teacher for the Osceola County School District, will participate in an institute entitled “Mesoamerican Cultures and Their Histories: Spotlight on Oaxaca!” This four-week program will be in Oaxaca, Mexico. The 30 teachers selected to participate in the program will each receive a stipend of $3,300 to cover their travel, study and living expenses.

The Endowment is a federal agency that each summer supports seminars and institutes at colleges, universities and cultural institutions so that teachers can study with experts in humanities disciplines.

Topics for the 34 seminars and institutes offered for teachers this summer include: the art of cartography; economic history; topics in philosophy; American feminism; Dante, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain, Steinbeck; John James Audubon; Islamic Iberia, Spanish literature and art; punishment, politics, and culture; the American frontier experience; World War II; archaeology of the Americas; modern French drama; history and cultures of Appalachia, and the Himalayan region; Mozart, Motown; American popular music; Mexican and Latino history and cultures; slavery and abolitionism; and teaching Italian through art.

The approximately 715 NEH Summer Scholars who participate in these programs of study will teach almost 90,000 American students the following year.

Fire at Polo Run Apartments Friday

The Kissimmee Fire Department at about 2 p.m. Friday responded to a fire at the Polo Run Apartments on Central Avenue.

The flames were confined to one apartment, causing severe burns to one occupant, who was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Two other people were treated at the scene for minor injuries. The cause of the fire is under investigation and the state fire marshal has been notified.