The Soldotna Elementary School gym was turned into an exhibition floor Wednesday as students participated in activities they don’t normally get the chance to.

It was Disability Awareness Day — an opportunity for students from Soldotna Elementary and Soldotna Montessori to learn new skills those with disabilities use on a day-to-day basis.

“Everybody is good at something and has difficulty with something, so that’s kind of the motto — walking in someone else’s shoes for the day,” Tonja Updike, the event’s coordinator, said.

Poker for pretzel sticks. 

That’s just one of the ways Drake Thomas and his Kenai Middle School MathCounts team learned probability.

Something must have clicked.

The team from KMS, comprised of Ean Atchley, David Beck, Mikaela Salzetti and Thomas took first place at the statewide MathCounts Finals on March 31 in Anchorage. Thomas placed first in the individual category, which will send him to the national competition at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. May 10-13. He will be among 224 participants from all 50 states.

The Great Alaska Seafood Cook-Off will feature an amateur recipe division this year.

The competition, put on by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, usually only involves professional chefs, but this year, there will be an amateur recipe competition as well.

“We got a lot of questions from folks that weren’t professional chefs but thought that they had a handle on cooking great seafood,” ASMI communications director Tyson Fick said. “So we thought this is a good chance to do that.”

When Cameron Grothe bit into his Dairy Queen chocolate-dipped vanilla ice cream cone Wednesday, his face lit up like he was reunited with an old friend.  

“I definitely remember this,” Grothe, 18, said. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time — it’s really good.”

The cone was the first one served up during the official grand reopening of the Soldotna Dairy Queen Wednesday. The eatery, and neighboring Alaska Fudge and Gifts were destroyed by a fire in June. Wednesday also marked the opening of Gifts and Gadgets, which replaced the fudge shop.