Peninsula People
Blanchard named AP Scholar
Joseph Carroll Blanchard II, a 2003 Soldotna High School graduate, was named an AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition of his exceptional achievement on the college-level advance placement program exams.
The program offers students the opportunity to take college-level courses while in high school and receive college and-or AP credit for successful performance on the exams, which were taken in May 2003.
Blanchard received the AP Scholar award by completing three or more exams with scores of 3 or higher. He was awarded 20 college credits at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he currently is enrolled in the honors program. He is the son of Joseph and Kathy Blanchard of Soldotna.
Queen graduates with honors
Russel Q. Queen
Russell Q. Queen graduated in August with honors from Philadelphia University in Philadelphia with a bachelor's degree and certificate of physician assistant studies. During his senior year, he was enrolled in an accelerated program that required him to attend yearround. While attending, he was named to the dean's list for academic excellence in the fall of 2002 and summer of 2003.
He recently completed his final emergency medicine rotation at Central Peninsula General Hospital, under the sponsorship of Dr. Chris Mickelson and Dr. Robert Ledda and currently is a physician assistant for an orthopedic surgery group.
Queen is the son of Don and Judy Queen of Nikiski, and the grandson of Quindell, Lorraine Queen and Helen Hargis-Coble, all of Kenai.
Rahlfs helps lead college forensics
Aaron W. Rahlfs of Soldotna recently was elected vice president of the forensics organization at South Dakota University for the 2003-04 school year.
He also is a member of the SDSU speech and debate team. In recent competition he placed third, along with his partner, in parliamentary debate, fourth in extemporaneous speaking and 12th as the debate speaker.
Rahlfs is an English, communications and theater major. He also is active in the criminal justice club and Pi Kappa Delta.
He is the son of Terry and Sherrie Rahlfs and a 2001 graduate of Kenai Central High School.
Peyton-Warner officially a Marine
Marine Corps Pvt. Matthew T. Peyton-Warner recently completed 12 weeks of basic training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.
He began training at 5 a.m. by running three miles and performing calisthenics. He also spent numerous hours in the classroom and field assignments, learning first aid, uniform regulations, combat water survival, marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat and assorted weapons training.
In addition, he received instruction on the Marine Corps values honor, courage and commitment and what the words mean in guiding personal and professional conduct.
The training concluded with The Crucible, a 54-hour team exercise culminating in a ceremony naming the recruits as Marines for the first time.
Peyton-Warner is the son of Margaret L. Warner of Powers, Ore. and Karl A. Warner of Soldotna. He is a 2003 graduate of Powers High School in Powers, Ore.