Summit Private School student, Nicholas Updike, 11, has been selected as the US Baseball Ambassador for the People to People Sports Competition in Vienna, Austria this July.
 
Updike will travel for 10 days to compete in the 2009 Youth Friendship Games.
 
People to People (www.peopletopeople.com) is an organization that provides academic and athletic foreign exchange programs designed to enhance cultural understanding and promote international friendship. Of the 2,300 international athletes, 250 baseball players between the ages of 11 and 18 were chosen from the US.
 
“Not only do the students compete in a baseball tournament, they are given the opportunity to explore Austrian culture and participate in activities
that develop ambassadorial skills, cross-cultural communication and sportsmanship,” said Dr. Susan Mike, Vice Head of Summit Private School.
 
“Nick demonstrated great leadership on our recent trip to the Montessori Model United Nations conference and he will be a wonderful representative for the US.”
 
Updike has been playing baseball since age five as a pitcher and third baseman. He currently plays on The Blaze, a local team that won the Palm Beach County District Championship for the 11/12 division in early June. Updike credits his acceptance into the People to People Sports Ambassador Program to Summit Private School, where he’s been attending since age 1.
 
Updike was interviewed about his interest in baseball as well as his opinion on ethics and morals.
 
He was also required to submit three references verifying his good character.

World Environment Day was established by the United Nations in 1972 and is observed the week of June 5 each year to promote environmentalism and save the planet.

At Summit Private School in Boca Raton, Upper Elementary students, ages 9-12 attended the Montessori Model United Nations conference and created resolutions to help reduce global warming by utilizing renewable sources of energy and focusing on energy efficiency.

Ricky Rose, a 5th grader, is taking action. At the recent Upper Elementary Science Carnival, Ricky shared his original idea to sequester carbon dioxide from the air, compress it into dry ice and then implant dry ice into glaciers to lower the melting point of the surrounding ice and therefore slow or even prevent the melting of the earth’s glaciers.

Ricky said he wants to be a scientist one day and hopes the world will benefit from his ideas.

Gatlyn Ligon, also a fifth grader, is another student compelled to make the world more energy efficient. Her science experiment was based on how to utilize solar energy to reduce the need for electricity.

She created a solar oven and then discussed the idea of harnessing the energy generated while the oven is not in use.