Four middle school students from Nebraska have worked out thousands of mathematical problems and have spent hours poring over figures, all in an effort to dive into the intense competition of the national MathCounts competition in Florida next week.

Gov. Dave Heineman honored the four, two from Lincoln and two from Omaha, during a news conference in his office this morning.

They are led by their coach, Lux Middle School and Lincoln Each High School teacher Leona Penner.

“We begin practicing in about October, after school, and then we continue and it does get pretty intense as the competitions near,” Penner said.

The national competition will be held May 10-13, in Orlando, FL. The 2012 Nebraska MathCounts Champions are: from Alice Buffett Magnet Middle School is Derek Chew; from Hazel Scott Middle School is Jae Hyun Lim; from St. Vincent DePaul School is Don Nguyen and Lux Middle School is Madison Weber.

Penner said the students have combined raw talent with hard work.

“They are very intelligent students, but they didn’t get here just because they’re intelligent. They have practiced and practiced and practiced,” according to Penner.

More than 650 students entered the competition in Nebraska in February; 72 advanced to finals in March; four emerged as state champions. The national competition features 224 students from throughout the United States.

Students attending Chadron, Peru and Wayne State Colleges next year will pay more in tuition.

The Nebraska State College System Board of Trustees has approved a 3.5% increase in tuition for in-state, undergraduate students. The per credit hour cost at the three campuses will rise $4.75 for a resident undergraduate student to $71.25.

NSCS Chancellor Stan Carpenter says the board sought to keep the tuition hike as low as possible.

“In a perfect world, we’d love to not even charge tuition, but clearly we don’t live in that kind of perfect world and if we want to continue to offer the high-quality educational services we provide, we have to have resources to do that,” Carpenter tells Nebraska Radio Network. “So, it’s a balancing effect.”

Online tuition will increase from the current $10 per credit hour to $12.50. The board has approved a system-wide tuition rate for dual enrollment courses taken by high school students. It will now be set at $50 per credit hour at all three campuses.

Carpenter says the board kept in mind students in outstate Nebraska who come to Chadron, Peru and Wayne State seeking a higher education.

“We are in rural Nebraska. We anchor the corners of rural Nebraska. We are critically important to the vitality of rural Nebraska and helping to sustain rural Nebraska,” according to Carpenter. “So, those are things that are very important to the board of trustees of the Nebraska State College System and those of us who work here.”

The cost of graduate students will rise $6 per credit hour for on-campus graduate courses.

Despite dropping enrollment, Southeast Community College is moving ahead with major construction projects on several campuses.

SCC President Jack Huck says one addition to the Lincoln campus is a building combining student services, classrooms and a book store.

“Progress is excellent,” Huck says, and they’re right on target to be done in July. He says the mild winter allowed the project to move forward quickly.

SCC will also remodel the Energy Square in Lincoln, with work starting this fall.

Another project getting underway is construction of a third dormitory-apartment building on the Beatrice campus.

Huck says they should start moving dirt on that student housing project this week with it being ready in early October.

Plans are also in the works to replace the roof at the Cornhusker Hall dorm on the Milford Campus, as well as upgrades to the Lincoln Campus cafeteria.

The latest enrollment count shows SCC’s number of students has fallen 8% from last year’s fourth quarter. For the year, enrollment is down 6%.

By Doug Kennedy, KWBE, Beatrice

Nebraska schoolchildren might soon be saying the Pledge of Allegiance even though a legislative effort to make saying the pledge state law failed this session.

Not that many of them don’t say it now. Many Nebraska schools set aside time for students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, but it’s not required.

An effort in the state legislature to make it a requirement failed to gain traction this session. Now, the Nebraska Board of Education is considering exercising its rule-making authority to require school districts to set aside time for the pledge.

State Board of Education Vice President Mark Quandahl says the board is considering a requirement that each school set aside time to say the pledge.

“There’s no actual requirement that each student recite the Pledge of Allegiance,” Quandahl tells Nebraska Radio Network affiliate KLIN. “If they choose not to, they can either silently stand or remain seated, but they do need to respect the rights of those pupils electing to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance.”

The board would instruct the Department of Education to hold a public hearing on the issue. If the board approves the rule, it still would have to be approved by the Governor and the Attorney General to go into effect.