By Chuck Friedbauer

Pioneer Ridge Freshman Center student Rebecca Olene has been selected as a “Doodle 4 Google” regional winner.

Her artwork was selected as one of the 40 best entries in the country from a pool of thousands of submissions. Four national finalists will be decided via a public vote between Monday, May 12 and Sunday, May 18 at www.google.com/doodle4google.

Olene is invited, along with a parent or legal guardian, to attend a regional winner’s celebration at the Googleplex in Mountain View, Calif. on May 21, at which the four national finalists and the national winner, whose doodle will be displayed on the Google homepage, will be named.

The national winner will win a $10,000 college scholarship to be used at the school of their choice, a trip to the Googleplex, a laptop computer, and a T-shirt printed with their doodle.

Google will also award the winner’s school a $25,000 grant towards the establishment/improvement of a computer lab.

“The Heron” has arrived in Chaska. The sculpture, pictured Tuesday morning, is the fourth of the Chaska Arts in Public Places creations, and is located in Walden Park in Chaska’s Clover Ridge neighborhood.

It is a $21,000 metal sculpture created by artist Parker McDonald from Monticello. The funding for the new artwork comes from a Livable Communities grant from the Metropolitan Council.

McDonald is the same artist who painted the murals in the Chaska Community Center gym and pool. The Heron has been installed with the help of Public Works at Walden Park in Chaska. (Photo by Josh Hed)

Bryce Koprucki, Jenny Doan, Kristina Doan, Alyssa Gammelgaard, and David Doan (pictured left to right) plant flowers at a Christmas in May home on Saturday afternoon. The annual event helps rehabilitate homes for Chaska resident. All those pictured are CHS students except for Kristina Doan, a Macalester College student, and sister of Jenny and David. The weather, sunny with temps in the 50s, lent itself to home repair.