Paul Strauss of Oak Bluffs will retire on June 30 from his seats on the Dukes County Commission, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and Dukes County Charter Study Commission.

In a letter read at the county commission’s Wednesday meeting, Mr. Strauss stated that his decision to retire “is based solely on age and age-related health care issues.” He did not attend the meeting.

Mr. Strauss, a World War II veteran who has worked in public service for most of his life, is 81.

The gibbous moon moves through the southern sky in the evenings ahead. On Monday night the moon appears right under the bright red star Antares in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius. Antares is one of the largest and distant stars visible in our evening sky. The star is 600 light years away, twice the distance astronomy books estimated 20 years ago. The star is 10,000 times more luminous than our own Earth. For purposes of comparison, if Antares were our sun, the star’s size exceeds that of Mars’s orbit. Antares is truly a big star. Among astronomers it is called a super giant.

Student journalists at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School won 10 major scholastic journalism awards at the annual New England Scholastic Press Association conference held recently at Boston University. The 10 journalism awards tied a school record for most awards earned during one school year.

The association program offers awards for excellence in scholastic writing, editing, and publishing, and is open to all New England secondary schools.

The following Tisbury School students received honors for the third quarter:

Sixth Grade High Honors: Callie Jackson, Emily Medeiros, Jacqueline Menton and Barra Peak.

Sixth Grade Honors: Gabe Bergeron, Taymon Brown, Isabella Canham, Aaron Figueroa, Nathaniel Horwitz, Lorrane Menezes, Shane Metters, Jade Pine, Goncalo Rego, Gabrielle Silva, Kyle Stobie, Jennifer Tripp and Kristina Ward,

Exchange Student Program

Seeks Area Host Families

The Academic Foundation for International Cultural Exchange is seeking community representatives and host families for the organization.  Community representatives find host families for cultural exchange students and work with these students during the schoolyear.  Representatives must enjoy working with teenagers and have good communication skills.

Twenty-seven Tisbury School 5th grade students visited the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill in Boston on June 4.

The class was invited by Nell Coogan, herself a former Tisbury School student. Ms. Coogan, who lives in Oak Bluffs and Boston, works as associate counsel to the state Senate Ways and Means Committee. Along with fifth grade teachers John Custer and Greg Coogan, she helped organize the trip and visit.

A subcommittee of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission on Wednesday launched an ambitious plan to create an Islandwide wastewater management study, which among other things is expected to call for a more regional approach to sewage treatment and the reduction of nitrogen loading into coastal ponds.

The Water Resource Work Group — a subset of the Island Plan, an initiative of the commission — hosted an informational meeting at the Olde Stone Building in Oak Bluffs that was attended by wastewater and conservation officials from all six towns.

Students Graduate

Hanss Buder, son of Lynn and Karl Buder of Vineyard Haven, has graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Duke University in Durham, N.C.

Mickaela Gray of Edgartown received a bachelor’s degree during May commencement ceremonies at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vt. She majored in community and international development.

Red Cross Receives Grant

The Edward Bangs and Elza Bangs Kelley Foundation Inc. has provided a $7,500 grant to the Cape Cod and Islands Chapter of the American Red Cross to support the Training For Life Program.

The program is aimed at developing American Red Cross community scholarships to train high school students in first aid and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

More information is available by calling 508-775-1540 or visiting capecodandislandsredcross.org.

The Rev. Thomas C. Lopes, a Vineyard native who has been ordained for 43 years, will retire as pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, North Easton, on June 24.

Father Lopes, who will turn 70 in August, plans to retire to the Island. He intends to assist at churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River with the celebration of Masses and other priestly services.

A 1956 graduate of Tisbury High School, he studied for the priesthood at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, Conn., and at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton. He was ordained a priest in 1965.