Six Highline students are among the 260 talented juniors from across the state accepted into the first phase of Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS).

Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS) is an educational program for high school juniors from across Washington. The WAS program emphasizes science, technology, engineering, and math, and encourages students to consider careers in these fields. The program is funded by the Washington Aerospace Scholars Foundation and is offered at no cost to participants.

In February, Beverly Park welcomed everyday heroes to celebrate a day of literacy with students. Heroes ranged from police officers and pilots to administrators from the district office to parents. Visitors spent time reading to students in their classrooms and shared their own stories about how reading has positively impacted their lives.

On March 5, Southern Heights hosted a multicultural night with food from around the world, as well as entertainment by current and past Southern Heights students.

Representatives of community organizations, churches, and public agencies came together with principals and school district staff recently to talk about ways to work together in support of students and their families. The forum revolved around the concept of "community schools," which envisions schools as community centers that are open beyond the school day. Programs can include after-school tutoring, recreation and enrichment programs, parenting classes, adult education such as English instruction, and more.

Dr. Steve Grubb will be principal of McMicken Heights Elementary school starting July 1, replacing Tom Symons who has resigned his position effective the end of this year.

The 33th District’s state legislators will host a forum on K-12 education in Kent on Saturday, March 14. Senator Karen Keiser and Representatives Dave Upthegrove and Tina Orwall invite you to join them for a presentation on education policy and finance reform.

The school board has passed a resolution in support of the Washington College Bound Scholarship. The scholarship pays for books and tuition at any state institution for low income students who pledge to graduate from high school, maintain good grades, and demonstrate good citizenship. Students must sign up by the end of eighth grade.

Read the resolution…

Two Highline students have been selected as Southwest King County Chamber of Commerce students of the month.

Kyle Andrews	Alyssa Lew

Puget Sound Skills Center will host an open house on March 24 at 5:00 p.m. This is an opportunity for students and parents to check out PSSC’s many vocational programs and meet the teachers. PSSC offers 17 programs in information technology, business/management/marketing, human services, science/health, and trades/industry.

PSSC programs are open to high school juniors and seniors.

Applications for PSSC summer programs will be accepted starting April 28.

Elementary and middle school students in Highline Public Schools study mathematics using the Investigations curriculum in grades K-5 and Connected Math Project 2 (CMP2) in grades 6-8. These curricula emphasize a conceptual understanding of math relationships, but also include knowledge and practice of basic algorithms and math facts. Research shows that a balance between conceptual and computational skills is important for high-level student achievement in math.

On March 5 -7, nine Global Connections High School students attended the DECA State Competition in Bellevue. Seven students placed as overall winners and will advance on to the International DECA Competition in Anaheim, California in April.

Eleven teams of marketing students from Global Connections High School are working on various global sustainability projects. To fund their projects, they applied for grants from the Sustainable Seattle Organization. All 11 grants were approved in full or in part for a total of $1,794 in grant funds.

Running Start students now have access to an exchange where they can buy and sell used textbooks. Melissa Lang, the mother of a Running Start student and also a district employee, is coordinating the exchange. She will create the spreadsheet of all textbooks available for purchase each quarter and email the list to subscribers. Students may then contact one another directly to arrange the sale/purchase of books.

At the March 11 Board meeting, Superintendent Welch presented a proclamation to Mary Wining, Highline Retirees’ Association representative, celebrating School Retirees Appreciation Week, March 16-22.

In February, Miles Partman, a junior at Evergreen TEC High School, organized a drive for new and used books, magazines, videos, and DVDs. The aim is to sell all of the donated items to Half Priced Books to help Capital High School in Olympia.

Dr. Kathryn Sprigg, assistant director of accountability, has been elected to the board of the Washington Education Research Association (WERA). WERA is a not-for-profit organization of professionals working at all levels of education dedicated to improving the practice of instruction, assessment, evaluation, conducting and applying educational research, and using data to inform instructional decisions.

Congratulations to Benjamin Salman. Benjamin has qualified to represent the Highline Homeschool Center at the state level competition in Tacoma on April 3. Benjamin scored in the top 100 in the state on a written exam, which qualified him to participate in the state competition.

The month of March is National Women’s History Month. Here is an abbreviated catalog of milestones of women’s history in the U.S.