Superintendent Welch and school district staff are in the process of analyzing the state budget and determining its impacts on next year's funding. Fortunately, the final budget did not cut public school funding as deeply as some proposals the legislature considered. Still, significant cuts will need to be made to Highline's budget.

Samuel Paredes was honored in the Community Recognition Awards presented by the Washington Association of School Administrators this month. Samuel was named the outstanding individual from among nominees from 15 school districts in the Puget Sound Metro Region.

Highline High School's AVID Juniors Juan Teran (left) and Giovanni Torres (right) have been accepted to attend Seattle University's Summer Business Institute. This is an on-campus, five-day experience for college-bound juniors. The Institute includes hands-on classes that will acquaint students with college coursework in such business areas as economics, accounting, business law, ethics, finance, business administration, international business, management, and marketing. Congratulations Juan and Giovanni!

Highline High School student Julia Vigen took third place in the recent 2009 Washington State Photography competition. There were over 4,000 entries in 13 categories.  Congratulations, Julia!

Students and faculty involved in drama, video, or web projects - or those who simply have a knack for creating videos that grab students - may be interested in a new film contest sponsored by the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB).

Madrona Elementary School recently celebrated National Nutrition Month with a school-wide Nutrition Poster Contest. Over 300 students in all grades participated using the 2009 national theme of "Eat Right."

Highline Schools Foundation for Excellence is proud to announce its 2009 Gold Star award winners. Because the quality of nominees is always so high, the committee had a difficult time in making a selection.

Annie May Thompson, a sixth-grader at North Hill Elementary School in Des Moines, will attend The Junior National Young Leader Conference in Washington D.C. The conference is designed to bring young leaders together from all over the United States to study the tradition of leadership in American history and to develop leadership skills.

Hilltop Elementary is celebrating the completion of the first year of Highline's Dual Language Immersion program. The program currently has 48 students ready to move into first grade. Twenty-four of these students are Spanish speakers and twenty-four are English speakers. This group of students has been learning to read and write in their native language since the first day of school and will continue to do so in the next few years. Halfway through second grade, students will begin learning to read and write in their non-native language so that by the end of elementary school, they will be fluent in both languages.

Superintendent John Welch presented a proclamation for Arts Education Month to Sandra Locklear, who accepted the proclamation on behalf of Highline music staff.

Big Picture senior Gary Tesfaye was selected as one of eight students to be in the pioneering class of a new college opening this fall in Rhode Island. The college, started by Big Picture co-founder Dennis Littky, is called College Unbound and is based on similar tenets as the Big Picture High Schools. Gary (on the right), pictured here with Big Picture sophomore Matt Marble.

Visitors to the Global Connections campus will notice a new addition...a rain barrel installed next to one of two gardens just planted with Sustainable Seattle Grant money.

Sixty girls from Highline Public Schools will be going to prom in lovely dresses - many with accessories - thanks to a new program sponsored by Highline Schools Foundation called Project PROMise. The Foundation solicited donations of evening dresses and accessories and was overwhelmed with the response. Girls were invited to "shop" and many left with all they needed for a prom they might not otherwise have been able to attend.

Over 145 students and families from the Tyee service area attended the first annual SeaTac College Summer Activities Fair coordinated in partnership by Community Schools Collaboration, Chinook Middle School, and the Tyee Educational Complex College Career Center. In previous years, the event was open only to Chinook students and families, but this year, through a collaborated effort, it was opened to the entire Tyee service area. Parents and students from elementary school through high school attended. Translation services were provided for both Spanish-speaking and Somali-speaking families, along with babysitting for all through student volunteers.

The next meeting of the Highline Public Schools Board of Directors will be:

Wednesday, May 27, 2009, at 6:00 p.m.
Southern Heights Elementary School
11249 - 14th Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98168

In a time of growing demands on teachers, ACT is pleased to offer two workshops led by educator Bill Morrison that help teachers tap into the power of theatre to reach and teach the youth of today. Click here for flyer.

Every spring, we like to take the time to acknowledge educational accomplishments of staff members and their families. We will include the Bragging Rights column in the June 16 eHighlights. If you have educational information to share, please email the following information to Judy Balko (balkojl@hsd401.org).

Highline High School's Environmental Club helped with the Burien Clean Sweep this year.

Highline Homeschool Center's Geography Bee winner Benjamin Salman has won the state competition and will be going on to Washington D.C. to represent our state in the National competition, hosted by Alex Trebek. Congratulations, Benjamin!

Students from Global Connections High School and Mount Rainier High School excelled in recent state competition.

Four juniors from the Health Sciences and Human Services High School have been selected into the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI) Summer Bioquest Academy. Neelofer Valhora, Yara Gayton, Christina Cash, and Sina Sagio were selected from over 200 applicants competing for 48 spots.

Global Connections students joined forces with Guy Manza of the facilities department to plan, shop for, and plant two gardens on their campus. Funding came from grants awarded to students from the Sustainable Seattle Organization. The Day of Darkness team used some of their grant money to purchase solar lights and added those to the garden areas.

The Legislative Youth Advisory Council (LYAC) is now accepting applications through Friday, June 12, 2009. The Legislative Youth Advisory Council (LYAC) was created to help legislators address the needs of Washington State youth. The council meets up to six times per year in locations around Washington, and every year they hold an Action Day in Olympia in to meet with legislators and testify on legislation. This council provides an exciting opportunity for youth to become involved in the democratic process!

Meet Sara Flores, a senior at Global Connections High School.

Sara has readied herself for a career in business by taking Introduction to Marketing, Retail Management, and Advanced Marketing. She has been Student of the Month twice at her school, Employee of the Month for the school's student-run espresso stand, placed first at the DECA state competition (and qualified for international competition), and is an active participant at the Bible Institute.