School Board Appreciation

School Board Members (l-r) Michael Spear, Susan Goding, Julie Burr Spani, Sili Savusa, and Bernie Dorsey hold the certificates of appreciation presented to them by Superintendent Welch at the January 23 Board meeting. January is School Board Appreciation month.

Students Attend Latino/a Educational Achievement Project (LEAP) Conference

Students from Midway, Cascade, Pacific, Global Connections, Highline, and Mount Rainier attended this year's Latino/a Educational Achievement Project (LEAP) conference January 18. One of the highlights came during the evening dinner celebration which featured students from Global Connections as presenters. GC senior, Jose Lopez, was honored as the recipient of the Phyllis Gutierrez-Kenney student leadership award which includes a $5,000 college scholarship!


The conference included workshops for students and parents that support LEAP's mission of academic achievement of Latino/a students in Washington state. Their work centers around developing educational policy priorities to improve teaching and learning in Washington State.

The event also included an opportunity to meet with Representative Dave Upthegrove to discuss laws and policies affecting Latino/a students and communities.

The goal of LEAP, which was founded in 1988, is that all students will graduate from high school with the skills, knowledge and confidence needed for success in post-secondary education or in today's information age and technology-driven workplace.

Community Engagement Specialist Fa'izah Bradford observed, "Many of our students left from the conference with a sense of renewal and encouragement for the future of themselves, their families and communities."

Curriculum Includes Life Skills

Several times a week the fifth- and sixth-grade Explorer students at Bow Lake Elementary learn and actively practice some of the nuances of good manners. The students are trying out such skills as: answering the telephone properly, correctly eating such foods as olives, cherry tomatoes, and spaghetti, practicing introductions, writing thank you notes, arranging a dinner setting, dealing with "sticky situations" such as telling someone they have food in their teeth, and to understand that good manners are generally common sense and civility.

Each child has an Etiquette Book where they record what they are learning. Role playing, reading published etiquette books, and actually trying out these skills has been an enjoyable eye-opener for the students.

As a culmination for these lessons, Bow Lake's corporate partner, The Doubletree Hotel will host the children to a lunch in their resturanat where the kids can put their skills to work! Students will order off a menu, use the place setting correctly (such as place your napkin in your lap right after you are seated), eat in a pleasant fashion, and calculate the tip! Of course, thank you notes will follow!

United Way - Real Results

Your donations made it happen...
424,400 meals for hungry people in our community were provided.

ERAC staff donated over $20,000 to the United Way campaign this year. That's an increase of 42% over last year - with 60% of the staff participating.

Jay Davis, shown here, and Terri LePenske were the two lucky people whose names were drawn from United Way participants at ERAC for a month of reserved parking. Jay commented that he especially appreciates this priviledge when he has to leave the building for a meeting or lunch and returns to find his reserved spot open for him.

Easy deed for the day... Donate sweatshirts and socks - the most usable clothing items for homeless people - to any of the homeless shelters in your community.

Highline Public Schools Receives BECU Education Grant

The Boeing Employees Credit Union (BECU) presented a check for $1000 to Valley View Early Learning Center on Tuesday, January 23. The BECU grant is part of the credit union's school grants program. The money will help pay for a field trip in March for the 160 pre-school children at Valley View-- a performance of the Story Book Theater at the Highline Performing Arts Center.

Valley View Early Learning Center opened in September 2007. It houses Highline’s Early Childhood Assistance Program (ECEAP) and Special Needs pre-school. ECEAP provides pre-school for children who come from families whose annual income does not exceed 110% of the Federal Poverty Level ($22,715 a year for a family of four). The children attend classes four days a week and receive breakfast or lunch, a snack and transportation to and from school. Additionally, all ECEAP children are screened for vision and dental needs while their parents are assisted in accessing community agencies and services which can provide needed family services.

Pictured in photo: l-r Beth Carter, special education manager at Valley View Early Learning Center (VVELC), Patricia Singer from BECU, and Nancy Adams, program manager at VVELC.

Bow Lake Legislature Convenes

On Wednesday, February 6, Bow Lake Elementary School will hold its first legislative session. The school Legislature is modeled after the Washington State Legislature and the U.S. Congress and will run for two weeks. Carlyn Roedell's 5/6 Explorer Class is in charge of running the Legislature with such jobs as recorders, vote counters, reporters, photographers, and the ever-popular Sergeant at Arms.

Each class will elect two senators and one legislator per 15 kids to represent their class and to introduce their classmates' issues of concern. The student legislators will elect a Speaker of the House and a President Pro Tempore to lead their assemblies. Bills will be introduced, discussed, financing organized, voted on to pass or kill, and sent to "Governor" Garcia to veto or pass. Two staff members serve as a court system to be sure bills are legal. Last year at Valley View a bill was introduced to have school only four days a week and the justices had to nix that idea. The pencil machines installed at Bow Lake are an example of a bill that passed last year. Governor Garcia gave the legislators a budget in her State of the School Address and the students passed their pencil machine bill with great support of both kids and adults.

The school legislature allows the students to experience government at work within the walls of their school and with issues that are important to them.

PSSC Instructor Selected as Ambassador

Penny Pallechio, medical careers instructor at Puget Sound Skills Center (PSSC) has been selected for the O Ambassador Program, a joint project between Oprah's Angel Network and an organization called Free the Children. Participants will be working on four of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals - hunger, poverty, education, and sustainable development - with the goal of raising awareness and funds. Penny has been assigned to help East Asia, and she is engaging her students in making brief presentations and fundraiser announcements to other students and staff at PSSC.

Washington Aerospace Scholars Announced

Highline Public Schools was well represented when Washington Aerospace Scholars for 2007-2008 were announced. 18 students were selected.

Aviation High School
Christopher Cambises
Laurel Carlson
Daniel Chapman
Derek Diaz
Branden Gee
Colton Goss
Thomas Gould
Jacob Graf
Stephan Hagen
Molly Heath
Sebastian Hill
Yvette Jack
Eugene Kim
Mark Korvas
Cole Miller
Christian Pirotte
Shawn Stern
Kim Truong
Irina Verevkina

Mount Rainier High School
Gregory Giesbers

"These Highline students are among 225 talented juniors from across the state who have been accepted into the first phase of Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS)," commented Rosie Bailer, coordinator, Washington Aerospace Scholars Program.

The students are currently participating in Phase One of WAS - a distance-learning program with a NASA-designed curriculum. Phase Two is a six-day summer residency experience for 160 students. Selection is competitive based on performance in Phase One.

Please note: Certificated teachers are needed to serve as counselors for a team of ten scholars during the summer residency. Participating teachers will receive $500 stipends and are eligible for clock hours. Additional information and applications are available on the Museum of Flight website: www.museumofflight.org/washingtonaerospacescholars. Summer residency sessions for 2008 are scheduled for June 22-27, July 6-11, July 13-18, and July 20-25. The Counselor application deadline is Friday, March 14, 2008.

Health Science High School Artists Finalists in National Design Contest

HS3 students Diana Nguyen and Rathanak Rath have been chosen as finalists in the Lucerne Art of Dairy contest. From a field of 10,000+ entries, Rathanak and Diana were selected as two of the top thirty artists. The finalists will be sent a life sized fiberglass cow to decorate with their historical designs, and those thirty artists will be judged again. Each of the 30 finalists receives a $500 savings bond and is eligible for the $5,000 grand prize.

Only four finalists were chosen from the region which includes Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Alaska, and Montana ~ and HS3 artists are two of the four! Their proud teacher is Carol Skvorak who teaches graphic arts and scientific illustration at HS3. Congratulations Diana, Rathanak, and Carol!

More information on the contest is available at:
http://www.artofdairy-artcontest.com/page.aspx?PageID=12006#

McArthur Fellowship Winner Visits Big Picture High School

Yoky Matsuoka, recent recipient of a MacArthur fellowship, is scheduled to visit Big Picture High School on February 11. Principal Jeff Petty describes the visit "the first step in what will hopefully be a partnership with Yoky designed to expose some of our female students to scientific research."

Yoky, a neuro-robotics expert at the University of Washington, was named winner of what the McArthurs call their "genius award." She will receive $500,000 to research how the human brain controls our limbs. She is on a quest to build the perfect prosthetic hand.

Linking Big Picture students with mentors such as Yoky can inspire students to pursue careers in areas they otherwise would not have considered.

Pacific Middle School Students to Future City Statewide Competition

Five teams of students from the Pacific Middle School Design and Engineering classes were on hand January 19 at the Seattle Center to compete against teams from across the state. Future City, part of a national competition sponsored by engineering organizations, is new to Pacific this year. The project includes designing a city, writing essays and abstracts, and building scale models.

Teacher Sandy Gady observed, "This has been an incredible learning experience for all involved. I am incredibly proud of how well Pacific students have done."

Odyssey Teacher Selected as Model for Instructional Program

Amanda McNaughtion, special education teacher at Odyssey, the Essential School, was selected by Walden University to be filmed for their instructional program. Amanda's lesson for the program centered around transition planning for life after high school. The students considered their skills and strengths, post-secondary education options, and daily life as an adult. Then, they created realistic plans for a career path and identified reasons their chosen career was a good fit for them individually.

Sylvester and Highine Recognized for AVID Accomplishment

Both Sylvester and Highline reached National AVID Certification standards for their first two years as AVID schools. Shown here receiving their awards, representatives were recognized for their efforts in reaching National Certification for the 2006-2007 school year. This status is awarded to AVID sites that have met the eleven AVID Program Essentials and Data Collection documentation that supports program effectiveness and student progress. This validation process is designed to assist AVID sites with achieving desired benchmarks that are precursors for academic success in high school and college.

In his letter to the schools, AVID Executive Director Jim Nelson applauded the schools' efforts to reach this status. Sites cannot be certified until the end of their second year in the program and can demonstrate that all eleven essentials are in place.

Pictured in photos:

Highline l-r: Nanci Leonard, John Leonard, Cherrie Smith, Walter Guity, Al Jerel Paredes, Cary Connors, Carinna Tarvin, Marina Marx, Debbie Campbell, (lead tutor), Katie Gehring, Vanessa Stern, and Andrea Bjelanovic.

Sylvester l-r: Jesua Aguilar, Lucero Garcia, Cherrie Smith, Pat Haworth, Christie Walker, Glenda Laiseni and Brian Luong

Scholarships Available for Educators

Horace Mann is dedicated to serving the needs of the educational community. The Horace Mann Companies is offering $30,000 in scholarships for public and private school K-12 educators to take college courses.

Agency: Horace Mann Insurance
Program: The Horace Mann Educator Scholarship
Deadline: February 29, 2008
Maximum Award: $1,000-$5,000
Number Of Awards: 16
Period: One year

Eligibility:

1. To apply, you must be a K-12 educator currently employed by a U.S. public or private school and planning to enter a two or four-year accredited college or university. The college must be a public or private, not-for-profit institute.
2. You must have at least two or more years of teaching experience.
3. You must be employed by a U.S. public or private school at the time of application and at the time the scholarship is awarded.
4. You may only be awarded one Horace Mann Scholarship.
5. The Horace Mann Companies reserves the right not to award the scholarships if no applicant achieves the minimum standards. In addition, Horace Mann reserves the right to discontinue this scholarship program, provided any scholarship already awarded will continue, subject to the provisions of the section titled, "Maintaining the scholarship."
6. Employees of Horace Mann are not eligible.
7. Financial need is not a consideration, but applicants who have all educational expenses paid through another scholarship and/or grants are ineligible.
8. Program is not open to residents of Hawaii, New Jersey and New York.

For more information you can contact Horace Mann for email assistance. Or you can call 217-788-5197 for assistance.

Click for the Horace Mann website.

Aviation Science Decathlon Teams Sweep the Meet

On Saturday, Aviation High School Science Decathlon teams swept the field at the Bothell Invitational! Competing in teams of up to six people in ten science and engineering events, our three teams took the top three places.

Team AW, consisting of Kevin Gustafson, Thomas Malchodi, Ryan Sanders, Patrick Santiago, took third place overall and earned individual medals in Scientific Method, Beakers (ornithology), robot, and water rockets.

The Squirtle Squad (Rebecca Ly, Anthony Nguyen, Franco Spadoni, Miranda Sita, Ted Tagami) took second place overall and earned individual medals in Thirteen Test Tubes, Four 'n Six (forensics), and water rockets.

The indomitable Golden Pegacorns (Drew Collins, Shelby Cramer, Ao Ding, Dawn Keehnel, Stanley Ong, Nicole Wright) placed first and earned individual medals in Marine Biology, Thirteen Test Tubes, Beakers, Geo-Trekking, forensics, Tower Building, robotics, and water rockets.

In addition to their outstanding performance, our decathletes also displayed superb sportsmanship to fellow competitors, coaches and event organizers. Their achievements and capable ambassadorship inspire Phoenix Pride.

We gratefully acknowledge the help of Mr. Sanders, Mr. Sita, and Mr. Gustafson for their help making the trip possible.

Submitted by Scott McComb

Global Connections Students Score High Marks at Competition

On January 9, eighty Global Connections Marketing students participated in the Area IV DECA Competition in Bellevue at the Meydenbauer Center. Students competed in Marketing-based competitions against their peers from the Seattle King County Area. Over 800 students from around the area from 20 different schools participated in this event. Several Global Connections students earned awards and seven students qualified for the DECA State Competition in March.

Here are the results:

The following students won awards--those with an "*" by their name qualified to attend the DECA State Competition in March:

*Victoria Lewis - 8th Overall in Accounting Applications

Charizz Legaspi - top 8 in role play in Apparel and Accessories

Boston Bradshaw - top 8 in role play in Apparel and Accessories

*Jose Gonzalez - top 8 in both role plays and 2nd Overall in Automotive Services

*Lou Vargas - top 8 in test and both role plays, and 1st Overall in Hotel & Lodging Management

LaJoy Thomas and Nejowa Matayo - top 8 in role play in Buying and Merchandising

*Matt Kennedy and *Jimmy Cheng - top 8 in test and 8th Overall in Internet Marketing

*Jovhanna Buyers and *ToVan Nguyen - top 8 in role play and 3rd Overall in Internet Marketing

Jamie Miller and Jose Martinez - top 8 in role play in Travel and Tourism Marketing

Additionally, the following students are competing in events that start at the State Level (so they will be going to State Competition, too):

*Ravyn Guy, *Sara Flores and *Cortney Hines are writing and presenting a Learn and Earn Manual on the Holiday Bazaar

. *Mack Bell, along with *ToVan Nguyen and *Lou Vargas will be compiling and presenting our Chapter Awards Program (A presentation of all the activities our DECA chapter has done in a year).

Student registration for this event was paid for from proceeds from the Tyee Holiday Bazaar co-coordinated by Global DECA and SeaTac Rotary. Bus transportation to and from the event was paid for by a grant from the Highline Schools Foundation. Donations to support students going to DECA State Competition can be sent to Alana Vinther, Global Connections High School, 4424 South 188th Street.