West Seattle, Washington
29 Monday
Yet another major event in what’s been a milestone year for West Seattle High School musicians; the photo is shared by teacher Ethan Thomas, with this report:
The West Seattle High School Marching Band traveled to Victoria, B.C. last weekend to participate in the Victoria Day Parade. The band performed in the Parade of Bands at the Parliament Building and at Beacon Hill Park in addition to the 115th annual parade that celebrates the birthday of Queen Victoria.
It’s been a big year of parades for the WSHS band – we’ve covered them in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and in the Macy’s Holiday Parade downtown, as well as the West Seattle Junction Harvest Festival Parade. And you can see the WSHS band musicians perform one week from Thursday – stay tuned for details of their June 6th concert.
The winning “Environmental Issues Slam” team from Explorer West Middle School (WSB sponsor) – mentioned here a month ago – has decided what to do with their winnings. The team calling itself “Drastic Plastic,” whose presentation covered plastics pollution in the world’s oceans, won the right to choose a charity for a $1,000 donation from the Washington Foundation for the Environment, and voted to give it to Sound Experience, described by EW’s Amy French as “an educational sailing organization with a program that educates schools/youth about plastic pollution in Puget Sound … Sound Experience has a unique partnership with UW-Tacoma to research microplastics in Puget Sound. As shown in the photo Amy shared, Sound Experience’s education/outreach coordinator Megan Addison visited EW this past week to receive the ceremonial check from the students; she’s shown with them and history teacher Tim Owens. Amy adds, “The winning team of students have also been invited by Sound Experience to participate in some plastic clean-up on board their vessel.” The slam participation followed a schoolwide effort that was part of EW’s Sustainability Program.
(Added: Postgame photo by Greg Slader)
5:57 PM: The West Seattle High School baseball team finishes an incredible season as #2 in the state. Championship game final score: Auburn Mountainview 7, WSHS 1.
9:18 PM NOTE: The team is due back at WSHS sometime after 11 pm, and as suggested in the comments, fans are welcome to greet them.
1:47 AM: As Coach Velko Vitalich told The Times, “… the accomplishments of this team are amazing.” They arrived back at WSHS a little over two hours ago:
Earlier:
4 PM: The game is on! West Seattle High School vs. Auburn-Mountainview for the state 3A high-school-baseball championship, happening right now in Pasco. You can see a live video feed here; below, it’s play by play via Twitter, thanks to WSHS team-parent volunteers (refresh this WSB page to see the newest tweets, or if you use Twitter, you can directly follow @wseattlestate):
P.S. Our partners at The Seattle Times took a closer look at the team and its big semifinal win yesterday in this story published today.
If you’re going to convince kids to get up and get moving, the message needs to get to the adults in their lives too – and that’s exactly what happened this past week during the Family Health and Fitness Carnival at West Seattle Elementary School.
WS Elementary counselor Laura Bermes for sharing a report and photos – she says more than 200 people were there:
In collaboration with WSE School Nurse, Terri Helm-Remund, the evening’s dinner and festivities were hosted by the Hope Heart Institute and Molina Healthcare and featured community organizations from Camp Long, Apple Corps, Cascade Bicycle Club, First Tee Golf, the West Seattle YMCA, Neighborhood House, the Farmer’s Market Alliance, Southwest Pool, Washington Dairy Council, and Neighborcare Health. The goal of the Hope Heart Institute and Molina Healthcare Family Fitness Carnival was to teach students and their families about healthy eating, active living and heart health. The evening included a healthy dinner, games, prizes, and health tips. Families blended smoothies by pedal power, took a swing at golf, and danced with a local Zumba instructor and Seattle School District Parent Leader Yui Dirksen! Teachers, staff, parents, and community members volunteered their time, and everyone had a blast!
WSE has also participated all year in “Fuel Up to Play 60,” stressing movement and nutrition.
(TOPLINE: WSHS plays Auburn-Mountainview tomorrow, 4 pm in Pasco, for state 3A baseball championship)
(Sam Hellinger pitching the final strike of the game; photo courtesy Greg Slader)
11:45 AM UPDATE: As you saw “live” if you followed the tweets below – West Seattle High School won its state-semifinal game minutes ago, 3-1 over Mt. Si, and will play for the state championship at 4 pm tomorrow! (Their opponent, either Kennewick or Auburn-Mountainview, will be determined by a game at 1 pm today.)
Game recap to come – and archived video (thanks to commenters for finding it!) is here.
ADDED 1:06 PM: Photos and notes shared by Greg Slader:
The Offense popped for two runs in the First inning as Spencer reached on a Mt. Si error, Sam Hellinger doubled, and Tim Adams (photo above) drove them in for a 2-0 Lead. Two runs would be plenty as Sam Hellinger (top photo) pitched another complete-game gem. Ground ball after ground ball, West Seattle’s defense continued its excellent play, holding Mt. Si to Five hits and only one run.
4:13 PM: We now know their opponent: Auburn-Mountainview, which beat Kennewick 6-4 this afternoon.
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EARLIER, 10:21 AM: The big game is on now, and parent volunteers are providing live play-by-play via Twitter, as West Seattle High School‘s baseball team faces Mount Si in the state 3A semifinal game. Even if you don’t have a Twitter account, you can see the latest here:
The game’s being played in Pasco; the winner advances to tomorrow afternoon’s championship game. If you keep this page open, refresh to see the latest tweets on top.
With just weeks to go until they move on from Denny International Middle School, headed for high school, dozens of young poets have just put on quite a show. Denny principal Jeff Clark shares photos from last night’s Eighth-Grade Poetry Slam – and this report:
The third annual Eighth-Grade Poetry Slam was a huge success at Denny International Middle School! The event was skillfully emceed by 8th grader Isiah Davis, who introduced nearly 50 Denny Poets. Their words were beautiful, thoughtful, and provoking. Congratulations to our outstanding scholars and their amazing teachers — the power of poetry is alive at Denny International!
One of those teachers, Colin Slingsby, shares his view too, including an observation about a tragedy that touched the 2012-2013 eighth-grade class:
The quality of the thought, writing, and emotion that students invested into their work came through last night as they presented. Many attendees mentioned how moved, touched, and inspired they were by the poetry shared by our 8th grade students.
This year’s 8th grade class was particularly challenged this year by the hardship of losing a classmate and friend Lucie Hernandez, and there were some particularly poignant tributes to Lucie written for this year’s Denny Poetry Slam. The Denny staff and 8th grade Literacy teachers are extremely proud of our students for their bravery and courage in sharing their stories and emotions so powerfully at yesterday’s poetry slam.
You might recall that Lucie was one of two teenagers killed in a deadly in South Park last November; this WSB report from last fall included a tribute her schoolmates created.
Thanks to both Schmitz Park Elementary teacher Alison Aylesworth and West Seattle Food Bank operations manager Steve Curry for sharing the word of a cool event at SP today. First, from Ms. Aylesworth, who also shared the photos:
The second grade team at Schmitz Park: Ms. Noreng, Mr. Wuth, Ms. Veling and Ms. Aylesworth’s classes participated in a food packaging service project for the West Seattle food bank. Each class packaged bags of rice that were labeled and signed by each child participating.
The team bagged 150 pounds of rice!
The students in Ms. Aylesworth’s class were inspired to donate more food in the future, donate hair to agencies like Locks of Love and instead of presents at their birthday parties they would gladly take donations for the food bank!
Way to go, Schmitz Park second graders!
Steve Curry adds, “This event was developed in conversations between the school and WSFB after the wonderful 100-day food drive initiated earlier in the year,” and also notes that the aforementioned “food-drive-related birthday parties are becoming very popular in our community and serve a wonderful dual purpose of teaching positive values to youth while assisting the food bank’s mission.”
A low-key, but high-hopes, sendoff this morning for the West Seattle High School baseball team. Around 9 am, they boarded a bus and headed eastward, bound for Pasco, site of the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association‘s high-school-baseball semi-finals and finals, a trip made possible by their two wins last Saturday. Tomorrow morning at 10, at GESA Stadium in Pasco, WSHS faces Mt. Si. The winner will advance to Saturday’s 4 pm championship game against the victor in tomorrow’s 1 pm game between Kennewick and Auburn Mountainview. (Here’s the official bracket.)
After one year without it, it appears the one-week “mid-winter break” is returning to Seattle Public Schools next year. This year, what had been the “mid-winter break” week was bookended by three-day weekends. But a full week is back in the district’s announcement today of key dates for next year’s calendar – read on for the announcement published on the district website:
Every graduating senior at West Seattle High School has to make a 10-minute oral presentation about the research for their senior project. And those presentations all need judges – with 58 spots remaining as of this afternoon. You can even sign up for two days, over the course of May 28, 29, 30, 31, and June 3 and 4, with presentations between 3 and 5 pm each day. “The latest trend in judging has been to listen with a friend or two and then go out for a nice supper afterwards. Think about it!” says teacher Rebecka McKinney – e-mail her if you might be able to help, ramckinney@seattleschools.org.
(Photo by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
The alert we received on Monday warned us not to tip off Sanislo Elementary librarian Craig Seasholes (right) that CenturyLink rep Sue Anderson (left) would be visiting the school with a surprise for him – a big $5,000 check as part of the CL/Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Teachers & Technology grant program. He’s one of 22 teachers to get one of the grants this year, and we’re told it’ll go toward iPads with educational apps and e-books. (Big spring for Mr. Seasholes and the Sanislo Library – you’ll recall they hosted Caroline Kennedy last month.)
Everyone who’s going to be a Chief Sealth International High School ninth-grader next year is invited to an open house one week from tomorrow (Tuesday, May 28th). Athletic director Sam Reed says it’s a chance for incoming ninth-graders to find out about sports at Sealth – whether they’re already playing a sport, or “thinking about trying something” – read on for the official invitation:
(May 8th WSB photo)
Big followup from West Seattle High School teacher Danielle Henry, two weeks after the “Cutting Edge” cooking competition came to campus – the WSHS winner is a national finalist!
Sarah Rosenthal is gearing up to take a trip to compete for the ultimate title of Top Teen Chef! We just got off the phone with the National Restaurant Association, and found out that Sarah was selected as one of the top three students in the entire U.S. (out of 63 students and 21 schools) to compete for the title and the opportunity to cook for the President and Vice-President at the White House. They announced her big win at the National Restaurant Association Conference this past weekend. I am so proud of Sarah and can’t wait to see her compete in the next round!!
(September 2012 WSB photo)
Middle College High School will be based at Neighborhood House‘s High Point Centerfor at least another year, reports teacher Alonzo Ybarra. This is the small high-school program focused on social justice and community engagement that lost its longtime home at South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) and finally found space at the center for this school year; we last checked in with MCHS in September. Ybarra shared the news via a new blog-format website with updates about the school, which links to a letter with the district announcement. The website also notes that MCHS helped with the West Seattle Bee Garden, launched yesterday with a parade and festival (WSB coverage here), and that its 2013 graduation ceremony is set for June 11th.
(Photo by Debra Salazar Herbst)
Some of the runners and walkers in the fifth annual West Seattle 5K on Alki are still making their way to the finish line.
(Photo by Tracy Brigham – those are her boys in the PJs, the high-five cheering section!)
We have the official list of the top three finishers for both genders and their chip times:
Female
#858 – Kelley McKean, 35, 19:23
#617 – Adrienne Salzwedel, 29, 19:32
#937 – Roxanne Wegman, 25, 19:36
Male
#237 – Josh Fountain, 25, 16:44
#295 – Keefe Hanson, 20, 16:53
#900 – Wyatt Golding, 28, 17:00
America’s best grocery bagger, Andrew Borracchini of Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor), was the celebrity starter – he posed for us pre-race with a celebrity WSHS alum, County Executive Dow Constantine:
ADDED SUNDAY NIGHT: More scenes from the 5K – starting with WSHS principal Ruth Medsker on the run!
ORIGINAL REPORT, 8:01 PM: After two victories in state tournament play this afternoon/evening in Mount Vernon, the West Seattle High School baseball team is off to the state semifinals next Friday in Pasco. They shut out Ferndale and then beat Bonney Lake. More to come!
ADDED 10:10 PM: Greg Slader, the WSHS parent who has shared game information and photos all year, sends more details along with photos, starting with this quote from assistant coach Brian Tupper:
“From the coaches’ perspective, these were the best team games we have played all year. Our focus was so good that we didn’t play uptight in either game something that has plagued West Seattle in the past at State. It was what we have been looking for all year, couldn’t have asked for it a better time for it. Two outstanding pitching performances by Sam Hellinger and Ben Wexler, superb team defense and team offensive execution. We had at least 6 sac(rifice) bunts in the 2 games, 3 sac(rifice) flies, and one perfectly executed squeeze play.
“First Team All-Metro freshman shortstop Morgan McCullough seemed to make every play in the field, collecting almost 10 putouts himself, starting a huge double play in the 7th of game two and then ending the game with a diving stop and stepping on second base 6 unassisted, he also ignited the offense getting on base 6 times out of his 9 plate appearances, finishing 4-7 with a triple and double, 5 runs scored, and 2 RBI’s.
“Metro League MVP Sam Hellinger had a no-hitter broken up in the 4th inning of game one and finished with a complete game 2-hit shutout with one walk and 10 strikeouts on 93 pitches.
“At the plate (above), he continued his hot hitting in the playoffs, extending his hitting streak to 21 games going 5-6 with 3 2B’s 5 RBI and 3 runs scored
“Wexler (above) threw a complete game 5-hitter, allowing 2 runs while striking out 2 on 76 pitches to help seal Westside’s victory and first trip to the State 3A Final Four in school history!”
Greg adds: “West Seattle will be traveling on Thursday morning over to Pasco to play Mount Si in the semifinals at 10 am on Friday, May 24th at Gesa Stadium. Winner to play for the 3A State Championship on Saturday at 4 pm.”
Story and photos by Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
The sky was sunny and spirits were high on Thursday afternoon, as Hope Lutheran School students, parents and friends took to the streets of West Seattle for their 2nd Annual Walk-A-Thon to raise money for the school.
Hope Lutheran Principal Kristen Okabayashi offered this report:
Today was so much fun! Our top goal for the walkathon was to raise money for our new science curriculum we are implementing next year, but other smaller goals were to build community with our event, and also have an event that raises awareness of keeping your body active. Our students walked and/or ran anywhere from 1/3 mile for our 3 year olds, and up to over 3 miles for some of our middle school students. With a huge number of parents and grandparents helping out today, along with Seattle Lutheran High School’s band performing for all our participants, we had a blast and can’t wait for next year!
Students collected donations and per-lap “pledges” prior to the event, and volunteers also secured corporate donations in support of the cause. Preliminary results:
This morning, Roxhill Elementary principal Sahnica Washington greeted scholars arriving by bus – two blocks north of campus! Here’s why: All month, Roxhill families have been part of “walking school buses” – and today was a chance for bus-transported scholars to join in too, with the help of Feet First and the state Transportation Department:
FF even brought along its famous giant Chicken (as in, “why did the chicken cross the road …”)
Crossing the road – and walking along it – will soon be even safer for kids headed toward Roxhill, which, as explained in the Feet First announcement, “is the recipient of a Safe Routes to School grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation. This grant will fund a new sidewalk on SW 30th immediately south of Roxbury, and improvements to the intersection of SW 30th Ave and SW Roxbury, due for construction in the summer of 2013.”
Four years after a review process began for a proposed illuminated sign at Madison Middle School, the city has announced a decision: The sign installation is approved, “with conditions.” Some neighbors had expressed concern after the 30-square-foot sign was first proposed in 2009 for the east facade of the school gym. Discussion here at that time indicated the money was coming from parent fundraising as well as from grants and gifts. After the proposal languished for three years, it resurfaced last June, with the city convening the committee formed to consider a requested “departure” from zoning, and now comes the decision. Today’s notice opens a two-week period for appeals, with the deadline May 29th; we’re asking the district about the project’s status.
ADDED 1:51 PM FRIDAY: District spokesperson Tom Redman replied today to our inquiry. He included background, some of which is redundant to our story above, but in the spirit of sharing everything the district said, his full reply is below:
Disappointing day on Wednesday for three local high-school sports teams:
SOCCER: In a first-round state-tournament match played at Snohomish High School last night Chief Sealth International High School lost to Glacier Peak, 2-1.
SOFTBALL: On Wednesday afternoon, district softball play resulted in defeats for two local teams:
4-1 was the final score in Chief Sealth’s game with Mercer Island, played at Lower Woodland, which is also where West Seattle High School‘s softball team played Interlake:
13-3 was the final score in that game, with the Wildcats on the lower end.
NEXT UP: The West Seattle HS baseball team awaits its first-round state-tournament game this Saturday, facing Ferndale at Dream Field in Mount Vernon at 1 pm.
2:06 PM: Former Youngstown Cultural Arts Center director Randy Engstrom [right, above] is back at the center right now for a big city announcement regarding arts education: New money for visual-arts and music education for all students in Seattle Public Schools. Engstrom points out that arts funding is a social-justice issue as well as an important underpinning for industry. The program, he says, aligns at the district level as part of the strategic plan, as well as working with principals of all schools, “so that by junior high we haven’t left any of our students behind.” The funding, he says, comes from higher-than-expected revenue from the city admission tax from venues including the new Seattle Great Wheel; 75 percent of those taxes are supposed to go to “arts-related programming.” (The family behind the big ferris wheel has representatives here too.) The implementation will begin with the Central Pathway, says Mayor McGinn, who’s part of the announcement here too: “Arts really define Seattle as a city, too … this is a very, very exciting day,” he said. Also part of the announcement: Carri Campbell, who is the school district’s program manager of Visual & Performing Arts, and says those arts will be increased “in every single school,” and assistant superintendent Michael Tolley.
2:16 PM: “Arts education is one of the academic assurances we put in place” with the switch to neighborhood schools a few years ago, Tolley points out. In Q/A, we asked how this will be rolled out; it’ll take six years, says Campbell, and the second pathway – after Central, where this will be inaugurated – hasn’t been determined yet, so we don’t know when it will get to West Seattle schools.
3:02 PM: The event’s over; the full news release is here.
P.S. One more note – the value of arts education was touted by a Youngstown veteran, professional breakdancer Sammy Tekle, who is now a teaching artist at Orca K-8, introduced by Engstrom:
From Pathfinder K-8 assistant principal Lisa Clayton:
Looking for an amazing summer adventure? Host a 5th/6th grade student from China. West Seattle will have a visit from 25 students from Chengdu, China and as the date is approaching fast, we are still in great need of host families. Students will arrive July 3rd and departure is set for July 14th. During the weekdays students will attend summer-camp classes at Pathfinder K-8 School, and on the weekends they are ready to play. All you need to be a host family is a desire to enrich your lives – and an extra bed.
To find out more, e-mail Clayton at lclayton@seattleschools.org.
A new development this afternoon in the controversy over the testing known as MAP: Seattle Public Schools superintendent José Banda has just announced that while he wants to keep it for next year, through 8th grade, high schools can opt out. Read on for his full statement:
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