West Seattle, Washington
21 Sunday
Thanks to Schmitz Park Elementary principal Gerrit Kischner for the photo from this year’s Global Ambassador Day – here’s what it’s all about:
Once again, Schmitz Park students had the opportunity to meet and learn from international students from the University of Washington. Schmitz Park students spend every year bolstering their geographic knowledge through our Global Passport Program, and this event allows us to meet the real people who live in the countries we study. This year’s Global Ambassador Day included UW students from Brazil, Iceland, Malaysia, Myanmar, China, Taiwan, France, and Italy. Our fifth graders hosted the event, demonstrating the culmination of the multiple experiences they have enjoyed. This event is conducted in cooperation and great support from the Foundation for International Understanding through Students.
His blue blazer is legendary. But now – it’s blue hair, too, for Denny International Middle School‘s principal. Assistant principal Patricia Rangel shares the photo and explains:
At Denny International Middle School, home of the Denny Dolphins, school pride is taken quite seriously, and by none as much as by its principal, Jeff Clark. To encourage stellar attendance during the MSP State exams, Clark challenged students to improve their first-period attendance rates. If done, he dared the students, “I would be more than happy to dye my hair ‘Dolphin Blue.'” As more and more students rushed through the front doors to make it to class on time, more peroxide and blue Splat Hair dye was acquired to convert the normally gingered hair Clark into a Dolphin from head to toe. The inspiration came from a student who had experimented with the color herself and recommended the products he used.
Thursday, May 9th, marks the final official day of MSP testing at Denny. All three-grade levels will be putting their mathematical skills to test. By the end of today, all students will have been assessed in Reading and Math, while 7th graders will have been additional tested in Writing and 8th graders in Science. Over the last several years, Denny’s MSP results have proven increased student academic growth. The results of this year’s exams will not be released until August, but similar progress is expected, as is the further school pride it will fuel.
Postseason updates:
SOFTBALL: A 10-7 win over Seattle Prep on Wednesday for Chief Sealth International High School‘s softball team. That included 5 RBI from team captain Chloe Behar; here are the stats as published at SeattleTimes.com (WSB partner). … Holy Names beat West Seattle High School‘s softball team 18-0. … Today’s schedule, as published by The Times: Sealth plays Bainbridge and West Seattle plays Ingraham, both 3:30 pm games at Lower Woodland Park.
SOCCER: Tough loss for Sealth’s soccer team, ranked #1 in 3A going into their first postseason game:
The Seahawks lost to Lakeside in their Wednesday afternoon game at Interbay, 5-2, and will play Ingraham there at 5:30 pm today, while Lakeside faces Bainbridge tomorrow for the league championship.
BASEBALL: Today at Steve Cox Memorial Park in White Center, West Seattle HS’s baseball team takes the field for the first time since a 13-0 Monday loss to Bainbridge. The Wildcats face Ingraham at 7:30 pm, after Sealth plays Nathan Hale there at 4:30 pm, per the schedule published by The Times.
At Arbor Heights Elementary, they’re already “bubbling” with excitement about a new curriculum (our photo is courtesy of a parent volunteer, from a bubble-experimenting event on the playground last Friday afternoon). It was just last week that the school formally announced it will start moving to an eSTEM curriculum; that came late in the game for new enrollment – but it’s not too late for families to consider switching, and that’s why the school is offering a tour tomorrow (Thursday) morning! Elise Olson from the Arbor Heights PTA board says you’re invited to come learn about the new program and the school, which will in a few years have a brand-new building. All are welcome to join the school tour with principal Christy Collins – meet in the lobby at 9:15 am, 3701 SW 104th. You can also find out about “all the great things happening at Arbor Heights,” as Elise says, via their website or Facebook page.
Outside West Seattle High School today, that big, wrapped bus announced the event that’s had the school abuzz since news started circulating a few weeks back – a visit by “The Cutting Edge Tour: The Search for America’s Top Teen Chef,” with three of WSHS’s ProStart culinary students participating – Sarah Rosenthal, Garrison Smith, and Chance Stubblefield – judged by TV celebrity chef Maneet Shauhan. The challenge: An entrée in 40 minutes. We were allowed inside for a quick look at the student chefs as they worked – note the cheering fellow students (with the WSHS band in the background) peering in:
When all was said, done, and cooked, Sarah was the winner. She’s at right in the collage (below) by Emily Austin, with Garrison and Chance at left and center, each chef’s dish shown below her/him:
Outside, the judging – that’s Maneet Shauhan, star of the tour, at center:
It’s part of the tour introducing her latest book; she is signing it at the “Chef Shop” downtown tomorrow. Meantime, we still have a few more photos to add before the night’s out – congratulations to WSHS and to all the young ches, and good luck to Sarah!
ADDED: Four photos by WSB’s Patrick Sand, ahead:Read More
More scenes from this year’s Bike to School Day – Astrid shares two photos from Westside School (WSB sponsor), pointing out:
Westside School, with a student body population of only 237 in the Lower and Early Grades, had 39 students and 4 teachers participate. Would love to acknowledge all the dedicated students, teachers and parents for participating in the event, and a big thank you to the Cascade Bicycle Club for their encouragement.
And quite the bike collection resulted!
Also on Bike to School Day, this family photo came in from Sean:
BTS Day is part of Bike Month – here’s the Cascade calendar of upcoming events.
Hundreds of young West Seattleites attend cooperative preschools – and now, a new program is launching to take the co-op concept past that early age. Here’s the announcement for West Seattle Cooperative School, with an open house coming up Thursday night:
West Seattle Cooperative School will be admitting students, K-2nd grade, in the Fall of 2013.
Open House: May 9th, 7-9 pm at South Seattle Community College, RAH 201.
We will open up admissions at this time and will have application forms available. Please come to learn more about our school, meet Teacher Wendy, and hear about the admissions process.
Our vision includes:
(Photo by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
Legendary Seattle Mariners veteran Edgar Martinez was in West Seattle this morning, speaking to students and staff at Seattle Lutheran High School (autographing, too, as shown in our first photo). He was there to talk about a program he’s involved with called PX2, developed by West Seattle-headquartered The Pacific Institute, described in SLHS’s announcement as providing “training in effective decision making for young adults.”
SLHS says all its students have been participating in PX2 since January. Martinez’s appearance came during the last unit; after the students watched a video about taking responsibility for their actions, he spoke to them about the importance of finding what you love and setting goals
for yourself. He said that he started doing that when he was young, which helped him along on his way to being a professional ball player. He said he wasn’t alone in this – mentioning the same went for some of his former colleagues, including Ichiro and Omar Vizquel. Lively Q/A ensued, with the students asking both about Martinez’s advice, and about baseball in general.
(Photo by Glenn Gauthier for SSCC)
South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) recognized its scholarship donors and recipients last night at the annual Friends of the College Dinner. SSCC says 125 of its 240 scholarship-receiving students were in attendance; the awards totaled more than $600,000. More information from SSCC communications director Kevin Maloney:
South also announced a new endowment scholarship that was established in memory of Stephen K. Rockwood. This award will be given to students from South’s renowned Culinary program in his honor.
South alumnus John Titus, President and CEO of Aero Controls Inc., was recognized with the 2012-2013 Outstanding Alumni Award:
Titus was honored for his generous support and donation of aviation equipment for classroom use and as a member of the Aviation Technical Advisory Committee. Additionally, Titus made a surprise announcement that he will establish an endowment scholarship for aviation students at South.
The evening was capped off by recognizing 19 members of South’s faculty with annual development grants for their outstanding work in the classroom.
They’re among our area’s youngest philanthropists – students at Gatewood Elementary who’ve just made some big spending decisions. Teacher Darren Radu shared the photo, and tells us about the Philanthropy Roundtable:
Roundtable Reps have met weekly over the past couple of months to determine where to allocate a $1000 Penny Harvest grant. They’ve come together to survey community members about local, national, and international needs, research organizations, and eventually determine the organizations most worthy of support. One of the goals is to find those organizations that create the greatest positive impact for the least amount of dollars. Students were the key drivers of decisions, and had the final say in where the money went.
This year, the Roundtable came to consensus on donating to Kaboom! (building playgrounds in urban areas), Children’s Defense Fund (specifically with gun safety in mind), and Treehouse (providing foster kids with support to pursue their dreams). The kids were delighted to have this small but significant positive impact on their world!
The West Seattle High School Wildcats‘ division-winning season ended with an 8-7 extra-innings win following a late rally by Bishop Blanchet. Thanks once again to Greg Slader for photos and the recap:
Sam Hellinger (5 innings, 7k, 2 ER) pitched the Wildcats into a 6-2 lead through five innings over the Spartans, only to see it evaporate and to trail 6-7 in the sixth inning. The boys rallied to tie the game, and then freshman Jamie Maples #19 (photo above; 4.1 innings, 3K, no runs) pitched to extend the game into extra innings. Spencer Elder #3 (photo below) was rather disruptive on the base paths, as he was on base every time he was up to bat (2-2, double, RBI, 3 walks, 2 runs).
After Spencer walked to load the bases in the tenth inning, West Seattle finally won as Sam walked with the bases loaded. The Wildcats are Metro Sound division #1 as the playoffs begin next Monday @ Hiawatha vs. the Mountain Division #4 team.
ORIGINAL MONDAY NIGHT REPORT: Arbor Heights Elementary has gone public with a curriculum change that principal Christy Collins says will start taking effect this fall: They are moving to eSTEM – environment, science, technology, math. The announcement is now on the school’s home page, but apparently had been made to the school community earlier – after a WSB Forums member mentioned it last week, we asked the district for more information, but hadn’t received any until several people with Arbor Heights ties contacted us tonight to point out the principal’s online announcement. Collins writes that the school “will begin the transition to eSTEM beginning the fall of 2013, with full implementation of the eSTEM curriculum and instructional practice in 2016 when our new school opens.” This comes just one year after the district opened its first STEM elementary at the Boren building on Delridge.
ADDED TUESDAY NIGHT: Another message from principal Collins says the curriculum might turn out to be eSTEAM – adding an arts emphasis, too. It’s part of an overall message to families addressing multiple topics for next school year – you can see it here.
8:51 PM: Dispatchers have just canceled most of the units checking out a fire alarm at the Boren building on Delridge, home to K-5 STEM. We’re on our way over to verify whether it was a completely false alarm or not.
9:22 PM: It was – the last engine was pulling away as we got there.
Another big event at Lincoln Park today – the celebration following the first annual Denny-Lincoln Family Bike-Riding Classic. Denny parent Theresa Beaulieu shares photos and a report on the event:
Students, parents, and teachers all rode their bikes from the school to Lincoln Park. Students learned how to check their bikes prior to starting the ride, which included station A for Air, B for Brakes, and C for Chain/Cables, and how to ride safely on city streets. They also learned how much they love being on their bikes. We heard many of the kids say they want to ride more often. At the park we were greeted by Denny Community Learning Center lead Will King, who was ready to give out BBQ’d hot dogs and drinks. The kids all joined in a few races and won great prizes donated by Redline bikes. Each student also went home with a reusable Redline bag full of goodies. We all had a great time!
Theresa adds that the group got a sendoff from Denny principal Jeff Clark before heading to the park:
He voiced hopes that more Denny students will bicycle to school in the years ahead, and thanked Theresa for leading the volunteer effort to make it happen, Will for organizing the finish-line celebration, and “the students, parents, teachers, and West Seattle Bike Connections for their participation and support.”
P.S. May is Bike to School Month – just days away!
Thanks to Emily for sharing the photo from Friday night’s “Jumpin’ Jive” fundraiser: “It was a fun evening filled with LOTS of jazz music, swing dancing, and good food and fun ….all at West Seattle’s Madison Middle School!” Musicians included the West Seattle Big Band (onstage in the photo) as well as Madison’s Senior Band, Orchestra, and Jazz Bands.
Big win for the division-leading Chief Sealth International HS Seahawks softball team at Riverview Playfield in Highland Park on Friday afternoon – 11-2 over West Seattle High School. Next game for Sealth is 4 pm Monday, hosting Bainbridge at Southwest Athletic Complex; next game for the Wildcats is also at 4 pm Monday, vs. Bishop Blanchet at Riverview.
A come-from-behind win on Friday for the West Seattle High School Wildcats – Greg Slader again shares photos and the summary (thank you!):
The Seahawks started strong, scoring four runs in the first two innings. West Seattle toughened up as freshman Jamie Maples #19 (photo below) pitched middle relief to hold off Chief Sealth:
The offense perked up when Spencer Elder led off with a double, Sam Hellinger drove him in, and Jimmy Mai added a few RBIs for the 7-4 lead. Sam Hellinger closed the game, as West Seattle is finishing the season strong. Last game of the season is Monday @ Hiawatha, 3:30 vs. Bishop Blanchet.
Sealth, meantime, will host Bainbridge at 4 pm Monday (SW Athletic Complex).
Tonight, when Sanislo Elementary parents, staffers, and supporters gather for a benefit at Highland Park Improvement Club, they’ve got a new conversation topic – Superintendent José Banda has just announced their school’s new principal:
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Bruce J. Rhodes as your new principal, effective July 1, 2013
Mr. Rhodes comes to Sanislo from John Stanford International School where he was assistant principal. He is committed to increasing academic achievement, increasing professional development for staff working with English Language Learners, and increasing parent participation, and he will be a great fit for the Sanislo community.
If you’ve been looking to catch up with where the plans to build a new elementary school on the former Genesee Hill Elementary campus stands, here’s your next chance. The district has announced a community meeting for 6:30 pm Wednesday, May 8th, at Schmitz Park Elementary (5000 SW Spokane). District spokesperson Tom Redman says, “The meeting will include discussion of the progress of the project’s schematic design and an update of the work of the School Design Advisory Team. The SDAT team will meet before the community meeting at 4:30 p.m., also at Schmitz Park.” He also notes – if you hadn’t seen this on the timeline – the new school will NOT be opening for the start of the 2015-2016 school year, but instead is expected to be open after that year’s winter break – January 2016.
Madison Middle School‘s Music Boosters are raising money tomorrow night with a big-band swing dance for the whole family – 6-9 pm, featuring the West Seattle Big Band as well as Madison’s own student musicians. Swing-dance lessons too! Suggested donation is $10 adults at the door, students/other kids free – go here to RSVP. Concessions will be sold, from Vietnamese sandwiches to snow cones.
Another West Seattle school has announced a new principal. From Our Lady of Guadalupe School:
Our Lady of Guadalupe School is delighted to announce that Ms, Donna Ramos has been hired as principal for the upcoming school year. She brings with her more than 20 years as a Catholic school educator, she has taught every grade from Kindergarten through 6th grade and worked on projects with middle-school students, as well as elementary-school Spanish. Her experience reflects her love of social justice, environmental stewardship and the arts, and faithful engagement with the world.
Ms. Ramos is currently the principal of Immaculate Conception & Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a Pre-K-8 School in Everett.
According to the announcement in the OLG church bulletin, she also worked as an assistant principal at a school on Capitol Hill. OLG’s current principal Kristin Dixon is leaving after almost 14 years; she started at the school in fall 1999.
As Earth Week continues, a local school is celebrating its students’ achievements in a big event last night – thanks to Amy French for sharing the photo and report:
The Explorer West Middle School community congratulates the three groups of students chosen to represent Explorer West at Washington Foundation for the Environment‘s “3rd Annual Great Environmental Issues Slam” last night at The Flagship REI Store. The 6 students (across three teams) had 5 minutes to present their issues to a packed room of audience members who had the chance to vote at the end. The other contestants were all talented, adult speakers from a range of non-profits.
One of the student teams, presenting on “Drastic Plastic,” won the slam and the opportunity to donate $1,000 to the charity of their choice that is working to deal with the issue of plastics in our world’s oceans. Explorer West students will be voting this week to decide which non-profit receives the donation from Washington Foundation for the Environment.
Featured in the top photos is the winning group with EWMS Head of School Evan Hundley and history teacher Tim Owens, who Amy says “was the lead in getting the school involved in the slam.”
Hard-fought game Wednesday afternoon at Southwest Athletic Complex, but West Seattle High School clinched the Metro championship with the eventual win over Chief Sealth International HS, reports Greg Slader:
The stands were full as the Wildcats traveled across town to face the Seahawks. Chief Sealth had a 3-2 lead through four innings before Andy Snook (top photo) took the mound to shut them down. West Seattle rallied to tie 3-3 heading into the seventh inning, and then Spencer Elder decided to steal some bases. Sam Hellinger drove him in with a shot into the six hole, 4-3:
A stolen base, a hit and suicide squeeze, as Sam scored to give West Seattle a 5-3 lead. The Seahawks will get another chance on Friday, 3:30 pm @ Hiawatha.
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