Community School Holiday Spirit Festival
Taking advantage of an opportunity to celebrate the holidays, fundraise and support the larger community, Community School hosted their first ever Holiday Spirit Festival on December 1 to celebrate all of the winter holidays around the world. The event was held in the International Community School gym. The perfect winter holiday event included:

• School community building – gathering family, friends and eastside neighbors to enjoy sweet and savory treats and entertainment by a DJ and junior high jazz combination.
• Fundraising and shopping – allowing parents to shop early for décor and gifts for the holidays with vendors that would contribute a portion of their profits to the school.
• Giving back to the larger community – taking advantage of opportunities to contribute cash to local charities and to make crafts and gifts to warm and brighten the lives of others in the community.

Kamiakin Junior High Students Give Back
The students in Victoria McCarter’s homeroom class at Kamiakin Junior High took December’s school theme of “giving” and ran with it. As they participated in the scheduled activities, discussions led to questions of what they could do beyond their classroom or school.

Several of the girls decided to participate in the Macy’s “Make a Wish Foundation” project. They wrote (and helped some younger children write) letters to Santa. The letters will be dropped into the special mailboxes at Macy’s and a dollar will be donated to the Make a Wish Foundation for each letter written.

A group of boys decided they wanted to reach out even farther. They decided to collect spare change and donate through the World Vision program. They poured through a catalogue for several days and decided they wanted to try to donate a foot-powered water pump. The donation would be $200. McCarter told the boys she would match whatever they collected in the hopes of reaching their goal. When they counted the money on Thursday, December 17, they realized they had raised a total of $230. The foot-powered water pump delivers the miracle of on-demand irrigation to farming families. Long treks to draw and carry water become outdated. It also ensures a steady food supply and higher income for extra crops. With the extra money, the boys decided to also donate five ducks. Ducks provide large, protein-rich eggs all year long. Extra eggs and ducklings can also be sold for extra income.

Industrial Design Students Brighten the Holidays
Every year, the students in Greg Shelton’s Industrial Design class at Juanita High School design and build their own toys to be donated to Toys for Tots. Then they vote on the best design and go into production to make as many toys as they can in one class period. Students take leadership, assign jobs, figure out production and materials estimates. This year, they started with unfinished rough wood and ended up with 71 finished and packaged toys for donation. Students stayed after class to finish wrapping the gifts. Greg considers this activity to be one of the highlights of his year.

Redmond Junior High Students Donate Items to Those in Need
Each year, Redmond Junior High (RJH) counselors, headed up by Genie Hagar, set up donation drives at the school, asking students and staff to donate gift cards, food and coats to those in need. Each year, they are incredibly successful in contributing items for many families in need. This year, RJH collected boxes of food and many coats and other items for those in need. The food items were donated to Food Lifeline on Saturday, December 19.

####

News from the Schools is compiled by the Lake Washington School District Communications Department. For more information or to submit your school's news, please e-mail Kathryn Reith or Shannon Parthemer.