Two LWSD Students Selected as Washington Aerospace Scholars
Two high school juniors from Lake Washington School District have been selected as Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS) for 2009. Erick Lo from Eastlake High School and Derek Martin from International Community School are among 260 talented juniors from across the state accepted into the first phase of WAS. These 260 students are currently participating in Phase One: distance learning with a NASA-designed curriculum covering the history of space exploration, the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, the Moon, and Mars. From January through May, the Scholars will complete ten lessons – submitting quizzes, math solutions, essays, and graphics concerning these topics every other week. Scholars will independently select a topic of interest for a final project combining an essay with a graphic. Scholars are also competing for a space in one of four summer residency sessions, Phase Two of the program.

Keller Elementary Wins District’s Global Reading Challenge
Congratulations to the Hard Rock Readers from Helen Keller Elementary. In a hard fought battle between Samantha Smith Elementary and Helen Keller on March 5 at the Redmond Regional Library, Helen Keller won the district level Global Reading Challenge. The Global Reading Challenge is a cooperative effort between King County Library System and local public school districts. This is a Battle of the Books-style program that allows fourth and fifth graders across the county to work together as a team and challenge other schools to correctly answer questions about selected books. Helen Keller battled Lakeview, Juanita, and Thoreau elementary schools and then advanced to a meet with Samantha Smith, the east side winner. Keller advanced to the regional level, and went on to lose a close match to a team from Shoreline School District for the North Regional title on March 12. Photo: (left to right, back row) – Nina Slegaitis, Dean Biggs, My Lien Truong, Samantha Hayward, Andrew Chhor, and Conor Larson (front row) Seth Rekoske

Volunteer to be Recognized by Governor
Bertha Fitzgerald, age 85, is a volunteer in Julie Bebee’s kindergarten class at Juanita Elementary four days a week. She has volunteered at Juanita Elementary for over seventeen years and is recognized in this year’s district wall calendar (July 2009) for the connections that she has with the students. She is also being recognized at the state level with a 2009 Outstanding Volunteer Service Award. To acknowledge the vital role of volunteers, the fifth annual recognition event will be held in the Governor’s Mansion in Olympia on April 20, 2009, from 3 – 4 p.m. Governor Christine Gregoire will recognize the important services provided in our communities and congratulate and honor each volunteer.

National History Day Results for LWSD Students
Students from Redmond Junior High (RJH) and Redmond High School (RHS) participated in the National History Day competition on Friday, March 13. Students from 19 public and private schools in north and east King County and Bainbridge Island presented their original research during the North Puget Sound Regional History Day contest at Shoreline Center. At the event, more than 400 students in grades 6-12 took part by conducting research and presenting their results in one of five categories: exhibits, papers, multimedia documentaries, original performances and Web sites. They work as individuals or in groups of up to five members. Below are the results for RJH and RHS.

Junior Group Exhibit:

• 1st place (Best Use of Primary Sources): Vita Shubin and Arthi Narayanan (RJH) - Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Radical Revolutionist
• 2nd place: Karl Ronneburg, Sohum Chaudhary and Ishan Ranade (RJH) - Jane Goodall: From Gombe to the Globe
• 3rd place: Allie Cin, Amanda Reynolds and Isabella Brown (RJH) - An Innovative Leader in the Entertainment Industry: Walt Disney

Junior Historical Paper:

• 2nd place (Best Use of Primary Sources, Invitation to display at History House): Samvit Jain (RJH) – Leader and Spokesman for a People in Exile: Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

Junior Individual Performance:

• 3rd place: Irene Jiang (RJH) - A Midterm Exam Eye’s Dream

Junior Web site:

• 4th place: Rahul Devanaryanan and Nicholas Kodati (RJH) - Mikhail S. Gorbachev: Dictator for Democracy

Junior Group Documentary:

• 1st place (Best Use of Primary Sources): Abby Yeo, Archana Mandava and Meg Holtzinger (RJH) – J. Robert Oppenheimer: Destroyer of Worlds, Creator of Peace
• 3rd place: Jennie Kim, Joshua Ye and Daniel Fang (RJH) - Mao Zedong’s Ambitions for Political Supremacy: The Cultural Revolution

Senior Group Documentary:

• 1st place: Tara Balakrishnan, Maya Balakrishnan and Sarah Du (RJH) - Norman Borlaug and the Fight Against Famine
• 2nd place: Anand Raghuraman, Raluca Ifrim and Tian Kisch (RHS) - Jonas Salk: The Man Who Save the Children

DECA Area Competition
Congratulations to all of the Marketing students who attended the state DECA Competition on March 5-7 at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. Many of the students will go on to compete at the International Competition in Anaheim, Calif. April 29 - May 3.

Redmond High School:

• Lauren Isherwood - First place Restaurant & Food Service Marketing
• Jillian Jaccard and Dylan McBride - First place Sports & Entertainment Marketing Management Team
• Brandon Robinson - Second place Sports and Entertainment Individual Series
• Colin Neff and Karthika Appiah - Third place Creative Marketing Research Written event
• Simone Vieco and Adrei Nedelcu - Fourth place Business Law and Ethic Management Team
• Zurka Wolford, Taryn Ball and Kate Lufkin - Fourth place Creative Marketing Research
• Meg Leishman, Ally Glockner and Mandi Collings - Fourth place Financial Services Marketing Research
• Tyler Dougherty and Kambiz Shemshaki - Fourth place Sports and Entertainment Marketing Management Team

Lake Washington High School:

• Keira Rogers – Second place Restaurant and Food Service Management
• Emily Smernis and Kelsey Phillips - Fourth place Hospitality Service Management Team
• Sarah Athari and Ashley Monson - Second place Hospitality Service Management Team
• Kate Rasmussen - Third place Marketing Management
• Kyler Blue – Third place Quick Serve Restaurant Management
• Addison Lewis and Molly Navalinski – Third place Travel and Tourism Marketing Management

Eastlake High School:

• Lindsay Baumann and Maddie March - Second place in Buying and Merchandising
• Ethan Parry and Josh Donaldson – Fourth place in Internet Marketing
• Lindsay Baumann, Maddie March and Morgan Conover were finalists in the Chapter Achievement Project
• Jenna Creighton and Sloane Smith were recognized for their work in Hospitality Services
• Will Duenkel and Momoko Yoshida had perfect scores in Employment Acquisition
• President CJ Best will also lead a small delegation of students to the special leadership training at the International competition.

####

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.