Culminating project presentations began this week
Seniors from around the district will begin giving their culminating project presentations in the next few weeks, starting at International Community School on April 29. The culminating project (or Senior Project) is both a district and state graduation requirement. This project includes an in-depth study of a topic of interest and a presentation on that topic. More information about the culminating project is available in the Graduation Requirements section of this Web site. Below are samples of some of the presentations that students will be giving:

• Shadowing and interviewing firefighters to explore firefighting as a possible career path.
• Completing a project with Nike to design a shoe.
• Writing a score for a film trailer and having a professional orchestra perform it.
• Taking a glass blowing class and making several pieces to show.
• Shadowing an ER nurse and a delivery room nurse to see which career path the student would prefer.
• Studying radio communications and becoming a team leader for Explorer Search and Rescue.
• Writing a cookbook and having it published.
• Organizing a shoe drive for children in South America.
• Exploring interior design as a possible career path.
• Building a computer from scratch.

And there are many, many more. Below are the culminating project presentation dates for our high schools:

Lake Washington School District students receive National Merit $2500 Scholarships
Four Lake Washington School District students will receive National Merit $2500 Scholarships that can be used at any regionally accredited college or university in the United States. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced these awards on Wednesday, April 30. Two thousand five hundred students nationwide have won these $2500 scholarships. Students were selected from a talent pool of approximately 15,000 finalists in the 2008 National Merit Scholarship Program, based upon their Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test taken in October 2006.

• Carmen L. Tubbesing, Redmond High School
  Probable career field: Environmental Science
  Award: National Merit $2500 Scholarship – Underwritten by Pepsico Foundation, Inc.
• Matthew N. Zhou, International Community School
  Probable career field: Biomedical Engineering
  Award: National Merit $2500 Scholarship
• Anisha Gulabani, Eastlake High School
  Probable career field: Biomedical Engineering
  Award: National Merit $2500 Scholarship
• Olga E. Musayev, Eastlake High School
  Probable career field: Law
  Award: National Merit $2500 Scholarship

The NMSC is financing most of the single-payment scholarships with its own funds. Companies and businesses that sponsor awards through NMSC also help underwrite these scholarships with grants they provide.

Scholarship recipients were selected based upon their academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay describing interests and goals; and a recommendation written by a high school official.

Five students named Washington Scholars
Five Lake Washington School District (LWSD) students have been named Washington Scholars by the Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Washington Association of Secondary School Principals. Three students are selected from each of the state’s 49 legislative districts to receive this award. High school principals nominate the top one percent of their graduating senior class on the basis of academic achievement, leadership, and community service. A 24-member selection committee narrows the list down to the three highest-scoring candidates from each legislative district. Washington Scholars receive state grants equivalent to up to 12 quarters or eight semesters of undergraduate resident tuition that can be used at any Washington public or independent college or university. The following students from LWSD received this award:

• Anisha Gulabani, Eastlake High School
• Carmen Tubbesing, Redmond High School
• Yu Zhang, Redmond High School
• Luke French, Redmond High School
• Deanne Tockey, Redmond High School

LWSD students qualify for FBLA National Conference
Students from International Community School and Lake Washington High School completed in the state Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) state conference from April 10-12, for the opportunity to move on to the national conference, to be held in Atlanta, Ga. this June. The following students will move on to the national conference:

International Community School:
Business Communications: Surabhi Nirkhe, third place
Client Service: Brenda Kao, fifth place
Computer Problem Solving: Edward Jiang, first place
Cyber Security: Edward Jiang, first place
Global Business: Brenda Kao, Starrette Kim, Sukhdeep Singh, third place
Help Desk: Edward Jiang, fifth place
Management Decision Making: Brenda Kao, Daniel Kong, Starrette Kim, first place
Marketing: Brenda Kao, second place
Networking Design: Edward Jiang, first place
Public Speaking II: Surabhi Nirkhe, third place

Lake Washington High School:
Management Information Systems: Sam Woo and Paul Jackson, third place
Business & Calculations: Paul Jackson, fourth place
Future Business Leader and Who's Who in FBLA: Sam Woo, fifth place

In addition, Sam Woo was elected the FBLA State Secretary at the State Conference.

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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.