High School Graduations Just Weeks Away!
High School graduations are just weeks away. Below are the dates that each high school in Lake Washington School District will hold graduation ceremonies.

• Transition Academy – Thursday, June 4 – Lake Washington School District Resource Center, Redmond
• Family Learning Center – Friday, June 5 – Lake Washington High School, Cadle Theatre, Kirkland
• BEST High School – Tuesday, June 9 – BEST High School Gymnasium, Kirkland
• Lake Washington High School – Wednesday, June 10 – Key Arena, Seattle
• International Community School – Thursday, June 11 – Northshore Baptist Church, Bothell
• Redmond High School – Thursday, June 11 – Key Arena, Seattle
• Eastlake High School – Friday, June 12 – Key Arena, Seattle
• Futures School - Friday, June 12 – Futures School at Juanita High School, Kirkland
• Juanita High School – Friday, June 12 – Juanita High School Field House, Kirkland

Explorer Community School Wins Sustainable School Award
Explorer Community School has just been awarded $300.00 as a winner of the Terry Husseman Sustainable School Award from the Department of Ecology. The Terry Husseman Sustainable School Awards promote sustainability and reward school efforts to reduce waste and increase environmental curricula. The Department of Ecology wants to encourage schools to be role models in environmental stewardship for students and community members. Explorer will be recognized at a ceremony in Olympia on May 21.

Rockwell Teacher to Receive Redmond Arts Award
Nancy McKay, the music teacher and orchestra/choir director at Rockwell Elementary will receive the Redmond Arts Award. After being nominated by her principal, Tina Livingston, Nancy has been selected by the Redmond Arts Commission to receive the Award. She will be celebrated on June 16, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. The award presentation will be preceded by a 7 p.m. reception.

Wilder Teacher Named ASW Teacher of the Year
Tiffany Nygren, a first year teacher at Wilder Elementary has been selected as the Autism Society of Washington (ASW) Teacher of the Year. She was hired to teach in the K-1 School Skills Support Program, a new program run by Special Services. The goal of the program is to teach school readiness skills to special needs students. After first grade, the hope is these students can return to their home schools and be successful in general education classrooms with Resource Room support. It has been Tiffany’s goal to work with ASD students. She has a Special Education degree from Seattle Pacific University and is Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) trained. Tiffany will be honored at a ceremony at the Shoreline Conference Center on May 29 at 4 p.m.

Kirkland Women’s Club Names Scholarship Winners
The Kirkland Women’s Club held a music recital on April 19, 2009. At that recital, a number of students won scholarships. Below is a list of the scholarship winners:

• Jessica Lees (Lake Washington High School) - $1,000 Scholarship
• DeAnna Poulin (Eastlake High School) - $700 Scholarship
• Erin McMullen (Lake Washington High School) - $500 Scholarship

Honorary Mention (and $50 awards) went to:

• Bonnie Doll, Juanita High School
• Spencer Kagen, Lake Washington High School
• Meghan Pierson, Lake Washington High School
• Margo Schadt, Lake Washington High School
• Steven Stovall, Juanita High School

Redmond High School Student Selected as Seafair Ambassador
Irena Lam, a sophomore at Redmond High School has been selected as a Seafair Ambassador for Washington. This November, Irena will be going to Japan with five fellow Ambassadors from Washington to represent the festival and will interact with government officials, business leaders, and students. She also won a $1000 scholarship. The Seafair program (sponsored by BECU) had their annual symposium where speakers from different community service programs come together to speak to sophomores and juniors all over Washington. This is a one-day event where students hear from representatives from programs like Habitat for Humanity and Global Health. At the end of the day, they are sent home to come up with a community service project idea inspired by a program they heard about. Irena’s idea was called Fine Arts Touches the Community (FATC), inspired by Habitat for Humanity, which supplies physical necessities for people like houses. She looked towards the necessities that human souls need: music, literature, drama, and human interaction. Irena focused on two groups in society who normally don't interact; younger teens involved in fine arts who have limited performance opportunities, and senior citizens in hospitals and senior centers who may not be able to access concert halls and performances. She presented her idea through a video and PowerPoint. Irena made the top 12 and was interviewed by the Seafair Board of Directors. The next day she found out she had been selected as an ambassador.

Risk Manager Receives Award from Peers
Lake Washington School District’s Risk Manager, Scott Emry received an award from his peers at the Washington Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) conference last week. He received the Cindy Acosta Risk Management Achievement Award, which was given as a result of a vote from his peers. Cindy Acosta was a district risk manager who passed away from cancer in 2006. The following criteria are used to determine who should be selected: job functions that include Risk Management; specific achievement(s) within the past two years that meet one or more of the following: promoting a safe and healthy school environment, limiting School District liability, demonstrating sound Risk Control techniques, and employing effective Risk Financing; participation in WASBO Risk Management Committee.

Local French and Spanish Students Earn National and Chapter Awards
Rona Chumbook, who teaches French and Spanish at Kamiakin Junior High (KaJH) and Lake Washington High School (LWHS), announces with great pride the accomplishments of several of her first-year students who participated recently in national exams at both schools. Four students earned national awards and 14 students earned chapter or honorable mention awards for their performance in the 2009 National French Contest and the 2009 National Spanish Examination. Each exam annually draws over 100,000 participants nationwide across several divisions. In the first-year division, 7,928 students entered the French contest and 26,930 students took the Spanish exam.

At the national level in the National French Contest, Kate Roberts, an eighth-grade student from Northstar Junior High (NJH) who takes a French class at Lake Washington High School, ranked fourth nationally and first in the Washington / Alaska chapter scoring in the 95th percentile. Luke White, a ninth- grader at KaJH ranked eighth nationally and second in the Washington / Alaska chapter, scoring in the 90th percentile. At the national level on the National Spanish Exam, Josh Reyes, a ninth-grader at KaJH, earned a silver medal, scoring in the 85th percentile. Grae Morgan, a junior at LWHS, earned a bronze medal, scoring in the 80th percentile.

At the chapter level in the National French Contest, other winners include ninth grader Lili Nyste from NJH who takes a French class at LWHS, Allie Bouranova, Cara Kildall, Amanda Wright, and Bailey Gibart, all ninth graders from KaJH. Spanish exam winners earning honorable mention awards include ninth graders Avery Britton, Kristina Koumaeva, Jasmin Hurst, Alyanna Thongoulay, and Snigdha Kanuparthy from KaJH.

The National French Contest is sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French for students in grades 1-12. The National Spanish Exam, administered each year in grades 6-12, is sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.

Students Selected to Attend Global Youth Institute
Four students at Inglewood Junior High have been selected to attend the Global Youth Institute at University of Washington from June 22-26. The selected students are: Joy Hsu, Akaash Nanda, Sharada Rayan and Jared Rowe, all ninth-graders at IJH. The Global Youth Leadership Institute is a five-day intensive summer program designed to encourage and assist high school students in learning about current global issues. Student participants will hear from expert speakers, explore career opportunities, learn how to use technology to connect with peers overseas and develop leadership skills. Students will develop plans to educate their peers about world affairs over the forthcoming academic year. Participants will receive a Certificate of Completion upon finishing the program and will continue to benefit in the 2009-2010 school year from follow-up activities that will increase their leadership skills while raising awareness within their schools.

Teachers Receive Recognition for National Parent/Student Mock Election Project
Two teachers at Inglewood Junior High learned recently that their entry in the National Parent/Student Mock Election project was a winner. Adam Gervis and Gerry Lenocker created a simulation of the Presidential Election that ran on Election Day in 2008. Students prepared for the election over two weeks, then cast their ballots in precincts on Election Day. The results were announced at the end of the school day, then students compared the school’s results with the actual results later that evening. This project was sponsored by the National Student/Parent Mock Election organization, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that supports teachers who put on mock elections. Gervais and Lenocker were the winners of the National Association of Secondary School Principals Outstanding Mock Election Project award.

Franklin Elementary Students Win at Stock Market Game
Fifth grade Quest students from Franklin Elementary competed in a Stock Market Game during their math class taught by Neal Manegold. This competition gives students the chance to invest a hypothetical $100,000 in an on-line stock portfolio and trade in real-time. One team placed first among elementary schools statewide and seventh among all 542 schools statewide, including Junior High and High School students. Priya Nakkiran, Richard Zhang, Matthew Canin, and Jonah Joughin invested in companies such as Yum Brands, GE, and Toyota. The group increased their portfolio’s value by over $40,000 in just two months, beating the S&P 500 by over 30 percent.

Juanita High School Students Receive Scholarships
A number of Juanita students are the recipients of several significant scholarships this past month.

• Elizabeth Tayler is a WAVE award winner which pays for two years of books and tuition at any Washington college institution.
• Natalie Michajla and Adel Benslimane both won Ewing C Kelly Foundation scholarships worth $2,500 each.
• Natalie Dean received $2,500 from the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME).

Lake Washington VFW Honors Lake Washington High School Honors Society
On Tuesday, May 12, 2009, members of the Lake Washington VFW attended Lake Washington High School’s Honor Society meeting to recognize the students for their work for the VFW’s “Support the Troops” Program. The Honor Society has helped with car washes and collected money and supplies at Fred Meyer Stores. The collected items are sent to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The VFW’s “Support the Troops” program is responsible for sending out at least 200 care packages per month to the troops, and has sent over 5,000 care packages to date. Lake Washington High School’s Honor Society program has been involved with the VFW’s “Support the Troops” program for the past two years. Honor Society students have spent their weekends working to support the troops and the VFW felt that they should be recognized for their efforts. Each student that helped with the VFW’s efforts received a certificate of appreciation. In addition, the VFW supplied a pizza party for all of the honor society members.

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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.