Students link computers to causes
March 9, 2010
Middle school multimedia program raises community awareness
Pine Lake seventh-grader Danielle Backman and eighth-grader Hope Chapman work on their awareness video Feb. 24 in the PLMS computer lab. By Christopher Huber
Pine Lake Middle School eighth-graders Kyle Feuerberg and Henry Jarvis threw a Super Bowl party for 25 homeless men for their multimedia elective class.
Through donating, students take part in global community
March 9, 2010
Hall Monitor Eric Bice Liberty High School
These past few months have taught me something very important about the students at Liberty High School. They have taught me that despite the worst economic recession of our lifetimes, we have been able to step up and contribute our hard-earned money toward Haitian relief efforts.
Haiti was devastated by an earthquake and represents a country in dire need of our monetary support. This is important, because there is no greater need for children to give than toward Haiti, and as of recently, Chile. Read more
Student bands rock out for a good cause
March 2, 2010
Issaquah High School’s leadership class is getting ready to rock for a good cause and its members want you to join them.
The class is hosting its annual Battle of the Bands competition for high school students March 11.
The battle is one of the most anticipated events each year, said student Maria Tilden.
While rocking out, though, your admission and donations will go to a good cause, the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund.
About 10 bands from the school will play three songs each throughout the night.
Leadership students are still finalizing the lineup, but they said it’s guaranteed to be a good time for the community.
“I’m looking forward to seeing all the different bands and help expose them to the public, because I just think it’s great that we have so many talented high school bands and I think that is awesome,” said student Lindsay Baringer.
Scared straight
March 2, 2010
On display at Beaver Lake Middle School’s Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco Awareness week is the Acura Integra after a July crash that killed Chase Tinsley, 18, and Zackary Oliver, 21, of Algona, after they were drinking at a party. By Chantelle Lusebrink
Twisted metal and stained car seats are all that remain of a car crash that claimed the lives of two best friends.
Chase Tinsley, 18, and Zackary Oliver, 21, were only going to drive about a mile to sleep at a friend’s house after a party on Lake Tapps that morning. They never made it.
Instead, something went very wrong. Their car hit a tree and fell 25 feet down an embankment; Chase was killed instantly. Zach was pinned inside the car, which landed upside down in a pond below. Emergency crews were unable to get him out in time, Chase’s mother Margaret Tinsley said Feb. 8.
“When I saw the car, it sent shivers up my spine and I don’t think anyone deserves that to happen to them,” seventh-grader Sadie Wilbur said.
“It is a strong deterrent from drinking,” seventh-grader Erik Crouch added. “It’s amazing that in two seconds, two lives were taken away. I don’t think anyone who sees that car will ever drink and drive.”
So why was a car belonging to a couple of Algona friends in Sammamish? It’s all part of Beaver Lake Middle School’s annual Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco and Addiction awareness week.
The school has hosted the weeklong awareness program for several years. Read more
Freshmen fundraiser changing lives, one T-shirt at a time
February 16, 2010
Rache Strand (center) celebrates as she and Jane McNicoll take T-shirt orders (featuring the design below) during lunch to raise money from fellow Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus students for the Central Asia Institute. By Greg Farrar
Students at the Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus are changing the lives of their peers with education worldwide, one shirt at a time.
For $12 each, the students are selling shirts that will send a student in Afghanistan or Pakistan to school for a year through the Central Asia Institute.
“We’re learning every day, and sometimes we take that for granted,” student Anais Gentilhomme said. “We want to help others learn.”
Catholic schools week celebrates pride, tradition of service
February 9, 2010
Rachael Goodwin, Celeste Veitch and Gabby Recchi (from left), St. Joseph third-graders, sell cookies for 50 cents to classmates, including first-grader Megan Olson (right). The funds raised will go to relief for Haiti's earthquake victims. Below, a student shows off her sugar cookie, with one bite already eaten, for a good cause. Photos by Greg Farrar
Throngs of students filled the doorway to St. Joseph School’s cafeteria.
It’s the lunch rush and the third-grade girls manning the table hollered out the names of delectable treats for purchase like the best of auctioneers.
“What do you want?” third-grader Celeste Veitch shouted over a sea of younger students. “We have cookies, brownies, cupcakes. Let me know when you’re ready.”
Washington state fails its own education test
February 9, 2010
Hall Monitor Ahren Stroming Liberty High School
Article IV of the state constitution begins with the following righteous preamble: “It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders.”
If that’s the rubric, then they haven’t earned a very good score.
For the 2007-2008 school year, the Issaquah School District received $8,405 per student from the state. The state average is nearly $900 per student more, putting us at a dismal 271st out of 295 Washington state school districts in revenue per pupil. If our school district was funded at the state average, we would get an additional $13.3 million. Read more
Pirates, wizards help students read
February 2, 2010
Maria Murray, a fifth-grade teacher, reads the book ‘How I Became a Pirate,’ to students and their families in the Pirate’s Den reading room. By Chantelle Lusebrink
Teachers dressed as pirates and wizards — what more could a student ask for?
Families gathered for a night of reading fun at Clark Elementary School’s first Literacy Night Jan. 25.
Teens need more sleep; school hours need to change
February 2, 2010
Hall Monitor Hayley Swanson Issaquah High School
Not everyone likes waking up before the sun, and most teenagers have to do that to get to school on time.
It is against teens’ natural biological clock to fall asleep at 9:30 p.m., the time at which they need to fall asleep if they want to get a solid eight or more hours of sleep. School for high schoolers and middle schoolers in the Issaquah School District starts between 7 and 8 a.m., and a good handful of them sleep in class throughout the day because they barely slept the night before. The lucky ones get more than six hours of sleep. Read more
Artists wanted for Arbor Day posters
February 2, 2010
The state Department of Natural Resources, the National Arbor Day Foundation and Puget Sound Energy are asking fifth-grade students to submit posters for an Arbor Day competition. Read more
