Pine Lake Middle School Geography Bee tests young minds
January 22, 2013
Pine Lake Middle School students Ethan Hines (left) and Arjun Malhotra had to answer several tiebreaker questions in the championship round of the school’s geography bee. By Lillian O’Rorke
What Chinese river does the Three Gorges Dam span? The city of Baltimore is next to what large bay? In what city is the Suleymaniye Mosque, which was built to honor the 16th century Ottoman ruler?
Organizations donate $17,000 to students
January 1, 2013
Students at Pine Lake Middle and Cougar Ridge Elementary schools got an early Christmas present Dec. 12, when the Issaquah School Board approved more than $17,000 in donations from the schools’ PTSA groups.
The Pine Lake PTSA gave $12,000 to support various teacher grants at the middle school.
The $5,350 from the Cougar Ridge PTSA will help make it easier for families to pay camp fees for students attending Camp Warm Beach, an environmental camp that fifth-graders attend every fall.
Student musicians rank among top performers statewide
December 4, 2012
Dozens of local students are among the state’s top performers that have been chosen to participate in one of the Washington Music Educators Association’s 2013 All-State Honor or one of the National Association for Music Education’s All-Northwest performing groups.
The group of school musicians from throughout the state and region will rehearse and perform in concert under the direction of world-renowned conductors. The All-State high school honor groups and the All-Northwest groups will meet in Portland, Ore., Feb. 14-17. Junior All-State groups, grades five through eight, will meet in Vancouver, Wash., on Feb. 16.
This year’s group includes students from all five of the district’s middle schools and all three of the district’s traditional high schools.
Students choose Barack Obama, Jay Inslee in mock election
November 27, 2012
Students statewide and in the Issaquah School District chose the same candidates as grown-up voters — Barack Obama for president and Jay Inslee for governor.
The exercise included 38,848 students statewide, including classes at Cascade Ridge Elementary, Endeavour Elementary, Sunset Elementary, Pine Lake Middle and Issaquah High schools in the Issaquah School District.
The number of students participating statewide shattered the record for participation — about 18,000 students — set in 2008.
Students choose Barack Obama, Jay Inslee in mock election
November 13, 2012
NEW — 8 a.m. Nov. 13, 2012
Students statewide and in the Issaquah School District chose the same candidates as grown-up voters — Barack Obama for president and Jay Inslee for governor.
The exercise included 38,848 students statewide, including classes at Cascade Ridge Elementary, Endeavour Elementary, Sunset Elementary, Pine Lake Middle and Issaquah High schools in the Issaquah School District. The number of students participating statewide shattered the record for participation — about 18,000 students — set in 2008.
Students cast ballots online from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2, and then Secretary of State Sam Reed’s office posted the results online. The results in the statewide Student Mock Election reflected the outcome in the real election, albeit with different margins.
Newcastle actor’s film debut is ‘All I Want is Christmas’
November 6, 2012
Ashton Herrild, of Newcastle, plays antagonist Jack the Jerk in a still from the locally-shot film ‘All I Want is Christmas.’ By Laurie Clark Photography
Newcastle actor Ashton Herrild isn’t mean or rude, but that may be hard to believe for audiences who saw him star as the bully Scut Farkus in The 5th Avenue Theatre’s 2010 production of “A Christmas Story, The Musical!”
The 15-year-old Liberty High School sophomore is a hardworking student who enjoys doing a little acting on the side.
But for some reason, the charismatic teen keeps getting cast as an antagonist.
“I think it comes with the red hair,” he said as he smiled and pointed to his ginger locks. “You see a lot of movies with red-haired bullies just because they may be different.”
Fortunately, Ashton doesn’t mind, and it’s a good thing because he was cast as Jack the Jerk in his film debut, “All I Want is Christmas.”
Issaquah High School graduates embark on trip of a lifetime
October 2, 2012
The transition between college graduation and the rest of one’s life can be an uncertain time as students enter the job market and walk down the path to true adulthood.
So, three recent Western Washington University graduates with strong Issaquah roots decided that now was as good a time as any to head off on the trip of a lifetime, before a career gets in the way.
Matt Benson, Justin Kay and Andrew Baer have been friends since elementary school and the three have remained close through their time at Pine Lake Middle School, Issaquah High School and finally, Western Washington University.
The 2008 Issaquah grads will travel to Europe on a monthlong excursion, visiting England, France, Germany, Spain, and possibly the Netherlands and Italy.
Spurred by Skyline threat, absences jump 70 percent at other schools
September 25, 2012
Student attendance in the Issaquah School District tumbled Sept. 20, and absences spiked by 70 percent, as police investigated a shooting threat against Skyline High School.
District administrators decided late Sept. 19 to close Skyline the next day in response to the online threat and keep other campuses open. Staffers and students at other schools felt the ripples early.
Spurred by Skyline threat, absences jump 70 percent at Issaquah schools
September 20, 2012
NEW — 6:15 p.m. Sept. 20, 2012
Student attendance in the Issaquah School District tumbled Thursday, and absences spiked by 70 percent, as police investigated a shooting threat against Skyline High School.
District administrators decided late Wednesday to close Skyline on Thursday and keep other campuses open. Staffers and students at other schools felt the ripples early.
Districtwide, absences increased at 18 of 25 schools Thursday, although not every instance is attributable to the Skyline threat.
Officials counted 1,158 students absent Thursday, up from 680 a week earlier, Sept. 13, according to a comparison of attendance data. The district serves about 17,000 students from Preston to Newcastle, and from Sammamish to Renton.
Issaquah School District receives state energy grants
June 12, 2012
The Issaquah School District has been awarded energy grants totaling $120,084, according to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
“In addition to helping create jobs, it will help the district move forward with work that will reduce energy consumption and improve the learning and working environments,” Capital Projects Director Steve Crawford said in a statement. “The annual savings from this grant combined with our 2011 grant work will save the district a little over $200,000 a year in operational costs … especially significant as it is a reduction in general fund operational costs, which compete with classroom funding.”
The grants are intended to produce long-term energy and operational savings for the district, improve the indoor environmental qualities of schools and help stimulate construction-industry jobs. The energy projects use utility incentives, energy savings, local money and grant funds to make improvements that may otherwise not be affordable. The OSPI awarded $5.9 million in energy grants to 14 school districts throughout the state.
