School life: Winners

Nine get scholarships at student conference

More than 650 Snohomish County middle and high school students attended the 2008 Students of Color Career Conference Jan. 18 at Everett Community College.

“This was our sixth year and our largest group ever,” said Christina Castorena, EvCC associate dean for diversity, who led the event with conference co-founders Bill Reed, an EvCC accounting instructor, and Carlos Veliz, an EvCC trustee and president of PCSI Design.

Eight high school seniors received $1,000 scholarships at the conference.

They are:

Alton Griffin, Mariner High School, who wants to become a material science engineer.

Jacqueline Hernandez, Monroe High School, who’s interested in becoming and architect and one day running her own architectural business.

Rachel Johansen, Mariner High School, who’s interested in a career in criminal justice.

Jovana Jones, Cascade High School, who plans to study business and open her own restaurant.

Rendel Jones, Everett High School, who plans to study sports management.

Rahnel Woldu, Edmonds-Woodway High School, who wants to become a pediatrician.

Tajman Batth, Edmonds-Woodway High School, who wants to become a psychiatrist. Batth received a scholarship donated by Puget Sound Kidney Center.

Lan Bui, Mariner High School, who is interested in becoming a nurse and also received a scholarship donated by Puget Sound Kidney Center.

A ninth scholarship was added the day of the conference. The $500 scholarship from the Findlay Foundation was awarded to Luis Guerrero, Mariner High School, who plans to become a computer engineer or technician.

The scholarships are funded by public and private donations.

Students also met local experts in more than 20 fields who led panel discussions about career options and education. For the first time, the conference included a panel discussion with local skilled trades workers about jobs and opportunities available in those fields.

“In the first session I attended, I met three black women who have their own businesses,” said Mariner High School senior ­Bashair Alazadi, who wants to study business and engineering in college. “It was very inspiring to see what they’d accomplished and to learn from them.”

Building relationships between professionals of color and students of color is crucial, said Reed, a conference co-founder.

“Getting students excited about their options — and encouraging them to plan now to reach their dreams — has a lasting impact,” Reed said.

The keynote speaker was Jennifer de Leon, an Ernst &Young accountant who’s involved with the Filipino American Association of CPS and actively recruits scholarship candidates at Washington state colleges.

Last year’s keynote speaker, Michelle Marie Font, also visited to underscore her message about reaching for dreams by announcing she’d fulfilled her dream of becoming Miss Washington USA.

The conference also included information about college admission and financial aid.

The Students of Color Career Conference is part of Snoho­mish County’s weeklong remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr. The conference is co-sponsored by the city of Everett, Everett Public Schools and Snohomish County.

Monroe teacher wins conservation award

The Pilchuck Audubon Society recently gave Monroe Public Schools teacher Deb Hatcher a classroom conservation award.

Hatcher teaches fourth grade at Maltby Elementary School and will use the $250 award to enhance a “Salmon in the Classroom” program through the purchase of more nonfiction reading materials. The grant will also help fund hands-on learning activities for the Maltby fourth-grade class.

The Pilchuck Audubon Society’s goal in granting this award is to instill in elementary students a sense of need to conserve and protect natural resources.

Ten $250 awards are made annually to Snohomish County public or private school teachers for conservation and science-related learning for elementary students. All honorees must involve students in the classroom and demonstrate achievable and relevant wildlife and conservation goals.

Granite Falls honors staff and students

The Granite Falls School District recently announced its first semester Success in Education award winners.

Granite Falls Middle School counselor Rebecca DeLaney and Monte Cristo Elementary School educational assistant Laurie Carroll were presented with the award at a Jan. 16 school board meeting.

Student winners Kyle Penny, Nicole DePrey, Mikayla Engstrom, Jarad Olander, Heather Hirschi, Kendall Stewart and Breanna White were also recognized.

Success in Education Awards are presented to staff members who provide a caring and understanding learning environment and to students who show an understanding of the importance of education and provide service to other students, staff or the community.

EdCC adds Yim to board of trustees

Emily Yim, director of neighborhoods and community affairs for the city of Lynn­wood, has been named to the Edmonds Community College Board of Trustees.

Gov. Chris Gregoire appointed Yim to a five-year term. Yim is a former vice president and corporate grantmaker for the community and external affairs division at Washington Mutual and a graduate of the University of Washington’s Jackson School of International Studies.

Mukilteo School District honored

The Mukilteo School District has won a 2007 Boeing Innovative Award.

In making the announcement to the Mukilteo School Board last week, Sam Whiting, Boeing’s community investor for primary and secondary education in the Northwest Region, said Mukilteo was honored because it promotes the ideals of the Boeing Co. with innovation, collaboration and extraordinary leadership.

Whiting said the Mukilteo School District has been especially innovative in its math and science instruction. He pointed out that Mukilteo teachers are engaged in a districtwide initiative to improve math instruction and that the district has a commitment to move towards inquiry-based science.

He also praised Mukilteo for creating science assessments, consistently supporting the Boeing Educator Enrichment Day, and having 10 after-school sites where Boeing volunteers offer their help with math and science. Whiting added that he appreciates the Mukilteo district for providing opportunities for Boeing employees to get involved in education.

As part of the award, the Mukilteo School District received $10,000 from the Boeing Co. Mukilteo Superintendent Marci Larsen said she would like to put that money toward more science and math programs.

Everett Rotary names students of the month

The Rotary Club of Everett recently named its students of the month for January.

Students are chosen by school counselors for achieving a significant scholastic record, combined with extracurricular participation and community events.

The students are Lily Doleatti from Everett High School; Leslie Grieser from Cascade High School; and Casey Gould from Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy High School.

The students were recognized at a Jan. 15 Rotary lunch meeting.

Harbour Pointe honors good communicators

December’s theme for student of the month at Harbour Pointe Middle School in Mukilteo was “Communicators,” an attribute from the school’s International Baccalaureate program.

Honored students were sixth-graders Nora Aboulhosn, Kevin Amador, Ah Ryeong (Irene) Jeon and Eddy Yoo; seventh-graders Kady Davidson, Chi (Catherine) Huang, JeHong (John) Kim and Simran Sandhu; and eighth-graders Yoojeong Cho, Chase Kuselik, Alex Nesbitt and Carly Rohrenbach.

Mill Creek students makes dean’s list

Mill Creek resident Matthew W. Markovich, a 2004 graduate of Lakeside School, is on the dean’s list at Bucknell University for the fall semester.

A student must earn a grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a scale of 4.0 to receive dean’s list recognition

Kamiak students score well on AP exams

Ninety-seven students at Kam­iak High School have earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement Program Exams for 2007.

The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program offers students the opportunity to take challenging college-level courses while still in high school, and to receive college credit, advanced placement or both for successful performance on the AP exams.

About 18 percent of the more than 1.4 million high school students in almost 16,000 secondary schools worldwide who took AP exams performed at a sufficiently high level to merit the recognition of AP Scholar.

Three hundred fifty-one Kam­iak High School students took 611 AP exams in May 2007 after completing challenging college-level courses at Kamiak.

The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on student’s performance on AP exams.

At Kamiak, three students qualified for the National AP Scholar Award by earning an average of 4 or higher on a 5-point scale on all AP exams taken and grades of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams. Those students are Colin Pratt, Matthew Ruppel and Jonathan Wells.

Thirty-four Kamiak students qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. These students are Zeke Barger, Jennifer Beatty, William Carter, Joshua Chao, Mai Dang, Teresa Dang, Jiadai Dong, Sarah Evans, Zachary Evans, Matthew Falk, Jonathan Fedele, Matthew Fitzgerald, Michael Fitzgerald, Jacob Gallery, Alexandru Gheoca, Kyle Howe, Ian Jellison, Grace Kim, Stephanie Kinner, Vicki Liu, Anita Luong, Lucas Matson, McKenna Milici, Christine Nam, Max Nelson, Junbeom Park, Brittany Pineros, Colin Pratt, Matthew Ruppel, Dongho Shin, Allison Stafford, Amanda Tose and Jonathan Wells.

Nineteen Kamiak students also qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. These students are Analiese Abbey, Annissa Alusi, Nicole Bozek, Bryan Carriker, Jessica Chin, Kurt Doten, Bertram Drury, Bridget Fossedal, Sarah Johnson, Riley Jones, Jamie Kirkland, Michelle Lee, Kevin Song, Miles Spratto, Blake Strickland, Cullen Walsh, Jennifer Xia and Suyoung Yu.

Forty-four Kamiak students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP exams, with grades of 3 or higher. The AP Scholars are Abraham Ahn, Jun-Lee Ahn, Jonathan Bedier, Lester Black, Sean Bucy, Brian Byrnes, Kelsey Campbell, Katherine Chamblin, Kyle Cho, Cheryl Collins, Elyssa Dahl, Christina Durnil, Blake Engelbert, Jame Este-McDonald, Taylor Fjeran, Nicholas Gacek, Cornia Hollensteiner, Ezra Hong, Michael Hooper, Lindsay Hudson, Brittany Iwata, Andrew Jang, Noah Jolley, Jee Eun Kang, Alice Kim, Marissa Lyons, Kelly Mallery, Hanna Martz, Rhya Milici, Sophie Milton, Shawn O’Donnell, Erik Olsoy, Jenna Osborn, Channing Paradis, Timothy Perisho, Anna Phung, Allison Rhode, Janee Spelman, Christian Spencer, Tudor Streza, Chase Van Cotthem, Skylar Waggone, Elaine Wang, and Zachary Wrzeszcz.