School Life: Winners

Lake Stevens School District names Apple award winners

February winners for the Lake Stevens School District Apple Award are Lake Stevens High School teachers Jim Talley and Suzanne Lewis; Janet Rich, a school psychologist at Skyline Elementary School; and Jamie Marshall, an occupational therapist at Mount Pilchuck Elementary School.

Nominated and selected by their peers, Lake Stevens School District employees are recognized each month for creating a positive, caring and productive school environment through exceptional effort, dedication or performance.

Awards will be presented at 7:30 p.m. March 12 at the Lake Stevens School Board meeting in the Educational Service Center, 12309 22nd St. NE.

Archbishop Murphy students win district mock trial crown

A team of 15 seniors from Archbishop Murphy High School recently captured the 2008 Snoho­mish County District Mock Trial championship.

It was the second district title in the four-year history of the AMHS mock trial program.

Another AMHS team called the Returners finished second and Port Townsend was third. Also competing were Meadowdale, the Archbishop Murphy C Team and the Port Townsend junior varsity.

AMHS advanced its senior team and the Returners team to the state mock trial championship meet at the Thurston County Courthouse in Olympia on March 28-30.

This is the first time that two mock trial teams will represent the school at state.

Several AMHS students received honors for their performance at districts.

Senior Isaac Bond won the district award for best witness.

Honorable mention for best witness went to seniors Bianca Campbell and Kelly Gale; Returners team members Amber Buehlmaier, Sarah Carratt, Chris Robison and Avery Sanders; and C Team members Kelly Hauschel and Stacey McCutchan.

Honorable mention for best attorney went to seniors Christine Baele, Sean Connelly, Shannon Hoban and Tim Yates; Returner team member Dan Oestreich; and C Team members Jenny Daviscourt and Andrew Rose.

EvCC engineering instructor earns 2008 outstanding teaching award

Everett Community College engineering instructor Eric Davishahl has won the American Society for Engineering Education’s 2008 Outstanding Teaching Award for the Pacific Northwest.

Davishahl, who’s taught at EvCC since 2001, is the first community college instructor in the region to receive this award. He’s now one of 12 regional winners eligible for the national Outstanding Teaching medal.

“Eric has been a leader in coordinating the statewide engineering curriculum between the community colleges and the four-year colleges,” said Al Friedman, EvCC dean of math and science. “He’s an outstanding instructor, and I’m excited to see him get this recognition.”

The Northwest region includes Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana and western Canada.

The award committee applauded Davishahl’s outstanding teaching, curriculum development, advising and educational scholarship, noting his leadership for engineering initiatives in Washington state.

He was nominated for the award by Robert Olson, Washington State University associate dean in the College of Engineering and Architecture. EvCC faculty members, students and faculty from two other community colleges also sent letters of support.

In addition to teaching, Davishahl is the adviser to EvCC’s Engineering Club, which is the only group of community college engineers in the nation to compete at the International Submarine Races during the past two years. The team plans to compete again this year.

Davishahl will be recognized at a regional ASEE meeting in April at Eastern Washington University in Cheney. Founded in 1893, the American Society for Engineering Education is a nonprofit organization of individuals and institutions committed to furthering education in engineering and engineering technology.

Granite Falls choir and teacher invited to perform in festival

Mountain Way Elementary School music teacher Jenny Price and the Mountain Way Elementary After School Choir have been invited to perform in a choir festival March 15 sponsored by the Seattle Children’s Chorus. By invitation only, Mountain Way Elementary is the only public school choir to perform.

Others performing at the event include the Pacifica Choir, Olympia Youth Chorus and the Northwest Girls Choir. The event will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynnwood at 7 p.m. Each choir will perform alone and then combine to form one massed choir to perform two pieces together.

Over 90 third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students practice after school twice a week for an hour each day from September through June. The After School Choir has also performed at the local school concerts and Everett Silvertips and Everett AquaSox games.

Marysville student receives Central Washington University recognition

Kaitlyn Shannon, 18, of Marysville, received an academic achievement award for fall semester from Central Washington University in Ellensburg.

Shannon, a freshman, earned a 3.9 percent GPA and is considering majoring in business administration.

Marysville Noon Rotary Club gives dictionaries to elementary students

The Marysville Noon Rotary Club went to all 10 of Marysville’s elementary schools recently to deliver free dictionaries.

Each third-grade student was invited to sign his or her name in 1,000-page, full-color dictionary.

Presenters at each school told students the dictionaries would help build their ability to read and write.

The Marysville Noon Rotary pays for this project through its Pumpkins for Literacy project.

Each year they sponsor a monthlong pumpkin event at the Plant Farm in Smokey Point. Each Rotarian shows up nearly every weekend in October to help sell pumpkins or support one of the many other activities for families: bouncy house, petting zoo, train ride, story barn and concessions.

This is the second year that the Rotary has provided dictionaries to each third-grade student in support of literacy. In addition, they provide $1,000 for each elementary school to use in the purchase of books to promote literacy.

“The Marysville Rotary goes above and beyond to support student literacy,” says Marysville School District Superintendent Larry Nyland. “We appreciate their help in letting students know that reading and writing are important and valued in our community. For some students, this is the first book that they have ever owned.”

Marysville PTA honors winners of Reflections Art Prgram

The Marysville PTA Council recently honored 144 students who entered this year’s Reflections Art Program.

Entries were received in the categories of dance, film, literature, music, photography and visual arts.

Here are the top finishers:

Dance: Primary grades, Abigail Hau, first; Brielle Sydow, second.

Film: Primary grades, Riley McLaughlin, first; intermediate grades, Shelby Lamont and Connor Stickels tied for first; Joseph Bazile, second; middle school, Steven Skomski, first.

Literature: Primary grades, Dane Maldonado, first; Stephanie Jeziorski, second; Cassandra Kunselman, third. Intermediate grades, Claire Dobler and David Gloyd, first-place tie; Samantha Peterson, second; Logan Plant, third. Middle school grades, Alexandra Leerhoff, first; Cassie Wogsland, second; Emyly Hall and Lexy Smith, third-place tie. High school, Katy Stevick, first; Cameron Woodward, second and Andrya Long, third.

Music Primary grades, Alexander Dade, first. Intermediate, Hannah Roberson, first; Benjamin Thomas, second and Austin Furnas, third. Middle school grades, Claudia Furmanczyk, first; Lindsay Ackron, second. High school, Connor Woodward, first; Matt Love, second.

Photography: Primary grades, Tallie Durland, first; Jared Miller, second; Emma Ha, third. Intermediate, Chance Mair, Connor Brennan and Jack Gagnon, first-place tie; Jennifer Baxter, second; Lexie Alaniz, Sage Dewdney, Austin Furnas and Nicole Buell, third. Middle school, Abbigale Christenson, first; Marcia Trader, second; Elizabeth Booth, third. High school, Ashlynn Woodward, first.

Visual arts: Primary, Gabrielle Starcevic, first; McKenzie Sumsion, second; Emmaline Savidge, third. Intermediate grades, Sebastian Mota, first; Theresa Ambat, second; Madison Kint, third. Middle school, Jake Hubbert and Hailey Kelm, first-place tie; Emyly Hall, second; Laura Martin and Audrey Martin, third. High school, Stephanie Schuster, first.

Since 14 schools in the Marysville School District participated, PTA was able to send 27 entries to be judged at the state level. All first-place entries and some second-place entries were sent.

MTHS group wins at jazz festival

The Mountlake Terrace High School’s Dynamics Vocal Jazz Ensemble was the winner for the AAAA Choir at the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho on Feb. 22 receiving the Adjudicators’ Choice.

The Dynamics, under the direction of T.J. Sullivan, also won their division in 2007. Senior Eli Blaisdell was a winner for bass vocal soloist.

The Mountlake Terrace High School Jazz Ensemble 1, under the direction of Darin Faul, received an Adjudicators’ Special Commendation on Feb. 23 at Lionel Hampton. Jazz Ensemble 1 recently performed at Hot Java Cool Jazz at the Paramount Theatre and was the Sweepstakes Award winner at the Viking Jazz Festival in Poulsbo Feb. 1. It was the featured jazz band at the Clark College Jazz Festival in January.