Summer vacation was delayed, sort of, for Emily Pawley of Everett.
On her last day of classes in June, she left on a school trip to Washington D.C.
It was all about learning, and fun.
The 14-year-old traveled with other students from Gateway Middle School in the Everett School District.
They spent six days in Washington, D.C., a trip organized by block teacher Jason Lunder, who was a chaperone on the outing.
The D.C. trip aimed to add to the American and world history topics eighth-grade students studied last term.
“Emily felt that doing this trip after school let out was perfect because they got to visit many historical places that they learned about during the year such as the battlefield of Gettysburg and the settlements of Jamestown and Williamsburg, and to see actual documents in the Library of Congress such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,” says her mother, Laura Pawley.
Each student raised $2,200 for the excursion.
“It was an amazing experience,” Emily says. “It was breathtaking to see the monuments and memorials that are a huge part of our nation’s capital. My favorite parts of the trip were going inside the Washington Monument, seeing the White House and touring the Capitol. The trip itself was academic because we were learning about all the places we visited, but it was also a vacation because we were sightseeing and enjoying time with friends.”
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As we said in July, one or two volunteers were needed to be district coordinators for the AARP Tax-Aide Program in Snohomish and Island counties.
“All the tax work, training, the recruiting, the publicity and site organization is all done by us (local coordinators), we just need an official boss,” says coordinator Laura Little.
There are 18 sites that will be supervised.
They found just the right person.
“It is official,” says Neil Kendall, the outgoing district coordinator. “Richard V. Berg of Bothell is the new coordinator.”
Berg will be trained by AARP in October and work through May, Little says.
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Valley Spinners Guild offers a Sheep to Shawl demonstration at the upcoming Evergreen State Fair, which runs Thursday through Sept. 7 in Monroe.
Everybody knows where the fairgrounds are, but in case someone just moved here after losing their home and job in California, it’s at 14405 179th Ave. SE.
Gretchen Wilson in Monroe says folks at the fair on Labor Day may see a sheep getting sheared, the wool combed (carded) for a spinning wheel, it woven on a loom then made into a shawl — all in four hours.
The spinners will start the process at 11 a.m. Sept. 7 in front of the sheep barn.
“We meet once a month in Snohomish,” Wilson says. “There are about 75 people in the guild which promotes fiber arts such as hand spinning, knitting, weaving, felting etc. It is fun to come into a room of 50 spinning wheels all whirring.”
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.
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