King’s Schools’ junior high vocal jazz group, Celebration, was named the 2010 Junior High Vocal Jazz Group Winner of the Year by Downbeat magazine. In addition, high school musician Courtney Parkin was named High School Outstanding Jazz Solo Performance of the Year.
The Downbeat Student Music Awards honor students in junior and senior high schools and colleges worldwide. Applicants were judged on musicianship, creativity, improvisation, technique, sound quality and balance, excitement, authority and other criteria.
Visit wine bar, help build monkey bars
The Parent Staff Organization of Westgate Elementary School, Edmonds, will hold a Wine Bar for Monkey Bars fundraiser to benefit its playground project.
The wine tasting and dessert auction will take place from 4:30-7:30 p.m., May 15 at the Edmonds Senior Center. Tickets are $35 per person or $250 for a table of eight.
Wines will be provided by the local QFC grocery and state winemakers. Desserts will be provided by local bistros.
To purchase tickets, visit www.westgatepso.org/playground.
Cedar Way asks for playground votes
The Parent Teacher Organization at Cedar Way Elementary School in Mountlake Terrace is seeking the public’s help as it tries to win a $50,000 grant for its playground and garden space project from Pepsi Refresh Foundation.
The top 10 vote-getters in the online competition will each get a grant. Cedar Way’s project early this week was ranking in the mid-70s. People are allowed to cast 10 votes a day until May 31.
To vote, visit www.refresheverything.com/cedarwayplay. Track the progress of the PTO project on Facebook, at tiny.cc/0v2fu. Some of the school’s play equipment dates to 1959.
North Sound student honored
Victoria “Tori” Speck of North Sound Christian High School was recognized April 28 as the Davis Law Group Scholar Athlete of the Week. The award comes with a $100 scholarship.
Speck maintains a 4.0 grade-point average while being active in volleyball, basketball and track and field. She mentors young girls in volleyball at the Boys and Girls Club. Speck plans to pursue a career in physical therapy.
EdCC student going to pilot NASA project
Edmonds Community College engineering student Nichole Porter was one of 76 students nationwide selected to travel to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, May 20-22, as part of the National Community College Aerospace Scholars pilot program.
They will participate in a three-day on-site event to develop robotic explorers that will rove the surfaces of other worlds.
This event is the culmination of the National Community College Aerospace Scholars pilot program. Students completed four Web-based assignments during the school year. Those who maintained a 95 average qualified for the experience at Johnson. NASA will pay the students’ travel expenses.
Put that drama queen in class
Registration is underway for a six-session children’s acting class at Phoenix Theatre.
The class runs 10-11:30 a.m. Saturdays, May 15 to June 19, at the Phoenix Theatre, 9673 Firdale Ave., Edmonds. Cost is $170.
Christine Mosere, an experienced theater educator, director and actress, will lead the class, which is geared at children ages 6 to 12. The class culminates with a professionally produced play.
To register, call 206-533-2000.
Retired educator receives national award
Erma Snook recently received the AARP and National Retired Educators Association’s Community Service Award for her volunteerism last year that raised money for scholarships and teacher mini-grants.
Snook is past president of Unit 23 Sno-King School Retirees and is past coordinating council chair of the Northwest District 1 Washington State School Retirees Association.
Edmonds named to ‘Best’ list for music ed
The Edmonds School District was named a Best Community for Music Education by the National Association of Music Merchants.
It was one of 174 districts nationwide to be given the distinction after scoring 80 percent or higher on an online survey conducted by NAMM and various music education groups.
The announcement came as a part of NAMM’s “National Wanna Play Music Week,” May 3-7, a weeklong promotion designed to encourage people of all ages and skill levels to experience the proven benefits of playing music.
EdCC picks members of search committee
At an April 22 special session, the Edmonds Community College Board of Trustees appointed a committee of representatives from the college and its community to conduct a search for a new president.
Trustees Jeannette Wood and Dick Van Hollebeke will lead the Presidential Search Committee as it helps narrow the applicant pool to a group of finalists. They and fellow trustees hope to hire a president in the fall.
Members of the committee from the college are: Minh Carrico, visual communications instructor; Marty Cavalluzzi, vice president of instruction; Ka Hyeon Lee, associated student executive board member; Azan Jacobs, associated student executive board member; Barbara Maly, math instructor; Kevin McKay, interim vice president of finance and operations; Patty Michajla, executive assistant to the president; Thomas Murphy, anthropology instructor; Shirley Sutton, executive director of diversity affairs; and Mike Yocom, information technology specialist.
Community members on the committee are: Sue Ambler, president of the Workforce Development Council Snohomish County; Steve Pennington, Edmonds Community College Foundation Board chair and one of the college’s Distinguished Alumni; Dave Earling, Growth Management Hearings Board chair, Senior Services of Snohomish County Board president and a former Edmonds City Council member (1992-2004); Mary Hale, a retiree of the college, instructor of 25 years and former Foundation board member; Alison Sing, a member of the Senior Services of Snohomish County Board and former trustee of the college (1994-2006); Bob Fuller, Stevens Hospital Foundation president and a former leader of the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Lynnwood; and Wally Webster, who serves on the United Way of Snohomish County Board.
Mark Cassidy, Edmonds Community College’s vice president of human resources, is an ex officio member of the search committee.
For more information about the college’s presidential search, e-mail presidentialsearch@edcc.edu or go to www.edcc.edu/presidentialsearch.
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