School Briefs

Archbishop Murphy names first president

Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy High School has named its first president.

Deacon Patrick Moynihan currently works for the Diocese of Rockford, Ill., and earlier served 10 years as president of a Catholic secondary boarding school in Haiti.

As president, Moynihan will focus on board of trustees relations, administrative staffing, long-range planning, budgeting and finances, community relations and fundraising.

Kris Brynildsen-Smith will continue as principal, focusing on academic-related activities.

The move is aimed at relieving pressure on the principal while allowing the school to continue to grow, school leaders said.

Moynihan has a degree in English and American literature from Brown University and a master’s in religious studies from Providence College. He once taught Latin and English at a Catholic high school in Connecticut.

He and his wife, Christina, have four children. Their eldest will be a freshman at Archbishop Murphy this fall.

The school has been growing in recent years and is expanding its campus with the addition of the 41,000 square foot Heath Hall academic building.

The Heath Hall will feature six state-of-the-art science labs, 11 general purpose classrooms, a band room, art room, drama room, a career and counseling center, administrative offices and a multi-purpose room. The $50 million project will be completed in July.

Challenge Day Auction supports peer event

The public is invited to a Challenge Day Auction at 6:30 p.m. June 11 at Jackson High School.

Challenge Day is an award-winning program that has been nationally recognized for its ability to reduce teen drug, alcohol and tobacco use, absenteeism and violence in high schools.

It provides participants with tools to interact productively.

Jackson will host a two-day Challenge Day workshop in the fall of 2007, but must secure funding for the program before the end of the school year.

Locals can:

• Attend the auction, whose proceeds support the event.

• Donate a service or item to the auction.

• Sponsor a student to attend Challenge Day for $50.

• Volunteer to participate at one or both Challenge Days in October.

Items for the auction or cash donations are tax deductible. For information about Challenge Day, see www.challengeday.org.

For information about Jackson’s Challenge Day Auction or to participate, call Lyn Lauzon at 425-385-7178 or send e-mail to llauzon@everettsd.org.

Engebretsen honored for foundation work

At the annual Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) awards luncheon May 17, Bruce Engebretsen received Everett Public Schools highest award for an individual: the Student Achievement Leadership Award.

Engebretsen is an active member of the Everett Public Schools Foundation board. He has served on the board for 10 years as well as serving as president during that time.

Each year WASA members gather in regional ceremonies around the state to say “thank you” to people and organizations that support public education.

JHS math teacher wins scholarship

Mark Hinckley, math teacher at Jackson High School, has won a scholarship to participate in a national MIT program for teachers. For the past few years, MIT has provided a program to assist in the improvement of science and math teach in K-12 classes called the Science and Engineering Program for Teachers.

Each summer, about 50 teachers are chosen to share MIT’s perspective on how engineers apply the principles of science to meet technology needs.

The MIT Alumni Club of Puget Sound has run a scholarship program to support a few teachers in Western Washington to participate in the national program.

Hinckley teaches geometry, calculus, and AP Calculus. He will travel to Cambridge, Mass. in June to participate.

For information, see http://web.mit.edu/scienceprogram/overview.html