Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Washougal Firefighters Partner with Schools to Promote Literacy

A partnership between Washougal School District and the Washougal Fire Department will benefit young readers as part of a summer literacy event. Through the School's Out Washington program, Washougal firefighters will visit Hathaway Elementary on July 15 at 1:00 p.m. to read to students who are participating in the Feed Your Brain summer program.

"We are thrilled that the firefighters are able to partner with us in this activity," said Rebecca Miner, Associate Superintendent for Washougal School District. "Students will have a chance to showcase their reading skills in an engaging way and will be excited to meet firefighters and learn about how they use reading in their career."

The Feed Your Brain summer program offers a series of literacy activities for Washougal students in grades K-3. Activities include computer lab time, reading and writing skill development, reader's theater, an author's tea and more.

"The Feed Your Brain Program, Read To Your Firefighter, is a great opportunity for the firefighters to connect with students in the community," said Fire Chief Ron Schumacher. "Washougal Fire Department is honored that they were asked to help with the program. We hope that by reading to the students, it may 'spark' an interest in reading. Being able to read is not only important to be successful in school but in the future as well. If they want to be future firefighters they must be able to read."

Feed Your Brain runs 4 days per week for 6 weeks, Mondays - Thursdays - noon to 2 p.m., June 28 through Thursday, August 5.

For more information on the Feed Your Brain summer program, visit: http://www.washougal.k12.wa.us/feed-your-brain.pdf

Read an article in the Columbian newspaper about this program: http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/jul/17/Washougal-summer-literacy-program/

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Blue Note Cafe Alumni Show 6-17-2010



Blue Note Cafe Alumni Show- Thurs. June 17, 7:00 p.m. at Washougal High School's Washburn Performing Arts Center. Special guest-Pianist Michael Allen Harrison. Don't miss this opportunity to see this world class musician on our Washougal stage! Join us for a great evening of music featuring WHS alumni from 1981-2010 performing rock, jazz, folk, and more.

$5 adult, $3 student/child, FREE w/ WHS Arts Pass. Free coffee & tea at intermission!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

State Representative Ed Orcutt attends Gause Elementary School Project Citizen presentations


Gause Elementary School welcomed State Representative Ed Orcutt, R-18th Legislative District, to view Project Citizen presentations by fifth grade students in June. Project Citizen is a culminating research and presentation project for all fifth graders in Washougal School District. Topics chosen by students were centered on two areas of interest, energy conservation as a public policy issue in Washougal schools and education in the arts. Gause principal Rex Larson invited Representative Orcutt as an opportunity for the legislator to observe the quality of student learning that exemplifies Washougal schools. At the end of the presentations, Representative Orcutt commented on the level of knowledge shared by students in their presentations and particularly the expertise demonstrated in fielding questions posed by the judging panelists. Fifth grade teachers at Gause Elementary include Malcolm Estes, Eric Engebretson, Erin Darling and Mandy Busby.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Superintendent Baldwin’s Message—June 2010

High School Graduation is such an exciting celebration, and this year was no exception. First of all, it was an absolutely beautiful evening in the Fishback Stadium for Washougal High School’s graduation. We put this one in the books as a bumper crop of graduates with a total of 188 graduates receiving diplomas from Washougal High School and 26 graduates receiving diplomas from Excelsior High School. Our entire school system is geared to prepare students for living and working in the global community of the 21st Century, so the high school diploma these days signifies competence and preparation for the broad world of work and higher education. While graduation is the culmination of thirteen years of public schooling, it is really the beginning of a very important phase in the lives of our graduates. They have garnered the skills and knowledge necessary to take the next step beyond the halls of Washougal High School. We wish them all the best and look forward to hearing their success stories.

It is important to brief the community on attainment of three major areas of focus this year:
1) increasing student achievement using Professional Learning Community best practices;
2) reducing energy costs; and 3) passing the Maintenance & Operations Levy. The following summarizes District accomplishments in these areas:

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES
Washougal staff continue to leverage student achievement using a collaborative practice known as Professional Learning Communities. This year, PLC teams focused on using authentic assessment to shape instruction, and more specifically, the kind of instruction that is intellectually challenging and engaging for all students. We call that kind of instruction I.C.E. for short!

Educational research shows that intellectually challenging and engaging instruction is meaningful and relevant, exciting and motivating for students. Our job as teachers is to create more and more learning opportunities that genuinely engage students at the deepest level of learning. Frequent, consistent use of I.C.E. instruction will continue to be a focus of PLC work next year.

ENERGY CONSERVATION
It is with great appreciation that we thank community members Tim Young and Karen Rubino for their volunteer work on our energy conservation goal. The District has met several critical benchmarks this year, as noted here:

1) Board approval of Policy #6923 which specifies all of the details necessary for conserving energy, reducing waste and saving money.

2) Contract with Geert Aerts, part-time resource conservation manager, who is retro-commissioning Washougal High School, specifically improving heating and cooling efficiencies.

3) Approval from Bonneville Power Administration for an incentive reimbursement program which repays partial costs to the District for energy efficiency improvements.

4) Establishment of “Green Teams” at each school to inspire the cultural shift among staff and students around lower energy consumption. We extend our appreciation to parents and community members who have joined this effort.

MAINTENANCE & OPERATIONS LEVY
Many thanks to the Washougal community and taxpayers who voted in February to approve a four-year Maintenance & Operations levy. We extend our appreciation to Phil Rohn, community member and chair of the Washougal Citizens for Better Schools, and his committee for executing a flawless levy campaign. For his part, Phil was presented with the 2010 Community Leadership Award for Washougal School District at Educational Service District 112. As a result of a successful levy campaign, $5,000,000 will be added to the general fund each year to continue the all important work of educating the children of Washougal.

I can hardly believe it, but this month concludes my fifth year in Washougal School District and my fourth year as Superintendent. It continues to be a great privilege and honor to work with the Board of Directors on behalf of the Washougal community to provide the best educational opportunity possible for the girls and boys, the young women and young men in our school system.

Best wishes for wonderful summer vacation. We look forward to welcoming students back on the first day of school, August 31, 2010!

Teresa Baldwin, Superintendent

Saturday, June 12, 2010

WHS Junior Patrick McCarthy Recognized by the Board of Directors


WHS junior, Patrick McCarthy was recognized by the Board of Directors at the meeting on June 8, 2010. WHS principal, Gerry Stavney, noted that Patrick has been the recipient of three awards this spring. As a Washington Aerospace Scholar, Patrick will attend a summer residency and internship on aerospace engineering sponsored by the Boeing Company. For extensive volunteering with Loaves and Fishes, Share House, etc., Patrick was selected for the Prudential Spirit of Community Award and the Presidential Volunteer Service Award. Finally, as a recipient of the Bank of America Student Leadership Scholarship, Patrick was awarded an internship with the non-profit organization, Habitat for Humanity, and he will spend a week at a leadership seminar in Washington, D.C. this summer. Patrick is the president of Washougal High School's Rotary Interact Club.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Chamber Choir Performs at Best in the Northwest Choir Festival


The Washougal High School Chamber Choir performed at the Best in the Northwest Choir Festival at the University of Portland on May 14th. The group placed 7th out of 13 choirs, in a very competitive line up of major schools from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

Pictured are members of the WHS Chamber Choir.


Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Hathaway Green Team Presents to School Board




A group of Hathaway students, staff, and volunteers presented information on the Hathaway "Green Team" and their effort to promote conservation at their school. Students used the daily in-school news show WOOF to encourage fellow students to recycle paper and turn off lights to conserve energy. Students tracked the recycling effort, and Hathaway was able to reduce the number of weekly garbage pickups by 33%.

Students created stickers for light switches and high-usage devices like the laminator, reminding their classmates and school staff to turn them off when they are not in use. The students tracked the energy usage for the school compared with last year, and found that their efforts had already saved the school thousands of dollars in electricity over the first 4 months of 2010.

School Board members thanked the student, staff, and volunteer members of the Green Team for their hard work, and shook hands with the student members. Pictured are School Board Member Tom Huffman, and Green Team 1st Grade member Gunnar.

Monday, June 7, 2010

WHS Variety Show Friday June 11

Please join us for the annual WHS Variety Show this Friday June 11 at 7:00pm in the Washburn Performing Arts Center. We have a GREAT line up of songs, skits, dancing, comedy...and we are saying goodbye to our Class of 2010 Choir seniors. For all the elementary and middle school teachers who may remember them, they are: Roman Vinsonhaler, Steven Goolsby, Marisa Hansen, Nikala Cann, Don Gabel, Jared Scheel, Airiel Rabick-Manus, Hanna Nelson, and Braden Coe.

Please view the program, if you are interested in more information. $5.00 adult, $3.00 student/child/senior, FREE with WHS Arts Pass.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

WHS Spring Sports Report

Leading the way is Boys Golf, which is actually a carryover from the fall season. Connor O’Niell became the first State Golf Champion in WHS history. Playing on May 25-26 at Apple Tree Golf Resort in Yakima, Connor came back from four strokes down with a strong final round to take Medalist Honors. A strong 21st Place showing by teammate Beau Scott carried the Panthers to a 3rd Place team trophy.

In Girls Golf, senior Courtney Bright advanced to the State Tournament for the third year in a row.

Boys Soccer finished third in the GSHL standings and advanced to a District IV showdown with Tumwater for a berth in the state tournament. A 1-1 tie after regulation and overtime led to a shoot-out which the Panthers lost, ending their season.

In Boys Tennis, another carryover from the fall, the doubles team of Steven Goolsby and Caylem Nunes advanced to the state tournament held at the U of W on May 28th. Both the boys and girls programs are on the rise under the leadership of coaches Eric and Linda Balholm.

The Panther Baseball team showed improvement during the season and will continue to work through the summer under the leadership of new head coach Chris Brown.

In Softball, the Panthers finished 4th in the GSHL and qualified for the pigtail game for a potential spot in the district tournament. After being postponed multiple times the Panthers fell to Aberdeen in that season ending game.

The Track team had another outstanding season. Head Coach Dave Hajek and staff saw the Panther girls team claim the GSHL championship for the second year in a row. There were an incredible 5 school records broken this season. New records were set in the Boys Pole Vault, Girls Shot Put, Girls 100M Hurdles, Boys 3200M and the Girls 4 X 200M Relay. In addition the following individuals made the finals and/or placed in their events at the state track and field meet held May 27-29 at Mt Tahoma H.S.

Girls 100M Hurdles2ndKelley Young 1116.43
Girls 400M4thElle Wade 1258.70
Boys 3200M5thDylan Croeni 119:29.59
Girls Shot Put6thHeidi Greear 1237-09.25
Girls Discus8thHeidi Greear 12103-03
Girls High Jump9thKatie Wright 104-10
Pole Vault9thBrendan Casey 1113-6
Javelin15thBrendan Casey 11135-11
Boys 3200M15thSean Eustis 99:55.0

WHS Student Connor O'Neill wins State Golf Championship


Connor O’Neill became the first State Golf Champion in WHS history. Playing May 25-26 at Apple Tree Golf Resort in Yakima, Connor, a junior, came back from four strokes down with a final round of 68 to take Medalist Honors. A strong 21st Place showing by freshman teammate Beau Scott carried the Panthers to a 3rd Place Team Trophy. Congratulations to Connor, Beau, Coach Brian Anderson and the rest of the Panther Boys Golf Team on an outstanding season.

To read more about Washougal High School's Sport Program, please click here.

Students host WHS Daily Show


WHS students Brittany Shelly and Jessica Hoesly host The Daily Show.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

WSD teacher receives award from Chamber of Commerce


Washougal teacher Brian Eggleston was named 2010 Teacher of the Year by the Camas-Washougal Chamber of Commerce.
Eggleston will be honored, along with Camas teacher Sherry Busby, at a banquet June 8 at the Camas Meadows Golf Club. Social hour begins at 5:30 p.m.; dinner is served at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 and are available at the chamber office.
Eggleston teaches Spanish at Washougal High School. During his time at the high school, Eggleston has served as Spanish club adviser and chair of the foreign language department. He is currently a candidate for certification with the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.