May 21, 2010 

Upcoming Events

Please visit our Arts Events Calendar for the many spring concerts this month!

Please take our NTPS Community Engagement Survey!

River Ridge presents "Pippin": May 21-22, 7:30 p.m. Once upon a time, the young prince Pippin longed to discover the secret of true happiness and fulfillment. He sought it in the glories of the battlefield, the temptations of the flesh and the intrigues of political power. In the end, he found it in the simple pleasures of home and family (some mild suggestive material).

Diversity Festival: 2-6 p.m., Saturday, May 22. North Thurston High School Commons and Koval Center for the Performing Arts. Food tasting, free children's activities. musical performances and community cultural booths. Music starts at 4 p.m.

South Sound High School Garage Sale and Bake Sale: Saturday, May 22, 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. (411 College St NE). Sponsored by the SSHS ASB to raise money for next year's Senior Trip.

“Fiddler on the Roof": Aspire Middle School will perform this classic musical with a cast of 60 on June 10-12 at Timberline High School. Tickets are limited by space and expected to go quickly. Follow the link from Aspire's website to purchase tickets.

May 4 Board Meeting Highlights

North Thurston Top Seniors: The School Board recognized students from North Thurston High School who are graduating with a 3.75 GPA or better: Matthew Eveleth, MacKenzie Halbert, Jena Vanderwood, Daniel Colon, Parris Williams, Taylor Jackson, Evan Seguirant, Malika Brownlee, Alexandra Kamenz, Ashley Yates, Ciara Dahm, Kylee Falter, Lauren Falter, Megan Knudsen, Virginia Massey, Crystal

Flaten, Lauren Miller, Christopher Mets, Kelly Joiner, Richard Kalafian, Audrey Carandang, Alec Fuller and Amy Creighton.

Teacher Recognition: The School Board passed a resolution in honor of National Teacher and Substitute Teacher Week. The following teachers attended the meeting as representatives: Denise Smith, Jesse Kooyman, Mick Holt, Jenny Hoffman, Virginia Lane, Michelle Oas, Phyllis Farrell, Faith Mc Innis, Amada Lang, Linn Hergert, Kathy Beach and Conni Van Hoose (NTEA President).

May 18 Board Meeting Highlights

The Nisqually Middle School Choir performed at the beginning of the meeting, led choir director Kelley Morgan (who also sang a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner).

South Sound Top Seniors: The School Board recognized the South Sound Hig School Top Ten Seniors: Jasmyn Lipsey-Ewing, Charlene James, Kaitlyn Carpenter, Autymn Benson, Kelsi Swinford, Aaron Morrison, Megan Hopson, Jaymee McDonough, Laura Fletcher and Brianna Bartlette.

Timberline Top Seniors: The School Board recognized students from Timberline High School who are graduating with a 3.75 GPA or better: Erin Adams, Melissa Ayres, Alec Beal, Zachary Beltramo, Marikka Benson, Anna Brewer, Valerie Bush, Melissa Dailey, John Ferreira, Andrew French, Melissa Ganzfried, Patrick Haase, Tariq Jabaiti, David Lawrence, Johnathon Montoya, Diana Nguyen, Diane Nguyen, Tony Oeun, Christiana Radnich, Megan Richardson, Ashayet Roach, Stanford Thompson, Anna Tran, Lindsay Ulschmid, Victoria Valles, Melissa Warner, Catherine Weiland, Dillon Welch, Renee Wyman, Haleigh Zarrell and Victoria Zoller.

Staff Recognition: Timberline Principal Dave Lehnis presented teacher and choir director Terry Shaw

with “Eastern Oregon University’s Inspirational Teacher Award ” First-year

Honors and Awards

WSECU Teacher of the Week Nominee: Christina Cryder from Seven Oaks Elementary was one of 24 teachers nominated to be recognized by WSECU as “Teacher of the Week.” She’ll receive a pair of Seattle Mariners tickets and $500, which she’ll get at the game. The parent nominee said of Ms. Cryder: “Ms. Cryder is an incredibly enthusiastic teacher who is always engaging the students in fun learning projects related to school and the world. She is a caring humanitarian whose frequent email updates to parents help us to feel involved and welcome in her room and in our child’s education… I truly appreciate Ms.

Cryder’s energy and devotion to her students.”

Kidwiler Scholarships: The Lacey Chamber recently awarded scholarships to several high school seniors including: Alexandra Kamenz (North Thurston);

Nicholas Barr (Timberline); Ashley Yates (North Thurston High School) and Elisabeth Jackson (River Ridge). All the students received Kidwiler scholarships and Alexandra also received the honorary Gene Dolan award. Leadership Conference in Nashville, Tennessee: Congratulations to North Thurston

High School students Karen Bullinger and Si Cave who were recently elected to the respective positions of state Public Relations officer and Secretary for the Washington State FBLA State Officer team! Karen also placed 5th in Web Site Development and 3rd in FBPA Principles and Procedures. They were among 16 NTHS students who attended the state Business Leadership Conference in Yakima in April. Congrats! Meadows Principal gets surprise award: Joyce Westgard, Dean of the College of Education at St Martin’s presented Meadows Principal Allison Shepard with the “Educator of the Year” for her support of student teachers and the St Martin’s reading tutoring program. Dr. Westgard, Dr. Siera, and Dr. Hashimoto are the Professors from St. Martin’s who presented the award.

NTHS Auto Department scores big at Skills USA: North Thurston's Skills USA team of Jordan Smith and Dixie Vee qualified for the state competition with 1st place finishes in the area of Job Skills Demonstration and Customer Service. Dixie placed 2nd in state. The Ford/AAA team qualified with a 4th place in state, which required a written test score ranked top 10 in the state. The team members this year are Dixie Vee, Chris Borja, Colby Jenkins, Jacob Sutter, Ray Cruz and Dillon McPherson.

North Thurston is the only team to qualify 16 out of 17 years of competition. To date North Thurston has earned 9 top 10 national awards and 56 top 3 in state awards including 22 state championships in various competitions! NTHS Scholar: Madelynn Brickey is this year’s recipient of the John and Opal McGimpsey scholarship. The scholarship is for $10,000 per year and is renewable for four years of college. She will be attending Western in the fall and plans on becoming a teacher. Cutline: David McGimpsey, Madelynn Brickey, John McGimpsey , Daniel McGimpsey, Principal Steve Rood.

River Ridge nominated for 5th Ave. Theatre awards: River Ridge High School received four nominations for the High School Musical Theatre Awards, including Midsummer ROCKS! for Best Choreography and Best Costume Design by Timisa Minter, PIPPIN for Best Lighting Design by Zac Turner, and Henry Van Leishout as PIPPIN for Best Actor in a leading role, honorable

mention.

Community Relations wins state recognition: North Thurston received three “Certificate of Excellence” awards at the recent Washington School Public Relations Association state conference, including External Newsletter (Fall), Writing, and Calendar. The 2009-10 calendar, designed by Communications Specialist Jessica Palmer and coordinated by Director Courtney Schrieve, featured student artwork in full color received a score of 96/100. “Any child would be so proud to be included,” wrote one judge. The department will again be working with NTPS art teachers to deliver another award-winning art calendar for 2010-11. Deadline is June 4!

In the Classroom

Meadows wins greenhouse competition: Meadows teachers Paul Johnson, Bec Giffens, Matt Tuttle, and Jackie Bulldis recently received the Eastern Washington "Kids Are Growing" grant from the Washington State Potato Commission. The teachers worked together to write the grant proposal, the 6th graders wrote how the greenhouse would benefit their learning community and the 4th graders developed and cooked their own unique recipe using Washington grown potatoes! The Potato Commission loved the

entry and awarded the school with a 6’ x 8’ greenhouse, and $1,000 to help build a schoolyard garden.

South Bay cleans up on Earth Day: Christine Rayburn's fifth grade class at South Bay Elementary studied many environmental issues on Earth Day, such as: learning about the carbon cycle making cartoon books to describe the cycle; reading an article about cows burping up methane and how the gases contribute to global warming; and discussing the impact of litter and cleaning up the school grounds!

Timberline tackles social justice in spring musical: The talented cast and directors (Brenda Amburgy and Terry Shaw) of Timberline’s spring play, “Ragtime,” received rave reviews for their performance of a racially-sensitive and touching story about life in America at the beginning of the 20th century. Historical figures, including Booker T. Washington and Harry Houdini, mingled with fictional characters, weaving their stories about social challenges during the era’s “Ragtime.” The cast was recognized

with standing ovations and two Regional Finalist awards at the State Thespian Festival at Central Washington University.

Elementary students get VIP Chinese visit:

Select classes from Lakes and Lacey Elementary schools had the opportunity last month to learn about Chinese culture, art and language from master Chinese teachers as part of Washington state’s Confucius Institute’s Hanban Road Show. The visitors included Ms. Cui Yi, Ms. Huang Guanhua, Ms. Lu Qiaomei and reputed Chinese painter and master calligrapher, Mr. Li Aiguo. “This was a wonderful opportunity for the students who are studying world history and social studies to learn first-hand about how things are different – and the same – in China,” said Lakes Principal Mike McDonald. “We were honored to have them visit our school and teach our students.”

Around the District

Rams in Action: RAMS in Action (RIA) is a club created for students who want to teach students to make better choices. The club advisor is Joe Pallitto. This week they presented a check for $471 to the Seattle Children’s Hospital, Olympia Clinic. The club wanted to give back to the local community, so they came up with the idea to sell bracelets for donations. The Bracelets read “RAMS for Children” and once the NTHS student population heard about the bracelets, they generously supported the cause.

Seven Oaks Samba: The Seven Oaks Elementary Hip Hop Samba group marched in the Procession of the Species in April. They emulated an earthquake in the Earth section of the parade. Teacher Debbie Hathaway received a grant from Twin Star Credit Union to purchase instruments and supplies and met for six sessions after school. The other teachers that helped were Angie DeAguiar, Laurie Jones, Courtney Raymond, Susan Montrose and West Edwards.

Lacey Spring Fun Fair: Thank you to everyone who helped make Lacey Spring Fun Fair a great success this year! The parade was the largest yet and participants included a NTPS Fun Fair marching band, Woodland, Evergreen Forest and Lacey Elementary Schools, Timberline Cheerleaders, North Thurston's "little" cheerleaders and many more. Many schools performed on the entertainment stages and the district booth featuring bookmark making and free books from the South Sound Reading Foundation was a big hit!

Aspire Jazz Band gets around town: Students in the Aspire Jazz Band are sharing their music around the community. The year’s performances have included the Wooden Boat Festival in Olympia, the WASBO convention in Tacoma, State Farm Insurance Headquarters in Dupont, St. Martin’s University for the North Thurston Education Foundation and Lacey Spring Fun Fair.

Stuff the Bus!: The North Thurston Public Schools Employees Chapter raised more than $11,000 in donations earlier this month at their annual “Stuff the Bus” event at the Costco parking lot in Lacey. Thanks to everyone who donated books, food, toiletries and cash to help local community groups help our families in need!

Students rally for peace: River Ridge InterAct students and others rallied for peace as part of the local visit by “Three Cups of Tea” co-author and humanitarian Greg Mortenson. A community event was held at St. Martin’s on 13. For more information on the school-based “Pennies for Peace” project go to http://www.penniesforpeace.org/ NTPS receives free instruments from POSSCA and Rotary clubs: Band and orchestra teachers and students are celebrating the arrival of 12 shiny new and refurbished instruments from Westside Music Center, and donated by POSSCA (Patrons of South Sound Cultural Arts) and area Rotary Clubs. Each November, the seven local Rotary Clubs sponsor a "Clean Water, Cool Jazz" Jazz Festival featuring local student jazz bands Proceeds are divided between a clean water project in Africa and POSSCA. Teachers Jim Ulvenes (Lacey) and Brenda Amburgy (Timberline) are POSSCA board members. To find out about donating an instrument or to learn more go to http://www.possca.org.

In the news:

• How are they getting to Carnegie Hall? (Featuring THS, 5/17) • Lacey Fun Fair delights anew (5/16) • North Thurston hires new executive (5/13) • Timberline coach makes tough call: Being dad will come first (5/13) • 14 students honored with Nichols Awards (5/4) • CROP Walk participants pound pavement to fight hunger (featuring RRHS, 5/3)