Good News August 14, 2018

Fifty Federal Way Public Schools scholars have received College Board Advanced Placement Scholar Awards.

The AP Program offers Scholar Awards to recognize high school students who demonstrate college-level achievement through AP courses and exams. Of these 50 students, seven received the AP Scholars with Distinction, and twelve received the AP Scholar with Honor Award. Thirty-one scholars received the AP Scholar Award attained scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP Exams.

Students who received the AP Scholars with Distinction please come forward to be recognized:

• Chloe Kvenvolden
• Helene Minassian 
• Zachary McGhee
• Alexis Dubreuil
• Jeeyoung Choi
• Peter Smith
• Riley Rogers

Students who received the AP Scholar with Honor Awards, please come forward to be recognized:

• Clayton Heath
• Isabella Hackney
• Julia Kizis 
• Lillian Loranger
• Mailee Fields
• Vivienne Hodac
• Nicholas Kim
• Benjamin Zuares 
• Lucas Johnson
• Mariana Urrea 
• Milad Heydari
• Sydney Nash

 Scholars who received the AP Scholar Award please come forward to be recognized:

• Andrew Garzon
• Annie Seo
• Anthony Carrillo
• Bryan Lookabaugh
• Dahvae Turner 
• Elijah Bakam
• Elise Rehberg
• Evan Cooper
• Giovanni Navarro
• Ian Mclean
• Nicholas Orr
• Paige Dasher
• Riley Penland
• Seungwon Choi 
• Stephanie Galvez
• Yennhi Dinh 
• Austin Kim
• Martin Lim
• Alex Garcia
• Amber Timboe
• Britney Peralta 
• Brooklyn Humphrey
• Itzel Ortiz 
• Jessica Stillwell
• Jiwon Kwon 
• Jordan Taylor
• Kiheon Suh 
• Kisella Bradford 
• Nicholas Amundson
• Raymond Dela Cruz
• Sesilina Lane 

These successes align with the district’s strategic plan Goal 5, Persistence to Graduation.

Thomas Jefferson High School speech and debate team recently took home awards from the national competition.

We are excited to share that the Thomas Jefferson High School speech and debate team recently took home awards from the national competition in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

There are approximately 150,000 national speech and debate members in the nation and abroad. Of these, 5,000 members qualify for nationals and make up teams who compete in the “World Schools Debate.”

The TJHS World Schools Debate team placed 45th out of 200 teams. In addition, Hakeem Shibly finished seventh in the nation out of 500 contestants in impromptu speaking.

Would the following scholars please come forward to be recognized:

• Skyler Yesiltepe 
• Maria Thompson
• Cade Homfeldt
• Hakeem Shibly 

Assistant coach, Meykia Smith, earned an Outstanding Contributor award for her dedication to Congressional Debate at TJHS.
Coach Andrew Buchan and other administrators, please join us!

These achievements are in direct support of district strategic plan Goal 3: Engaged, Empowered, Critical Thinkers.

We are so proud of these accomplishments!

Decatur Automotive technician-training program received the national automotive ASE Accreditation re-approval

Congratulations to the Decatur Automotive technician-training program at Decatur High School! It received the national automotive ASE Accreditation re-approval — only 15 other high schools have this accreditation in the state. This program offers the same quality curriculum that’s taught in community colleges.

I’d like to invite automotive teacher Tim Kelly forward to be recognized for his work.

Graduates from this four-year “school to work program,” have gone on to work at Ford, Chevrolet, and a semi-truck repair business.
This effort is in support of strategic plan goal 4, content area competence.

Student Interns receive Hewlett Packard (HP) Certification

Every student intern who works for the district in the Information Technology Services Dept. is now receiving Hewlett Packard (HP) Certification in two device areas prior to working on tasks at the Educational Service Center or in the schools. This is a valuable achievement that scholars can put towards use in future jobs.

Would the scholar-interns who’ve received this certification come forward to be recognized:

• Ryan Anderson
• Cole Cadaram
• Johnny Heredia III
• Faraz Hamidani
• Jared Hoover
• Taylor Lewis
• Varun Parbhakar 
• Alondra Rodriguez 
• Paras Singh 
• Jacob Sonnen
• Jessica Stillwell
• Omar Tirhi
• Preston West

Chief Technology Officer Paul Ross and other administrators are welcome to come forward at this time.

This effort is in support of strategic plan goal 4, content area competence.

The Washington State Patrol has completed their annual inspection of Federal Way school buses

The Washington State Patrol has completed their annual inspection of Federal Way school buses. For the third year in a row, Federal Way Public Schools has once again completed the inspection with exceptional results, 98% satisfactory.

This is a great accomplishment for our Transportation Department team and I would like to call them forward now to be recognized.

• Doug Shore
• Duane Jeffries
• Todd Fitch
• Eldon Reidt
• Joe Pagel
• Zail DeBie
• Charles McLemore
• Barb Jeffries
• Tom Nutt

At this time, I would also like to ask the following administrators to come forward to be recognized:

• Mike Benzien, Executive Director of Operations
• Michelle Turner, Director of Transportation

This is in direct support of our district strategic plan that highlights the importance of a committed and talented staff who utilize professional practices. These efforts ensure our scholars arrive to and from school safely.
Transportation team, keep up the great work!

Federal Way Open Doors graduates persisted to graduation

Tonight we would like to recognize our Federal Way Open Doors graduates who have persisted to graduation — Goal 5 of our strategic plan. We are so proud of them and are excited to recognize this great achievement now. I will first read bios of all graduates. After I have read the bios, graduates will then come up individually to receive their diplomas in the order their bios were read.

Edith Carlos Bel Montes
Edith is a scholar who has shown a tremendous amount of tenacity, talent, and potential. Edith will be attending the program Year Up in the fall, where she will receive training, education, and an internship, which will put her In a great place to pursue her passion for technology and business.