Good News May 2, 2017

Five FWPS Elementary Schools Receive State’s Highest Honor

Five elementary schools received the state’s highest honor: the 2016 Washington Achievement Award! We are proud of our team for supporting Goal 2: The Whole Child. Thriving, Confident, Responsible Individuals.
Brigadoon Elementary, Star Lake Elementary and Wildwood Elementary have received the award for Closing the Achievement Gap for Students with Disabilities.
Brigadoon Elementary:

• Debbie Audet
• Joy McLaughlin
• Carla Beausoleil 
• Sunna Yi

Wildwood Elementary:

• Michael Swartz
• Courtney Eylander 
• Kimmie Choi
• Briana Johnson

Star Lake Elementary:

• Kris Rennie
• Travis Geving
• Dr. Natasha Scott

Enterprise Elementary received the award for Closing the Achievement Gap for Black Students.

• Jeff Soltez
• Jessica Rosendahl 
• Tonja Higley 
• Kevin Hooper 

Rainier View Elementary received the award for Special Recognition English Language Acquisition.

• Kent Cross
• Sam Park
• LaDonna Arthur
• Tess Johnson

These schools’ successes in Closing the Achievement Gap and English Language Acquisition support one of our Strategic Plan core beliefs that EVERY scholar can learn at the highest level and that race, socioeconomics, language, cultural background, and other exceptionalities should not be predictors of student achievement. Thank you for your collective efforts to improve teaching and learning for our scholars.

TAF Academy Scholars Place at Science and Engineering Fair

TAF Academy scholars have placed at the 60th annual Washington State Science and Engineering Fair.

First place in Engineering Mechanic, Project Title: Amateur Radio Antennae:

• Alisha Carza
• Nalani Hall 
• Ketterra Johnson

Second Place in Biomedical Health Sciences, Project Title: Electromagnetic Hand:

• Max Birkeland
• Andy Duong
• Isabel Wolfe

Third place Biomedical Health Sciences, Project Title: Foundation that Prevents Acne:

• Ana Aparicio
• Lesly Ramos
• Magdaly Sanchez

These teams were among more than 700 presenters from first through twelfth grades.

This effort is in direct support of the district Strategic Plan Goal 3, Active Learners: Engaged, Empowered, Critical Thinkers.

Congratulations, teams!

Elementary Scholars Participate in Battle of the Books Competition

We are proud of our elementary scholars for participating in the district’s annual Battle of the Books competition! This program requires the student participants to read as many books as possible from a selected list of titles. Students work collaboratively in teams and study the books together. Then winning teams at the school level compete in a district battle.

Congratulations to Panther Lake's team “Bookworms” who took first place in the district competition!

• Michael Dickerman
• Franz Obungen
• Khoa Phan
• William Diederick

Congratulations to Lake Grove’s team “Da Dazzling Breezin Donuts” and Brigadoon’s team “Chaos Ridden Unicorns” who tied for second place!

• Ashley Soto
• Arika Newlun
• Nittaya Souvanna 
• Dianna Tsyganyuk 
• Camryn Skelton
• Sophia Bolokhovska
• Julian Davis

We are proud of these scholars and this effort, which is in support of Goal 2, Whole Child: Thriving, Confident, and Responsible Individuals.

Two FWPS Scholars Recognized by Advancing Leadership Program

Advancing Leadership is a youth leadership program designed for high school sophomores and juniors where students learn about leadership style, how to work with and inspire others, and discover new things about Federal Way. It can be a life changing experience!

Tonight we are proud to announce Jennifer Bok has been named “Most Relational” by her peers. The Be Relational award goes to the person in the class who has demonstrated an ability to cooperate, collaborate, and bring the group together in challenging times. The recipient of this award is friendly, has a great sense of humor, and is accepting and kind. 

Peter Smith has been named “Most Intentional” by his Advancing Leadership Youth peers! The Be Intentional award is given to the person in the class who has shown up, taken responsibility for their own actions and delivered results. This person is instrumental in keeping the class project on schedule, is task oriented, and is admired for his attention to details and deadlines and does it all with tact and diplomacy.

Being part of Advancing Leadership Youth helps our scholars grow into thriving, confident, responsible individuals — Goal 2 of our district Strategic Plan.

Congratulations, Jennifer and Peter, for your recognition as student leaders among your peers!

Todd Beamer Scholar Receives Scholarship

The Washington Association of Vocational Administrators Scholarship is awarded to five graduating Washington State high school seniors who have distinguished themselves in the field of Career and Technical Education during high school.

Out of 80 applicants, Samantha Reese Bird from Todd Beamer High School was selected for the Phyllis Lawson Scholarship Award for $1,000.

Samantha has long shown Career and Technical Education leadership including:

• Being a “Where Everyone Belongs” leader at Illahee Middle School.
• Being named runner up in aptitude and interest in computing by the National Center for Women in Technology.
• Working at Digipen Video Game Programming.
• And so much more.

Samantha would like to complete a Bachelor’s degree in computer science with the goal of pursuing a career in the technology field. This is in support of Goal 5: Persistence to Graduation.

Congratulations, Samantha! We can’t wait to see where you go next!