News & Information
Bellingham School District students and staff from Alderwood, Columbia, Happy Valley, Northern Heights, Roosevelt and Sunnyland elementary schools, Fairhaven, Shuksan middle schools, and Bellingham, Sehome and Squalicum high schools have recently received state and national honors.
Bellingham High Named One of Top High Schools in the Nation by Newsweek
According to a recent report in Newsweek magazine, Bellingham High ranked in the top 1,500 high schools nationwide, representing the top 6% of all public high schools in the country. The school's ranking of 1,133 is based on ratios of students' success in Advanced Placement (AP) course testing to number of graduates, as well as other factors. To learn more, please see the Newsweek article.
Three Elementary Schools Receive Washington Reading Corps Grant
Alderwood, Roosevelt and Sunnyland elementary schools will receive a grant from the Washington Reading Corps (WRC) for the 2009-10 school year. Two full-time reading tutors from Americorps and a VISTA staff member will help the schools retain and recruit volunteers.
Information on the Washington Reading Corps Web site details the program: "WRC Members help build the capacity of local school reading programs by working with school staff to design or enhance a volunteer tutor program that is aligned with the school reading curriculum and overall school schedule. AmeriCorps USA members primarily perform direct service tutoring one-on-one or in small groups to support struggling readers identified by each host school. AmeriCorps VISTA members work with their schools to perform community outreach by recruiting community and peer and cross-age volunteer tutors, as well as work with local businesses to provide in-kind donations that support tutoring programs. Both AmeriCorps USA and AmeriCorps VISTA members work with schools to increase family involvement by planning and helping to coordinate activities such as family literacy events and take home reading tips and packets."
Students Named as Washington Scholars
The Bellingham School District has four Washington Scholars from the 40th and 42nd Legislative Districts. The 2009 winners include recent Sehome graduates Angela Hess and Benjamin Phillips from the 40th Legislative District; Squalicum graduate Drew Morrill from the 40th Legislative District; and Squalicum graduate Pamela Bauthues from the 42nd district. Awardees receive college tuition, fees and living expenses.
Washington Scholars is administered by the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) and the Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP). The Washington Scholars program is described on the HECB Web site."Washington Scholars recognizes the achievements of three high school students from each of the state's 49 legislative districts. Students may use the scholarship at any public or private college or university in Washington. To be considered, principals nominate the top one percent of their graduating class on the basis of academic achievement, leadership, and community service. A committee of high school principals and college admissions staff select the winners."
Sehome Students Receive Earthwatch Fellowship
Sehome juniors Hailey Gibbons and Marcus Moran have received fully paid Earthwatch fellowships to help with science research projects in Iceland and along the Columbia River.
Gibbons will head to Iceland for two weeks this summer where she will work on field sites at either Skeiðarárjökull or Sólheimajökull glacial outwash plains with 10 other American students. Her project will include sampling and measuring sediments and glacial ice, documenting their size and type to help scientists understand how glaciers move and how they respond to geological events like volcanic eruptions. She also will study the evolution of the Icelandic landscape and improve her understanding about the impacts of climate-driven glacier recession on a large-scale meltwater system. Surveying places that most only see in photographs, she will utilize satellite global positioning systems, ground penetrating radar, and electronic distance measurers.
Moran will head to the Columbia River gorge near Yakima where he will research the geography and topography of the Columbia River gorge for two weeks in July. The four objectives in his project will be to explore the cultural landscapes and inventory place names and traditional resource areas in two general study areas, learn how to use the surveying and mapping equipment in the field, participate in site mapping and petroglyph recording and work in a GIS computer laboratory to produce several types of documents and maps for cultural resource inventory and management. The field work for his project is at the Bear Paw Site, which is located on the Dalles Pool on the Columbia River on land currently owned by the Army Corps of Engineers and within the Yakima Nation ceded land area.
Squalicum Recent Graduate Named WIAA State Athlete of the Week
Matt Rawitzer, Squalicum Class of 2009, received a 2008-09 State Athlete of the Week award for the week of May 24-30 from the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA). Rawitzer, a Squalicum golf athlete, was 8 under par for a two-day total of 136 for the state championships held at Apple Tree Golf Course in Yakima that week. The award is sponsored by the WIAA and The Seattle Times.
District Teachers Awarded Technology Grants
Eight teachers in the Bellingham School District were awarded Teaching & Learning in the 21st Century (TL21) Grants for 2009-11. The recipients are Alderwood Elementary fifth grade teacher Mary Michelle Hornof, Columbia Elementary literacy support teacher Susie Davis, Happy Valley Elementary literacy support teacher Susan D’Amelio, Northern Heights Elementary first grade teacher Kyla Stefani, Roosevelt Elementary literacy support teacher Andrea Roper, Sunnyland Elementary first grade teacher Karen Skahan; Fairhaven Middle School social studies teacher Kimberly Wichers, and Shuksan Middle School special education teacher Janet Woodworth.
Awardees will receive $7,600 in 2009-10 and $3,500 in 2010-11 for professional development, travel and classroom equipment.
TL21 is funded federally through the Enhancing Education Through Technology Program, a provision of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. The new grant program is made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
For more information, please visit the OSPI Web site on educational technology.