NOTAM 041111

11 April 2011 Principal’s Message Welcome back! I hope you are rejuvenated and ready to begin the fourth and final quarter of the school year. And…I hope you found a little sunshine somewhere over your spring break. It’s hard to believe that it really is spring in Seattle, especially if you traveled to a warmer climate over the break. For me, it was Dallas where the sun shone brightly every day and temperatures climbed into the 90’s. I took it all in and loved the warmth, but it is still good to be back in the Pacific Northwest where I sometimes take for granted the clean air and all the beauty of nature. Just before break, we completed our interviews for the Class of 2015. We interviewed 175 students for 115 seats that we can offer. Invitation letters have now been mailed so we should be able to announce the class within the next two weeks. We will keep you posted! In the meantime, we wish to again thank all of the wonderful AHS students who assisted with interviewing our future students. Katie, Lauren, Jacob, Anastasia, Beemnet, Alyssa, Betsy, Audra, Sureetha, Dustin, Hiren, Natalie, Royce, Austin T…we couldn’t have done it without you! Know that we are grateful for your service and ambassadorship! Many thanks, too, to everyone who allowed an eighth grader to shadow with you this year. And special thanks to Mrs. Sanders and Mrs. May for facilitating several parent orientation sessions! Congratulations to Mr. Savishinsky who was notified just before break that he is a winner of a $10,000 technology grant from the Qwest Foundation. This award will be used to enhance the Journalism class and publishing of our school newspaper. Students will be doing investigative journalism and web-based publishing using the toolkit of today’s publishing industry—Web 2.0 cloud-based software and storage. Industry professionals will train students to build a secure, cloud-based production system and distribution network. Student journalists will learn first-hand about investigative research, journalistic ethics, story creation and community interaction with the news. Workshops and mentoring on good business practices and organizational management are part of the project. To ensure that the program sustains itself for years to come, the grant includes development of a training program for new students. Mr. Savishinsky is one of only nine teachers in the state to win the grant. The Qwest Foundation funds the competitive Teachers & Technology grant program to recognize K-12 educators who are creative technology integrators. Congratulations, too, to Antony Zhong and Jonathan Adams who recently participated in the annual Washington State High School Japanese Speech Contest at the Shoreline Center. Antony won third place for his first year division and Jonathan brought home the third place award for his third year division. Wow! Remember Ms. Ellinger who taught Biology and Health at AHS up until the current school year? She is now the proud mom of twin boys, Knox Madsen and Kole Patrick, born at 5:06 and 5:07 p.m. on March 25th. If you wish to send a card or note of congratulations to Ms. Ellinger, I know she would love to hear from you. Drop off notes in the office and we’ll mail them in a package at the end of the week. This year’s High School Proficiency Exam concludes tomorrow when our 10th graders take the third and final portion: Science! For the last two years, AHS has been the only high school in the state to earn an achievement award in science for our performance on the statewide tests. Tenth graders: continue to do us proud. That’s it for this week, Scholars. Make each day and minute of learning count! You’re on the home stretch with only 44 more days in the current school year! My best—Reba NOTE: o Continue checking the AHS website or logging on to school computers to get updated information on events and meetings. Quote of the Week: “A’s buy Mercedes, B’s buy Maybe’s!” ~Written by student applicant, Class of 2015, to describe the importance of earning good grades.