02 May 2011
Principal’s Message
AHS students continue to inspire and amaze us all! Hearty congratulations to:
- Albert Ta for a successful admissions appeal to the University of Washington! Yea, Albert, for being both agile and perseverant!
- Libanos Redda and Phaevene Mekkonen for their acceptance to Bioquest for a summer internship where they will research causes and cures of infectious diseases.
- Melissa Lewis on being selected by Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos’ space development company) for a paid summer internship! Melissa is the only high school student who has been chosen for what is normally reserved for college interns.
- Betsy Smith on her selection as a Washington Scholar! This award is sponsored by Washington State’s Higher Education Coordinating Board in recognition of the most exemplary high school seniors within each legislative district of the State. Betsy was chosen from the 34th Legislative District, and depending on state economic conditions, she may (or may not) receive financial support for college tuition. We’re hoping that she does!
- Our Skunkworks Robotics team, Coach Steele, Parents, Mentors, & Sponsors for an amazing 2011 season! They return to school today after a sensational trip to the World Championships in St. Louis, Missouri at which the team scored 8 wins and 2 losses in the qualification round and qualified 6th on their field. In a written update message from Coach on Sunday morning, he summarized as follows: “We lost in a hard-fought quarterfinal match. We averaged over 100 points in our matches for the tournament. The CAD team was one of only four teams to win an award in the Autodesk CAD Inventor competition; and senior Lydia Johnston received the Dean’s List Award (3500 applications, 102 finalists, and 10 winners—in the world!). During the closing ceremonies, the Skunkworks team was given the World Championship Award for Creativity for our innovative game-piece scoring mechanism. All in all, it was a terrific ending for a great year. This year the team won 11 separate awards and nine trophies…we are going to need a bigger trophy case!” Indeed, you are, Coach and team, and we will make sure you get one! We salute you…we commend you…we are ever so proud of you!
- Kevin Schilling, a founding member of AHS’s LEAP (Lindbergh Electric Aircraft Prize) club, went to the AERO 2011 Trade Exhibition for General Aviation in Friedrichshafen, Germany. In addition to collecting amazing new footage, he also presented a video produced by AHS’s LEAP club to Prince Albert of Monaco!
- Benton Coblentz is heading off this week (Wednesday – Saturday) to participate in YMCA’s Youth in Government program. While there, he will learn even more about becoming an active and engaged citizen in the democratic process.
Our mentors and friends of AHS are also quite amazing. It’s a pleasure to recognize Mike Borfitz, FAA Engineer & AHS mentor on his selection as Volunteer of the Year, an award that is sponsored by the Highline Schools Foundation for Excellence. Mike will be honored at the Foundation’s Gold Star breakfast on May 13th. In the meantime, I’m sure he would appreciate congratulatory notes or comments when you see him. Congratulations, Mike!
Advanced Placement (AP) testing begins today and continues through May 11. Our juniors and seniors have been preparing all year for this final assessment of their learning, and we wish them the very best! As an FYI to freshmen and sophomores: When you enroll in an AP class at Aviation High School, we require that you also take the AP exam. As such, our little high school has more exam takers than any other school in the Highline District! A total of 145 AHS students will be taking a total of 250 AP exams over the next week! Yea, AHS scholars! We’re proud of you!
Do you appreciate AHS staff? Of course you do! And while I imagine that you frequently acknowledge your appreciation for them, you may want to show them a little extra respect this week as part of Staff Appreciation Week. AHS educators and support staff are my heroes, and I suspect that you may have a special fondness for them, too. Here’s to all educators everywhere and especially those at Aviation High School! (Special thanks to all AHS parents and the PTSA for treating us so well with goodies, Starbucks cards, etc. all year long! We appreciate YOU, too!)
About those Scholarship Packets that we’ve been promising to post by May 1: We’re almost ready to post on our website; however, a couple of new scholarships came through late last week that we want to include, so we’ll finish the details today and have the packet posted by Wednesday. Please pay attention to specific criteria and due dates for each of the scholarships for which you apply. We encourage all seniors to review the scholarship packet and apply for as many awards as possible. See Ms. Carper if you have questions.
We continue to have many requests from educators and business and industry representatives to visit our school. Today, we are hosting a group from Walla Walla that will be on campus from 0800 until 1100. You will most likely see them in classrooms. Student ambassadors, please be prepared to share your learning if/when they visit your classroom. Tomorrow, we are hosting a visit for Glenda Dann-Messier, Assistant Secretary of Education for the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Dann-Messier oversees Career & Technical Education and Adult Education and is interested in learning more about how a career-focused, contextual based (aviation/aerospace/engineering), college prep program such as ours benefits students as well as employers and the workforce. I will be talking with some of you today to ask that you be part of a student focus group from 1240-1335 tomorrow. Our guest is scheduled to be on our campus from 1230-1515.
A parent alerted me last week that I made a slight error in my Principal’s message about the date for the Senior Awards Ceremony. Thank you, Mr. Smith! And…the correct date is Sunday, June 5 (NOT June 7!) Mr. Smith’s reminder also nudged me to provide a schedule of important dates from now until the end of the school year. They are:
- 16 – 17 May: student-led conferences
- 18 May: registration for 2011-12 classes during advisory
- 19 May: PTSA General Membership Meeting at AHS (in the evening—staff and students are encouraged to attend!)
- 20 May: non-school day for students
- 27 May: full day of school (1530 dismissal)
- 30 May: Memorial Day break
- 5 June: senior awards ceremony at Boeing Theater
- 7-9 June: geometry and algebra end-of-course exams
- 8 June: Senior Literary Night
- 9 June: make-up end-of-course exam (9th graders in Algebra 2, 10th graders in precalculus, others who have not yet passed WASL or HSPE)
- 10 June: all-school awards ceremony @ Highline Performing Arts Center
- 18 June: graduation
- 20 June: last day for seniors
- 24 June: full day of school (1530 dismissal)
- 27 June: Last day for other students (1200 dismissal); pancake breakfast
If you have reached this point in reading this week’s message, I applaud you and apologize for the lengthiness. In the spirit of providing important and timely communication, however, I hope that this information is helpful in planning for the remainder of the school year.
To learning! Honored to be your principal—Reba
A senior project that you may want to attend:
Below you will find the link to the Museum of Flight Calendar highlight for Alex Bergler’s upcoming Senior Project event. Enjoy the video, too, by turning the volume up for music and dialog.
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:
If you can't see any opportunities where you are now, don't waste your time criticizing the darkness. . . . Light a candle to find your way out.
— Arlene Feldman. Regional Director FAA
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