Principal’s Message
Our seniors graduate this Saturday evening at ShoWare Center in Kent. A reminder that, while ShoWare is a huge venue, we are only using a portion of it for commencement ceremonies and admission is by ticket only. A reminder to seniors, too: Mandatory graduation practice will be held this Friday from 9:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. in the gym. You are expected to attend the remainder of your classes after grad practice. Enjoy your last week at AHS and know that you will be very much missed when you depart for college and your next steps in life. You have made an everlasting impression upon us all!
Congratulations and thanks to:
- Ms. Ciccone-Cook, Ms. Wombold, and the seniors for a very inspiring Literature Night that was held last week!
- Jeffrey Reynolds and Elizabeth Ong for competing in the Normandy Park Arts Fair and placing first in their respective divisions.
- Peter Keckemet who received word late last week that he has been accepted to the Summer of Excellence program at WSU! The program is run by the Honors College during the last week of June.
- Navid Shafa on his selection as the 2011 recipient of the Hubble Award recipient and Lydia Johnston on her selection as the 2011 recipient of the Phoenix Award, AHS’s two top honors.
- Culture Club & ASB for planning a spirited and fun program last Friday afternoon. Go, AHS staff for winning the dodgeball competition! J Do you think that will ever happen again?? And…the rose ceremony was absolutely spectacular. What a special way to show gratitude, Seniors, as you conclude your high school career. It was spectacular and very heartwarming!
- PTSA for sponsoring the ice cream social last Friday!
- Yearbook staff for producing an outstanding Yearbook! It has character!
- Mr. McComb, Ms. Wombold, Mr. Shiroma, and Mr. Joshi who, along with me, facilitated instruction for seniors this past Saturday. I appreciate your willingness to give up a Saturday with your own families to work with our senior family! May we never have to do so again, though! :-)
Next year, there will be some personnel changes at AHS:
- As you may or may not have yet heard, Ms. Durrant has resigned from her position as 9th grade Science/Physics of Flight, Science Olympiad and 10th grade Health instructor to accept a position at Ballard High School. Ms. Durrant is a gifted and passionate teacher with a heart for helping all students succeed. We wish her the very best in her new position and appreciate the commitment that she has given to AHS during her two years with us.
- After joining the administrative ranks in 2008, Mr. McComb longs to be back in the classroom, facilitating learning for students each and every day. With Ms. Durrant leaving the position that Mr. McComb first held when he joined the AHS staff in 2005, he will be returning to Room 6 to inspire the next cohort of AHS students to become scientists, engineers, researchers, technicians, and aviation/aerospace workers and exemplary citizens. While I’ll miss him as my administrative colleague, it makes my heart sing to think of all the students who will benefit from his teaching! We are currently advertising for an Assistant Principal.
- Ms. Bonnie Lefevre, our registrar/bookkeeper for the past several years graduated from Central Washington University on Saturday and has been offered an elementary teaching position with Teach for America. She departs 21 June for training in Los Angeles prior to entering a Nevada classroom in late August to greet her first class of students. We are immensely proud of Bonnie and equally sad to see her leave AHS. She has worked hard to earn her degree, occasionally lamenting that she is the oldest in the class, but as we all know, she is young in spirit and limitless in her potential. Good luck, Bonnie! We expect to interview candidates for the registrar position this week and are hopeful that we will have a separate bookkeeping position.
- Mr. Joel Carey bravely stepped in to fill our Office Manager position in January when Lenore Stark moved to Spokane. Having worked in this position a little over five years ago and being familiar with our marketing and recruitment processes and most aspects of the school, Joel agreed to take the position through the end of June. It has been such a blessing to have this talented man on staff, and although we’ve tried to convince him to stay longer (after all, why you want to be anywhere else?), Joel is a man of his word and will honor the commitment he made to his family when he accepted our interim position. We are currently interviewing applicants to fill the large shoes that Joel will leave behind.
Stay tuned for updates regarding new hires who will soon be joining the AHS team.
And, that’s it for this week! I am honored to be your principal—Reba
Notes & Announcements:
- Want to fly? Scholarships available!
Open to any teenager
Any teen 16 or older who would love to take flying lessons has the opportunity to win $3,500 for flight lessons. Details can be found at http://karlenepetitt.blogspot.com/2011/06/win-3500-and-learn-how-to-fly.html. Karlene Petitt is a pilot for Delta Air Lines. She currently flies the A330 and is based in Seattle. She graduated from Highline High School in 1980, and her daughters graduated from Mt. Rainier, 2001, 2002, and 2004.
Open to young women in class of 2014
Katie McConville and Lauren Crom have designed a program called Women With Wings which will provide seven young women (including the founders) with the opportunity to take flight by funding you up to your solo stage of flight instruction. Next year will be the inaugural year of Women With Wings, and applications will not be given out until December 2011. However, if you are interested in applying to Women With Wings, you MUST enroll in Ground School at AHS for your sophomore school year (if you have not taken and passed the course already). More information will be given out next year, but if you have any questions please contact ahs.womenwithwings@gmail.com. - Want to play athletics at Evergreen?
Students interested in playing a fall sport at Evergreen must go online, print and fill out the appropriate paperwork, and bring a complete packet to Evergreen. All potential athletes also need to have physical exam completed; the sooner the better. Available sports include football, volleyball, cross country, girls’ swimming, and girls’ soccer.
Message from the PTSA
Congratulations to Robert Rencher who was voted in as secretary for our 2011-2012 board. We also send a heartfelt thank you to John Corrigan and Kaylen Reynolds who have served on the board for the past few years. You gave your time and energy to help AHS and you will be missed!
o Continue checking the AHS website or logging on to school computers to get updated information on events and meetings.
Quote of the Week:
It's wonderful to climb the liquid mountains of the sky. Behind me and before me is God and I have no fears.
~ Helen Keller, at age 74, on flight around the world
