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Schools

January 1, 2013

School notes for Jan. 1, 2012

'Scholarships 101' is Wednesday Washington State University Vancouver will host a "Scholarships 101" workshop at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 2 in the Dengerink Administration building, room 110. The event is free to the public and free parking will be available in the Orange 1 lot.

December 25, 2012

School notes for Dec. 25, 2012

Camas resident makes dean's list Cameron Kwan, a second-year student in Rochester Institute of Technology College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, has made the dean’s list for the fall 2012 quarter.

December 25, 2012
Cape Horn-Skye Elementary School fourth-graders collected donations of food and clothing for the homeless after being inspired by the book, "The Giving Tree."

‘The Giving Tree’ grows in Washougal

"It is better to give than receive," is a common phrase. But what does it really mean? Cape Horn-Skye Elementary School fourth-graders found out when they participated in "The Giving Tree Project," which allowed them to help the less fortunate at Open House Ministries in Vancouver. The students made crafts and ornaments in class. Then, they held a craft fair at the school holiday concert where parents "purchased" their creations by donating food and clothing for people in need, instead of paying with money. Their efforts netted more than 850 items.

December 25, 2012
The Camas-Washougal Rotary Club delivered nearly 700 dictionaries to third-graders in Camas and Washougal in December. Here, students at Gause Elementary School look through their new dictionaries.

Rotary’s ‘Gift of Words’ benefits local students

The Camas-Washougal Rotary Club kicked off its Gift of Words project Nov. 30 at Gause Elementary School in Washougal. The club delivered nearly 700 dictionaries; giving one to every third-grader in Camas and Washougal. Rotarians across the U.S. participate in the Gift of Words Project to promote literacy in their local communities. The project in Clark County is sponsored by iQ Credit Union, US Bank, Columbia Vista Corporation and local Rotary clubs. In total, $9,000 was raised to help provide more than 5,000 dictionaries to students in 58 Clark County schools. Out of the 14 regions in Rotary District 5100, the Clark County region gives out more dictionaries than any of the other districts, according to the organization. Locally, dictionaries were presented by members of the Camas-Washougal Rotary along with Camas Superintendent Mike Nerland and Washougal Superintendent Dawn Tarzian.

December 25, 2012

District considers all-day kindergarten

At some point in the not-to-distant future, all-day kindergarten could be required from every school district in the state. In an effort to prepare for this, the Washougal School District conducted an informal building capacity study at all of its schools. All of the schools are currently well below design capacity, but utilizing that space would mean making decisions on how to use that space most effectively. Design capacity is defined as all places where a teaching station could be placed. "The district has to decide what is protected educational space," said Dawn Tarzian, superintendent. "Such as, music will have a space, but art will be taught in the regular classroom. If we have an influx of kids, we need to make decisions on where they will go. Sometimes you see classrooms on a stage or in the cafeteria, and we have to decide how long we'll run things until capacity is reached and we need to expand. We need to get the kids out of those portables and build the space to fit the capacity needs."

December 18, 2012

School notes for Dec. 18, 2012

Camas resident makes dean's list Lisa Nicholson has been named to the annual dean’s list at the University of Washington. To be named to the annual list, a student must earn quarterly dean's list honors for three of four quarters. Nicholson is from Camas.

December 18, 2012
Grass Valley Elementary School kindergarten teacher Ellen Keller and her students participate in an interactive math lesson. Grass Valley has been named a statewide "School of Distinction," for improving performance for all students.

Schools recognized for high improvement

Two local elementary schools have made the prestigious statewide, "Schools of Distinction" list. The awards were created by the Center for Educational Effectiveness in the summer of 2007, to recognize the highest improving schools in the state. This year, Grass Valley Elementary in Camas and Cape Horn-Skye Elementary in Washougal were honored. "The awards are not designed as a replacement for state and federal accountability measure of school performance, but rather as a supplemental measure to recognize and celebrate school staff, students and leadership who improve performance for all students over a sustained period of time," stated the CEE website.

December 18, 2012
WHS band and choir students accepted into the annual National Association for Music Educator's All-Northwest/All-State honor groups include, back row, from left: WHS band teacher Kelly Ritter, Riley Miller, Austin Smith-Brown, Bret Wade, Zoe West, WHS vocal music teacher Jen Mahorney and Nick Stevens. Front row: Crystal Saltmarsh, Sydney Niemi and Allix Fisher.

WHS performers earn honors

Several Washougal High School band and choir students were recently accepted into the annual National Association for Music Educator's All-Northwest/All-State honor groups. This is the largest combined group of students from WHS to qualify.

December 13, 2012

School notes for Dec. 4, 2012

Locals perform in 'The Nutcracker' Local residents Hannah Gutkind, Molly Bartley and Lizzie Schneider will perform with Columbia Dance in the holiday classic, “The Nutcracker,” on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 14 to 16 at the Royal Durst Theatre, 3101 Main St. Vancouver.

December 11, 2012

School notes for Dec. 11, 2012

WHS cross country booklet seeks advertising The Washougal High cross country team head coach Terry Howard is seeking advertisers as a fundraiser with "End of Season" results booklets.