bethelprideW W W . B E T H E L S D . O R G O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4

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Spanaway, WA, 98387

bethelprideBethel School District No. 403516 E. 176th St., Spanaway, WA 98387-8399(253) 683-6000; www.bethelsd.org

Bethel School District Resident

INSIDEWhat you’ll findin this edition

TOPPING THECHARTS4th grade readers from 5schools score above 80%on WASL. 3

C O M M U N I T Y

REACHING OUTTO OTHERSKids collect schoolsupplies for Iraqichildren. 4

S P O R T S

RIBBONCUTTERSLHS’s Logan Seelyehelps dedicate newfootball turf. 10

A R T S

IN THESPOTLIGHTMusic Company winscounty’s top arts award. 5

F A C I L I T I E S

NEWBOUNDARIESCheck out proposed highschool boundaries Oct. 20at BHS. 9

C A L E N D A R

DISTRICTEVENTSCheck out the calendar foracademic, athletic, artsand community events.12

FALL BACKSet your clocks back onehour before you go to bedon Oct. 31.

A C A D E M I C S

Test results reflect successFor the first time ever, district

fourth-graders scored above thestate average on the reading por-tion of the Washington Assess-ment of Student Learning(WASL). Seventy-five percent ofdistrict fourth graders met stan-dard, compared to 74 percentaround the state.

Six elementaries – Centennial,Elk Plain, Naches Trail, PioneerValley, Shining Mountain andSpanaway – scored higher thanthe state average in math, read-

ing and writing.“We made great all-around

gains on the WASL this year,” saidSuperintendent Tom Seigel.

“The progress is astounding ifyou look how far we’ve come overthe last five years. It’s not just oneor two schools – these scores rep-resent increased student achieve-ment throughout the system.”

In 1998, just 43 percent of stu-dents passed the fourth-gradeWASL reading test compared to75.3 percent in 2004. Math scores

follow a similar trend – from 14percent of fourth-graders pass-ing the math test in 1998 to 56.7percent in 2004.

Other results from the 2004test include:• Seventh grade reading scores

up 15 points• Seventh grade writing scores

up 7 points• Tenth grade math scores up

3 points• Tenth grade writing scores up

3 points

“The curve just keeps goingup,” said Linda Dugger, assess-ment director. “Our school leader-ship teams are increasingly usingdata to help with decision-making,and it’s paying off. We still havemore work to do, but it’s importantto celebrate our successes.”

Improved reading skills havebecome a focus throughout thedistrict. Reading coaches con-duct teacher trainings and work

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District joins national campaign

3 4 Y E A R S L A T E R

Roy Elementary secretary Sue Erb, principal Larry Kuper and teacher Vicky Swick all graduated from Bethel High in 1970. In all, nearly 150graduates have come back to work for the district. See pages 6-7.

Bethel schools have joinedAmerica’s Promise, a nationwidemovement to create better livesfor kids.

It’s all part of a new way oflooking at how communitiesprovide vital services to childrenand families. Schools, social ser-vice agencies, faith groups andbusinesses are coming togetherto make it happen.

The PromisesIn 1997, a national summit fea-

turing all of the country’s livingPresidents met to seek solutions tothe problems facing at-risk youth.The result was America’s Promise

– a cooperative, non-profit ap-proach to helping children.

Its simple, five-promise frame-work gives communities a set ofoperating principles. The programfocuses on the following five waysto improve children’s lives:

• Caring adults: help childrendevelop ongoing relationshipswith caring adults

• Safe places: find safe placeswith structured activities duringnon-school hours

• Healthy start: provide nutri-tion, exercise and health care

• Marketable skills: developskills through effective education

• Opportunities to serve: teach

how to give back through com-munity service

In 2003, Pierce County becamea County of Promise. Bethel be-came the state’s first School Dis-trict of Promise last April. Twoweeks ago, national representa-tives presented school boardpresident Dennis Townsend andSuperintendent Tom Seigel witha certificate to make the district’smembership official.

Lakewood’s modelNearby, Lakewood joined

America’s Promise in May 1998.Last month the city won national

Bethel becomes ‘District of Promise’

See Promise, 8

See WASL, 3

America’s Promise■ Founded 1997 by Presidents

Ford and Carter, Secretary ofState Colin Powell

■ Non-profit organization

■ Links community humanservices

■ Facilitates fundraising efforts

■ Bethel becomes School Districtof Promise in April 2004

■ Goal is to improve children’slives

OCTOBER 2004BETHEL PRIDE • WWW.BETHELSD.ORG2 bethelnews

Print shopOur district print shop is

fabulous! Over the years theyhave always gone out of theirway to meet the print needs Ihave brought them – some onlyat a moment’s notice. Manyprojects have been enhancedby the creativity of Diane Karland her staff. I would just liketo thank them all for all theirexcellent work and kindassistance.

TERI WRIGHTElementary education specialist

Mentor teachersI want to send a heartfelt

thank you to my mentor teach-ers, Tiffany Scaniffe and KariMartin for all their helpful ad-vice. Their efforts became para-mount in furthering my career.I truly do not know where Iwould be without them. Theiraid not only helped me, but ithas given hundreds of futurechildren a much better educa-tion. Thank you for your gifts oftime, patience and advice.

JIM HARDESTYShining Mountain

Helpful paraeducatorsI have a shout out for all of

the paraeducators at CamasPrairie. They have flexed andbent on a day-to-day basis. Ourparaeducators lighten our loadand provide a strong “can do”atmosphere throughout ourbuilding. We are very fortunateto have such skilled anddedicated staff members.

ANNA AYERSTitle 1, Camas Prairie

Dedicated leadershipI would like to applaud Roger

Samples of Spanaway Jr. Highfor his outstanding leadershipand dedication. His enthusias-tic and compassionate leader-ship has ignited our staff andstudents. We see the hours ofhard work and energy you putinto our school. Thank you.

CHRISTINE PERROWSJH

Tech talkI can’t thank the district

technology team enough for allof their hard work and patience.They rescue me from computerproblems several times a year.This year, after my equipmentwas moved from one room toanother, they managed tosecure missing parts and get myequipment ready for anotheryear of students and projects.Thanks so much, guys!

KIM MELINESJH

Iraqi childrenDodie Raden, a secretary at

the district office, went aboveand beyond the call of duty tomake the Iraqi school supplycampaign a success. She luggedboxes, secured pencil sharpen-ers, sorted through donationsand organized kids to assemblekits. It was a huge job, butDodie did it with her character-istic positive attitude. It’s thesame kind of dedication she hasdisplayed throughout her longcareer here. Thank you, Dodie,for all you do to create opportu-nities for Bethel students.

MARK WENZELDistrict office

Alternative educationA shout out to Robyn West,

SLHS Communication Artsteacher for Alternative Educa-tion. Due to her dedication,positive reinforcement, andlove of teaching, her AmericanLiterature and CommunicationArts 10 classes scored above thenorm in their district finals.Way to go, Robyn. You are awonderful asset to our Alterna-tive Education Program.

CINDY ADAMSSLHS

Festive hallsWe would like to thank the

teachers, staff and PTA for theirdedication and hard work. Theyhave taken extra care indecorating the hallways tomake the students and parentsfeel welcome and they havedone a superior job. The peopleat Centennial make it a plea-sure to work here! Thanks to allof you for your commitment.

SHEILA ROBERSON, LYNETTE ROSS,SANDY DRAKE AND MARY FLECK

Centennial Elementary

PTA shinesI’d like to thank the Shining

Mountain PTA for successfullyrunning the Fall Fundraiser.Thanks for your hard work anddedication so students at ourschool can go on field trips.

TIFFANY SCANIFFE,Shining Mountain

Fish & ChipsI would like to do a shout out

to Skipper’s. On Sept. 28,Skipper’s hosted the firstCougar Mountain Night. Theygenerously donated 10 percentof the sales from 5 to 8 p.m.

KATHERINE CHRISTIANSONCMJH

Innovative teachingPam Schrier, who teaches

Family and Consumer Sciencesat Frontier, always takes aninnovative approach to herwork. Her latest feat: she has

students doing consumerresearch projects using the newportable computer lab. Theyalso create budgets using Excel,do comparison shopping forapartments, cars, and insur-ance, and create a newsletter.This is truly the “consumersciences” part of Family andConsumer Sciences!

BARB RITTERDirector, Professional Technical Education

Heart & SoulI want to recognize a group of

Cedarcrest students who madeour school proud. Our JVfootball team dwindled down to12 players recently, and wealmost had to forfeit a game toSumner. We were just able tofield a team, with kids playingboth sides of the ball – offenseand defense. When the Sumnerteam arrived, things didn’t lookgood. There were 40 of themand they looked big and strong.But our young men didn’tshrink from the challenge. Theyplayed with heart and soul.While they lost 14-0, theyovercame incredible adversityand showed what hard workand teamwork is all about.Thank you Joseph Spietz, JustinLaBrec, Tanner Smith, AaronSwan, Josh Mettlen, PhilJackson, Chris Taylor, NikeeGlover, Sam Garcia, EthanGuthrie, Ronny Sharts, QuincyAllen, Chris Schneider, JoshPearce and Chris Mock. Yourepresent Cedarcrest admirably.

DAN MONTACJH Athletic Coordinator

Project managerEvergreen thanks project

manager Gary Maples for theterrific job he did overseeingthis past summer’s construc-tion. He responded quicklywhenever there was an issueand continues to be availablefor questions or concerns.

SUZANNE DOBB,Evergreen Principal

Genuine leadershipA big shout out to Dan

Grauer, the Leadership teacherat Spanaway Jr. High. He hascreated a program from theground up which helps stu-dents develop genuine leader-ship skills for today’s world.Thanks, Dan!

TRACY ZILLYSJH Assistant Principal

Fall sportsShout out for Al Barnes, the

Athletic Coordinator at CougarMountain Jr. High for doing agreat job organizing the fallsports season.

KEVIN MENSONIDESCMJH

Eagle Scout

Alex Laumb a Bethel Highsenior, was recently awarded therank of Eagle Scout. Way to go!

CYNTHIA LAUMBGraham

Homecoming spiritI would like to thank Debbi

Caramandi for all the energyand hard work she put into avery successful Homecomingweek. Debbi worked bothweekends surrounding Home-coming and created a verymemorable experience forBethel High students.

LISA MARTIN,BHS

Merci, mes amisI would like to do a “merci

beaucoup” shout out to theteachers who helped create afabulous Homecoming weekusing the Disney theme. TheLeadership class decorated theschool beautifully, Skit Nightwas magical, the pre-gamebarbeque was delicieux and thedance was the grand finale.Debbi Caramandi, Lisa Martin,Doris Hominda, Amy Low andSusan Dunaway gave their time,hearts and souls to organize theactivities.

KATHY KNELLEKENBHS

Bethel Pride is produced by the BethelSchool District. It is mailed to all addressesin the district during the school year topromote community/school relations.Please let us know if you have an itemof interest for publication.

Mark Wenzel:communications director,Bethel Pride editor and photographer;253-683-6051; mwenzel@bethelsd.org

Bethel Pride staff:Tom Fitzpatrick, Kellie Ham,Irene Hicks and Dodie Raden

Bethel School District is an Equal OpportunityEmployer and complies with all federal rules andregulations including Title IX/RCW 28A.640 andSec. 504. Bethel does not discriminate on the basisof race, color, national origin, sex or handicapincluding student participation in educationalprograms and extracurricular activities. ContactLaurie Barckley at (253) 683-6021 about Title IX orBen Runyun at (253) 683-6925 about Section 504

compliance procedures.

bethelpride

Portland marathonHere at Frontier Jr. High,

we’re very proud of the athleticprowess of one of our mathteachers, Shannon Bell. Sherecently completed the Port-land marathon in under fourhours. Good work, Shannon!

TOM MITCHELLFJH Principal

Community effortA huge thank you to our

volunteers who unloaded thetruckload of playgroundequipment, measured, plotted,dug and concreted the holes forit, and put hundreds of piecestogether to become two swingsets and two climbing struc-tures. Parents and local busi-nesses came together to make ita true community effort.

LINDA LAVERGNE,Kapowsin

Amazing registrarJudy Cowell at Bethel High is

an amazing registrar. It wouldtake at least three top-notchpeople to replace her! Herknowledge of our system isirreplaceable, and she alwaysshows outstanding dedicationto our school. We, in thecounseling center, love herdearly and appreciate all herhard work.

ALISON SCHLICHTINGBHS

We recently received somegreat news.

In a competition sponsored bythe National School Public Rela-tions Association (NSPRA),Bethel Pride won the highesthonor, the “Award of Excellence.”Districts across the nation sub-mitted newsletters for the con-test.

Out of 106 entries, only sixpublications won the top award.Criteria for judging includedquality of writing, photos, cre-ativity and overall layout.

While it’s exciting to be recog-nized nationally, it’s even betterto get positive feedback locally.That’s what happened recentlywhen Spanaway resident Wilma

MarkWenzelCommunicationsDirector

Great news comes from all around the district

S H O U T O U T S

Thomas called to say how muchshe enjoyed reading the paper.

“It’s very informative, and weenjoy getting it every time,” shesaid. “We are parents of childrenwho have already graduatedfrom Bethel High, so we’re veryproud to know what’s going on.”

Our goal is to inform, inspire,and educate readers aboutevents in schools and the com-munity. We always welcomefeedback on how we can im-prove.

We have a new column onpage 5 this year to help parentsnavigate the waters of school life.Ann Waybright, a talented socialworker at Shining Mountain El-ementary, will write on topics

ranging from academic achieve-ment to emotional development.This month she tackles elemen-tary conferences and how par-ents can best benefit from them.We’re glad to have her aboard.

Even though we’re one of thebiggest districts in the state – 14th

to be exact – there’s a real feeling

of unity among our schools andcommunity. At the school level,we see teachers and administra-tors increasingly coming togetherto share ideas. Bethel Pride aimsto be a part of that. We want to helpteachers, parents and studentslearn from each other.

We also aspire to build com-munity spirit by reporting whathappens when committed indi-viduals pool their talents toachieve a common goal. Wewitnessed such a positive out-come in the recent Iraqi schoolsupply campaign.

Bethel is a place where mindand heart meet. Hopefully, thesepages will convey the growingpride we have in our community.

Spanaway Lake High Principal Greg Eisnaugle displays the district's 2004United Way Community Leadership Award. Last year, district employeesdonated more than $40,000 to United Way. SLHS staff led the way with morethan $5,000 in contributions. This year's campaign takes place in November.

F R O M T H E E D I T O R

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLSPercent of students meeting standard

School Math Reading Writing2003 2004 2003 2004 2003 2004

Bethel 23.4 30.9 42.7 59.1 47.0 66.8Cedarcrest 22.5 33.1 33.3 55.1 34.8 50.2Cougar Mountain 43.5 64.3 53.0Frontier 25.4 29.0 42.7 50.2 39.3 42.8Spanaway 23.4 33.0 36.0 38.6* 49.8 36.5*District 23.5 33.9 38.9 53.3 42.7 49.5State 36.8 46.3 47.9 60.4 54.6 58.0

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLSPercent of students meeting standard

School Math Reading Writing2003 2004 2003 2004 2003 2004

Bethel 29.6 33.3 63.6 63.4 59.3 61.1Spanaway Lake 31.1 31.4 58.8 57.1 61.5 65.4Challenger 7.2 21.5 33.7 52.8 22.0 38.7District 28.9 31.6 59.6 59.9 57.9 61.4State 39.4 43.9 59.9 64.4 60.4 65.2

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2004 WASL SCORESELEMENTARY SCHOOLSPercent of students meeting standard

School Math Reading Writing2003 2004 2003 2004 2003 2004

Camas Prairie 47.3 45.8 64.0 66.9 42.0 43.8Centennial 31.2 75.0 43.5 76.1 35.9 59.1Clover Creek 32.7 26.0 61.9 58.0 25.7 36.0Elk Plain 71.4 69.6 85.7 89.1 66.1 63.6Evergreen 45.9 38.9 67.3 62.7 46.5 33.3Graham 45.1 57.3 64.0 82.3 36.9 49.6Kapowsin 72.1 55.0 85.2 86.7 60.7 48.3Naches Trail 63.2 73.5 73.7 82.2 65.3 58.8North Star 44.6 38.5 62.7 56.0 32.5 37.4Pioneer Valley 62.9 66.7 79.3 80.7 56.9 61.4Rocky Ridge 47.9 45.6 59.4 74.7 44.8 43.0Roy 49.1 69.1 57.4 75.0 30.9 38.1Shining Mountain 48.7 63.2 69.6 84.9 43.5 56.6Spanaway 45.1 60.4 68.8 78.9 45.8 60.4Thompson 60.9 52.3 75.4 70.5 46.4 40.0District 50.1 56.3 67.2 75.3 44.7 49.4State 55.2 59.9 66.7 74.4 53.6 55.8

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How do I read the charts?○

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• Both 2003 and 2004 scores are listed for comparison.

• See OSPI Web site for complete results: www.k12.wa.us

I N B R I E F

OCTOBER 2004WWW.BETHELSD.ORG • BETHEL PRIDE 3bethelpride

For the first time in district his-tory, this year’s fourth-graders beatthe state average on the readingsection of the Washington Assess-ment of Student Learning (WASL).Here’s a look at five elementaryschools around the district that allboasted scores above 80 percentand a few of the things they do topromote reading.

Graham informationKelley Boynton loves to look at

data. When he talks about stu-dent achievement, GrahamElementary’s principal quicklypulls out a chart to show trendsin student reading.

“This is how many words perminute our fourth graders can read,”he says. “The data helps us pinpointindividual needs. Then we alter ourinstruction to meet those needs.”

Graham teachers regularly re-view the information in gradelevel teams, and they share datawith students.

“We don’t just tell kids they’redoing great. We show themthey’re doing great,” saidBoynton. “We give them chartsand numbers. That’s why ourscores are going up.”

Boynton demonstrates his ap-proach during a classroom visit.

“What’s your ZPD?” he asks afourth-grader.

Without hesitation, the stu-dent responds, “3.8 to 4.0.”

“And your fluency rate?”“It’s 95 words per minute.”“And your goal?”“That’s 130 words per minute.”ZPD is “Zone of Proximal De-

velopment,” a reading levelrange that puts students in a

“comfort zone,” yet allows roomfor growth. The fluency rateshows how fast students canread, a key component of be-coming a strong reader.

Teachers mark studentachievement graphs to make iteasy to see the progress. A blueline shows the starting point –how many words per minute astudent can read at the begin-ning of the year – and a red line

indicates growth.“By involving them in the assess-

ment process, they know where theyare, and where they’re going,” saidBoynton. “There’s nothing morepowerful in the world.”

Kapowsin motivationKapowsin Elementary prides it-

self on being a community school– a place where staff membersknow every student’s name and

style of learning. That pays offin teaching kids to read.

“We get to know their per-sonalities and work habits,”said Principal Brad Graham.“We learn how to motivateand encourage them.”

In the spring, small WASLgroups – usually four or fivestudents – work with staff in

one-on-one with students;schools use goal-setting and mo-tivational strategies like Acceler-ated Reader, which awardspoints to students as they readbooks; and teachers promote ac-tivities for parents and childrento read together at home.

“Reading is the foundation forall learning, so we’re really ham-mering it home,” said Seigel. “It’sexciting to see reading scoresjump like they did this year.”

In a comparison study with sixsimilar-sized school districts,Bethel’s scores improved themost at the fourth-grade leveland were in the middle of thepack at the seventh and 10thgrade levels, said assessment di-rector Linda Dugger.

Individual schools also turnedin noteworthy performances.

• Centennial ElementarySchool saw increases of 33 pointsin reading, 44 points in math,and 23 points in writing.

• Kapowsin Elementary andElk Plain School of Choice scoredabove 85 percent in readingfor the second consecutiveyear. Shining Mountain, NachesTrail and Graham elementariesall scored above 80 percent

WASLContinued from 1

on reading.• Centennial, Elk Plain, Naches

Trail, Pioneer Valley, ShiningMountain and Spanaway El-ementary all scored above thestate average on math, readingand writing.

• Roy Elementary saw an 18-point jump in math with 67.4percent of students meetingstandard.

• Bethel Jr. High increased 16points in reading, seven points inmath and 20 points in writing.

• Cedarcrest Jr. High jumped22 points in reading, 11 points inmath and 15 points in writing.

• Frontier Jr. High boasted thehighest eighth-grade sciencescores with 37.5 percent of stu-dents meeting standard.

• Cougar Mountain Jr. Highcame out tops among districtjunior highs in reading and mathwith 64.3 percent in reading and43.5 percent in math.

• Challenger, the district’s al-ternative secondary school, sawincreases of 19 points in reading,14 points in math and 17 pointsin writing.

“The increase in WASL scoresthis year represents an incredibleeffort by our teaching staff, stu-dents and parents” said Seigel.“They deserve a lot of credit forthe efforts they make every dayto take learning to new levels.”

For complete statewide, dis-trict and school WASL data, visitthe Office of Superintendentof Public Instruction (OSPI)website at: www.k12.wa.us.

Reading: Schools use data, technology, author visits, teachertraining, parental involvement to boost achievement

Graham Elementary fourth-grade teacher Katherine Hansen works with Kyle Hadfield on a readingquestion. Graham was one of five elementary schools where 80 percent of students passed the WASLreading test.

See Reading, 8

David Drennan, 1964–04The Bethel

School Districtlost one of itsbest whenDavidDrennan, chieffinancialofficer, diedAug. 26.Services wereheld at the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Graham.

Superintendent Tom Seigelsaid that Drennan had been “atremendous asset” to the district.Drennan began working for thedistrict in 2000.

“David was a man of thehighest moral integrity,” Seigelsaid. “He was completelycommitted to kids.”

Drennan is survived by his wifeLaylene and five children, Skyler,Taylor, Spencer, Tanner andMacady. Donations may be madeto the Drennan ChildrenMemorial Fund at any US Bank.

Art awardsSeveral district students won

art awards at the Puyallup Fair.SLHS: Katherine Lawton, blueribbon; Christina Query, redribbon; Brady Smith, LauraVaglienti, David Coss, JasonFisher, Joseph Gooden,Caroline Morton, JayPangelinan, Ashley Roderick,Katherine Lawton and CoreyPeterson, yellow ribbons;Stephanie Howe, green ribbon.

BHS: Russel Tuller, blueribbon; Casey Demaurier, red,white and blue ribbon.Twenty-two BHS students drew140 portraits of fair patrons.Ceramics students worked at apottery booth.

SLHS teachers include KristenKress, Nina Taniguchi, and AlanPankau. BHS teachers are LindaWoehl and Phil Misley.

Support forspecial needs

A support group associatedwith the Kapowsin PTA invitesparents of special needs childrenand individuals to participate inmeetings this fall and nextspring. The Dec. 9 meeting willdeal with parents’ rights; thetopic for the March 23 meeting isgrief and coping strategies.

For more information, go towww.parentsupportgroup.orgor call Fabby Kocks at (360)893-1256.

Thank to bus driversElk Plain students expressed

their gratitude to the school’sbus drivers by making indi-vidual thank you cards. ParentCollette Foley came up with theidea because drivers work hardto serve students. LAP teacher,Leita Earl, organized the effortand distributed the cards.

Superintendent debateTerry

Bergeson andJudith Billings,candidates forthe office ofstate superin-tendent ofpublic instruc-tion, will de-

bate at thedowntownbranch of theTacoma PublicLibrary Oct. 18at 7 p.m. Dis-trict commu-nications di-rector MarkWenzel will serve as moderator.

Terry Bergeson

David Drennan

Judith Billings

What’s next?

■ Individual scores will be reportedto parents this fall.

■ Testing for 2005 WASL is scheduledfor April 18-29.

‘The increase inWASL scores thisyear represents anincredible effort byour teaching staff,students andparents.’

Superintendent Tom Seigel

OCTOBER 2004BETHEL PRIDE • WWW.BETHELSD.ORG4 bethelnews

Hundreds of pens, pencils,notebooks, scissors and paperfilled the district warehouse lastweek – the result of a two-weekcampaign to collect school sup-plies for children in Iraq. Thesupplies, as well as 50 soccerballs and hundreds of stuffedanimals, filled up five vans.

Making connectionsThe campaign resulted from a

connection between Superinten-dent Tom Seigel and the U.S.Army 1st Battalion, 5th InfantryRegiment, which just deployedfor Iraq.

“We wanted to do somethingthat would improve the lives ofkids in Iraq, help U.S. soldiersmake a connection, and createopportunities for our students,”said Seigel. “This kind of hu-manitarian effort is a ‘win’ foreveryone involved.”

Students from Bethel High,Spanaway Lake High, CougarMountain Jr. High, Spanaway Jr.High and Pioneer Valley Elemen-tary led the way in getting thecontributions.

“We all chipped in to get sup-plies,” said Daniel Mullen, amember of SLHS’s NJROTC. “Wewanted to support kids less for-tunate than ourselves.”

At Pioneer Valley, fifth-graders

took the lead in organizing thecampaign.

“We did announcements everyday to tell the whole school thatwe needed supplies for Iraq,”said student Alex Weir. “Kids inIraq are going through very diffi-cult times, and some of them arescared. In addition to school sup-plies, we included teddy bearsand soccer balls. We think it willmake them feel comfortable.”

Teachers also showed supportfor the initiative.

“Children are the ones who gethurt the most in war,” said Cou-gar Mountain Jr. High teacherBud Russell. “It gives me a goodfeeling to see our kids willing tohelp Iraqi children in need. Ithink it’s super.”

Last week, students joined dis-trict employees and soldiers toassemble kits. The BHS Key Cluborganized the piles of supplies.Members of the Spanaway LakeHigh NJROTC and FBLA clubsfilled 2-gallon Ziploc bags withthe goods. In all, the teams puttogether about 2,000 kits.

Distribution planWhile most of the supplies go di-

rectly to schools, soldiers plan todeliver the soccer balls and stuffedanimals to children in hospitalsand orphanages. Reports from

Students collect supplies for Iraqi schools

No longer just “cookies andcarnivals,” PTA’s have trans-formed themselves into strongadvocates for children.

“Kids can’t vote,” said BillHowell, Elk Plain’s PTA president.“So from the local to the nationallevel, we have to be there forkids.”

The parent-teacher organiza-tion works to improve the edu-cation, health, and general wel-fare of children.

Statewide, 146,000 parents,friends and relatives are PTAmembers. In the Bethel SchoolDistrict, about 1,800 people havejoined to help in a variety ofways.

Some assume leadership posi-tions; others work quietly fromhome, doing whatever they canto assist schools.

Howell, a single dad, gothooked on the first day of hisdaughter’s kindergarten class.

“I looked at those kids andthought, ‘How can I not be in-volved?’ If I don’t do it, nobody

else will,” he said.A Bethel High grad, Howell has

lived in the area his entire life.His work schedule as a firefighterallows him time to volunteerduring the school day.

He started out as the fire de-partment liaison, bringingspeakers and fire trucks to theschool.

Then he began working on theschool’s “Read and Lead” pro-gram, encouraging kids to read100 minutes per week. Last year,more than half the students mettheir 1,000-minute goal in the 10-week program.

“I’m the guy who gets to giveout all the prizes!” Howell said.“I know just about every kid inthis school, and they know me.”

In his second year as theschool’s PTA president, Howellspends about 10 hours a week invarious volunteer jobs, includingworking in the kitchen and serv-ing meals.

Howell also serves as BethelArea Council vice president. The

council is comprised of all thePTA’s in the district. As Region 5legislative chair, he works witheight other state regions to keepthe legislature informed aboutchildren’s issues.

Howell isn’t the only localmember who contributes at thestate or regional level.

Meg Bushnell, who began at ElkPlain, is in her second year as statePTA president. Teresa Olson, fromRoy and Bethel High, is Region 5director. Jody Ward, from Ever-green, and Cathy Ball, from NorthStar, are service specialists. Theirjob is to provide training and re-sources to local units.

And then there’s Stacy Shown, amom who holds two offices whileinvolved in Kapowsin’s PTA.“We moved to the district twoyears ago,” said Shown. “I wentto the PTA meetings and foundout where I could fit in. I devel-oped very strong bonds with thePTA members and school staff.”

Shown volunteered to chairthe talent show committee. She

I N B R I E F

Candidate forumCandidates for the Washing-

ton State House of Representa-tives and Senate (2nd District)will participate in a candidates’forum Oct. 19 at CougarMountain Jr. High at 7 p.m.

The candidates are TomCampbell, Glen Nutter, DennisTownsend, and Jim McCune forthe House. Marilyn Rasmussenand Deryl McCarty are vyingfor the Senate seat.

Marathon runnerNatalie Barnett (BHS ’97)

finished 39th in the recentPortland Marathon. Sheaveraged seven-minute milesfor the 26.2-mile course. This isBarnett’s second marathon. Shefinished 21st in the SeattleMarathon in 2003. Barnett is agraduate of WSU. She works forWorld Vision in Federal Way.

Search & RescueLevi Cochran , a junior in the

SLHS IN-SITE program, has justcompleted his first year with theWashington State Search andRescue Society. Cochran com-pleted a month-long trainingcourse and has been involved indozens of rescues. Three of themwere life-saving missions. Aftergraduation, Cochran plans to en-ter the military to train as a NavySeal.

Miss Teen competesJasmine Jorgenson (BHS ’04)

represented Washington statein the Miss United States Teencompetition last month inCharlotte, North Carolina.

“It was absolutely amazing,”said Jorgenson. “Unfortunately,I did not bring home the titleof Miss United States, but Idefinitely did my best represent-ing Washington. And I madesome great friends.”

Kiwanis awardLou Spencer, library clerk at

Cedarcrest Jr. High, recentlyreceived the George F. HixsonFellowship Award, the highesthonor bestowed by KiwanisInternational. Spencer hasparticipated actively in theParkland-Spanaway KiwanisClub for seven years. Herprimary focus for communityservice has been to supportstudents in the community.

Future leaderBethel High

junior TaraWolle wasselected asone of 400studentsnationwide toattend the“NationalYoungLeaders

Conference” in Washington,D.C., Oct. 26-31. The theme ofthe conference is “The leadersof Tomorrow Meeting theLeaders of Today.”

Wolle will interact withrepresentatives from the threebranches of government, newsmedia and the internationalcommunity. Students alsoparticipate in role-playingactivities to test their decision-making skills. Wolle’s selectionwas based on leadershippotential and scholastic merit.

Student poetBethel High senior Cynthia

Ricks is a published poet. Herpoem, “The One,” was recentlypublished in The Silent Journey(Watermark Press).

also works on the reading incen-tive program and the inclusioncommittee, a support group forfamilies with special needs chil-dren.

She has continued her involve-ment with Tacoma, serving asTacoma Council co-president.She also joins Howell on the leg-islative committee, serving asRegion 10 legislative chair.

Like so many others who getinvolved in PTA, both Howell andShown are committed to helpingchildren succeed.

“Every PTA unit loves the kidsin their community and wants toserve them,” Shown said.

Howell notes the direct con-nection between parent involve-ment and student success.

“When children see parentsactively involved, they know it’simportant to the parent, so it’simportant to them,” he said.“Education becomes a priority,and they’ll work to become bet-ter students.”

Pioneer Valley fifth-graders Alex Weir and D’Andre Bardwell helpedcollect pens, pencils and paper -- as well as several soccer balls andteddy bears -- for Iraqi school children.

Elk Plain PTA President Bill Howell explains the duties of a firefighter as third-grader Devon Honig tries on an oxygen tank. Howell spends about10 hours a week at various jobs at the school. Local schools have more than 1,800 PTA members.

Iraq indicate that handing out soc-cer balls is the same as distribut-ing pieces of gold.

Cpt. Don Carrothers, battalionchaplain, expressed admirationfor the student effort.

“It’s almost overwhelming tosee how the kids have gotten intoit,” he said. “When we deliver thesupplies to schools in Iraq, we’regoing to stress that it was allgiven by children in America whowanted to help.”

Carrothers will work with U.S.public affairs officers in Iraq toidentify the schools most in needof the supplies. Through a trans-lator, he will explain to Iraqi stu-dents, teachers and communityleaders where the Bethel SchoolDistrict is and why students herewanted to help.

“Hopefully this can be a brightspot in a gloomy place rightnow,” he said.

PTAs work to ‘be there for kids’

Tara Wolle

OCTOBER 2004WWW.BETHELSD.ORG • BETHEL PRIDE 5bethelpeople

I N B R I E F

For the second consecutive year,a person or group in the BethelSchool District has won the toparts award in Pierce County. ThePierce County Arts Commissionrecently selected the SpanawayLake High Music Company as the2004 recipient of the Margaret K.Williams award. In 2003, AndreaKlouse, who directs the Frontier Jr.High and Vivace choirs, broughthome the honor.

Expect excellenceThe 20-member Music Com-

pany performs jazz, pop andclassical tunes. Bernard Crouse,who started the group in 1987,maintains the highest profes-sional standards for his singers.

“Our motto is ‘Expect Excel-lence,’” he said. “My goal is toprovide gifted high school sing-ers the opportunity to experi-ence what it takes to be a mem-ber of a professional ensemble.”

Crouse sets the bar high for hisstudents, but does all he can tomake sure they sail over it. He care-fully auditions each vocalist, mak-ing selections based as much oncharacter as musical ability.

“When we go out into the com-munity, I have to know that thesekids will represent our schooland district well,” he said.

TrainingThe Music Company starts its

season with a summer trip to theMt. Shasta Jazz and Show ChoirCamp in Weed, California. Stu-dents rehearse and perform dailyduring the intensive week-longcamp. Back in Spanaway, theybegin a full-time rehearsalschedule in August. The earlystart enables them to achieve ahigh performance level beforeschool even starts.

The 11-month, 40-performanceschedule demands commitment.

“Many of us want to sing,dance and act professionally, sodiscipline is a big key,” saidRaeshawna Sager, Music Com-pany president.

Discipline includes intensivefundraising. Group memberswork in concession stands atQwest Field to raise money forperformances at out-of-stateevents. This spring, the groupwill perform in Hawaii for thethird time.

Sager says the payoff comeswith connecting with audiences.She recalls the group’s first con-cert of the year in front of thestate board of education whenthe audience jumped to its feetfor a standing ovation – in themiddle of the concert.

“I felt so overcome by the au-dience,” she said. “It broughtsomething out of me.”

AwardsMusic Company regularly re-

ceives recognition, both locallyand nationally. Recent awards in-clude first place at the San Fran-cisco Heritage Festival, first placeat the Vancouver, B.C. HeritageFestival, first place at the Disney-land Heritage Festival and selec-tion as the featured group for thenational anthem at Mariners andSonics games.

“Everyone knows they repre-sent the highest possible stan-dard,” said Superintendent TomSeigel. “Whenever they sing atevents, audience members al-ways rave about how good theyare. They’re wonderful ambassa-dors for the district.”

When the group performed atthe kickoff for employees of theTumwater School District earlier

Music Company wins top award

Editor’s note: Counselor’sCorner is a new column to helpparents partner with schools tomeet the needs of their children.Ann Waybright, social worker atShining Mountain Elementary, co-chairs the district’s elementary andsecondary counselors and socialworkers group. She has master’s de-gree in social work from EasternWashington University.

Q: My son is in fifth grade andhas little to share with me aboutschool. When I ask how thingsare going, he just says “OK.” Howcan I find out how he is reallydoing?

A: You are not alone! Sometimesit’s difficult to find out how kids arereally doing in school. Fortunately,teachers welcome calls from par-ents who want to know how thingsare going. And…you’re in luck!Conferences are coming up duringthe week of Oct. 18 to 22. This isyour chance to get your questionsanswered.

Here are a few ideas to get themost out of your conference.

• Make a list of things you wantto tell the teacher.

• Share any health or emo-tional issues that might impactachievement. Decide what youwant to ask the teacher. Askabout work habits, missed as-signments, and homework.

• Ask about how he gets alongwith other children.

• Find out what you can do athome to help.

Later, find some quiet time to-gether to talk about school. Asksome “how” and “what” ques-tions and listen to his answers.Your caring and concern will payoff! Good luck!

Q: Now that my daughter is injunior high, she is having a hardtime keeping track of her home-work and all her different teachers’expectations. Who do I contact first?

A: Junior high is different from el-ementary school where your daugh-ter had just one teacher. Now she hasseveral, but they all want to workwith you to help her succeed.

Ask your daughter to be clear

about where she’s having trouble.Together you can e-mail teachersand ask specific questions. If yousee a pattern develop – she’s hav-ing difficulty in several classes, forexample – you might call theschool counselor and request aconference with all yourdaughter’s teachers. To keep ontop of the problem, many parentsrequest regular progress reports.Here again, e-mail works great!

By the way, some junior highsoffer a form of conferences. Findout what your daughter’s schoolprovides. Have fun building apartnership!

Q: My son is a senior in highschool and tells me he will haveenough credits to graduate in

Staying connected to kids’ progress

Zurfluh earnsservice award

Superinten-dent TomSeigelawardeddistrictoperationsmanager DanZurfluh the“superintendent’ssuperiorservice award”

at the school board meeting Sept.28. “Throughout his 30-yearcareer, Dan has always per-formed above and beyond thecall of duty,” said Seigel. “Heepitomizes the ‘Team Bethel’approach. His customer-serviceattitude has made a world ofdifference in our district.”

Over the years, staff, parentsand community members havepraised Zurfluh for his willing-ness to help in any situation.

After Seigel’s presentation,audience and board membersgave the Bethel High (’70) grada standing ovation. Zurfluhretires this month.

Preview classfor AIDS information

Federal law requires schooldistricts to teach HIV/AIDSawareness to all secondarystudents. School districts mustprovide an opportunity forparents/guardians to previewthe information and video usedin the curriculum.

After the preview, parentsmay exempt their studentsfrom the class. The session willtake place Oct. 19, 7 p.m., in theCedarcrest Jr. High library(19120 13th Ave. Ct. E.).

No smoking allowedon school grounds

School officials report an in-crease in violations of the districtsmoking policy. The policy is in-tended for both students andparents. It reads: Use of all to-bacco products on Bethel SchoolDistrict property and at all BethelSchool District activities, wher-ever held, is prohibited.

Spawning salmonBethel High conservation

wildlife classes, led by GlennWilson, recently spawned morethan 1.6 million eggs as part ofa Department of FisheriesChinook salmon spawningproject at the Green River.Students worked with thehatchery manager and afisheries biologist to collecteggs and spawn the salmon.

They corralled the fish usingseine nets and sorted male andfemale fish. They stripped up to4,500 eggs from adult femalesweighing as much as 45 pounds.The eggs of two adult fish wereplaced into 5-gallon buckets andone adult male was milked intothe eggs for fertilization. Stu-dents weighed eggs into 15-pound samples and washedthem with iodine solution to re-duce the possibility of disease.

“The work my students do atthis facility will stay with themforever,” said Wilson.

Principals shave it offTwo district principals fulfilled

pledges to their students thisSeptember by allowing theirheads to be shaved. Cliff Ander-son, Cougar Mountain Jr. Highprincipal, and Kelley Boynton,Graham Elementary principal,agreed to go bald becausestudents met learning goals. Thetwo lost their hair in spirit-filledassemblies as students cheeredand clapped. “It’s a good way tomotivate kids,” said Anderson.

this year, the keynote speaker,Gene Sharratt, was so moved bythe music that he donated his$500 fee – with a matching dona-tion by his wife – to scholarshipsfor Music Company students.

Sager credits Crouse with inspir-ing students to achieve their best.

“He makes it so we think aboutmusic as art and perform it asart,” she said. “For example,when we sang the song ‘LittleLamb,’ he had us envision a lamband how soft and gentle it is. Healways gives us another dimen-sion of the music.”

Crouse, who estimates he

spends 900 hours outside ofschool each year on Music Com-pany events, says he loves creat-ing “magic moments.”

“I enjoy watching the audi-ence during our performances,”he said. “I like how our kids movethem out of everyday life andtake them to a special place.”

The Pierce County Arts Commis-sion will present the 2004 MargaretK. Williams award to the Music Com-pany Nov. 4 at the Washington StateHistory Museum. A reception inhonor of the recipients will begin at5:30 p.m. The awards ceremony be-gins at 6:30.

SLHS senior Raeshawna Sager, president of Music Company, says sheappreciates the challenges that come with being a part of an elite vocalensemble. The Pierce County Arts Commission recently selected theMusic Company to receive the 2004 Margaret K. Williams award, the toparts award in the county.

June. How can I be sure? I knowhe has already changed his sched-ule twice.

A: As our children reach youngadulthood, we want to give themmore independence. That beingsaid, having everything in placefor graduation is important, andyou’re right to be concerned.

Call you son’s school counse-lor and ask for a credit check. Ifthere is a problem, make an ap-pointment for the two of you tomeet with the counselor.

High schools offer several waysto get information to parents. Forexample, Bethel High has fourstudent “walk-arounds” a year.The first was Oct. 6. Did you seethe report? Parents are supposedto sign them. Also, look ahead tomid-term progress reports.They’re mailed home in Novem-ber and in April.

Stay tuned to your son’sprogress. Work together andshow you care. Helping childrenlearn to be accountable buildsindependence. You’ll both cel-ebrate on graduation day!

Seven teachers received“Harold LeMay OpportunitiesFund” grants through the BethelFoundation. Recipients are:

• Susan Melton, Kapowsin:$310 to buy specialized dictio-naries to assist students with vo-cabulary and spelling.

• Bruce Adler, Bethel Jr. High:$1,000 to sponsor an internationalcultural fair for eighth graders – aculminating project for students to

7 teachers win LeMay grantspresent family trees, pictures,charts, videos, etc.

• Glenda Clark, Kapowsin:$1,120 to purchase items for aWashington state history artifacttrunk. The items – authenticclothing and artifacts from the1800s – are intended to give chil-dren the opportunity to experi-ence the pioneer era.

• Stacey Grewell, Naches Trail:$1,285 to host a student heritage

festival for first graders. The fes-tival will be a culmination of ayear-long study of student heri-tage and world cultures.

• Kim Meline, Spanaway Jr.High: $1,250 to sponsor two fieldtrips to Puget Creek to learnabout salmon restoration. Stu-dents learn about plant and ani-mal life and assist in volunteerefforts to restore salmon habitat.

• Tonya Narramore, Bethel Jr.

High: $2,500 to purchase a techno-logical tool called Classroom Per-formance System(CPS). It’s a real-time, interactive wireless responsepad technology that allows teachersto collect data and check studentlearning on an ongoing basis.

• Sarah Houtz, Rocky Ridge:$3,850 to buy a computer, pro-jector, scanner and digital cam-era to help students expand theirtechnological skills.

Dan Zurfluh

C O U N S E L O R ’ S C O R N E R

AnnWaybrightSocial Worker

District grads come back to work where they grew up

OCTOBER 2004BETHEL PRIDE • WWW.BETHELSD.ORG6 bethelpride OCTOBER 2004

WWW.BETHELSD.ORG • BETHEL PRIDE 7

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Warnke, James: SLHS, teacher at Elk Plain

1986Berglund (Sweet), Carrie: SLHS, coun-selor at GrahamBland (Weiss) Paula: SLHS, softwaresupport technician with technologyJump, Tricia: BHS, PATHS teacher atNorth StarMullen, Pat: BHS, teacher and coachat Bethel High

1987Lengele (Franco), Laura: SLHS,teacher at North StarMarcus (Marsh), Rachal: BHS, teacherat KapowsinRussell (Brown), Jennifer: BHS, busdriverSchelbert (Mullen), Molly: BHS, districtoccupational information specialistWaddell (Hendricks), Mary: BHS,teacher at Centennial

1988Larter (Nicholet), Michele: BHS,teacher at Bethel HighMartin, Jeanie: SLHS, sign languageinterpreter at Spanaway Lake HighMoon, Dennis: BHS, teacher at Challenger

1989Andersen, Staci: CSS, classified profes-sional development at district officeMilke (Trotter), Jen: SLHS, teacher atGraham

1990Cole (Reichel), Christine: BHS, teacherat GrahamMonta, Dan: BHS, teacher atCedarcrest Jr. High

1991Bonnell, Robert: BHS, maintenanceEill (Horton), Kathy: BHS, teacher atCentennialHardie (Elsholz), Jennifer: BHS,teacher at Spanaway ElementaryHill, Rob: SLHS, teacher at Spanaway Jr.

Hill (Huser), Shelli: SLHS, nurse withsupport servicesLow (Ebert), Amy: BHS, teacher atBethel HighMcCann, Lonnie: SLHS, teacher atCougar MountainSlater (Graber), Lisa: SLHS, PE special-ist at Spanaway Lake High

1992Christianson (Lippert), Katherine:SLHS, teacher at Cougar MountainEarls (Ausserer) Jennifer: BHS, re-source teacher at Cougar MountainHamblin, Josh: SLHS, teacher atSpanaway Lake HighJaphet (Werts), Brandy: BHS, humanresources manager at district officePulley, Nate: BHS, assistant principal atCedarcrestZawislak (Ford), Kathryn: BHS, Roy,social worker intern

1993Davis, Bryan: SLHS, teacher atSpanaway Lake HighGodinez (Hill) Amie: SLHS, readingspecialist at EvergreenHarris (Griffin), Jenny: BHS, teacher atRoyHunt (McMakin), Dorine: SLHS, sup-port services office clerkJohnson (Blessing), Taran: BHS,teacher at Pioneer ValleyKadow, Jeff: BHS, teacher at ShiningMountainWilliams, Elaine: BHS, teacher atSpanaway Elementary

1994Carlson, Andy: BHS, teacher at Bethel Jr.

1995Aoki (Portmann), Bethany: BHS,teacher at Cougar MountainHagel, Kris: BHS, web technicianMalarcher (Scott), Jennifer: SLHS,teacher at Spanaway ElementaryPorter (DeTray), Rachel: BHS, teacherat Graham

1996Christianson (Redding), Jaime:BHS, teacher at Elk PlainColeman, Jody: BHS, teacher atBethel Jr.Foreman, Christian: SLHS,teacher at Spanaway Jr.Kennedy, Ryan: BHS, teacher atSpanaway Lake HighWright (Cooper), Larissa: BHS,teacher at North Star

1997Drorbaugh (LaTray), Amanda:SLHS, teacher at Pioneer ValleyShaw (Starks), Jammie: CSS, busdriver

1998Barger (Bartell), Rachael: BHS,basic skills at Cougar MountainKristovich (Svinth), Nicole: BHS,teacher at Rocky RidgeMitchell, Todd: SLHS, technologymanagerOsier, Jennifer: SLHS, teacher atNaches Trail

1999Vawter (Lathrop), Jennifer: BHS,teacher at Bethel High

2000Bradbury, Nick: BHS, technologyspecialistCain, Brandon: BHS, teacher atBethel HighHawkins (Wilshire), Janae: SLHS, pro-fessional technical education clerk

2001Jensen, Mike: BHS, technologyspecialist

2002Bartell, Andy: BHS, grounds main-tenanceSchulz, Jennifer: BHS, bus helper

2003Sheldon, Mike, SLHS, tech. specialist

Henry, Oliver: BHS, bus driverMounts (Sattler), Donna: BHS, specialed assistant at EvergreenQuiles (Bredeson), Kimberlee: BHS,teacher at Bethel HighScott (Johnson), Kay: BHS, special edassistant at ChallengerSutton (Reeves), Tammy: BHS, basiceducation assistant at ThompsonTate, Johnnie: BHS, campus safety atBethel High

1978Brokaw (Erickson), Diane: BHS,teacher at Naches TrailBullard (Davis) Donna: BHS, resourcebank assistant with support servicesDunaway (Harkins), Susan: BHS,teacher at Bethel HighGunderson-Grazzini, Donna: BHS,payroll specialist at district officeHubbard (Russell), Daina: BHS, secre-tary at Frontier Jr. HighOney, Melodee: BHS, teacher at Ca-mas PrairieStabio (Iverson), Audrey: BHS, specialed assistant at Camas Prairie

1979Kuhlmann, Mark: BHS, head custo-dian at KapowsinMouat-Rich, Nancy: BHS, teacher atBethel High

1980Guerrero (Smith), Mary: BHS, childnutrition at RoyReber, Greg: BHS, grounds lead withmaintenanceShafer, Bob: BHS, teacher at Bethel HighWestmark (Croston), Bonnie: BHS,teacher at Bethel Jr.

1981Catchpole, Julie: BHS, payroll special-ist at district officeJohnston (Baker), Denise: BHS, spe-cial ed assistant at Evergreen

1982Allison (Wood), Karen: BHS, healthclerk at Cougar MountainBarton-Gray (Gray), Karen: BHS,teacher at ThompsonFay (Griffith), Glenda: BHS, teacher atThompsonHamilton (Johnson), Michelle: BHS,teacher at Cougar MountainLeber, Doug: BHS, network manager

1983Bolieu (Olson), Shari: BHS, childnutrition at CentennialFitch, Fred: SLHS, teacher at Rocky RidgeGeller, Brian: BHS, teacher at CougarMountainKuhlmann, Tim: BHS, head custodianat Centennial

1984Bisig (Dinelt), Dina: BHS, special edassistant at Rocky RidgeLeise, Ken: SLHS, teacher at SpanawayLake HighWood, Ronnie: BHS, general mainte-nance

1985Geller (Holsten), Sandee: BHS,teacher at Cougar MountainHowson (Schroeder), Lisa: SLHS,teacher at Spanaway Jr.Taylor, Lynn: SLHS, computer special-ist at EvergreenTurner (Sommer), Dianna: BHS, dis-patcher at transportation

Bryan DavisSLHS ‘93

Dan ZurfluhBHS ‘70

DonnaGunderson-GrazziniBHS ‘78

JenniferOsierSLHS ‘98

Jim CraigBHS ‘74

Laura(Franco)LengeleSLHS ‘87

Lisa (Slater)GraberSLHS ‘91

NathanPulleyBHS ‘92

Pat MullenBHS ‘86

School spirit comes easy for Brandon Cain (BHS '00) and Jennifer (Lathrop) Vawter(BHS '99). Administrators say that their enthusiasm for teaching has energized thestudents and veteran staff.

Bethel teacher.In fact, several teachers played a part

in Jennifer Vawter’s decision to becomean educator. The first was Katie(Schultz) Worthington, a Bethel HighCommunication Arts teacher who pre-viously taught the honors class at Fron-tier Jr. High.

“It was different from any class I’dever had,” Vawter said. “She knew howto build relationships, and she chal-lenged us a lot.”

A trio of math teachers – ShannonBell at Frontier and Trudy Booth andBeatty at BHS – convinced her that herto pursue a degree in math.

As class valedictorian, Vawter won anacademic scholarship to St. Martin’s inLacey. It paid full tuition for all fouryears of college.

While in college, she came back todo her student teaching with Beattyand Booth.

“I learned more in that one semes-Nearly half of the technology department employees are district grads. Software support technician Paula (Weiss) Bland (SLHS'86) began working in technology here while still in high school. Doug Leger (BHS '82) is the district's network manager.

Once a song leader at Bethel High, Nancy (Ettlin) Fritz (BHS '61) now is an expert onthe intercom. Fritz works at Spanaway Elementary as an office clerk. A 26-yeardistrict employee, Fritz -- like so many others -- is amazed at the area's growth.

Coming

Home

1961Coonc (Mothershead) Edna: BHS, LRCclerk at Bethel Jr.Fritz (Ettlin), Nancy: BHS, office clerkat Spanaway ElementaryMotycka, Bill: BHS, head custodian atNorth Star

1964Kanavan (Burrington), Delorys: BHS,ESL assistant Spanaway Lake High

1965Cooke (Greisbach), Barbara: BHS,health clerk at GrahamMcFadden (Sacco), Judy: BHS, busassistant

1966Rohr, John: BHS, carpenter withmaintenance department

1968Andersen (Sorensen), Tina: BHS, ad-ministrative assistant at district office

1969English (Scott), Christine: BHS,teacher at Cougar MountainEverett (Brooks), Ruth: BHS, healthclerk at Rocky RidgeGraham, Brad: BHS, principal atKapowsinMunce, Gerry: BHS, AV/computer/telecom techRich, Jerry: BHS, head custodian atBethel HighRichards, Jessie: BHS, teacher atSpanaway ElementaryWall (Snow), Janelle: BHS, teacher atClover Creek

1970Erb (Zrofsky), Sue: BHS, secretary at RoyKuper, Larry: BHS, principal at RoySwick (Lindbo), Vicky: BHS, teacher at RoyZurfluh, Dan: BHS, assistant directorfor facilities

1971McMakin (Barna), Darlene: BHS, clerkat SLHSWilson (Gunderson), Deborah: BHS,child nutritin at Evergreen

1972Kelley (Coby), Lynn: BHS, registrar atCougar Mountain

1973Bridges (Johnson), Cheri: BHS,teacher at North StarDoleski (Dove), Lorena: BHS, childnutrition at RoyHobbs (Brooks), Debra: BHS, basicskills assistant at Clover CreekMiller (Kleinsasser), Kathi: BHS,teacher at Bethel HighSleeman (Erb), Becky: BHS, basic skillsassistant at Roy

1974Ainslie (Failey), Brenda: BHS, secre-tary at Bethel Jr.Barnes, Alan: BHS, teacher at CougarMountainCraig, Jim: BHS, teacher at CougarMountainDillard, James: BHS, bus driverGraves, Don: BHS, bus driverMagluyan (Almond), Paula: BHS,reading specialist at Frontier

1976Hanson (Johnson), Kathy: BHS, sec-retary at Spanaway Jr.Hunter (Kie), Kathy: BHS, teacher atShining MountainLeslie, Russ: BHS, teacher at Bethel HighSellars (Wood), DeAnn: BHS, nursewith support servicesWooten (Rowan), Kelly: BHS, LRCclerk at North Star

1977Baker, Russ: BHS, general maintenanceHenry (Davidson), Debbie: BHS,teacher at Graham

Two young teachers add to BHS math departmentMath teachers Brandon Cain (BHS

’00) and Jennifer (Lathrop) Vawter(BHS ’99) have come home to teach –and they both love what they’ve found.

“I’m definitely a homebody. I’mproud of this area and the school I wentto,” Cain said.

The 22-year-old grew up here anddoesn’t intend to leave.

Most of all, he likes the people.“People here are nice people. I’ve

never had trouble making friends andfeeling welcome,” he said.

Making friends was never a problem,but as a high school student, Cain some-times had trouble making the grade.

“I never did homework,” he admitted.But he found his calling in math class.“I’d go around the class. People

would try to figure things out, and I’dexplain in words they could under-stand,” he said. “I liked how it felt whenI saw they could understand.”

Cain moved through the series of mathclasses until he reached the highest level– Advance Placement Calculus.

“It was a completely different atmo-sphere than any other class I’d evertaken – even to this day. It was a fullyear, 90 minutes each day, but I nevergot tired of it,” Cain said.

Finally his life had direction.“Any doubt that I wanted to be a

teacher was erased in that class withMr. (Wyley) Beatty,” he said. “He’s thebest teacher I ever had. He’s the onewho really inspired me to chase mydream and make it happen.”

With a 2.9 GPA out of high school, Cainwent on to get his associate’s degree atPierce College. From there, he enteredPacific Lutheran University. With aca-demic scholarships, government grantsand student loans, Cain earned abachelor’s degree in math education. Hegraduated with a 3.48 GPA.

Cain isn’t the only BHS grad who’sglad to be home. And he isn’t theonly one who was inspired by a

ter than I learned in all my educationclasses,” she said.

After graduating with a 3.92 GPA, shelanded a job at BHS.

She joins her mother, Kathy Lathrop,who has worked in the school’s mainoffice for 14 years.

Now in her second year of teaching,Vawter knows she made the right move.

“There’s a real feeling of family hereeven though the school is humungous.Everybody finds a place,” she said.

Administrators couldn’t be happierthat the two BHS grads have returnedto their roots.

“It’s a real validation of the commu-nity spirit,” said Brian Loffer, assistantprincipal. “They knew what theywanted. Their number-one choice wasright here at Bethel High School.”

Vawter says the decision was simple.She sums it up in one phrase, usingthe school motto: “Once a Brave, al-ways a Brave.”

Probably all three Spanaway Lake grads have the right answer -- after all, they'rethe ones who write the tests. Communications arts teachers Ken Leise ('84), BryanDavis ('93) and Josh Hamblin all grew up in Spanaway.

Mentors made the difference for Spanaway gradsGood mentors and a desire to work

with students convinced threeSpanaway Lake grads to come back totheir former school to teach.

Communication arts teachers KenLeise (’84), Josh Hamblin (‘92) andBryan Davis (’93) make up the Senti-nel trio who spend their days teachingShakespeare and essay writing toyoung adults.

Leise is so local that he claims he was“raised in the concession stand at ArtCrate Field.” His dad, Don Leise, spent16 years as president of Little Leagueand even took a turn serving on theschool board.

“I can remember playing ball andthen going to work in the concessions,”Leise said. “I’d take people’s money andgive them candy.”

Leise didn’t go directly from collegeinto teaching. He spent 10 years work-ing at Milgard Manufacturing and an-other four years at Home Depot.

“I realized the most influentialpeople in my life were my parents andteachers,” he said. “I wanted to makean impact. What better way than to bea teacher?”

Teachers had a big influence onhis life.

“I can name every one of my teachers,all the way through school,” he said.

While he was in his first years as ateacher at SLHS, Colleen Smith servedas his mentor.

“She was very helpful,” he said. “Shewas always there for me.”

Hamblin has good memories of histime as a high school student.

“I really enjoyed the experiences Ihad here,” he said. “This is where Iwanted to come back and teach.”

For Hamblin, it’s a family thing.His wife, Heather, teaches life scienceat Bethel Jr. High; cousin Bryanteaches sixth grade at Pioneer Valley;and aunt, Joanne Bullion, teaches atRoy Elementary.

As a teenager, Hamblin racedhobby stocks at Spanaway Speedway.In his third race, he won the “roll-

over” trophy.“It was a rare event to roll a car, so

they gave a trophy whenever anyonedid it,” he said.

He also played tennis and partici-pated in the debate club.

Many teachers influenced his deci-sion to go into education.

“All my mentors were very different,but all so dedicated to their students,”he said. “At Cedarcrest, for example,gifted teacher Lynda Parker exposed usto college- level literature when wewere in junior high,” he said.

Other inspirational teachersincluded Smith and SandyWusterbarth-Brown.

Bryan Davis also was motivated byhis teachers when he was in highschool, but hadn’t decided on a career.

“I always thought about teaching,”he said, “but I wasn’t sure what Iwould teach.”

He fell in love with literature, andthat made up his mind.

“A big factor in my coming back wasColleen Smith, knowing she was stillhere and could serve as a mentor.”

French teacher Kathleen Pointecalso influenced Davis.

“She could teach outside thecurriculum,” he said. “She’d makethe language expand to so muchmore. We were able to make personalconnections.”

Davis was named African-AmericanHeritage prince and later wonrunner-up honors at the city competi-tion. He earned a partial scholarship tothe University of Puget Sound and alocal BEST scholarship.

At SLHS, his students regularly hostthe school’s poetry nights, where stu-dents showcase their talent. So far thelargest audience has been 85 people,but his goal is “to make it so large thatit will no longer fit inside the school.”

All three – Leise, Hamblin and Davis– send a powerful message to kids, saiddepartment head Jan LaCaille.

“Some students don’t see the valueof school, yet these young men aresuccessful. They grew up here.They went off to colleges, but chose tocome back here to teach. They’re mak-ing a difference.”

They say you can’t go home again, but nearly 150 local graduates havedone just that. They’ve come back to teach or work in the same schooldistrict where they graduated.

Some, like Bethel High first-year teacher Brandon Cain, enjoy the mixof rural and city life. Spanaway Lake teacher Bryan Davis wants to helphis students reach their potential. And Josh Hamblin, a SLHS teacherwith family ties, simply enjoys the “comfortable feeling” of beingaround the faces and the people he knows best.

Homecoming isn’t just a rite of fall for these home-grown employees.They’ve staked their claim and tied their lives to the place where theygrew up. For them, every day is a homecoming.

Doleski (Dove), Lorena

Tina (Sorensen)AndersenBHS ‘68

OCTOBER 2004BETHEL PRIDE • WWW.BETHELSD.ORG8 bethelstudents

acclaim as a Model Community ofPromise, providing a local exampleof how to make the promises work.

Co-chair of Lakewood’s Prom-ise, Andrea Gernon, started out asa school volunteer. She eventuallyjoined the community council aschair of human services.

“We wanted to focus on whatkind of a community we wanted,”she said. “We asked, ‘How can wemake this a better community?’”

Many caring people workedthrough human services, non-profit agencies, churches andschools. The community hadYMCA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts,Campfire, mental health ser-vices, drug and alcohol counse-lors, church initiatives – but theyall worked independently.

“People didn’t work together,”Gernon said. “They didn’t knoweach other.”

Now they do. They meetmonthly to share informationand build partnerships, usingthe promise framework to keepon task.

The “safe place” promise is oneexample of how the partnershipswork.

“We partnered after-schoolprograms,” she said. “We wentafter joint grants. The Girl Scoutswould run a program for twonights, and other groups man-aged the other nights.”

A “can-do” spirit emerged, saidGernon.

“America’s Promise heightensawareness, opens doors andmakes connections,” she said.

Bethel’s challengeUnlike Lakewood, Bethel has

no city government or commu-nity council. County services arelimited in the sprawling, unin-corporated area.

Schools became the logical

PromiseContinued from 1

ReadingContinued from 3

Freshman Josh Drake (BHS‘04) likes life at Dartmouth Col-lege, an Ivy League school inH a n o v e r ,New Hamp-shire. Eventhough he at-tends one ofthe mosth i g h - p o w -ered aca-demic insti-tutions in thecountry, hebelieves hisBethel SchoolDistrict education preparedhim well.

In particular, he credits Ad-vanced Placement (AP) coursesfor giving him college-level ex-perience while still in highschool.

“I see Dartmouth studentsstaying up until 2 or 3 in themorning to get their work done,”he said. “I haven’t had that prob-lem. Because of AP, I learned tomanage my time. I think my highschool experience – on certainkey points – was better than myclassmates who went to elite pri-vate schools.”

Drake led the district in AP

110 studentspass AP tests anchor. When district officials

learned about America’s Prom-ise, they saw a good fit.

“Superintendent Tom Seigeland the school board stepped upto the plate,” said Helen Myrick,executive director of the GreaterPierce County Community Net-work.

In many ways, community col-laboration had already started.The Bethel Community Coali-tion, formed two years ago, metmonthly to focus on ways to helplocal youth. Social service agen-cies had begun using school sitesto reach out to the community.

Co-chaired by Steve Brown, dis-trict director of community con-nections, and Daryl Kallberg, thecoalition shows that schools andcommunity can work together toimprove children’s lives.

Link to learningAmerica’s Promise has hit

home for many educators.In his 23rd year as an elementary

school principal, Kapowsin’s BradGraham has seen many childrenwho struggle to learn because theirbasic needs aren’t met.

“We can’t select the studentswho come through our doors.Statistics show that studentscome to school with all kinds ofsocial issues,” he said. “If wedon’t meet those basic needs,they aren’t ready to learn.”

Kapowsin’s test scores stay strongfor good reason, Graham said.

“Every student who needs break-fast or lunch gets it,” he said. “Wekeep tabs on them and see thatthey’re fed, that they have suppliesand materials and that they arelinked up with significant adults whowill do anything for them.”

What’s next?It’s been only six months since

the district committed toAmerica’s Promise, but changesare already in the works.

Bethel Community Coalitionwill serve as “keeper of the prom-ise,” taking responsibility for ac-countability. It will work to partnergovernment agencies, business,faith organizations, civic groupsand the school district to makesure the five promises are met. Itwill coordinate ways to fundschool initiatives.

Kapowsin has already signedup to be the district’s first schoolof promise. All schools are exam-ining how current programs andresources meet the promises.

Even the district’s newestschool is ready to roll.

Graham-Kapowsin’s principal,Jennifer Bethman, sees America’sPromise as a way to better pre-pare high school students for thereal world. Her core planningteam will work on ways to imple-ment the promise framework.

“Ultimately what we are doingis educating the whole child,”she said.

Bethman sees opportunitiesfor mentorship and communityservice.

“My hope is that students aregoing to work in the communityand that business people willcome in and offer their exper-tise,” she said.

America’s Promise has thepotential for changing thecommunity.

“It can create a culture of caringfor children,” Brown said. “It canchange kids in a way that they’ll bemore prepared than ever for theworld after high school.”

Individuals and communitygroups who’d like to help are en-couraged to contact the BethelCoalition at 537-4529 or Brown at683-6052.

targeted reading sessions. Stu-dents learn how to read purpose-fully and to not give up.

They use Accelerated Reader asa motivational tool. The computerprogram offers more than 75,000quizzes on library books and text-book series. When students passthe quiz, they earn points. Indi-viduals and classes compete forthe most points.

“AR has been incredible,” saidGraham. “The proof is that we’vehad non-readers who – because ofthe motivation – are reading.”

Shining Mountain celebrationEvery year at Shining Mountain,

staff members choose a readingtheme to get students involved.This year’s theme is “Saddle Up toa Good Book.” Students createWestern-style symbols to keeptrack of reading points on theschool’s Accelerated Reader board.They also plan a good, old-fash-ioned hoedown at the end of theyear with food and dancing.

Another way Shining Moun-tain boosts achievement isthrough “action planning.” Everyyear, teachers submit specificplans for reading, writing andmath instruction. They outlinestudent levels of performance,instructional strategies, plannedassessments and interventionsfor struggling students.

“It focuses their instruction sowe can make improvements,”said Mary Sewright, principal.“The plans are directly tied to thegrade level expectations.”

More than anything, though,Sewright emphasizes the impor-tance of the reading support spe-cialist, Kari Martin.

“I believe our reading supportspecialist has made the most sig-nificant difference in reading

achievement over the years,” shesaid. “Specialists really help im-prove instructional practices. Theyreview data with teachers and of-fer professional development rightin the classroom.”

Elk Plain inspirationElk Plain Principal Machelle

Beilke and her staff work hard tocreate “a culture of reading” attheir school. They promote profes-sional development, author visits,and parent involvement.

Reading coach Debbie Bomarworks with new instructors toshare teaching tips. She coversthe nuts and bolts of literacy andhow to get the most out of small-group learning.

Author visits also inspire stu-dents. Students read the work of aparticular writer before attendingan assembly to discuss it. Authorstalk about the writing process andhow to get ideas.

“It helps students make a con-nection with the author,” saidBeilke. “It also helps kids see howmuch revision it takes to write agood story.”

From January to March, stu-dents and parents participate inRead & Lead, a program in whichstudents must read 100 hours bythemselves and have someoneread to them – or read aloud – foranother 100 hours. The three-month “Read-a-thon” ends with amedals ceremony with firefighters.

“It’s a wonderful time at ourschool,” said Beilke. “Students seethe custodian, the cook, the sec-retaries, the teachers and the prin-cipal as readers.”

Pioneer Valley communicationPioneer Valley Principal

Stephen Rushing believes that ef-fective reading instruction is like a

doctor-patient relationship.“You have to diagnose and do

frequent check-ups,” he said.The diagnosis requires finding

“Just Right” books for students.Just Right books challenge the stu-dent to grow without being too dif-ficult to read.

Rushing and his staff use assess-ments and one-on-one con-ferencing to do both the diagnosisand the check-ups. They continu-ally review data and develop plansto help individual readers.

A key component of the PioneerValley approach is “ProfessionalLearning Communities.”

“We’ve purchased professionalbooks on literacy and discussedhow to effectively teach studentsto decode and comprehend whatthey read,” said Rushing. “In Pro-fessional Learning Communities,staff members discuss how to beintentional in their teaching.”

Rushing wants his students tounderstand the importance ofreading.

“It’s an essential foundationfor learning everything else,” hesaid. “Reading is more thansounding out isolated words ona page. It’s learning ideas fromother people. It’s how we com-municate feelings, ideas andneeds. It helps kids get a pictureof their world. At Pioneer Valleywe want students to leave schoolwith a passion to read and learn.”

Learning is the real keyWhile all these schools enjoy

high test scores, the principalsemphasize that the real success isin higher levels of learning.

“We were really proud of ourWASL scores,” said Boynton. “Butwhat really matters is whether ornot our kids can read. That’s thetrue focus of our attention.”

testing. He scored a “4” on fourtests and “5” on two others.Students need a “3” to pass; a“5” is considered an “A” in a rig-orous college-level course.

Overall, 110 students passedat least one of last spring’s tests– a record for the district.

“We follow the advice of theEducational Testing Serviceand open our AP classes to allstudents who want to takethem,” said SLHS teacherShirley Baker, who teaches APSenior Literature. “That’s whyour numbers have increased somuch.”

BHS teacher Dianna Main,who teaches AP Junior Litera-ture, says the AP program chal-lenges students like nothingelse.

“It’s amazing what these kidscan do,” she said. “They startthe year thinking they can’t an-swer a complex essay question.But, by the end of the year,some of them write essays thatlook like they’re from a schol-arly journal. I think it amazesthem, too.”

In addition to Drake, 10 dis-trict students scored a “5” on atleast one test.

Hoshi Kondo, SLHS, European History

“The class I took at SLHS was interesting. Mrs.(Rondi) White knows the material and adds hu-mor. I found the reign of Napoleon particularlyfascinating – he almost conquered the world.”

Heather Catron, SLHS, European History

“I mostly just read a lot to study for the test. Iwas really surprised when I got a ‘5.’ The AP Eu-ropean History class prepared me well.”

Matt Wickens, SLHS, Calculus

“Mrs. (Karissa) Beckman put in a lot of timeafter school to help us with individual needs. Itmade a big difference.”

Alysa Treber, BHS, Calculus and English Composition

“Mrs. (Dianna) Main and Mr. (Dennis) Wilsonreally helped me prepare for the test. They gaveme confidence by telling me that I could do it.”

Julie Ford, BHS, U.S. Government

“Mr. (Scott) Darby has a passion for govern-ment and instills that in us. He encourages usto be curious and understand how things work.”

Callie MaCleod, BHS, English Composition

“Teachers show great commitment at BethelHigh. To help us prepare for the AP tests, theystayed after school all the time and provided a lotof material directly related to our area of study.”

Mallory Gitt, BHS, U.S. Government

“When I came into U.S. Government class, Iknew nothing. I learned a lot because I alwayswanted to know more details. I found the strugglefor civil liberties particularly interesting.”

Others who scored a “5” include SLHS stu-dents Mike Long and Dan Lim.

Josh Drake

OCTOBER 2004WWW.BETHELSD.ORG • BETHEL PRIDE 9bethelpride

Community members got theirfirst look at the proposed highschool boundaries at a publicmeeting Oct. 6 at Spanaway LakeHigh School. About two dozenpeople came to check out how adistrict with two high schools willmake the transition to three whenGraham-Kapowsin High Schoolopens next fall.

Six multi-colored maps, eachmore than 3 feet by 3 feet in size,showed the current boundaries.Next to them, another six mapsdisplayed the newly proposedboundaries.

Most people seemed to likewhat they saw.

“No matter how you put to-gether a plan, some people will likeit, and others won’t,” said bound-ary committee member JerriThetford, whose children will at-tend GKHS, “but the overall con-sensus seems to be positive.”

The boundary committee wasset up to meet weekly from mid-September to the end of Octoberto provide input and serve as asounding board for the bound-ary shifts. The group will presentits recommendations to theschool board Nov. 16. The boardis scheduled to finalize the pro-posals at its Dec. 14 meeting.

Community commentsCommunity input is vital, said

Rob Van Slyke, executive directorof operations.

“Others may look at the worlddifferently than we did when wedid our initial planning,” he said.“They can see pitfalls and offersuggestions for revision. Weasked them to go out and talk toothers and share information.”

Van Slyke stresses that the plan

is “not a done deal.”“It won’t be done until the

school board puts its stamp of ap-proval on it in December,” he said.

The district sent letters to thehomes of secondary students (ex-cept those with only seniors), in-forming them of the criteria usedin developing the proposal and amap indicating the new bound-aries. Additional copies of the let-ter are available at district schools.

A second public meeting isscheduled for Wednesday, Oct.20, in the Bethel High library. Thepublic is welcome to make com-ments in writing.

“Public comments will beacted on at the next committeemeeting,” said Van Slyke. “Weused this format two years agofor the junior high boundarychanges, and the committee didmake changes.”

Additionally, the maps will beon display daily from 7:30 a.m. to4:30 p.m. at the district office on176th Street in Spanaway.

The processSecondary principals and dis-

trict staff began working on a“springboard plan” months ago.The task was to realign enroll-ment of more than 4,000 highschool students. Currently, eachhigh school houses about halfthat number. When GKHS opensin September, enrollments ateach school will be balanced –about 1,300 to 1,400 each.

The math was simple; the pro-cess was far more complex.

Boundary committee mem-bers came on board in Septem-ber. The committee consists ofadministrators from the sevensecondary schools and two com-

munity members from each ofthose schools.

Each committee memberagreed to do the homework andattend every meeting.

“We wanted good, respectfuldialog, not just personal agendas,”said Van Slyke. “We asked them tothink of the district as a whole.”

A set of criteria guided the dis-cussion:

• Seek a solution that will pro-vide stability over time

• Minimize the number offeeder junior highs to eachschool

• Balance enrollment at eachschool

• Keep enrollment reasonablybalanced through 2012

• Treat all high schools asequals in housing capacity

• Balance diversity when possible

High school boundaries to change next fall

• Avoid splitting neighbor-hoods

• Maintain effective studenttransportation

Committee work wentsmoothly, said Van Slyke.

“Meetings were effective andefficient,” he said. “Peopleseemed to feel good about thework they had done.”

Making adjustmentsBoth Bethel and Spanaway

Lake high schools are bursting atthe seams. The opening of thedistrict’s third high school is longoverdue, say school principals.

“We’re gridlocked,” said GregEisnaugle, principal at SLHS.“Getting through our hallwaysbetween classes is like drivingPacific Avenue or Meridian atrush hour.”

Traffic congestion may notmatter to students who feel tiedto the traditions of their currentschool. Many of them will haveto move when school doors opennext fall.

One Bethel student expresseddismay at no longer being a Brave.

“I thought you always tell us,‘Once a Brave, always a Brave,’”one student told Bethel principal,Wanda Riley. “Now I’m going to bea Graham-Kapowsin Eagle!”

Riley tried to ease the anxiety.“Now you’re going to be a

brave Eagle,” she said.GKHS principal, Jennifer

Bethman, said that being“the first” offers a uniqueopportunity. She plans to in-volvestudents in organizing clubs andplanning after-school activities.She hopes to have a summer bar-becue for students to begin settingthe tone for the new school.

“They’ll be the first to developnew traditions and a new culture,”she said. “This is an exciting time.These students will be creating thehistory of the school.”

Energy efficient schools canrack up thousands of dollars insavings over the life span of abuilding. But no one knows forsure just how much can be saved.State officials intend to find out.

The state legislature approvedgrants worth $1.5 million lastspring to measure constructioncosts and compare them with ac-tual savings. Only five districts inthe state qualified to participate.Bethel nabbed one of the grants.

Most of the $240,000 grantwill be aimed at measuring thecost savings of building moreenergy efficient schools. The Leg-islature granted $1.5 million tofive districts.

Most of the grant will be ap-plied to the Thompson Elemen-tary renovation. The building isscheduled to be complete by De-

cember 2005.Saving money in the long term

has always been a high priorityfor Jim Hansen, the district’s di-rector of construction and plan-ning. The Minnesota native wassurprised at the lack of concernabout energy savings when hefirst moved to the area nearly 20years ago.

“People in the Midwest havebeen concerned about energysavings for years,” said Hansen,who wrote the state grant. “Butenergy has always been cheapout here.”

Rising energy costs havechanged all that.

“It’s good to save money,”Hansen said. “The ongoing costsof maintaining the building forthe next 40 to 60 years are morethan the initial cost of the build-

ing itself.”Grant money will pay for

Thompson’s “light shelves,” de-vices that will hang inside and out-side of the building above the win-dows. Fourteen classrooms on thesouth and west side of the build-ing will get the window treatment.

The light shelves, made ofpolycarbonate reflective mate-rial, allow daylight to enter deepinto the rooms. Sensors dim orturn off the lights depending onavailable daylight.

Experts believe the improvedlighting will benefit the districtnot only in energy savings, but inimproved learning.

“Research shows that naturallighting helps with classroomlearning. Students actually per-form better,” Hansen said.

The grant pays for the equip-

State grant to measure energy savingsment, installation and researchtime. It covers $160,000 for thelight shelves and $80,000 for astudy conducted by WashingtonState University.

The study will also comparethe efficiency of the ground-source heating system at the re-built Kapowsin Elementary andthe traditional heat pump sys-tem at North Star. Results of thestudy will be used throughoutthe state and on a national basisto help improve the energy effi-ciency of school buildings. Thestudy began in September and isexpected to be complete by June30 of next year.

“Very few schools have themoney to go back and analyzeactual savings,” Hansen said.“This will help us all make betterlong-term decisions.”

Thompson underconstruction

Foundation work for the newThompson Elementary inSpanaway began earlier thismonth. A temporary construc-tion fence marks the site of thetwo-story elementary school,scheduled to open in January2006. Work is on-time and on-bud-get for the $14.8 million facility.

In November and Decemberconstruction workers will pourslabs and start framing on the62,000-square-foot building.

The school is located at the in-tersection of 159th and 5th Av-enue.

Graham-Kapowsin60% complete

Graham’s new high school isnearly 60 percent complete, saidJim Hansen, director of con-struction and planning.

The roof is on, the windows arein, and the sidewalks are down.

“Now it’s the slow part,” Hansensaid. “A lot is going on inside.”

Crews are working on the me-chanical systems, wiring and drywall. Cabinet installation will be-gin in January.

Ball fields were planted at theend of September. The asphaltbase is down for the track. Thesub-base for the parking lot iscomplete.

The project will be turned overto the district in July. The schoolopens in September of 2005.

Military familiesto move into area

An additional 200 studentsmay enroll in district schoolsnext spring when a Stryker bri-gade is assigned to Fort Lewis.

Approximately 3,800 troopsand their families may be re-lo-cated to the area. The assign-ment is part of the reorganiza-tion of the 2nd Armored CavalryRegiment. The move is subject toCongressional approval.

“In the past, we’ve receivedabout 10 percent of the totalnumber of students who move inwith the troops,” said JimHansen, director of constructionand planning.

Hansen said that officials esti-mate about 2.3 people per family.The move will bring in more than8,000 additional residents.

No on-base housing is avail-able, say military officials. Per-sonnel will have to look for pri-vate housing options in the com-munities surrounding the base.

Currently an environmentalreview process is under way todetermine the impact on localcommunities. The school districtcould receive funding to offsetcosts of additional students.

Whatever happens, the districtwill do what it can to accommo-date the students.

“We welcome the families,”said Hansen. “We’ll make provi-sions for the additional students.”

Emergency drillsEmergency drills are planned

at two school sites within thenext few months. The drills arepart of last fall’s $286,000 federalgrant from the U.S. Departmentof Education.

The first drill is tentativelyplanned for January at SpanawayLake; the second for Bethel Highin February. The large-scale drillswill involve community agenciesas well as district personnel.

Grant money is also beingused to train staff members onan individual basis.

“One goal is that every em-ployee in the district receive FirstAid training,” said Lora Taylor,district risk manager.

School board members Joy Cook (center) and Susan Smith (right) watched as Judy Tomiczek examined theproposed high school boundaries. When Graham-Kapowsin High opens next September, each of the district'sthree high schools will have approximately 1,350 students.

First locate your street, then find your high school. Daye Roberts andJohnena Drake checked out the proposals for new high school boundariesat a public meeting Oct. 6 at Spanaway Lake. Another public meeting isplanned for Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. in the Bethel High library.

I N B R I E F

OCTOBER 2004BETHE PRIDE • WWW.BETHELSD.ORG10 bethelsports

Logan’s story: 15 months laterA T H L E T E

S P O T L I G H T

Name: Hanna CarrollSchool: BJH

freshmanSport:

Swimming(competes forBHS)

Accom-plishment:Has won fiveraces in the100m back-stroke this

year. Her best time is 1:05.Goal: Qualify for state,

participate in the Olympicssomeday

Coach Michele Lemons:“Hanna’s a coach’s dream.

She’s a real team player. Sheswims hard at every practice.She has already qualified fordistricts in every event she’stried.”

Name: Sedena ParksSchool: BJH

freshmanSport: GolfAccom-

plishment:Four-timemedallist. Herbest score is39 – three overpar.

Goal:Become a professional golfer

Coach Teddi Bottiger:“She is blessed with both a

great golf game and great smile.She hits the ball far, but herstrength is her all-around game.Her short game – chipping andputting – has improved themost. She’s played only fouryears. If she keeps improving,there’s no limit to what she cando.”

Name: Matt Sturgill and JonScore

School:SLHS seniors

Sport: GolfAccom-

plishment:Both athleteshave earnedmedalisthonors threetimes. Eachplayer’s bestscore is 35 –one underpar.

CoachBryan Wulf:

“Matt andJon bothjoined varsityas freshman.They are at

the top of the league and have agood chance of qualifying forstate. They work hard, both onthe golf course and in theclassroom. They’re great kids.”

Name: Haley BurySchool:

BHS seniorSport:

VolleyballAccom-

plishment:Leads Braveswith 75 killsand .304hittingpercentage.

Goal: Play to our potentialand make it to state

Coach John Reopelle: Haleyis one of many talented playerson the team. She leads the teamin kills both because of herskills and because of the sup-port she gets from her team-mates. She understands that it’sa team game – if someone issuccessful in volleyball, youknow that it’s a group effort.

Logan Seelye will never for-get Friday, Sept. 2, at 7:08 p.m.At that moment, theSpanaway Lake High seniordid what many predicted hewould never be able to do – hewalked.

Supported by his footballcoaches, Logan walked about10 yards to the middle of Art

Crate Fieldas JoshG r o b a n ’s“You LiftMe Up”blared fromthe loud-s p e a k e r s .The capac-ity crowde r u p t e dinto chants

of “LO-GAN, LO-GAN, LO-GAN!”

He faced the SLHS captains– themselves choked withemotion – and cut the ribbonto mark the official dedicationof the new artificial turf.

The crowd roared again ashis teammates stormed thefield.

Ups and downsIt’s been a mix of ups and

downs for Logan since he suf-fered a spinal cord injury at afootball camp in Ellensburg15 months ago.

He’s worked hard at physi-cal and occupational therapy.Bracing himself with parallelbars, he was able to stand lastOctober.

He progressed from wear-ing two full-leg braces to onehalf-leg brace. He amazed hisdoctors and nurses with hiswork ethic.

“It’s incredible how far he’scome,” said his father, Dan.“When we first took him tothe hospital, the doctors said,‘Your son will never walkagain.’

Today, he puts on the brace,grabs his walker and walksaround house. I’m extremelyproud of him.’”

A lot of credit goes to Dan.During the early months of re-covery, he stretched his sonevery morning, dressed himand fixed him breakfast.

Now that Logan has be-come more independent, Danconsiders other possibilities.

“I’m just waiting for him tostand by the sink after dinnerand wash his own dishes,” hesaid. “And mow the lawn too.”

Despite the progress, Logansometimes experiences dark

days. Part of it comes from beinga high achiever.

“I thought I was going to healfaster,” he said. “I thought Iwould be fine in a year.”

Then there’s the frustration ofmissing out on normal teenagelife. Before going out withfriends, he has to consider howlong it takes to get ready, whetherthe location is wheelchair acces-sible, and whether it’s worth theeffort.

“I wonder how my life wouldbe if I never got hurt – that’s oneof the things I think about most,”he said. “I also think about driv-ing. I would have had my licenseby now.”

Logan says another frustrationis when people think he’s “smalland fragile” just because he’s ina wheelchair.

“It bothers me when peoplebump into my wheelchair and

they act like it’s a big deal and say,‘Oh, I’m sorry!’”

Key supportersThroughout the difficult times,

Logan draws strength from keypeople in his life – his family,football coaches, and his friend,Jordyn Riley, who graduatedfrom SLHS in June.

The support comes in manyforms.

Coach John Robak turned theopening football scrimmage thisfall into a fundraiser for Logan’scollege fund. They raised $470.

“Coach Robak is like a seconddad to me. The thing is he woulddo that for anyone on the team –he cares about everyone. He’s aperson I’ll remember the rest ofmy life.”

Riley also provides an emo-tional boost.

“She’s been supportive

throughout,” said Logan. “If Ididn’t have her in my life, thisthing would be that muchharder.”

Thinking aheadLogan, who has a 3.8 grade

point average, says he’s unsure ofwhat the future holds.

“Before, it was so easy becauseall I wanted to do was play foot-ball. My goal was to play in theNFL,” he said.

He plans to start off at a two-year college before choosing acareer path. He says one possi-bility is teaching and coaching,just like Coach Robak.

“They say life is 10 percentwhat happens to you and 90 per-cent how you respond,” Logansaid. “Basically, I’m living that.I’m going to look to the future ina positive way. I’m just happy tobe alive.”

Spanaway Lake High senior Logan Seelye cuts the ribbon to dedicate the new artificial turf at Art Crate Fieldlast month. The crowd erupted in cheers as Seelye, supported by Coaches John Robak and Tom Brokaw,walked across the field. ‘A lot of tears flowed that night,’ said Robak.

Imagine the following sce-nario:

A student-athlete goes to aparty. Classmates are drinkingbeer or smoking marijuana.The athlete may or may not bedrinking and/or smoking.And it may be during the sea-son or off-season.

What action should theschool take?

In an effort to clarify incon-sistencies in the enforcementof the athletic code of con-duct, the district plans to pi-lot an “athletic training rules”program at junior highschools beginning Nov. 8when winter sports start. Thegoal is to ensure that schools

across the district approachsanctions in the same way.

“Last year our policy wassomewhat vague regarding sanc-tions for breaking the athleticcode,” said Dan Heltsley, districtathletic director. “The athleticadvisory committee

decided to pilot this programto create a more unified ap-proach.”

Two key points of the pilot pro-gram are:

• Methods of discovery – Theprogram specifies three waysthat code violations can be dis-covered.

One is when the student tellsa coach or administrator of per-sonal wrongdoing. Another is

when the school administrationinvestigates, and the student ac-knowledges a violation. The thirdis when school administrationinvestigates and concludes a vio-lation has occurred without stu-dent admission.

Sanctions vary according tothe method of discovery.

• In-season vs. out-of-season –The program spells out sanctionsfor first and second offenses aswell as in-season and out-of-sea-son violations.

Heltsley says students usuallyfollow the rules. Last year, he ne-gotiated about six cases involv-ing alleged violations among 20athletes. He says that’s about av-erage for a large district.

“The vast majority of studentathletes are excellent youngadults who follow the athleticcode, but we have to be proactivein addressing those who don’t,”he said.

Heltsley plans to send homefliers to students explaining thenew program. He says the ath-letic advisory committee aims toimplement the program at thehigh schools next fall if it provessuccessful.

“We welcome feedback on thispilot program,” he said. “We’retrying to come up with thecleanest, most consistent policypossible.”

For more information, callHeltsley at 683-6056

Committee aims to clarify rules and regulations

Athletic code sets behavior guidelines

SLHS senior walks, cuts dedication ribbon for Art Crate Field

Matt Sturgill

Jon Score

Logan Seelye

Haley Bury

Sedena Parks

Hanna Carroll

OCTOBER 2004WWW.BETHELSD.ORG • BETHEL PRIDE 11bethelpride

SLHS senior Matt Wickens stretches while lying on the new turf at Art Crate Field. Playersfor both high school football teams say they like the turf, especially when it rains. Thesynthetic turf is OmniGrass, a surface used at UC Berkeley, the Louisiana Superdome, theBaltimore Ravens and other first-class facilities. SLHS and Rogers High rank third in theSPSL south division with a 4-2 record. SLHS has outscored opponents 146 to 81. WillieDavis leads the Sentinels in total yards with 449. The Sentinels meet the Bethel Braves Oct.29 at Art Crate Field in the final regular season game for both teams.

Bethel High coach Eric Kurle talks withquarterback Chuck Hogue during a recentgame. BHS ranks second in the SPSL with a5-1 record. Bethel has outscored opponents205 to 101 so far this year. Hogue hasthrown for 1,073 yards and 16 touchdowns.His favorite receiver, senior Jamil Turner,boasts 37 catches for 706 yards and 12touchdowns.

Jack Eisnaugle, 2, son of SLHS PrincipalGreg Eisnaugle, practices running the ballduring a workout last month at Art CrateField. Jack tried to join the SLHS team atleast twice by bolting on to the field.

Spanaway Lake senior Jalen Pendon takesa moment to reflect during a tournamentmatch last week at Fife High School. TheSentinels join Bethel and Emerald Ridge atthe top of the SPSL South Division. CoachShirley Baker says both SLHS and BHS havesome of the best volleyball players in thestate. The two teams meet Oct. 19 at 7:15at Bethel.

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Fall 2004 brings a host of talented athletes to local fields, golfcourses, swimming pools, volleyball courts, tennis courtsand cross country courses. Student-athletes train hard, often

spending up to three hours a day honing their skills. Win or lose,they strive to get to a place they’ve never been before - a placethat lifts them to new heights.

SportsSnapshots

Athletes(and futureathletes)make theirmark.

I N B R I E F

Girls soccerGoalie Amanda DuRocher

leads the Braves with fiveshutouts this year. The Braveshave defeated Lynnwood,Decatur, Beamer, EmeraldRidge and Spanaway Lake. Theyare 5-4 on the season.

Boys tennisSLHS defeated BHS earlier

this season as Joe Carter andJake Nevares both won singlesmatches while the doublesteams of Mike May/John Carterand Chris Stillwagon/MichaelMcDonnell also won. The BHSdoubles team of Alan Herrettand Josh Pinyard lead theBraves this season.

Girls cross countrySLHS defeated Bethel,

Auburn, Kent-Meridian andFederal Way at the SPSLJamboree last month. JessicaPendon was second, JunkoKondo third, Becky Nolte fifth,Erin Holyoke sixth, andMichelle Howard ninth. BHSrunner Jackie Kysela led theBraves to a second-place finishas she won the 5K race with atime of 22:22.

Boys cross countryBHS defeated Rogers and

Decatur earlier this season asJimmy Schofield won the race.SLHS senior Hoshi Kondofinished Hoshi Kondo finishedfourth in a time of 17:55 over 3.1miles in a meet against Jefferson,Rogers and Federal Way.

Boys golfMatt Sturgill and Jon Score

lead the Sentinels. Logan Zehner,Sean Bachman and TrevorBurnett have earned Medalisthonors for BHS this year.

Girls golfBHS defeated SLHS earlier

this season as Sedena Parkswon Medalist Honors with around of 45. Parks also led theBraves past Rogers, Curtis, andPuyallup. Ashley Stimer leadsthe Sentinels.

Girls swimmingBHS lost to Emerald Ridge

but set a school record forpoints earlier this season.Hanna Carroll and Nicole Ferrislead the Braves. Sora Moon,Kristine Peterson and MorganRichards lead the Sentinels.

VolleyballTuesday Oct. 19 at 7 p.m., the

BHS gym heats up when BHStakes on SLHS in the final matchof the season. The two teamshave one loss on the season andlead the SPSL South Division.Both schools will likely qualify forthe state tournament.

“Both Spanaway Lake andBethel have some of the best vol-leyball players in the state,” saidSentinels coach Shirley Baker.“It’s going to be a great match.”

The Braves defeated theSentinels earlier this season, butlost to Emerald Ridge. TheSentinels beat Emerald Ridgewith junior Mercedes Fernandezcollecting 18 digs in the game.

Senior Jen Oney says the Senti-nels are determined to succeed.

“We know we can make it,”she said. “We want to do betterthan last year.” In 2003, SLHSfinished third at state.

BHS coach says his girls areready for the challenge.

“This group has something toprove because they’ve nevermade it past districts,” he said.“They want to get that monkeyoff their backs.”

C A L E N D A R F R O M T H E T O P

OCTOBER 2004BETHEL PRIDE • WWW.BETHELSD.ORG12 bethelleaders

OCTOBEROct. 18-22: Elementary parent/teacher conferenceweek; elementary students will be dismissed early;no school for half-day kindergarten students

Oct. 18: Debate between Terry Bergeson andJudith Billings, candidates for state superintendentof public instruction, 7 p.m. at downtown Tacomalibrary

Oct. 19: Legislative candidates’ forum, 7 p.m. inBethel High theater

Oct. 19: HIV/AIDS junior high and high schoolparent preview night, 7 p.m. at Cedarcrest Jr. High

Oct. 20: High school boundaries public meeting,7 p.m. in Bethel High library

Oct. 22: SLHS Homecoming vs Emerald Ridge,7 p.m. at Art Crate Field

Oct. 26: School board meeting, 7 p.m. at CamasPrairie

Oct. 26: Fall choral concert (6th graders included),10:45-11:30 a.m. in Spanaway Lake High theater

Oct. 26: Fall choral concert (SLHS and SJH),7 p.m. in Spanaway Lake theater

Oct. 26: Fall choir concert, 7 p.m. at Bethel High

Oct. 27: Fall band concert, 7 p.m. at Bethel High

Oct. 28: Fall choral concert (6th graders included),10:45-11:30 a.m. in Spanaway Lake High theater

Oct. 28: Fall band concert, 7 p.m. at Bethel High

Oct. 28: Fall choral concert (SLHS and CJH), 7:30p.m. in Spanaway Lake High theater

Oct. 31: Return to standard time; move clocksback one hour

NOVEMBERNov. 2: Election day

Nov. 2: Secondary orchestra mini-festival (allsecondary students), 7 p.m. at Bethel Jr. High

Nov. 3: Bethel High Daffodil Pageant, 7 p.m.

Nov. 5: Early dismissal for secondary students;first quarter report card preparation

Nov. 10: Veterans Day assembly at CougarMountain Jr. High

Nov. 10: SLHS combined band concert (withCedarcrest), 7 p.m. at SLHS

Nov. 11: Veterans Day; no school

Nov. 13: Spanaway Lake High’s Holiday Craft Fair,9 a.m. to 5 p.m., $3 admission (children under 6free)

Nov. 14: Spanaway Lake High’s Holiday Craft Fair,10 a.m. to 4 p.m., $3 admission (children under 6free)

Nov. 16: Spanaway Lake Daffodil Pageant (MusicCompany and Jazz Band), 7 p.m.

Nov. 16: School board meeting, 7 p.m. at districtoffice

Nov. 17-19: Spanaway Lake High fall play,“Arsenic and Old Lace,” 7 p. m.

Nov. 17-19: Bethel High fall play, “The Nerd,” 7p.m.

Nov. 20: Spanaway Lake High fall play, “Arsenicand Old Lace,” 2 and 7 p.m.

Nov. 20: Bethel fall play, “The Nerd,” 7 p.m.

Dec. 8: Holiday Band Concert II, 7 p.m. at BethelHigh 7 p.m. at Cougar Mountain Jr. High

Nov. 23: Bethel High African-American HeritagePageant, 7 p.m.

Nov. 25-26: No school; Thanksgiving break

DECEMBERDec. 2-22: School holiday concerts (see Web sitefor details – www.bethelsd.org)

Dec. 2: Holiday choral concert, 7 p.m. at BethelHigh

Dec. 3: Elementary report card preparation;elementary students will be dismissed early; nomorning kindergarten classes; afternoonkindergarten classes attend morning-time session

Dec. 6: Holiday Band Concert I, 7 p.m. at BHS

Dec. 8: Holiday Band Concert II, 7 p.m. at BethelHigh

Dec 8: Holiday band and orchestra concert, 7 p.m.at Cedarcrest

Dec. 8: Holiday band concert, 7 p.m. at Frontier

Dec. 9: Winterfest: All junior high orchestras, 10a.m. at Seattle Center House

Dec. 9: Holiday band and orchestra concert, 7 p.m.at Spanaway Lake High

Dec. 14: School board meeting, 7 p.m. at districtoffice

Dec. 15: Winter choir concert, 7 p.m. at Cedarcrest

Dec. 15: Winter Concert II, 7 p.m. at CougarMountain Jr. High

Dec. 16: Holiday choir concert, 7 p.m. atSpanaway Lake High

Dec. 22-Jan. 2: Winter break

Supporting our troopsBethel’s ties to our neighboring military bases have

long been a source of strength in our community.Currently, in cooperation with local military, our

students are reaching out to Iraqi children. In sev-eral schools, students have created kits filled withschool supplies. When the 25th Infantry Battalionof the 1st Brigade from Fort Lewis deploys thismonth, troops will deliver the kits to Iraqi schoolchildren. The joint humanitarian effort gives ourstudents a better understanding of the worldaround them.

Superintendent Tom Seigel had a distinguishedmilitary career prior to a second career in education. The relation-ships built by our district and our two nearby bases – Fort Lewis andMcChord – have reaped dividends for all of us.

Next year as a Stryker brigade returns from its deployment, the dis-trict will welcome and accommodate the military children who willbe attending our schools.

The district continues to take pride in a strong military connec-tion. We are committed to doing what we can to support our troops.

Celebrating accomplishmentsHundreds of students put on quite a show dur-

ing Bethel Day at the Puyallup Fair Sept. 16. El-ementary, junior high and high schools studentssang, danced, played instruments and showed offvisual arts projects. Their energy and obvious en-joyment of the arts was awesome!

Our district strives for excellence in academics,arts and athletics. This fall has been a celebrationof all three. Our improving test scores show that

more students are learning skills necessary for life-long learning; ourathletic program is enhanced with a new stadium; and one of ourarts programs won a major award.

The Spanaway Lake High School Music Company will receive the2004 Margaret K. Williams Arts Award for Arts Education, presentedby the Pierce County Arts Commission. The award recognizes thegroup’s important contribution to the arts. I encourage everyone totake advantage of school music and drama presentations. The levelof entertainment is outstanding. And the cost is very reasonable!

Contact the school board:

Email: dtownsend@bethelsd.org

Phone: Dennis Townsend (253) 537-2186Susan Smith (253) 847-1321Ken Blair (253) 537-1486Joy Cook (253) 893-6393Brenda Rogers (360) 893-5425

Next meetings (7 p.m.):Tuesday, Oct. 26 at Camas Prairie ElementaryTuesday, Nov. 16 at district officeTuesday, Dec. 14 at district office

School board members speak out on issuesF R O M T H E B O A R D

Brenda Rogers

Susan SmithVice president

Ken Blair

Joy Cook

DennisTownsendPresident

Challenging for excellenceThe Advanced Placement (AP) Program offers chal-

lenging and rigorous classes. The school board joinsothers in rejoicing in the achievement of our studentson the AP Test. Eleven students scored a “5,” the high-est possible score. Another 110 students passed atleast one subject with a “3” or higher. These scoresrepresent successful completion of college-level workand earn the students college credit.

At a recent board meeting, students praised theexceptional support and coaching by their AP

teachers. The students said their instructors always go the extra mileto help them succeed. The support and encouragement of parentsand family are also key to this kind of achievement.

As a community, it’s great to celebrate student accomplishments.It is my hope that even more of our students will push the limits oflearning, both through this program and others. Dual credit, Run-ning Start and technical training will help our young people preparefor college, work and a successful future.

Taking pride in successIt’s wonderful to have a new facility like Art Crate

Field! I’ve been to several athletic events at the fieldthis fall, and the artificial turf and other stadiumimprovements give the place a whole new feel. Alot of citizens – as well as state and county govern-ment – came together to make this project happen.We deeply appreciate everyone’s contribution.

The field dedication ceremony took place lastmonth with a ribbon cutting by SLHS senior Lo-gan Seelye. It was a very moving ceremony as Lo-gan, who suffered a spinal cord injury last year,

walked several yards to mid-field to cut the ribbon. There wasn’t adry eye in the stadium. The whole community showed tremendoussupport for Logan that night.

I think the new field will only add to our school and communityspirit. At a BHS football game the other day, I looked down on thetrack and saw more sofas than ever before. Seniors cheered, smiledand laughed. To me, that’s what it’s all about.

Calling for state fundingLast month, I represented the school board at

this year’s legislative assembly in Wenatchee, WA.This is a gathering of school board members fromacross the state.

School funding remains the top concern among alldistricts, particularly in regards to special education,transportation and school construction. State moneyis inadequate in these three areas, so districts areforced to use local levy dollars to fill the gap. As a re-sult, districts have less to spend on basic education.

The assembly adopted a position requesting 100 percent fundingfor special education students. It also called on the Legislature tofulfill its constitutional duty to fully fund student transportation. Fi-nally, it supported the State Board of Education’s proposal to increasethe state’s funding formula for school construction so that the allo-cation of square feet per student meets the national average.

These issues are important to our district as we spend 40 percentof our levy dollars on transportation and special education, and wecontinue to grow. The Bethel School Board will continue to push forincreased funding in these three areas.

If there’s one word that jumpsout from the pages of this issueof Bethel Pride, it’s teamwork.You see it on every page of thepaper, from teachers sharingideas on instruction to studentscoming together to help childrenin Iraq.

Take a look at the stories in thisissue – WASL success, America’sPromise, Bethel graduates com-ing home to work for the district,Logan Seelye and his team ofsupporters – they’re all about thepower of working together to getthe job done.

We can’t do it alone. It’s thatsimple.

It reminds me of my time in theNavy. On an aircraft carrier, youngsailors work on the flight deck inthe most dangerous industrial en-vironment in the world. Theyhandle large quantities of ammu-nition and constantly launch andland aircraft. The work demandsincredible precision. One smallmistake can have huge conse-quences. It requires training,teamwork and trust.

The same goes for public edu-cation.

As educators, we carefully fol-low the research in our field and

train teachers to use classroompractices that are proven to work.Our professional developmentprogram recently won a state-wide award because it’s so effec-tive at providing teachers withthe skills they need to succeed.

This year, teachers deserve anextra pat on the back as theyimplement strategies for usingnew textbooks in communica-tion arts, math and world lan-guages. Their hard work pays offevery day in the classroom.

At schools across the district,teachers come together in smallgroups called ProfessionalLearning Communities. Theyshare ideas and discuss the bestway to teach lessons and reachstruggling students. It’s a team-oriented approach that greatlybenefits all students.

Trust.It’s a simple word, but it has

deep meaning for a school dis-trict. Without a belief in eachother, we’re severely limited inwhat we can do. Trust means be-lieving that each and every oneof us wants what’s best for kids.It means keeping an open mindand finding solutions together.

I’ve said before, and I’ll say it

Working together brings out our best

again – I think we’re on the righttrack. Achievement is up. Com-munity involvement in schools isincreased. And there’s an overallfeeling of success taking hold

Spanaway Lake High students join Superintendent Tom Seigel and Ft.Lewis soldiers during the recent Iraqi school supply campaign.Members of the U.S. Army 1st Battalion will deliver the supplies toschools in Iraq this fall.

throughout the district.It makes me proud to see so

many in our community workingtogether towards a commongoal. Our future is bright indeed.