Issaquah High School E-News

March 10^th – March 15^th

Information and Announcements

Principal’s Coffee: Have coffee with Principal, Paula Phelps, on Thursday, March 13^th, from 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 am.

Senior News from the counseling office:

Graduation announcements will be delivered to seniors on April 23^rd in the commons during lunch.  Cap and gowns will be here on May 29^th. 

Be sure you have ordered your cap and gown for graduation.  If you do not want to attend the graduation ceremony, please let Mrs. McGinnis in the Counseling Office know ASAP. 

All seniors must fill out a diploma card telling us exactly how you want your legal name spelled on your diploma.  These cards were collected in Senior English classes.  Running Start seniors – if you have not done this, call Mrs. McGinnis, 425-837-6140.

Students who have ordered transcripts can pick them up in the counseling office.

AP Exams: For the first time ever, Issaquah High School has over 500 students registered to take this year’s AP exams. If the trend of 90% of AP students taking AP exams continues, IHS will have over 620 students taking the exams next year.

Looking for Volunteers: The class of 2008 is required by state school district policy to complete a culminating project in order to be eligible to graduate.  The final piece of this process is an exit interview. Issaquah High School Career Center is seeking community members to be panelists for our Culminating Project Exit Presentations.  In these ten minute interview presentations senior students will be discussing their post high school plans.  Panelists will fill out short written feedback forms for each presenter.

Panelists are needed:

If you are interested in participating please reply to this email with the date or dates that work for you.  If you are not available for a full shift please specify the hours.

PLEASE NOTE: This activity is set up to mimic a real interview experience where the student would not know their interviewers.  We request that parents who currently have students graduating in the class of 2008 decline this volunteer opportunity.  Thank you. 

Issaquah Schools Foundation: On April 1^st and 2^nd students will call to ask for your support. To read more about the Calling For Kids Spring Fundraising Campaign, go to   http://www.issaquahschoolsfoundation.org/events/event-CfK.htm

Over the years, Issaquah High School has received tremendous support from the Issaquah Schools Foundation. Some of the programs here at Issaquah High School that have received funding from ISF are listed below.

Evening AP Physics Class $10,000

Training Water Quality Stewards $500

Hands-on Civics Program $400

Lab Equipment $9,943

Tiger's Tale Language Mastery Software $844

Ceramics Kiln and Pottery Equipment $8,811

Special Needs Technology $3,892

Tiger's Tale Language Mastery Software $844

Ceramics Pottery Wheel Grant $8,977

FIRST Robotics Competition -Carol O'Neill Technology Grant $7,000

Digital Microscopes for High School Biology Courses $9,183

Funding for the FIRST Robotics Competition $5,000

Television Production $9,304

Online Bulletins: Looking for student- and family-oriented opportunities and information from community organizations? We have the webpage for you! Beginning next week, families will be able to view relevant community fliers online. Instead of separate E-news messages from community organizations—such as Scouts, Eastside Enrichment, and local civic groups–all of the information will be available in one central, always-current online location. You will find the link to our school’s Community Fliers at the bottom of every E-News message beginning next Monday.  Please note: the Community Fliers are submitted by non-profit organizations to share information that is not endorsed or sponsored by our school or the District.

Student Highlights

Voice of Democracy

Please join us in congratulating Rachel Chin!  As many of you know Rachel Chin was our state winner for the Voice of Democracy audio essay and went on to compete at the National Level.  Rachel was in Washington DC last week where she placed 10^th out of 54 students.  

Rachel won a $3,000.00 scholarship in addition to the almost $2,000.00 she has already won in the VOD contest. Rachel and the other students were guests in the White House Oval Office with President Bush.

Congratulations to the Issaquah High School Drill and Pom team. 

The girls did amazing job on Saturday at Eastlake High at their District competition.  They performed in the Drill and Pom categories and received qualifying scores in each category to move onto the State competition in Yakima on March 22^nd.  They scored 3^rd in pom, and 6^th in drill.  Their scores have improved since their last competition and they received the team’s highest score all season on their pom routine.  They received 246 out of 300 which is 24 points more than their last competition, and 9 points higher than their previous best score of the season.  Even though it was third place in the district (which includes 2A, 3A and 4A schools), it was the highest score for any 3A routine for all categories.

In the drill down, Molly Bankson and Grace Mun qualified to compete at State as well.  Molly Bankson also was the district 2^nd place winner in the drill down.

In preparation for state, the team will do a friends and family performance this Saturday, March 15^th at 1:30 in the IHS Main gym.  Everyone is welcome to come and see them perform both routines before heading to their State competition.

Robotics

The Robotics Team WON the top award at their regional event in Portland!  Their robot was called the "Killer Rabbit" because they designed it to lap quickly around a track, and they strapped a Monty Python killer rabbit to the top...it was great. The team competed against 55 teams from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, California, & Hawaii.  Even though their robot did not finish in the top group, they won the top award at the tournament, the "Chairman's Award".

The "Regional Chairman’s Award is FIRST’s most prestigious award. It honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST. The award helps keep the central focus of the FIRST Robotics Competition on the goal of inspiring greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology."

FIRST is an international program that stands for, "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology".  The kids won the award for all of their community outreach in an effort to educate their community about FIRST and their robotics team, while facing a dire situation for their team (lead mentors resigned, grant funding not renewed after 3 years of ISF grants).  They have done all of the following since September: gave presentations to the Issaquah Chamber of  Commerce and Kiwanis Club, displayed their robot for 2 days at the farmer's market at Pickering Barn, put on 4 elementary school science fairs, displayed their robot at "Robothon" at the Seattle Center, put on science and technology workshops for Girl Scouts attended by Issaquah Girl Scouts, put on a First Lego League middle school robotics tournament for 14 middle school teams, had one student help to mentor the Issaquah Middle School First Lego League robotics team, and finally, for their work with our state legislators: they invited our local representatives to the high school to learn more about the program, and then were invited to make a presentation to the House Education Appropriations Committee seeking funding for all FIRST robotics teams in the State of Washington.  The legislative session ends on March 13, so we're still not sure how that will turn out.  This was on top of the 6 week, intense "build period" where they design, build, wire, and program their robot.  

Great Job Robotics!

Congratulations to the IHS DECA Quiz Bowl team for placing 1^st place at the state competition this weekend! More information about this weekend’s competition to follow next week.

PTSA

The PTSA will meet this Friday, March 14th in the library at 9:30.  There will be a report from the IHS boundary review committee representative.  The 11 AM program will feature Issaquah School Director, Jan Woldseth. The 2008 Golden Awards will be presented.

Nominations are being accepted for the 2008 PTSA Outstanding Educator Award. Think about nominating an IHS staff member for the award.  A history of past recipients and nomination forms can be downloaded from the website at http://www.issaquahhighptsa.org/IHSPTSA%20Awards.htm Questions should be directed to Lacey Leigh at ltleigh@hotmail.com

20 chaperones are needed for the Tolo on March 29. Instructions will be given at 8 PM with the Tolo running from 8:30-11:30 PM. Please contact Camie Callahan at camiekanga@comcast.net or Jane Lee at janeandalvin@comcast.net with your interest.

Booster Club

Meeting: Booster Club meets tonight, March 10^th, from 7:30-9:30 in the IHS Library.

Congratulations to Bren Hobzek, a senior at Issaquah High School.  He has been selected as the February Chili’s Scholar Athlete of the Month by the Issaquah Booster Club and Chili’s Restaurant.

IHS Basketball Coach, Jeff Patrick, nominated Bren.  Coach Patrick writes, “Bren has played varsity basketball for 3 years and is a great team player.” The past two years he has been selected First Team All KingCo. and was recognized by his team with the Sportsmanship Award.  Last summer Bren was asked to participate in the Sports Ambassador Program, a program promoting sports in foreign countries as well as being chosen as one of the top 100 students in the state to attend a Full Court Press Basketball Tournament in Los Angeles.

Bren has a 3.12 GPA. This semester he is honing his skills as a future leader in his leadership class at IHS. Outside of school, Bren enjoys spending time mentoring young athletes and has volunteered by helping coach a sixth grade basketball team as well as refereeing for the parks and recreation department. When he has spare time, Bren likes spending time with friends and family, golfing and wake boarding. Next year Bren plans to attend a 4 year university and possibly study business and economics.

Bren is an exemplary student, athlete, and community member.  His hard work and dedication have made him a shining example to represent Issaquah High School.  We want to congratulate Bren and wish him the best of luck in the future!

Be sure to check the Issaquah High School website at

 www.ihs.issaquah.wednet.edu for more information and details about IHS.