Students’ Brain Power Will Put District On-Line

When Medical Lake School Superintendent Neal Powell wanted to make a state-of-the art, high-tech statement, he turned to some in-house experts: four eighth-graders at Medical Lake Middle School.

Using Powell’s quotes, school logos and a megabyte of imagination, the four students promised officials they would create the district’s own web site on the Internet.

Adam Watson, Justin Naylor, Jonathan Deavers and Chris Lake are designing the home page. They were selected to work on the project by mathematics and computer teacher Ann Reeves.

“The superintendent gave us a pretty good idea of what he wanted,” said Lake. “We’ve been working on it for a couple of weeks. We all share in the work.”

The web site is expected to be on-line early next month.

“We have to have a deadline because the kids come up with so many neat ideas,” Reeves said. “We have to cut it off at some point.”

Last spring, Reeves’ eighth-grade computer class created the middle school’s first web site. So picking students from Reeves’ class to design the district’s home page seemed a natural choice, Powell said.

While work continues on the district’s web page, a second group is creating “version 2” of the middle school’s web site. Those students include Jonathon Obert , Chris Silva, Jacob Meltzer, Karen Ryden and Thomas Yeates.

Eventually Powell would like to have a home page for every elementary school in the district.

“It’s a great skill to have right now,” Reeves said.

As the Internet becomes an indispensable classroom teaching aid, Reeves said, it’s important for students to know how information on the Internet is constructed.

To view Medical Lake Middle School’s web site, log in at: http://www.iea.com/(tilde)coug.

Betz students look like characters

Betz Elementary School in Cheney may have looked like it was celebrating a belated Halloween, but Dec. 13 was actually just “Freaky Friday.”

Half of the school’s 420 students donned costumes for the event. Students weren’t searching for candy, but character - namely, characters of a decidedly literary bent.

Students dressed as their favorite character from a book, said school librarian Darwin Page.

“It was the kids’ idea. They were trying to promote school spirit,” said Page, the Associated Student Body adviser.

“Freaky Friday” is also the title of a popular children’s book, Page said.

Page dressed up as the season’s favorite character, Santa Claus. Principal Leslie Kelley was the winsome Wendy from “Peter Pan.”

Each classroom voted for the best costume in its class.

The 17 winners included Cinderella, Superman, Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf, The Cat in the Hat, Little Bo Peep and the red-haired Pippi Longstocking.

And the prize?

Next year’s characters, perhaps.

“The winners got to choose a paperback book from a big box of books I brought to school,” Page said.

Chase students make pennies count

Chase Middle School students have collected $1,248 in charitable change. Zealous seventh- and eighth-graders collected the money during a two-week “penny drive” that began Dec. 2 and ended last Friday.

The money will be split between two non-profit agencies: the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery.

The campaign exceeded the school goal of $1,000, said Debra Chaffin, special education teacher and Associated Student Body adviser.

Using coffee cans in each room for the pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, seventh-graders collected $641.16, and eighth-graders raised, $607.45.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Family Outreach Center will use the money to buy children’s items and help provide Christmas dinners to more than 200 needy families. Money designated for the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery will be used to purchase clothes, toys and other needed items for children and families under the agency’s care, Chaffin said.

All Saints kids help less fortunate

Students at All Saints School collected toilet paper and blankets for the needy and the homeless.

Fourth- and eighth-graders in Theresa Groshoff and Dorothy Gallagher’s classes collected 50 blankets and 240 rolls of toilet paper.

The toilet paper was donated to Anna Ogden Hall, a shelter for women and children.

More than 50 blankets were collected for the House of Charity, which provides a place for the homeless to warm up during the day. The agency also distributes clothing and blankets to the homeless.

, DataTimes