Roosevelt Elementary Raises $5,000 For War Relief

Roosevelt Elementary students pulled together with their families to run, walk and bicycle 6,000 miles - a distance chosen to symbolize the expanse separating Spokane and Kosovo.

At the finish line, they raised $5,000 in donations to aid relief workers in Kosovo.

“It is such a big disaster facing the world,” said Sally Pritchard, a parent at Roosevelt. “The original theme was to have an around-the-world jog-a-thon. The parent teacher group decided it would be appropriate to have kids involved and connected in a caring way with the rest of the world.”

Two fifth-graders, Charlie Chapburn and David Tremaine formed a dynamic duo that together raised $1,100.

Nearly the whole school participated in the event, called Exercise Your Heart for Kosovo. Money raised was divided between the international division of Red Cross and Northwest Medical Teams, an organization from Portland, whose volunteers travel to support disaster areas.

A member of one the Medical Teams in Albania gave a presentation at Roosevelt. During the presentation the students were told how meaningful it is to children and families in refugee camps to know people around the world care about them.

Students also made cards that would be sent to refugee camps with the next group of volunteers.

“They symbolically travelled the distance between Spokane and Kosovo, sent money for relief work, and they decorated cards with colors and words of hope, love and friendship,” Pritchard said. “It was explained to them that their money would save kids’ lives, and their cards would restore their spirits.”

Libby fifth-, sixth-graders do their part for Kosovo

Fifth- and sixth-grade students in the Odyssey Program at the Libby Center proved that every penny counts.

They raised $254 to aid refugees in Kosovo by sponsoring a penny drive.

Students Peter Zysk, Naomi Hoit, Stephen Parkin and Mitchell Wold organized the effort with help from the staff.

Inland Northwest Dairies donated gallon milk jugs to be filled by local businesses and neighboring schools. The money was taken to a U.S. Bank where accounts have been set up for the Kosovo relief effort.

Ferris yearbook setting standards

Ira Gardner has been setting an example for Spokane high school newspapers and yearbooks.

As advisor for Ferris High School’s yearbook, The Exeter, and newspaper, The Saxon Globe, Gardner has made significant strides in publishing with the use of technology.

Some of those breakthroughs include Ferris developing the first completely digitally produced school newspaper and yearbook in the Inland Northwest. Ferris has the only yearbook in Spokane submitted on disk, with students scanning and placing all photos, stories and art work.

All artwork in the Ferris yearbook, including the cover design, is student created, drawn and placed. No other yearbook in Spokane meets this standard of containing no commercial clip art.

Preservationists get grant

The Spokane Preservation Advocates are using a $2,000 grant to do research into legal issues behind the decision to demolish the administration building of Lewis and Clark High School.

Demolition of the LC Annex, as it’s known, would remove Lewis and Clark from the National Register of Historic Places.

The grant was awarded by the National Trust of Historic Preservation’s Services Fund. Grants ranging from $500 to $5,000 are awarded to nonprofit groups and public agencies.

For more information, contact the Spokane Preservation Advocates at 456-7571.

Pathways students honored

Annual PaceSetter Awards were given to 140 Spokane high school students last week.

To qualify for the award and a $50 savings bond, students completed 75 hours of community service and demonstrated the ability to set priorities, perform under pressure and solve problems while maintaining high academic standards.

The PaceSetter Award is made possible by Pathways, a communitywide initiative to help area students bridge the gap between work and school.

The awards were sponsored by the Spokane Area Professional-Technical Administrators and the Spokane Teachers Credit Union.

Here are the South Hill students who were recognized:

Medical Lake High School: Christina Wing

Lewis and Clark High School: Chloe Jackson, Christine Rettenmund, Pete Wunschel, Brooke Allen, Drew Snow, Nicole Koch, Sara Hawkins, Ben Hart, Rachel Hudson, Meghan Isherwood, Richard Schran, Lashawna Bowman, Lydia Smith, Megan Anderson, Brooke Nelson, Mary Walters, Aleksandr Tishchenko, Lee Vang, Honesty Kendall and Sara Sackett

Ferris High School: Mark Ellis, Kelli Davis and Gina Ash

Other South Hill students recognized are Danielle Smith, Tracy Poindexter, Sabrina Basric and Alexis Butler.