Summit School students will travel to explore state

Sat., Feb. 5, 2005

Treva Lind Correspondent

A CROSS-STATE LEARNING JOURNEY for a group of Summit School students will have them exploring the Columbia Gorge and San Juan Islands among other sites. Summit teacher Del Guenther said about 53 middle-school students are scheduled to go across Washington to study first-hand about the state’s history, natural history, geology and marine biology April 11-15. The group also plans to visit Camp Cispus, with a location roughly between Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens.

“We’ll talk about the Columbia Plateau, the lava flows and the flooding that created the Columbia Gorge,” said Guenther. “We decided that if they see the places and get excited about them, then they can come back and research the places they’ve seen.

“It develops an interest if you can show them places like the Columbia Gorge. When they have traveled to a place, it’s more real to them.”

Guenther and other teachers also plan for students to study beach ecology, tidal environments and the sound. One look at history will include talking about the Pig War with Great Britain on San Juan Island around 1859. Opposing troops gathered for a long time over a border conflict that started when a pig was shot, but no battles resulted.

The students going on the trip are in seventh and eighth grade, a group called Voyagers at Summit, which is a Central Valley School District K-8 school with an alternative, theme-based and hands-on learning approach.

This month, the Voyager students and several parents have geared up fund-raising for the trip. Students are working at jobs from baby-sitting to lawn service, doing promotional sales and offering gift wrapping at bookstores.

The school, at 13313 E. Broadway Ave., also will host a Feb. 25 community spaghetti feed and silent auction starting at 5:30 p.m. as a trip fund-raiser. The dinner cost is $3 per person. For more information about the dinner or to donate to the auction, contact Summit at 228-4050.

Jones serving on standards board

East Valley School District Superintendent Michael Jones will serve on the state Professional Educator Standards Board for a term through May 31.

Jones was recently appointed to the board that works to ensure the highest standards for all educators certified by the state, including teachers, principals, administrators and other education specialists. The board oversees alternative routes to teacher certification as well as the basic skills and subject matter assessments, which will be required of all new teachers prior to state certification.

U-Hi debaters on a streak

The University High School debate team has won first place in all three recent Greater Spokane League tournaments. The coaches are Dave Smith and Bonnie Hinton. Several of the first- and second-place winners from each tournament include:

From the Lewis and Clark Tiger Speechfest: Brandon Montang, second-place in Humorous Interpretation; John Mann, first in Oratory; Kayla Adolphson, second in Interpretive Reading Novice; Ashley McGowan, first in Interpretive Reading; Laine Anderson, first in Dramatic Interpretation; Laura Drews and Patty Karle, first in Duo Novice; Montang and Justin Kjlseth, second in Duo; Matt Holmes, second in Legal Argument.

From the Ferris South Side Invitational: Karle, second in Duo Novice; Adolphson second in Dramatic Interpretation Novice; Anderson, second in Dramatic Interpretation; Elizabeth Stockton, first in Dramatic Interpretation,

From the Mead Feline Frenzy: MaryAnn Almeida, first in Impromptu and second in Extemporary; Montang, first in Humorous Interpretation; Mann and Mitch Palmquist, first in Public Forum,

Study club expands to 4 days

East Valley Middle School is offering an expanded after-school study club. The club now runs four days a week instead of two and includes staff to help students.

The program is aimed at students who need to make up tests, catch-up on missed class work, do homework or study. Both a teacher and a teaching assistant will be in the library with students after school Monday through Thursday. The format includes short instruction periods followed by time for individual help. The first target group for these lessons is the eighth-grade students who did not pass the seventh-grade WASL.

Funds collected for tsunami aid

The East Valley Middle School ASB collected $755.37 for the victims of the tsunami. Students collected coins for two weeks and check has been sent to the American Red Cross.

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