Staff Kudos April 2018
Recognitions & Accomplishments of Staff doing great things
BSD Students earn high marks in Scholastic Art & Writing Competition
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have grown during the last 90 years to become the longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in the U.S., and the nation’s largest source of scholarships for creative young artists and writers.
Below are the Beaverton School District students honored in this years competition:
Arts & Communication Magnet Academy (ACMA):
Xenia Balashova - Silver Medal - Drawing & Illustration - Stung Apart
Alicia Beatty - Silver Medal - Drawing & Illustration - Mr. Yaker
Sergio Correa - Silver Medal - Photography - Luz
Emma Kappel - Silver Medal - Photography - ANDROMEDA
Isabel Kristensen - Silver Medal - Photography - Home
Emily Wymbs - Silver Medal - Mixed Media - Hello, My GPA is...
Aloha High School:
Katherine Strom - Silver Medal - Drawing & Illustration - The Woods Have Eyes
Highland Park Middle School
Geo Kim - Silver Medal - Drawing & Illustration - Dragon sushi roll
International School of Beaverton (ISB):
Anna Kim - Silver Medal - Painting - Peacock
Nina Spellman - Gold Medal - Drawing & Illustration - Buzz
Southridge High School:
Olivia Banks - Silver Medal - Photography - Bella
Sarina Carlaw - Silver Medal - Digital Art - Clearance, Gold Medal - Digital Art - You Fat, Hairy Halfling, Silver Medal - Digital Art - Neurons II, Silver Medal - Art Portfolio - Head in the Crowds
Adrienne Reed - Silver Medal - Photography - Namibian Native
Jessica Xiao - Silver Medal - Painting - Near But Far
Stoller Middle School:
Ashlie Kim - Silver Medal - Mixed Media - Unpredictable Choices
Sunset High School:
Chitali Buge - Silver Medal - Photography - Zee-Bird Behind Bars
Bakari Grady-Willis - Silver Medal - Photography - "I make it look cool"
Gina Lee - Silver Medal - Design - Portland Paws
Zoe Macey - Silver Medal - Drawing & Painting - Faces
Sabrina Suminski - Silver Medal - Painting - Management
Westview High School:
Gaeun Kim - Gold Medal - Drawing & Illustration - Self-Portrait
Grace Tran - Gold Medal - Science Fiction & Fantasy - 583
Turn Your Key, Be Idle Free poster contest winners
Jasleen, a 4th grader at Springville K-8 was the winner in the elementary category. Alan, an 8th grader at Stoller Middle School was the winner in the secondary category.
Maureen Wheeler named Communicator of the Year
Maureen Wheeler, District Public Communications Officer, was awarded the Oregon School Public Relations Association (OSPRA) Communicator of the Year Award.
For nearly 18 years, Maureen has served as the Public Communications Officer in our District. In this role, she leads the District’s communications, community relations, elections, legislative activities, media relations, volunteer services and community partnerships functions.
In the course of her school public relations career, Maureen has led multiple successful bond campaigns and two successful local option campaigns. Maureen's passion is community service, and this is evident not only in her work, but in the time she invests beyond business hours. She has held leadership roles with the Washington County Public Affairs Forum, OSPRA, the Oregon Community Education Association, the Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Beaverton, the Arc of Washington County, and Beaverton Rotary. She served as the National School Public Relations Association’s (NSPRA) Northwest Regional Vice President from 2009 to 2012.
Maureen is one of only four Accreditation in Public Relations (APR)-certified school public relations professionals in Oregon, and many OSPRA members look to her as a resource and a mentor.
Congratulations, Maureen.
MATHCOUNTS rocks in the Beaverton School District
The Stoller Middle School, Cedar Park Middle School and Meadow Park Middle School MATHCOUNTS teams were three of the top six ranking teams at the Oregon State Competition last month. Stoller Middle School ranked 1st for the seventh year in a row.
At the preceding Regional Competition, 10 of the top 11 ranking students were from the Beaverton School District:
- Ram Goel, Stoller Middle School
- Arushi Mantri, Stoller Middle School
- Bohyun Kim, Stoller Middle School
- Suyash Pandit, Cedar Park Middle School will
- Nividh Singh, Stoller Middle School
- Peter Jin, Stoller Middle School
- Sophia Pi, Cedar Park Middle School
- Alan Ma, Stoller Middle School
- Nafizur Rahman, Stoller Middle School
11. Zachary Zhang, Meadow Park Middle School
Suyash Pandit ranked 1st place at the Oregon State Competition and will travel with his coach Manny Norse to Washington, D.C. to compete in the MATHCOUNTS National Competition in May. Goel Ram, Arushi Mantri and Peter Jin also placed in the top 10 at the State Competition.
Sandra Miller coaches the Cedar Park team and Mark McClure coaches the Meadow Park team. This is Sandra’s first year as a MATHCOUNTS coach. Manny has been coaching for 29 years and Mark has been coaching for 10 years.
The MATHCOUNTS Competition Program is a national middle school coaching and competitive mathematics program that promotes mathematics achievement through a series of fun and engaging “bee” style contests. The program exists in all 50 states plus U.S. territories and the Department of Defense and State Department schools.
Congratulations, MATHCOUNTS competitors and coaches!
Superintendent Grotting featured in Children's Institute
Don Grotting is the superintendent of the Beaverton School District. For more than 20 years, he has led school districts in rural and urban communities across Oregon. Grotting has received several awards and accolades for his work and leadership, including 2014 Oregon Superintendent of the Year from the American Association of School Administrators. He also sits on numerous boards and advisory committees, including the Governor’s Council on Education and Oregon’s State Board of Education.
Read more and listen to the podcast...
Stoller MS 7th Grader places second in Oregon Regional Spelling Bee
C-O-N-G-R-A-T-U-L-A-T-I-O-N-S, Namrata!
BSD students take on the Japan Bowl
The teams were coached by Japanese language teachers, Yoko Miwa-cook at Beaverton, Misao Sundahl at Sunset, Brian Bangerter at Westview and Mikako West at ISB.
The Japan Bowl, sponsored by the Japan-America Society of America, is a nationally-recognized high school language and culture quiz. Japan Bowl is a fun, challenging, team-based quiz that pits the wits of students from all over the Pacific Northwest. Teams vie for the title of the best against their peers.
Whitford MS students celebrate Unity with Southridge HS
Nikki Thrower, Counselor at Whitford Middle School, coordinated a visit to Southridge High School for their annual UNITY assembly celebrating diversity, culture, and inclusion last month.
"Seven Whitford students were in awe and grateful for the chance to experience the assembly. They came back inspired and energized with ideas of things to do here at Whitford next year! Plus got a sneak peek of high school life," says Nikki.
Stoller MS students grand prize winners in Generation Beyond Video Challenge
In the Generation Beyond Video Challenge middle school students (Individual and teams up to 4) were challenged to design a Habitation Module for Mars Base Camp. The Mars Base Camp Habitation module will orbit Mars and will be extremely complex. It will include multiple elements like propulsion and power generation systems, exploratory vehicles, the Habitation module, crew quarters, and a laboratory. The Habitation module, or “Hab,” will provide all of the systems and living spaces that a crew needs for a long mission.
Students presented their Mars Base Camp Habitation module through a one-to two-minute video, which had to include a visual representation of the habitation module.
A panel of qualified judges from Discovery Education, Lockheed Martin and its partner organizations, educators and science professionals scored qualifying videos on the following criteria:
- Scientific knowledge
- Creativity
- Effective communication
- Overall presentation
Jonah and Matthew were awarded $10,000 and a travel to a unique space experience. Congratulations, Jonah and Matthew!
Take a look at their "Hab" below!
BSD featured in Education Week piece: Getting Youth Technology Use Right
To The Editor:
There has been a chorus of opinion in these pages about the potential effects of passive technology use on children, such as Donald Coburn's Feb. 1 Commentary "The Teenage Smartphone Problem Is Worse Than You Think" and Matt Miles' Feb. 7 Commentary "Schooling Students on Screentime."
The "digital divide" should not be confused with the "digital-use divide." In an educational context, the digital divide has traditionally referred to the gap between students who have access to the internet and computers at home and those who do not. Having a cellphone is not the same as having access to high-speed broadband connections or a device appropriate for learning.
The digital-use divide, meanwhile, is defined by the quality and purpose of technology use. Passive technology use such as "screen time" includes social-media engagement, which is driving much of the discussion about the harmful impact of youths' technology use.
Active technology use, on the other hand, is leveraging technology to create, design, explore, and collaborate. In classrooms, we see those carried out as team assignments, online class discussions, peer reviews, adaptive practice, and content creation collaboration. These activities are vital in fostering deeper learning and mastery of skills.
Although access to connectivity and devices does not guarantee a quality education, it does deliver incredible advantages and benefits. For example, Oregon's Beaverton school district, where one of us is the superintendent, combines student take-home devices with a learning-management system so student learning does not end outside the walls of the classroom. Students use their devices to post assignments and engage in classroom discussions throughout the day. Parents of all income levels and geographic locations should be educated about the difference between passive and active technology use. And they should be empowered to set appropriate boundaries for their children. School systems can play an important role in helping students and their families understand the difference.
Together, through this clearer understanding, we can provide more high-quality, modern educational experiences for our children in the 21st century.
Keith Krueger
CEO Consortium for School Networking
Washington, D.C.
Don Grotting
Superintendent
Beaverton School District
Beaverton, Ore.
Staff Spotlight: Women in Construction - Leslie Imes, Project Manager
When Leslie Imes was in high school, girls weren’t allowed to take drafting classes, they could only take home economics. If she had been able to take drafting, Leslie believes her career path would have been much different.
Leslie is a project manager in the Beaverton School District’s Facilities Department. You might have seen her work. Her latest project is on full display on the corner of Southwest Scholls Ferry Road and Southwest 175th – Mountainside High School. It’s the largest project Leslie has completed with the District. “Seeing it in concrete and visible terms, knowing that it will be there for a hundred years or more and I was a part of that, is very rewarding,” she says.
Leslie wanted to be a teacher when she graduated from high school. “Construction management wasn’t even a thought.” She attended college for fine arts and education. “I got all the way to the end of my junior year, when I had to do student teaching, and realized I hated it,” says Leslie. She quit college, took a nursing course and worked in nursing homes until a change in her personal life forced her to realize she had to make more money. “It wasn’t until I got divorced and had two children to support that I went back to school,” she says.
This time, Leslie took an aptitude test, scoring high in both art and math. Her guidance counselor asked if she had considered architecture or engineering. Leslie hadn’t, but found she loved the courses. “I like taking someone’s concept, figuring out all the pieces to the puzzle and making it come together,” says Leslie. She finished her degree in Architecture at the University of Colorado in Boulder and worked in design for five years until the economic downturn in the 1980s. Then she took a job as a project manager/architect in Jefferson County, Colorado.
After her kids graduated from high school, Leslie moved to Oregon and has been with the Beaverton School District for the past 17 years. Her advice to young women thinking about construction management? There are a lot of opportunities. “When I started out in Colorado, there weren’t and it was pretty tough. I am treated equally now, and when I started, women weren’t treated the same as men,” says Leslie.
Although she will be working on a repipe of Bethany Elementary School this summer, Leslie is really looking forward to another upcoming project – the rebuild of the Arts & Communications Magnet Academy (ACMA). While there will be challenges due to the size and location of the property, it holds a special place in Leslie’s heart. “Because I have an affinity for the arts, I am really excited to work on this project,” says Leslie. “It brings me back to when I was in high school and what I liked. I am excited for these kids. They are a unique group of kids and I can relate to them.”
Communications & Community Involvement Department
Email: melissa_larson@beaverton.k12.or.us
Website: www.beaverton.k12.or.us
Location: 16550 SW Merlo Rd., Beaverton 97003
Phone: 503-356-4360
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeavertonSchoolDistrict
Twitter: @beavertonsd