Tukwila resident Serges Hakizimana (pictured, left) will be honored on Thursday, March 11th, by the American Red Cross at their 2010 Heroes Breakfast in downtown Seattle.

Hakizimana, originally from Burundi, has been serving as part of the Red Cross Language Bank in Seattle, where he learned how to bring people together and help them understand each other. From there he started organizing people in other ways, establishing community funds, cultural training and more.

Before Hakizimana was born, his parents fled the ethnic violence of Burundi. They educated their son in refugee camps, which was not an easy task. Although safe from the violence that drove them from their homes, Burundian refugees faced new challenges of confined living, being told where to live and what to eat. They were never required to pay for the things they were given, but nor were they permitted to have jobs or earn money.

In 2007, Serges was one of the first Burundians who relocated to the King County area. Recognizing his unique skill with language, his case worker directed him to the Red Cross Language Bank in Seattle, where Serges learned how to bring people together and help them understand each other. From there he started organizing people in other ways, establishing community funds, cultural training and more.

There are now 30 Burundian refugee families in the Seattle metro area who rely on Serges as their leader. He has taught some of them enough English to find work, and helped others get a small business loan to establish a farm in Kent. Through it all, he serves as a role model, balancing his time between work, volunteer, school and community.

Fifteen heroes will be honored at the 14th Annual Heroes Breakfast – sponsored by Costco Wholesale. Here are the details:

WHAT: 14th Annual Red Cross Heroes Breakfast

WHEN: Thursday, March 11th from 7:30am – 9am

WHERE: Washington State Convention Center, located at 800 Convention Place in Downtown Seattle (Click here for directions)

INFO: All proceeds will support disaster relief efforts in King County. More information available here.

The City of Burien announced the recipients of its four awards for Outstanding Citizens and/or Businesspeople for 2009 at its council meeting Monday night (Feb. 8th), and here are the winners:

John Nelson was named the recipient of Burien’s 2010 Citizen Community Leader award by the city council at their Feb. 8th meeting.

Nelson is cited in the council’s award designation as “the inspiration and engine for bringing two new charity running races to our City” – the Cove to Clover and the Brat Trot runs. “Each surpassed all expectations of what new events can be in terms of scale, polish, turnout and funds raised” – $37,000 between the two.

Luke Cruise was named Educator Leader of the Year. Cruise has worked for Highline High School as a para-educator for a number of years, and has volunteered as Flag Team advisor, Pacific Islanders Club advisor and Dance Team advisor.

Jean Spohn, described as “a stalwart member” of the Shorewood-on-the-Sound Community Club for many years, was named Environmental Leader of the Year. A Beach Naturalist, she has also led efforts to rid Shorewood Park of invasive plants that threaten native vegetation in the park.

Jerry Robinson, owner of Robinson Communications and publisher of the company’s weekly newspapers, including the Highline Times, was named Business Leader of the Year.

All four awards, which will be presented at the Annual Discover Burien Dinner on Friday, March 5th, were made by a unanimous council vote.

The catered dinner and silent auction will be at Karuna Yoga Studio, 819 SW 152nd Street, with a social hour beginning at 6 p.m. Dinner will be at 7, with the presentation of the Burien Leadership Awards at 8:15.

Tickets are $25 each, and are available at the Discover Burien office, which is located at 620 SW 150th Street, as well as Burien City Hall, online at www.discoverburien.com, or by calling 206.433.2882.

Highline Community College is now accepting nominations for its “Distinguished Alumnus Award,” its most prestigious award for alumni.

This award is meant to honor a former Highline student who has made outstanding contributions through community service, noteworthy professional achievement and/or recognized leadership.

Nominations are due by April 16, 2010.

Previous winners have included:

• Former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, who attended Highline in 1968–69, was the first recipient of the award in 1990
• Other past honorees include Junki Yoshida, CEO of the Yoshida Group
• Washington state’s first poet laureate Sam Green

Last year’s recipient was Dr. Linda Petter, a family practitioner in Tacoma and author of “Common Medical Sense,” who was honored for her outstanding work in the health care field. She has a regular feature at 7:45 a.m. Sundays on KOMO-AM 1000.

Nominees will be asked to submit a résumé and personal profile that will be reviewed by a campus selection committee. The person selected will be invited to accept the award and participate in Highline’s commencement exercises on June 10, 2010.

Please send your nominations via e-mail to ayoung@highline.edu or hard copy to:

Melissa Sell
Resource Development Office
Highline Community College
PO Box 98000 MS 99-248
Des Moines, WA 98198-9800

For more information, call (206) 870-3774, e-mail rstephen@highline.edu or visit www.funds4highline.org.

Highline Community College was founded in 1961 as the first community college in King County. With approximately 18,300 students and 350,000 alumni, it is one of the state’s largest institutions of higher education. The college offers a wide range of academic transfer and professional-technical education programs, with day, evening and weekend classes.

As many of our Readers also know, Publisher/Editor Scott Schaefer also attended Highline College, where he worked on the student newspaper The Thunderword. Another alum is one of his then-classmates, prolific local Playwright and current HCC Journalism Professor TM Sell.

Burien’s Gregory Heights Elementary Schools is one of 11 schools honored for completing the first level of King County’s Green Schools Program.

It is one of four Highline School District schools recognized; the others include Beverly Park Elementary School in unincorporated King County, Madrona Elementary School in SeaTac, and North Hill Elementary School in Des Moines.

Each school received a “We are a King County Green School” banner, a certificate of recognition, a success story on the program Web site and mention in a press release issued by King County.

Participating schools receive assistance on how to conserve resources such as paper, electricity and water, and they are often rewarded with reduced utility and garbage disposal costs.

“Each of these 11 schools has involved its whole school community – students, teachers and administrators – in reducing garbage and increasing recycling,” said Dale Alekel, King County Green Schools Program manager.

Highline Schools honored include:

• Gregory Heights Elementary School (Burien)
  
• Beverly Park Elementary School (unincorporated King County)
• Madrona Elementary School (SeaTac)
• North Hill Elementary School (Des Moines)

These schools completed level one of the program by initiating or improving recycling practices and engaging in waste-reduction strategies, such as decreasing paper use. Success stories for each school are at this website.

According to the King County website, some of Gregory Heights’ achievements include:

Waste Reduction and Recycling:

• The school increased its recycling rate from 23 percent to 38 percent.
• Efforts included educating students about recycling, reducing lunchtime garbage volume and launching breakfast milk carton recycling.
• The Gregory Heights Student Leadership Team gave classroom presentations on recycling, launched classroom waste audits, made posters and purchased a worm bin to begin composting food scraps
• Recycling containers provided by the Green Schools Program were added to the lunchroom for milk cartons, juice boxes, plastic bottles and aluminum cans.
• School staff placed recycling stickers on classroom and lunchroom recycling containers. Provided by the Green Schools Program, the stickers list what can and can’t be recycled.
• The school promoted and initiated a “waste free lunch” day in which students and staff were encouraged to reduce their lunchtime garbage. Students and staff noticed that garbage bins were much less full on the “waste free lunch” day.
• Students participated in a “zero waste” cubby clean out at the end of the year. Unwanted materials that would have been disposed in past years were reused or recycled.
• The school instituted “reuse it” boxes for paper. Eighty percent of the school’s teachers use these boxes in their classrooms.

2008 King County Earth Hero at School award:

The school received this award for the collaborative effort among students, parents, the PTSA, teachers, office, support staff and principal that resulted in a comprehensive recycling program with widespread participation. Students decorated bulletin boards with recycling information, the PTSA purchased recycling containers, student leaders and lunch assistants guided students on proper recycling, and a recycling ethic now pervades the entire school.

Participation in the King County Green Schools Program has grown each year. To date, 10 of King County’s 18 school districts have received assistance or are now participating, and in doing so they have increased recycling, reduced energy and resource consumption, and engaged students in benefiting the environment.

The program has helped more than 300 schools cut waste and save resources since its inception in 2003. By providing hands-on assistance, including school visits, tailored recommendations, help with outreach to students and staff, and recycling containers and stickers, the Green Schools Program provides schools and school districts with the support they need to set up and maintain effective conservation practices.

In addition to providing schools with the hands-on help they need, the program offers a website, www.kingcounty.gov/GreenSchools, with useful tools and resources.

Schools interested in receiving assistance to improve conservation practices can contact Dale Alekel at dale.alekel@kingcounty.gov.

And don’t forget – Gregory Heights’ “Better Together” Auction is coming up Saturday, Feb. 27th – read more about it here.

Two Highline School District schools – Health Sciences and Human Services High School (HS3) and Aviation High School – have been selected to U.S. News and World Report’s 2010 list of America’s Best High Schools.

HS3, located in White Center, earned a bronze award and Des Moines’ Aviation High School earned a silver. They were the only two South King County schools to make the list.

The list, published annually since 2008, identifies the country’s top-performing high schools.

“The goal is to provide a clear, unbiased picture of how well public schools serve all of their students – from the highest achieving to the lowest achieving – in preparing them to demonstrate proficiency in basic skills as well as readiness for college-level work,” according to the U.S. News and World Report website.

“HS3 and Aviation are examples of our effort to reinvent high school to better prepare all students for college, career, and citizenship,” said Highline Superintendent John Welch. “Both are innovative schools that are preparing students for the math and science careers that will dominate the new economy.”

Health Sciences and Human Services High School, one of three small high schools on the Evergreen campus in White Center, is the state’s only health sciences-themed high school. According to Principal Paula Montgomery, many students aspire to be nurses, doctors, scientists, social workers and educators. In 2008, HS3 was one of four Washington schools chosen by the Washington Global Health Alliance for a partnership designed to enhance Washington’s position as a leader in health sciences by nurturing the next generation of global health leaders.

Aviation High School is the nation’s first aviation-themed college prep high school. All core subjects are taught in the context of aviation, with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Aviation was the third highest-scoring high school in Washington on the 10th grade WASL in 2009. A hallmark of the school, led by Principal and CEO Reba Gilman, is its many aviation industry partners and professionals who mentor students one-on-one.

To earn the silver distinction, schools 1) exceeded statistical expectations for all students on state achievement tests in math and reading; 2) exceeded the state average on test scores for black, Latino, and low-income students; and 3) had high levels of participation and performance in Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate courses. Bronze awards went to schools that met the first two criteria. The gold distinction was awarded to the 100 top-scoring schools that met all three criteria.

In all, 30 Washington state schools earned bronze awards, 17 earned silver awards, and four earned gold awards.

The City of Burien has been awarded the 2009 Implementation Award by the American Planning Association – Washington Chapter (APA) and the Planning Association of Washington (PAW) for its work with in building the new Town Square project.

“This is an outstanding example of a planning process ’staying the course’ over time,” the awards jury commented in a statement. “It obviously had strong leadership throughout. It’s exciting to see the project ‘on the ground.’ Inspiring, daring and obviously creates a new identity for Burien’s Town Center.”

The award was one of eleven in seven different categories handed out at APA’s annual conference earlier this month in Vancouver, Washington.

Scott Greenberg, Burien Community Development Director and APA Washington Chapter President received the award along with Bill Gaylord from the Town Square design firm GGLO.

“The Burien Town Square project was truly a collaborative effort,” said Greenberg. “This award recognizes the strong partnerships we formed with the community, Urban Partners, the King County Library System and GGLO. The City Council’s strong leadership over the past 16 years provided the stability needed to attract private sector investment that leveraged Burien’s original $10 million investment into $200 million when the project is complete.”

The award will be formally presented to the City at the Dec. 14th City Council meeting.

(fortunately, we’re not talking about moldy ones…)

The Port of Seattle Tuesday announced that Sea-Tac Airport won first place for the Best “Green” Concessions Practice award among airports in North America.

The “green” in the award is referring of course the ecological elements that the food vendors at the airport use.

The honor was announced during the 2009 Airports Council International – North America Concessions Conference in Indianapolis, at which roughly 200 representatives of North American airport concessions industry were in attendance.

Sea-Tac was also awarded second place for Best Convenience Retail Program.

“We are thrilled to be recognized by our airport peers for our integrated recycling, composting and food bank program,” said Mark Reis, the airport’s Managing Director. “The airport concessionaires and staff have worked tirelessly to divert recyclable and compostable materials from landfills and thereby reducing waste, feeding the needy and helping lead our region and the airport industry to a sustainable future.”

According to a Port press release, during 2008, airport concessionaires recycled more than 1,200 tons of material – an amount equivalent to the weight of six Boeing 747 aircraft.  During the same period, they avoided disposal costs and generated revenue through rebates on recyclables which totaled $160,000. Sea-Tac concessionaires made waste reduction and recycling a priority by recycling cardboard, used cooking oil, food waste and coffee grounds. Since 2001, Sea-Tac concessionaires diverted thousands of tons of recyclable material from landfills through recycling, composting, and food bank donation programs. Concessionaires donated food that served 8,000 meals to needy families in 2008.

Sea-Tac’s recycling programs are even estimated to have prevented the release of Greenhouse Gas emissions equivalent to removing 819 passenger cars from the road annually; conserved an amount of energy equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 83 households (USEPA Waste Reduction Model), and saved 3,700 cubic yards of landfill space.

The purpose of the Airport Concessions Contest is to inspire creativity in the industry and to recognize innovative and outstanding airport concessions. These awards help to demonstrate the growing importance of concessions to the total airport experience. This year’s contest received more than 160 nominations from airports of all sizes throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Here are the results of the categories involving Sea-Tac Airport:

• Best “Green” Concession Practice or Concept 
1st Place: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport 
2nd Place: C-Pier Expansion, Vancouver International Airport
3rd Place: Concourse D, Portland International Airport
Honorable Mention: Enroute Spa, Indianapolis International Airport
• Best Convenience Retail Program - Large Airport 
1st Place: Atrium, Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport
2nd Place: Seattle Tacoma International Airport

Entries for this year’s contest were judged by an independent panel comprised of high-level professionals with no vested interest in concession operations, or the outcome of any one airport. In addition to the independent panel, one representative from the previous year’s overall winner was also involved in the judging process.

Previously, Sea-Tac Airport won the Richard A. Griesbach Award of Excellence in 2007 recognizing the Best Food and Beverage Program in North America. That year, three additional awards were won by Sea-Tac and its merchants: 1st place, Best Specialty Retail Program, 2nd place, Best New Food and Beverage Concept [Waji’s], and 2nd place, Best New Consumer Services Concept [butter LONDON].

Burien’s Para Los Niños was named a 2009 Community Matters Campaign winner by the Seattle CityClub, and will receive their award at the 2nd Annual People’s Choice Awards on Monday, Nov. 16th.

The ceremony will take place at the Bertha Knight Landes Room at Seattle City Hall, located at 600 Fifth Avenue, downtown Seattle.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Seattle CityClub’s 2nd Annual People’s Choice Awards, featuring Burien’s Para Los Niños

WHEN: Monday, Nov. 16th. Registration: 5:30 p.m. / Program: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

WHERE: Bertha Knight Landes Room at Seattle City Hall, located at 600 Fifth Avenue, downtown Seattle.

INFO: Hosted by Eric Liu of The Guiding Lights Network, featuring Norman B. Rice, President and CEO, The Seattle Foundation; Special Welcome by the Honorable Sally Clark.

More info on this event, including how to register, available at the CityClub website.

According to their website, “CityClub informs, connects and engages citizens to evaluate complex issues, make sound judgments and contribute to solutions that address issues vital to our region.”

From their press release:

Eric Liu will host the close of CityClub’s Community Matters Campaign as we unveil the winners of our People’s Choice Awards! Hear from Eric about his work and from Norman B. Rice, President and CEO of The Seattle Foundation and their great work to further educational and economic opportunities for everyone in our community.

CityClub’s 2009 Community Matters Campaign (CMC) focused on education and economic opportunity – two issues of particular urgency in our community today. In partnership with The Seattle Foundation, we hosted public dialogues grounded in the findings of the Foundation’s newly released Healthy Community Report (www.seattlefoundation.org). 

Over the course of CMC, we convened hundreds of participants – both online and face-to-face – to discuss what we can and need to do individually and communally to overcome barriers and achieve positive results. We invited participants to vote for their top-priority community investment to make educational and economic opportunities available for everyone in King County. They responded 2-1 in favor of the following two strategies outlined in the Healthy Community Report:

Involve families and communities in student achievement and aspirations

The CMC Steering Committee – made up of representatives from CityClub, Communities Count, Executive Service Corps, The Seattle Foundation, Seattle Works, The United Way of King County, and the YMCA of Greater Seattle – chose 6 winners based on these two strategies.

Our winner selection demonstrates the ecology of community engagement needed to make a difference. The 2010 People’s Choice Awardees represent a spectrum of organization format, scale and focus. One is a recently emerged organic and quickly changing organization formed by and for youth. Another unites youth and parents. Others bring diverse community sectors together to foster change and opportunity. Still others work on the systemic level through policy development and advocacy. It’s together – across these various modes of organization and action – that change can be created and sustained in our community.

We invite you to join us in celebrating the diverse and dynamic organizations that make up the 2009 People’s Choice Award winners on the evening of November 16 from 6-8pm at City Hall in Seattle. For more information visit www.seattlecityclub.org.

2009 People’s Choice Award Winners:

MAD (Making A Difference) – MAD is a newly emergent youth led non-violence group whose mission is to advocate for victims of violence.

Puget Sound Off (PSO) –Eighteen area teens came together in the Summer of 2007 to design the Puget Sound Off website after gathering input from 180 peers, including the Mayor’s Youth Council. PSO’s mission is to provide youth with a forum for discussion, artistic expression, and action as a way to empower and encourage youth to have a strong voice. The project aims be a catalyst for increasing youth involvement and engagement within the community while encouraging expression of one’s beliefs, respect for others, and commitment to public service.

Para Los Niños – Para Los Niños is a grassroots community organization founded by members of the community it serves—the growing immigrant, Spanish-speaking population in South King County. Para Los Niños builds a healthy community with a focus on Latino immigrants. It supports holistic, family-based educational opportunities and builds lasting community networks.

4C Coalition – 4C is an acronym for Clergy, Community, and Children/Youth Coalition. In partnership with King County Superior Court, 4C provides mentors to young persons involved in the juvenile justice system. The 4C Coalition is not a program to solve a problem, but a process to provide possibilities: mentors to youth, church and community resources to families, and a united voice to the community and government agencies to educate and effectively address youth issues.

SOAR – A community coalition dedicated to building partnerships that support the healthy development and success of children, youth and families in King County. SOAR connects, convenes and catalyzes communities around common goals and strategies and strives to create alignment between systems, sectors, organizations, providers and practice.

League of Education Voters – The League works to improve Washington’s public schools through a grassroots statewide network of advocates. Its mission is to make Washington’s preschools, public schools, and colleges the best in the nation. Its goals are:

• Every child reads by the third grade, with more attention to early learning and the role of parents.
• Every child is taught by an excellent teacher. Like all professionals, teachers deserve ongoing mentoring and training.
• Every child graduates from high school ready for college, work, and life. Standards for high school graduation must align with college entrance requirements.
• All students master the math and science they need to succeed in our technology-driven economy.

More investment in our children’s education, but also more accountability to ensure all children succeed.

More info on Para Los Niños is available at their website.

Michele Brees (pictured at left), a fifth-grade teacher at SeaTac’s Madrona Elementary School, won a Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching.

Brees teaches math and science for the Highline School District school, and is also on its math summit committee and science development team.

According to the White House:

The Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching is awarded annually to the best pre-college-level science and math teachers from across the country. The winners are selected by a panel of distinguished scientists, mathematicians, and educators following an initial selection process done at the state level. Each year the award alternates, going either to science and math teachers in grades K through 6 (as it is this year) or to those teaching in grades 7 through 12.

Winners of the Presidential Teaching Award receive $10,000 awards from the National Science Foundation to be used at their discretion. They also receive an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for a White House awards ceremony and several days of educational and celebratory events, including visits with members of Congress and science agency leaders.

Brees and the other winning teachers will be honored in Washington DC this fall, when they will receive a signed certificate from President Obama as well as $10,000 from the National Science Foundation.

Burien’s Highline Medical Center has been chosen as one of the “Top 10 Healing Hospitals” for 2008 by Baptist Healing Trust, a Christian foundation based in Nashville, Tennessee.

Highline was singled out as lucky number seven in the list. This year’s six-member selection panel reviewed hospitals coast-to-coast before making their decisions about the winners. Panel members consisted of Presidents & CEOs from hospitals and health systems across the nation.

The “Healing Hospital” recognition was created to honor hospitals and leaders that have made a special commitment to creating cultures that demonstrate compassion and quality. Each hospital honored in the list has “demonstrated extraordinary commitment to patient and employee-centered care,” according to the release.

They are also noted for embarking upon a journey of establishing a Healing Hospital environment.

In addition to Highline, this year’s recipients include:

• Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, Texas
• Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut
• The 2006 Baldrige Award-recipient Sharp Healthcare in San Diego, California

“This is wonderful recognition and a real tribute to our staff and medical staff for all they do to support the Planetree philosophy of patient-centered care at Highline Medical Center. We are honored to receive this distinction alongside such well-respected hospitals from across the nation,” stated Mark Benedum, CEO of Highline Medical Center.  “This recognition supports our mission of providing high quality, compassionate health care in a healing environment to our patients and the community.”

More information on Highline Medical Center available here.

by Gina Bourdage

And The Award Goes To…

Each year the City of Burien takes nominations for outstanding efforts from extraordinary community members that are making a significant and positive difference in our community.

For 2009 the winners are nothing short of remarkable people we had the pleasure of speaking with, including the 2009 Environmental Leader Kevin Alexander.

“I think it’s because I have the time to work with different projects.” Said Kevin Alexander when asked why he though he received the nomination. “It’s good exercise and it makes me feel good.”

If you have the privilege to spend time with Mr. Alexander, you will see that it takes a lot more than free time to tackle the projects he has underway. While he welcomes community volunteers, Kevin spends a lot of his time taking care of the parks and beaches by removing invasive plants such as ivy from trees.

“Ivy can add around 2,000 pound of weight to a tree if not kept under control. In a heavy rain or wind storm some of those trees don’t stand a chance with all of that extra weight.” Said Alexander.

Working with the city to bring green methods of removing these plants, Kevin also assists in the management of 100 goats that are chowing down on plants that pose as a threat to native species.

“The City of Burien has been great in assisting, providing tools and support. The Parks Department has a limited budget but they do what they can with what they have.” Said Alexander.

Mr. Alexander has strong hopes for the building of the educational building plans for Seahurst Park. The Environmental Science Center will provide education to the public about our diverse marine life. If you would like to learn more about the projects in progress, to volunteer or learn more about our environment, visit www.seahurstpark.org. Puget Sound residents can also make efforts to keep water clean and request a test kit for their neighborhood at www.soundcitizen.org . Events such as educational moonlight beach walks, area clean up efforts and salmon restoration information available at these sites.

Kevin Alexander, and a long list of volunteers, hope not only to stop the contamination and degradation of our parks and wetlands, but to see actual improvements so that we can enjoy them for generations to come.

Here’s what the City of Burien had to say about Mr. Alexander:

Instrumental in acquiring the necessary Army Corps of Engineer permitting, allowing the removal of sediment from a lower detention pond in the Seahurst Park.

This work was critical to support the salmon hatchery program managed by the Highline School District Marine Technology Program, as it removed accumulated sediments deposited within the salmon rearing pond.

Removing the sediment provided the salmon access to their original watershed, which allowed for egg collection and future hatchery release.

Spends considerable time removing invasive plants with much of his focus spent on tackling invasive Holly.

His webmaster skills have provided vivid images and lots of useful information to countless, long distance visitors at www.seahurstpark.org.  Here you can see pictures of Seahurst Park, read about the park’s history, get involved in volunteer opportunities, or take advantage of the links to a variety of community resources.

Founding member of the organization Sustainable Burien.  The organization’s goal is to involve residents and businesses in the process of creating a sustainable local community by sharing their ideas, passions, knowledge and talents.  For information on this group please visit (yes, again Kevin) www.sustainableburien.org.

And here’s a video showing some of the fruits of his efforts for the restoration of Seahurst Park:

You can meet Mr. Alexander in person (along with the other three award winners) at the City of Burien and Discover Burien’s Annual Awards Dinner/Auction, which takes place Friday, March 6th at Karuna Yoga Studios in Olde Burien.

Cost is $25 per person.

For more information call Burien City Hall at (206) 241-4647 or Discover Burien at (206) 433-2882.

Reba Gilman, Principal and CEO of Highline School District’s Aviation High School, will receive the Museum of Flight’s 2008 Pathfinder Award recognizing pioneering achievements in flying, engineering, education, operations, and manufacturing.

The award will be presented at the Museum’s William M. Allen Theater this Saturday, Oct. 25th. The evening’s program will start off with a cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m. in the Museum’s Great Gallery and a procession of past Pathfinder awardees at 6:15 p.m. followed by dinner and presentation of the 2008 Pathfinder Awards in the Side Gallery. Seating is limited and by reservation only. Individual tickets start at $100 per person, and table reservations start at $1,500 per table of 10. To purchase tickets or request an invitation, please call (206) 764-5709 or email sewing@museumofflight.org.

The Pathfinder Awards honor individuals or teams from the Pacific Northwest for significant contributions to aeronautics and astronautics. Previous recipients include William Boeing, Sr. and former astronaut (and current Museum of Flight CEO and President) Bonnie Dunbar.

Awardees are selected by representatives of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Air Force Association, Civil Air Patrol, Federal Aviation Administration, The Museum of Flight, Ninety-Nines, Navy League, OX-5 Aviation Pioneers, Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Society of Experimental Test Engineers, University of Washington, and the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Gilman is the founding principal of Aviation High School, a small college-prep high school where teaching and learning is framed in the context of aviation and aerospace. The curriculum emphasizes STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and aims to develop the talents of young people to take leadership roles in a technology-based society.

Aviation High was named a Model School this past year by the International Center for Excellence in Education, one of only 23 schools in the U.S. to be chosen. The school is administered by Highline Public Schools but is open to students from across the Puget Sound Region.

The award lauds Gilman as a “quintessential and entrepreneurial education leader” for conceiving the concept for Aviation High School and developing it into a school that is a national model for innovative education.

More info on Aviation High School can be found here; on the Museum of Flight here.

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At Monday night’s City of Burien meeting, a check for $250,000 was presented collectively to several Highline School District teachers as part of the Housing Incentive Grant Program, which is a direct result of a settlement for the Lora Lake Apartments.

On hand were members of the Burien City Council, Highline School District, several teacher recipients, as well as House Speaker Frank Chopp and State Rep. Dave Upthegrove, both of whom were instrumental in getting the funding from the Port of Seattle and King County settlement.

The award enables Burien to provide the Highline School District money to attract teachers into hard-to-fill positions.

Prospective teachers are being offered $250 per month as a financial incentive to help with their housing costs in Burien.

BURIEN – Two Highline Public Schools students have been named Governor’s Scholars, and we here at the B-Town Blog extend a double Borat-style thumbs-up with a hearty “High Five!” shouted in a weird accent in their general directions: 

• Mary Magdelene (Madel) Rogulj of Global Connections
• Byron Maye of HS3

Both received four-year scholarships to any public or private university or college in the state of Washington, which is pretty cool considering that the average tuition for a resident is over $25,000.

In addition to the free education, they will also get a mentor to help them along the way.

Six former Washington governors joined forces to support youth in foster care when they created the Governor’s Scholarship program.  Former Governor Gary Locke stated, “Only 3% of foster kids ever make it to college – primarily because they can’t afford to support themselves and go to school at the same time.”  The state foster care system support for youth ends at age 18.

Trina Hickey, a recipient of the Governor’s Scholarship early on, has graduated from UPS and is working to help transition foster youth into adulthood.

In the seven years since its inception, the Governor’s Scholarship has been awarded to 144 foster care youth from around the State.

SOURCE:

• Highline School District

The Highline Public School District has recognized Lupita Ayon as its Outstanding Community Leader for 2007-08.

Ayon is the founder of Para Los Niños, a nonprofit organization established to serve the educational needs of Latino children in the Highline community. Under Lupita’s leadership, Para Los Niños has developed programs that serve the needs of Latino students and families.

Aprendamos Juntos is an early learning program serving Spanish-speaking families. In this evening program held at Mount View and Bow Lake elementary schools, children learn Kindergarten-readiness skills while their parents are in another room learning English.

Last fall, Highline was awarded a Toyota Family Literacy grant due in part to the work Para Los Niños has done in the district. With funding from Toyota, Para Los Niños has expanded Aprendamos Juntos to two additional schools, Beverly Park and White Center Heights, providing the curriculum to both parents and Kindergartners during the school day. The English instruction provided to parents specifically focuses on the language and knowledge they need to understand and function within the American school system.

Each July, Para Los Niños hosts a summer school program that connects students with their Mexican heritage. Para Los Niños works with the Mexican consulate to bring guest teachers from Mexican schools to teach academics and cultural activities in Spanish. Highline teachers serve as instructional aides, thus strengthening their Spanish language skills.

“Lupita is a true asset to Highline, and our students have benefited much from her dedication and service,” says Highline Superintendent John Welch.

SOURCE:

• Highline School District