January 28, 2013
Promoting a positive environment
Help works. That was the overriding theme of Suicide Prevention Week at Washougal High School.
Help works. That was the overriding theme of Suicide Prevention Week at Washougal High School.
A local robotics team from Camas fared well at a recent regional competition. The Mechanikids won first overall in robot performance, as well as a trophy for a spot in the state competition this Saturday and Sunday. Both the regional and state competition consists of Core Values judging, Research Presentation, and Robot Performance.
'E-Waste' recycling event is next weekend< /strong> The Clark County Skills Center Electro-Digital Technologies Program is hosting a post-holiday "E-Waste" recycling event from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, at the Skills Center, 12200 N.E. 28th St. in Vancouver.
'Scholarships 101' is Wednesday Washington State University Vancouver will host a "Scholarships 101" workshop at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 2 in the Dengerink Administration building, room 110. The event is free to the public and free parking will be available in the Orange 1 lot.
Camas resident makes dean's list Cameron Kwan, a second-year student in Rochester Institute of Technology College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, has made the dean’s list for the fall 2012 quarter.
"It is better to give than receive," is a common phrase. But what does it really mean? Cape Horn-Skye Elementary School fourth-graders found out when they participated in "The Giving Tree Project," which allowed them to help the less fortunate at Open House Ministries in Vancouver. The students made crafts and ornaments in class. Then, they held a craft fair at the school holiday concert where parents "purchased" their creations by donating food and clothing for people in need, instead of paying with money. Their efforts netted more than 850 items.
The Camas-Washougal Rotary Club kicked off its Gift of Words project Nov. 30 at Gause Elementary School in Washougal. The club delivered nearly 700 dictionaries; giving one to every third-grader in Camas and Washougal. Rotarians across the U.S. participate in the Gift of Words Project to promote literacy in their local communities. The project in Clark County is sponsored by iQ Credit Union, US Bank, Columbia Vista Corporation and local Rotary clubs. In total, $9,000 was raised to help provide more than 5,000 dictionaries to students in 58 Clark County schools. Out of the 14 regions in Rotary District 5100, the Clark County region gives out more dictionaries than any of the other districts, according to the organization. Locally, dictionaries were presented by members of the Camas-Washougal Rotary along with Camas Superintendent Mike Nerland and Washougal Superintendent Dawn Tarzian.
At some point in the not-to-distant future, all-day kindergarten could be required from every school district in the state. In an effort to prepare for this, the Washougal School District conducted an informal building capacity study at all of its schools. All of the schools are currently well below design capacity, but utilizing that space would mean making decisions on how to use that space most effectively. Design capacity is defined as all places where a teaching station could be placed. "The district has to decide what is protected educational space," said Dawn Tarzian, superintendent. "Such as, music will have a space, but art will be taught in the regular classroom. If we have an influx of kids, we need to make decisions on where they will go. Sometimes you see classrooms on a stage or in the cafeteria, and we have to decide how long we'll run things until capacity is reached and we need to expand. We need to get the kids out of those portables and build the space to fit the capacity needs."
Camas resident makes dean's list Lisa Nicholson has been named to the annual dean’s list at the University of Washington. To be named to the annual list, a student must earn quarterly dean's list honors for three of four quarters. Nicholson is from Camas.
Two local elementary schools have made the prestigious statewide, "Schools of Distinction" list. The awards were created by the Center for Educational Effectiveness in the summer of 2007, to recognize the highest improving schools in the state. This year, Grass Valley Elementary in Camas and Cape Horn-Skye Elementary in Washougal were honored. "The awards are not designed as a replacement for state and federal accountability measure of school performance, but rather as a supplemental measure to recognize and celebrate school staff, students and leadership who improve performance for all students over a sustained period of time," stated the CEE website.
