BSD Students Compete in FIRST WORLDS Robotics Championship
Two BSD robotics teams travelled to Houston, Texas to participate in the 2023 FIRST Championship! Students from Sammamish High School’s Team 2412, Robototes, and Newport High School’s Team 948, NRG, travelled to present their robots and compete against more than 18,000 students from 59 countries.
Prior to the FIRST Championship, BSD teams participated in the Pacific Northwest District Championship. In addition to the usual competition, Sammamish High School’s 2412 Robototes were one of two teams that won the FIRST Impact Award in the district championship. The FIRST Impact Award (formerly Chairman’s Award) is the most prestigious award at FIRST. The award honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and embodies FIRST’s mission. It was created to keep the central focus of FIRST Robotics Competition on transforming the culture in ways that will inspire respect and honor for science and technology and encourage more of today’s youth to become science and technology leaders. The Robototes won this prestigious award in 2022 as well.
The Newport Robotics Group joined teams 2046 (from Tahoma High School in Maple Valley, Washington) and 1983 (a community group from Seattle, Washington) to be a part of the winning alliance. They also won the Team Sustainability Award in their division! The Team Sustainability Award celebrates and recognizes a team that has developed a sustainable program in order to define, manage, and achieve the team’s ongoing objectives.
Congratulations, Robototes, and NRG! The Bellevue School District is proud of your hard work to support futures in STEM!
Ruthie Lartey from Newport Receives Amazon Scholarship
Ruthie Lartey, a senior from Newport High School, was recently awarded a $40,000 college scholarship from the Amazon Future Engineer Program! She was one of 8 students from the Puget Sound Area to be selected for this award. The scholarship is for students planning to pursue computer science or engineering degrees at a college or university of their choice for the fall 2023 semester. Additionally, she will be offered a paid internship at Amazon after completing her freshman year of college, a great opportunity to gain practical and hands-on work experience.
Ruthie is glad to have had the opportunity to be incredibly involved in her community and school. She is the programming lead and team culture lead in Newport’s robotics group. She was a participant of the Cisco Networking Academy, both through the Washington Network for Innovative Careers (WANIC) and by self-studying some of the curriculum. She is also the president of Newport High School’s Black Student Union and is one of the lead organizers and originator of the upcoming BSU Summit, a student-run event for Black students in the district. Ruthie plans to attend the University of Washington – Bothell Campus to pursue a Computer Science degree, then become a project manager. Congratulations, Ruthie!
The Amazon Future Engineer Program was started in 2019, created to promote computer science and STEM education around the world. Currently, they support over 80 schools in the Puget Sound area in the development of computer science curricula, robotics clubs, career exploration opportunities, and educator learning talks. In total, this program has awarded $38 million in scholarships to almost one thousand students in underserved and underrepresented communities around the nation since its creation. Just this year, Amazon committed $16 million in paid tuition.
Amazon partnered with Scholarship America, a philanthropic organization founded in 1958 that helps with fundraising, managing, and awarding scholarships to students, to review applications and select students based on their academic achievements, demonstrated leadership, participation in activities in their schools and communities, work experience, future goals, and financial need.
Interlake Horticulture Shares Their Gift of Gardening in Spring Plant Sale
The Interlake High School Horticulture program held their annual Spring Sale from April 27 to 29. This year, they sold mixed hanging baskets, annuals, perennials, a wide range of vegetables, and one-gallon heirloom tomatoes. The 2023 sale also featured a fabulous selection of Pacific Northwest native plants.
For over 40 years, Interlake has had a tradition of providing quality horticultural education to students. State-of-the-art greenhouses have allowed students to have hands-on learning experiences that craft a love of growing plants. Through funding from student-run sales, they have kept their program running successfully, supporting the Interlake community with their gift for gardening.
The Spring Sale also featured a partnership with the Evergreen Transition Program. Young adults in the program were on-hand to sell beautiful items that they designed, including plant stakes, scented candles, soap dishes, coasters, jewelry and more! All proceeds from the sale of art items benefited Evergreen and those in the program.
Evergreen Transition Program Showcases Joy and Creativity in “Evergreen’s Got Talent”
The Evergreen Transition Program hosted their very own “Evergreen’s Got Talent” show in the Interlake Auditorium on April 26. Participants showcased their talents, ranging from musical performances on various instruments, to acting, standup comedy, and even sports like badminton. Young adults in the Transition Program served as the show’s cast and the production crew, managing lights, microphones and other behind-the-scenes roles. The event was also broadcast on Teams for the whole BSD community to watch and enjoy. Students, staff, families and friends took time to enjoy the wonderful show. Congratulations on a successful production!
World Leader’s Day Brings History to Life at Lake Hills
World Leader’s Day was recently celebrated by the third-grade team at Lake Hills Elementary, marking the end of their weeks-long world leaders biography unit. The students were tasked with researching and writing biographies of world leaders who have made a positive impact on the world. As part of the project, the students had the opportunity to present their chosen world leader by acting and dressing up as them, bringing history to life. Costumes ranged from historical leaders, like Alexander the Great and Queen Elizabeth, to modern inspirations, like Michelle Obama and Usain Bolt.
World Leader’s Day began as the Living History Museum, started by Nicole Davis who has been doing it with her students for many years. With the support of a Bellevue Schools Foundation Arts, Enrichment, and Innovation grant, Vicki Capestany, an LAP Facilitator at Lake Hills, helped expand the project to the whole third-grade team.
The third-grade team consists of four classroom teachers, Nicole Davis, Claire Duffy, Lucas Spilles, and Denise Machuca, and their students. The project also involved literacy facilitators and co-teachers who helped the students with research, preparation of presentation boards, and practice of their presentations. Two of the participating classes are dual language, where students learn in both Spanish and English.
The World Leader’s Day showcase was an incredibly successful event, with the participation of many students, staff and families. This project was a great way to educate students about teamwork, community involvement, and how teaching history and creating enriching educational experiences for students can have positive effects on their lives.
Honoring Autism Acceptance and Kindness at Stevenson
In April, Stevenson Elementary celebrated Autism Acceptance Month with many opportunities to educate the students on Autism awareness and acceptance, as well as expanding opportunities for students with Autism. Each day, Stevenson students lead the morning announcements with a short video, and for one week, students who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices had the opportunity to lead the morning announcements in collaboration with their classroom peers.
Teachers were also heavily involved in educating students about Autism through classroom activities, such as watching videos, and reading and discussing books with themes related to Autism (in English and Spanish). Further, teachers and administrators at Stevenson have had extra Autism education through the staff newsletters.
Autism Acceptance Month ties in with Kindness Month, which Stevenson also celebrated in April. Students celebrated kindness and acceptance in many ways, including creating a kindness chain and giving each other kindness stickers. The student artwork was showcased on the doors of each classroom throughout the month. The celebrations were capped off with an Autism Acceptance and Kindness Month assembly at the end of April.
