Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Spring Break is right around the corner. If your student is looking for something to do, Community Education may have just the solution. Take a look at offerings occurring not only during Spring Break, but also well into summer!

Spring Break Classes and More! (WORD)
Spring Break Classes and More! (PDF)
Basketball Camp (WORD)
Basketball Camp(PDF)

Skyridge Becomes Greener and Greener

For the last two years, Skyridge students have been engaged in a concerted effort to reduce carbon footprint. The Camas middle school was one of 10 Washington State schools chosen to participate in the, web-based Washington Green Schools pilot program. Participating schools progress through four tiers completing requirements and earning points to achieve each level of the Washington Green Schools program. The process is initiated with the formation of a Green Team, which includes students, teachers, administration, parents, and classified staff. The Team works as the liaison between the program requirements and the school.

There are five categories that are the basis for the program: Energy Efficiency; Recycling and Waste Reduction; Toxics Reduction and Indoor Air Quality; Transportation and Outdoor Air Quality; Water Quality and Conservation. Green Team members assess how the school is doing in the above categories, and then form sustainable action items based on the evaluation. These action items impact changes within their school that reduce or address the particular environmental issues outlined in the program. Finally, data is entered electronically through the Green Schools website. When a school has acquired 100 points, it is designated as a Tier 1 Green School. During subsequent years, a school can garner Tiers 2-4 by further addressing environmental issues.

In 2008, staff and students at Skyridge implemented a paper and plastic recycling program that has reduced the total waste by almost 70%. This year they partnered with Clark County Solid Waste liaison Erin Rowland and implemented the Save Organic Scraps (SOS) food waste/composting program. At lunch, students are seen separating paper and plastics from food waste. The waste is then collected and composted by Waste Connections. The process in becoming a Green School was started by environmentally-sensitive teacher Ann Hofmann. Within the first year, there were paper and plastic recycling bins in each classroom, hall, gym, and in the cafeteria. This was a big step considering plastic bottles weren’t recycled the year before. Skyridge earned enough points to be designated as a Tier 1 green school last month, the first school in Clark County to do so! They hope to continue their efforts to reduce their environmental impact, with the added bonus of saving the Camas School District money in operations and maintenance.

Expanded projects include vermicomposting worm bins in classrooms, participating in a Bike to School Day, having a student-lead recycling fair where students exchange items they no longer use, and creating a low-maintenance native garden at Skyridge using composted food as fertilizer. Students are linking up with Science teacher John Condon to start flowers and herbs in the school green house. These items will then be transferred to the ROOTS community Garden then sold by students at the Camas Farmer’s Market, and during the CamTown Festival in June.

Access to information:

www.wagreenschools.org
http://www.recyclextreme.com/west_van.cfm
http://www.camasroots.org


Contact information:
Ann Hofmann, ann.hofmann@camas.wednet.edu
Gayle Cooper, gayle.cooper@camas.wednet.edu
Erin Rowland, erin.rowland@clark.wa.gov

Monday, March 16, 2009

Papermaker Scientists Take the Trophy




Our own Camas High School Science Olympiad team, under of the guidance of Coach Ron Wright, earned top honors at the 22nd Annual Southwest Washington Science Olympiad Regional Tournament on Saturday.

Seventeen teams from 11 schools competed at the Lower Columbia Community College in Longview on March 14. The three-year-old Camas team placed third in last year's state competition and hopes to progress to the national event this year in Augusta, Georgia.

Top scoring CHS students included club president and senior Stephanie Nicholson, as well as team captain and senior Gaelen LeBlanc, senior Jason Reiter, and junior Natalie Stone.


Qualifying for the Washington State Tournament, were CHS (1st Place), Union (2nd), Columbia River (3rd), Mountain View (4th), Prairie (5th), and Excel Academic League (6th). The state tournament will be held on April 18th, all day, at Clark College. Viewing is free and open to the public. Science Olympiad involves both academic science skills and hands-on engineering abilities in 23 different events. Students compete in tests and "build it" events that require study, practice, and teamwork.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Camas Student Selected as a Washington Aerospace Scholar


Congratulations to Camas High School junior Stuart Jergensen who has been selected as one of 260 students to participate in the 2009 Washington Aerospace Scholar (WAS) program.

Phase One of WAS is performed via distance learning utilizing a NASA-designed curriculum covering the history of space exploration, the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, the Moon, and Mars. From January through May, the Scholars will complete ten lessons – submitting quizzes, math solutions, essays, and graphics concerning these topics every other week. Scholars will independently select a topic of interest for a final project combining an essay with a graphic. Scholars are also competing for a space in a summer residency session.

Phase Two of WAS is a six-day summer residency experience for 160 students. Selection is competitive and centers on performance in Phase One of WAS. In each residency session, 40 Scholars are selected to work cooperatively to plan a human mission to Mars with support from professional engineers/scientists, university students, and certificated educators. Each session also includes briefings from aerospace professionals, tours of engineering facilities, and hands-on engineering challenges involving model rocketry, robotics, landing devices, and payload lofting. The daily schedule is quite full, and the students lodge in double rooms at a local hotel under the supervision of certificated teachers. Travel, lodging, and meal expenses are provided to participating students and teachers thanks to the WAS Foundation and many generous donors.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Team Mean Machine Wows Competition

The Camas-Washougal FIRST Robotics team ranked fourth out of 54 teams at the Oregon Regional Competition this past weekend. In addition, the team brought home the General Motors Industrial Design Award for the simplicity and reliability of their design as well as for incorporating organic materials in its construction.



In a couple of weeks they will compete against 63 other teams in Seattle--some traveling from as far away as Turkey and Israel. Way to Go FIRST team, and good luck in Seattle!

Drug & Alcohol Awareness Night

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about prescription drug abuse in the news as well as in the CHS community. In response to these concerns, Glenn Hartman, CHS intervention specialist, and the CHS administrative team have put together a Parent Awareness Night on Thursday, March 19, from 6-7 PM in the CHS Library.

Because our families are very busy, organizers have made sure that this evening is packed with information that will benefit every parent. Glenn will share data from our 2009 Healthy Youth Survey that was administered anonymously to CHS students earlier this year. There will be representatives from the Clark County Drug Task Force and the counseling field, as well as a small panel of students all share their insights and experiences. A question-and-answer session will follow these presentations.

CHS Student Earns Marshall Award


Emma Sagor, a senior at Camas High School, has been named the recipient of the 2009 General George C. Marshall Youth Leadership Award.

Sagor is the school’s Associated Student Body president, vice president of the Key Club, president of Healthy Lifestyle Advocates, and is a member of National Honor Society, School Health Council and Camas Youth Advisory Council.

She coordinated the first “stuff the bus” food drive in both Camas and Washougal, participated in the LSW Architects internship, volunteered with “At Home, At School” for homeless and disadvantaged youth, implemented an education and advocacy program titled “Small City, Big Difference” and is organizing a benefit dinner for Mercy Corps’ Action Center to End World Hunger. In addition, Sagor is first chair in wind ensemble, a member of the Camas High School select vocal ensemble and has performed in three of the school’s theatrical productions.

Sagor will be recognized at a public award ceremony at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, at the Marshall House on Officers Row. She will receive a $1,000 scholarship and a $500 paid summer internship in the Historic Reserve Trust office. Sagor was nominated for the award by Steven Marshall, principal of Camas High School, and by Casey Wyckoff of LSW Architects.

The General George C. Marshall Youth Leadership Award was established in 2000 and is presented to a Clark County high school age student who demonstrates leadership, takes a stand for the rights of others, serves as a role model, shows initiative and motivates others to become involved. The award is one of the Celebrate Freedom programs organized by the Vancouver National Historic Reserve Trust.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Camtown Youth Festival Poster Contest

Camas Parks and Recreation is now accepting entries for the Camtown Youth Festival poster contest. Entries must be turned in by April 10.

The Camtown Youth Festival is a free youth-focused event and includes a variety of games and interactive amusements, arts and crafts activities, entertainment, food, dunk tank, youth art show, a petting zoo, a kids’ flea & craft market, and kid-related information booths. This year’s event will be held at Crown Park in Camas on Saturday, June 13, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

All Camas youth, all ages, are eligible to participate in the 2009 Camtown poster contest. The poster design must be drawn on white, 8.5” x 11” paper. Any art medium may be used. Some elements of the festival, such as those listed above should be included; dates, time, and location do not need to be included in the design (this will be added in the production stage). Students must write their name, school, grade, and phone number on the back of the design. Poster designs will not be returned unless requested. Designs can be dropped off at any Camas public school, the Camas Community Center, 1718 SE 7th Ave, or can be mailed to P.O. Box 1055, Camas, WA 98607, attn: CYF Poster Contest. The contest ends April 10. Winners will be announced the week of April 20.

For questions, please call Krista Bashaw at 360-834-5307.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Phone-A-Thon Week

A group of Liberty and Skyridge students will volunteer their evenings this week to make phone calls on behalf of the Camas Educational Foundation for their fundraising effort titled “Phone-A-Thon.” Each night on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday these middle school students will be phoning school district households to ask for donations to support the Foundation’s important mission of bringing enhanced curriculum opportunities to Camas schools. The Foundation’s Phone-A-Thon is one of only two fundraisers held each year--the other being the CEF Auction held in the fall.

In 2009, through the generosity of Camas families and businesses, CEF supported the following projects through grants given to Camas educators:
· Science Olympiad for elementary schools,
· Camas High School robotics program,
· "Hawkeye Gazette” (Skyridge Middle School newspaper run by students),
· Parenting resource libraries at all elementary schools,
· Alternative energy project at Camas High School, and much more!

Highly Capable Application Window

The Camas School District offers a unique program for highly capable (Hi-Cap) students in grades three through five.

The Hi-Cap Gifted Cluster classroom consists of a group of gifted students within a regular, grade-level heterogeneous classroom. This program is offered at grades three through five at all Camas elementary schools. The classrooms are designed to accommodate varied levels of a gifted child's academic needs. Clustering provides students with opportunities to accelerate learning in their gifted areas. It also enables students to work at their own grade level in other subjects as needed. Gifted students experience working with age peers and ability peers as well as mixed ability groups that model their real-world experiences.

Applications for the Hi-Cap program are due on March 12. The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) will take place at JDZ Elementary on Saturday, March 21, from 9 a.m. to noon.

Click here to view the application form.
Click here to view the Hi-Cap brochure.

Pre-AP and Advanced Math Application Window

Both Pre-AP and Advanced Math options are available for middle school students in the Camas School District. Interested students who will enter sixth, seventh, or eighth grade next year are invited to apply. Deadline for application is Monday, March 9.

Placement of any of these programs is determined by a combination of district measures including the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT). All current fifth grade applicants are required to test on Saturday, March 21, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Liberty Middle School , even if they have previously taken the CogAT. Current sixth and seventh grade applicants will be tested at their respective middle schools on Tuesday, March 17, from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Click here to view the parent letter and permission to test form.
Click here to view the brochure.