Monday, September 21, 2009

Imagine the possibilities

"Imagine the Possibilities" is the theme of the Camas Educational Foundation (CEF) Auction that will be held October 10, 2009, at the Vancouver Hilton. This year marks the auction's 11th year. Tickets are on sale now. If you would like to make a donation, please contact Roxanne Giffin at 834-1345. Click the link below to register online.

http://tinyurl.com/ktes4w


District seeks advisory committee members

In preparation for the new school year, the Camas School District is seeking volunteers to serve on the district’s Citizens Advisory Committee. CAC consists of 18-25 school district patrons who advise school administrators and board members on a variety of issues. Meetings are held the first Monday of each month during the school year.

Interested citizens are encouraged to visit the next CAC meeting on October 5, 2009, at Grass Valley Elementary School, 3000 NW Grass Valley Dr., at 7:00 p.m. Of particular interest, this group currently has little representation from Director Districts II, III and V. Maps of each district are available online at http://tinyurl.com/4fpzxr.

Applications to CAC can be completed at the meeting, online, or by contacting Lynette Marshall at 833-5412. All completed applications should be returned to the Camas School District Administration Center by Wednesday, October 14, and will be forwarded to the School Board for appointment.

Line dancing anyone?

If you’ve ever wanted to learn to line dance and get a good aerobic workout, then this fun class is for you! No partner necessary... bring friends or come alone!

What: Beginning Line Dancing
Where: Lacamas Elementary Gym
When: Mondays, Sept. 28-Oct. 19
Time: 7:00-8:30 p.m.
$30 (checks made payable to E.C.C.E.)
Class code: 1240-09


http://tinyurl.com/mgjksm

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Vendors: register now for Holly Days

If you are interested in becoming a vendor at the 2009 Holly Days Arts & Crafts Bazaar, now is the time to register. The event takes place on November 14, and applications are due October 16. Click the link below for details and the registration form.

http://tinyurl.com/mfj53f

Be a Farmer for a Day!

Camas students and community members are invited to help harvest and sell produce from the Camas Roots Garden at the Camas Farmer’s Market on Wednesday, September 23. From 9 to 11 AM, Hayes Freedom High School students and community members will harvest potatoes, squash, tomatoes, and other things from the garden, which is located next to the JD Zellerbach building. In the afternoon at the market, students will help display the produce, make signs, calculate costs, make change, and practice customer relations. There will be important jobs for all ages starting at 2:30 PM. Elementary age children must have an adult nearby (at the market). The market runs from 3 to 7 PM and shifts are flexible according to your schedule. Students are encouraged to come and help for a half hour or longer. All proceeds will benefit the garden project. Helpers are welcome to take home extra produce. If you are interested in participating, please contact Elisa Wells at 833-0925 or eswells@comcast.net.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Camas Student Graduates from Washington Aerospace Scholars Program


The Washington Aerospace Scholars program is pleased to announce that Stuart Jergensen is a graduate of the 2009 WAS Summer Residency at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS) is a competitive educational program for high school juniors from across Washington State.

Stuart Jergensen was among the 150 students who qualified for the Washington Aerospace Scholars Summer Residency program from 260 students who applied in November. To qualify for the residency program, Stuart of Camas High School spent six months studying a NASA-designed, distance-learning curriculum via the Internet. Based on his academic performance on the distance-learning lessons, he was selected to attend one of the four residencies hosted at The Museum of Flight in Seattle this summer. During the residency experience, he collaborated with the other student participants on the design of a human mission to Mars. WAS scholars are guided by professional engineers, scientists, university students and certified educators as they plan these missions. The WAS program is designed to inspire students to pursue degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) but the students are divided into teams which also require them to learn about mission management, budgets, the legal aspects of space exploration, and medicine.

In addition to the design of the human mission to Mars, he and the other WAS scholars also participated in a number of hands-on engineering challenges. These challenges included design, construction and deployment of robotic rovers, model rockets, lander devices, and payload lofting systems. Summer residency participants also received briefings from experts in the fields of engineering, science, physics, medicine, project management, risk management, and space exploration. They also visited Everett, WA, for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Boeing Commercial Airplane assembly plant, (including the new 787) and toured engineering laboratories at the University of Washington. As a graduate of WAS, Stuart joins over 380 alumni, representing 170 different Washington high schools.

All expenses (including travel, meals and lodging) are provided to students free of charge by the Washington Aerospace Scholars Foundation. The program has been supported through generous grants from The Apex Foundation, The Aldarra Foundation, The Boeing Company, Microsoft, Battelle and individual donors. The Museum of Flight hosts both the program administration and the summer residency sessions. Additional partners include NASA Johnson Space Center for curriculum development, the Washington State Governor’s Office, Washington State Legislators, and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

District phone system update

The Camas School District has recently converted its phone system to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). While there have been more technical issues than anticipated, the transition is nearly complete.

The following is a simple list of tangible benefits that we will receive from the new phone system.

  • It is estimated the District will save more than $100,000 each year under the new VoIP system due to the following: support costs for contracts and service are estimated to decrease by $68,000 per year, beginning immediately; by not using the previous system, the district will now be able to cancel unused telecom lines, resulting in a savings of approximately of $28,200 annually; under VoIP, the new long distance provider is expected to save another $10,800 annually.
  • Implemented with the VoIP is a new voicemail system which is expected to save the technology department approximately 100 hours in maintenance each year.
  • The new voicemail system can be managed in-house by district technology staff which results in faster service and less downtime creating accounts for people.
  • While phone systems are generally reliable, under the old system there was a single point of failure with the land telephone lines. The new design has multiple service providers and other redundancies built in to minimize failure and keep phone service running in an emergency.
  • Under the former system, emergency responders (911) did not receive the specific address of the site to visit. This will be corrected with the new system.
  • Counselors, special education staff, and other employees who work at multiple sites will no longer have to track and manage multiple phone numbers and voicemail boxes. Their phone number will travel with them, making access to messages and phone calls easier.
  • Exciting new features including managing voice messages via computer workstations, recording phone calls, and sending faxes directly from a computer are available for high call volume users such as office staff and principals.

Once training is complete and technical issues have been resolved, the district staff members will enjoy a robust phone and voicemail system. We thank you for your patience as we bring this project to completion.