Financial Literacy Week in full swing

Camas High School Delta Epsilon Chi Association (DECA) students Sara Slayton and Evan Klein are spearheading a project dedicated to teaching and informing students on how to budget and plan financially for the next stage of their lives.  With support from the Camas School Board by proclamation this week, November 29-December 3, has officially been declared as Financial Literacy Week.  Throughout the week, there are posters in the hallways of CHS with financial quotes, a book display in the library, and today, December 1, there is a workshop after school in the Career Center from 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. about college budgeting and debt.

Last September, Sara and Evan chose this topic as a DECA project for its strong correlation to the state of our society and economy. They thought that in this current recession, it was more than appropriate to spread the word about the importance of financial literacy.

The Camas High School DECA Chapter is a student-run organization with a membership of approximately 100 students. These students are enrolled in marketing classes at various levels, and are also members of the International Organization of DECA. As DECA members, the students compete every January in an ‘area competition’ where they try to qualify for the state competition held in March in Bellevue, WA. Students either compete in role plays, or they submit research or chapter-wide projects.

In addition to the activities of Financial Literacy Week, Sarah and Evan are organizing and implementing several activities that are attracting the attention of our chapter and school. Some of these activities include:

Read more »

Internship Presentations

This coming Monday evening before the school board meeting, all of our Math Science and Technology Magnet seniors will present their summer projects, answer questions about their internships,  and talk about their four years in the MST Magnet program here at CHS.  A month ago the board heard presentations from a few and asked to hear from them all. This will be in an arena-style setting so guests may move freely among the exhibits and converse with the students informally.

Where: Camas High School Commons and Library

26500 SE 15th Street Camas WA 98607

When: Monday November 22, 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM

Who is invited: Parents, interested community members, district staff, mentors and sponsors.  MST Magnet 9th, 10th, 11th grade students. 

Why: to allow the community to learn about the incredible experiences each of these students have had in real world settings in our community; to allow future internship students to find what appeals to them.

For further information contact: 

Ron Wright, MST WBL Coordinator

State Football

The Camas High School Football Team defeated Juanita in the first round of the state football playoffs Saturday night and will host Lakes High School in a quarterfinal game at Doc Harris at 7:30 PM tonight.

• Ticket Booths and Gates will open at 6:00 PM.
• Ticket prices are $8.00 for adults and students without an ASB card and $6.00 for students with an ASB card, elementary children ages 5-11 and seniors 62 and older. No passes are accepted for this game. Please note that CHS receives no proceeds from ticket sales for playoff games.

Inclement Weather

Today Livingston Mountain snow routes are in effect due to inclement weather and classes are on time. Students should plan to arrive at bus stops at their regularly scheduled time, but please allow for delays.

Veterans' Day

Lacamas students and staff welcomed local veterans in for a wonderful, song-filled assembly. These honored guests were also invited to a reception in the library following the presentation. Our leopards did a great job showing their appreciation for those who have served our country!

Gearing up for Stuff the Bus

This is the third year for the Stuff the Bus program which is a large food drive competition between Camas and Washougal High Schools to see which school can raise the most amount of food by weight. Last year CHS raised over 35,000 lbs of food for the local community and this year we are hoping to collect even more! But we can’t do it alone.

Our own Camas Burgerville has been very generous this year by offering CHS numerous fundraising opportunities. Our first is today, Friday the 12th. If you eat at Camas Burgerville tonight from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., 10% to 20% (depending on how many people come out!) of the proceeds will be given to the CHS Stuff the Bus program. 100% of the funds raised will be used to purchase food to "Stuff the Bus!"

We look forward to seeing you so please come out and support your Papermakers in their effort to feed the local community this holiday season.

Fall Sports Update from CHS

Student athletes at CHS are no slackers! These amazing students have proven to be not only top in their game, but also top scholars. Take a moment to check out their latest accomplishments and the team grade point averages. 

Volleyball (3.59 Varsity GPA)

Last night, the Papermaker Volleyball team won their third straight District IV Championship by defeating Prairie in three straight games.  This district title is the team’s latest accomplishment.  Last week, the girls made school history by finishing the regular season as undefeated league champions.  Coach Nidick will be taking team to the District III-IV Volleyball Tournament this Friday and Saturday at Auburn-Mountain View High School (the girls’ first game will be at 6:00 PM Friday). Ticket prices are $7.00 for adults and students without ASB, $5.00 for students with ASB and $4.00 for elementary students. For more information, visit http://www.wcd3.org/g_volleyball.htm

Girls Swimming (3.59 Varsity GPA)

The girls finished second in League and have qualified 26 swimmers for the District Meet Friday and Saturday at Kelso High School.  

Read more »

CEF’s 12th annual raises $65K for innovation

After the last bids were tallied and the bills were paid, CEF’s 12th annual auction raised nearly $65,000 that will be applied towards educational innovation across the Camas School District. Teachers will soon be able to apply for mini and major grants to try out new and scale up proven ideas.

“Even during a deep recession, the Camas community showed their support for education,” said Ron Gompertz, CEF President. “Nearly 200 generous patrons and sponsors turned out to have some fun and invest in a strong school district."

Read more »

Marshall Earns Principal of the Year Award

Camas High School principal Steve Marshall was recently named by the Washington Library Media Association (WMLA) as the High School Level Principal of the Year. Steve was nominated by CHS Teacher-Librarian, Rosemary Knapp. He was honored at the WLMA annual conference at a banquet on Friday, October 15, held at the SeaTac DoubleTree Hotel. The banquet featured author Sherman Alexie as the keynote speaker.


WLMA Awards are given to professionals or paraprofessionals who have provided outstanding service and support to the Library Media program, in order to achieve a school's instructional goals.


According to Knapp, the list of Marshall’s library merits includes several hands-on participation activities. When he had been principal for just over a month, Marshall willingly took part in the 2008 Teen Read Week Theme “Books with Bite” by dressing up as a vampire and greeting students in the Library. Not many new high school principals are willing to put themselves forward like that. This school year he came in twice during Teen Read Week and joined students in activities for “Read Beyond Reality.” One activity included his eating canned oysters!

Read more »

CHS Drama Dept. presents “Rumors”

The CHS Drama Dept. presents the play “Rumors” by Neil Simon this Friday and Saturday and next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7 p.m. in the CHS Theatre. At its start, four couples gather in the posh suburban residence of a deputy New York City Mayor for a dinner party. When they arrive, they discover there are no servants, the hostess is missing, and the host – the deputy mayor – has shot himself through the earlobe! Comic complications arise when, given everyone's upper class status, they decide they need to do everything possible to conceal the evening's events from the local police and the media.


Cost for the play is $5 for adults and students w/out an ASB and $3 for students. 

Lacamas Fire Drill

The Washington State Legislature recently passed a law, RCW 28A.320.125, requiring school districts to participate in what is known as a Multi-Agency Fire Drill once every four years. On Tuesday, October 26, the Camas Fire Department, the Camas Police Department, and CSD Operations team conducted a fire drill that simulated the actions necessary if a structural fire at Lacamas Heights Elementary were to occur. With the help of Lacamas Staff, students were relocated to Grace Foursquare Church, which is the school’s pre-determined, off-campus evacuation site. From the church, buses picked students up at regular dismissal time and departed for the trip home as usual. Parents who regularly pick up their students were able to do so at Grace Foursquare.

Both the Camas PD and FD as well as district staff did an outstanding job ensuring the safety of our students during the drill. A big thanks goes out to the volunteers at Grace Foursquare Church who let us borrow their space and audio equipment and who also generously provided hot coffee drinks to the Lacamas staff and fire/police personnel.

Camas Holly Days Arts & Crafts Fair

Get in the holiday spirit by attending the 

Camas Holly Days Arts and Crafts Fair. 

Unique holiday crafts, decorations, gift items, 

food concessions, holiday music and fun for the family!

Saturday, November 13

9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Liberty Middle School Cafeteria

1612 NE Garfield Street

College & Career Options

The upcoming CHS College & Career Options Event will offer important college and post high school information for all high school students (9th-12th grade) and their parents. Several workshops will be held in the theatre along with other breakouts sessions. Click here to view the announcement.

Beauty and Mathematics

Come and join the community to hear Dr. Frank Wang speak on Beauty and Mathematics Tuesday, October 19, From 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. in the Camas High School Theatre. The event is free to the public and all are welcome.

Dr. Wang’s personal story is inspiring. Dismissed at a young age and deemed unable to learn, Dr. Wang failed at school until he began to secretly study math. Through his determination, Dr. Wang went on to earn a PhD in pure mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After building a successful publishing company, Dr. Wang decided to return to the classroom to share his love of mathematics with young people.

His presentation on Beauty and Mathematics is the perfect answer to the question "What do  mathematicians do?" Dr. Wang will illustrate through humor, riddles, and concrete demonstrations - a higher purpose of mathematicians: To seek and find structure and order in apparent chaos and disorder.

Seating for the presentation is limited.For reserved seating please email your name and the number of people who will join you to: Jonathan.burton@camas.wednet.edu. 

Once you receive the confirmation, email please print it and bring it with you to the event. Also, send this email to a friend.

To learn more about Dr. Wang you can visit his web site at: http://www.wangeducation.com. 

Know a student interested in a career in tech?

I wanted to let you know that the Software Association of Oregon is holding this year's Portland-area careers in IT education event for middle and high school students on October 21 at WSU Vancouver from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Eric VanderHouwen will be the keynote speaker but there will be three young women talking about their experiences from age 14 onward about careers in computer science, management information systems, and web site development/design.

If you or someone you know has a child who might benefit from hearing about the reasons they would want to get excited about going into a wide-range of careers in IT, this is the event for them to attend. Please consider bringing your children to this event or sharing this with others who have children who might want to come. The link with more information and how to register is http://www.sao.org/events/event_details.asp?id=127665.