This past Tuesday afternoon, over 50 MSHS students met in our Atrium to watch a wonderful documentary: “I Learn America.” To accentuate the experience, popcorn donated from Village Centre Cinemas was available during the showing.

Taken from the movie’s website:
“At the International High School at Lafayette, a Brooklyn public high school dedicated to newly arrived immigrants from all over the world, five teenagers strive to master English, adapt to families they haven’t seen in years, and create a future of their own while coming of age in a new land.”

Thanks to the support of MSHS staff members Sarah Moureaux and Jeff Naslund, the Mt. Spokane High School students who attended gained an appreciation for the challenges that many of our new students face. For more information, please access the following website: CLICK HERE.

The Washington Drug Free Youth (WDFY) program has been a strong presence at Mt. Spokane for some time. Now, due to the commitment of student/athletes, Paul Kautzman, our booster club and advisor Nancy Butz, MSHS has the largest WDFY chapter in the Spokane area!

Mt. Spokane High School now boasts 369 total WDFY members. This total includes 19 more members than the second-place chapter, East Valley.

I’m very thankful that these students have made the commitment to be drug and alcohol free.

Congratulations to all involved!

Congratulations, MSHS Senior Hannah Pomante!

Hannah is one of 7 state high school art winners. She will receive an honorarium of $200, and her beautiful piece will be part of the permanent collection housed at the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Olympia.

Additionally, Hannah will be celebrated at an The awards ceremony on Friday, Mat 15th in Olympia.

Great job, Hannah! We are proud of your accomplishment!

 

Sharing news specific to the academic accomplishments of our students is something I relish celebrating. Thankfully, these two groups of scholars are worthy of sincere praise for their hard work within the classroom.

The 23rd Annual Spokane Scholars banquet was held on Monday, March 20th at the Spokane Convention Center, and I was so very proud of our 2015 nominees. Representing Mt. Spokane in six different areas of study, the following students are to be commended for their academic excellence:

Mathematics – Lindsey Peterson
Science – Emma Reisman
English – Elizabeth Todaro
Social Studies – Katherine Sonneland
World Language – Julia Preuss
Fine Arts – Jazmyne McQualter

Additionally, we are fortunate to have three junior students who have earned their right to compete in the National Merit Scholarship competition. Joining over 50,000 students nationwide, these three MSHS students will be vying for one of 16,000 National Merit Semi-Finalist positions. Only 8,000 students in the United States will earn National Merit Scholarships to be offered in 2016. Congratulations to Kate Grossmann, Andrew Hoover and Alex Hoover on this accomplishment. Their performance on the 2014 PSAT/NMSQT earned their place within this competition.

Congratulations to these incredible students!

“America’s Most Challenging High Schools” are identified each year by the Washington Post. Once again, Mt. Spokane High School made the list!

High Schools are scored using the following methodology:
“The index score is the number of college-level tests given at a school in the previous calendar year divided by the number of graduates that year. Also noted are the percentage of students who come from families that qualify for lunch subsidies (Subs. lunch) and the percentage of graduates who passed at least one college-level test during their high school career, called equity and excellence, (E&E). A (P) next to the school’s name denotes a private school.”

Any school that possesses an index score over 1.0 is recognized, and MSHS is one of only five local schools to be named. (Lewis & Clark, North Central, Lakeside and Ferris also were recognized – – congratulations!)  32 Washington high schools were named to the list.

Special thanks to our teachers, students and parents for making this special recognition possible. What a GREAT time to be a Wildcat!

Go ‘Cats!

An idea hatched at Google found its way to Mt. Spokane High School this year, and students were the beneficiaries.

Students who enrolled in Millayna Klingback’s French or English 9 classes this year were faced with an unconventional idea: 20% of their time each week was given back to them. Essentially, each Friday, students were able to work on a project of their own choosing. No grade was attached. Truly, this was learning for learning’s sake.

Not to be confused with “free time” of the past, “20% time” is focused time where students are learning about a topic of their choice. Class sessions on Monday through Thursday still focused intentionally on the skills and standards that required for students in English and French, but the 20% shift proved that students, when given the opportunity, can and will learn.

The culminating event for 20% Time involved a public exhibition of projects for parents and community members on Thursday, April 2nd. Congratulations to all of our students, and their teacher, for taking advantage of this opportunity!

Spring Break for the MSHS band program meant one thing: a trip to visit THE mouse!

After months of fundraising and planning, our large contingent of Wildcat musicians made the trek from Spokane to Anaheim. Performing in front of wonderful audiences and actually gaining experience working WITH experts at Disney, this trip was a wonderful memory for all involved.

More specifically, our band participated in a national music festival that featured over 70 other performing groups from five states. After the festival results were tallied, the following ensembles and soloists earned awards at a ceremony in Disneyland:

Jazz II – 3rd place (Silver Rating)
Jazz I – 2nd place (Gold Rating)

Symphonic Band – 3rd place (Silver Rating)
Wind Ensemble – 1st place (Gold Rating)

Percussion Ensemble (Gold Rating)
*only percussion ensemble at festival

Adjudication Award (Receiving a high score):
Jazz I
Percussion Ensemble

Maestro Award (Outstanding Soloist):
Claire Ratcliff – Oboe
Peter Johnson – xylophone
Jared Crider – Tuba
Brenden Perdue – Trumpet

Special thanks to Scott Jones and James Layman for their constant and unwavering support of students. You’re greatly appreciated! Thanks, too, goes to Laura Loomer for the hours and hours of preparation behind the scenes. Finally, a sincere “thanks” to our parents – this trip could not have happened without you and your support!

Go ‘Cats!

The state HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) competition never saw the Mt. Spokane High School contingent coming!

After sending a dedicated group of students to the state competition in Vancouver, Washington, four MSHS HOSA students qualified for the National competition in Orlando, Florida later this spring. What an accomplishment!

Sukleen Bolina and Megan Sears placed 3rd and received bronze medals in Community Awareness. Their performance qualified them for Nationals!

Jacquee Rosenberg and Sarah Seeberger placed 1st winning gold medals in Medical Innovation. Again, these girls also qualified for Nationals!

Thanks to our incredible HOSA advisor and MSHS staff member Raeleen Epperson for all of her hard work. . . you are greatly appreciated!

Congratulations, too, to all of our talented Mt. Spokane students who traveled to Vancouver – we are proud of your accomplishments!

What an accomplishment!

Mt. Spokane High School sophomore Anthony Torchia was recently awarded 2nd place in the high school division of the Spokane Community Observance of the Holocaust Creative Writing Contest. Supported by his Honors English teacher, Mrs. Sue Dunfield, Anthony’s efforts will be awarded on April 19th on Spokane’s South Hill.

Congratulations, Anthony, on your most recent writing accomplishment! We are proud of you!

What a wonderful reason to celebrate!

Mt. Spokane recently celebrated ​592​ students who earned​ a GPA of 3.5 or higher last semester (​Fall 2014​). These young scholars were honored on March 26 with special treats by our academic booster club, The CATS Group​.

Special thanks to our incredible parents who helped organize this important recognition. Additionally, thanks to Assistant Principal Brenda Goehring for ensuring that this event took place!

Great job, ‘Cats!