This is the last Kang Crier of the school year.

The first issue for the 2024-2025 school year is scheduled for distribution on

Sunday, August 25th. For any new families, please have them subscribe here.

Dear Kang Families, 

I want to start by congratulating our Boys' Soccer team on their State Championship. They had an outstanding season and represented our community exceptionally well. Many of our programs advance to state and sometimes national levels. For instance, our National History Day participants are heading to Washington, D.C., to compete. There isn't enough space in this newsletter, nor enough hours in the day, to celebrate all of our students' remarkable accomplishments.

On Wednesday, we celebrated our seniors who have earned honors. It was a beautiful event, made even more special by the families in attendance. There is nothing quite like seeing proud families celebrating with their students. Last week, we also celebrated our multilingual learners who are soon-to-be graduates. Our ML teachers, who know these students well, put their hearts into preparing for the celebration. Again, there is so much to be proud of.

In addition to the senior celebrations, we held our annual Volunteer Tea last week, organized by our PTSA. This event is an opportunity to show appreciation for the volunteers who help us extend learning beyond the classroom and to recognize staff who go above and beyond. To those of you who support LWHS through booster clubs, student clubs/activities, classroom assistance, or event chaperoning, I extend my heartfelt thanks. You help us fulfill our mission of "Always Rising."

As we round out the year, our faculty is focused on making the most of every day, with special attention to our class of 2025 and beyond. You can expect project-based learning, culminating learning opportunities, and perhaps a bit of fun. Each member of our community is eager to enjoy the summer sunshine, but until June 21st, our focus remains on learning.

Thank you, as always, for your support. Go Kangs!

Dr. Christine Bell

Principal, Lake Washington High School

Connect with Dr. Bell at cbell@lwsd.org

Based on work organized primarily by Terry Jess, Associate Principal at Juanita High School, all student lunch debt at all four high schools within LWSD have been eliminated.

• One Special Donor covered the full balance of EHS, LWHS, RHS. A world of gratitude to Jen Mueller and Talk Sporty to Me
• Juanita High School had 26 donors, with Sara Osborne and the Albertsons Companies Foundation donating $3,462 to close the final gap.

Special Thanks: 

• Juanita High School Equity Team: Leia Deak, Natalie MacKnight, Terri Dayton, Breck Ivy, Peggy Shay, and Samy Habib
• JHS PTSA: Diane Devlyn-Thompson and Team
• LWHS PTSA: Kristen Dorwin and Zahra Eslami
• Lake Washington Schools Foundation: Katy Philips
• InvestED: David Harness

Dear Kangs,

We are almost there - it is June and the end is so close I'm beginning to taste it!! What a year it's been! Thank you so much for making my first year as your LWHS PTSA President a success! It is because of YOU that we are able to succeed in this amazing community.

I am grateful to return as your PTSA President again next year. I welcome your thoughts, energy, and talent as we partner to make LWHS a continued success. The PTSA door is always open, please feel free to join us, ask questions, volunteer - one time or many - as we strive to be ever present in the lives of our students.

To families with graduates I wish you good luck. You are forever a Kang! May you continue to Always Rise! even beyond the walls of LWHS.

Best wishes to each of you for a happy, healthy, and hopefully fun summer vacation. I look forward to seeing you again in the Fall.

Warmly,

Colleen Rutherford

LWHS PTSA President

CONGRATULATIONS to our 2023-2024 Award Recipients!

Golden Acorn: Mako Guest

Outstanding Educator: Bethany Shoda and Samantha Vanwaardhuizen

Outstanding Advocate: Christine Bell

Outstanding Student Advocate: Charlotte Fithian

And our appreciation to all who submit nominations for these deserving nominees: 

One of the ways that the PTSA supports our school community is by funding grants that support the school community in a variety of ways. This year, the budget was increased to $15,000 and 18 applications were approved.

• Academic enrichment has been provided through the purchase of mythology books for English 10, a color printer for the Fine Arts programs, and calculators and markers for math classes.
• The school community benefited from incentives for the Kang Kudos, funding for refreshments for the representatives at the college fair, the addition of two picnic tables in the courtyard, and yoga sessions to promote wellness and relaxation.
• Student clubs were able to prepare for and participate in events because of support for HOSA, the ASL club, Code Purple Robotics, and the Lyrica choir.
• Staff connection and development was supported through funding for the fortnightly breakfast meetings, attendance at conferences, and training and curriculum for the Art of Coaching program.
• Equal opportunities were provided through funding for student lunches during college visits and the purchase of loan calculators.

Many thanks to the committee members who gave their time to review the grant applications, and to the members whose donations to the PTSA provided funds for these grants.

Christine Woskett

Grants Committee Chair

grants@lwhsptsa.org

LWHS PTSA's award-winning College Application Workshop program provides seniors with college application essay and personal statement support. We also steer students in the right direction for any additional help they may need. This is a great way to connect with students and help them achieve their goals.

Volunteers are needed for Fall 2024 school year as we continue this successful program in virtual and in-person mode. We ask for a once-a-week commitment for the months of October and November.

Training is provided in September, date TBD. Contact us for more information or to volunteer.

Reflections is a National PTA arts recognition program that helps students explore their own thoughts, feelings and ideas, develop artistic literacy, increase confidence, and find a love for learning that will help them become more successful not only in school, but in life.

The theme of the Reflections program for 2024-2025 is “Accepting Imperfection”.

Students have the whole summer break to think about how to work on this Reflections art project. The due date for 2024-2025 will be around mid-November.

If your student is interested in participating in this art program, please review:

https://www.pta.org/home/programs/reflections

https://www.wastatepta.org/events-programs/reflections/

Additional questions? Contact Reflections chair: Rachel Pai

2023-24 was a year of solid progress and advocacy around sustainability at LW and the District! Under the leadership of teacher advisor Andrea Thody, LW’s Green Team carried out waste audits, continued to work on its reusable lunch utensils program, started a school clean-up club, and advocated at LWSD School Board meetings in favor of a sustainability policy (which was passed on May 6th!). Students from Lake Washington FFA, overseen by Urban Agriculture teacher Maddy Tanis, received a fifth-place award at the State FFA Agriculture Issues Forum for their work around food waste, while also starting a pollinator garden at the school.

Vincenzo Beto, a Robotics & Engineering student and LW senior, took on the tremendous challenge of designing and building two new waste stations for the Commons. Working with long-time LW Robotics and Engineering teacher Bill Cattin, along with PTSA Sustainability Chair Stephanie Lecovin, Vincenzo built these stations from repurposed shipping palates, documenting the process along the way so others will be able to replicate it down the line. The new waste stations are part of a larger initiative to reduce lunchtime waste and will be launched in Fall 2024.

We’d also like to acknowledge the tremendous work of the LW Special Education staff and students, who conducted daily counts of the food items students placed in donation bins during lunch and walked that food to the family shelter across the street every Friday. They were reliable, thorough, and immensely helpful in both preventing food waste and feeding people who were hungry. Over the course of the year, we donated over 400 half-pints of milk, 2000 apples, 400 boxes of raisins, 35 juice boxes, and 110 bananas!

Sustainability initiatives at LW are a team effort and would not be possible without the collective support from our hard-working food service staff, our custodial staff, School Safety Specialist Pamela Kelley, Dr. Bell, and the many students and staff who have volunteered their time to create new systems for reducing our impact on the environment. Thank you all!

If you are part of the LW Community and want to get involved with sustainability at LW next year, or if you have ideas to propose, please reach out to Stephanie Lecovin at sustainability@lwhsptsa.org.

On May 22nd at the LWHS PTSA General Membership Meeting, PTSA board members were nominated and elected for next school year:

President: Colleen Rutherford​

VP Ways and Means (Fundraising)​: John Gartner & Linh Clark​

Treasurer: Kim Miller​

Secretary: Naomi Urban

We have the following open positions (job descriptions can be found here):

• Executive Vice President​
• VP School Support​
• VP Student Programs​
• VP FACE​ (family and community engagement)​

We need more volunteers to fulfill these positions along with additional committee positions, in order to maximize the benefits of the donated funds.

There are also many rising senior parents who are looking for partners, including ePrep and Kang Crier editor. Please visit our website to learn more about these positions. If you can help our community in any of these positions, please contact us.

We now have enough chaperones; thank you to those who volunteered!

A big thank you to the following business who contributed generously to the Senior Party:

Starbucks 

Lululemon 

Chick-fil-A 

Pagliacci 

Philly Ya Belly 

Ben Franklin Framing 

Target 

Sirena Gelato 

Salt and Straw 

Cinemark 

Sante Fe Restaurant 

Athleta 

Tres Hermanos 

Ulta Beauty 

Chipotle 

The final lunchtime bus signup will be Tuesday, June 11th in The Commons. 

Tickets are available through Wednesday, June 12th here. 

FAQs answered here. 

Questions? Contact the Senior Party Co-Chairs at seniorparty@lwhsptsa.org.