|
Inside Billings
March 5, 2026
| | 🎒 What's Happening at Billings? 📚 | | March is here, bringing with it longer days, busy classrooms, and exciting opportunities for connection. From engaging academic work to upcoming events and celebrations, this month highlights the strength of our school community. Our students continue to demonstrate resilience, kindness, and determination as they take on new learning experiences. | | |
Mike on the Mic 🎤
I am looking forward to Daylight Savings this weekend and having more sun in the afternoons! Springing forward into Daylight Savings Time is always synchronized with the reemergence of life in Seattle. We have great excitement about our community reemerging together this spring, starting with our Billings Base Camp Annual Celebration and Fundraiser tomorrow and the Winter Performance on Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28.
I’m excited to see how the campus will be transformed into Billings Base Camp in the next 24 hours! I look forward to welcoming all of you and celebrating this wonderful community while making a huge difference for our students. Doors open for registration at 6:00. Get ready for good conversation, a lovely dinner, a live auction, and an inspiring program featuring alum Maya Garcia ‘17 and voices from current students!
Thank you to those of you who have purchased tickets, donated, volunteered, and put countless time and energy into this event. I look forward to celebrating with each of you!
Finally, I heard a few questions about the Spring Schedule this week. We will be starting the Spring Schedule on Tuesday, March 31 after the Winter Performance concludes on Saturday March 28. A reminder that Billings has a teacher in-service day on Monday, March 30th and there will be no school that day. The spring schedule will be similar to the fall.
See you tomorrow night,
Mike
| |
The countdown is on and we are so excited to see many of you tomorrow night at the Billings Base Camp!
Checking in:
- You will receive an email inviting you to do a pre-check in. It will have a personalized link where you can review your contact details to make sure they are correct and (if you have not done so already) enter the credit card you want to use to pay for items you buy during the event.
- When you arrive Friday, you will be directed to find your auction packet, which includes your name tag and bidder number. You will then head over to the registration team to complete the check-in process using your bidder number (listed on your packet) and get your table number.
Enjoying the event:
-
The Billings Base Camp Celebration and Fundraising Dinner will be held at the school this year and registration opens at 6:00 pm.
-
Get dressed up or come as you are – whatever gets you in the spirit! Check out the fabulous auction catalog!
- During the cocktail hour, you’ll have the chance to enjoy passed appetizers and drinks, purchase raffle tickets, and chat with Billings friends, old and new.
- Dinner and the live auction portion of the evening will begin at 6:45 pm. Dinner is a buffet with options for all dietary needs. We will finish the evening with a raise the paddle and dessert dash! All proceeds go to support the programs that make Billings such a strong and vibrant school.
Can’t wait to see you tomorrow at Billings Base Camp!
| | |
Summer Program
We are excited to share our upcoming Summer Program, designed to keep students engaged, curious, and connected throughout the summer months. Through a mix of hands-on learning, creative exploration, and outdoor experiences, students will have the opportunity to build new skills, deepen friendships, and continue discovering the joy of learning beyond the school year.
| | |
We’re planning to shuffle 6th grade sections for the third time later this month. With the overall goal of maximizing social and academic connections throughout the entire 6th grade group, we hope students enjoy the new variety of peers in their classes this spring. Please reach out to your child’s advisor by March 16th if you have any particular questions or suggestions about these changes. Spring-sport sign-ups are open for Ultimate Frisbee and Tennis. Please check recent emails from Daniel and contact him with any questions.
7th graders launched into their Mental Health and Substance Abuse Unit this week. Mental health is an incredibly important topic, especially for rapidly changing adolescent minds. We will be discussing some heavy topics in this health unit, and to best support our students in these challenging topics we will have two guest lessons. Next Wednesday (3/11), our school counselor Cherrise will present and facilitate a discussion about suicide prevention, and on Thursday (3/12) Greyson, Dean Rob, and Maya will team teach a lesson about masculinity, mental health, and how these relate to today’s world.
| | Students in 8th grade are writing appreciations and showing kindness towards each other and really jelling as a cohort. Last week, students visited Temple Beth Am, meeting one of their middle school teachers for a discussion, tour and question-answer session. Students were fortunate to see the sanctuary, leaf through a Torah book, and hear about Reform Judaism specifically. Our guide, Davida, discussed Jewish history, belief, and traditions and allowed students to see a close up view of a Torah scroll. | | |
🎾Sports 🥅
Spring Sports Registration is still rolling! Completed registration forms should be submitted to the Front Desk.
ULTIMATE FRISBEE
- (North Acres) Tuesdays & Thursdays, start March 5th 3:45 PM - 5:15 PM
Please register your student on DiscNW.org here as soon as possible to take part in our Matches. If you run into any issues during registration don't hesitate to reach out to Daniel.
Ultimate Bye/ Match Skip Dates:
- March 7th
- March 28th
- April 18th
Match Weekly Schedule can be found here on the DiscNW Website. Week 1 is posted and weeks 2 and 3 should be available by Thursday the 5th.
TENNIS
- Tennis (Home Gym) Mondays & Wednesdays, start March 9th 3:45 PM - 5:15 PM
We are also looking to see if any parents or volunteers are interested in assistant coaching for Tennis. Please contact Daniel.
| | |
6th grade completed a test on regular verbs in Spanish this week, while 7th grade had a test about writing in complete sentences. 8th graders also completed a vocabulary test from their current novel. The next unit for 6th grade will be about family. 7th graders will be learning about parts of a house to support their “Dream House Project.” The 8th graders will continue with their novel, ‘La Luna Embrujada’.
Heading into break, the 8th grade students finished up their Math unit on Systems of Linear Inequalities by pitching two charitable giving plans if given $1,500. The students came up with creative and personal strategies - from designing free after school programs to help working families to composing different hygiene bags for people who can access proper supplies. It was inspiring to see how thoughtful each student took on the project.
Currently, the students are reviewing scientific notation and exponential properties to prepare for our next unit on Exponential Functions. Over the coming weeks, the students should expect two homework assignments each week with additional practice problems and challenge questions offered (in class and in Google Classroom).
6th graders in Social Studies are doing great work writing and performing original “Epic” stories that follow the pattern of the old time Mesopotamian classics like The Epic of Gilgamesh!
| | |
7th graders are asking and answering the question, “Why study history?” and making applications to past and current events. In addition to writing about this topic they have started to collect information about Washington State History where they will design and create timelines of Washington before the 1900s.
8th graders are showing maturity and deep thinking in their current study of anti-semitism and the difficult history of the Holocaust. In addition to the specific events leading to and surrounding this period, students will learn about fascism and propaganda. This week students will visit the Holocaust Center for Humanity and focus particularly on resistance during the Holocaust.
| | Billings Family Association | | |
Tomorrow’s BFA Meeting & Gala Setup
Instead of our usual BFA meeting format, we will spend the time tomorrow helping set up the gym and Nadia for the big event! Thanks for coming to help out!
Speaking of which, the amazing event committee is still looking for volunteer help, especially on Saturday morning. Please sign up here to help before or after the event.
| |
|
Upcoming Events: 📅
- Annual Celebration & Fundraising Dinner: March 6
- All-School Production: March 27-28
- NO SCHOOL: Teacher In-Service Day, March 30
- 7th Grade Central WA Trip: April 8-10
- NO SCHOOL: Spring Break, April 13-17
| | |
Holy Names Academy
Walk & Talk Tour for 7th Grade Parents
March 17 & April 14
HNA Walk & Talk Tuesdays are 90-minute events specifically for parents of 7th grade students. Parents have the chance to meet our administrative team, learn more about the high school application process, tour our beautiful campus, and see classes in action. Click here to sign up.
| | |
Creative Nights for Teens & ’Tweens (Ages ~10–16)
at Squirrelly Art Studio.
✍️Poetry Workshop (All Ages) – Tue, Mar 10 | 6:30–8:00pm, $40
🎨Acrylic Painting – Fri, Mar 27 | 6:30–8:30pm, $50
🖌️Stencils & Spray Paint – Fri, Apr 25 | 6:30–8:30pm, $55
Hands-on, social, and screen-free.
Register at squirrellyworkshop.com (spots are limited, invite a friend!).
Located in NE Seattle at: 5414 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105.
| | Embodied STEAM and/as Liberation:
Science, Imagination, and the Right to Be Free in Learning | | |
What happens when education honors the full humanity of every learner—their bodies, their cultures, their histories, and their radical imaginations? In this powerful address, Dr. Christopher Emdin calls us to reclaim education as a site of embodied liberation. Rooted in his work at the intersections of race, science, justice, and the arts, Dr. Emdin explores how learning environments that celebrate the rights of the body—movement, rhythm, expression, rest—and center imaginative thinking can transform not just classrooms, but communities. This is more than a talk. It’s a blueprint for rehumanizing education—and a celebration of what’s possible when we teach and learn with our whole selves.
Join us on Wednesday, March 25, 2026 from 5-6:15 PM (PT) to welcome Dr. Christopher Emdin, a writer and professor at Columbia University’s teacher college who holds a Ph.D in Urban Education with a concentration in Mathematics, Science, and Technology. He is best known for his book For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood…and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education, which he wrote from his own experiences growing up as a young person of color feeling undervalued in the classroom. He will be speaking to us about his writings, Hip Hop, and much more! “Education is not memorization. It is the activation of the imagination and a path towards liberation”- Dr. Emdin. Learn more about Dr. Emdin at his website.
This event is free and open to the public hosted by POCIS Northwest. Please RSVP to get our Zoom Link.
| | |
AI Workshop: Climate, Culture and Mental Health
March 14, 10am-2pm
University Heights Center
This workshop will cover:
- how AI has shifted culture within the home, at school, on social media and beyond
- AI’s impact on natural resources both locally and globally
- how to practice social responsibility with AI, preserving natural knowledge systems while acknowledging and understanding the road that lies ahead
Interested? RSVP here!
| | |
Executive Function Workout!
Join me (Greg: Director of The Learning Center at Billings) for a regular morning EF workout from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM on Mondays. Developing EF, or Executive Function, requires the exercise of the brain in specific ways. Drop in on any Monday morning to share stories and explore strategies for strengthening our EF muscles and by extension, that of our students.
Think of EF (Executive Function) as the CEO of the brain, helping us improve our self-regulation and aid our ability to make both short and long-term plans that enhance our performance in many aspects of our life. At a middle school pragmatic level this includes things like: doing your nightly HW, working on long term projects, or doing chores around the house. This is not a class. This is an opportunity to share collective wisdom. While 30 plus years as a middle school educator has certainly allowed me to garner some wisdom, I am really a facilitator on Monday mornings. Regular attendance is not a prerequisite. I don't need advanced notice. Drop in as you are able.
We will be meeting in person in Mercury during advisory and the beginning of first period. If you do not want to attend in person and prefer Zoom, let me know and I will send you a recurring Zoom link. Masks are not required but can be worn upon request.
And if Monday mornings are not a viable option for you but you want to learn more, don't hesitate to e-mail me, and let's find time to chat 1-1.
| | |
Click the icons to follow us on Social Media!
Looking for old issues of iNews?
Visit the archive.
| | | | |
