Olympia School District
News & Notes
April 16, 2015
OSD Olympia Robotics Federation FRC Team Qualifies for World Championships
The Olympia Robotics Federation (ORF) FRC team recently earned a berth to the FRC World
Championships after competing in the Pacific Northwest Championships in Cheney, WA.
This cross-district team, with students from Avanti, Capital and Olympia
high schools, entered the weekend ranked 28th out of the 152 teams
in the Pacific Northwest District. Their hard work and engineering paid
off. After the 128 qualifying matches they were the first draft pick of a
playoff alliance, sailing through the quarter finals and placing third after
just missing the finals by the smallest of margins. This performance
easily qualified them for the FRC World Championships in St. Louis
from April 22 to 25. More details of this great performance will soon be
on the team’s website.
Now comes the hard part. The team now faces
the challenge of needing to fundraise $25,000
in two weeks to get the team, their robot and
their pit gear to St. Louis. If you or someone
you know are interested in supporting this
amazing and diverse group of students proudly
representing OSD on the world stage, please
visit the Stem Pals website.
Pioneer Students Raise Big Money for Local Animal Shelter
Each month Pioneer Elementary has a theme and February’s theme was “compassion.” Two thirdgrade students, Drucilla Rowan and Amelie Kuo decided to start a coin drive in an effort to raise
money for the local animal shelter. They came up with a school-wide campaign, making signs,
gathering coins and talking about their goals with their fellow students.
At the beginning of the coin drive Drucilla and Amelie were hoping to raise
about $100 for the local shelter. When the coin
drive wrapped up and all the coins were counted,
the girls learned they had raised $501.61 for
the Thurston County Animal Shelter! What an
amazing accomplishment, and proof that with hard
work and dedication sometimes you can even
surpass your own lofty goals. Great work Drucilla
and Amelie, we’re all very proud of you!
Capital Debate Team Shines at State
After a long season of regional competitions Capital High School sent three debate teams to State,
and all three broke through to the second day of elimination rounds.
Julian Scott made it to the top 12 in the Lincoln-Douglas debate, going out in
the octafinal round. In Public Forum, Tate Adams & Max Powers, and Caralina
Casperson & Alex Yantis, both were knocked out in quarterfinals by Mount Si
teams that ended up as champions and runners-up. The two top-eight finishers
gave the CHS debate team 2nd overall in the Public Forum sweepstakes, which
garnered a shiny new trophy which now sits in the front office of Capital. The
CHS team also collected their Academic State Championship.
Three of the aforementioned competitors (Max Powers & Tate Adams in Public
Forum; Caralina Casperson in World Schools Debate) will represent Capital
and the Western Washington District at NSDA Nationals in Dallas this June.
Best of luck to all team members participating in the National Competition this June. Go Cougs!
OSD Students Excel at Knowledge Bowl State Tournament
Congratulations to our teams from Olympia & Capital high schools
who recently competed, and won, multiple awards at the Washington
State Knowledge Bowl Tournament. Knowledge Bowl co-coach Michael
Schaefer had this to say about the participating OSD teams: “The three
teams had a great time cheering each other on while representing
the Olympia School District with class!” Amazing work by an amazing
group of students!
Here is a breakdown of how the three district teams finished:
Oly Cow - State Champion team (4A)
Tobin Feldman-Fitzthum, Ian Culhane, August Waldron, Ernest Gu, and Nathan Yang.
Capital High School – 2nd Place (3A)
Alex Quast, Hadrian Barrett, Naomi Yamamoto, Don Li, Sophia Hesse-Morgan and LinhDang Tran
Oly Roman Empire –4th Place (4A)
Mckenzie Murray, Marshall Graham, Raven Lirio, Spencer Johnson, Warren Gu, and Eric Lloyd.
Jefferson Jaguars Secure 2015 Middle School “Battle of the Books” Victory
Congratulations to the Jefferson Middle School Battle of the Books
team, The Bard’s First String, which took home the Olympia School
District middle school traveling Battle of the Books trophy in this 11th
annual competition. Members Sowmya Duddu, Emma Gorrell, Sarah
Gorrell, Nancy Le, and David Nguyen overcame some stiff competition
from the other middle school teams on their way to hoisting the trophy.
This year’s Battle of the Books was held in the Reeves Middle School
Library and was extremely well attended by friends, families, and supporters of all teams. Great
work to all students who participated in this wonderful event, it was a pleasure watching you
compete!
Avanti High School Student Named Washington Aerospace Scholar
Now in its ninth year, the Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS) program
recently announced that Jacob Lyon of Avanti High School was selected to
participate in Phase One of their 2014-15 program cycle.
WAS is designed to connect high school juniors with educational and career
opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through
independent learning, hands-on interaction, professional guidance, and sitebased tours.
Jacob applied in fall of 2014, along with 212 student applicants from 112
different public, private, and homeschool organizations, to participate in Phase
One of the WAS Program. Jacob is now among the 151 students still participating in an online,
distance-learning curriculum. Designed by NASA and the University of Washington, the curriculum
focuses on the past, present, and future of human space travel. Participating students were able to
register to earn five University of Washington credits.
The top performing 120 students will be invited to one of three Summer Residency sessions hosted
by the Museum of Flight in July. In each summer session, four student teams will cooperate to plan
a human mission to Mars with support from professional engineers/scientists, university students,
and certificated educators. Additionally, participants receive briefings from aerospace professionals,
tour engineering facilities, and compete in hands-on engineering challenges.
These students have committed to leading the way to Mars!
Two OSD Students Earn Trip to YMCA Youth & Government Conference
Two Olympia School District High School students have earned an
invitation to represent Thurston County and Washington State at this
year’s YMCA Youth and Government Conference on National Affairs
(CONA). Sydney Kleingartner, a freshman at Capital High School and
Rakshith Mullukatte, a freshman at Olympia High School, are Thurston
County’s only representatives among 11 total youth delegates from
Washington State.
CONA is a six-day experience in which 450 students from more than thirty states meet together
at the Blue Ridge Assembly in North Carolina. CONA provides delegates an opportunity to further
their knowledge of government, meet new people, experience different viewpoints and become
a better leader. Both students submitted applications, interviewed and developed proposals on a
specific topic for group discussion.
Sydney is the youngest CONA delegate in Washington State history. She serves as freshman Class
President, swam on the Varsity Swim Team last fall and is working towards earning her Gold Award
in Girl Scouts (equivalent to the Eagle Scout award). Sydney also serves as Postmaster General
in Washington State’s YMCA Youth and Government program, leading 8th grade delegates and a
Corp of Pages.
Rakshith is a Carson Scholar recipient, a Freshman Class Representative and has won many awards
in Regional and Washington State Science Fair. He is also a Senior Counselor at Lacey Parks and
Recreation and is working towards earning his Eagle Scout by summer of this year. Rakshith serves
as a House Reading Clerk in Washington State’s YMCA Youth and Government program.
Congratulations to you both, Sydney and Rakshith, we couldn’t ask for better district representation
at the upcoming conference. Cougars and Bears working together, you can’t beat it!
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Oly Your Calendar - Upcoming Dates
Mark
• Board Meeting (Knox) - April 20 at 6:30 p.m.
• Facilities Public Forum (CHS Commons) - April 22 at 5:30pm
• Technology Fair (CHS Commons) - April 30 from 5-7:30pm
• Board Meeting (Knox) - May 4 at 6:30 p.m.
• Employee Recognition Week - May 4-8
• One-Hour Late Start (Grades K-12) - Wednesday, May 6
Except Avanti HS and Lincoln Options which will start at their regular time
• OSD Rainiers Game Night (Cheney) - May 13 at 7:05pm
• ORLA Grand Opening - May 18 from 4:30-6:30pm
• Employee Recognition Awards (ORLA) - May 18 at 6:30pm