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The La Conner Kiwanis Club High School Student of the Month for April is Yamileth O'Campo Contreras. Yami is a freshman at the La Conner High School. She is the daughter of David and Karen Contreras. Yami is active in school sports playing soccer, basketball and softball. She enjoys her science and math classes. Outside of school Yami enjoys drawing and painting as well as hanging out with friends and family. After graduating she would like to become an interior designer or an artist. The...
Jamie Damien-Sams, a senior at La Conner High School, was chosen as Soroptimist Honored student for May. Jamie has been a high school cheerleader for three years and recently received the Jamie Joe Cheer Leadership Award for "dedication to cheer squad, education and school spirit." Jamie joins the other cheer squad members supporting basketball and football teams at home and away games. Jamie has played on the LCHS softball team since eighth grade. She started in the outfield and has moved up...
La Conner School board members toured native plant gardens on Swinomish Reservation last week, a walking tour that appears to have brought the district one step closer to installing something similar as an outdoor hands-on classroom on campus. A school garden project in partnership with the Swinomish Department of Environmental Protection and Between Two Worlds indigenous science program has cultivated growing support since the concept was introduced several weeks ago by proponents Jen Willup and Morgan Brown. “The board is 100% s...
For 30 years, Suzanne Marble has preached the power of teamwork. Now, ironically, at the end of a remarkable career that has seen her guide La Conner High School volleyball teams to over 550 wins and seven state championships, Marble is collecting a series of individual honors and awards. The most recent was induction last Wednesday into the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Hall of Fame during luncheon ceremonies in Renton. Marble was inducted as part of a 2023 Hall of...
Two La Conner High School seniors have found a recipe for success in the culinary arts program at Northwest Career and Technical Academy . Li Bell and Kristina Hansen gain instruction and train two-and-a-half hours mornings in the academy's combo lecture hall/kitchen and commercial kitchen facility off Laventure Road near the Skagit Valley College campus in Mount Vernon.. The culinary program, taught by former greater La Conner resident Lyle Hildahl, prepares students for careers in restaurants,...
La Conner students stepped up their support for school staff and programs threatened by district budget cuts in a most visible way Monday. About 60 middle and high school students, many of them chanting and carrying signs, walked out of morning classes and marched downtown to make public their concerns with funding shortfalls that will force layoffs and may ax popular course offerings next year. The walkout was organized by high school junior Jack Dougliss, who spoke passionately at the April...
Advocates for a proposed native plant garden on the La Conner Schools campus have given district officials plenty of food for thought. Several people spoke passionately on behalf of the proposal during a lengthy public comments segment at the April 24 school board meeting. It was the third time the garden project – promoted by the Swinomish Department of Environmental Protection – has been addressed. Board members, in accordance with district policy, did not respond to the comments. “This isn’t a dialogue or question-and-answer session...
The impact of budget ax reality fell sharply and heavily upon La Conner Schools Monday night. And it hurt. Projections of declining student enrollment and loss of COVID-19 emergency funding forced the school board to reluctantly agree to cut four faculty positions as part of a $1.5 million cost-saving plan for the 2023-24 academic year. "This is a very sad day for our school district," Board President Susie Deyo lamented near the end of an almost two-hour meeting, much of it public comments...
Josie Harper, a senior at La Conner High School, is the Soroptimist of La Conner Honored Student for April. Josie excels in academics and sports. She is also modest. This season Josie was twice recognized for her basketball skills statewide. She was named to the 2B all-state second team by SBLive, a sports website that tracks statistics and rankings. The other was the honor of being on the all-state team. The team played a real game, in which Josie and Ellie Marble played with girls from all...
La Conner Schools officials did more than welcome their counterparts from Conway with open arms last Monday. School board president Susie Gardner Deyo also presented the Conway contingent with floral bouquets. “She’s a garden club person,” La Conner board member John Agen explained as Conway Superintendent Jeff Cravy and board representative Amy Hughes gratefully received the flowers. Gardner and the La Conner Schools team held the nearly two-hour special dinner meeting to discuss shared educational goals and to plant seeds with Conway campu...
La Conner Schools will have to make do with less in the 2023-2024 academic year. District officials were facing that as they begin crafting next year’s budget at their April 10 board study session. Declining enrollment, a smaller than anticipated apportionment of federal impact aid monies and the loss of emergency COVID-19-related funds will result in significant spending cuts, district finance director David Cram predicted in a report to school board members. “We’re looking at a $1.5 million reduction in spending to get to a $500,000 fund...
Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) is inviting high school-aged students who live or attend school in Washington’s Second Congressional District to showcase their artistic talents in the 2023 Congressional Art Competition. Art submissions and forms are due to Larsen’s office no later than Monday, May 1, at 5 p.m. All art entries must be original in concept, design and execution. Students can find details and a full list of contest rules larsen.house.gov/helping-you/2023-art-competition.htm Source: Office of Rick Larsen...
Josi Straathof is the Kiwanis Club of La Conner March High School Student of the Month. Josi is a junior. She is the daughter of Brian Straathof and DeAnna Young. She enjoys her science and history classes. She is active in school activities playing soccer and softball. She has a part in the upcoming school play, "The Odd Couple." Outside of school she is involved in art. Josi is not sure what she will study after graduation, however she is interested in animal science. Kaleb Otis is March's...
Spring break was no vacation for a cross-section of Swinomish youth. Pre-teen and high school-aged tribal students sacrificed sleeping in and lounging in front of the TV to take part in a four-day conference at the Swinomish Gym designed to build self-esteem and develop lifelong leadership skills. It was hosted by Swinomish Health Programs. By all accounts it was time well spent for the large percentage attending all four days. They were introduced to the Gathering of Native Americans (GONA)...
For decades the odds were stacked against Native American students succeeding in the U.S. educational system. Statistics bear that out. La Conner Schools faculty and staff reviewed the data during a special program featuring Dennis Eller in late March. Eller is a member of the Cherokee Nations, an administrator at Thomas Jefferson High School in Federal Way and a doctoral candidate. “I had better odds of becoming a starter in the National Football League,” Eller said at one point of his 75-minute presentation, “than I did of earning a docto...
Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) is inviting high school-aged students who live or attend school in Washington’s Second Congressional District to showcase their artistic talents in the 2023 Congressional Art Competition. Art submissions and forms are due at Larsen’s office no later than Monday, May 1, at 5 p.m. All art entries must be original in concept, design and execution. Students can find details and a full list of contest rules larsen.house.gov/helping-you/2023-art-competition.htm Source: Office of Rick Larsen...
New La Conner School Board of Directors Loran James and Kim Pedroza hit the ground running last week in a two-hour marathon meeting. James and Pedroza were appointed last month to fill sudden board vacancies. They did not have the luxury of taking time to get up to speed. And despite the length, it was a relatively fast-paced session. New ground was presented midway through in the form of a 30-minute presentation and proposal by Morgan Brown and Jen Willup of the Between Two Worlds indigenous science class to develop a native food medicine fore...
HOLDING COURT – La Conner Elementary School named its Daffodil Festival Royal Court Friday. Princess Heidi Wilbur, Prince Emmitt Alvord, King Jaydon Otis and Queen Isabella Rubalcaba will ride in a float during the La Conner Kiwanis Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Parade Saturday....
The afterglow of a stellar high school basketball season continues to shine for two La Conner High School seniors. Ellie Marble and Josie Harper have received Girls’ 2B all-state recognition from two national digital sports outlets. Marble was tabbed by SBLive, a technology partner of state associations, coaches and administrators, for first unit all-state honors. Harper was a second team selection. Both Marble and Harper were first unit All-State choices of Prep Girls Sports, a major source of in-depth hoops news and coverage, team r...
The Stanwood-Camano Branch of the American Association of University Women is accepting 2023 scholarship applications through April 29 for university students in their junior or senior year or in Master’s Degree programs. Scholarships of $10,000 will be awarded to three applicants who are current residents of La Conner, Stanwood, Camano Island, Arlington or Lakewood areas or are high school graduates from these school districts Applications are at aauwsc.org/scholarship. Source: AAUW, Stanwood-Camano...
Just months after stepping down as transportation director at La Conner Schools, Kim Pedroza is back, the newest member of the district’s board of directors. Pedroza was selected by board members last Thursday to fill the unexpired term of Lynette Cram, who the Town of La Conner director district seat when her husband, David Cram, became deputy superintendent of finance, human resources and operations. This director position is on the ballot for a full four-year term in November. Retired Dunlap Towing tugboat skipper and former La Conner F...
Kennedy Miller, a La Conner High School senior, is the Soroptimist Honored Student for the month of March. Kennedy is a very hardworking student and volunteer. She helps coach her younger sister, Maddy's La Conner Middle school basketball team. She also is a National Honor Society member and a member of the Swinomish Tribal Youth Council. As a Tribal Youth Council member, Kennedy works on beach clean-up teams and helps to serve at Swinomish elder dinners. She has been playing volleyball since mi...
On the University of Washington dean’s list for the spring 2022 quarter are La Conner area residents Geraldine Grace Costello, a senior; Daniel Andre Knudson, sophomore; and freshmen Keridwyn Mayetta Bray and Macquaid Riley Clothier Hiller. Source: UW...
School boards, by their very nature, are tasked with hard choices, tough decisions involving families’ children and money. The La Conner school board last Thursday faced a tough choice of a different kind – whom to select to fill the unexpired term of Swinomish director district representative Amanda Bourgeois, who resigned in February after three years. The decision was hard, board members said afterward, because all three applicants were well qualified. Yet, ironically, it was also an easy assignment, given that the board felt it couldn’t go...
La Conner High School families filled the library Wednesday evening to celebrate the successes of their students. Twelve sophomores and juniors and one senior accepted the invitation to join the La Conner Chapter of the National Honor Society. This organization requires that students be of good character, practice leadership skills, value academics (students must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or better) and are committed to service to their communities. Former LCHS National Honor...
