Pioneer Press Omak School District Newsletter Spring 2017 Building skills for the future Welding and Wood- shop projects teach career and life skills Our mission at Omak Schools is “creating a future for every child,” whether that means college, career or life in general. Our Career-Technical Educa- tion (CTE) programs are one way to do that. This year, they’ve done What started as sheets of aluminum has been crafted into a salmon fishing boat. some amazing things. Teacher Eric Simmons is guiding CTE Director and welding instruc- them as they rebuild a sleigh for the Loup- tor Wayne Barrett has built boats with Loup Ski Hill. It had been all rotted out, students before, but this year was the first but students learned to measure, shape, time for Omak. They started with sheets cut, epoxy, etc., to get it back to a beauti- of aluminum, and by the end of May had a ful form. fully completed boat. The two-horse sleigh will be used on Although Barrett is always supervis- the Loup, and possibly with the FFA as ing and demonstrating, the students do well. most of the work on the boat. They weld, The class is also building a shed for grind, cut, etc., to get everything just right. calving season for teacher Joy Wilson’s The class intends to sell the boat be- family. That’s been a great lesson in fram- fore the end of the school year, minimum ing, according to Simmons. bid of $10,000, to raise money for next They also spent some time working year’s project as well as a scholarship fund on a Habitat for Humanity house in Omak for students pursuing vocational or trade this past fall, and might do some more this schools. year. Over in the woodshop, students have two major projects under construction. (Continued on Page 4) Also in this edition: AP Classes 2 Student Achievements 2 Excellence Winners 3 Español en la página 7 www.omaksd.org ~ www.facebook.com/OmakSchools ~ Twitter @OmakSchools 2 Spring 2017 District Report The 2016-17 school year has been in our a very challenging and reward- ing year for Omak SD. We have a growing enrollment both in our lo- cal schools and our WAVA-Omak Music Schools online schools. Our district is now fully accredited as a District as well as is each individual school by the AdvancED/NWA group that accredits over 34,000 public and private schools and systems globally. We are only one of two Washington State school dis- tricts to achieve this standard of excellence. With our accreditation comes a specific set of continuous Above: The annual Monster Band improvement standards that will and Choir Concert gathered guide our efforts as we refine and students from several area high implement our plans to further schools to perform together Feb. improve our schools for the benefit and future of the Omak commu- 28. The Middle School held their nity. own Monster Band and Choir This year also brought us event in March. through the development of our long-range facilities plan and the Left: Music teacher Mindy Sparks resulting middle school bond leads a concert at North featuring effort. During the development of second grade classes. our facilities planning, our com- munity clearly told us we need to Bottom left: Sixth graders Grace replace OMS on a different site Worden and Elisabeth Bedard for a number of valid academic play trumpet for the Spring Band and social reasons. When it came time to look at the financing of concert. The high school and mid- the project, the voting community dle school groups combine four clearly does not want to engage times in a school year for band the project in its current form or and choir concerts. Final concerts cost. The fact that the building is were held May 30 and 31, after at the end of its life and cannot be this newsletter’s deadline. modernized at a reasonable cost remains. In the coming months Student achievements our Board and facilities team will review and perhaps revise the Nilles breaks school shotput record on to play college sports with scholar- project scope and prepare to put Senior Ryan ships attached. it before the voters again. We do Nilles not only got Nashoni Boyd signed on to play for know from the experience of many first place in shotput Bellevue College, along with her team- of our neighboring school districts, at a track meet April mate Rhaney Harris to play softball. that it often takes several attempts 15, he also broke the Trisha Priest will play soccer for the to get the voter approval needed to 1982 school record, Wenatchee Valley College Knights. fund a new school. held by Tracy Goff. Alex O’Dell will head to Spokane Our community may expect Nilles threw a 55’ Community College to play tennis. a number of opportunities to 9”, beating the record Ryan Nilles will go to Central actively participate in improv- by about 2 inches and landing himself at Washington University to play football ing teaching and learning as well top ranking for the state. and track. as engage in the planning and League and state competitions were Nolan Springer is headed to Rocky continued effort to improve and held in May, after this newsletter’s dead- Mountain college, also for football and replace school facilities geared to line. Updates on rankings and scores are track. a rapidly changing, technology available online. driven economy. Boyd earns Merit Award Erik Swanson Athletes sign on to play college sports Senior Nashoni Boyd was awarded Superintendent So far, six of our seniors have signed the High School Merit Award for 2017 3 Spring 2017 Excellence winners awarded Omak School District has named high school English teacher “Tracey puts students first and yet still holds them to a Tracey Orr the Certificated Employee of the Year, and Mainte- pretty high standard,” High School Principal David Kirk said. nance Director Tim Engh the Classified Employee of the Year. “Tracey uses creative ideas to help reach her students and The two were honored along with colleagues from nine help them to want to learn each day,” one other schools in the area on April 27 at the annual Excellence nominator said. “I am thankful Tracey is a Banquet. teacher at OHS!” Tim Engh “She cares so much about all of us,” Senior Engh marked 20 years with the district this May. He over- Faith Bourn said. sees maintenance and operation – everything from pipe breaks to Friend and fellow teacher Melody Pecha snow-plowing, minor remodeling and painting. said she loves Tracey as a friend and teacher, But Engh doesn’t just assign tasks to but she also had a personal reason to nominate his crew, according to one of the nomina- Tracey, since she was the one who inspired her son to read. tion forms. “He is often working alongside “He wouldn’t read a book - he would read the page numbers, them and checking to see how projects are but he wouldn’t read a book,” Pecha said. “But she got my son to progressing. Tim is behind the scenes making read a book.” sure things are accomplished in a timely man- Congratulations to both our winners and thanks to both of ner and doesn’t accept credit for work that is you for all you do to support students and staff in our district! accomplished. He deflects credit to his staff.” Engh is on-call at all times, working early mornings espe- cially during snow season and staying late when there are issues. He also chairs the district Safety Committee. “Tim works a lot of hours after hours,” maintenance crew member Chad Morrison said. “Tim’s the guy that comes in and makes sure that things get back to a safe order and are ready the next day for school.” “His passion for providing the best possible environment for students and staff to work in is incredible,” Superintendent Erik Swanson said. Tracey Orr Orr has been at Omak schools for 9 years. She teaches English, including AP English classes for juniors and seniors, and serves on several committees with a goal to improve the school and district. Her coworkers praised her dedication to education and high Photo by Eldene Wall, NCESD standards for herself and others. Tracey and Tim were honored at the Excellence Banquet. at the recent Washington State Indian takes into consideration the size, scope, Education Association Conference. This quality and skills learned during her award is given to graduating seniors who equine Supervised Agriculture Experience have completed community service hours, (SAE). demonstrated academic success and par- Krista’s SAE includes purchasing and ticipated in extracurricular activities. raising horses, which she trains for popu- lar rodeo events and sells. In addition to Duck advances to State Solo marketing horses, she participates in rodeo Senior Kodie Duck competed with events and barrel racing which has added her French Horn to win the regional to income for this SAE. Krista is now a finalist for the Star NCW Music Educator’s Association Solo State Farmer. Contest in February. She then advanced to compete at State in late April. FFA earns first place in National Chapter Duck has also taken part in the All- At State Convention, the Omak FFA Chapter won first State Band in past years. place for National Chapter, a competition that looks at the chapter’s overall activities as well as a presentation from Marchand named Star Farmer members Matthan Hale, Cassie Lange and Linda Harper.