GREYWOLF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

On Dec. 11, more than 300 Greywolf students and their families gathered at school for a special night. A free dinner was served and complimentary family photos were taken. Photographer Marilyn Westman donated her time to give this gift to Greywolf families.

Students and family members wore Santa hats and Christmas pajamas.

To kick off the event, Eileen Schmitz and the team from Jace Real Estate presented a $1,000 donation to Jennifer Lopez for the school’s Family Engagement Program. Lopez won a contest by having students collect stickers from the front page of local newspapers and those efforts paid off! Keep collecting those stickers, Greywolf students!

The main event was introducing Kids at Hope to families. Kids at Hope is the idea that we don’t control most of the risk factors in children that could prevent them from being successful, but we do control much of the hope they have and so we can teach them hope.

At Greywolf, we believe all children are capable of success — no exceptions — and we are excited to involve families in helping us bring this message to our students!

HELEN HALLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Elizabeth Hall’s class did a non-fiction research project to show what they learned about reindeer. They created a “can, have, are” chart and wrote three sentences to match what they learned!

SEQUIM MIDDLE SCHOOL

The next generation of engineers are sitting in today’s classrooms at Sequim Middle School. In an attempt to incorporate more engineering into the middle school science curriculum, students in Joe Landoni’s seventh-grade science classes competed in an annual Convection Engineering Challenge.

As a capstone activity to our study of storms, weather, atmosphere and convection, students built on what they had learned and put the force of warm, rising air to work.

Teams employed the engineering design process to devise a fan blade assembly, attach it to a fishing swivel and line suspended above a hot plate set to 10, and capture the warm, rising air.

Controlled variables for this competition included the fan blade material (red card stock paper) and the distance the blade sat above the surface of the hot plate (10 cm).

Each team was given two, one-minute trials with the total number of complete spins measured. The average of these two trials became their score.

When average rpm were totaled and all calculations compete, winners were announced. Topping the list was the team of Auri Francis, Maddie Marler, Aidan Lara and Peyton Hancock, with an eye-popping average of 163.5 rpm — well over two rotations per second!

Other teams meeting their engineering goal included the teams of Mia Pozernick, Lucas Lawrence, Lance Leader, Brandon Linson and Jayke Apley (126.5 rpm), the team of Faas Christianson, Rae Douglas, Jordan Kidd and Jobe Kirner (118 rpm), the team of Talon Wilhelm and Espn Judd (97.5 rpm), and the team of Julia Jack and Kendall Hastings (90 rpm).

Congratulations to period 4 with highest overall class average of 74.5 rpm. Winning teams in each class claimed a 100 mL cylinder filled with hot tamales and cinnamon red hots candies. Way to go, next generation engineers!

SEQUIM OPTIONS SCHOOL

Students in Michelle Mahitka and Amanda Westman’s 11th- and 12th-grade Real World/Business English class at the Sequim Options School demonstrated their interview skills on Nov. 28. Practice interviews were conducted by SOS office coordinator Kayana Harrison and Sequim School Board director Robin Henrikson.

The students have worked since September to assess their skills and career interests, complete resumes and job applications and prepare for interviews.

Students in Elizabeth Hall’s class at Helen Haller Elementary School show off their research project about reindeer. Submitted photo

From left, Brooklynn Castle, Lexi Treece and Jenna Finley — students at Sequim Middle School — work to devise a fan blade assembly during the school’s Convection Engineering Challenge. Submitted photo

Greywolf Elementary School fifth-graders Alexia Constant and Chloe Tweeter show off their pink Christmas tree before heading with fellow fifth-graders to Avamere Olympic Rehabilitation of Sequim on Dec. 15. Students helped decorate and bring Christmas carols to the facility’s residents. Submitted photo