Seattle Schools Community Forum

 Update: a great story from the Times about the Ballard valedictorian this year.   Mikael Perla got diagnosed with leukemia in the middle of his freshman year.   He spent two grueling years fighting it off (with steroids causing him to have diabetes).   He could have taken time off to fight but he continued his studies.  Don't mistake Perla's persistence for arrogance. He credits his top grades to hard work and teachers who tutored him. He doesn't mention that he practically taught himself the language and math of chemistry from textbooks in bed, that he turned in every homework assignment, that he came in after school to do labs when he would be less likely to catch germs from classmates, reluctantly accepting his mom as his lab partner. Mikael Perla will attend the University of Washington in the fall after completing a summer program in engineering. He's considering a career in medicine. Good luck, Mikael - you have lots ...

Tomorrow, Sunday, April 1 , Seattle Children's Hospital will be giving away bike helmets on a first-com, first-serve basis.  They have 400 helmets to give away and your child must be present to be fitted properly.  This is happening at the Ballard Commons Park from 10 am to 1 p.m.  Salmon Bay's Leo Pfeifer won first place in C-Span's documentary video contest.  He won $3,000 and his video will be aired on C-Span on April 25th.  This is the second year in a row Leo has placed in the top tier of this competition.  Students in grades 6-12 created videos with the theme, "The Constitution and You."  They had to select any provision of the Constitution to work on.  Over 1200 videos were submitted.  Congrats to Leo, his parents and his teachers at Salmon Bay. In the Global Reading Challenge competition, two Seattle teams have advanced to the next round: Alki Elementary and Adams Elementary.   Those two teams will compete against a Canad...

A beautiful and moving video, Defining Honor, is about former Adams Elementary teacher, Joseph Skillings.  In 2008, he intervened to help a woman being harassed at a bus stop and was beaten so badly he suffered brain damage.  He is no longer able to teach but continues to volunteer and inspire at Adams.    Thank you to The Stranger Slog for this important video.