February 2016

Thanks to the generosity of our members, and an organizational partnership with the Burien/White Center Rotary Club, Discover Burien was able to establish a scholarship fund this year to help the students in our community achieve their education and career goals.  The organization is proud to announce the first recipient is Jose Niizuma.  Jose is a senior at Highline High School where he maintains a 3.7 GPA as well as participates in athletics and serves as the president of the national honor society.  Jose is also active in the Burien community volunteering at Sylvester Middle School as well as Highline Hospital where he discovered his love of medicine.  He hopes to attend medical school and return to Burien as an emergency department physician.  “I am so excited and grateful to the Discover Burien board and organization, thank you” offered Jose when he was notified that he would receive $2,500 in a scholarship award this year.

Cascade Warbirds, an organization that promotes the restoration, preservation, operation and public display of historically significant military aircraft, is continuing to seek scholarship applications for Private Pilot Ground School with Introductory Flights to inspire today's young people to become the aviation pioneers of tomorrow.
 
Cascade Warbirds has teamed with Galvin Flight Service at Boeing Field, Seattle, to provide scholarship recipients with tuition, books and supplies, and two introductory instructional flights.  The ground school portion comprises classroom lectures, visual presentations, group discussions, practical exercises, and field trips over a period of approximately 55 hours.  Classes generally meet two weeknights per week for two and one-half hours and one Saturday per week for four hours over a period of six weeks.   Successful completion of this Private Pilot Ground School will qualify a student to take the FAA Private Pilot Written Exam.
 
 

OLYMPIA—Alexis Kongmanivong, 15, served as a page in the Washington State Senate during the fourth week of the 2016 Legislative Session. Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, sponsored Kongmanivong’s week in the Legislature.
 
“Alexis was a very bright and kind young woman,” said Keiser. “She added great value to our office and I have no doubt she will use well what she learned during her experience.”
 
During their week at the Legislature, pages assist senators and staff, hear lectures from guest speakers, and attend page school where they create their own bills in a mock committee setting. Kongmanivong worked on a bill regarding later school start times. Her bill focused on high schools and proposed a start time between 8 and 9 a.m., to be decided by individual schools.
 
“It was cool to go through the whole bill process and to feel how legislators feel,” she said. “I think it’s a great way — the best way — to learn about the legislative process.”
 

By Ken Robinson
Managing Editor

When we were younger than teenagers, Dad's cars were not particularly interesting to me and my four brothers. The 1950 Chartreuse Green Plymouth station wagon, the one where younger brother Tim got a smashed finger in the tailgate, was the first one we remember. He got the end of his middle finger ripped off. He ran inside. Mom scooched it back over the bone and gave him a bandage.

The wagon carried our family of seven until Dad got a pea green1951 Chrysler in 1955. That's the car we took to Disneyland the year it opened. We towed a 12-foot trailer Dad rented for a local guy. On the way home on a freeway outside of Anaheim, the trailer hitch broke loose and the trailer traveled up next to the car as if it wanted to pass on the right, then wobbled into a soft sand shoulder and stopped.

Inspirus Credit Union donated 34 computer workstations and nine laptops to the Highline School District to support its nationally recognized computer science program. The White House recently praised Highline among 25 public school districts nationwide for its commitment to giving every student the opportunity to learn computer science.
The workstation and laptop donation, valued at more than $12,000, helps support the district’s growing computer science program, which now includes all its high school campuses and is expanding to middle schools.

This is Inspirus Credit Union’s first major in-kind donation to the Highline School District. Last fall, Inspirus partnered with the Federal Way School District to provide printers to schools at every level in the district.
“We’re honored to help support Highline’s vision to ensure all students graduate tech-savvy and tech-literate,” said Inspirus Vice President of Information Technology Kris Hanson. “Schools are so grateful to receive up-to-date surplus technology, and it’s one more meaningful way for us to give back to education.”

Born September 1, 1920 in Washougal, WA to Charles and Bertha (Dibble) Roth, Verle Roth, beloved husband, father, grandfather, uncle and friend, passed away February 8, 2016.

He graduated from high school in Camas, WA, attended the University of Washington School of Forestry, and joined the US Army Air Corps where he flew the B-17 Flying Fortress during WWII. Verle met his lifelong love, Evelyn Marie Matteson, in 1942 and they married October 7, 1943. Due to military assignments during flight training, they lived in various places around the United States.

After Army service, Verle joined United Airlines as a pilot to retirement. They eventually settled in Renton, Normandy Park and NE Tacoma, WA.

An active member of St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Federal Way, Verle’s faith in God carried him though his life. He loved to golf, fish, travel and spend time with family and friends.

You are invited! Highline is holding community conversations in all four high school service areas. What are the high school experiences you want for your students in the future? How can our high schools better prepare students for college and careers? Share your ideas at a community forum.
 
The conversation will include:
 
• The need to expand the opportunities for rigorous coursework in all schools, resulting in equity and parity across high schools in our system. 
 
• How we will ensure students meet the new state Career- and College-Ready Graduation Requirements (also known as Core 24), which will increase the credit requirement to 24 credits starting with the class of 2021. 
 
• Potential school schedule changes necessary to meet the new graduation requirements. This could include changes to the master schedule and start/dismissal times.
 

by Tim Takechi

Dr. Givings considers himself to be a “man of science” who marvels at society’s latest technological innovations and their ability to aid his medical practice. Unbeknownst to the rational and kind-hearted doctor is that his latest creation, a state-of-the-art vibrating contraption, mysteriously keeps his female patients coming back to his office for more and more “treatment.”

Burien Actors Theatre’s newest production, just in time for Valentine’s Day, isn’t your usual sex comedy. Rather, “In the Next Room, or the vibrator play” by talented playwright Sarah Ruhl is a poignant exploration of not just sexuality, but of the people who engage in the still-taboo subject of sex.

The star of the show is Jessica Robins, who plays Dr. Givings’ (Wade Hicks) chatty yet deeply conflicted wife, Catherine Givings. Robins portrays an extroverted woman who wholeheartedly supports her husband’s business despite feeling more isolated from him each passing day.

Artists United takes over the entire Burien Arts Gallery in March for the group’s Annual Juried Art Show.  Normally, Artists United members display their work in one section of the gallery.
 
Since 1949, Artists United's mission has been to encourage individual artistic development and to bring art into the community.  Artist United members work in a variety of styles and media, including watercolor, acrylic, oil, pastel, mixed media, photography, pottery, printmaking, glass and jewelry. 
 
The Juried Show is comprised solely of Artist United members’ work.   The Show is juried by Jacqui Beck, whose work may be viewed at www.jacquibeck.com.
 
Jacqui will also display one of her works at the show.  Jacqui’s artwork is colorful and expressive. Working in acrylics and mixed media, she paints a wide variety of subject matter with a sense of depth and whimsy. She believes that art, like life, is an unfolding process of intention and accident.  Jacqui’s award-winning acrylic paintings are collected and exhibited in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and New Zealand.