The Highline Schools Foundation for Excellence recently honored five outstanding individuals in education at its eighth annual Gold Star Awards fundraising luncheon at the Doubletree Guest Suites in Southcenter.

Scott McComb from Aviation High School received the honor as the Outstanding Teacher of the Year, Diana Garcia, principal at Bow Lake Elementary School received the Administrator of the Year award, Mike Castro, security officer at Chinook Middle School, was named Outstanding Classified Employee of the Year and Alice McGregor from Bow Lake Elementary took the award of Outstanding Volunteer of the Year.

A Lifetime Achievement Award went to Joe McGeehan, former Highline Public Schools superintendent,

John Curley, host of Evening Magazine on KING-TV, emceed the event. The executive event sponsor was Powell Homes and event sponsors were Countrywide Home Loans, Rogers & Norman Insurance and the Boeing Company. The Robinson Newspapers served as the media sponsor.

The Gold Star luncheon is the primary fundraiser for the foundation and was attended by 300 local business, education, government and community leaders, raising $80,000.

"The highlight for me was seeing what our community's effort could yield in terms of classroom enrichment, student learning and access to higher learning," said board of trustees president Holly Moore.

With a theme of, "What if?" the program showcased the foundation's many programs and featured students from throughout the district.

Sisters Maren and Olivia Gibson from Marvista Elementary School sang the National Anthem, the Seahurst Honors Choir led by Theresa Fornalski performed three songs, and Giovanni Del Toro, currently attending the University of Washington, spoke about the benefits that he received from winning the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Scholarship.

Guitarists from Tyee High School, Kyle Calamion, Arturo Oregon and Uriel Palaxios-Chavez, provided pre-event entertainment and Philip Thelin, an 8th grader from Sylvester Middle School, played the bagpipes to conclude the event.

In a spin-off of "Evening Magazine" the program featured "Highline Magazine" and showed video clips from four classrooms that benefited from the foundation's excel grant programs.

The foundation was established in 2001. With a mission "To develop community resources to help students succeed", the foundation is the only 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization supporting all Highline public schools. The Foundation supports academic achievement, classroom grants, scholarships, and the arts.