Partnership Press
Summer 2015
Newsletter of the Anchorage School Business Partnership Program • (907) 339-7278 • www.asdk12.org/depts/sbp
IBEW Local 1547 Believes in the Power of Education IBEW Local 1547’s involvement with the School Business Partnership began in 2001 with Denali Montessori. Over the years, IBEW has underwritten many events for Denali families including the beginning of the year BBQ, end of the year ice cream social, science nights, family spaghetti feeds, RIF Books for students, backpacks and school supplies for students in need, holiday and food baskets to help families needing a little extra assistance, attendance recognition and more. Starting with one partnership, IBEW’s involvement has grown tremendously throughout the years to include agreements throughout the entire school district, including Wendler Middle School, Polaris K-12, North Star Elementary, King Career Center, and the Child in Transition/Homeless Program. Child in Transition(CIT)/Homeless Program Partnering with the Child in Transition (CIT)/Homeless Program gives the IBEW the opportunity to provide non
career related opportunities to youth in need throughout the Anchorage School District. In 2011 IBEW and North Star Elementary teamed up to work with CIT and sponsor a Fall Carnival so all CIT students could enjoy the food and games for free. CIT helps to arrange transportation for students and their families to attend the event. North Star provides the facility, volunteers for the event and candy for all of the booths and IBEW sponsors the food, inflatables and even a DJ. Hundreds of CIT families have had the opportunity to participate in this amazing event. King Career Center The partnership with the King Career Center began over 10 years ago. The Apprenticeship Director at that time saw the potential to give a couple top notch students a great career opportunity directly out of high school. The first student that received the honor of a direct interview was Ryan Andrew. Today Ryan has not only proven to be a great asset in his field, he is also now a Wiremen continued on page 19
A solution to the problem of acronyms You may have noticed that the Anchorage School District is immersed in the world of acronyms. Even those of us in that world have a hard time remembering what they all stand for. To make things easy for us, the school board has developed an acronyms guide. You can find a link in the side bar from all the School Board pages, the Community page and the Parents page on the school district website or download it at: www.asdk12.org/parents/acronyms
SBP Co-Chair Leverette Hoover surprises Kayla Craft with a $500 scholarship from the School Business Partnership Board of Directors. Kayla served as a student representative on the SBP board for 5 years. Board of Directors Jan Abbott, RurAL Cap David Alexander, Nine Star Education & Employment Services Jay Blury, Northrim Bank Kayla Craft, Dimond High School Adele Daniels, JBER Heidi Embley, Anchorage School District Michael Graham, Anchorage School District Steve Halloran, Visit Anchorage Phyllis Halverson, BMW of Anchorage Brenda Hansen, Anchorage Chamber of Commerce JJ Harrier, GCI Leverette Hoover, Siemens Industry Inc. David Kennedy, Wells Fargo
James Kirkland, Alaska VA Healthcare Sabra Million, Carlile Transportation Services Karin Parker, SAVE High School Laarni Power, Providence Health & Services Jeff San Juan, Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority Brian Singleton, Begich Middle School Anita Stevens, Chinook Elementary School Tara Stevens, BP Don Thompson, Aurora Vending Marla Thompson, AAA Alaska Tim Thompson, Alaska Airlines Julie Vincek, King Career Center Dora Wilson, NECA/IBEW
Advisory Board Sharon Chriss, GCI Judith Crotty, Wells Fargo Bank Bettye Davis, Anchorage School Board Representative Bethany Fernandez, ASD Career Technical Education Lydia Garcia, National Education Association Nikki Giordano, Anchorage Homebuilders Association Sheila Lomboy, Wells Fargo
James Odoardo, Nana Management Services Kathleen Plunkett, ConocoPhillips Lynn Shaver, MoneyWorks Inc. Andie Stone, Jermain, Dunnagan & Owens Tim Sullivan, Alaska Railroad Corporation Dale Tran, Kaladi Brothers Coffee Natasha von Imhof, Anchorage School Board Representative
Honorary Board Tam Agosti-Gisler, School Business Partnerships James Blasingame, Alaska Railroad Corporation Bob Dickson, Atkinson Conway Ernie Hall, Alaska Furniture Mfrs., Inc. Jeff Leonard, Leonard & Martens, LLC Rich Owens, Tastee Freez
Mark Rhodes, Credit Union 1 Sharon Sellens, Kid Proof Barbara Stallone, The Human Resource Umbrella LLC Jim Utter, School Business Partnerships Chris Wilson, Subway of Alaska, Inc.
Executive Director  Cheri Spink 339-7278  sbpartnerships@gmail.com 2
School Business Partnerships
BP celebrates 20 years of honoring teachers On April 30, a room full of past and present awardwinning teachers, principals and their families and friends enjoyed delicious hord’ovres and music at the 20th Annual BP Teachers of Excellence celebration. Being recognized this year were Sarah Afoa, Heather Beck, Lee Butterfield, Jennifer Childress, Tommy Heinrich Jr., Jacqueline Hoover, David Kinder, Minoo Minaei, Patti Paiz and Scott Shumway. Each of the winners received a $500 gift card and award certificate and an additional $500 for their school. Heather Beck was selected as the Anchorage Teacher of The Year and was awarded an additional $1,500 scholarship for continuing education and a plaque featuring artwork by Alaska Native artist Lenwood Saccheus. The awards began as a way to recognize outstanding teachers and encourage excellence. Janet Weiss, president of BP Alaska shared “We see results in
our investment. Teachers who inspire and motivate children are the most precious resource. We see daily the impact that educators have on our children.” Outside of the awards BP expands its commitment to education in many ways. BP matches nearly five million dollars statewide for educational use. Employees mentor students, judge in science and math fairs, help with special events and projects, provide teacher and student internships and training opportunities and provides a representative to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the Anchorage School Business Partnership. In the past 20 years BP has recognized 622 educators. Thank you BP for celebrating the talent and dedication of these education professionals and for the many ways you leverage your assets to the benefit of our schools.
H&R Block Budget Challenge
Throughout the year English teacher Amanda Terryberry worked with interested students on the H&R Block Budget Challenge Program. At the prom assembly H&R Block representatives came and handed her a check for $7,500 to Chugiak High School as a prize for doing so well with her volunteer group of students. The H&R Block Budget Challenge is an online national financial literacy simulation and competition with weekly challenges of keeping up with bills and handling emergencies with a set income and a 401K retirement Students Jake Schoelen, Hunter Russell, Sam Davis, Emmett Hall, Kyle Brown, plan. In addition to weekly reminders Goldnu Vue pose with Amanda Terryberry, teacher at Chugiak HS with their $7,500 award check. to pay bills on time and handle any daily financial surprises, Mrs. Terryberry helped her student group climb the national ladder with her team finishing in 5th place in the nation out of 677 teams. H&R Block wants to equip kids with financial skills they will need to succeed. Helping teens understand money is an investment in everyone’s future. More than 32,000 students from all 50 states participated in the program. Congratulations Mrs. Terryberry and student participants at CHS.
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12th Annual Alaska Nihongo Contest
Dynamite volunteers help with dioramas Members of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce assisted third grade students from Northwood Elementary creating diorama boxes at the Loussac Library. The theme was from the book they were reading “Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief”.
On Saturday, March 28, the 12th Annual Alaska Nihongo Contest (Japanese Speech Contest) was held at UAA. This statewide K-16 event is sponsored by the Alaska Association of Teachers of Japanese, one of ASD World Languages’ Business Partners. This year there were 217 contestants and approximately 300 participants from the ASD, Mat-Su and even from Fairbanks. The full day event included skits, songs and speeches for a variety of levels as well as cultural performances and demonstrations, calligraphy and origami. Superintendent Ed Graff offered words of praise and encouragement in his closing remarks just prior to the awards ceremony.
Fab Lab a fabulous opportunity for students Twenty eight students from Ptarmigan Elementary and Mt. View Elementary 21st Century Schools Programs participated in a four week long program to learn about the Cook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC) Fabrication Lab or “Fab Lab”. Tasha Ryder from CITC visited the afterschool programs to teach the students how to complete designs in Gimp, a web-based software program. Once the students had prepared the designs, they visited the CITC Fab Lab and made their creations. This project is part of the on-going School Business Partnership between ExxonMobil and the Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Curriculum Department to enhance STEM opportunities for all students in the Anchorage School District.
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School Business Partnerships
Business members have great things to say about King Career Center Career Day
The King Career Center hosted another successful career exploration fair for high school students this spring. Representatives from many different businesses took time to speak with hundreds of students interested in finding out about career opportunities and available jobs.
Cheryl Johnson and Marina Jarvis of Northern Air Cargo enjoy speaking to students about career opportunities at their company.
Rebecca Young of IBEW shares her love for the trades at the career fair.
“I appreciate that students are willing to shake hands, introduce themselves and come well prepared with a resume. We love to see the variety of industries represented at this event.”
“It’s a great event. I am a female electrician and love to get girls interested in the trades. I teach electrical classes and this event gives me opportunities to ask girls if they ever considered being an electrician.”
—Marina Jarvis, Program Manager for Northern Air Cargo.
—Rebecca Young, IBEW.
Make it Monday forum
Kim Williams and Carrie Osgood find potential new employees for JC Penney.
“We were really impressed with how prepared the kids were. We came before the holidays and found several employees and there are a handful that are still with us today.” —Kim Williams and Carrie Osgood of JC Penney.
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Central Middle School students Olivia Wagner and Diannys Rodrigues make a presentation about their school business partners at the Make It Monday forum at the Dena’ina Center. Susitna Elementary school students Yanay Rojas and Eric Burns talk about their partners at the Make It Monday forum at the Dena’ina Center.
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Great time at the Symphony Russian class students and teacher Mrs. Ekberg-Brown enjoyed the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra’s “An Evening at the Ballet” featuring several Russian ballet compositions and two dancers from the Joffrey Ballet. They also enjoyed seeing their band teacher Mr. Martinson playing his tuba with the symphony. Tickets for the class was donated by the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra. Here is what some students had to say about the experience:
“It was a wonderful production and I enjoyed it immensely. The symphony was spectacular to listen to and the performers were inspiring.” —Hannah Smith
School Business Partnership team at the 2015 Charity Walk in downtown Anchorage.
“The performance was amazing. I especially liked the music that was played from Swan Lake.” —Gail Swartz “It was a very enjoyable experience and the performance itself was no less than amazing.” —Canyon Cogdell
Joy Hartlieb, Alaska Dept. of Labor Wage and Hour investigator speaks to eighth-grade students at Mirror Lake Middle School.
Partners support the Russian state competition The Spoken Competition of Russian held at the State and Regional Event on March 27, was made possible in large part to the generous support of school business partners. Eagle River Carrs/Safeway donated two fruit trays. Eagle River WalMart donated several large sandwich trays. Jitters provided several large containers of local coffee and Eastern European Deli and Store donated borsch, a traditional tasty beet soup. University of Alaska, Anchorage provided presenters and volunteer judges. The competition included the combined scores of three commissions; Oral Speech, Area Studies and Memorized Poetry and Reading of Text Questions or a Retelling of the Text. Students from around the state gathered at the ASD Education Center to share their knowledge of Russian language and culture. They also enjoyed learning and performing two Russian folk dances. 6
School Business Partnerships
Welcome One Hour Fireweed Cleaners as Chugiak High School’s newest School Business Partner For many years, One Hour Fireweed Cleaners, a family business has helped out the ASD and the community with the Coats for Kids project. We are pleased to welcome them as an official School Business Partner. One hour Fireweed Cleaners cleans left behind coats and jackets from the school’s lost and found so that they can be donated back to Chugiak students when they return to school in need of warm apparel. This year, they participated in a joint school project cleaning the Grandfather Frost Festival costumes for the Russian Immersion Program held at Turnagain Elementary. This is an annual community-wide event, to which Chugiak students and families are invited to participate each year. One Hour Fireweed Cleaners, managed by JT Hampton, also supports the Key Club efforts by cleaning donated clothes to the Professional Closet. This CHS service club last year started the Professional Closet to help out students going to interviews, but not having the professional attire to wear to these potential places of employment. The community has graciously donated the interview clothes and the Key Club has set up the Professional Closet for students to use when clothing for interviews is needed.
Confucius Classroom at Bartlett
Tomo No Kais Art Festival
Bartlett High School Chinese teacher Yan Wang (left) stands with Mengjing Zhang, who just arrived from China last week. Mengjing will work at Bartlett with Ms. Wang and her classes for one calendar year serving as a Chinese Language and Cultural Expert as part of Bartlett’s grant award from the UAA Confucius Institute and Bartlett’s designation of having a Confucius Classroom. Next fall there will be a special ceremony for the official opening of a Confucius Classroom at Bartlett and within the Anchorage School District.
Sand Lake Japanese Immersion teachers Izumi Matsushita and Kaori Shrestha stand with a piece of art created by the fourth grade Japanese Immersion class at Sand Lake. It is a framed and hand-colored paper quilt of the Hirigana alphabet and was auctioned off at Tomo No Kai’s Art Festival and Auction fundraiser held at the Bill Sheffield Rail Depot on April 11. Tomo No Kai is the parent group that supports the K-12 Japanese Immersion Program and its fundraising efforts maintain sponsoring the Japanese interns, completion cord items, inbound and outbound student exchanges to/from Chitose, and a variety of curricular items. They are also an official Business Partner with ASD World Languages.
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Partners share food and appreciation for one another Begich Middle School students organized a luncheon to thank their business partners at the end of the school year. Volunteers from the Air Force 3rd Maintenance Squadron and Ed Wing of Fred Meyer were treated to a full buffet and the company of students and staff of the School Business Partnership class at Begich.
“We have had a partnership with Begich for a long time and it is an privilege to keep it going. At Begich there are airplanes hanging in the halls that we helped the students build. This year we helped science classes build remote control airplanes and then helped them fly them. Being invited to this lunch is an honor and a good opportunity to meet with the kids and learn about their generation and their program. We also give them a better understanding of the military and what we do.”
Whitney D’Atri, Michelle Barton and students of the School Business Partnership class treat 1st LT Eric Johnson, MSgt Dan Smith, Major Christopher Smith, SMSgt Thomas O’Connell from the Air Force 3rd Maintenance Squadron to lunch.
— MSgt Dan Smith.
Teacher Michelle Barton was pleased with the students. “They planned all of it. When they went to the School Business Partnership awards luncheon they decided that they would like to have their own appreciation luncheon to honor all of their partners.” Nice job Begich! At the ASD Education Center Dora Wilson of IBEW carried in a bag of bottled water and drinks to go with a full buffet that she ordered for the staff of the Child in Transition program. IBEW has been a partner and supporter of this program two years and a partner with several schools in the district for many years. “Food is always a great way to thank folks for what they do,” said Wilson. “They work really hard to give support to children in difficult situations and we are happy to show them that they are appreciated.” The staff was visibly touched by this gesture.
The Child in Transition staff with Dora Wilson of IBEW enjoy a delicious Mexican food buffet.
Michelle Barton, teacher at Begich and Ed Wing of Fred Meyer enjoy lunch and camaraderie. 8
School Business Partnerships
ExxonMobil is introducing the next generation of women to engineering The room was buzzing with excitement as many young brains worked together to tackle a challenge. The event was Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day sponsored by School Business Partner ExxonMobil. The goal of the event was to introduce girls to engineering at a young age before they begin to think about the classes they want to take in high school and to experience how fun engineering can be. The girls discovered that engineering is creative problem solving. At the event, girls from all of the middle schools in the Anchorage School District and some home school students were mixed into teams. Their first project was to design the tallest free-standing balloon sculpture they could construct using only balloons and masking tape. Next they explored eight stations set up with different types of engineering disciplines such as mechanical, petroleum, civil, electrical, computer science, loss prevention, geological/ reservoir, materials and chemical. At one station, middle school students introduced robotics. Following the stations, participants had an opportunity to listen to a panel of female engineers and ask questions such as “What do you like most about your career?” After enjoying a lunch provided by ExxonMobil, the girls set to work on their final project. The challenge was to use cardstock and masking tape to design and build a roller coaster that would keep a marble on a track for the longest time. Inexperienced designers built roller coasters that were too steep so the marble went flying to the end. They had to rethink their designs and make adjustPartnership Press
ments to slow the marble. In the end, the winning team kept their marble in motion for 19 seconds. Jenna Desmarais, a 25-year-old mechanical engineer and the Materials Management Advisor for the Point Thomson project said, “My favorite part of Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day was that students were sorted into teams with girls they didn’t know and then had to work together to successfully complete the challenges.” Asked why she volunteered at the event, she responded, “I didn’t have women role models in engineering when I was in school. I may have thought about going into engineering earlier if I did. I want to be a role model to help girls understand that they too can be engineers.” ExxonMobil won the Superintendent Award at the School Business Partnership’s Spirit of Tomorrow Awards luncheon this year. Their commitment to education is noteworthy and with their assistance we may see a surge of confident and capable young women engineers in the near future! Engineer Jenna Desmarias inspires girls at Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day 9
Group shot of Wells Fargo JA in a Day volunteers at North Star Elementary.
The old and the new volunteer sponsors of Junior Achievment in a Day In their seventh year of the program, 22 Wells Fargo staff came to celebrate Teach Children to Save Day a national initiative supported by the bank and organized by Junior Achievement. JA in a Day brings business members into the schools to teach students lessons on financial literacy, workforce readiness and entrepreneurship. Each volunteer spent a full day in a classroom at North Star Elementary school reaching all 420 students. Volunteers are provided a curriculum provided by Junior Achievement through sponsorship donations. Wells Fargo is pleased to be the longest running sponsor and participant in the Anchorage JA in a Day program. Marcus Wilson, principal of North Star says he has seen a lot of students blossom at his school due to the partnership with Wells Fargo. In addition to JA in a Day they have formed relationships with students as Big Brothers Big Sisters, readers come every week to work with students and recently Powell Gallagher and Stephanie Won of Delta Western with a combination of community fundraising efforts and wait for students to come take them to their class. a contribution made by Wells Fargo, North Star will be purchasing an electric reader board. For the first time Saltchuk Corporation sponsored JA in a Day at Susitna Elementary School this spring. “It is nice to be able to give back. There were a lot of people who did things for me; coaches, teachers and it is great to be able to return the favor. The kids are our future.� said Powell Gallagher of Delta Western.
Volunteers from Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE); Christian Diane, Leigha Ducharme, Vicky Hiltwein and Ashley Slater are prepared to teach. 10
School Business Partnerships
Look what these partners have to say about their partnership “We felt strongly at Midtown Family Connection that not only did we want to come alongside and serve Lake Otis Elementary in the events and activities that they already do, but we wanted to offer something that was a gift to them where students, parents, and staff could simply come and enjoy the experience. So we put together a “Spring Scavenger Hunt” that we did on Saturday March 28 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. There were two scavenger hunts, an outdoor one for the K-2 graders, and an indoor one for 3-6 graders. In addition there were activity and game booths, as well as a general store where they could redeem tickets that they found in the plastic eggs. There was also a free chili and cornbread lunch served. There were approximately 130 kids who participated and 250 including family members and 32 volunteers from the two churches. It was a wonderful event where we felt like we could say to the school that we love being part of this community and want to give kids and their families fun and encouraging opportunities to be together. We also hoped to say to the amazing staff and faculty of the school that what they do matters and that we want to support them in any way we can. This event and the chances we have had to be in the classroom, help provide and pack food for weekend food bags for kids in need, and provide support to their other
Partnership Press
school events have awakened a real desire in the two churches that make up MFC to serve outside the walls of our churches. We love the relationship we are building and look forward to a growing and mutually rewarding partnership with Lake Otis Elementary.” Jeff Wiesinger, pastor of Alliance Bible Church, one of the two churches in Midtown Family Connection
“We have only been partners with Midtown Family Connection for a year but the partnership is timeless. They have integrated into our school so effortlessly. MFC provides food for weekend food program and volunteers on so many different levels. Jeff and Jim came to us and said they want to do this event for us like they aren’t already amazing. Midtown Family Connection took care of the whole event from advertising to clean up. Our families and staff were blown away by the magnitude of the event. Midtown Family Connection stuffed 3000 eggs for the kids to find. They had prize baskets for a few students as well as the general store. They had lunch. It was absolutely amazing!” exclaimed Jen Stoneburner, Family/School Partnership Coordinator at Lake Otis Elementary
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Trade unions award apprenticeships and training for six lucky King Career Center students NECA/IBEW Local 1547 awarded Torrie Richter and Preston Bolton a golden ticket to the electrical school complete with a guaranteed apprenticeship. “The partnership with the King Career Center (KCC) is a group effort. They provide top-notch training instilling the value of hard work and a strong work ethic. We have had great success with KCC students in our training program.” Exclaimed Jon Medaris of IBEW Local 1547. Ryan Andrews, one of the first students to be selected for an apprenticeship with the electrical union, came to welcome the new students. He went through the training apprenticeship and now is an instructor himself. James Elam, teacher at KCC who worked with each of these students said they overcame significant challenges and will be excellent employees. In a touching speech, student Peyton Wright shared his personal story, one of a need to drop out of school to support his parents and siblings and moving out of state. Feeling that he was “going nowhere” he took the initiative to return to Alaska to get his high school degree. When he heard about the Gold Card and apprenticeship he set his sights on being one of the students selected and worked really hard to prove he could do it. A loving foster family and supportive KCC staff gave him encouragement and guidance and were there to cheer him on as he signed his apprenticeship contract. “May 1 marks the day of a new beginning for Peyton.” said Medaris. Medaris was also pleased to announce that this year the KCC electrical program has been officially recognized 12
as a Pre-apprenticeship Program with the Department of Labor. This was made possible through the partnership that NECA/IBEW has had over the years helping to design the program to align with state standards. Mike Piekarski of Alaska Laborers Local 341 said, “We have high expectations and expect these students to rise to those expectations. Dillon McCarthy was selected this year because he is willing to work hard and has a great positive attitude and that is what we look for. He will succeed in his apprenticeship because of these traits.” Dillon said, “I am very excited to start my training and my new career.” Logan Lammers and Peyton Wright were awarded an apprenticeship with the Carpenters Union Local 1281. Their KCC instructor Lowel Kent said, “These two men were my go-to guys. Whenever I needed them, they were there. Those are the type of employees they are going to be.” Peyton said, ”I did poorly in ninth and 10th grade. Then when I was encouraged to go to KCC I discovered that I liked using my hands and building things. When I found out about the Carpenters Union apprenticeship opportunity, I was very excited about it. Now it is a real joy to go to school.” Kevin Hanley of the Pile Drivers, Bridge, Dock Builders and Drivers Local 2520 said he felt the same way when he went to school. He knew that college wasn’t what he wanted and when he discovered the trades, it changed his life. He was pleased to be giving this life changing opportunity to Ryan Roberts and Jesse Healy. School Business Partnerships
Healy wasn’t selected for the apprenticeship his senior year but did not give up. He continued to keep in contact with his teachers and counselors at KCC so he could apply again and his dogged determination paid off. The Union recognized his drive and awarded him the apprenticeship a year after he graduated. Congratulations to these new apprentices who have worked hard to succeed, have earned this reward and in many cases have defied the odds. We also applaud these Union partners who have helped to guide KCC staff in developing meaningful and practical classroom practices and for recognizing the hard work and dedication of these students by giving them these lifetime opportunities.
2015 Young People of Achievement Awards Congratulations to YWCA Alaska’s 2015 class of Young People of Achievement! On Saturday, April 25, at Cyrano’s Theatre Company, YWCA Alaska staff, community, and family members gathered to honor 10 outstanding youth of Alaska. Youth are chosen each year based on a nomination and application process honoring those who have overcome major challenges while working to promote YWCA’s mission to eliminate racism and empower women while promoting peace, justice, freedom, and liberty for all.
YWCA Alaska’s 2015 Young People of Achievement: • Donimalina Gochenouer, Bartlett High • Kia Lor, Bartlett High School • Tyler Stevens, Eagle River High School • Juley Pak, Eagle River High School • Kathryn Casello, West High School • Bao Her, Bartlett High School • Brianna Stough, Bartlett High School • Chue Lor, Bartlett High School • Lilly Bee, Dimond High School • Ethiopine Choping, Bartlett High School
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1 How far can you drop an egg without it breaking? Siemen’s Industries challenged the fourth grade students at Rabbit Creek Elementary School to the 8th Annual Siemen’s Egg Drop. In the end, three out of thirty-seven teams made up of four students were able to design and construct an encasing made of straws, cotton, paper and other limited materials to withstand a 60 foot drop without the egg breaking. This year Siemen’s added a new component: economics. Teams had a limited budget and had to “purchase” materials. The team that was able to design the most successful and cost effective product won the event.
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Siemen’s wants to encourage students at a young age to consider engineering as a future career. They also want them to learn valuable lessons about the importance of managing their money, creating quality products and ensuring that they make a profit on their enterprise.
In the photos: Winners of the 8th Annual Seimen’s Egg Drop with Leverette Hoover, General Manager, Siemen’s Industry, Inc. 14
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School Business Partnerships
Grand Prize Awarded to elementary school student to celebrate perfect attendance IBEW Local 1547, For Fun Alaska and Anchorage School Business Partnerships awarded the Grand Prize of an ‘Ultimate Field Day’ to one elementary student for the 2014-15 ASD Elementary Attendance Recognition Program. Emerson Tyrell, a third grader from Wonder Park Elementary is the 2014-15 Grand Prize winner. Wonder Park celebrated their ‘Ultimate Field Day’ on Friday, May 15. There were lots of awesome inflatables for the students to play on including; the Castle Obstacle Course, Two-Story Screamer Slide, Huge Bouncy Play Land and more!
About For Fun Alaska For Fun Alaska Inc. is an Alaskan family owned and operated small business and is Alaska’s original giant inflatable bounce house company. Providing the biggest variety of sports games, bouncers, mazes, Zorbs, and obstacle course in the state since 1990. Check them out on the web at www.forfunalaska.com to see their selection or give them a call at 337-4FUN for your next picnic, party or back yard BBQ.
Sean Murphy, principal of Wonder Park Elementary, stated, “I appreciate all the School Business Partners that have stepped up by providing incentives for attendance. The true worth of this recognition program is the attention and awareness it brings to the importance of being at school getting an education. I want to personally thank IBEW Local 1547, For Fun Alaska and School Business Partnerships for recognizing Emerson and providing our whole school an extremely fun field day Friday!” Three quarterly prizes were awarded at the end of each quarter this school year. One Kindergarten or first-grade student, one second- or third-grade student and one fourth-, fifth- or sixth-grade elementary student, with no unexcused absences, each quarter won an inflatable party for their entire classroom. A total of nine quarterly prizes and one grand prize were awarded in the 2014-15 school year. The purpose of the Elementary Attendance Incentive Program is to improve attendance in the Anchorage School District among elementary students. The program is in its second year and the Anchorage School District continues to see an upswing in attendance within the district. This year there has been a 3 percent improvement in overall attendance. The elementary students with excused absences remain eligible for this incentive program. This was decided on in order to avoid encouraging young students to attend school when they are ill. About IBEW Local 1547 The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a labor union which represents workers in the electrical industry as well as some workers in the computer, telecommunications, hospital and other fields. More information about IBEW Local 1547 is available at www.ibew1547.org. Partnership Press
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Attendance Recognition Program awards middle school student with 2014-15 grand prize for perfect attendance The Anchorage School District Attendance Recognition Program finished out the 2014-15 school year with 603 middle school students posting flawless attendance records. The program for middle schoolers is made possible by local businesses GCI and For Fun Alaska. Each quarter, one middle school student was chosen to receive a prize in recognition of their attendance achievement. On Wednesday, May 6, the 2014-15 grand-prize winner Catherine “Katie” Blankenburg, a seventh grader at Wendler Middle School, was surprised with an iPad from GCI and a party for up to 30 friends hosted by For
Fun Alaska. Her parents are very supportive and said, “Katie is in perfect health and we encourage her to strive for perfection.” According to the Anchorage School District, 603 middle school students had perfect attendance, and 3,621 had an attendance of 95 percent or better. While this is the second year of the Attendance Recognition Program, it is the first school year that middle school students are eligible to participate. GCI will award all middle school students who achieved attendance of 95 percent or better with a certificate of achievement.
“GCI is proud to be part of such an important program and wants to encourage students to take initiative for their own attendance, even at the middle school level. Rewarding the effort these students are making is something we are happy to do, and we look forward to seeing this program continue to grow,” said Senior Vice President and General Manager Paul Landes.
Perfect Attendance Rewarded for five Anchorage high school students by School Business Partners East High School 11th grader Abigail Gamboa takes home a new Jeep Compass, four students receive 50,000 Alaska Airlines Miles each On May 6th five high school students attended the Drive for Perfect Attendance program year end finale event.
miles she will apply them towards a trip to the Philippines to visit her family there.
In the Lithia Chrysler Jeep Dodge of South Anchorage dealership parking lot stood five Jeep Compass vehicles in a semi-circle. The finalists chose a key from a basket, and then chose a Jeep. Keys ready, a countdown and then the five students tried their keys to see if their Jeep started. Abigail, a junior at West High School had a smile sweep across her face when her Jeep started. Her mother was ecstatic and ran to give her a big proud embrace.
The four remaining students each received 50,000 Alaska Airlines courtesy of GCI. Each of these students has demonstrated exceptional work ethic and persevered through various challenges to achieve perfect attendance this year.
Abigail Gamboa is a 17-year-old Junior at East High School. Abigail has worked hard this year and her goal is to get a college scholarship. She looks up to her sister who worked her way through college in the Philippines and is now a pharmacist. Abigail hopes to be a nurse and work in the medical field. When asked about what it took to achieve perfect attendance she says, “I actually enjoyed going to school. I feel proud of myself for being able to do it.” If she wins the 50,000 Alaska Airlines 16
Harlan Bronson is a 16-year-old junior at Eagle River High School. When asked how this program has made a difference, his foster parent Judy said, “I believe this recognition has had an immediate and positive effect on Harlan.” When asked why having perfect attendance was important to him he said, “There was just no need to miss class.” He would like to apply these miles towards a trip to Italy. Hayden Hanson is a 17-year-old junior at A.J. Dimond High School. Hayden is a student athlete and is on the Dimond hockey team. His goal is to be in the top 10 percent of his class. His parents said, “Managing his time effectively between school, homework and sports School Business Partnerships
to make sure that he got enough sleep to stay healthy and still have some time to himself was a challenge.” He plans to use the miles to visit colleges. Katelyn Bushnell is a 17-year-old Junior at East High School. Her parents said, “Ever since she was in elementary school her quest for knowledge and her selfdiscipline has kept her on course.” The hardest part of the year for Katelyn was when her great-grandmother passed away. Her mother left for two weeks and Katelyn stayed in Alaska and did not miss any school. She will use the miles to bring her aunt and uncle to Alaska so that they can be here for her graduation. Piyares Thongkerd is a senior at Bartlett High School. She and her family moved here from Thailand just over a year ago. Her father shared that they wondered at first if Piyares would be able to graduate as she spoke very little English. She now volunteers helping other English as Second Language students at Bartlett. Piyares plans to get a part time job this summer and go to college. The Drive for Perfect Attendance program is an ASD School Business Partnership program now in its second year. Local dealership Lithia Chrysler Jeep Dodge of South Anchorage has donated a brand new Jeep vehicle to the program as the grand prize each year. GCI supports the program with Alaska Airlines miles for one winner each quarter as well as miles for each of the four finalists at the year-end event.
mark of success is the number of Anchorage high school students who have achieved 95 percent or better attendance throughout the year. This year 4,493 students met that goal, an increase of 3 percent over last year.
“It’s great to know that we can make a difference in important matters like education,” said Lithia Chrysler Jeep Dodge of South Anchorage General Manager Troy Jarvis. “We’re proud to be a part of this program and thrilled to see what a positive impact it has made on attendance over the past two years.” “Attendance is a key ingredient to success not only in school, but in life. GCI is proud to be part of the Drive for Perfect Attendance program. As an employer we look for employees with excellent work ethic, and attendance is part of that. This is a fun program that has real rewards for students who work hard and make the commitment to show up to school every day.” said GCI Senior Vice President and General Manager of Consumer Services Paul Landes. To learn more about the Drive for Perfect Attendance initiative, visit www.asdk12.org/Parents/Attendance.
The District has a goal of every student achieving 90 percent or better attendance by the year 2020. In the 2014-15 Anchorage School District there were 977 high school students who achieved perfect attendance. Junior and senior students were 376 of those. Another bench-
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Spirit of Tomorrow Award winners
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School Business Partnerships
Continued from page 1. Instructor at the NECA/IBEW Apprenticeship School. Recently NECA/IBEW submitted a proposal to the Department of Labor to designate KCC’s Construction Electricity program as a “pre-apprenticeship program” for NECA/IBEW. This designation is a major statement of commitment that KCC will train our best and NECA/ IBEW will take them into a union career. This partnership with NECA/IBEW has served as a model for other unions to participate in the direct entry process. They are a huge supporter of the annual ‘KCC Union Signing event.” This is an annual affair where students who have met the qualifications and have been officially accepted into the Apprenticeship Program, “sign” at an event hosted at KCC which is replicated after College bound athletic signings. On May 1, 2015, Torrie Richter and Preston Bolton were recognized as the most recent KCC graduates to receive this most distinguished honor. Both students were selected based on their excellent attendance, dedication to the construction electricity program at KCC and strong work ethic. KCC is immensely grateful for this partnership which provides the opportunity to our skilled and motivated KCC students to become part of the NECA/IBEW family. IBEW Apprenticeship School IBEW and Apprenticeship School staff educate Anchorage youth on Electrical Safety, career opportunities in the electrical industry and provide tours to the NECA/ IBEW Apprenticeship School for elementary, middle school and high school students. Apprenticeship School staff also work year round with the Career, Technical and Education Program to provide speakers to middle school youth learning about career options.
students in the Anchorage School District. The first year of the program IBEW offered a laptop computer and two all-expense paid trips to Disneyland for a family of four. At the end of the school year three lucky students were recognized for their excellent attendance. The response to the program was a significant increase in overall attendance by the end of the first year. In 2014-15, the program has continued with some exciting improvements. IBEW has partnered up with For Fun Alaska offering Quarterly Prizes as well as a Grand Prize. Every quarter three deserving students are recognized for their excellent attendance to receive an inflatable and pizza party for their entire classroom. Announcing the winner is always fun and this prize is extra special because when the winning students classmates find out they also get to participate in the inflatable party the entire class feels like they have won the prize and they encourage each other to attend school. One deserving student with excellent attendance will be awarded an ‘Ultimate Field Day’ for their entire school. It will be such fun to hear the roar of the student body when they find out that the winning students dedication to excellent attendance will allow them all the opportunity to participate in this fun filled day. IBEW Local 1547 is a great example of how a school business partner can invest in our youth and their future in many different ways. All of which are rewarding and make a difference!
Attendance Recognition Program In 2013, Superintendent Ed Graff approached the SBP Board if their businesses and organizations would provide assistance in improving attendance rates in the district by sponsoring a recognition program. IBEW stepped right up to help, choosing to sponsor the Attendance Recognition Program for the elementary Dora Wilson of IBEW gives an attendance award to this years student winner. Wilson who serves on the School Business Partnership Executive Board manages several school business partnerships for IBEW and is an enthusiastic supporter for business involvement in the schools. Partnership Press
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Laarni Power of Providence Health and Services and Adele Daniels the SBP liaison for JBER are greeted by a student in Ms. Lucas’s School Business Partnership class. They were there to provide training to the students who served as ambassadors at this year’s School Business Partnership Spirit of Tomorrow awards luncheon.
Anchorage School Business Partnerships 5530 E. Northern Lights Blvd. Anchorage, AK 99504-3135 www.asdk12.org/depts/sbp www.facebook.com/AnchorageSBP