In 2013 our School Board spent several months asking community members what they saw as our public schools’ strengths and areasfor improvement. One area identified as needing more effort was sharing news about the students and their success in local schools.This postcard is one way we are trying to respond to what our community told us was needed.

National recognitioncontinues for MonroeHigh School scholars

Monroe High School students continuethe school’s tradition of nationalrecognition by being named Commended

Scholars in the National Merit ScholarshipProgram. Dallin James, Samantha Johnson andBethany Levy placed in the top 3.5% of the nationin the results of their Preliminary SAT/NationalMerit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). As Commended Scholars, these Bearcats areamong the top approximately 50,000 of the morethan 1.5 million students who take the PreliminaryScholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) annually. All threestudents are taking a heavy load of AdvancedPlacement (AP) courses this year. AdvancedPlacement courses are college level curriculumprovided by specially trained high school teachersduring the regular school day. AP courses rangefrom European History to Environmental Science.College credit may be granted to students whopass the rigorous AP tests given each spring. In addition to her studies, Samantha Johnsonhas spent her high school career working with aclub she helped found, the Youth Coalition. “Weare trying to promote good mental health in ourcommunity, focused on suicide prevention andpreventing drug and alcohol abuse,” Johnson said.The project is personal to Johnson as one of herbest friends died by suicide. “My group of friends was really touched bythat,” Johnson explained. After a year of healing,they decided to take the experience and put it intosomething positive. “We started this hugecampaign called ‘You are Not Alone’ and we had avideo made for us.” The Snohomish Health Districtis considering using the video across the county.

Dallin James has spent his high school careertrying to challenge himself. “I don’t have as gooda grades as other students because I try to do thehardest things I can, to experience as much as Ican,” he said. He took Calculus his junior year. “Itwas hard,” James noted. “People would actuallycry on test day.” James has a strong interest inteaching or possibly going into politics. “I likedoing stuff that affects other people where Iimmediately see its effect,” he said. When he’snot busy with his studies he can be found singingwith the MHS Varsity Choir or the Jazz Choir. Bethany Levy’s load of AP classes includes APBiology, which she is excited about because ofher interest in medicine. Levy has worked in theveterinary field as a kennel assistant but isinterested in going into human medicine with aneye towards research. “I want a job that will makea positive impact on people’s lives,” Levy said.She is hoping to do her senior project with amedical researcher in the field of sleep research -a subject that fascinates her. She is also hoping tospend some time in the Peace Corps after gettingher medical degree. “I feel it’s a good cause andit could make a positive impact on other parts ofthe world,” Levy explained.

Bethany Levy, Dallin James and Samantha Johnson

3

Monroe School District200 East FremontMonroe WA 98272

www.monroe.wednet.edu

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POSTAL CUSTOMER

fallen World W

ar II soldiersfrom

Monroe are gone but

definitely not forgotten by

the local students working

to finish a task left unfinished 64 years

ago, by inscribing these 18 names on

Monroe’s W

WII m

emorial.

The Am

erican Legion installed them

onument at M

onroe’s Mem

orial Field

Studentstake upW

orld War II

Mem

orial cause

18

In the spring local students spent an evening sharing their research about local WW

II veterans that never returned home and

asking questions of Russ D

ean - Am

erican Legion Post 58, Tom Parry - M

onroe Historical Society, and M

erv Boyes - WW

II veteran.

recognize local veterans from all conflicts. The

society, along with A

merican Legion Post 58 also

plan to install the expanded monum

ent at Lake TyePark for greater visibility. Those interested m

aydonate to the eff

ort through the Monroe H

istoricalSociety <w

ww

.monroehistoricalsociety.org>.

Goering said she felt she had a responsibility to

be a part of the project. “I enjoy learning about thiskind of stuff, because it show

ed how they lived their

lives before they made their ultim

ate sacrifice,” shesaid. Supporters hope to dedicate the new

monum

enton Veterans D

ay 2016 in an event where these

students definitely will be guests of honor.

“I’m so proud of the kids and the w

ork thatthey’ve done,” said Boyle. She and Sim

oni are nowcontinuing the research project w

ith a new group of

students to learn more about these other veterans

hoped to be added to the monum

ent.

Gone but no longer forgotten

in 1951. It has stood just inside the field’s KelseyStreet entrance ever since. The original plan w

asto include the nam

es of Monroe service

mem

bers killed in the line of duty during World

War II on the sm

all bronze plaque. But the names

have not yet been added. A

fter reading an article in the M

onroe Monitor

about the missing nam

es, teachers Tonya Boyleand D

ottie Sim

oni decided it would be a great

class project. Together with their students they

began with a handw

ritten list com

piled by theM

onroe Historical Society of the soldiers w

hohad died in the w

ar. The nam

es to be added on the monum

ent are:H

erman Schm

idt, William

Bowker, Ray H

andley,Tom

Haji, Lester Crockett

, Henry H

ooper, RobertVailor, Theodore Renk, Leroy Reynolds, W

illiamM

iddleton, Robert Olson, Robert G

reenside, JackStreeter, Cliff

ord Halstead, Jack Riem

land, Ernest

Peters, William

Streissguth and George M

cKenzie, Jr. “The kids w

ent to the historical society and didresearch so w

e would have a story to go w

ith eachsoldier,” said Boyle. They spent several days at thepublic library and did a lot of online research ontheir ow

n even going as far as interviewing som

e ofthe surviving fam

ilies of the servicemen.

Violet H

opkins, daughter of Am

y and PatrickLaidlaw

, researched a soldier named John Streeter.

“He w

as a mail carrier and lived on South Kelsey

Street,” she said. “He enlisted in the A

rmy just aft

erPearl H

arbor and he died just weeks before the end

of the war.”

Kellan Goering w

as involved in learning abouttw

o veterans. The daughter of Kurt and Debbie

Goering spoke about her findings at a spring

program of the M

onroe Historical Society. That

program sparked a cam

paign to complete the

monum

ent and organizers hope to expand it to