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2007 KCTS 9 Golden Apple Award Winners

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INDIVIDUALS

Kathryn Boudreau-Stroud
Science, grades 6-12, Beaver Lake Middle School, Issaquah School District

Kathryn Boudreau-Stroud believes her students will learn only if they want to learn. She helps facilitate that desire with a little cognitive dissonance, prompting students to seek out answers in the scientific method. In the classroom, Kathryn uses newspaper articles, puzzles, poems and riddles to pique her middle schoolers’ interests and provoke inquiry. Guest speakers, such as retired NASA scientist Bill Stroud and inventor Charles Studebaker, introduce students to real careers in science and inspire through their own successes. Kathryn believes students should leave her classroom with the appreciation that "we live on this planet and ought to know how it works—the physics and geology of what we walk upon daily." She knows that it can't all be learned in the classroom, which is why her students regularly participate in field trips as varied as learning to communicate with chimpanzees at Central Washington University to visiting the Grand Canyon. "Text books jump alive as students … pick up fossils, hike the Canyon, smell the sulfur springs [and] watch volcanics in action," Kathryn says. Upon forming a new Science Olympiad class, she summed up her reasons for teaching with a question—"Who knows what may transpire?"

Scott Brown
Music, grades 9-12, Roosevelt High School, Seattle School DistrictM

For 23 years, Scott Brown has been Director of Bands and Vocal Jazz at Roosevelt High School , where he has built a wide-ranging and highly successful group of student musicians. The successes of the Jazz Band, which has twice in the past five years won the prestigious, national Essentially Ellington Competition at Lincoln Center, and of the Marching Band, which performed in Dublin's 2005 St. Patrick's Day Parade, have led to Roosevelt 's reputation as a de facto music magnet school. However, it's not only elite students who benefit. Scott has built a musical program one parent calls "the Marine Corps of music programs" that includes Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Marching Band, Vocal Jazz, Jazz Band, piano classes, the new after school "jazz lab," and a new digital recording and CD production studio. These classes and projects allow hundreds of students to participate in this acclaimed program. Still, parents and students write about the "band family" and how well Scott personally knows every musician and endows each with the understanding that "excellence is not only desirable—it is absolutely a sure thing!" To support his students' learning, Scott has built relationships with like-minded community organizations such as KPLU, Earshot Jazz and Starbucks. He actively works with parents on two booster committees and accomplished Roosevelt alumni return to work and perform with the students. And ultimately, it's not just about the music, as one parent writes: "Scott Brown's band [is] the ticket to better things."

Judy Bruggeman
Transition Coordinator, grades 9-12, Enumclaw High School, Enumclaw School District

At Enumclaw High School, Judy Bruggeman has spent six years developing the Transition Program to better serve special education students as they move from school to independent living and paid employment. "Providing a realistic setting for students to learn is very powerful," Judy says. She places students in volunteer jobs on- and off-campus and pays them in script they can use to shop for donated items at a Market Place maintained by the Transition Program. Her students run the store, track the inventory and write paychecks. They also manage their own savings and checking accounts. Judy also started a student-operated business, QTP (Quality Transition Products), thanks in part to a grant from the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation. QTP sells products such as brooms, business cards and greeting cards and students hold the positions of CEO, President, Secretary and Treasurer. Profits go toward field trips and the annual Appreciation Luncheon organized by students to thank donors and supporters. As the Transition Program grew, Judy applied for and received two vehicles from Metro Transit's used vanpool donation program. This made it possible for the Transition Program to reach the Kent, Auburn and Orting areas. Recently, Judy was named Employee of the Year by the 27,000-member union of public school employees. Her colleagues at Enumclaw say, "she has helped shape a program in a small school district that is comparable to or better than that at any large district."

Richard Byrnes
Music, grades 9-12, Henry Foss High School, Tacoma School District

When Richard Byrnes joined Henry Foss High School in 2001, the music program was so woefully under-funded and disorganized, they weren’t able to store and maintain the school’s equipment. But by 2004, the program was producing students who were continuing their music education and going on to careers in music. A talented musician and teacher, Richard leads by example—writing missing segments of scores, creating new exercises and adding concerts to the schedule. In addition to music theory and performance exams that each student must pass before moving on, they also run a Band Council. They are responsible for all aspects of the council—from fundraising and concert preparation to transportation issues and publicity. This gives them a solid background for any career or academic course they may pursue after high school. Richard also offers an accredited International Baccalaureate course, a two-year program after completion of which students may sit for the IB Music Theory exams. One student writes, "I watched many of my friends turn from nervous and shy children to confident and beautiful musicians … In a school that has weathered student shootings, poverty and racial tensions, Mr. Byrnes was able to bring students together through the Band and nourish a love for all music."

Mari Knowles
General, grades K-5, Mountlake Terrace Elementary, Edmonds School District

Mari Knowles wholeheartedly believes she's in the right profession. "I have the best job in the world. There is no where else that I would rather be than in room 7," she writes. She diligently works to create connections that bring learning alive for her students. When they study the life cycle of the salmon, they literally watch the fish grow in the classroom. Science lessons are found in making fudge, reading food labels and cooking vegetarian chili with Beecher's Cheese representatives. And learning geography just happens after meeting and virtually following the travels of an Antarctic penguin researcher. As a result, her students become natural learners and teachers. After a trip to release salmon into a creek, students noticed litter at the release site. Before long they had researched recycling and launched a school-wide campaign teaching the importance of recycling. Students in Mari's classroom have been overheard saying "things that were hard are easy now." One colleague wrote, "I heard a sixth grader say Mrs. Knowles is her favorite teacher, once. I asked her what grade she'd had her for a teacher. She said she didn't have her, but wished she had."

Tracey Lundquist
Fine Arts/Reading, grades K-5, Tyee Park Elementary School, Clover Park School District

A passionate teacher, Tracey Lundquist developed a unique curriculum that gives everyone—even the most disadvantaged kids in her Title 1 school—the opportunity to succeed. Every challenge is an opportunity to Tracey. "Nothing is more rewarding than the glow of success shining in the eyes of those who may have once thought such a feeling of achievement impossible.” She has brought retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Shalikashvili to speak to her classroom. "Imagine the thrill my kids experience when he now appears yearly in our humble little school district in the projects of South Tacoma." Tracey has also given her students tremendous experiences by taking them to Benaroya Hall and Fifth Avenue Theatre through support she acquired from local businesses. And when it wasn’t possible to take her students to Pearl Harbor, Tracey took her video camera and brought the monument to them. Students become so involved in class, the school librarian runs out of titles on the topics she teaches. In his nomination letter, Robert Farster, Sr. wrote that in spite of "unthinkable" challenges the students face in their home lives, "they can hardly wait to get to class" each day. Tracey touches lives outside the classroom as well. Her community involvement efforts through her class's Veterans Day programs have resulted in a long-term relationship with McChord Air Force Base, resulting in school supplies, events and field trips financed by the Air Force.

PROGRAMS

826 Seattle, Seattle
Teri Hein, Executive Director

Space travelers take note: The Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co. is actually the entry way to 826 Seattle, the nonprofit writing center. Teri Hein started 826 Seattle in 2004 with a group of community-minded Seattleites who understood how valuable a youth writing center would be for students and their teachers. In October 2005, 826 Seattle offered free, drop-in tutoring for kids from first through twelfth grades. Two months later, the organization had added field trips to local schools and a full calendar of writing workshops—all free. Workshops are often lead by professional novelists, comic artists and poets. Teri writes, “our programs encourage students to express themselves through creative writing while reiterating the fundamentals of grammar, punctuation, and structure.” Children flock to 826 where the wild, weird and overall fun approach to learning helps them develop skills to communicate well through the written word. The center reaches out specifically to schools in poor communities, to students of color and to English-language learners. But they serve any child who needs help or wants to write. "Children, community volunteers and educators are transformed" by their experiences with 826 Seattle, writes nominator Simone Jones of the Washington Reading Corps/Solid Ground. “Kids involved with 826 Seattle come well prepared for classroom instruction… they are less likely to fall behind and more likely to be successful. This has a huge ripple effect that has the potential to transform whole classrooms, peer groups and communities."

Bright Future Program, Seattle Vocational Institute, Seattle
Reza Khastou, Program Director

Reza Khastou created The Bright Future Program in 1998 to take advantage of the quality programs offered at Seattle's community colleges and provide assistance to students who might not otherwise graduate from high school. Students in the program are dually enrolled in their high school and community college program, completing a high school diploma while earning a certificate of mastery in one of eleven vocational programs. This program provides comprehensive case management for students, a critical component, according to the Board of Directors of Bright Futures Dollars for Scholars. In 1997, this group discovered five of the seven scholarships they initially awarded to students graduating from Marshall were forfeited—the funds were never used because the students were "not able, on their own, to work through the process of school application and registration." Students often didn’t “receive support or encouragement at home" and "had no idea what they would study. "Clearly, the students needed more help than the community-based Dollars for Scholars could provide—the Bright Futures Program was a perfect fit. Because the school district is able to cover enrollment costs in the vocational programs, students can use scholarship funds to cover transportation, books, rent and childcare costs—costs that most high school students aren't expected to encounter and which can be barriers to attending school. Upon completion of the Bright Futures Program, students are ahead of where they would be upon graduation from high school alone making their futures are "bright and within reach."

Community Opportunities for Parenting Education (COPE), Harbor High Alternative School Aberdeen School District
Keelee Frost, Program Director

Without a supportive foundation, it is very difficult for students to demonstrate self-learning or stay in school, much less progress academically. Combining the normal pressures of adolescence with the overwhelming responsibilities of parenthood can be crushing to students without a supportive network. COPE is a dynamic and unique program designed to serve the needs of teen parents. COPE goes far beyond the typical school district program. At the program’s foundation is a passionate belief in the students and their abilities. They are given the opportunity to not only progress through high school and graduate, but to attain success in the areas of work, family and community. Formal services include career and technical training programs, a family service specialist, parenting classes and on-site childcare services. These services are shown to increase school attendance among teen parents by 78%. Going beyond basic needs, CORE seeks to rebuild the trust between schools and families as a critical component to ending the cycle of poverty. This includes welcoming friends and family to the school and encouraging families to develop relationships with teachers and staff beyond the formal parent-teacher conferences and home visits. And while students are carefully mentored through crises and personal challenges, they are expected to achieve academic and vocational success through individual effort. As COPE Instructor Keelee Frost writes, "Success is when students return after graduating to share with us their continued successes."

Stanley O. McNaughton Golden Apple Award

Masako Davison
Reading, Beacon Hill Elementary School, Seattle Public Schools

It's been said of Masako Davison that for a part-time employee, she's at school longer than anyone else. Masako is a reading teacher for bilingual students at Beacon Hill Elementary, where she also orchestrates El Día del Niño Celebrations, facilitates a faculty study group and is a leader in the Latino PTA. Masako’s key interest is supporting family involvement to ensure student success. But, school can be a maze for many parents. Having emigrated from Japan to the U.S., Masako encountered the “maze” of her children’s schools. “I always felt intimidated and isolated walking into the office or classroom.” Using these experiences, Masako serves as a navigator, to guide parents through school and connect teachers to parents. Like many teachers, Masako knows that the best way to get kids and families involved is to give them an issue to resolve. When her student Ramon seemed uninterested in learning about Jose Rizal, she called his home. With his families help, by the following Monday Ramon knew all about the Filipino hero. Masako continued to call his family, which like many other families, understood Masako's respect for their children's education and cultural background—a powerful motivating factor in their continued involvement in the school and their children's academic lives. "Why are we, the families and staff at Beacon Hill School, willing to work so hard?" Masako asks. "We are all united because we have asked our families to share their dreams for our children and we have made their dreams our own."

PemcoPemcoThe KCTS Golden Apple Awards are sponsored by KCTS Television and are made possible through funding from PEMCO Insurance.