Auburn School District honors Classified Employees of the Year | Briefs
Published 11:08 am Wednesday, February 10, 2016
For the Reporter
The Auburn School District Board of Directors recognize Laurie Lorengo and Heather Telford as the Classified Employees of the Year at 7 p.m., Feb. 22 in the James P. Fugate Administration building, 915 Fourth St. NE.
The awards program recognizes the work of classified staff who have made a positive difference in their profession. They will be considered for the Puget Sound ESD Regional Classified Employee of the Year award.
Lorengo enjoys working with preschoolers in the extended day autism Early Childhood Education program at Dick Scobee Elementary. She has worked with preschool students in Auburn since 2003. Parents praise her for making strides with their children.
In addition to her work with the ECE program, Lorengo has been a mentor for the last three years.
Telford, (shown left), the office assistant at Dick Scobee for three years, is a full-time student pursuing her degree at Seattle University as a school psychologist. She will be doing her school psychologist internship next year.
“I am so honored to be recognized by a district I love,” Telford said.
Telford’s attendance incentive program for students has resulted in a 10-percent decrease in absences since it began. She holds students accountable and helps them set goals. She works effectively and compassionately with students and families to help improve attendance.
She loves working in schools and wants to be an advocate for students with special needs.
Speech and debate student success
Local high school speech teams recently competed against 18 other schools from throughout the state at a Jefferson High School tournament.
Auburn Riverside High School students won the following: Kristina Pogosian, first place in humorous interpretation, a bid to state and a bid to the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions; Pogosian and John Williams, first place in duo interpretation, a bid to state and a bid to the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions; Madison Thibodeau, finalist in oratory, a bid to state; Hailey Bragg, finalist in interpretive reading, a bid to state.
Auburn High student Emily Messall will be an alternate to state in interpretive reading.
Previous victories earning a spot to state this season are: Auburn Riverside, Katerina Zhuravel in interpretive reading; Auburn, Cinthia Carmona and Alex Murray in duo interpretation; and Justice Bill in Congressional debate.
The state tournament is in March and the national tournament is in May in Colorado.
All-State musicians
The Auburn School District will be well represented in Yakima at the Washington Music Educators Association All-State performing groups event this week.
In the fall, more than 2,500 students from throughout the state auditioned and only 1,030 were chosen to participate in this annual event. Students will rehearse and perform in concert under the direction of world-renowned conductors.
Representing the district are: Auburn Riverside students Kate Hon (concert band); Sunny Lee (symphony orchestra); Christopher Manry (concert band); Emma McFarland (concert band); Ben Summers (wind ensemble); Hailey Wagner (wind ensemble); Mya Wagner (chamber orchestra). Auburn High students Austin Clark (wind ensemble); Carl Hennings (symphony orchestra); Sylvia Jones (symphony choir).
Elsewhere
The Auburn School District Board of Directors recently recognized John Ansotigue, teacher at Evergreen Heights Elementary, for his outstanding service. Ansotigue has been teaching music and P.E. at the school since 2001. He leads a 90-member elementary choir that performs the national anthem at numerous college and professional sporting events, including Mariners games, NCAA regional events and Seattle Thunderbirds games. His choir students recorded two radio jingles last year that began airing last week. He also brought sport stacking to Washington and is an integral part of the World Sport Stacking Association. He has coordinated hosting the Northwest regional sport stacking competition for the last eight years and has been the tournament director for the last 10 years. Even after teaching for 39 years, Ansotigue loves his job has no plans to retire any time soon. “My goal is to have a positive impact on students and to give them the opportunity to be successful.” …
The board also recognized Britney Ibarra, a fifth-grader at Pioneer Elementary, for being an outstanding student. Ibarra is an incredible, hard-working student who comes to school ready and excited to learn every day. She is a positive role model, always tries her best and has a wonderful attitude. She has been on the Pioneer Demo team for the last three years, was an ASB representative in third grade, participated in the DEA Auburn Youth Dance Program and is part of the safety patrol. Teacher Daniela Rowe said, “Britney is amazing. She started kindergarten speaking only Spanish. Through hard work, parental support and encouragement, she is fluent in both Spanish and English. Not only does she have an amazing work ethic, she’s also respectful, responsible and kind. She is so deserving of this award.” …
The Evergreen State College in Olympia recently honored Green River College’s Spencer Murphy with a Teacher of Excellence Award, which honors instructors who have made a significantimpact on the lives of students. Incoming Evergreen students were asked to nominate their former instructors for the award, presented by Dr. Michael Zimmerman, the college’s vice president for Academic Affairs andprovost. “Most of us can point to a pivotal experience in our education when a teacher noticed, encouraged, or influenced us. Maybe that teacher bolstered our confidence; maybe she or he changedthe course of our lives,” Zimmerman said. “Because Evergreen values the art and practice of high quality teaching, we ask incoming students to consider former instructors who made aprofound positive impact. This award recognizes Spencer Murphy as a Teacher of Excellence who inspires and makes a real difference in students’ lives.” …
Auburn’s Joshua Avila, Chaise Devries, Megan Evans, Annette Harnish and Marina Young were named to the Montana State University fall semester honor roll. … Kira Smith, of Auburn, was named to the University of Delaware’s dean’s list for the fall semester. … Auburn’s Kevin Kearney and Marina Rojas made the Gonzaga University dean’s list for fall semester. Students must earn a 3.5 to 3.69 grade-point average to be listed. … Auburn’s Taylor Cooke, Jordan Cotton, Sandy Dennett, Dominic Hori, Courtnei Robbins, Lauren Saunders, Matthew Saunders and Taylor Seth were named to Gonzaga’s president’s list. Students must earn a 3.7 to 4.0 grade-point average to be listed. … Montana State University’s fall semester honor roll included students from Auburn: Joshua Avila, Chaise Devries, Megan Evans, Annette Harnish and Marina Young. … Yoel Ivan, of Auburn, earned faculty honors for fall semester at the Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech). The designation is awarded to undergraduate students who have a 4.0 academic average for the semester. …
The Western Washington University students from Auburn recently graduated with the following degrees: Tyler Anderson (BA, geography/social studies); Bryce Danz (BS, computer science); Sarah Draughon (BA, economics); Daniel Gonzales (BS, computer science); Brooke Hanson (BA, journalism); Katie Honick (BA, English, literature emphasis); Breanna Kieswether (BAE, special education); and Sharon Scarpett (BA, communication studies). Algona’s Amber Feil (BAE, special education) also earned her degree. … Auburn’s Drew Camp (senior, engineering); Paul Gallagher (freshman, communication arts); Ryan Hance (senior, engineering) and JJ Lacey (junior, marketing) made the dean’s list at George Fox University (Newberg, Ore.) for fall semester. … Kimberly Girmus of Auburn has been named to the Elmira College (N.Y.) dean’s list. … Auburn’s Isaac Drewes (performance, church music) made the St. Olaf College (Northfield, Minn.) dean’s list for the fall semester.
