Gates Millennium Scholar
Reynolds High senior Ariadna Falcon Gonzalez is a Gates Millennium Scholarship recipient. Gates scholars receive full rides to college and mentoring and leadership training.
Ariadna Falcon Gonzalez, who immigrated from Cuba at age seven, will attend Lewis & Clark College on a full scholarship from the Gates Millennium Foundation.
COURTESY ARIADNA FALCON GONZALEZ
Gonzalez remembers being a strong student in her native Cuba, then experiencing major culture shock when her family came to Portland as refugees. She entered school knowing no English.
She loves Reynolds High, where her favorite classes have been anthropology and AP environmental science. She is president of the Latino Club and has been an Outdoor School counselor. She took part in the Summer Journalism Institute at Oregon State University, which helped make her a stronger writer. She is headed to Lewis & Clark College, where she plans to major in English and minor in environmental studies. She hopes to attend graduate school to become a teacher; the Gates Foundation would pay her way.
OSAA academic all-stars
Mid-county music students were at the top academically this quarter. David Douglas High solo music earned a combined GPA of 3.85 to earn the number one spot among 6A schools. Likewise, Parkrose High choir was number one in the state among 5A schools with a combined GPA of 3.59.
Other David Douglas teams placing in the top 10 were boys tennis (3.65) and girls tennis (3.77). Bronco boys tennis placed fifth (3.57) and the Parkrose band earned the 10th spot (3.44).
A combined softball team from Portland Christian and Columbia Christian (3.65) was fourth and the Portland Christian boys track & field (3.49) team was eighth in 3A.
Also earning combined GPAs of 3.0 or greater from David Douglas were softball (3.09), boys track & field (3.18), girls track & field (3.53), boys tennis (3.65), girls tennis (3.77), boys golf (3.08), girls golf (3.29), band (3.47), choir (3.34), and orchestra (3.53).
From Madison: baseball (3.24), softball (3.33), girls track & field (3.61), boys tennis (3.53), girls tennis (3.50), boys golf (3.40), girls golf (3.23), band (3.30), choir (3.05) and speech (3.49).
Other groups earning academic excellence from Parkrose were baseball (3.23), softball (3.52), boys tennis (3.57), girls tennis (3.42), band (3.44) and choir (3.59).
The combined Portland Christian/Columbia Christian baseball team earned a 3.19 GPA and Portland Christian girls track & field earned a 3.42.
Columbia Christian boys track & field (3.01) and girls track & field (3.53) shined among 1A schools.
MAC Scholar Athlete
The 2016 MAC Scholar Athlete from Parkrose is sophomore Spencer Tatafu. The Multnomah Athletic Foundation will fund a scholarship to the post-secondary school of Tatafu’s choice.
Mortar boards fly as the Portland Christian High class of 2016 celebrates its graduation.
COURTESY BETH MUMFORD
PCS sends 41 grads out into the world
The Portland Christian High class of 2016 graduated in a ceremony held at the Mt. Scott Church of God Saturday, June 4. Forty-one seniors received their diplomas and headed out to pursue their dreams. Ninety percent of these students have plans to enroll in college in the fall, and 10 percent are planning a gap year before beginning their college careers. This class has received $652,000 in merit-based scholarships as of the end of May. Colleges the class of 2016 will be attending include: University of Oregon, Oregon State University, University of Southern California, George Fox University, University of Portland, University of San Francisco, University of California at Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, California Baptist University, Otis College of Art & Design, Multnomah University, Dordt College, Seattle Pacific University, Portland State University, Colorado State University, San Francisco State University and various community colleges.
Improvements at Ron Russell Middle School may well derive from eighth-grade student leaders working with fifth-graders, as seen here.
COURTESY ANDY LONG
Ron Russell students get better and better
Ron Russell Middle School students finished the year strong. Schoolwide improvements from last year to this year were achieved in math, language arts and science state testing. Students made more effort to be in school every day to end the year with the best attendance record in school history. Discipline referrals were down as well. Principal Andy Long declares, “I could not be prouder of our students, staff and families.”
Abhishek Venkatesh of Parkrose has committed to play basketball at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., a division 3 school.
Letter of intent
Parkrose Future Business Leaders of America are the 5A state champs. Seventeen students earned top 10 finishes for their projects. Ten of those qualified for the national competition.
National qualifiers are:
Danny Nguyen; first place, Introduction to Financial Math
Nina Nguyen and Dylan Truong; first place, 3D Animation
Alliyah Xaybanha, Monica Choa and Courtney Marlatt; first place, E-Business
Shelby Martin and Jada Krening; second place, American Enterprise Project
David Kuzmenko and David Pavlenko; second place, Business Plan
Shelby Martin and Jada Krening; second place, Graphic Design
Members of Parkrose FBLA with state championship trophy and individual awards.
COURTESY PARKROSE FBLA
Other top-10 finishers:
Ada Aviles, Elizabeth Rivas and Jeanette Pham; fifth place, Business Ethics
Sarah Mua and Delaney Radke; sixth place, Community Service Project
Lily Ensbyk and Demetrius Wallace; sixth place, Partnership with Business Project
David Kuzmenko; ninth place, Economics
Dylan Truong; 10th place, Chapter Website
Film and video
Two groups of Parkrose High advanced video students are finalists in the International Youth Silent Film Festival. The festival was founded in 2009 by Joh Palanuk after he attended a live theatre organ concert. That experience inspired him to create a competition for young filmmakers to create silent movies. Kailey Miller, Ben Francheschi and Jarett Hurliman worked together to create “Lovesick.” The creative efforts of Tabitha Gilliam, Elizabeth Simkovic and Sarah Wilson resulted in a film called “Reality Break.” Both films were shown at the Hollywood Theatre in May.
Parkrose students also earned honors in the annual Oregon Young Employee Safety Coalition video contest.
First place, which came with a $500 prize, was awarded to the team of seniors Keely Byerley, Leah Coyle, Salena Garver and Matt Tremblay. Their video, called “Voices in my Head,” depicts a young worker who, under threat of firing, is ordered to do a job he’s never done before. The worker struggles with pro-and-con voices in his head, eventually making the right—and safe—decision that his job should not cost him his future.
The video that won second place, “#47, ” centers on a worker who presses the wrong button on a human-cloning machine, coming close to unleashing destruction. After disaster is avoided, the worker is reminded by his supervisor about the importance of speaking up when you don’t know how to do a job safely. Rae Millard, a senior, Mitchel Hummel, Sophia Swim and Thomas Poupore, all juniors, along with sophomore Janos Wilson earned a $400 prize for their efforts.
The school was awarded matching prize money.
Bronco golfer Shelbie Dunn at the OSAA Golf championship tournament at Quail Valley, where she finished in 20th place.
COURTESY ERICA SIEVERSON DUNN
Golf
Shelbie Dunn became the first Parkrose golfer in years to earn a spot in the 5A OSAA Golf championship tournament by virtue of a top-10 finish in the Northwest Oregon/Mid-Willamette Conference qualifying tournament. She went on to finish in a tie for 20th place at the state tournament at Quail Valley in Banks.
Music
David Douglas School District is one of 476 districts named nationwide as one of the Best Communities for Music Education by the National Association of Music Merchants.
This accolade recognizes outstanding efforts by teachers, administrators, parents, students and community leaders who work together to ensure access to music learning for all students as part of the school curriculum. Music is regarded as part of a well-rounded education.
This is the sixth time David Douglas has received BCME recognition. The district school board is one of few in the area that chose to preserve music education during tough financial times.
Softball
Parkrose junior Shaianne Stanley was named second team all-state as a utility player.
Tennis
Gio Chang and Luigi Massa represented Parkrose in the singles bracket at the OSAA state boys tennis tournament. Matt Mazon and Nguyen Le competed in doubles. Han Nguyen and Audrey Tzeo played in the girls doubles bracket.
Track & Field
Parkrose track & field athletes had a great day at the Northwest Oregon Conference state qualifying meet. Christopher Wilson won the long jump, Spencer Tatafu placed first in both discus and shotput and Lydia Pavlenko won the high jump. All of them participated in the OSAA State Championships in Eugene, where Tatafu placed fifth in shot.
