Because of the days lost to inclement weather this year, the second semester schedule has been adjusted. School will be in session on February 20 and April 7, and we have a new bell schedule for early-release Wednesdays:
Megan Cox won 1st place in Open Division After-Dinner Speaking (a six-minute original speech that uses humor to address a serious issue) at the McMinnville Invitational last weekend. She competed in four events and made it to finals in three, in addition to placing 4th in Humorous and 4th in Serious. She is the first speaker in WAHS history to final in three events in a single day, speaking in 15 rounds of competition. Her achievement in ADS also earned her an Alternate-Qualifier Proven Excellence bid to compete in the OSAA State Speech and Debate Tournament in April. Great job, Megan!!
Statewide graduation rates were released last week by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE), and GAPS high school results are among the best four-year graduation rates in the state, beating the state average of 74.83 percent and showing improvement over last year.
West Albany High School’s graduation rate at 97.48 percent ranks third only to Henley High School in Klamath County and West Linn High School in Wilsonville.
Principal Susie Orsborn said her goal is to reach 100 percent and has set up programs to catch struggling students and help them stay on track for graduation.
At South Albany High School, the four-year graduation rate was 88 percent, an increase from 86 percent last year.
ODE measures graduation rates for a number of subcategories. This year’s report includes graduation rates for students who took at least one career technical, or vocational, class during high school. The report found that those student had a higher graduation rate than students who did not take those course.
The District is seeking to add more career technical classes at the middle and high school level. If the May 16 bond measure passes, new classrooms and programs are planned for all middle and high schools in the District. Find more information about the proposed bond on the bond information page.
Read more about the recent high school graduation reports in the Democrat-Herald story.
Registration is now open for the annual fundraising run to benefit Albany Public Schools Foundation on March 11. The annual event is one of the main fundraisers to support foundation-sponsored programs for GAPS students.
Participants can register for a 5K or 10 mile run. There will also be a kids dash for the youngest kids.
West Albany students were deservedly recognized at the Oregon Scholastic Art Awards in January! Out of 2336 students who submitted 6,993 works of art — 781 Gold Keys, 859 Silver Keys and 1461 Honorable Mentions in the State of Oregon:
19 Gold Keys, 22 Silver Keys, 44 Honorable Mentions were awarded to
WEST ALBANY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS!
There will be a reception and art show in the WAHS library on February 9th at 5:30 pm, which will include all the WAHS student artwork that received Gold and Silver Keys, as well as the breadth portfolios of our AP Studio Art students, and will showcase some of the best work done semester 1 in class projects. We hope you can make it to congratulate our amazing art students!
Athena Lawson West Albany High School Gold Key Art Portfolio Art Portfolio Soft Edges
Athena Lawson West Albany High School Gold Key Art Jewelry Secret Garden
Athena Lawson West Albany High School Gold Key Art Jewelry Balanced Jewel
Athena Lawson West Albany High School Silver Key Art Jewelry Blooming
Athena Lawson West Albany High School Silver Key Art Jewelry Wall
Athena Lawson West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Jewelry Empty Space
Athena Lawson West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Jewelry Spiral
Paris Barton West Albany High School Gold Key Art Photography True Colors 2
Paris Barton West Albany High School Gold Key Art Photography Fetal
Paris Barton West Albany High School Gold Key Art Photography Vintage Boi
Paris Barton West Albany High School Silver Key Art Painting The Stare
Paris Barton West Albany High School Silver Key Art Photography HAPPY
Paris Barton West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography Siren
Paris Barton West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography Day Dreaming
Paris Barton West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography Maddie
Paris Barton West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography True Colors
Paris Barton West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography Good Morning
Paris Barton West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography Lover Boi
Paris Barton West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography Balance
Paris Barton West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Painting Fluent
Jenna Thomas West Albany High School Gold Key Art Drawing and Illustration Self Portrait
Jenna Thomas West Albany High School Gold Key Art Drawing and Illustration Family Portrait
Jenna Thomas West Albany High School Gold Key Art Drawing and Illustration Clique Hands
Jenna Thomas West Albany High School Silver Key Art Drawing and Illustration Inspiration
Jenna Thomas West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Drawing and Illustration Surrealist Dream
Jenna Thomas West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Ceramics & Glass Winter Trees
Samuel Grove West Albany High School Gold Key Art Photography Yellow
Samuel Grove West Albany High School Gold Key Art Photography Vulnerable
Samuel Grove West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Drawing and Illustration Self Portrait
Samuel Grove West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography Paris
Samuel Grove West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography Self Portrait
KayLee Moore West Albany High School Gold Key Art Sculpture The Cow
KayLee Moore West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Drawing and Illustration Day In The Snow
KayLee Moore West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Sculpture The He/she Book
Kaitlyn Rutherford West Albany High School Gold Key Art Digital Art Cursed Video Game
Kaitlyn Rutherford West Albany High School Silver Key Art Mixed Media Millennials
Kaitlyn Rutherford West Albany High School Silver Key Art Digital Art Polka POP!
Connor Welsh West Albany High School Gold Key Art Sculpture Mechanic Chameleon
Connor Welsh West Albany High School Silver Key Art Ceramics & Glass Sgraffito Plate
Connor Welsh West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Jewelry Ceremonial Necklace
Jenna Berg West Albany High School Gold Key Art Ceramics & Glass The Places Travelled To
Jenna Berg West Albany High School Silver Key Art Drawing and Illustration Skull
Morgan Bell West Albany High School Gold Key Art Photography Ice Cream
Morgan Bell West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography Cow
Asherah Davidow West Albany High School Gold Key Art Mixed Media Influence
Asherah Davidow West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography September Drive
Jacqueline LaPlante West Albany High School Gold Key Art Sculpture Christian Zucconi
Jacqueline LaPlante West Albany High School Silver Key Art Drawing and Illustration Mr.McDonald
Denisse Medina West Albany High School Gold Key Art Sculpture Mac
Denisse Medina West Albany High School Silver Key Art Sculpture Self Portrait
Denisse Medina West Albany High School Silver Key Art Drawing and Illustration Prestige
Madison Miller West Albany High School Silver Key Art Drawing and Illustration Bubblegum Girl
Madison Miller West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Drawing and Illustration Self Portrait
Madison Miller West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Drawing and Illustration Braid
Madison Miller West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Drawing and Illustration The Cutter
Madison Miller West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Mixed Media Golden Heart At Risk
Jessica Bradley West Albany High School Silver Key Art Sculpture Cinderella Carriage
Jessica Bradley West Albany High School Silver Key Art Ceramics & Glass Cacti
Jalen Handy West Albany High School Silver Key Art Ceramics & Glass Basketball Bowl
Jalen Handy West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Sculpture Shark
Avery Moen West Albany High School Silver Key Art Mixed Media Waves
Avery Moen West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Painting Geometric Lily
Maggie Judy West Albany High School Silver Key Art Drawing and Illustration Quarter
Rebekah Kenney West Albany High School Silver Key Art Ceramics & Glass Exploration
Eleanor Klock West Albany High School Silver Key Art Sculpture Peter Rabbit
Sienna Pigg West Albany High School Silver Key Art Mixed Media Untitled Gesture
Annie Berry West Albany High School Silver Key Art Sculpture The Blue Lady
Arthur Veremchuk West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Jewelry Triangular Drop
Baylee Rogers West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Sculpture Yellow Cardboard Portrait
Sydney Vogt West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Ceramics & Glass Flowered Tea Pot
Leslie Araujo-Gamboa West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography Elephant cloud
Kate Kratka West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Drawing and Illustration Anatomy Study
Madysen Hyde West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Digital Art Airplane Dream
Desarae Kopplien West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Drawing and Illustration Dark Light
Daniel Mize West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography Walker
James Parr West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Drawing and Illustration Mother Mary
Maxine Shuck West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Drawing and Illustration Feet Under Water
Lisbe Soto Castro West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Sculpture Octopus
Andrew Staggs West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Ceramics & Glass Skull Plate
Taylor Ayala West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Drawing and Illustration Selfportrait
Jennifer Boland West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Ceramics & Glass In Good Health
Marisol De La Torre West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Sculpture Screaming Lighthouse
Bennett Edwards West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Photography Crater lake at sunset
Katherine Fox West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Mixed Media Dissapointment
Lilah Hernandez West Albany High School Honorable Mention Art Drawing and Illustration My Sunshine
The School Board unanimously voted to send a $159 million bond measure to voters in the May 16, 2017, election.
The measure would:
The bond proposal is the result of a more than two-year process to identify facility needs in the District. The projects were reviewed by architects and recommended by a community-based District Facilities Advisory Committee (DFAC) that was made up of community members, parents and staff members.
DFAC initially identified more than $250 million in facility needs. This proposal represents the School Board’s priority to balance the most critical needs and the cost to taxpayers. This bond proposal is expected to increase taxes by an estimated $.64 per $1,000 of assessed property value because the 2006 bond is expiring.
For more information, read the resolution and explanatory statement.
Girls from Albany Options, South Albany and West Albany high schools attended the second annual Women, Metals and Manufacturing Day at Linn Benton Community College on Friday.
The program provided hands-on opportunities to learn about training for skilled, high-demand jobs, including Computer-Aided Design and Drafting (CADD), Machine Tool Technology, Welding and Fabrication, Mechatronics Industrial Maintenance and Non-Destructive Testing.
The event was sponsored by LBCC, Albany Chamber of Commerce Pipeline to Jobs program and local manufacturers.
