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Diversity makes a Difference 2007 |
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Chao “Erik” Shi Erik arrived in Bellingham from Shanghai in 2004 to live with his grandparents. Even though his English was not good at first, he quickly progressed to Advanced Placement classes. He has successfully completed AP chemistry, physics and calculus. In the International Bridge Building contest, his entry won first place in the school for combining strength with a minimum of structural materials. He is helpful and welcoming to new immigrant students, reaching out especially to Chinese students. He has been a math and reading tutor to newcomers and serves as a TA in the English Language Learners classroom. Jonathan Jefferson When Jonathan completed a family tree, he realized it had been decades since anyone in his family graduated from high school. He set out to change that. He not only makes sure he is on track to graduate, but also stresses to his younger siblings and cousins about the importance of education and staying out of trouble. In his own time, Jonathan put together a report called “The Plight of Day Laborers,” in which he interviewed Latino workers about their hardships in America. He hopes to send it to government officials. At Casa Latina, Jonathan helps translate for laborers. Arzoo Jamalzadah Arzoo and her family had to escape Afghanistan in 1996. The family of eight lived in one room in Pakistan until they arrived in the U.S. in August 2001. It was a challenging time for a Muslim family from Afghanistan to be in this country. But Arzoo had the courage to stand up and share her beliefs and customs with her entire school, opening up everyone’s eyes to the history and beauty of her culture. Arzoo speaks six languages and spends hours helping immigrant students with their schoolwork. Justina Jones-Savage Justina is the president of her senior class, secretary of the Black Student Union and a talented debater with the Debate Team. She has organized the school’s Winter Ball as well as a Spirit Week. Justina was also recruited to participate in Sealth’s Academy of Travel and Tourism, one of only 25 members in this two-year program that explores customer service and marketing. Outside of school, she takes part in the Technology Access Foundation and the University of Washington’s GEAR-UP program. She received the Rotary’s Service Above Self award last spring. Marlon Murray Three years ago, Marlon moved from Jamaica to Burien to live with his mother and attend school. He knew little about American culture, but he quickly learned to relate to a diverse student body and staff. He is well liked and works hard in class. At one point, he advanced six grade levels in reading. Marlon is also admired for breaking a 30-year-old school record in the 100-meter dash, after which he placed in the finals at state in two events. Brittney Rogers Brittney represents the meaning of well rounded, according to her guidance
counselor. This honors and Advanced Placement student is an active participant
in many ethnically diverse organizations and clubs in the school and community.
She involves herself in different ethnic groups and studies to broaden her
understanding of the world and to improve her ability to address and resolve
important issues in the community. When Tonia entered high school, she realized that bilingual students were treated unfairly in classrooms. Not only were the ESL students looked down upon, she said, but some were kept in ESL classes without the chance to move on. She also believes they don’t get as much information about graduation requirements and events they should participate in as other students do. So Tonia decided to speak up about the inequities, not only on behalf of Latinos, but all bilingual students. In January, she received the King Classic Award for her leadership in the school and community. Diana Nguyen Diana’s high school is extremely diverse. As a leader for Key Club and DECA, she has had to bring together students with very different interests and backgrounds to create effective teams. She has also volunteered for Link Crew, a club that welcomes and orients incoming freshmen. Outside of school, she has volunteered to collect food and money for Northwest Harvest and helped UNICEF in its efforts to relieve HIV/AIDS in Kenya. Emmanualle Taylor No student has promoted diversity at Rainier Beach more than Emmanualle.
He did his senior project on the World War II internment camps and the Nuremberg
trials, presenting it not only to his class, but also to several 10th-, 11th-
and 12th-grade classes. A natural leader, he has attended numerous community
and school board meetings to speak on behalf of the United Student Body of
Rainier Beach. A talented musician and singer, Emmanualle has performed at
multicultural dinners at school and in the community. He also teaches Polynesian
dance at Denny Middle School and has volunteered hundreds of hours to the
Union Gospel Mission. Raheal serves as president of the Black Student Union, for which she was the treasurer in the 10th grade and vice president in the 11th grade. She was among five students selected to represent northeast Seattle on the mayor’s Youth Council, where she works on solving major problems affecting young people. She was also selected to be part of the Shoreline YMCA’s Youth and Government program. This National Honor Society student has a schedule packed with honors and Advanced Placement classes. She was recently one of 12 Seattle students chosen by MESA to attend the National Society of Black Engineers conference in Pittsburgh. Sasan Boostani Sasan, a recent immigrant from Iran, has risen to the top of the class of 2007, despite not knowing how to read or write English two years ago. After just one semester as an English Language Learner student, he switched to regular classes. Now, in his fourth semester at Sehome, he is in two Advanced Placement classes and college-preparatory English and maintains a 3.9 grade-point average. His career goal is to become an aeronautical or mechanical engineer. Nur Al-Jabery Frustrated with media stereotypes of Muslims, Nur organized the Muslim Student
Association. The mission of this group is to dispel the myths of Islam. It
offers an Arabic class open to all and conducts weekly meetings to remind
fellow Muslims of the peaceful methods of the Koran. Nur proudly wears her
hijab (head wrap) to school every day, encouraging necessary conversations
about diversity amongst her peers. Wendy Kim Wendy displays her tremendous leadership skills as president of a very large chapter of Future Business Leaders of America, editor of Highline’s national award-winning yearbook and drill team captain. Her nominator calls Wendy “a model of exceptional honesty, high moral values, trustworthiness and dependability.” Her proficiency in business earned her the honor of Business Student of the Month from the Southwest King County Chamber of Commerce. In addition, the faculty voted her Student of the Month. Andrew Patterson Though he started ninth grade as an ESL student, in three short years he was taking Advanced Placement courses in science, math and history. By the time he graduates, he will have completed five AP classes. Andrew is especially interested in physics and intends to major in it in college. At school, he is a member of the Earth Corps and the Physics Club. In the community, Andrew is a board member for the Northwest Asian Weekly Foundation, which organizes numerous events and scholarship programs benefiting young people. He also volunteers at Goodwill Industries. Elizabeth Wilcox Last fall, vandals spray-painted racist graffiti on the exterior walls of Sehome. Four students from another high school were arrested and charged. Deeply concerned about the incident, Elizabeth organized more than 70 students from area schools to participate in a peace march from Bellingham High School to the Whatcom County Courthouse. Elizabeth continues to promote understanding by volunteering with the Whatcom County Human Rights Task Force. At a human rights conference organized by the task force, she co-facilitated a workshop on “Social Justice and Environmental Equality,” which looked at racial discrimination due to the lack of environmental standards. Gloria Garcia Gloria has been working hard since ninth grade to help her family. She acknowledges that she has not had many opportunities to participate in school activities. However, she does participate in GEAR UP, a program that prepares students for college, and she volunteers at a food bank to help those less fortunate. She hopes to attend college and take courses that will help her become a medical assistant. Amelia Martin Amelia has an interest in rekindling the Native American Club, which fell by the wayside due to lack of leadership. She wants to bring it back and perhaps develop a partnership with the Pacific Islander Club, which has become very popular recently. Next semester, Amelia will be joining the MESA class, which encourages math, science and engineering studies among underrepresented students. She hopes to build stronger connections with a diversity of students through his program. Crystal Truong Crystal holds several leadership positions at school. She has been a cheerleader
for two years, through which she is not only a role model for other students
but also an ambassador for the school. As part of this program, she has totaled
more than 50 hours of community service. Crystal is also a member of DECA
and the Conflict Mediators Program, for which she serves as secretary. She
has shown a commitment to reaching out to and solving the problems of students
from many different cultures and backgrounds. Kaitlin’s senior project involves interviewing and photographing biracial youths in Seattle, focusing particularly on people of part-Asian heritage. Her work also involves collecting personal comments about what it feels like to be racially mixed. Samples of her project, entitled “Point Five Asian,” are scheduled for publication in the multicultural magazines ColorsNW and Stepping Stones. Her work has already been printed in the Northwest Asian Weekly. Kaitlin lived
in Shanghai in 2002-03. There, she attended a public school and volunteered
at the Shanghai Children’s Home. Robert Higa Every year, students from various cultures perform traditional dances front of the student body as part of the Martin Luther King assembly. Robert was a dancer who was learning the salsa. When the student who was in charge of teaching the dance left for a month, Robert and his dance partner stepped up and taught a group of 44 students a complex four-minute salsa routine. In addition to attending and leading numerous practices, Robert stayed for an hour after each session and came in an additional day each week in order to choreograph and prepare for upcoming lessons. Angela Cloud Angela is president
of SOCK (Serving Our Community With Kindness) Club, whose service projects
benefit the homeless and overseas soldiers. At Christmas time, after
learning about children whose mothers were in prison, Angela organized the
SOCK Club into action. Selling lollipops at 50 cents a piece, the group
collected funds to purchase and deliver gifts to these families. Each incarcerated
mother was able to visit with her child and watch him or her open a gift “from
Mom.” Now Angela is organizing an adopt-a-soldier program for the club. James excels academically and aspires to attend Harvard University, where he hopes to earn a degree in theater. James has assisted in conducting workshops for the Seattle Children’s Theatre and has appeared in several of its productions. Prior to coming to Seattle, he spent six years acting and working on productions for the Oregon Children’s Theatre. Josephine Garcia As the dedicated president of the Rotary Interact Club for the past two years, Josephine has been directly responsible for the outcome of numerous community service projects, including making Mother’s Day baskets for battered women, coordinating and participating in numerous food drives, helping to organize and participating in the cleaning of the apartments of low-income seniors, preparing Thanksgiving meals and raising money for reconstructive surgery for children with cleft palates in developing countries. Josephine’s example has helped RIC membership grow from 30 students to more than 80 this year. Josephine also maintains a 4.0 GPA and is school president. Tonette Lewis When Tonette’s mother wanted to move away from Seattle, Tonette made the difficult decision to stay here. For the past three years, she has lived with relatives, with friends, in a group home and, finally, in the home of a school staff member. Despite having to work to support herself, she finds time to participate in the Tennis Club, the African Drum Ensemble and yearbook, for which she serves as editor. Charlie Tran With a 4.0 grade point average and a transcript brimming with Advanced Placement courses, Charlie is an excellent student. He has a love of learning. During lunch or after school, he is often found in a classroom, where he and his friends are usually talking about something they are studying. They discuss, debate and challenge each other. Charlie loves to get his teachers involved in the conversation, in the hopes of challenging his thinking or clarifying his own opinion. Fia Tuitele Fia will act as an ambassador for her school when she travels to Japan this summer as part of a scholarship program. In the past, she has rallied her fellow Pacific Islanders to participate in cultural performances at Ballard High and other schools. Fia has a genuine interest in learning about other people and their cultures. She takes a very personal approach to promoting social diversity by choosing to make friends with people who represent a variety of populations at her school. Marian Padilla Marian leads the Multicultural Society. She recently organized Change for Change, which gives members of the Multicultural Society the opportunity to volunteer and also raise money for students in Kenya. She also led her school’s Martin Luther King Day assembly with classroom activities. For Marian’s
senior project, she collected backpacks, toiletries, vitamins, toothbrushes,
school supplies and socks for 50 children in Kenya. Called PACK (Providing
Aid for Children in Kenya) Hope, the project was shared with the Multicultural
Society to try to create enthusiasm for similar future projects. Griselda is the senior class secretary, an officer in the Spanish Club, a member of the National Honor Society, a leader in the Conflict Mediation Program and an after-school tutor in math and English. She has individually mentored five freshmen students and is a member of the dance team and cheer squad. In the community, she serves as a “lunch buddy” to second-graders every Tuesday. An outstanding student, Griselda is one of only two Hispanic females at Mariner who has taken the most rigorous courses in math, science and English all four years in high school. Patricia Durias Patricia came up with a creative way to celebrate Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month at her school. She decided to focus on people’s eyes, one of the most defining features of APIs. She took photos of many API students’ eyes and put them together in a thoughtful and “eye-opening” awareness campaign that stressed the diversity of the API community. Patricia has taken many honors and Advanced Placement classes. She has also served as corresponding secretary for the Associated Student Body and captain of junior varsity tennis. She is a four-year member of the Asian Pacific Awareness club. Annie Chu For her senior project, Annie is organizing a Diversity Day to expose and educate all students about the many cultures represented at her school. This annual event takes a lot of time and energy, but Annie is willing to take on the challenge. She is also a member of Link Crew, through which she mentors ninth-grade students to help them make a successful transition to high school. Parisa Mardmehdiabadi Parisa is co-chair of United Brothers and Sisters, a club that helped organize what was supposed to be the school’s Martin Luther King Jr. assembly. On the day of the event, a winter storm caused a two-hour delay in the school’s start time. Parisa was told the assembly had to be canceled, but she would not accept it. In 24 hours, she and the co-chair contacted all club members, purchased food, received the necessary OKs, decorated the library and got the word out to students, staff and teachers that instead of an assembly, there would be an MLK luncheon. Parisa’s efforts reflect her commitment to diversity. Jaspreet Singh As a leader in the Multicultural Club, Jaspreet acts as a role model for other students. He easily assumes the role of mediator when necessary and is effective in calming a situation with words and understanding. Faculty members respect him so much that they voted to give him the Outstanding Character Award, which is presented in front of the entire school. Jaspreet has helped build houses for Habitat for Humanity, helped package food at a food bank and assisted with creek cleanup through the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association. Danica Patrick At every Martin Luther King assembly, students from a variety of cultures perform traditional dances in front of the student body. When the student who was in charge of teaching the salsa had to take a one-month leave, Danica and her dance partner stepped up and taught 44 students a complex salsa routine. In addition to leading numerous practices, she stayed after the sessions and came in an additional day each week to choreograph and prepare upcoming lessons. The dance helped create and facilitate an interest in Latin American culture within the student body. Andrea Wise When Andrea traveled to Guatemala in 2005, she gained a greater awareness of her role as a U.S. citizen and a passion for traveling and learning about different cultures. Last summer, she visited Morocco, where she took part in a home stay, learned the Arabic language and worked on service projects with Moroccan high school students. She plans to travel to Tanzania over spring break with Garfield’s Global Technology Academy. While at home, she attends local Undoing Racism workshops, rallies and discussions concerning global affairs. She is also an anti-oppression facilitator for the leadership program Global Visionaries. Rebecca Pham Rebecca has demonstrated her leadership abilities, creativity and enthusiasm as Washington state vice president of Future Business Leaders of America. Earlier in the school year, she was the driving force behind the most successful fall leadership conference ever held in Western Washington, according to her nominator. Now, the same characteristics of Rebecca are coming through as she serves as president of the senior class. “She is an ideal citizen,” wrote her nominator.
Paige Miyazaki Chunda Zeng Melody Samimi George Huang Leo Gabriel Athena Galdonez Irina Dovgalyuk Jaminah’s enthusiasm and leadership skills make her a good role model for all young people. She is active in many aspects of school life, from gathering donations for the local food bank to heading up dance committees. She was recently selected to take part in her school’s leadership class, which assists in organizing assemblies and other programs. She can always be relied upon to spearhead the Martin Luther King assembly and to generate school-wide interest in Black History Month. Dalia Amin Dalia is an active young leader in the Kurdish community. Taking great pride in her ethnic heritage, she devotes many hours to chairing cultural events. She volunteers as an interpreter at the Kurdish Human Rights Watch Center, helping new immigrants adjust to life in the United States, complete naturalization paperwork and prepare for the citizenship test. Dalia also writes for a Kurdish international newspaper. Currently she is raising money to support two homeless children in Iraq. At school, Dalia takes an active role in DECA, Key Club, Future Business Leaders of America, Link Crew and International Club. Kris Chan Last year, Kris joined Franklin’s performing arts program, The FAME Company, which incorporates diversity into its many productions. After one semester, he became president of the company, largely because of his tenacity, sense of fun and leadership skills. He is considered a shrewd judge of character and understands, with extraordinary maturity, how it is necessary to work the system you’re in for the betterment of all. Daniela Cortes Sosa Daniela helped organize and emcee the recent Martin Luther King Jr. assembly. She will also be an integral part of the Cinco de Mayo festivities at the school. A member of both the Black Student Union and Union Latina, Daniela can represent any community well. Her circle of friends includes students from the African American, Hispanic, white and Asian communities. Carina Hall Carina is taking junior and senior classes this year and will complete her coursework for high school a year early. She is working on developing fluency in Spanish so that she can use it in her profession some day. She has received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the English department and the Outstanding Scholar Award from the industrial technology department. A conflict mediator for her peers, Carina was recognized in May as an Essential Piece of Mariner, a special award at her school. Anthony Brock When Anthony and other students learned a neo-Nazi group was planning events in Olympia, they held a screening of “Not in Our Town,” a documentary about a Montana town’s response to hate crimes. That night, he confidently led a 400-person dialogue that created momentum for future community-wide anti-racism events. Anthony now devotes his time to the Olympia School District’s Diversity Committee. He recently came up with the idea of installing signs at key entry points to the City of Olympia that affirm the city’s commitment to diversity and create a more welcoming and inclusive environment. Teresa Hughes Teresa is an outstanding athlete, having lettered in track and soccer. She is currently co-captain of the soccer team and has participated in select soccer for the last seven years. She has worked diligently to improve her skills and now plays on one of the top 16 soccer teams in Washington state. In academics, Teresa has also achieved, having been selected as a National Hispanic Recognition Scholar. Brittany Alexander Last fall, racist graffiti was spray-painted on Brittany’s high school. A Youth Summit for all area high schools was soon organized, and Brittany was chosen to be among the representatives of Sehome. Considered to be a voice for all students of color, she helped organized a peaceful protest against the racist actions. Brittany plans to attend college and become a teacher or work in the social services. Her desire is to work with children. |
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