Juanita cheer coach wins national award

Andrea Snyder, an assistant cheer coach at Juanita High School, is one of nine recipients nationally to receive the Pinnacle Award for Coaching Excellence, which is sponsored by Cheer, Ltd., Inc. The nine award recipients will be recognized at the 2008 National Cheer Conference (NCC) in Fayetteville, N.C., on May 17.

According to a release, the Pinnacle Award for Coaching Excellence “honors the most accomplished and professional coaches in the spirit industry.”

Over 150 coaches were nominated, but only nine were selected to receive the honor.

Snyder was head coach at Juanita until 2006, when she stepped down to concentrate on her duties with the Washington State Cheerleading Association. She is currently president of that organization. She also works full time at Juanita as assistant to the athletic director.

LW Technical College students win contest

The 2008 Washington State Sugar Artists Cake Show competition featured hundreds of cakes and desserts from bakers from all over the state. At this year’s event, held near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, three students from Lake Washington Technical College’s (LWTC) Baking Arts program won top honors.

LWTC student Kayoko Phillips, a resident of Snohomish, was the show’s big winner with the Host Chef’s Choice Award, Student Scholarship Award and Best of Division for her “Dolphins on a Coral Reef” entry in the sugar showpiece-beginner category.

LWTC student Carmen Gentry, a resident of Bothell, won Best of Division for her Nursery Tree entry in the novelty sculpted cake-beginning category. LWTC student Shayan Raouf, a resident of Kirkland, won first place for his molded chocolates entry in the artisan chocolates-beginning category.

The Washington State Sugar Artists Cake Show features 14 categories in various different skill levels. More than 70 bakers participated in this year’s event. Entries were judged on general appearance, use and choice of color, presentation, creativity, difficulty of technique, neatness, precision, and originality.

Junior historian headed to nationals

Six students from the Kirkland International Community School placed in the top five in their categories at the 2008 Washington History Day competition April 26 at the University of Washington.

Nathan Maris took second place in the Junior Division’s Individual Documentary category with “The Battle of Wake Island: Conflict and Compromise of the Marine Credo.” He qualified to go on to the national competition in June at the University of Maryland.

Eric Kelley took fourth place in the Junior Division’s Historical Paper category with “The Hanford Conflict: Conflict and Compromise at the Nation’s Most Contaminated Nuclear Site.” He also won an award from the National Archives for an Outstanding Use of Primary Sources.

Jessica Jin took fifth place in the Junior Division’s Historical Paper category with “Hong Kong: A Work in Progress between Conflicting Cultures.”

Allison Blair, Karin Hokanson, and Tennessee-Taylor Chan shared the prize as a team for fifth place in the Junior Division’s Web site category with “Kennewick Man: Conflict and Compromise over One of America’s Oldest Skeletons.” They also won an award from the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture for an Outstanding Entry related to a Columbia River Basin History Topic.

Juanita students earn Spanish recognition

Two advanced Spanish students from Juanita High School have received awards from the University of Washington Center for Spanish Studies in conjunction with the Spanish Embassy and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).

Caitlin Terashima received second place in non-native poetry and Sarah Silva received an honorable mention in the same category. The students wrote compositions or poetry in response to the prompt: “If I were a song . . .”

They will be honored at a reception in the Capitol Building in Olympia on May 31.

LW student recognized at DECA event

Lake Washington High School sophomore Greyson Blue received recognition for the top test score at a recent DECA International Conference held in Atlanta, Ga.

Washington state sent 650 to the competition, which included over 14,000 students from around the country.