“Dance as if no one is watching.”
-Susanna Clark and Richard Leigh
Arts and Academics Academy
Weekly Newsletter
School Opens with
New Faculty and
Students
The
Arts
and
Academics Academy
opened the year
welcoming several
new faces among the
student population as
well as our student
population. Quite a
few staff members moved on due to retirement or
receiving new positions in or around the Highline School
District.
Ms. Butler, our incredible music teacher was replaced by
Mr. Matthew Durkhoop. Mr. Durhkoop teaches Band,
Choir and Guitar. We have a new Spanish teacher. Sra.
Sadie Sattler (interview to follow), two new language arts
teachers in Ms. Casey Delgadillo and Ms. Kelsie Davies,
a new Math/Science teacher named Ms. Lura Ercolano
(we call her Ms. E for short), a new dean named Ms.
Nancy Carroll (no relation to Mr. Carrell), a new
counselor, Mr. Brad Mullen and our brand new principal
Ms. Jacqueline Downey.
While we replaced our Principal, Counselor, Dean,
Spanish and Language Arts teacher, we have grown so
much that we actually added two new teachers to help us.
If you have the need to contact any of our newer or veteran
staff members, feel free to visit www.highlineschools.org
and go to the Arts and Academics Academy homepage or
call 206-631-6250 and one of our fabulous office staff
members will help you.
Americorps comes to AAA
In addition to the incredible new faculty at AAA,
Americorps volunteer Monica
Bracelyn is now at work helping our
seniors manage their graduation
requirements and adding to the
academic
support
of
our
underclassmen.
She is the Student Success Coach
on campus. “I do help teachers by
assisting in the classroom, but it
mostly means that I seek out ways
to support our students and provide
positive encouragement. The purpose of my position is to
increase student engagement. That means making sure
we are getting our students engaged in the classroom, in
school activities, as well as ensuring our students are
motivated and able to get to their classes. In this role I
spend the majority of my time working with students,
talking one on one for tutoring, mentoring, or sometimes
I am in classrooms roaming around making sure
everyone is on board with the lesson. I serve the students
first and foremost by checking in with them. I check in
on some students who are actively working really hard
on their grades and some who just like saying ‘hey’ and
having someone give them a ‘hey’ back. By the end of
the school year, I hope to have worked with as many
students as possible to create the most successful
outcome for them.
Principal’s Corner
Dear Arts & Academics
Academy Families,
It was wonderful meeting
many of you at our open
house several weeks ago.
At that event we began
Ms. Jacqueline Downey
our year as a community
by celebrating some of the accomplishments of our
school thus far. In order to continue communicating
and acknowledging the achievements of our school
community, I am thrilled to share with you all our
first family quarterly newsletter. Four times a year
we will send out a newsletter to highlight current
events at AAA, from the arts and sports, to students
of the month, to highlights from the classroom.
The first quarter of the year has just ended. This
means that students have one more quarter until
grades become final for the semester. In order to
support students who want to improve their
achievement and students in danger of failing, we
are offering tutorials and assigning mandatory after
school tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If
students are in danger of failing a course and do not
attend tutorial, we will be following up with you and
that student to ensure they attend in the future. Your
student’s achievement and ensuring they are on a
path to graduate is of the utmost importance to us.
I hope that you enjoy reading about all of the
happenings at AAA in this newsletter. Please let me
know your thoughts. You are welcome to reach me
any time at 206-631-6251. Have a wonderful
holiday season!
Warmly,
Jacqueline Downey, Principal
Exchange Students Making a Comeback
them. They are mostly juniors and they will be featured
throughout the year in short interview articles to be found
in later issues.
We have added many other new students from all over the
City, County, State and Nation as well.
Dean Carroll
Attendance Matters
Think missing class can’t hurt? Think again. The
facts are:





If you miss 10+ days of school a year are 20%
less likely to graduate, and 25% less likely to go
to college.
If you miss a day every two weeks, then you
miss 10% of the school year.
Missing school makes it harder and harder to
catch up.
When you attend on time every day, you
skyrocket your ability to graduate.
High school graduates make $1 million dollars
more over a lifetime than dropouts on average!
Scary facts:



80% of prisoners do not have high school
diplomas.
Your parents can get fined for your ditching, you
could go to juvie.
Tardiness is the #1 reason for adults getting
fired from their jobs.
New Students of All Ages Clamor for AAA
Membership
Welcome to the future graduating class of 2019. This
energetic class has begun the year with energy and
strength and we look forward to what they will accomplish
and the accolades they will add to the Arts and Academics
Academy in the years to come.
While many of our Freshmen came to us from Cascade
Middle School, this diverse body of students come from
Sylvester, Pacific Middle Schools along with many
schools from outside the Highline school district borders.
For the first time in many years, the Art School is hosting
several exchange students. These students come from
China, Turkey, Bangladesh and many places between
Made in Office 2007 for office2007.com
Arts Schools Explore Careers
Students from Arts and Academics Academy took to Seattle and Beyond on our first Career Exploration
Day Thursday 12 November. We started the day in our normal first period and then things began to get
interesting. At 8:00 AM the entire student body went into the MPS [Multi-Purpose
Space] for a keynote speech delivered by Mr. Marcus Hayden (pictured below). Mr.
Hayden spoke of many thing, but his main point was to take chances and ask a lot of
questions of our hosts for the day. After that we boarded the busses. People went to
all sorts of places. Here’s a sample of some of our journeys: Starbucks headquarters,
Boeing’s Everett plant, Sound Transit HQ in Union Station, Microsoft in Redmond and several more.
We were all challenged to be on our very best behavior representing us, our school and our community
and the majority of students felt the day was VERY worthwhile. We’d like to thank Mr. Booker and
his fellow interns for making this such a special day.
An Evergreen Homecoming Assembly
By Cassandra Romero and Erika Perez
Friday October the
23rd all 3 Evergreen
schools gathered for
the 2015
homecoming
assembly. In
memory of Kenny
Bui the school
honored him for 11
seconds of silence,
11 representing his
football number.
Then, the
cheerleaders started
off a "Bui strong"
chant and the whole
school joined in.
After the
cheerleaders
performed, their
dance they spelled
out "Bui" with their
pompoms. Yonathan,
a HS3 scholar stood
up and walked
toward the center of
the gym in the middle of the assembly and started chanting "Bui strong" while everyone joined him. Finally the
highlight of the assembly was when the football team (Kenny’s football family) performed Haka. The emotion during
this assembly was sad and happy at the same time because everyone was remembering the wonderful person he was,
you could feel other people with the same vibe.
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force
Awakens Trailer Review
By: Marcus Mitchell
The third & final trailer for the upcoming and longawaited blockbuster Star Wars Episode VII: The Force
Awakens has been released. And The Force was strong
with this one. The trailer debuted during halftime of the
Monday Night Football game, and was released online
shortly afterwards. The trailer opens with a slightly
creepy close up of Rey (a new character played by Daisy
Ridley), who is head wrapped and rummaging through
the massive interior of a long forgotten, crash landed
Star Destroyer. During Rey's walk through the desert
landscape the planet Jakku (where she is accompanied
by adorable "ball droid" BB-8), a voiceover says "Who
are you". Rey replies, "I'm no one". The trailer then
switches to Finn's perspective, with shots of his TIE
Fighter crash-landing on Jakku and him walking on the
top of a sandy hill, discovering civilization. Finn (who is
another new character, played by John Boyega) says in
his voiceover "I always wanted to do some good...but
now I've got nothing to fight for". This quote is most
likely referring to Finn's life as a storm trooper, which is
now coming to an end. Things start to get really intense
when Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver) shows up. The
cross guard-lightsaber-wielding villain is on a space
station that appears to be firing a red, laser beam,
similar to the Death Star. In his voiceover, Kylo Ren
says, "No one will stop me. I'm going to finish what you
started". Darth Vader's melted helmet is then panned
over, confirming who Kylo is referring to. Poe Dameron
is then shown, being tortured by Kylo. A forest is then
destroyed in a red blast. Could this be from the red beam
we saw previously? The next sequence really kicks
things into high gear. The Millennium Falcon is flying
away from a group of TIE Fighters in a surface dogfight
on Jakku. This is the same battle we saw in the second
trailer, but this time it's much more extensive and
detailed. The next scene is Finn & Rey confronting Han
Solo on the Falcon. Rey says, "There were stories about
what happened...are they true?" Han replies proudly,
"It's true, all of it.". From this point, it's one adrenalinefueled nostalgia trip to the next: The Falcon jumping into
hyperspace, X-wings shaking and blasting TIE Fighters,
Finn gearing for battle (during which he crosses paths
briefly with Poe), Han embracing Leia, Stormtroopers
marching and getting blasted. The last scene is a curious
cliffhanger. Finn is in the same forest where we first met
Kylo Ren in the teaser trailer, and he's ignited a blue
lightsaber, ready for a duel.t This is perhaps the most
bad@$$ we've seen Finn be at this point, since all we'd
seen him do is breath heavy and run away from the
danger. Kylo (now without his mask) charges toward
Finn, and by the time their lightsabers clash, the screen
cuts to black. An unfamiliar voice says "Let it in" before
the film's logo appears.
This was an outstanding trailer for the film. It had a
much more emotional tone than the previous one (that's
not to say the second trailer didn't have one at all), and
for the first time, the story was front and center. While
there was some loose ends, most notably the absences
of Luke and the new characters played by Andy Serkis
(who has played iconic characters such as Gollum from
The Lord of the Rings and Caesar from the recent Planet
of the Apes reboots) and Max Von Sydow. Overall, this
trailer was worth the wait, and will be more than enough
to hold fans over as we wait for the December 18, 2015
release.
Source: Youtube
In Depth with Downey: an Interview with
the AAA Principal
By: Marcus Mitchell
Do you want to get to know the new principal of
Arts & Academics Academy? Ms. Downey (former assistant
principal of Highline High School), recently took the time to
share a little bit of her story with our very own Editor in
Chief, Laurina Anthone. The interview went very well, she
shared her thoughts about AAA and her own educational
background. Ms. Downey has an impressive history with
majors in music and sociology, as well as a master’s degree
in curriculum and instruction. Most importantly, Downey
really seems to care about her students and staff, stating that
they are “very open, genuine and supportive of one
another.” Downey is also very excited about what she can
bring to AAA. “I do my best to prioritize my time to be in
classrooms so that I am actively with staff and students as
much as possible” .With Ms. Downey at the center, it seems
that AAA is about to get the TLC it deserves.
This Week on Gamers Corner: Destiny
By: Zachary Wilbanks
Help you because it gives a general run down of the
boss’s in the raid.
Gear up guardians, this time the king isn’t going to be
forgiving!
- The Weekly Gamer
College and Career Center upcoming
events
By: Mr. Booker
All Destiny gamers knew there was gonna be a
“Light” increase since the beginning of the new
expansion (The Taken King) launched, but were not
sure when. So what did the developer give us, hmm? A
date for the new Light level increase, along with
something new.
So before we get into the “new thing”; Light is
what defines your average gear rating which allows you
to head into harder, more difficult zones. A higher Light
increase means that new, more powerful gear will be
coming out. “Where do we get this new gear?” The new
raid difficulty.
For Destiny gamers, who have played for quite
some time, knows there are two raid difficulties:
normal and heroic. Well the Normal difficulty came out
a week or so after launch (September 15th) on
September 22nd, and the Heroic just came out on the
23rd of October 2015.
You knew from the start, the new mode was
going to be extremely difficult. That’s why they are
implementing the higher Light. In the normal mode,
they urge you to be at least 290-300 Light. It’s pretty
easy to get to it right now, but the heroic mode urges
you to be 310-320. That’s a 20 Light jump. Very few
players in Destiny now are 310, which was the max.
“How are we going to be able to manage
getting there if you aren’t 310?” Well thanks to other
game types and the increase we will now be able to get
higher gear dropped from other game types such as
PvP (player vs player) or missions. This will enable you
to get past 300 Light for the normal raid. As the raid on
normal mode is the only way to gear up for the heroic
version, getting passed 300 should make things easier.
Even if you do get to 310 Light, I would HIGHLY
suggest you do the normal version seeing as that will
November
2nd,2014
November
4th, 2015
November
12th,
2015
November
13th, 2015
AAA career
explorator
y choice
day for
grades 911th
during
advisory
University
of Idaho
Presentatio
n in the
library.
(Session 1:
10am10:55am)
(Session 2:
11:15am12pm)
AAA
Career
Explorator
y for the
whole
school and
Guest
Speaker
Marcus
Harden
(8:30am1:15pm)
University
of
Washington
College
Application
Day from
12:30pm2:30pm
November
14th,
2015
Black and
Brown
Male
Summit@
Highline
College
from 8am5pm
November
14th- 15th,
2015
November
18th,
2015
November
30th, 2015
UW
Admissions
Workshop
Weekend
from 8am4pm
College
Rally in
MPS from
11:35am12:15pm
for 9th and
10th
graders
University
of
Washington
Bothell
Presentatio
n (Session
1 10am10:55am,
Session 2:
11:15am12pm)
AND UW
Workshop
weekend
starts
Mathew and Marcus Chacon's journey to
state!
By: Luis Garcia and Leo Tello
It started in middle school where I was suggested by a
friend, I saw I liked it and got back into it in the 10th
grade. I like running, not for the competition but
because I like to see myself do better, I like seeing
myself do really well
Has it ever felt too hard or difficult?
It’s never been a rock bottom moment, but there has
been times were I wanted to do better. When I’m not
improving or falling behind it doesn’t feel good, but I
would never want to quite
What do you do to get better?
We run year round, doing different types of running
and exercises. It’s a combination of things to keep
going and improving.
What else interests you other than Cross country?
Other sports like basketball, anything that keeps you
moving. One thing I like to focus on is school work or
school programs.
Do you feel your hard work is worth it?
Yes, I feel like it’s worth it, I like seeing myself succeed
and be really good at something. It’s definitely worth
all the work we put in.
How has cross country motivated you?
Its motivating knowing what I’m doing keeps me fit,
also I do it to see other people succeed and for me to
be able to help them succeed in any way I can.
What are your plans for the future?
Journalists Luis Garcia and Leo Tello from Arts’
publications interviewed Mathew and Marcus Chacon,
wanting to see how they feel about being in cross
country and about them overall. We asked the
following questions:
How does it feel to be in state?
We’re not in state YET, but we are close. We’ve been in
state twice already, one thing we really want is for our
team to go into state.
What motivates you to keep going?
Adrenaline, once you start running you just want to
beat your own score. Even competition. Competition is
something I never really, but it’s something that makes
me want to do better. It feels good to beat your own
score.
What made you want to do cross country?
Our plans are to enroll in a college out of state or in
state, Udub is something we have our eyes on, we will
also keep
Journalists Luis Garcia and Leo Tello from Arts’
publications interviewed Mathew and Marcus Chacon,
wanting to see how they feel about being in cross
country and about them overall. We asked the
following questions:
How does it feel to be in state?
We’re not in state YET, but we are close. We’ve been in
state twice already, one thing we really want is for our
team to go into state.
What motivates you to keep going?
Adrenaline, once you start running you just want to
beat your own score. Even competition. Competition is
something I never really, but it’s something that makes
me want to do better. It feels good to beat your own
score.
What made you want to do cross country?
It started in middle school where I was suggested by a
friend, I saw I liked it and got back into it in the 10th
grade. I like running, not for the competition but
because I like to see myself do better, I like seeing
myself do really well
Has it ever felt too hard or difficult?
It’s never been a rock bottom moment, but there has
been times were I wanted to do better. When I’m not
improving or falling behind it doesn’t feel good, but I
would never want to quite
What do you do to get better?
We run year round, doing different types of running
and exercises. It’s a combination of things to keep
going and improving.
What else interests you other than Cross country?
Other sports like basketball, anything that keeps you
moving. One thing I like to focus on is school work or
school programs.
Do you feel your hard work is worth it?
Yes, I feel like it’s worth it, I like seeing myself succeed
and be really good at something. It’s definitely worth
all the work we put in.
How has cross country motivated you?
Its motivating knowing what I’m doing keeps me fit,
also I do it to see other people succeed and for me to
be able to help them succeed in any way I can.
What are your plans for the future?
Our plans are to enroll in a college out of state or in
state, Udub is something we have our eyes on, we will
also keep