1. Puget Sound Skills Center
May/June 2012 Newsletter!
By: Danika Olson, Student Editor, DMA
An Invitation to Parents and Friends;
You are invited to join us for the End-of-Year ceremony!
On Thursday June 7th, join us at the all-school Assembly,
which will be held at the Performing Arts Center at
401 South 152nd Street, next to Highline High School in Burien.
Every student who attends a Career and Technical class
in the morning will be honored starting at 8:15 am to 10:00 am
Every student who attends a career and technical class
in the afternoon will be honored starting at 11:30 am to 1:15 pm
Families who have students in Puget Sound High School
and VITAL are invited to join them!
On Friday June 8th at 9:00 am.
The event will take place at the Performing Arts Center at
401 South 152nd Street.
There will be a very special guest speaker, several student speeches,
and music entertainment provided by students and staff.
The doors will be open for friends and family by 8:55 am. The
ceremony will be over by 11 am.
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2. Puget Sound High School
Class of 2012
Written by: Michael McSweeney, lead teacher
When OSPI accredited the VITAL program as a diploma-granting high school back in 2010, Puget
Sound Skills Center was pleased to graduate 16 students in the newly named Puget Sound High
School. By 2011, 35 of VITAL’s 90 students decided to join Puget Sound High School. This year Puget
Sound High School is bursting with pride to be graduating 45 graduates, half the population of VITAL.
On June 8 at 9:00 AM in the morning, VITAL and Puget Sound High School students will come togeth-
er at the Performing Arts Center for a Celebration of Achievement.
Puget Sound High School students are busy making their plans for the future. Mikayla Roush, Jonelle
Kemp, Faduma Guyo, Alina Gritsayuk, and Shelby Wolf have all found their career paths in their
Dental Assistant C.T.E. program. Each of these students are ready to enroll at either Renton Tech or
S.V.I. to get further training in dental health care. Laura Jean Dougherty, also from the Dental pro-
gram, has decided to take a detour from Dental to Veterinary Science. “I realize I am a long way
from becoming a veterinarian, but my C.T.E. training at PSSC has convinced me that if I go one step
at a time, I can become a vet.” She plans to do an AA degree at Green River, then a BS degree at
UW, and then apply to vet school at WSU.
Andrew Rader and Keith Chaney, who took construction at PSSC, have plans for next year. An-
drew will be hired on at Pacific Industry Supply, delivering materials to construction sites. Keith, who
scored quite high on the Math COMPASS test, now realizes he qualifies for entry into the Electrical
Apprenticeship and Training Trust of the IBEW.
Three Puget Sound High School graduates plan to serve the United States by joining the military. Her
Marine Tech class has inspired Jamie Olson to apply to the Coast Guard. Michael Henderson and
Steven Henie both plan to sign with the Air Force.
Alison Fisher plans to begin teacher training at Highline Community College. She has learned that
she can do her entire college education -- AA through Master’s Degree – at Highline College. “I’m
from Des Moines and I want to stay in Des Moines,” Allison said. I’m glad I don’t need to move away
to go to college.”
As others head out to Bates to study Fire Services, or South Seattle C.C. to study Culinary Arts and
Hospitality Management, or DigiPen College to study game design, one common bond remains
constant: the power of C.T.E. at the high school level. “Puget Sound High School taught me how
to plan my adult life,” said Criminal Justice student Sydney Babcock. “I plan to get a business de-
gree and keep working for Dick’s Hamburgers. I make burgers now, but I expect to be a general
manager in a few years.” Fire Service student Will Stanton said, “My old high school was fun, but
this high school got me to push myself from boy to man. I have never before had such inspirational
teachers as I have had here at Puget Sound Skills Center.”
A survey was given to the PSHS graduates asking what their plans were after graduation, as of
5/2/12 the results from the 37 surveys returned are:
Four year university 2
Community College 13
Military 4
*Work 19
Volunteer 1
*Some students will be working while attending college.
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3. Puget Sound High
School Graduates!!
Connor Arnts Jeff Linderman
Ricardo Atilano-Flores Nayra Lopez-Armenta
Sydney Babcock Daniel McKinley
Thomas Beckman Carlos Montenegro
Donovan Carey Dallas Montgomery
Keith Chaney Griselda Morales
Greyci Chavez Guadalupe Nambo
Amber Coots Jamie Olson
Samantha Davis Celina Peace
Laura Jean Dougherty Leach Andrew Rader
Gildardo Duran Garcia Alma Rangel
Emma Engelhardt Joshua Renfro
Alison Fisher Yara Rodriguez
Alina Gritsayuk Mikayla Roush
Gheelen Guerrero Sierra Sammut
Faduma Guyo Jomar Sencil
Michael Henderson Brenden Simmons
Steven Henie Andrew Stanfill
Verenice Hernandez William Stanton
Chelsey Jordan Jhermaine Vejano
Sabrina Kallberg Shelby Wolf
Jonelle Kemp Tia Lee
Kiersten Lewis
Congratulations!
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4. DigiPen Video
Game Computer
Programming
Dr. Chris Cornuelle, Instructor
-Introduced 3D game design with Unity game engine for second-year
students.
-100% SkillsUSA participation.
-First entries in SkillsUSA competition, including a 3rd place.
-Field trip to DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond.
-Earth Day-themed game project: Make a game in one class period.
-First student to enter the DigiPen IT President’s Scholarship competition, where he sub-
mitted a game developed on his own time.
Digital Media
Arts
Edward Etherington, Instructor
-Several times the Digital Media Arts had wonderful industry professionals speak to the
classes, including;
-Susan West (Washington Assoc. of trial lawyers – new Advisory member – topic social
media)
-Steve Edmiston (Entertainment lawyer & film festival entrant and best in show)
-Post-secondary institutions; ITT, Art Institute, DeVry, etc.
-Rick Erhsam (Oracle Corp. – what IT industry jobs pay)
-Portrait lighting seminar by Steve Buck of Photography by Steven
-Largest number of videos entered by PSSC in the Northwest -High School Film Festival
-Immersion trip to King 5 TV and Pike Place Market for photography
Photo taken on Pike Place Market Immersion trip
by Edgar Hernandez, Student
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5. Culinary
Kevin Blaylock, Instructor
The new global menu has been a success! The introduction of various cooking
methods from around the world as well as a focus on Fusion Cuisine has improved
our program and created a broader view of the hospitality industry for our students.
Cultural Menu’s this year included Italian, Pacific Northwest , French, Asian, Span-
ish & Fusion. The annual In-house Mystery Basket Competition was phenomenal.
The winning teams from 1st & 2nd Session were awarded a six course dinner pre-
pared by Master Chef Tamas Ronyai. Please watch the video at web.mac.com/
theclassact. 17 students will be earning National Certification through the Ameri-
can Culinary Federation. This achievement is earned through two rigorous years of
academic study, testing and student leadership.Many of our students have earned
tech prep credits at South Seattle Community College , Renton Technical Col-
lege . We have also had students accepted to the Culinary Institute of America
and Johnson & Wales. Our Student Culinary Team will be competing on May 5th at
Renton Technical College , these students also competed in the Bite of apprentice
hosted by the Washington State Chefs Association as well as served as Comi at the
Western regional Jeune Commis competition hosted by the Chaine des Rotisseurs.
The Annual Family & Friends Dinner raised over $3,500.00 for student scholarships.
This is a four course dinner where students sell tickets to their friends and family to
show off their culinary talent as well as raise money for scholarship opportunities.In
June 10 of our students will participate along with the Washington State Chefs As-
sociation to prepare 6500 box lunches for the competitors in the Special Olympics.
This will be a two day effort; many of the products are donated through local pur-
veyors.
Students set up display at Bite of
Apprentice at Renton Technical College
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6. Fire Services
Robb lovre, Instructor
-On May 19th, Fire Services will be hosting the University of Alaska as they conduct their annual
recruitment process to create a hiring list for student firefighter. Applicants will take a written
test and go thru an oral board interview. We have five students who have applied in this pro-
cess.
-In the month of May, six cadets will be attempting to obtain their Red Card certification for
wild land firefighting. Our cadets have already successfully passed the pack test which mea-
sures a candidate’s physical ability to carry a 45 pound backpack while walking 3 miles in 45
minutes.
-Fire Service cadets have spent hundreds of hours assisting South King County Fire Departments
with training activities. Cadets assisted with rehab, returning equipment to the apparatus, filling
spent air bottles, picking up and reloading fire hose, and being victims in large scale emergen-
cies.
-One of our former students, Blake Regan, was hired this past February with the Olympia Fire
Department. Blake was in our program 3 years ago and attended the University of Alaska’s Fire
Services program before being hired.
The Andy MacDonald Fire Services Scholarship committee met and awarded 5 scholarships to
PSSC Fire Services cadets.
- 18 college credits can no wbe earned at the University of Alaska Fairfonts resulting in a
$10,890 scholarship!
Welding
Dale Copeland, Instructor
-Our 2011-2012 students developed skills in welding, safety practices, weld geometry and ter-
minology, various welding processes and testing .
-This year’s students participated in constructing 2 community art projects.
-A Totem Pole which will be displayed at Puget Sound Skills Center and Stainless Steel silhou-
ettes for a Student Art area at New Start High School. All students were given the opportunity
to achieve WABO (Washington Association of Building Officials) plate certification which au-
thorizes them to weld on public structures such as buildings and bridges. 4 students accom-
plished this during the 2011-2012 school year.
-Our students had the opportunity to experience one aspect of a real construction site acting
as “foreman” for a week as a Leadership activity.
When installed it will be about 11-1/2 feet tall and 6-1/2
feet wide. It is made out of scrap 6” steel pipe then weld-
ed together with the “Bark” texture welded on to the
trunk. The animals are made out of stainless steel sheet
metal and are from ground up; an Orca, Salmon, Deer,
Bear, and topped off with an Eagle.
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