The McClure and Harriet Thompson elementary school marimba bands recently had an opportunity to perform at the Washington School Business Officials Conference held on Friday, May 11 at the Yakima Convention Center.

It was an opportunity that was brought to them several month ago by Assistant  Superintendent for Finance and Operations Brad Shreeve. Music Specialist Carrie Benedict said as soon as they received the invitation they jumped at the chance.

"We were excited about the invite and accepted immediately," Benedict said.

During the event each of the bands had an opportunity to play several songs for the audience. The McClure School Marimba Band played several original songs written by their director, Mr. Skinner. The pieces included Old Cantina, McClure Jam and the Beast March. The Harriet Thompson Marimba Band performed the Chicken Dance, Get Ready for This, Boris the Bassman and the Seasick Sailor.

"The students were amazed at the size of the convention center and the size of the audience," Benedict said. "I was really exciting to perform for an audience outside of the Grandview School District. We're hoping to get more performance opportunities, possibly for community events."

The 2012 Employees of the Year were recently announced. This year's recipients are, back row, from left: Hopie Alvarez - Secretary, Tina Gillis - Classified Support Staff, Brenda Sanchez - Transportation,
Melissa Candanoza - Certificated Support Staff, Brent Smasne - Secondary Teacher,
Julie Durado - Elementary Teacher and Lynda Phillips - Parapro; front row: Marcie Morales - Food Service, Esmeralda Garcia - Friend of the Schools, Wilma Kozai - Administrator and Gary Baker - Maintenance. Congratulations to all of this year's recipients!

It's estimated nearly 1,500 people took part in the Play in May event held at Compass High School over the weekend. The event was organized by the CHS marketing class.
 
Play in May offered a variety of activities for children, from a petting zoo and balloon animals, to pony rides and a bounce house. There was also a drawing for two free bikes. More than 325 names were entered for the two bikes, which were won by Harriet Thompson Elementary School's Jorge Alatorre and McClure Elementary School's Phoenix Dimas.
 
"Play in May was a huge success," said Kim Gregory, CHS marketing teacher.
 
The marketing class would like to thank all of the people who helped make their Play in May event a success, including Jane Graf, CLC instructor and Elizabeth Corbus, a CLC student, who helped tie over 300 balloons into animals, swords and flowers. They would also like to thank Crystian Correa who dressed up as a clown for the event, Blehyls for supplying the fencing for the petting zoo, the VanDykes for bringing the goats, Justin Perkins for the pony and horse rides and Lonny Hendrickson for lending the games for the event. They would also like to thank the Humane Society and Pet Adoption Services for their booths sharing about taking care of animals and J and S Jumpers for donating the use of the bouncy house. The marketing class would like to thank the food vendors, including Honey-Do food vendors, Anotojito Ambriz for their food booth, and Garcia's Restaurant for their booth. They would also like to thank El Mercado de Grandview for the candy donations, Wal-Mart for the gift card that helped purchase the boy's bike and a gentleman at the Richland Wal-Mart named Henry who paid it forward by purchasing the girl's bike for the event while officials were busy getting the boy's bike.

 

Pictured above: Front row, from left: Karissa Trinidad, Tania Laurel, Jocelyn Baca, Juan Tzib, Miranda Ebbelaar and Analilia Granados. Middle row: Bryce Carpenter, Omar Arroyo, Brendan Bardwell, Tristan Poteet, Zachary Schloss and Jesus Silva. Back row: Gorge Lara, Angel Abarca, Patricio Orozco, Marissa Caballero, Kassandra Prieto, Jamila Shafer and Antonio Castillo.

To find information on Grandview High School sports and their post-season play, click here. You'll find information on which teams are playing in District tournaments and when they're playing.

Community members, school staff and students' families now have a place to go for the latest information on the possible creation of a uniform policy for Grandview Middle School. The webpage includes information on the process that has been used to determine if the policy is something that would be supported by families and staff members. To visit the webpage, found the Grandview Middle School site, click here.

The Grandview School District Food Service Department recently updated its website to include information ranging from school menus to nutritional information and recipes. Click here to find information on the new Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program, which is working to ensure students always have access to nutritional snacks. You can also find information on the district's school breakfast program and favorite recipes.

Vendors wishing to respond to district E-Rate requests should follow the procedures outlined in the Forms 470. Updates and resources will be posted to the E-Rate page of the district website. Additional inquiries may be sent to erate@gsd200.org if necessary.

For additional stories, please see our Announcements Archive.