Saint George's FIRST Robotics team #1595 reached the quarterfinals of the West Valley Regional competition on March 22-23 while earning both the Judges Award (for mentoring and STEM development) and the Pit Safety Award.  Past Dragon robotics participants were there to cheer them on, and the team also gave a tour to the SGS 3rd grade Lego League Jr team.  See photo galleries of the Robotics Team and Supporters as well as the 3rd Grade Team at the competition.

The 3rd grade Lego League Jr. teams competed at West Valley HS on Saturday, March 23.  FIRST robotics reviewers approached each team to ask them questions about their Moon Base and what they learned about living on the Moon.  After this presentation period, the students were given a tour of the SGS FIRST Robotics team at their competition before receiving high-fives from the FIRST volunteers and a LEGO medal award.  Former SGS Robotics member, Max Richardson (Denie's son), was home from college to give the third graders a special tour of the Robotics competition.  See a Photo Gallery of their displays and tour.  

The LEGO League Jr. season challenge this year was Mission Moon.  The students had to learn about the challenges that would face them on the Moon so that they could construct a Moon Base.  In addition to learning about the environment on the Moon, each team brainstormed ideas of how to get their air, water, energy and food on their base.  After each team picked their favorite ideas, they began building and testing those ideas with their Legos.  One part of the moon base had to be motorized and programmed with Lego WeDo 2.0.  

Thank you to lead coaches Laura and Chase Bradford and assistants Jacob Swartz and Toshi Shimizu for all their hard work in preparing the students of Team Apollo Lunar Ninjas and Team Discovery Adventurers for the competition and providing a fun experience with Legos!

Four Saint George's students scored 4.0 in the Dragon Slayer Tournament at Saint George's on Saturday, March 23, winning the team trophy.  Four students won individual chess trophies: Eshan Reddy won 1st place in the K-12 section, Joey Maestas took 2nd place in K-5, Noah Hochheimer finished 2nd in K-2, and Adrian Rooney won 1st in fourth grade.  Per Sande and Preston Sevigny also competed at the tournament in Metters Gym that drew 50 students from 20 schools.  See a Photo Gallery of images from the event taken by SGS coach James Stripes.

Eshan finished in a tie with two others for the top prize, winning the prize on tiebreaks, since his five opponents had a higher overall score than the five opponents of each the other two players.  It was a very competitive event for the top players.  The top six in the K-12 section all beat at least one of the six and each lost at least one game to one of the six.  Eshan is in third grade; the other five are in grades six through nine.  Great matches, Dragons!

The 5th grade Math Is Cool team will be participating at Masters (State) in Moses Lake on May 18.  Congratulations to Matthew Longstreth, Britta Ohnback, Per Sande, Megan Neiwert, and alternate Regan Thomas.  Go Dragons!

The 4th grade Math Is Cool team of 21 students took 2nd place at their Regional competition on March 23.  In individual honors, Taylor Teague placed 1st in the top division and Adam Ling took 2nd place.  See a Photo Gallery of the team at Regionals.  Coach Rick Petrini will learn this week if team members will be going to the State Masters competition.  Congrats, Dragons!

The 1st graders researched penguin species, then created life-size penguin "pillows" to share at Lower School Assembly on March 22 before returning to their classroom for a Penguin Party with their family members.  See a photo gallery of them Creating Their Penguins, a video of them singing The Penguin Song, and photos of the March of the Penguins and of their Penguin Party.  Plus you can read Penguin Stories that they wrote and illustrated, and you can see What They Learned about their different penguin species. 

The March 22 Lower School Assembly featured two classes singing Spanish songs.  Watch videos of the 2nd graders singing about Spanish Verbs and the Kindergarten class singing about Animals in Spanish.

SGS 9th, 10th, and 11th graders are invited to Shadle Library on Wednesday, March 27 at 4:30pm for a presentation by Grace Chapin James on "How to Get Into the College of Your Dreams."  The former Spokane Scholar and current Deputy Director of Admissions at the University of Chicago, Ms. Chapin James shares her experiences and insights on how to prepare for success in college admissions.  She is a graduate of Ferris High School and attended the University of Chicago, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and will begin her doctoral studies at NYU this summer.  She also serves on selective scholarship boards in the Midwest.  Students are encouraged to ask questions and take advantage of this opportunity to learn from someone who has direct knowledge of the college admissions process.

The 6th and 7th graders explained the results of their science experiments at the MS Academic Fair on Tuesday, March 12.  At the same time, the 8th graders explained the results of their history projects and science experiments.  See photo galleries of students presenting the 6th & 7th Grade Displays and the 8th Grade Displays.

Congratulations to the fifth grade's Math Is Cool team for placing 2nd in the regional competition at Coeur d'Alene last Friday, March 15.  The team of Isabela Acosta, Bella Edwards, Matthew Longstreth, Maggie Morris, Megan Neiwert, Britta Ohnback, Per Sande, Matthew Schultheis, Colton Thomas, and Regan Thomas will find out this week if they qualify for the State competition.  Kudos to coach Sam Wyss and to his assistant, Marshall Roll, an SGS junior and a highly competitive MIC player throughout the years.