Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess visits LWGMS and lives to blog about it

His 9.17.08 blog, City View, had this to say:

Hope: Morning, Noon and Night

I had a great day today!

The day started at Lake Washington Girls Middle School near 18th and East Cherry Street where I had a discussion with a class of 8th graders about public corruption, ethics in government, character, and American campaign tactics. Wow! Those girls were impressive. Their questions were focused and cut right to the heart of the issues. They invited me as an elected officials after reading Robert Penn Warren's All The King's Men, a novel loosely based on Gov. Huey Long of Louisiana.

The girls were from across Seattle. Engaging with them was a measure of hope—they were bright, very aware of contemporary issues and problems, and well read. The last question of our hour together was right off the front page of the morning newspaper: "What do you think of the government taking over AIG?" I admitted I didn't know enough to answer.

Read the entire blog entry here:
http://timothyburgess.typepad.com/tim_burgess_city_view_/2008/09/hope-morning-no.html

LWGMS Partnership with Science and Math Institute

As the introduction to our year-long partnership, Dr. Karla Fuller, Program Manager for the Science and Math Institute at Bellevue Community College, spoke to the whole school about the importance of science and math in all our lives. She has spearheaded a program called Science to Go through which science, math, and technology professors from BCC will visit school to talk about their fields and conduct a class or experiment with the students. The purpose of the program is to inform and excite girls about the many professions that involve science and math. The hope is that girls will pursue these fields in high school, college, and beyond and explore science, math, and technology-related professions. LWGMS is honored to be the pilot school for this program. The students will benefit from one to two visits each month from different professors who will conduct a class related to the curriculum.

Dr. Fuller shared her educational and professional experiences that led to Ph.D. and job as a Cancer Biologist. She then led the girls through an exercise in the scientific method.
* The students came up with the problem"How can scientists come up with a cure for the common cold?"
* They brainstormed ideas and observations.
* They formed hypotheses.
* They discussed how scientists would conduct experiments to work toward developing a preventative or cure for the cold.
* They revised their hypothesis and experiment.
* They did verbal research and collected data.
* They analyzed their data.
* They drew conclusions. In the end, they decided that the common cold was a necessary evil to foster strong immune systems.

We look forward to a visit from BCC chemistry and math professors on October 13th.