ICS PTSA NEWSLETTER

March 26th, 2023

See the ICS Calendar for more upcoming event dates.

ICS Talent Show

Mark your calendars! Key Club is hosting the annual talent show, ICS’s Got Talent, during homeroom, May 10th! Does your child play an instrument? Dance? Juggle? Tell jokes? Whatever skill they may have, encourage them to audition! Auditions will be held every day from April 3rd – 7th before school, after school, during 2nd lunch, and during homeroom for 5 minute slots! All grades and acts are encouraged to audition. Audition dates are coming up soon, so make sure to sign up with the link or QR code or link below. We hope to see many talented auditions! 

Questions? Email pplank@lwsd.org

 Link:  

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0945AEAA2FAAFAC07-keyclub 

Principals's update 3/24 (recap)

Key points from Principal's update on March 24 are repeated below. 

State Testing dates:

End of Year Calendar:

Art Walk 

NAHS is officially bringing back the Art Walk! This event will be on April 5th from 5:30-7:30 pm at ICS and will showcase artwork from ICS students and staff. Parents, students, and friends are all invited to attend! Please encourage your students to submit their art pieces by bringing them in to Mx. Crane's room (or send them digitally to icsnahs@outlook.com). We can't wait to see all the artwork ICS creates!

Traffic Update

Important updates to the neighborhood streets around the ICS campus will be implemented by the City of Kirkland. Please read the details in this new traffic map.

REPEATED ARTICLES

International Food Night



We are honored and excited to announce that we will be hosting an International Food Night in the ICS Lyceum on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, at 6:30 pm. Everyone is invited to participate and share food representing their cultures and heritage. More details will be announced later, but to express your interest in participating in this event, please complete this form. Please reach out to Tarek Azoz at tazoz@icsptsa.org.

Volunteer Hours

ICS Interior Cleaning Event

Let’s make ICS clean, shine and healthy.

ICS Interior Cleaning Event on Wednesday March 29th 2023, 5 - 8pm

Cleaning supplies provided

Food and Drinks provided

We will do wipes desk and chairs, vacuum and sweep class room and hallway, wipes windows and doors.

Earn you volunteer hours with immediate family and kids. Please no kids under grade 6. If you need more volunteer hours, please email me to help me prepare.

Please bring vacuum cleaner, if you can.

RSVP at msuklan@icsptsa.org

Scholarship Opportunity

The ICS PTSA is awarding 7 scholarships worth $1,500 each to graduating seniors who show exceptional dedication to community work, volunteer efforts, extracurricular activities, and determination for self-improvement.

The applicant must be a graduating ICS senior and plan on continuing their education at an institution of higher learning (4-year College or University, Community College, or Vocational Technical Institute) in fall 2023. To apply students will need to answer essay questions and provide a letter of recommendation. Scholarship applications will be accepted from March 13^th until April 24^th. See link for the form.

ICS FBLA

ICS FBLA is looking for two parents (at least one female) to help chaperone the club (30+ students) at the State Business Leadership Conference from April 19-22. This is an overnight trip to Spokane, WA for 3 days, 4 nights. All costs besides meals and pocket money will be covered. Please email icsfbla@outlook.com if interested.

From the DEI Committee

We are launching Volume II of our ICS International Cookbook and we need your recipes. You can view last year volume here 

Everyone knows a foodie in their house, and/or someone who cooks amazing food and loves to share it. In many cultures food is more than just sustenance for the body. Food is seen as something that ties people together through fellowship, love/care, and good times. With COVID being something that has shaken up everyone’s lives, we have not been able to share meals with our loved ones, friends, and/or coworkers. However, through sharing recipes we can have a little of that feeling back, even if it is by making the recipe ourselves.  

We are fortunate to have families from across the world so we would like to give everyone an opportunity to contribute. Please fill out the ICS International Cookbook form and be a part of this initiative, Buon Appetite!

Questions? Email Tarek Azoz at tazoz@icsptsa.org  

From the DEI Committee

Welcome to the Diversity, Equity & Inclusive (DEI) part of the newsletter brought to you by the DEI Committee! Periodically, we’d like to highlight local DEI events as well as feature different cultural holidays and traditions celebrated around the world and in our very own ICS community. In March we would like to highlight Nowruz. 

Every year, millions celebrate Persian New Year, or Nowruz (prounced “no-rooz”). In Iran, the new year begins with the advent of spring, and most everyone in the country — not to mention the millions of Iranians and non-Iranians who celebrate the holiday elsewhere around the world — observe it by doing a deep clean of their homes, celebrating a season of new life, and wishing for good luck in the year ahead. 

Nowruz is a festival based on the Iranian Solar Hijri calendar, on the spring equinox. It is on or around 21 March on the Gregorian calendar. Nowruz marks the end of the old year and the beginning of a new one, and it occurs on the day of the vernal equinox. 

The word Nowruz (Novruz, Navruz, Nooruz, Nevruz, Nauryz), means new day; its spelling and pronunciation may vary by country. It is celebrated as the beginning of the new year by more than 300 million people all around the world and has been celebrated for over 3,000 years in the Balkans, the Black Sea Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and other regions. In these same weeks leading up to the actual day, families also set aside a space for a “haft-seen,” or a collection of items that symbolize a different hope for the new year. 

On the actual day of Nowruz, you can expect to see a couple of dishes that are specific to the holiday, often centering on greens and herbs to represent its themes of — say it with me now — freshness and renewal. 

But Nowruz is less about a single day than a general celebration of being able to wipe away the dust, grime, and sadness of the old in order to start anew. It’s about closing the door on one chapter and turning the page to the next one with excitement instead of trepidation. It’s about the endless possibilities that come with a blank slate.