ICS PTSA NEWSLETTER

April 30, 2023

See the ICS Calendar for more upcoming event dates.

Board Seek Nominations for ICS PTSA Awards

The ICS PTSA Board is accepting nominations for the following awards:

OUTSTANDING EDUCATOR: This award is given in recognition of an individual who goes beyond the normal expectations of their job to make the learning environment fun, beneficial, and challenging.

PHOENIX AWARD: This award is given in recognition of an individual who has done an exceptional job on a task or committee.

GOLDEN ACORN: This award is given in recognition of an individual who has given outstanding service to the school community. It is to recognize volunteer service "above and beyond" a particular job description.

The Washington State PTA offers the Outstanding Educator and Golden Acorn awards. A contribution in the recipients' name is made to the Washington State PTA Scholarship Foundation. The Phoenix award is unique to ICS. 

Please nominate as many parents or staff members who you believe deserve recognition for their service. Kindly include some reasons why this person should receive the award. Note that a parent or staff member can only receive a specific award once, so please consult the ICS PTSA website to view prior years’ recipients.

Complete and return this form or simply email the PTSA co-presidents at president@icsptsa.org with your nominating information.

Talent Show Fundraiser

ICS Key Club is hosting a miracle-minute fundraiser during the Key Club Talent Show on May 10 during homeroom. Proceeds will be donated to Hopelink, a nonprofit organization that works to end poverty in our community. Please encourage your child to bring cash to donate to our fundraiser! You can also donate to Hopelink through their website. See link below.

https://www.hopelink.org/non-profit-status

Questions? Contact Mr. Plank pplank@lwsd.org

Congrats from ICS FBLA!

ICS Future Business Leaders of America is proud to announce the success of our chapter at the recent State Business Leadership Conference in Spokane! As a chapter, we won the Gold Seal award, which means we were part of the 15% of all WA chapters that outstandingly participated in FBLA's projects and programs. 30 members were finalists in their events, and 15 members qualified for Nationals. Kunal Duggal, Leon Lannyd, Santoshi Pisupati, and Taran Srinivasan were state champions in their events! Congratulations to everyone and we look forward to the future of ICS FBLA!

Call for Volunteers for FBLA Club's Movie Night

FBLA Movie Night will be on Friday, May 12 and we need volunteers who are able to supervise the event from 6:30 to 9 PM. Please email icsfbla@outlook.com ASAP if you are interested in this opportunity to earn volunteer hours!

FROM THE DEI COMMITTEE

Cinco de Mayo

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 May we would like to highlight Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo, or the fifth of May, is a holiday that celebrates the date of the Mexican army’s May 5, 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. The day, which falls on Friday, May 5 in 2023, is also known as Battle of Puebla Day. 

Many people outside Mexico mistakenly believe that Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexican independence, which was declared more than 50 years before the Battle of Puebla.

While it is a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States, Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a commemoration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations. 

People mark the occasion with parades, parties, mariachi music, Mexican folk dancing and traditional foods such as tacos and mole poblano. Some of the largest festivals are held in Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston.

International Food Night

SCHOOL LUNCH HERO DAY

Celebrate Our Nutrition Services Crew - find ideas and inspiration here.

REPEATED ARTICLES

New Board Members Elected for Next Year (effective July 1, 2023)

o  Co-Presidents: Kristin Trace, Cassandra Andriychenko  

o  VP Curriculum Support: Lei Kou  

o  VP Activities Support: Lucia Liu  

o  VP Community and Facilities: Sanjeevini Mittal  

o  VP Information Support: Tom Resing  

o  Co-Treasurers: Hanyue Jiang, Shirley Li  

o  Co-Secretaries: Jeanie Lee Kleinpeter, Khris Vogel 

Staff Appreciation Week

The ICS Staff Appreciation Committee Needs your HELP! We are down to our last few activities to show our teachers how much we appreciate them! Please consider donating items to the week long celebration.  We will be celebrating Staff Appreciation Week at ICS, May 1^st-5^th and we need your help to make it another spectacular event showing our teachers and staff just how much we appreciate all the time, energy and talent that goes into educating our kids. To that end, use this link for all 5 days of signup genius signups. Please look for the various days at the top under the tabs and then signup to donate items.

Reimbursement Requests

Hello parents, please submit any outstanding expense reimbursement requests as soon as possible, to the VP or Chair of your appropriate budget category. Please include all supporting documentation. We process reimbursement requests once per month, with June 15^th being the final cut-off date. In certain special circumstances, if this date is not feasible, we will require prior notification of the upcoming expense. The Fillable Reimbursement Form is here. Please e-mail: treasurer@icsptsa.org with questions.  

Adolescent Parenting Workshop

Parenting an adolescent or teen? Interested in finding connections, resources, and support?

PEPS (in collaboration with your PTSA) would like to offer a tailored 1-hour free workshop for the parents of ICS featuring any of the adolescent parenting topics that are most relevant to you in this time of vulnerability.

Please fill out a 2-question interest form to let us know what you would like to learn, the parenting concerns that are rising for you, and the questions about teen development that are bothering you.

Come and learn from subject matter experts and also participate in small group discussions PEPS style.

Quote from a PAT participant:

“…I found that learning alongside and making connections with other parents of teens is such a powerful way to increase my skills and confidence as a parent. Just knowing…that we all encounter challenges and can face them together…makes it easier to handle the challenges.”

Parent Meeting Teams Link

When meetings are online, this Teams Link will take you to there; it works for all meetings this school year.