The Manson Secondary Music and Art Department held its annual Collaborative Experience "Culture" featuring music and art from Manson Students On November 20th. The concert was overflowing with parents, students, staff and community members. Thank you for joining us!
Matt Brown, music director, stated, “The goal of the collaborative experience is that through the study of a theme the audience and students learned to be a part of something bigger that themselves. This year’s theme “Culture” delved into the music, art and history from nations around the world.
Art teacher Phil Thomas added, ““I think the value of the collaboration of the arts is that the students begin to make connections - not only between art and music but also with cultures and the purposeful connection with the audience when you create a piece to be in a show like that.”
The next middle/high school concert and Fine Arts program will be held on May 21, 2018.
Manson High School has a new tiny project that is gaining big momentum. Several years ago, one our innovative teachers—who was also a general contractor prior to becoming a teacher—proposed an idea to create a class that would design and construct a Tiny House. However, as is often the case, funding was not available to purchase the equipment necessary to take on such a big task. The dream sat on the shelf for years, until we came across carryover dollars last school year from GEAR UP. Our superintendent, Matt Charlton, approached the teacher and put together a proposal to renovate our vocational technology department and purchase the woodworking tools needed to construct the Tiny House. GEAR UP approved the plan and the high school additions took place over the summer. We proudly commissioned our Tiny House class on the first day of school. It is an elective that high school students can choose each trimester.
There are currently 16 students in the class. There are two student project managers that delegate the workflow on a daily basis. The students designed floorplans, sketched elevation plans, and built seven different prototypes of the Tiny House out of balsawood. Then over the course of three days, community members, teachers, and students were invited to vote on their favorites. After the votes were tallied and the “winner” of the prototypes was chosen, the students went to work on the planning and construction of the house. The students will participate in every step: design, framing, plumbing, electrical, insulation, drywall, siding, roofing, finishes.
The Tiny House is not only a very timely and applicable class for our students in the valley because of the nature of the growing construction field in our area, but it is also very beneficial to our people group. There are needs in our community for a commodity like this; with the rising prices of homes in the area and the lack of low-income housing, we are continually struggling to find affordable housing. The complete Tiny House project will serve as a means to generate jobs and housing possibilities for our community. There are local contractors that have expressed concern for the decreasing number of people entering the construction-field trades and have already vowed to hire students out of this class for summer jobs. In addition, there are currently seven people that have contacted our teacher to purchase one of our Tiny Houses. After the sale of our first Tiny House, we will be able to use the funds to purchase the materials for our second house and create a sustainable program.
Our partnership with CWU’s GEAR UP has awarded us the opportunity to further develop our vocational department and expand the students’ vision and possibilities through the hands-on experience of the vast areas involved in designing and constructing a house. The passion of teachers, vision of a superintendent, and GEAR UP funds allowed us to jumpstart a promising program for Manson High School.
Manson High School student athlete, Joe Strecker, was selected as the WIAA Spotlight Athlete of the month. This honor is given to one student athlete per month across all classifications. Joe is an exceptional football player who embodies what it means to be a student athlete.
To read more about Joe and his journey please CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
A great opportunity to work with students in the area of VEX Robotics awaits that special individual with the skill and knowledge to help further students in their quest to make ideas a reality.
Coach duties and responsibilities will include some of the following
Desired Qualifications: - Enthusiasm and a love of learning with kids is of the highest importance. Experience in one or more of the following technical areas is also desirable, but absolutely not necessary: Technical Management, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotic Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Industrial Fabrication.
For a more detailed list of job responsibilities and qualifications, please contact the district office at 687-3140. $3,000 stipend.
Manson High School Ag/shop program held their semi-annual cardboard boat races recently at Manson Bay Park. Every few years’ students in Kevin Amsden shop class spend about two weeks creating a boat entirely out of cardboard and duct tape. Before they begin to construct their boat, they must first learn the science, physics and buoyance in creating their card board boats.
A few of the key principals they learn are: center of buoyance, center of gravity, displacement, draft, hydrodynamics, keel, and design process. They begin by make small prototypes of their boat and floating them in a small pool as they add golf balls to simulate weight. They also learn the positive and negative design features of each boat. They then go full scale, which culminates in races at Manson Bay.
A big thank you goes out to lifeguard, Vickie Downey, who is always on hand for the races, Chelan County EMS and the Manson Parks Department, who allow us to use the park for our races.
Manson School Board Member, Aurora Flores was certified as the next Washington State School Directors Association’s (WSSDA) board president-elect.
Flores has been a school board director for 20 years in the Manson School District, over half of which she has served as her board’s legislative representative. Flores is currently vice president of WSSDA’s board and is a governor-appointed member of the Professional Educators Standards Board.
“I strongly believe that public schools with local control are still our best public education option and this is why I’ve dedicated so many years to serving my local school district,” said Flores. “But I am humbled at being confirmed as president-elect on the board of the largest group of elected officials in the state of Washington.”
As president-elect, Flores will be a member of the WSSDA board’s executive committee, which is composed of the board officers (president, president-elect, vice president, past president) plus one additional WSSDA board member selected by the board.
Fellow Manson Board Member Jama England commented, “Aurora is a dedicated educator. She relies on life experiences to help formulate her "out of the box" thinking. She is an asset to Manson Schools as well as all the other districts she serves.”
Superintendent Matt Charlton added, “Manson is really fortunate to have Aurora as a long serving school board director. Her dedication to our community and to the success of every student in our state is commendable. Congratulations Aurora!”
The Manson School District will hold an informational meeting on Thursday, September 28 at Manson High School beginning at 4pm.
Scott Renick, Business Manager-Manson School District and Dave Arp, Executive Director of Administrative Services/Finances with the North Central ESD will give a presentation on school budget lasting approximately 30 minutes.
There will be a question and answer session at the end of the presentation.
This meeting is open to the public.
Four members of Manson FFA, (L-R) Brynna Harris, Celina Mendoza, Bryce La Mar and Kayla Gosvener, traveled to the NCW Fair in Waterville on Friday Aug 25 to compete in the Career Development Events. (CDE).
The first CDE of the day was Gardening Judging where the participants had to place 5 classes, which included potatoes, carrots, peppers, raspberries and tomatoes.
After the contest was over Manson placed 3rd overall as a team with Celina placing 7th overall.
The second contest of the day was Livestock Evaluation consisting of market steers, lambs, goats and pigs along with breeding sheep and pigs to be judged.
In individual placing we had the 23rd highest individual with that honor going to Bryanna Harris out of 87 individual judges.
Manson FBLA students accompanied by their advisor/teacher, Susan Sears, attended and competed at the Washington State FBLA Leadership Conference April 19-22, 2017 in Spokane, Washington .
Students competed in the following team events: Alyssa La Mar and Megan Clausen in Website Design, Bo Charlton, Ty Charlton, and Joe Strecker in Business Ethics, Bo Charlton, Joe Strecker and Spencer Ward in Sports and Entertainment Management, Karina Mendoza and Jasmine Pascasio in Marketing. Students who competed in individual events are Veronica Lulo in Business Calculations, Ty Charlton in Introduction to Business, Mason Walters in Health Care Administration, Eduardo Escalera in Business Communication, Megan Clausen in FBLA Principles and Procedures, Damon Smith in Job Interview, Daicy Leyva in Client Services, Alyssa La Mar in Agribusiness, and Ramiro Lopez in Advertising.
Damon Smith earned second place in Job Interview and qualifies for FBLA National Leadership Conference to be held in Anaheim, California in June. Students also attended Ted Talks and workshops to learn about different business topics.
MVT WebCam 
