The Lake Washington PTSA (LWPTSA) Council held its annual Founders’ Day Luncheon at the Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish on February 22, 2019 to celebrate the 122nd anniversary of National PTA. Each year at the luncheon, the LWPTSA Council recognizes individuals and organizations for their outstanding work on behalf of children and youth. Seven individuals and one organization were honored this year.
- The Community Service Award recognizes someone who believes in, practices, and encourages community involvement. This year’s recipient was Diane Jenkins. Diane has worked for the Lake Washington School District for the past 10 years supporting the Superintendent. She is consistently an advocate, ‘question-answerer’, scheduler and enthusiastic supporter of our PTSAs. She is also an active member in her neighborhood association and the Stray Threads Quilt Guild.
- The Assistance League of the Eastside is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping local families affected by poverty, homelessness assault and domestic violence. Their Help4Homeless supported 389 homeless students in our district last year and their Operation School Bell served over 1,737 LWSD students in poverty. For their on-going work, they received the Community Outreach Award.
- The Certificate of Special Service recognizes individuals who have done an outstanding job in their task for Council. Heather Chapman and Sarah Kimsey, were selected to receive this award for their “Wear Blue for Kindness Day” initiative in the wake of the Parkland school shooting in 2018. Over 10,000 people wore blue and participated in kindness events on March 14, 2018.
- Jennifer Malick received this year’s Golden Acorn award, presented to an individual whose outstanding service goes above and beyond a particular job description. Jennifer has served as the Emergency Preparedness Chair for Audubon Elementary and Rose Hill Middle School PTSAs as well as the Emergency Preparedness Chair for the Council PTSA.
- Jon Young received this year’s Outstanding Educator award for his work as principal at Redmond Middle School. Principal Young has only been in his role for a year and a half but has made a large impact. He has created a culture where students, staff, and the community enjoy being at the school, and feel empowered to do their jobs. Principal Young is willing to go above and beyond his job description in order to create a school community that is welcoming, nurturing and fun.
- The Outstanding Advocate award was presented to Christi Damico for her dedication in promoting the health, welfare and safety of all students at Sandburg Elementary. Christi’s most-known project is the Herbicide-Free Grounds program. She leads a group of volunteers to maintain the school grounds without the use of herbicides or pesticides. Christi has implemented a Terra Cycle snack package collection program to keep snack wrappers out of landfills. Lastly, Christi is working to implement a no-food waste program at the school.
- The Outstanding Service award is the highest honor bestowed by the Washington State PTA, recognizing someone who has continually given extraordinary volunteer service benefiting all children. This year’s recipient, Jay Pulacode, is an obvious choice for this award. She has served on PTSA boards at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Besides her school PTSA roles, Jay has held an elected office with the Lake Washington PTSA Council for the past 8 years. And as if that wasn’t enough, she took on the role of Washington State PTSA Region 2 Director this year. We are grateful for all she has done for the Lake Washington community.