Creative designer for the Mercer Island Reporter and Reporter Newspapers, Melanie Morgan spent 16 hours working at the West Seattle Senior Center polling station on Nov. 4. Morgan worked as a greeter, directing Seattle voters from 13 precincts to their respective tables. The Kent resident was on site at 5:30 a.m., more than an hour before the polls opened, until nearly 10 p.m. to drop the ballots off at the depot center. Having worked at poll stations twice before, Morgan said last week’s election was the busiest she had ever seen.
So far, Mercer Island’s downtown businesses have been able to float the economic recession with prudence. But with the holiday season just around the corner, retailers are bracing themselves for a tough year. Others have already felt the crunch.
Mercer Island residents DJ and Renae Brooks celebrated their 50th birthdays by cycling around Mercer Island 50 consecutive times for Children’s Hospital. Tackling the marathon tag-team style, each taking one 13-mile loop at a time or riding together, the couple finished their goal in 44 hours and 36 minutes. They covered a total of 650 miles and raised $5,000 for the charity — $100 per loop.
Five Islanders ran the 2008 New York City Marathon last weekend, with several others cheering them along. Mercer Island residents Robert Cremin, Kevin Flaherty, Rhonda Glass, Sarah Rowe and Eric Rudder participated in America’s most prestigious 26-mile race on Nov. 2. The crisp autumn day drew a crowd of two million, while more than 40,000 people from across the world ran in the event.
The Mercer Island Schools Foundation set a new record in Phone-a-Thon donations last week, earning $418,000 in its annual two-day fundraiser.
According to a new Federal Transit Administration (FTA) regulation, the Mercer Island School District will have to relinquish its use of Metro buses on two school routes.
Music composition comes naturally to Leeran Raphaely; writing and performing 30 songs for a musical is another matter. Raphaely, a Mercer Island High School senior, is attempting both. So far, he is more than halfway there.
The youth vote counts. This platitude rings truer than ever in the 2008 presidential election. According to nationwide surveys, the number of young voters (defined as 18- to 25-year-olds) in this year’s election is twice that of 2004. Youth-geared organizations such as Rock the Vote, League of Young Voters and YouthVote U.S.A. are also showing record popularity among America’s registered teenagers and 20-somethings.
Podcast. Blog. Wiki. Hyperlink. It may sound like gibberish to some, but most Island students are fluent in this Internet language.
Anyone who drives up S.E. 40th Street has probably seen it — a glittering, 12-foot-long duck with bulging red eyes and a handsome bill. There he sits, these days wrapped up in tarp to keep warm from the cold. Earlier this summer, you may have seen him bobbing peacefully on Lake Washington or trailing behind a Ford truck on his way home.
The Mercer Island School District has adopted a new teacher evaluation system, replacing its former approach with the Charlotte Danielson “Framework for Teaching” model. The decision was made last year and approved at the School Board’s June 25 meeting.
This fall, the Mercer Island PTA is taking an unprecedented step in leadership. Targeting half a dozen issues deemed worthy of attention, the PTA has established six Parent Coalition groups to work with the school district in a number of areas: education funding; math; world languages; student bullying; food allergies and special education/learning differences.
The ESL program on Mercer Island — now referred to as ELL for English Language Learners — is often overlooked; a modest footnote to the district’s trumpeted story of achievement. Yet the 72 ELL students attending MISD are well aware of the program’s strength and success. They are rewarded by it every day.
