Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 790
It was a back-to-work Monday morning this week for La Conner High School volleyball team players and coaches. After a busy summer of team camps and open gyms, head coach Pam Keller, assistant Kamea Luna and a roster led by lone senior Addie Wigal were eager to hit the Landy James Activity Court hardwood by 9 a.m. "We're very young this year," Keller said. She guided the Braves to a state tourney berth last year in her first season as head coach. "But this is a very coachable group," Keller...
Remember “Eight Is Enough,” the popular 1970s TV drama? It’s now the new mantra for La Conner High School football, at least for the next two seasons. Faced with declining enrollment as the smallest Class 2B school system in Washington, La Conner school officials opted following the 2023 season and a series of community meetings to downsize the team to eight players. The Braves will play an independent eight-man schedule this season and next. They will not be eligible for post-season action. Playoff spots are reserved for 1B schools. Durin...
Classes haven't started yet but two La Conner High School students already have homework. Emmalin Goodman and Kellie Cayou-Lockrem will be providing feedback to school board members on the district's new cell phone policy, their first task as the board's new student representatives. "We value your input," board member John Agen told the panel's student reps. "We'd like to have you be the most engaged student representatives we've ever had." Board President Susie Deyo said that rather than assig...
The annual Swinomish Back-to-School Bash, held as summer draws to a close, was again a cut above similar events held elsewhere. That was true both literally and figuratively. The three-hour Aug. 14 gathering at John K. Bob Ball Park had something for all student groups – school supplies, T-shirts and hoodies, general and specific campus and classroom information, school district calendars, snack foods, sno-cones and more. And there were free haircuts, provided by students from the Mount V...
Cell phones have their place. But starting this fall the La Conner Schools campus won’t be one of them. District administrators have rolled out a plan for the new school year that creates a cell phone free zone, a policy approved two years ago. School board members endorsed the plan – designed to assure fewer classroom distractions and greater student focus on academics – during their hour-long Aug. 12 meeting in the adminstrative building. “We’re not changing policy,” Board President Susie Deyo stressed. “We passed the policy in October of ’2...
Basketball has always been a big deal in La Conner. But in Spokane it's a really big deal. Bigger, in fact, than almost anywhere else. As has been the case every June since 1990, thousands of hoops players and enthusiasts crowded into downtown Spokane last weekend for the largest outdoor three-on-three basketball tournament in the world. La Conner wasn't left out. La Conner High School girls' basketball head coach Joe Harper entered a local third grade boys' team in the 2024 Spokane Hoopfest, a...
Tommy Murdock hasn't slowed down since capturing twin state hurdles titles in Yakima last month. A week after graduating from La Conner High School, Murdock competed in an elite national meet at historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Murdock, who collected five state gold medals as a La Conner hurdler, took part in the 2024 Nike Outdoor Nationals and USA Track & Field U20 Championships on the same track where the U.S. Olympic Trials will be held starting Friday. Hayward...
Departing La Conner Schools Superintendent Will Nelson, who is leaving after three years to accept a teaching post at Western Washington University, was among special honorees during the year-end Swinomish Education Dinner at John K. Bob Ball Park on June 13. Nelson received a ceremonial blanket representing warmth and protection as part of a program that also honored the first-ever cohort of Swinomish-trained teachers, the tribal community’s corps of classroom student advocates, Swinomish K-12 students and college graduates, and La Conner Sch...
Most Washington K-12 students failed to meet basic math and reading proficiency standards in recent years, according to a new report. The analysis from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows that in 2022, 66% of Washington fourth graders were not proficient in reading and 72% of eighth graders were not proficient in math. A spokesperson for the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction pointed to progress the state is making based on other measures and called into question “the methodology and the narrative being pushed by the Foundation i...
Three graduating La Conner High School student-athletes will take their best shots at the collegiate level next year. Graduating seniors Abigail Udlock, Tommy Murdock and Morgan Huizenga signed letters of intent June 5 to compete in college athletics during a 30-minute ceremony at Whittaker Field attended by friends, family members, coaches, school administrators and fellow students. Udlock, a state qualifier in golf this season, signed to compete in 2024-25 at the University of Puget Sound in...
The seating chart is a tool used in school classrooms across the country. Same with the La Conner School District’s meeting room, where board members and administrators sit in order of seniority. That being the case, interim superintendent David Cram – now the district’s finance director – slid into seat formerly held by Superintendent Will Nelson during the board’s 90-minute June 10 public study session. Nelson, who officially departs the district June 30 after three years, isn’t attending this month’s board meetings and didn’t partic...
The Kiwanis Club of La Conner has announced the Students of the Month for May. La Conner High School Student of the Month for May is Kendall Lee, a junior. Her parents are Jason and Dawn Lee. Kendall's favorite classes are chemistry and trigonometry. She is a member of the Prevention Club because mental health is important. Kendall loves sports. She plays tennis and soccer. After graduation, Kendall would like to attend the University of Washington to study health sciences and become a...
Students from the La Conner area have been named to the dean’s list at the University of Washington. To qualify for the dean’s list, a student must have completed at least 12 graded credits and have a grade point average of at least 3.50 (out of 4). Students are notified that they have achieved this distinction when they receive their grades for the quarter. Autumn 2023 Quarter MacQuaid Hiller, junior Kylee Marie Navarro, junior Winter 2024 Quarter Eleanor Drews, freshman MacQuaid Hiller, junior Andre Knudson, junior Preston Miguel Rivas, jun...
Tommy Murdock was feeling a bit run-down at the recent Washington State 2B Track-and-Field Championships. But, in the end, it was his challengers in two hurdles title heats who felt run down. Murdock overcame illness to capture the 110- and 300-meter hurdles crowns in Yakima, repeating the success he had enjoyed at state trials the year before. "He got pushed at state this year," La Conner head coach Peter Voorhees said of Murdock, "but he was in control." Which has been the case since 2022,...
A La Conner High School alum has been a key factor in unlocking doors leading to the successful rebuild and recent state championship run by the Anacortes football program. Tyler Dubuque, a 2004 La Conner graduate, is the offensive coordinator and primary play caller for the 2A Seahawks, who set a state-title-round scoring mark with their 60-30 championship game victory over Tumwater last December. Dubuque's peers noticed. The Washington State Football Coaches Association has named Dubuque the D...
La Conner Little Braves Preschool graduates broke through a tribute sign on the way to their outdoor graduation ceremony May 31. Each graduate received a diploma, gift bag and award certificate. The program is closing due to national Head Start budget cuts, perhaps to be replaced with a district transitional kindergarten next year. - Photo by Bill Reynolds...
La Conner distance runner Toby Walls caught up with some of the biggest names in track-and-field on May 25. Walls and his son, Sylas, an up-and-coming middle school racer, were part of the large crowd attending the annual Prefontaine Classic at legendary Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore. Named for late Oregon running icon and Olympian Steve Prefontaine, who from 1973-75 set American records at every distance from 2,000 to 10,000 meters, the Prefontaine Classic each year...
La Conner High School senior Tommy Murdock continued to set the gold standard for the state’s Class 2B boys’ hurdlers on Saturday. For the second year in a row, Murdock swept the 110- and 300-meter hurdles events at the Washington State 2B Track and Field Championships in Yakima. Murdock capped his amazing Braves career – one in which he collected five state gold medals dating to the 2022 campaign – by leading the La Conner boys to an eighth-place finish out of 31 schools competing in the 2024 2B trials at Zaepfel Stadium. Murdock account...
In preparation for becoming interim superintendent of the La Conner School District, Dave Cram took the oath of office during the district’s board of directors meeting Monday and he did not stop there. The school board methodically and unanimously passed seven resolutions authorizing Cram to sign documents, invest funds, pay bills and designating him as agent and auditing officer and more. Board President Susie Deyo told Cram, “You are official. On July first, you have all the authority of the school district. Have fun.” Deyo had first recogn...
Math can be serious stuff, but it's also a great vehicle for fun and games. That was spelled out at La Conner Elementary School during the annual campus Math Night celebration May 1, when parents, students and staff geared up to experience the magic of numbers. "It's great that people can come in and see how math is fun," said Beth Clothier, La Conner School District's director of teaching and learning. "It's nice to see so many families here to do math games." The mood was festive, akin more...
Three of six La Conner High School golfers advanced from Northwest Tri-District 2B competition to state brackets this week in Tumwater. Seniors Abigail Udlock and Sammy Williams and junior Corran Eisen represented La Conner in state 2B/1B play, a two-day contest that began yesterday (Tuesday) morning at the Tumwater Valley Golf Club south of Olympia. Udlock teed off on the girls' side of the state tournament at noon on Tuesday. She was grouped with Chloe Anderson-Cleveland of Orcas Island a...
Kendall Lee has brought her A-game – as in Anacortes – to area tennis courts this spring. The La Conner High School junior has competed in 2024 for Anacortes head coach Jeff Leer and the 2A Seahawks since tennis is no longer offered at La Conner. The arrangement has paid dividends for Lee, who qualified last week for the Washington State Girls' 2B/1B Tennis Championships May 24-25 in Yakima. Playing for Anacortes during the regular campaign kept Lee sharp for 2B/1B post-season action May 17 at...
The La Conner High School baseball and softball teams fell short in their respective league title races this spring, but they were winners nonetheless. Both programs were recipients of 2024 Team Sportsmanship Awards in recent balloting by their NW2B/1B rivals. The softball team, coached by Loran James and Taysha James-Sherman, also garnered two individual honors. Infielder Taylor-Rae Cayou, who enjoyed a monster day at the plate during La Conner’s late season conference doubleheader sweep of Concrete, was a first unit All-League selection. P...
Tommy Murdock, Yandel Rosales-Rojas, Kiana Jenkins and Morgan Huizenga each won multiple events and four eighth graders teamed to win the girls’ mile relay to lead the La Conner High School track teams to second-place finishes at the Northwest District 2B Track Meet in Coupeville on Saturday. Murdock, the reigning Washington State 2B boys’ hurdles champion, claimed titles in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the 110- and 300-meter hurdles. The senior hit the tape in the 100 in 11.5 He ran 23.14 in the 200, 15.21 in the 110 hurdles, and 39....
La Conner High School senior Tommy Murdock, the defending state 2B champion in the 110-meter hurdles and two-time state title winner in the 300-meter hurdles, is reaching new heights this spring. Murdock, who set a new school mark in the 110s at the recent NW2B/1B Championship Meet, was named the Skagit Valley Herald Boys' Athlete of the Week following his stellar performance at the recent league trials in Mount Vernon. Not only did Murdock establish a new La Conner High School standard in the...