West Ada School District

On Wednesday, October 12 students in grade 10 will be participating in the Preliminary SAT (PSAT) / National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. We ask that you please read this message in its entirety as there is important information pertaining to all high school grade levels (9-12). 9th Grade – Freshmen: • Wednesday, October 12 is a regular school day for freshmen. 10th Grade – Sophomores: • Sophomores have the opportunity to take the PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test), a short form of the SAT or Scholastic Aptitude Test on October 12. Families have the opportunity to OPT IN to this assessment in PowerSchool. Students who have OPTED IN on PowerSchool or have no response in PowerSchool have been pre-registered and will take this exam at NO COST. Families who wish not to have their student test and have not completed the PowerSchool School Form may still complete the school form in Power School or contact your student’s counselor by September 28. The PSAT is not used for college admissions. However, the PSAT does provide good practice for students prior to college entrance exams. 11th Grade – Juniors • Wednesday, October 12th this is a regular school day for juniors. However, as a Junior, you may elect to take the PSAT/NMSQT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholar Qualifying Test) in order to qualify for scholarship competition. If you are interested in taking the PSAT/NMSQT you need to sign up with your school's Bookkeeper by Wednesday, September 28th. The cost to take the exam is $18.00 and can be paid on myschoolfees.com. 12th Grade – Seniors • Wednesday, October 12 this is a regular school day for seniors.

Did you know that West Ada School Nutrition Services serves 6,000 healthy breakfasts a day? 🤯🤯🤯 During the month of September, the @westadafoundation will receive funds 💵 donated to the Nourishing Neighbors campaign at five participating Meridian Albertsons stores. These funds will ensure that West Ada students receive a healthy and nutritious breakfast. Next time you’re at your local @albertsons, please consider donating at checkout to the Nourishing Neighbors campaign to help ensure every student in West Ada has a healthy breakfast. Participating stores: • Albertsons at 20 East Fairview, Meridian, ID 83642 • Albertsons at 4700 North Eagle Road, Boise, ID 83713 • Albertsons at 3301 W Cherry Lane, Meridian, ID 83642 • Albertsons at 4657 S. Eagle Rd. Meridian, ID 83642 • Albertsons Market Street 3499 E. Fairview Ave. Meridian, ID 83642 @albertsons #nourishingneighbors #wearewestada #proudtobewasd

West Ada School District and College Board are proud to announce that Eagle High School student Zoe Bean has earned a $40,000 scholarship through BigFuture. "We're all so happy for Zoe. Winning this incredible scholarship is a great reward for all the planning she's put into her life after graduation,” said Dr. Derek Bub, West Ada Superintendent. “Zoe exemplifies the 'Choose Challenge' motto we've adopted for the 2022-2023 school year, and we couldn't be more proud." BigFuture, driven by College Board, provides guidance to high school students by recommending steps students can take to explore career interests, identify potential majors, find colleges and scholarships and access financial aid. It rewards students’ planning efforts with drawings for several $500 scholarships and bi-monthly $40,000 scholarship drawings. “Now more than ever, students need simple and credible tools to help them choose the college and career that’s right for them,” said Tarlin Ray, College Board senior vice president of BigFuture. “We’ve integrated these scholarship steps into BigFuture so every student—no matter where they are on their journey to college—can take the steps Zoe has taken to raise their hands and earn themselves a big future.” Zoe is the first student to receive this scholarship in the state of Idaho. She plans on studying nursing upon graduation. #wearewestada #proudtobewasd

FREE English class are Centennial High School!!! Childcare provided for children ages 3-10 and potty-trained.

Welcome to Star Middle School’s pre-engineering class. Mrs. Leininger’s students are working on a fun and challenging collaboration/team-building and resilience-building activity.  Students worked together to create a chain reaction using craft sticks.  They focused on the importance of failure as part of the learning process, teamwork in achieving challenging goals, and being kind and encouraging to our peers. Great job Cowboys! #learningisfun #wearewestada

Thank you for sharing your first week of school memories with us! #wearewestada #proudtobewasd 💙💛💙💛💙

Westy, Is West Ada’s school districts school nutrition mascot… he loves fruits and veggies and making sure every student eats their lunch. He was at Desert Sage today enjoying whole grain chicken nuggets, baked french fries, fresh apples and 1%milk. Be sure to watch for some Westy Wisdom about nutrition coming soon…

Congratulations to our Grand Champion and Reserve Champion FFA Dairy Showman! 🐄 - Grand Champion: Hailey Bishop-Wilder (MHS) - Reserve Champion: Emily Meredith (MVHS)

Thank you to all those involved in our annual West Ada Education Foundation golf tournament, 🏌🏼‍♂️“Linking Up Fore Kids". ⛳️ We are beyond thankful for our community's generosity as all funds raised go directly to supporting West Ada students, staff and classrooms. A special thanks to our event sponsors for your continued commitment to education and to students. #wearewestada #proudtobewasd

West Ada Math Symposium in action!!!! School hasn’t even started yet, but we have teachers learning and growing, ready to help students reach their unique potential. Special thanks to Dan Meyer for leading and guiding us through the symposium teaching the all important lesson of not rushing students through the learning ladder; from traction to abstraction. Teachers are busy thinking of ways students can know a very abstract math concept at the base, then spend time at each rung of the ladder until there is a need for the abstract. #wearewestada #proudtobewasd

WE ARE WEST ADA!!!!! Our first Community Clean-Up and we could not be more proud 👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼 of the students, families, administrators, faculty and staff who showed up to help our schools shine before the first day of school. We are so truly grateful for each and every volunteer who put in the work, and on a Saturday no less, to help mow, prune, weed, plant 🌱 and whatever else they could do to help their school community. We are neighbors. We are friends. We are helpers. We are family. We are a community. We are WEST ADA!!!! 💙💛 #wearewestada #proudtobewasd

Welcome to the West Ada Family!!!!!!!! West Ada welcomed over 300 new certified staff members to the family. Certified employees attended day one of their two day orientation familiarizing themselves with systems, routines and processes in the district. We are so excited 😁 to have each one of you as part of our family and as our partners in learning. 👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼 #wearewestada #proudtobewasd

Check out these before and after photos 📸!!!!! 🤩🤯🥰 The blacktop at Christine Donnell School of the Arts received some much needed love from several CDSA families. 🤗 A huge shoutout to the Masmeyer family, Kroenke family, Coe family, and Foss family for your hard work repainting the lines on the blacktop for students! Way to make your school community shine!!!! #wearewestada #proudtobewasd 💛💙💛💙 Join all of West Ada on Saturday, August 13 for a Community Clean-Up Day. 🪴

Congratulations to Amaia Clayton from Renaissance High School for being the 2022 Interscholastic Star! We are so very proud of you!!! #wearewestada #proudtobewasd

IHSAA selected their Schools of Excellence for the 2021-22 school year. Eagle High School received first place and Rocky Mountain High School received second place for 2021-22. In addition our South Region Director, Lisa Hahle was recognize by IHSAA receiving the District III Distinguished Service Award. Congratulations EHS, RMHS and Mrs. Hahle!!! #wearewestada #proudtobewasd

For those families interested in or in need of transportation (bussing) 🚌 for the 2022-23 school year, the transportation form MUST be submitted in PowerSchool no later than Friday, August 12 to secure bussing for the first day of school. After August 12, families will have to wait until September 12 to receive a bus route and transportation information for their child(ren). We thank you for your assistance and cooperation in this matter to ensure that all bussing runs smoothly and effectively for the start of the school year. At this time, families who have already completed the transportation form in PowerSchool are receiving route information in PowerSchool on average, in 3-5 days. Please make every effort to take care of this in a timely manner, should it apply to you and your family.

Join us on August 31 from 4-7pm at the District Service Center - 1303 E Central Drive Meridian, ID 83642 - for product tasting, to meet school nutrition staff, to learn about meal patterns and meal payment information, complete free and reduced meal applications and MORE!!!! There will be prizes and giveaways!!! We can’t wait to see you there!!!!

Shout-Out to Coach Clark at Victory Middle for helping the Cheer Squad win at Districts during her FIRST year coaching the team! Unbelievable! You did it! We appreciate you! #shareashoutout #wearewestada #proudtobewasd

This summer Meridian High School participated in the DAIRY DAYS PARADE. The Dairy Days Council (working alongside district AD-Jason Warr) started a new tradition this year with a "Most Spirited High School" award. We are proud to announce that the winner of the 2022 Most Spirited High School is…THE MERIDIAN HIGH SCHOOL WARRIORS! A special thanks to Mr. Steve Wilder who presented Principal Lilienkamp the trophy today at MHS! This will be a traveling trophy and handed out each summer. It is currently proudly displayed in the MHS front office for all to admire. A special thanks to all the MHS programs, staff, and parents that helped earn this honor!

Our first SHARE A SHOUT OUT… Congratulations Jack!!!!! ⛈ 🌪 ⛈ Jack Allen will be a sophomore this year at @ohsstormofficial. Jack competed at Worlds for Taekwondo in Denver Colorado this summer and took a World Title in Escrima Sparring. He also took silver in Sword Sparring & Bronze in Traditional Sparring. He takes Taekwondo at Legacy Martial Arts in Meridian and is also an instructor. 🤩 Shout out to Jack for his hard work and for Jim & Heather Neitzell, studio owners at Legacy Martial Arts and all the instructors for helping Jack reach this achievement! @legacymartialarts #wearewestada #proudtobewasd #shareashoutout