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Mercer Island Student groups HOSA and GSA are hosting a Red Cross blood drive at MIHS on April 29 in the West Gym.

Mercer Island High School students Madison Liu, Fern Frame, and Huashan Yang have won 2024 Scholastic Art & Writing awards from the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.

On April 2, first graders at Northwood Elementary had an out of this world experience when the Museum of Flight’s portable planetarium visited the school through a grant from the Mercer Island Schools Foundation.

Amber Bobst’s fourth grade class at Lakeridge Elementary started a unit on energy prior to Spring Break.

On, March 26, 2024, Mercer Island School District successfully refinanced the remaining $40,495,000 outstanding from the 2014 Bonds. This proactive and voluntary action will not affect the District’s budget, however, it will save Mercer Island taxpayers over $1.5 million during the remaining five (5) years of bond payments.

Marisa LeVeque and Victoria Vermiglio’s fifth grade classes at Northwood Elementary received a special presentation called Skeletons and Skulls from Nature Vision on Friday, March 29 courtesy of a grant from the Mercer Island Schools Foundation (MISF).

If you have ever spent much time around first grade teachers you will be familiar with the term “Magical March.”

The Mercer Island High School Drama Department encourages you to come join the laughter as they present their spring play, The Servant of Two Masters, by Carlo Goldoni and translated by Edward J. Dent.

A Mercer Island Schools Foundation grant brought a Living Voice presentation titled La Causa to West Mercer Elementary fourth and fifth graders Tuesday afternoon.

The Mercer Island School District, in collaboration with the Mercer Island Fine Arts Advisory Council, invites the Mercer Island community to the annual Fine Arts Showcase, a two-day event celebrating the amazing accomplishments of our K-12 students in Performing Arts (Music and Drama) and Visual Arts.

This past Saturday, the Mercer Island Drill Team (MIDT) took second place in both the Military and Kick categories at the Washington State Championship at the Yakima Valley Sundome.

Superintendent Fred Rundle hosted an Open Enrollment Community Webinar in the evening on Tuesday, March 19.

Mercer Island High School had 24 students compete at the HOSA State Leadership Conference in Spokane this past weekend. 

The Mercer Island School District will host a community webinar on Open Enrollment on Tuesday, March 19 from 6:30-7:30pm.

The Mercer Island School District is looking for feedback from parents on MIHS summer school and on middle school and high school physical education classes.

Six Mercer Island High School journalism and yearbook students placed at the annual Washington Journalism Education Association (WJEA) write-off completion, which was held this year on Saturday, March 9 at Arlington High School.

The Mercer Island School District’s Open Enrollment Community Webinar scheduled for 6-7pm tonight has been cancelled.

Mercer Island High School’s radio and TV programs have earned 10 national awards for excellence in broadcasting, teaching, social media, and student management from the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System.

The Islander Middle School Drama Program invites our community to join them “Under the Sea” for Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr. at the MIHS Performing Arts Center on Friday, March 29 at 7pm and Saturday, March 30 at 2pm and 7pm.

lander Middle School seventh graders Aria and Ava Lele competed in the VEX Robotics Washington Regional Championship on March 2 in Lake Stevens on Team 938R of Blaze Robotics Academy.

Now that my bio and academic rhythm is in sync with the Pacific Northwest calendar, I’m thrilled to know we still have over a third of the year to go for teaching and learning! This is not the time to throttle down but rather hit our stride and finish strong.

This past weekend Islander Middle School Robotics Team 98040C wrapped up their 2024 VEX Robotics season by winning all 12 matches to clinch the 2024 Washington Vex Robotics Competition Middle School Regional Champion.

Superintendent Fred Rundle will host a community webinar on Open Enrollment on Monday, March 11 from 6-7pm.

The Mercer Island School District is hosting a Community Zoom webinar on Tuesday, February 27 at 7pm on the review of the curriculum of the health and physical education programs at Mercer Island High School and Islander Middle School.

Mercer Island High School Athletic Director Lindsey Blaine announced today the hire of alumnus Chris Lawler as the new boys baseball head coach.

A fun knitting party took place in the fourth grade class of Stephanie John-Lewis at Island Park on Friday, February 9.

The Northwood Student Council led the school’s first Belonging Assembly of the year Wednesday morning.

On January 25 MIHS students Ella Gao, Amelia Han, Justin Li, Sophia Loiselle, Isabella Sullivan, and Adelaide Swenson traveled to the Washington State Capitol in Olympia to represent the Maroon Project.

Superintendent Dr. Fred Rundle hosted a MISD Budget and Human Resources community webinar on Tuesday, February 6.

Mercer Island High School's Student Senate and the American Red Cross are hosting a Blood Drive at MIHS on Monday, February 26 from 8am-1:30pm.

Back in August when opening the school year with our staff, I quoted something Pete Carroll said in an interview a few years ago that has stuck with me.

The Islander Middle School Mathcounts team of Eric Shao, Kyle Liao, Angie Wang, and Albert Cai won second place in the Mathcounts Seattle Chapter Competition on Saturday.

Seattle Mariners play-by- play broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith took to the airwaves of KMIH 88.9 The Bridge for an hour on Friday morning to talk baseball with student host Dylan Shobe.

Abigail chose to write her memoir “Stuck” about the moment she found out about the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. 

Seven Mercer Island High School Band students were category winners at the Eastshore Solo and Ensemble festival on January 27 at Mt. Si high school.

Mercer Island High School DECA students have been preparing all fall to compete in the Area 3 DECA competition, which was held on January 10.

Mercer Island High School held their first annual Future Islander Night at the school on Thursday. It was a rousing success.

The Mercer Island High School Drama department is pleased to announce 12 students have been recognized as either a National Qualifier or State Honoree in the Washington State Thespian Thespy Awards.

All four Mercer Island School District Elementary Schools will be holding school tours on Thursday, February 8 and Wednesday, April 17. The tours will take place from 9:30am-11am.

The Mercer Island School District is hosting a district Budget and Human Resources community Zoom webinar on Tuesday, February 6 from 6-7pm.

The Mercer Island PTA Council has announced 21 first place winners, 19 second place finishers, and 16 third place winners in the annual Reflections Arts Program. 

We appreciate our community’s flexibility this week as we dealt with a two-hour delay for schools on Wednesday. Hopefully the worst of the winter weather is behind us, but if it is not we are prepared. And speaking of emergency preparation and communication, I thought it would be a great opportunity to revisit some of the tools, resources, and things families can access and do to help keep our schools safe and supportive for everyone.

The Mercer Island High School Creative Arts Magazine ‘Pegasus’ has achieved a Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines (REALM) first class award from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Please join the MIHS Drama department as they perform Little Women, the loved and famous story by American author Lousia May Alcott.

The Mercer Island School District hosted a roundtable discussion today with Mercer Island preschool directors on supporting the inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs.

Mercer Island High School will be hosting a Future Islander Night on Thursday, January 25, from 5-8pm.

At Lakeridge, Hanukkah is just one thread in the intricate weave of diverse traditions we recognize each year. As we embark on our celebrations of Hanukkah, we will use this time to learn from and about one another by appreciating and studying the common themes that connect Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and, in 2024, Eid and Lunar New Year.

I struggled with this month’s message- starting, stopping, and deleting many drafts. Toiling with what to say seems odd given the many student, staff, and district accomplishments in 2023. I’m proud of what we accomplished in November alone. However, I am also keenly aware of that which continues to challenge us near and far.

The MIHS Computer Repair Club is running a used technology donation drive on Saturday, December 9th from 1pm-4 pm at Mercer Island High School.

In October and November students at Crest Learning Center have been doing a multi-modal examination of Asian American experiences and history in the United States.

In honor of Inclusive Schools Week, WASA is partnering with the Mercer Island School District to present a showing of the film This is Not About Me followed by a forum with the film’s star Jordyn Zimmerman and Mercer Island High School graduate, Grant Blasko.

The student broadcasters at Mercer Island High School’s radio station, KMIH 88.9 The Bridge, have come away with three top honors at the annual John Drury Broadcasting Awards in Chicago.

On Monday, the Marching Band will appear on the Today Show on NBC. The band’s appearance on the Today Show will highlight their participation and performance in the parade. The Today Show can be seen on KING 5 starting at 7am. While exact times the band will be on are subject to change, it is anticipated the band segments on the Today Show will be at 8:30am and 8:52am.

FOX 13 Seattle shows Good Day Seattle and Studio 13 Live highlighted Mercer Island High School students, classes, and programs this morning with live segments on their shows.

Carly Henderson, co-host of Studio 13 Live on FOX 13 Seattle, will be broadcasting live from Mercer Island High School on Thursday, November 16 to celebrate both the MIHS Marching Band performing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the MIHS community.

This afternoon West Mercer elementary celebrated Diwali.

Islander Middle School has 28 combined lunch clubs, after school clubs, competing clubs, and athletic teams giving students numerous opportunities to connect and feel belonging.

Mercer Island High School Broadcast Media teacher Joe Bryant recently returned from New York City where he attended the induction ceremony for the Bob Rivers Show into the Radio Hall of Fame.

At West Mercer Elementary each month this year as part of the school’s School Improvement Plan social-emotional learning goal around belonging, the school holds a "Belonging Assembly."

Humankind. Last November, I attended a conference with our student representatives to the school board, Director Lurie, and Director Tucker. Guest speaker, Dr. Adolph Brown, delivered one of those keynotes that leaves you reflecting, wondering, and thinking well beyond the ride or flight back home.

Mercer Island High School Athletic Director Lindsey Blaine announced today Tim Chung has been selected as the new head coach of the boys swimming team.

Mercer Island High School football head coach DJ Mims has been named the 2023 Week 7 Seattle Seahawks 3A/4A High School Coach of the Week.

This past week, the Mercer Island School District held three community engagement sessions to present proposals and ideas from the Long Range Facilities Planning Committee. While nothing has been decided, the presentations and feedback from the community will help the District complete the final Long Range Facility Plan (LRFP).

If you have not already, you might hear about threats from Hamas calling for violent acts to be brought against Jewish people globally on October 13, tomorrow.

Our hearts are with our students, staff, and families impacted by the horrific events in Israel and Gaza that began over the weekend.

Lakeridge Elementary is excited to announce students Maddie J and Kingston J. are the school’s 2023-24 student representatives on the Superintendent’s Student Advisory.

The Mercer Island School District is partnering with nonprofits CORE Tanzania and The Book Project to repurpose the district’s surplus kindergarten through fifth grade curriculum and materials.

Welcome to the beautiful month of October. It is an honor to provide an update on the happenings within our district and extend my heartfelt appreciation for your continued support.

Lovingly ripped from the film classic, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Spamalot has everything that makes a great knight at the theatre, from flying cows to killer rabbits, British royalty to French taunters. 

The Mercer Island School District announced today that Mercer Island High School (MIHS) will participate in the Washington Guaranteed Admissions Program (WAGAP) starting this school year.

This evening at the Mercer Island School Board Meeting Superintendent Fred Rundle introduced new Mercer Island High School (MIHS) Athletic Director Lindsey Blaine to the School Board.

Our school is participating in the Washington State Healthy Youth Survey during fall 2023. The survey will be given to students in Grades 6 and 8. 

The Mercer Island School District New Family Welcome event is scheduled for Thursday, October 5, from 6pm-7:30pm in the Commons at Islander Middle School. Islander Middle School is located at 7447 84th Ave. SE.

Our schools, students, and staff started the year strong and confirm we are poised for an exceptional year. Though my last communication just came out a couple of weeks ago, I committed to providing mid-September updates, highlights, and recognitions. I would never pass on the opportunity to brag about our school district!

Today 12 Mercer Island High School seniors were named 2024 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

Mercer Island High School senior swimmer Piper Enge was named by USA Swimming to the 2023-24 U.S. National Team today.

The Mercer Island School District will be hosting three Community Engagement Sessions in October about the District’s Long Range Facilities Plan (LRFP).

Mercer Island High School Administrative Assistant Kristin Brintnall led a tour of the high school on Thursday, September 7, for graduates from the class of 1968.

Wonder, worry, accomplishment, apprehension…joy. I flew home on Sunday night after dropping my oldest child off at college. I had many emotions to keep me occupied. Those of you who have already watched children move out, you know the feelings all too well.

The Mercer Island Instructional Tech Day on Monday, August 28, in the MIHS Performing Arts Centre was a huge success.

Join the MIHS Drill Team at their annual Spirit Dance Friday, September 1 in the MIHS Lower Commons.

Today at Northwood Elementary MISD staff received a training session from Dr. Vanessa Tucker about how to enable students with autism in the classroom.

I hope you are having an enjoyable summer and finding ways to relax and take advantage of the wonderful summer weather. While most of our staff and students are away, preparations for the 2023-2024 year are full steam ahead, especially for our operations and maintenance teams. 

The student staff of KMIH 88.9 The Bridge, Mercer Island High School’s award winning radio station, will put their summer vacations on hold to once again launch Log Boom Radio and broadcast all the Seafair action live from the Stan Sayers pits August 4 through August 6.

Mercer Island High School rising senior Grace Go has been announced as this year’s winner of the Best Mental Health Podcast in NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge.

Superintendent Dr. Fred Rundle and District staff and administrators will be at our booth interacting and visiting with community members. We encourage you to visit Summer Celebration and stop by our booth for a MISD goodie bag.

The City of Mercer Island Emergency Management Department and Police Department will be conducting active shooter training and emergency drills at Mercer Island High School on Tuesday, July 11 and Wednesday, July 12.

Five Mercer Island High School students have won awards in the New York Times 6^th Annual Student Podcast Contest.

The Mercer Island High School Drama Department had four students recently attend the International Thespian Festival and six students were recognized by the 5^th Avenue Theatre.

The Mercer Island School District and the Mercer Island Education Association (MIEA), the union that represents district certificated and classified staff, are pleased to announce they have agreed on a one year contract for the 2023-24 school year.

Students in Northwood Elementary school first grade teacher Beth Christofferson’s class toured Mercer Island High School (MIHS) yesterday.

The Mercer Island School District community deserves a huge shout out for the amazing effort in collecting plastic film for Earth month. 

Eleven Mercer Island Destination Imagination teams recently participated in the Global Finals tournament in Kansas City, Missouri and performed phenomenally well. We represented less than 2% of the 589 teams at the tournament, and yet the teams took home 16% of all the first-place awards!

Well, we made it to June! However, this is a bit like our hopes and dreams for each graduating class. Our dream for our graduates is to not just get into college or on a career trajectory, but instead to thrive wherever life takes them. Thus, we need to all remember that getting to June is not the objective- it is now time to excel all the way through June 23rd!

Mercer Island School District Superintendent Dr. Fred Rundle recognized the District’s Employees of the Year, Retiring Staff, and staff with a years of service milestone in a ceremony this evening in the MIHS Library.

The Mercer Island School District Transportation Department will be hosting rides and tours of our new Electric School Bus this Saturday, June 3, to introduce the Island community to the new bus.

Tuesday afternoon at Mercer Island High School 29 seniors signed National Letters of Intent to play collegiate and university sports next year in a ceremony in the high school Commons.

Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS) has announced five students from Mercer Island High School successfully completed the WAS Phase One curriculum and qualified for a place in the competitive Phase Two – the WAS Summer Residency.

Mercer Island High School’s Media Technology, Filmmaking, and Storytelling Class announced today that two student works have been named Best Student Works in the record breaking 44th Annual Telly Awards.

This past weekend, Team 98040C, the Islander Middle School Robotics team competed at the 2023 VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas, Texas.

The students, staff, and community continue to amaze and inspire me. Students are excelling in and out of the classroom through athletics, clubs and organizations, and even personal pursuits beyond MISD. 

The Mercer Island School District, in partnership with the Mercer Island Preschool Association (MIPA), hosted an Inclusionary Practices Roundtable for Mercer Island Preschool Directors this afternoon. The roundtable took place in the Board Room in the MISD Administration Building.

The grant from MISF provided students with two workshops with a guest artist from Seattle Shakespeare. In one of the workshops students were guided by the guest artist in the language, characterization, and world of Shakespeare.

The MIHS team represented Mercer Island by bringing their ‘A’ game to these challenging events by exhibiting poise, determination, grit, creativity, and sheer hard work.  There were 253 MIHS DECA students that began the year with the Area 3 DECA competition in January.  Five MIHS students made it onto the stage as finalists in Orlando out of the 22,000 students that competed.

Mystery Science is a fun and engaging way for elementary students to learn science. This school year all Mystery Science materials used by our elementary teachers have been provided through a grant from the Mercer Island Schools Foundation (MISF).  

The Mercer Island Destination Imagination (DI) teams had a fantastic showing at both the Regional and State DI competitions. At the regional tournament 21 of the 24 teams earned awards and recognition for their work. This included several special awards recognizing exceptional technical designs, integration of music into their solutions, and the inclusion of superior engineering elements. 

The Northwood Elementary Adaptive Music and PE classes are grateful for a generous grant from the Mercer Island Schools Foundation (MISF) for pentatonic xylophones, Joia tube instruments, and adaptive bowling balls.

This afternoon at Mercer Island High School (MIHS) a new campaign called "Island Space" was launched by Mercer Island Youth and Family Services (MIYFS) and SAFE (Super Awesome Fun Events) Club students.

Island Park Elementary second grade student Sri Vadlamannati participated in the 2023 Washington State Science and Engineering Fair on March 31 and won three awards.

The National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) hosted their 34th annual conference, the National Services-Learning Conference, in Nashville, Tennessee from April 2 to April 5.

Mercer Island High School students in Rita Harvey’s Physics 2 and Chemistry 2 classes have a STEM culminating project of building a Stirling Engine from ordinary materials.

The Mercer Island High School Mock Trial Club competed at the 2023 Washington YMCA Mock Trial Sate Championship from March 24 to March 26 in Olympia.

Upcoming in April, we have more religious and cultural celebrations to recognize. Though some of these spiritual or days of significance fall either on a weekend or when the schools are closed for spring break, we will continue to recognize and make space for our students and staff who participate in the many traditions. 

Islander Middle School Math 3 teacher Liz Jose used a grant from the Mercer Island Schools Foundation to purchase 10 copies of a Choose Your Own Adventure Math Mystery book called The Outlier’s Secret for her students.

The IDEA project is a one-week program that is custom-tailored for the elementary grades and offers an opportunity to create understanding and empathy by educating students about differences and different abilities.

This afternoon at Northwood Elementary the Kids Quest Museum visited all three kindergarten classes to present their Forces In Motion program.

On Friday, March 3, Mr. Hartman, aka The Toymaker, met with all three second grade classes at Island Park Elementary.

On Saturday, March 4, Mercer Island High School Islander and Isla staff members attended the Washington Journalism Education Association (WJEA) State Conference at Mountlake Terrace High School.

The Islander Middle School Mathcounts team of Kyle Liao, Eli Glowitz, Keith Chung, and Eric Shao won third place at the Washington State Mathcounts Compe.tition on Saturday, March 18.

Each class, as a whole, will decide on characters, settings, plot, and other elements of their novel. Once all of those are determined, Ray creates chapter summaries and the students use their summary to write their chapter.

The Mercer Island School District is pleased to present its eighth annual Pathfinder Award to a 1974 graduate of Mercer Island High School whose achievements, strength of character, and citizenship inspire and challenge today’s youth to make significant contributions to humankind.

Ben is an author and illustrator best known for his Narwhal and Jelly books. Ben has written or illustrated over 25 children’s books.

A Mercer Island Schools Foundation grant helped bring Ijeoma Oluo to Mercer Island High School to be Keynote Speaker at the school’s Black History Month Assembly on February 10.

Ten Mercer Island High School students placed in the Top 10 on March 10 at the 2023 HOSA-Future Health Professionals Washington State Competition.

The Mercer Island High School Science Club took three teams to the regional Science Olympiad in Longview, Washington, on March 4.

Coming to Northwood Thursday, March 23, 2:30-3:30 pm, kindergarten and 1st graders. Order your autographed copy of Ben's Books by March 20th from Island Books. 

The Mercer Island School District, in collaboration with the Mercer Island Fine Arts Advisory Council, invites the Mercer Island community to the annual Fine Arts Showcase, a two-day event celebrating the amazing accomplishments of our K-12 students in Performing Arts (Music and Drama) and Visual Arts.

The high school principal in a single high school district is a very important position, which is further amplified here on Mercer Island. 

Every year, the Washington Music Educators Association selects and presents an All-State Band, Orchestra and Choir that perform in conjunction with the Washington State Music Educators Convention.

The Mercer Island School District congratulates the eight students who are 2022-23 Award Winners at the state level for the WSPTA Reflections Program. 

Six Islander Middle School seventh graders formed a robotics team in the summer of 2022.

MIHS DECA students took part in three days of competition at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue this past weekend at the DECA State Tournament.

Children’s book author and illustrator Ben Clanton visiting Lakeridge Elementary on Tuesday afternoon.

The Mercer Island High School Mock Trial team has advanced to the State Tournament on March 24-26 in Olympia.

KMIH 88.9 The Bridge has earned 16 national awards for excellence in broadcasting from the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System.

Welcome to March! Winter is not yet behind us, but longer days and buds forming on trees give us hope that spring is coming. We have spring athletics, Fine Arts Showcase, and so much more to look forward to in March.

The Mercer Island School District is pleased to announce we have relaunched our District and school websites. 

The Mercer Island School District and the City of Mercer Island are pleased to announce a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the newly updated South Mercer Playfields (SMP) on Saturday, March 11, at noon.

On February 9, over 100 Black and African American parents and students from the Mercer Island School District gathered for the first annual Black Student Union Dinner (BSU) at Mercer Island High School.

To kickstart the second half of the 2022-2023 school year MISD celebrates Black History Month. 

Kindergarten registration for the 2023-24 school year begins on Wednesday, February 1, 2023. 

Mercer Island School District Superintendent Fred Rundle and Executive Director of Finance and Operations Matt Sullivan held a Budget 101 webinar for the Mercer Island community on Thursday, January 19, from 5-6pm.

The Mercer Island School District is reforming the Long Range Facility Planning Committee to update the MISD Facility Plan for 2023 and beyond.