MISD “Did You Know” Series Spotlighting Students and Staff in September and October

9 MIHS Students Named 2025 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists in September of the 2024-25 school year

Mercer Island, WA, August 5, 2025 – In July, the MISD Communications department sent an email each Wednesday to MISD families and community members highlighting stories from two months of the 2024-25 school year.

In August we will be highlighting these stories on our website and social media platforms with a post every Tuesday. The purpose of the emails in July and the posts in August is to highlight stories on our students and staff that our community might have missed during a busy school year.

There were so many fun, interesting, and exciting stories in MISD this past school year. Today we will highlight stories from September and October of the last school year. On August 12 we will post stories from November and December. January, February, and Marchs stories will be posted on August 19 and April, May and June stories will be posted on August 26, the day before the 2025-26 school year starts.

Without further ado, let’s get to the stories.

The 2024-25 school year started at our schools with a lot of celebrations. The MIHS Drill Team and MIHS Drum Line welcomed high schoolers to the first day of school. At IMS eighth grade Where Everyone Belongs (WEB) leaders welcomed sixth graders to the school with an assembly. At Northwood they held a signing day for kindergarteners as they began their education journey and at Lakeridge teachers welcome students to first day of school with a really big sign!

FOX 13 Seattle spotlighted the MIHS Marching Band during halftime of their Dallas Cowboys vs. Cleveland Browns broadcast on the first week of the NFL season on September 8.  Spotlighting marching bands was a new endeavor for FOX and the MIHS marching band was honored to be the first marching band selected.

MISD welcomed back Class of 2017 graduate Olivia Phan as our MIPD School Resource Officer. Olivia supported students and families all during the school year and she was a constant presence visiting with students at our schools.

MIHS junior Lucy Dorer was sworn in as the new Student Representative to the Board on September 11. Lucy was excellent this past school year broadcasting student voice at Board Meetings, in Olympia with state legislators and  

Nine MIHS seniors were named 2025 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

KUOW education reporter Sami West spoke with IMS co-principal MaryJo Budzius for a story about what she was seeing at the school with the implementation of MI Phone-Free Schools.

In September MIHS Marine Science students took a voyage on the Schooner Adventuress, the second tallest sailing ship on the west coast. Students participated in plankton tows, marine debris, and micro plastic collection, and saw how marine life in the Salish Sea is impacted by climate change and ocean acidification. 

On September 23 senior cross country runner Owen Powell recorded the fastest ever time on a 3-mile high school cross country course at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in Irvine, California.

The MIHS football team was featured on the KING 5 Big Game of the Week at the end of September. They beat Hazen 21-7.

On October 2 Seattle Mariners play-by-play voice Rick Rizzs presented a $5,000 scholarship to MIHS senior Le’Asia Lane from Toys For Kids.  The scholarship was established to honor the legacy of former Mariner Dave Henderson, who believed in upholding high standards and a commitment to the community.

Jessica Olson’s second grade class at Lakeridge celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month in October by making pinatas.

In mid-October 14 MIHS band students were selected for the prestigious 2024 Western International Band Clinic Honors Bands.

The Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD) announced on October 16 that Mercer Island High School junior James Young was named a Student Representative to the PSESD Board of Directors.

On October 22 Northwood students visited Crest Learning Center to plant seeds for an experiment and to learn about the Crest greenhouse.

MISD won two Awards of Merit at the annual Washington School Public Relations Association (WSPRA) Conference and Awards Banquet at the Davenport Historic Hotel in Spokane on October 28.

On October 30 we announced MIHS junior broadcast media student Mia Tamarikin received an Honorable Mention award in the 2024 National Public Radio (NPR) Student Podcast Challenge for her podcast titled Flipping the 'For You Page': TikTok's Ownership Rethinked.

Northwood staff went all out on Halloween dressing as the emotions from the movie Inside Out 2 and as the seasons. Not to be outdone, Lakeridge staff also dressed up in some great costumes for Halloween.

Island Park, West Mercer, and Northwood all celebrated Diwali on October 31 or November 1.

We hope you enjoyed this look back at stories in MISD from the first two months of the 2024-25 school year.

Next week we will feature stories from November and December.