At Chrysalis, we love to have guest speakers come in and complement our teaching. On Monday, April 29th, we welcomed Patty Putnam, from Northwest Family Life Learning and Counseling Center to speak with the group psychology class. The class is learning about treatment/therapy and it was great to have a working expert come into the classroom to finish the unit. Primarily, Patty answered questions from students over what life is like as a counselor, discussed when it is a good idea to get counseling, alongside how to decide when someone has found the right fit with a counselor. The students enjoyed having her there. She was very informative and we appreciated her coming in.
The Importance of a Theatre Education
The Importance of a Theatre Education
I am so excited and honored to be back at Chrysalis as a staff member after graduating from this amazing school ten years ago. I fell in love with theatre when I was here and I knew I wanted to pursue the arts in college. I remember asking my Drama teacher before I graduated if she thought that pursuing a career in theatre would sentence me to be a ‘starving artist’ for the rest of my life, and I will never forget the encouraging words she gave to me. She explained how a theatre education relates to all areas of life and can be beneficial in any career path. It instills confidence and stretches our boundaries. It teaches teamwork, collaboration and accountability. It builds friendships…often lifelong ones. Nothing brings people closer than going through a difficult situation together, and each production brings with it its own difficulties. To learn to persevere through those difficulties and compromise with others are skills that can be applied to future education, jobs and relationships. Pursuing a theatre education is one of the best decisions I have made in my life and I am thrilled to be here to support Karen, Jennifer, Margaret and all of these amazing kids in keeping theatre an imperative part of Chrysalis.
-Jenna Schmidt-Porter
Museum of History and Industry, South Campus Field Trip
The South Campus Friday Field Trip Class visited the Museum of History and Industry on April 19. Our adventure started at the museum with the Cracking the Code Tour. The students were put into groups and given an ancient artifact. They then had the task of figuring out what is was, what time period it was from, and what it was used for. Once we had all the information, the kids gave group presentations to share what they had learned.
Next, we were off to explore the gallery with an interactive iPad Scavenger Hunt. We started with early civilization in the Pacific Northwest, went though the gold rush era, railroads, wartime…and up to the present. We saw a lot of artifacts from the Seattle World’s Fair and other famous artifacts from Seattle. It was a great walking history lesson of the State of Washington. The field trip enjoyed by all.
Transcription and Translation: Like Building a Banana Split
Most people know about DNA. DNA contains all of your genetic information, like an instruction manual for your body. However, like any manual, it doesn’t do any good unless you can read it and understand it. That’s where transcription and translation come in. Transcription makes a copy of the DNA in the form of mRNA, which carries the message of the DNA out into the cell. Translation reads the message and uses the information to make whichever proteins the body happens to need.
In the advanced biology lab, they used making banana splits as an analogy for this process. If students did transcription and translation properly, then they had directions for making a banana split. The banana split represented the protein that gets made at the end of translation. Everyone had a slightly different banana split to represent the different DNA sequences in their bodies. Who says science can’t be fun :)?
MacKay, Andy | 2010 Chrysalis School Alumni
Class of: 2010
College: University of Kansas
Degree: BGS English, Journalism minor/2014
Occupation: Student/Radio DJ
After graduating from Chrysalis, I started a new journey by choosing to attend the University of Kansas. I had a difficult time adjusting to college life freshman year, so I came home for a semester and attended Bellevue Community College before going back to Kansas.
Last summer, I interned at 710 ESPN Radio in downtown Seattle, which was an awesome experience for me. I mainly edited audio from the broadcast, but also met a lot of cool people like former Mariner Jay Buhner.
I am currently a junior working on getting my BGS in English with a Creative Writing emphasis along with minoring in Journalism. I got involved with the school radio station, 90.7 KJHK, the spring of 2012 and have been working there since. I started off as a regular rotation DJ but now am the host of a special program for the station called Hip-Hop Hype.
When I am done with school, I hope to work as a writer for a sports or music magazine. If that doesn’t work out, I would like to work for a sports or music radio station in Seattle.
Burns, Kevin | 2012 Chrysalis School Alumni
Class of: 2012
College: Western Washington University
Degree: 2016 Fairhaven College
Occupation: Student
Presently I am living on campus in the dorms while attending my first year of classes at Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Western Washington University. I will continue to take classes that spark my intrest until I have found my passion.
Hungry For Literature
English Curriculum Night
Students, parents and teachers were “Hungry for Literature” Thursday, March 14th, at Chrysalis! The North Campus theater was transformed into a community space of student poetry, short stories, microfiction, research papers, posters and book reviews. There were dramatic readings on stage while other students dressed up as characters from their favorite novels. Another delicious element of the evening was student concocted cuisine inspired by the books and plays they studied during the year. Some of these inspired dishes included Hobbit bread (served by our very own ‘Hobbits’), Our Town apple butter, Lion, Witch and Wardrobe Turkish Delight, British cucumber sandwiches, tea cakes and muffins, and the wildly popular Hitchhiker’s Guide Gargle Blaster Punch with mesmerizing flashing light ice cubes! Together, our community shared another successful night of literature, unique prose, and creativity that exemplify what makes Chrysalis so magical.
Chrysalis Student is a Finalist in a Worldwide Photo Contest!
Nick Lewis, 11th grade, photography student is a finalist in the Photographer’s Forum magazine’s 33rd annual College and High School Photography Contest, Sponsored by Nikon, USA. Over 16,700 photographs were submitted worldwide. Photographers fourth through first place will be published in the May/Summer issue of the magazine and will be inducted into Nikon’s Emerging Photographers Hall of Fame. The grand prize winner will receive over $8,000 in cash grants as well as be awarded equipment. To view all entries visit, www.pfmagazine.com. Good luck Nick!
This is the photo he entered into the contest!
EMP: SC Friday Field Trip
The South Campus went on their monthly Friday field trip to the EMP. They started their adventure with the Sounds of Science tour. The kids learned about pitch, tone, hertz, etc. It was very interactive and everyone got to experiment with sound. They even made their own percussion instrument out of an egg shaker and got to play on the guitars. After the tour, the group explored the museum on their own, enjoying Sound Stage, Sci Fi museum and video game exhibit.
Biomedical Breakthroughs and My Life
Our science teacher’s here at Chrysalis, do an amazing job to make sure science is fun, interesting and to relatable to their lives. One of our junior high science classes, just submitted science essays to the “Biomedical Breakthroughs and My Life,” Middle School Essay Contest. They had to pick one of the following four categories:
How does biomedical research impact you?
Have you (or has someone in your family) benefited from vaccinations, pharmaceutical drugs, medical devices, surgery, or transplants?
How does biomedical research affect the health of your dog, cat, or other pet?
How might biomedical research touch your life in the future?
Once students decide on their topics, they then picked a specific subject that interested them and that impacted their life in some way. The students chose to write about breast cancer, celiac disease, tonsillectomies, lung cancer, dialysis, robotic surgeries, hydrocephalus, and asthma. They spent a month learning how to do everything from doing research and citing your sources, to writing the final papers and editing. The papers were amazing, and they hope to do well in the competition!
Their science research papers will be compared against students from around the northwest. Over a 100 research scientists from the community will be judging them. By April 12th, we should find out how they did. Winning entries will be featured in a newspaper article, they will also receive a cash prize and get to spend a day doing hands-on science at a local research facility. Good luck everyone!
Stay tuned for the results!
To learn more about this project: http://www.nwabr.org/students/essay-contest