By: MACKENZIE WATERMAN Note: Author has familial connections to subject of story. Owning a bookstore has always been a dream that Megan and Paul Waterman shared. In December of 2017, their dream came true, they opened “The Book Nook”. The name comes from a quote from Longfellow. “The love of learning, the sequestered nooks. And all the sweet serenity of Books.” Megan and Paul have … Continue reading The Book Nook
By: Sydney Starr – The Charter News As the 2018-2019 school year starts for families at Alliance Charter Academy (ACA) there will be one less familiar face there, Kim Kruger, The Curriculum Manager, has left her job. Karen Downing, who worked with Kruger as the Curriculum Assistant, has now transitioned to working full time as the new Curriculum Manager. In addition, ACA has hired a parent, … Continue reading Kim Kruger Leaves ACA
By RYLIE YOUNG – 08/03/18 On August 13th, at approximately 2 am, the Oregon City Police Department and Clackamas Fire arrived at Park Place Elementary to find the school’s playground engulfed in flames. The fire was contained and put out quickly. However, it wasn’t before an estimated $15,000 worth of playground equipment was burned, along with two picnic benches. After further investigation, the authorities discovered … Continue reading Arsonist Burns Down Our Playground
by: Rachel Shulikov There is a staff member, a teacher, an ES, that not everyone knows, because she was doing something that not everyone knew about. Her name is Denise Dille. Dille was born in Oregon, then she moved to Arizona, and lived there for eight years, until she moved back to Oregon. She likes dogs and cats. She got married to her high school … Continue reading Who is Denise Dille?
By: MIRIAM LEE 10/03/18 Suzanne Edwards is taking over all the choirs, piano and marimba. Valerie Johnson is teaching drums and creativity. — Seanna Bloemer, ACA Director Alliance Charter Academy (ACA) has lost their multi-talented music teacher. Students are at a loss, missing their beloved teacher, but also missing their friend. Margie Phillips, former instructor at ACA, now works full-time at Elmonica Elementary School … Continue reading Farewell, Phillips
By Matthias Armstrong A change sweeps across ACA classrooms and it comes in the form of the late policy, and so far it has met favorable reviews. Not all classes have had major changes but a few have embraced a new policy and students and teachers are already seeing the difference. Teachers this year have reworked and reworded their late policies to better convey their … Continue reading Late Policy Reform
By: Hailey Fox – 10/03/18 If you’ve been at this school for a few years, you might know that bug control at ACA has been a problem, from the wasps that invaded the boys bathroom to the ladybug nests in the ceiling of the gym. Unlike those problems, yellow jackets aren’t a big threat as long as you are careful. If you were around last … Continue reading Yellow Jackets at ACA
By: Evalina Shulikov A new Educational Specialist and teacher just joined the team at ACA this year! Marcus Yonce is a quiet and independent person who has a love for writing. He has experience with vast cultures which will be beneficial to our diverse school. Mr. Yonce went to a university in Seattle and got a four year degree for accounting, but realized he didn’t … Continue reading Marcus Yonce
By Alyssa DiLoreto Meet Seanna Seanna Bloemer is not just the new director of ACA, she’s also a friend, wife and mother of two ACA graduates. Her favorite pastimes are hiking and reading. Bloemer has been working at our school for twelve years, and an Education Specialist (ES) for eleven years before her new position. She absolutely adores helping, guiding and working with her students … Continue reading New Director: Seanna Bloemer
For the 2nd Semester of the 2017-2018 school year, much time and effort was spent toward gathering elements for feature story packages and designing spreads with InDesign. Here are the three newspapers we produced: First Print Edition 2nd Print Edition spreads 3rd Print Edition Continue reading The Charter Newspapers – Print PDFs
By Kenzie Waterman As this school year is coming to the end, unfortunately so is some of our staff’s time here. Vicki Nelson and Nic Chapin are leaving the school and will not be returning next year. Vicki Nelson is the Compliance Officer at Alliance Charter Academy, since September of 2011. “As Registrar and Compliance Officer, I maintain the staff and student database and am … Continue reading Director takes new job, Compliance Officer retires
By RYLIE YOUNG – 05/02/18 Join the dark side and turn off the lights! This year’s Contemporary World Issues class is small with only eight Freshman/Sophomore students, but they are making a difference. The class is trying to promote the use of natural lights within your school. The class believes our school waste an excessive amount of artificial light, and if we relied more on … Continue reading Come to the Dark Side – CWI Saving Money, One Bulb At a Time.
By Colin Hughes It was announced that Nintendo was striking a deal with Illumination Studios, the company behind Despicable Me and the Secret Life of Pets, on January of 2018, to make a Mario Movie. The release date has yet to be determined, though. The last time there was a movie about Mario was when Super Mario Bros. starring Bob Hopkins and John Leguizamo was … Continue reading Mario’s return to the theaters
By Luke Burton, The Charter News As our seniors move on to bigger and better things we come together to celebrate at graduation. This year, graduation is at Jackson Campus on June 2nd, at 6:00pm. During the graduation ceremony the graduates have each asked a teacher or parent to hand them their diploma and give up to a one minute speech. These speeches usually include … Continue reading Alliance Charter Academy’s 2018 Graduation Ceremony
By Victor Heimbigner OBOB for the ACA will not be the same next year. What it looks like for the 3-5th grade is undecided and will be determined this summer by the ACA board. The reason it is undecided is because there is controversy about the book “George”. Alex Gino is a author who wrote a book named “George”, a transgender kid at the age … Continue reading OBOB 3-5th grade 2018-19
BY CONSTANTINE VANSICKLE Alliance Charter Academy’s very own Destination Imagination (DI) team is heading to globals! Advancing to globals is a huge achievement for such a small team and they are looking forward to representing the State of Oregon at the Global competition at the University of Tennessee on May 23rd through May 27th. But going to globals also has a financial toll. That’s why … Continue reading Destination: Globals
By, Elizabeth Tarsia As you all might have noticed state testing might have seemed shorter from previous years. Well some changes have been made to the tests themselves and to the prep needed for certain subjects. Before this last testing session there were lessons that needed to be taught previous to taking state tests. Those lessons have been taken away and the test consists of … Continue reading Possible changes to testing weeks
By Colin Hughes If you just came home from the grocery store with a head of romaine lettuce, you’d better get rid of it. There’s an outbreak of E. coli causing almost 150 people to fall sick in 29 states where people eat romaine lettuce. A subsequent study between March 13th and April 25th of 2018 showed that romaine lettuce may be contaminated with E. … Continue reading Recalled Romaine
By Faith Burton Despite news of misconduct seemingly all around, there has been no documented misconduct in ACA’s history, according to it’s administrators. Lara Fabrycki, ACA’s former Director and Nic Chapin, ACA’s current Director commented on misconducts saying that we’ve not had a misconduct at ACA. Fabrycki said teachers are trained every year on misconducts, but because of technology and how people communicate is changing, … Continue reading School Misconducts
By, Elizabeth Tarsia Two students now have more funds to further their musical education. The awards were announced Friday, May 12th at the end of the music concerts held at Alliance Charter Academy. The first scholarship was awarded to JJ Pen; this scholarship is now known as the Community Award.The next scholarship given out is the Dirks musicianship which is the newest one offered. There … Continue reading Steve Dirks Scholarships
By Kenzie Waterman From 9:00 -3:30 on Tuesday, April 17th and Wednesday, April 18th a instructor from the Clackamas Fire Department, District #1 came and taught students how to perform hands only CPR and use an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) machine. The class was for 7th grade and above, Parents and staff were also invited. The staff here at Alliance Charter Academy have already been … Continue reading CPR and AED Training
By Alyssa DiLoreto- Macbeth performers anticipated so much blood and gore that they dedicated the first two rows to a splash zone. The Drama Club performed the Shakespeare play on Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6. The play is about a Scottish thane named Macbeth. In the story he meets three witches that tell him a prophecy that he will one day be King … Continue reading Macbeth
By Constantine Van Sickle The United State’s biggest market of Oregon Hazelnuts might be in danger by new proposed tariffs by China. Oregon produces 99% of all Hazelnut crops in the U.S and with the new applied tariffs, Oregon hazelnut farmers may have something to worry about. China proposed a new 15% tariff to all hazelnuts that are grown in the United States in response … Continue reading Tariffs hit Oregon Hazelnuts
By SAMANTHA RANDS, The Charter News– This year’s prom is May 25th, from 7pm to 11pm. The theme is “Under The Stars.” Tickets cost $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Students can purchase tickets in the study hall. Prom is open to junior and seniors, and sophomores on invite only. If you’re bringing someone who isn’t an ACA student then they will have to … Continue reading Under the Stars
By Alyssa DiLoreto ACA has decided to take a group of students to France and Spain, on June 14, 2019. Students will be traveling through Paris, Provence, and Barcelona, led by social studies teacher Chad Wynne. He is very excited to be taking the students on this trip, saying that foreign countries are very interesting to see, “We will just being seeing all the sights. … Continue reading ACA’s France and Spain Trip as led by Chad Wynne
By CONSTANTINE VAN SICKLE 3/24/2018 A new men’s bathroom may be heading your way! With small urinals and tiny stalls, the men’s bathroom is in dire need of remodeling. Nic Chapin is the one behind the idea of remodeling the bathroom saying, “It’s a bathroom meant for elementary students, and high school students are using it. It’s like 50-70 years old. It definitely needs a … Continue reading Men are in Support of a New Men’s Bathroom
News Story by, Elizabeth Tarsia Starting next year our school is offering a program called the College Career Exploration Program. Rather than applying for the ACE program, there is kind of a stepping stone opportunity. If you are not ready for the whole college experience then the CCE program is the right fit for you! The CCE program is not set up the way the … Continue reading ACA’s new CCE program
By VICTOR HEIMBIGNER This is a competition for the kids who don’t love sports and do love books. Elementary, Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) was run by Mary Coleman this year, it was her first time to do this and most of the students first times as well. The students all met on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the library at lunch time, and during … Continue reading Oregon Battle of the books 3-5
By Taylor Younger Did you know ACA has a yearbook? Our yearbooks range from twenty three dollars to thirty dollars. When you purchase your yearbooks there are two blank pages for you to design your very own pages to keep those school memories forever. Mr. Lancaster’s class of only a dozen students spend all school year long developing the yearbook. Students from this class spend … Continue reading Get your yearbook!
News Story by Faith Burton In 2018, as one of the few male dancers at Classical Ballet Academy, opportunities arise frequently. On January 20 2018, Luke went to Seattle with his friend and CBA ballet dancer Natazia Head, to audition for Utah’s distinguished ballet school, Ballet West. A few weeks later, Luke was accepted into ArtEmotion, an extension of Ballet West, and asked to come … Continue reading Luke the Ballerino Is Going Cleveland? Support him in this journey!
By COLIN HUGHES On March 8th, 2018, Nintendo announced two things at once; a new Smash game, and one of the most anticipated characters making an appearance. Nintendo fans watched the Super Smash Bros. Switch reveal trailer and began jumping all over the place, screaming with excitement. After all, according to many, 2017 and 2018 were Nintendo’s best years; The Legend of Zelda: Breath of … Continue reading Smash Bros Switch Reveal
By KENZIE WATERMAN Megan Coggins our school counselor and teacher of the Becoming Me class just had her baby, Samuel James Coggins (Sammy). She has been on maternity leave since March 12th and will be gone the remnant of the school year. Coggins’ plan, while she’s gone, is to spend some time with her family and new baby. Before Coggins left she spoke with her … Continue reading Megan Coggins’ Return Plan
By Samantha Rands The school is getting a new logo. Nic Chapin, The Executive Director of ACA, sent out a survey to all the high school and middle school students, parents, and teachers. The survey had different logo options to vote on from “first choice” to “fourth choice.” “We [the school’s Admin] want a logo…you’ll be proud of,” says Danelle Till, the School’s Business Manager. … Continue reading Voting On ACA’s New Logo
By RYLIE YOUNG – 03/23/18 This year, to view and applaud all the efforts of students, ACA is hosting a showcase night for students to show off the art they have made in their classes throughout the school year. Tara McLaughlin and her daughter Aila are organizing the Art Night so you can share your favorite pieces of art on Thursday, April 12th in the … Continue reading ACA Hosting an Art Showcase and Family Dinner in the Gym, plus Live Music
By LUKE BURTON Our Middle School OBOB team is going to state. Madalena Larkins, Haladar Wright, Ben Snyder, Coral Anderson, and Cadence Gillespie are going to battle it out against all the other regional winners. The team won the regional battles on March 17th. They competed against 32 other teams and came out on top. The state battle is commencing on April, 7th, 2018, in … Continue reading Middle School Battle of the Books Team Wins Big
By OLIVIA SILBERNAGEL Anger and sadness over gun violence in America is present even in ACA. This was apparent on Wednesday, March 14th when roughly thirty-five students walked out of class in protest of current gun policy and the toll it has taken on our schools. The walkout was prompted by the Parkland school shooting which took place on February 14th of this year at … Continue reading ‘Never Again’ – ACA Students Walkout
Olivia Silbernagel The Charter News Students and parents alike gathered in the ACA gym to follow Mowgli’s story and learn about the bear necessities of life. Drama Junior’s rendition of The Jungle Book was performed on February 2 and 3 as well as a lunchtime preview on February 1. Prior to the performance Tap I and II classes performed a routine set to “I Wanna … Continue reading Drama Junior Performs “The Jungle Book”
By Victor Heimbigner Have you ever done Yoga before? If you would like to, we have a Yoga class here at Alliance Charter Academy. Todd Ingham, a teacher who teaches art class and in his free time, comes to school every Tuesday at 8:00 o’clock in the gym to teach Yoga to anybody who stops by. Mr. Todd helps his yoga students to become more … Continue reading Yoga With Teacher Todd
By: Michael Lancaster, The Charter News – Pretty much no matter what career you may want, the Clackamas Community College is a great place to start, according to a CCC advisor who presented to the CRLE class January 11. Britany Ellerbrook is CCC’s Career Technical Education Admissions Counselor. She was invited to the Career Related Learning Experiences (CRLE) class by teacher Val McCormack to share … Continue reading CCC Advisor: Trade-skills training leads to jobs
By Samantha Rands The Harvest Ball was October 27th Organizers consider the Harvest Ball and Haunted House success despite some technical difficulties. The profit made from tickets sales was $111.02, which will go towards funds for prom. Beth Sugrue, a mom at ACA and the Harvest Dance coordinator, said, “I think overall the dance went pretty well. We had a lot of logistical problems that … Continue reading Harvest Ball/Haunted House reactions
By Alyssa DiLoreto As you may know, ACA held the winter concerts in the gym. In the previous story on the Winter Concerts, quite a few students shared many concerns on the amount of space, and sound quality. In a classroom discussion with Jonathan Cheskin’s Orchestra II class, 2 out of 10 students said that there was not very much room. There was also very … Continue reading The ACA Winter Concerts Aftermath
By Elizabeth Tarsia As you all might know, the PAT volunteers just finished up the Penny War fundraiser. Compared to last years goal, met at $900 dollars, this year’s $500 dollars raised was not as good, but we still rocked it! All of the profits made from the penny war will go towards future needs for the school. For example, last year they went towards … Continue reading ACA Penny War
Nicole Engelke The Charter – News Although the students in this new club had probably never met before, or heard their parts, or even played a marimba, they were determined to learn their parts before the concert, and have lots of fun in the process. Margie Phillips, one of the music teachers at ACA, wanted it that way when she coined the idea before the … Continue reading New Marimba Club Welcomes All Students
By MacKenzie Waterman, The ACA Charter News Vandalism on student work isn’t much of a problem at ACA, but so far this year, it has occurred twice. One with a triorama for Mrs. Strutz’s class, and the other was with sheets of paper from Mrs. Edinger’s science class. In the spring of 2014, someone ripped down and vandalized a poster for GSA club. After that, … Continue reading Respecting Students’ Work
By Alyssa DiLoreto, The Charter News – This year, the Winter Concerts are being held in the gym at ACA. According to music teacher, Jonathan Cheskin, this year ACA has a new sound system, so we are able to do our own sound setup. There was also a temperature problem, at Jackson as we had no heat. In the past few years, ACA has held … Continue reading Winter Concert at ACA
By Constantine Van Sickle, The Charter News – 11/22/2017 – On October 9th 2017, Alliance Charter Academy (ACA) officially activated all student Google accounts. Along with that change, ACA has also re-introduced StudentVue, a software that allows students to check their grades. ACA’s push to “keep up with the times” is undoubtedly a controversial idea, already having parents opt-out of the Google accounts. Not only … Continue reading The New Age
By Alyssa DiLoreto, The Charter News – Both David Toth and fellow math teacher Joy Best have both created instructional videos to help students learn math more effectively. Toth claims that it gives a lot more instructional time, so when they go to class, they have it in their brains they can take the class to do more in-depth work. Toth began using the Flipped … Continue reading Flipped Classes at ACA
By Constantine Van Sickle, The Charter News — 11/20/2017 — New food! Sounds exciting right? Well ACA might be seeing more food items added to the Snack Shack in the near future. According to a 2016 snack shack survey new food items have been long overdue as a large amount of students have been looking for a change in the food selection . The Parent … Continue reading Snack Shack Attack
By Victor Heimbigner, The Charter News Features – Kristen Kohl is an Alliance Charter Academy Spanish teacher and an Educational Specialist. She loves to travel and has an exciting life. She loves teaching and has been a teacher for a few years now and had an interesting story to tell her fellow coworkers and students before she was a teacher. Kohl was kidnapped at the … Continue reading ACA Teacher Kidnapped — Decades Ago
By: Rylie Young, The Charter News — The newly rediscovered Alliance Charter Academy online merchandise store website, might not be so new after all. It has a wide variety of products from hoodies to key chains, to dog bandanas. This store is not too difficult to find, go to Alliance Charter Academy’s website, click on the “Student Resources” button, and scroll all the way down … Continue reading Rediscovering ACA Merchandise
By: Olivia Silbernagel, The Charter Features — Just like ACA, the ACA preschool is unique from other preschools. To start with, the preschool is held inside Park Place school, making ACA able to offer a Preschool through 12th grade education. The preschool and K/1 Enrichment program are taught by Kerry Wright who has been the lead instructor for both since 2011, just 2 years after the … Continue reading Preschool at ACA
By: Samantha Rands, The Charter News – Alliance Charter Academy has more out of district students than in district students for the first time in the school’s history. Fifty-three percent of families at ACA are from out of district, and forty-seven percent of families are in-district. For out of district families to join, they must first attend an informational meeting and the lottery open spots to … Continue reading Out of District Students
By: Alyssa DiLoreto, The Charter News — There is a new addition to Mrs. Best’s math classes: This is called the 100 Club. When students in the 100 Club turn in their homework on time they remain in the club and receive a 3 percent bonus on tests. The classes include Pre Algebra, Geometry, Algebra Theory, and Algebra Applications. Mrs. Best first heard of the … Continue reading Mrs. Best’s The 100 Club
By Luke Burton, The Charter News Because of the legalities and small numbers of student participants, ACA does not see sports becoming a part of their school now or in the future. ACA has students playing sports; they just don’t play for ACA because ACA does not offer any sanctioned team sports. “I have been waiting for a soccer team at ACA but I don’t … Continue reading Where are the Sports?
By: Faith Burton, The Charter News Fresh on the heals of our safety trainings, ACA experienced a real lock out. It was not our first and it probably won’t be our last. Due to the closeness of training week, students and classes had confusion about if it was a real “lock out or a drill”. Journalism class had just started when Nic Chapin came … Continue reading Alliance Charter’s LockOut
Samantha Rands, The Charter News– Thanks to Andrea Zaugg, Brandi Stickney, and Eileen Rands the downstairs girls bathroom is now cleaned out and painted. Stickney, Zaugg, and Rands are mothers to ACA students. They decided at the end of last year to clean up and paint the downstairs girls bathroom over the summer to fulfill their needed volunteer hours. Stickney said, “We worked mostly on Fridays … Continue reading Volunteers Painted Girls’ Bathroom Over The Summer
Hello, people of ACA. There is an upcoming event right around the corner. You guessed it, folks, it’s the Harvest Ball. The event will be held on October 27th, from 7pm to 10pm in the cafeteria, for all kids in grades 7-12th. It’s “Steampunk Frankenstein” themed. There will also be a monster bug haunted house, and lots of loud music. There is no denying that … Continue reading Volunteers Ready for Harvest Ball October 27
By Kenzie Waterman, The Charter News Features You might have noticed the changes happening around school, and I’m not just talking about the leaves. Our Principal/Director is determined to make this a better place to learn. One of the changes he is most proud of is math program and now language arts programs help students who are struggling, by adding on more specialists to help … Continue reading Chapin’s Changes
Olivia Silbernagel, The Charter News No conference table? Only four students per table? No lunch in study hall? A ninety minute limit? The changes made to study hall have left many students wondering: why? This school year changes have been put into effect in the study hall and here’s the admins take on why they happened. Last year, students voiced concerns about the rules in the … Continue reading The Changes in Study Hall and Why They Happened
By Colin Hughes, The Charter News The Safety Committee at Alliance Charter Academy faced challenges with the safety of their students. During the discussions they had last year, they felt that it was very unsafe and disorderly at thefront of the school where kids were picked up and dropped off. Thanks to a man named Richard Hughes, part of the Safety Committee, parking is much safer. … Continue reading How Did the Parking Changes Happen?
By William Poindexter, The Charter At the beginning of this school year ACA announced that there would be a few rule changes to the parking in front of the school. When these changes are heard of it raises a few questions. Why were the rules changed? What are the new rules? Did any particular incident cause the changes? What is the feedback? This article will answer … Continue reading Rule Changes at the Front of the School
By Luke Burton, The Charter News Pressure from the state on the four year graduation rate causes Alliance Charter Academy to not allow a fifth year of high school if students can graduate on the four year track. Traditionally, at ACA, a fifth year of high school was ok. For example, in the 2015-16 school year, ACA had twenty-one students graduate in their four years, and … Continue reading No More Super Seniors
This year’s journalism students are busy preparing news, feature stories, personal opinion columns, and editorials to inform, explain, interpret, and entertain you with topics we consider useful, interesting, and relevant to the ACA community. Please check in often. Read our stories. Comment. Submit your own personal opinion columns. Continue reading New Journalism Students Begin
