KSD employees honored for work with migrant students

Three members of the Kennewick School District’s Migrant Education Program were honored at the annual Migrant Education Program Conference for their work helping thousands of migrant students succeed in school.

Home visitor Eva Sandoval was named Recruiter of the Year. She focuses on outreach for the district’s migrant program, visiting apartments, work camps, farms and other locations to share information about what the program provides.

Angelica Villegas, a Kennewick High migrant graduation specialist, received the PASS Contact Person of the Year. Villegas helped migrant students complete credits through the Portable Assisted Study Sequence summer program to ensure they remain on track for graduation.

Estrella Aguilar, also a Kennewick High migrant graduation specialist, was named Migrant Graduation Specialist of the Year. She supports students by helping them enroll in the right classes, get sports physical to participate in sports, as well as other needs.

17 Kennewick school employees receive excellence awards

The Kennewick School District recently recognized 17 employees with staff excellence awards for going above and beyond in making the district’s schools great places to learn.

Recipients were:

• Administrator of the Year: Coleen Culmer, assistant director of special services.
• Creativity in Curriculum Award: Karen Leonard, fourth-grade teacher, Cottonwood Elementary.
• Staff Support Person/Team of the Year (3 awards): Cathy Dickey, secretary, Chinook Middle School; Jesus Barajas, benefits specialist; and warehouse staffers Brad Staudinger, Brian Howard, Brian Kolp, Trevor Watson, Adam Griffin, Brandon Wright, Cameron Razor, Alex Sanchez and Eileen Freeman.
• Certificated Specialist Teacher of the Year: Susan Adams, Counselor, Hawthorne Elementary.
• Elementary Teacher of the Year: Joan Curtis, life skills teacher, Canyon View Elementary.
•  Middle School Teacher of the Year: Angelene Martin, English language arts and Washington state history teacher, Chinook Middle School.
•  High School Teacher of the Year: Carrie Julian, special education teacher, Kamiakin High School.

All winners are nominated by district staff members and were honored during the district’s welcome back event for staff.

Also honored at the event was the Kennewick Police Department. It was named the district’s Outstanding Community Partner for 2017. It recognizes the police department’s dedication to education over the years, from protecting students and staff to providing support and resources to schools that ultimately benefit the whole community.

D.A. Davidson advisor earns new certification

Michael Anderson, financial advisor with D.A. Davidson & Co. in Kennewick, has earned a certified wealth strategist designation after completion of coursework.

The program is designed to help him exceed client expectations regarding wealth management advice and solutions. He has a bachelor’s in business administration from Washington State University.

Longtime winemaker inducted into state’s wine hall of fame

Doug Gore, vice president of winemaking for Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, was inducted into the Legends of Washington Wine Hall of Fame in August.

Gore, who has worked for 25 years in the industry, was inducted during the 11th annual Legends of Washington Wine Hall of Fame Induction and Gala at the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Prosser.

This year’s gala also was the most successful fundraising event for the center, with more than $100,000 raised for programs to support the Washington wine industry.

PNNL hires Cheatham to top outreach position

Lee Cheatham was hired as Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s director of technology deployment and outreach.

In his new role, Cheatham will work with the business community to commercialize intellectual property created by PNNL scientists and engineers, as well as create new startup and entrepreneurship initiatives to boost job creation, create new markets for ideas and products, and maximize the impact of valuable federal investments.

Cheatham most recently worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, and spent the first 17 years of his career with PNNL.

He earned a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Oregon State University, a master’s in electrical engineering from Washington State University and a doctorate in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Edward Jones ranked high among worker satisfaction

A J.D. Power survey ranks Edward Jones as having the “Highest in Employee Advisor Satisfaction among Financial Investment Firms.” This is the ninth time the company, which has several offices in the Tri-Cities, has received the ranking. Employees surveyed gave highest satisfaction ratings all categories, scoring 925 points out of 1,000. The industry average is 719 points. The company provides financial services for individual investors.

Rep. Newhouse receives national chamber award

Congressman Dan Newhouse, R-Washington, recently received the Spirit of Enterprise Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The award was presented at the Tri-City Regional Chamber’s August membership luncheon. The award is given annually to members of Congress. Newhouse’s votes of pro-growth, pro-job policies earned him the award for the second time. The award is in its 29th year.

Tri-City Herald reporter wins prestigious award

Annette Cary, a longtime reporter with the Tri-City Herald, received the 2017 Dolly Connelly Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism for spot news reporting, analysis and historical perspective on the Hanford radioactive-tunnel collapse this past spring.

“The reader learns about everything from radiation ‘shine’ to the role of the PUREX plant in the context of the Cold War,” wrote judge Peter Jackson, former editorial page editor of the Daily Herald in Everett. “The history and details of the tunnels — the creosoted timbers and concrete, which were forecast to deteriorate and collapse — unfurl in prose digestible to non-Hanford wonks, the work of a seasoned writer steeped in the politics and culture of Hanford.”

The Dolly Connelly Award, which comes with $500, was endowed by Joel Connelly and the late Seattle Post-Intelligencer publisher, J.D. Alexander. It honors Connelly’s mother, a longtime Time-Life correspondent and freelance writer. She covered environmental issues in Alaska and British Columbia and historic struggles in the Northwest.

Junior Achievement gives top yearly honor to MSA employee

Longtime Junior Achievement volunteer Karen Sinclair was named Junior Achievement’s Volunteer of the Year for 2016-17.

The award is one of the highest honors given by the Junior Achievement of Washington Southeastern Region office.

Sinclair, a Mission Support Alliance employee, has volunteered in seventh- and eighth-grade classrooms in Tri-Cities for 18 years. She has helped coordinate MSA’s bowling team and fundraising for Junior Achievement’s annual Bowling Classic since 2010.

Meier Architecture Engineering hires new senior lead architect

Thomas Kastner has joined Meier Architecture Engineering in Kennewick as senior lead architect.

He has more than 35 years in the field with experience across municipal, commercial, higher education, offices and health care projects. He has a bachelor’s in government from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and a bachelor’s in architecture from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. He is member of the American Institute of Architects and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.

Tri-Cities Cancer Center team takes on new roles

Tri-Cities Cancer Center team members have taken on education positions.

Dr. Guy Jones, a board certified radiation oncologist, joined Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences as the new dean for the Tri-Cities regional site. Jones is the director for the cancer center’s Thoracic Center of Excellence.

Michael Novakovich, director of strategy and business development, joined the teaching staff at Heritage University as an adjunct professor of marketing. He serves on the cancer center’s executive leadership team.

Dr. Sue Mandell, a board certified radiation oncologist, is renewing her position as an adjunct clinical faculty member at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences. Mandell is the medical director for the cancer center.

Walla Walla Corps staff to help with hurricane relief

A public affairs specialist from the Corps of Engineers’ Walla Walla District was deployed Sept. 6 to support the corps’ South Atlantic Division Emergency Operations Center in Atlanta, Georgia, as they prepared for Hurricane Irma’s landfall in Florida.

Brigida I. Sanchez is an Army veteran with broadcast news and media relations experience. She also has family living near Ocala, Florida.  

Eleven Army Corps of Engineers Walla Walla district employees were deployed to Texas for emergency power assistance in the recovery efforts after Hurricane Harvey. The Walla Walla District maintains one of the Corps’ seven emergency power response teams. The Corps’ team, along with soldiers from the 249th Engineer Battalion, are conducting assessments and installing generators to assist with getting critical public facilities operational in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

WSU Tri-Cities TRIO specialist elected regional secretary

Keri Lobdell, retention specialist for the Washington State University Tri-Cities TRIO Student Support Services program, was elected secretary to the Northwest Association of Educational Opportunity Programs, Region 10, which includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska.

Lobdell is an alumna of the Columbia Basin College TRIO program. She received a bachelor’s in social sciences and a master’s in psychology, both from WSU.

The association provides support for TRIO programs that work with low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students to create a pathway to a college education by offering opportunities for mentoring, education, meetings and conferences, in addition to program development.

Ashby Law ranked among fastest growing in the U.S.

Ashby Law was ranked on Inc. magazine’s annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. on its 36th annual Inc. 5000 list.

Ashby Law, with offices in Kennewick as well as Yakima and Walla Walla, focuses on family law, including divorce, child custody and parenting plan modifications.

Local small-business mentor receives national award

Mid-Columbia Tri-Cities SCORE chapter’s small-business mentor P. Simon Mahler has reached the organization’s “nation builder” milestone, a recognition only three others in more than 50 years of the organization has received.

SCORE provides small-business mentoring and workshops to new and growing businesses.

Mahler, who will be accepting the Michael O’Malley Nation Builder Award in Baltimore, has volunteered thousands of hours during the past four years to help launch new businesses and aid those that are struggling in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.