The West Linn-Wilsonville School Board hosted their second Listening Session of the year on Monday, May 23, with a focus on hearing student voices.

The Board of Directors hosted students from each of the district’s four middle schools to learn about their school experiences first-hand. School Board members asked questions about their school community, their feeling of connection to their school, and ways in which their school experience could be enhanced. Students shared their thoughts and feelings, highlighting areas of strength within their schools as well as places where they see room for improvement.

The Board also listened to an impressive presentation from Wood Middle School students that encapsulated weeks of hard work. Students queried fellow students, district staff, and conducted primary and secondary research around the topic of school lunches, culminating in a presentation with information and feedback for the School Board.

The West Linn-Wilsonville School Board held a parent listening session earlier in the school year. The Board has used listening sessions in an effort to increase two-way communication with the community. The Board’s next meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 6, starting at 6 p.m.

Five West Linn-Wilsonville High School students qualified and competed in the International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta, Georgia during the second week of May. 

Students shared their work with peers from all over the world during the international competition. Students also underwent more than six hours of interviews with the world's leading scientists and engineers from all over the world as part of the competition. WLWV's participating students included:

• Wilsonville High School student Aditi Bhaskar and her project "Invisible Blues"
• Wilsonville High School Isabella Scalise and her project "Hibiscus Oral Treatment"
• West Linn High School student Anish Goswami and his project "Autonomous Rapid Disaster Damage Assessment"
• West Linn High School students Uma Grover and Melinda Lin and their project "Cyanobacteria Blooms and Diatom Levels"

Anish Goswami earned the Missouri University of Science and Technology Summer Scholarship for his work and performance at ISEF and Aditi Bhaskar won third place and $1,000 in the Embedded Systems category for her project. Team Oregon, consisting of student scientists from all across the state, brought home a total of four special awards; two fourth place awards; 2 third place awards; 2 second place awards; and two first place awards.

Congratulations to our student scientists!