From our friends at the Highline High School Alumni Foundation:
Welcome Highline Alumni, Friends, and Community Sponsors
In 1995 the Highline High School Alumni Foundation donated one scholarship for $500. In 2022 the HHSAF granted twenty-five scholarships totaling $91,000!
Over the past 27 years the Foundation has helped fund 440 scholarships for Highline students totaling $1,035,500!
The past 10 years the Foundation has averaged over $22,000 per year for annual dues and donations. In 2022 Alumni donations decreased to $6,815. Our goal in 2023 is to forward the HHSAF annual newsletter to our database of 8,000 Highline Alumni and seek volunteer contributions to help fund another $100,000 in scholarships this year. Annual dues are only $20 and lifetime dues are $100. You can safely donate by visiting the secure Foundation website at www.HHSAF.org and review the names of all the 2022 scholarship recipients and donors. Your donations are tax deductible! Exceptional thanks to the Michael Walsh Family for their recent extraordinary scholarship donation of $120,000! Michael Walsh (C/O 1977) is pictured below on the far right.
Past HHS Scholarship Recipients Katarina Quach and Alula Asfaw Are Making a Difference!
Class of 2020 alum Katarina Quach (left) recently was accepted into the inaugural cohort of the Obama-Chesky Voyager scholars at Boston University. Quach is majoring in public relations and minoring in visual arts and is scheduled to graduate in May of 2024. She told The B-Town Blog that
“I spent a lot of time in high school talking about how I wanted to be a voice for the students who weren’t heard, and how I wanted to be someone that people could look to in terms of seeing someone who was like them, or at the least someone who related/understood them.
“And now I get to pursue that kind of work, and I feel supported, recognized, and encouraged on so many levels. The opportunity to travel and build connections and communities is also intensely valuable to me, as I have always wanted to see and experience more of the world.”
Alula Asfaw (middle) dreams big. After graduating in 2008 he landed a job at the Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement. In that role, he supported place-based initiatives to improve schooling in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. After attending the University of Cambridge and Yale Law School Alula founded Bonds of Union, a nonprofit educational organization that aimed to help the highest-need students by giving them a learning coach who not only focuses on their math skills, but also their social-emotional skills and critical thinking. At the UW Asfaw was part of a group that helped create The Dream Project to send UW undergraduates to middle and high schools to help students overcome barriers to college. Since its start, hundreds of UW student-mentors have helped thousands of teens find their way to the UW and other schools.
Far Left – HHSAF Board member Tricia Anderson (C/O 1977) is provided the honor of cutting the ceremonial ribbon to celebrate the end of the first year of operations at the new Highline High School.
Middle – A Highline student enjoys shopping at the new Highline Clothing Store created by last year’s HHSAF Alumni of the Year & Highline High School teacher– Nancy (Yarno) Leonard (C/O 1964) with her husband John. Check out the web site on how you can help with clothing donations!
Far Right – Jack Thompson (former WSU and NFL player) attended the annual HHS Alumni Foundation golf tournament and provided the keynote speech. Adjacent to Jack is Doctor James Rice (C/O 1963) who was inducted into the 2011 HHSAF Athletic Hall of Fame.
The 2022 Golf Tournament raised $9,000 for scholarships and will be held on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023 at the Auburn Golf Course.
You can register online now on the HHSAF website to reserve your tee time for the 2023 tournament or sponsor a hole!
Far Left– HHSAF Board member Patti Burgess (C/O 1950) with Principal Clint Salee at the one year celebration.
Middle –The new Highline High School created by Bassetti Architects, landed an Outstanding Project Award and is featured in the Fall 2022 Learning By Design magazines’s Educational Faciities Design Awards section. The new school also won the 2022 Polished Apple Award.for Educational Design by the Washington chapter for the Association of Learning Enviornments. The following link can provide you with pictures and a virtual tour:
https://hhs.highlineschools.org/about/virtual-tour
What Is the Value and Impact of A New Modern School Building?
Dominique Taylor (C/O 2022) (above, far right) was one of the speakers at the Opening Celebration in June for the new Highline High School building; here’s what she said:
“This school makes us feel like somebody cares about us, so we want to come to school, and we want to learn. I hope that Tyee and Evergreen have the same opportunity for a beautiful, modern school, so they can also thrive. My favorite things about the new Highline High School are: the quiet spot in the hallway, the big Promethean boards in the classrooms, the multiple staircases, the water bottle fountains where you can fill your water bottle, the comfy chairs, and the list just goes on. This building has a college vibe to it, so I feel like I’m in college already.”
As vice president of HHS’s Black Student Union, Dominique helped plan and was a part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assembly, helped organize the Beauty in Blackness art showcase for students, and cooking sessions to showcase Black and African cultural foods. She helped found and was vice president of Girls Group at HHS.
Dominique is now attending Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, planning to get degrees in social work and business, so she can help families and create a non-profit organization to help homeless families off the streets and to a better future.
From HHS Principal Clint Sallee:
“I have come to deeply appreciate that Highline High School is truly blessed to have such an involved and supportive Alumni Foundation and been taken aback every year by the impressive amount of financial support the Highline High School’s Alumni Foundation provides for our deserving students. The Alumni Foundation is a relentless cheerleader and advocate for Highline High School’s past, present, and future.”
Transform A Student’s Life Right Now – Give Them the Chance To Make A Difference:
