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Kennewick board recognizes school-board month, fall sports, esports, swim and student STEM awards
Summary
At its January meeting the board observed School Board Recognition Month, heard fall-sports and activities recognitions including South Ridge esports finishing second at state, Kennewick High adaptive swimmer Alaina placing at state, and a Kennewick student winning the Congressional App Challenge.
The Kennewick School District Board opened its meeting with recognitions: January was read as School Board Recognition Month and the board heard multiple fall sports and extracurricular recognitions.
Doctor Pierce read (on behalf of Governor Bob Ferguson) a governor’s proclamation designating January 2025 as School Board Recognition Month and presented board members with certificates and small tokens of appreciation. The board then heard fall‑season recognitions from district athletics and school leaders.
Rick Wells, athletics and activities director at South Ridge High School, introduced members of the Solar Flare esports club. Jason Jinkola, the club’s coach, told the board the South Ridge Splatoon team finished second at the state tournament after a competitive season. "We finished second overall," Jinkola said, and he noted several graduates have proceeded to play at the collegiate level on esports scholarships.
Kennewick High School principal Ron King introduced swim coach T. L. Tippett and swimmer Alaina (Eliana). Coach Tippett reported that Alaina, a third‑year swimmer, won district events in adaptive swim and placed second in those events at state, qualifying as the district’s first female adaptive swimmer to reach state competition from the district’s programs.
Josh Urquis, Kennewick High computer‑science teacher, introduced student Jeff Noah, who won the Congressional App Challenge with an app designed to crowdsource pest reporting to help local farmers and reduce pesticide use. Urquis described Noah as a robotics captain and an IB candidate who took Apple Swift curriculum and entered the national app competition.
Doctor Pierce also publicly thanked Ron Kone for 23 years of service as the district’s executive director of information technology following his recent retirement. Board members applauded district staff recognized by administrators and coaches.
Ending: The recognitions concluded with a nod to ongoing student success across athletics, esports and STEM programs; the board excused students with finals to attend to their studies.
