By C.M. Bateman and Caden Vu
Staff Writers
Parents, siblings and friends of students filled the walkways of Summit Tahoma, gathering together for its annual Celebration of Learning event. Celebration of Learning is Tahoma’s showcase of work students have accomplished over the year in their Expeditions courses. People are welcome to roam from classroom to classroom to learn about the unique aspects of each Expeditions class through student-led presentations.
“I think it’s wonderful; it’s a great opportunity to see all the terrific things that go on in the Expeditions,” a Tahoma parent, Larry Samuelson, said. Another parent, Nora Wilkinson, said, “It’s great; I think it’s always nice to get together as a community and see what the students are up to.” Both parents have children who are juniors at Tahoma.
Various attractions were scattered around campus for everyone to enjoy. People sold food and snacks like pizza, popcorn, cotton candy and snow cones. The faculty raffled off prizes, like shirts, candy and even a flat-screen TV.
Each class held presentations in a classroom to exhibit what students learned during their eight weeks of Expeditions coursework.
Summit Tahoma students Lisa Le and Christine Nguyen present their career exploration poster. PHOTO CREDIT: Maxwell Taniguchi-King 
Doug Wills and Gino Moses wait in line for snow cones. PHOTO CREDIT: Maxwell Taniguchi-King 
Monica Hanson organizes the raffle table prizes. PHOTO CREDIT: Will Butler 
Parents and teachers interact at the Celebration of Learning event. PHOTO CREDIT: Maxwell Taniguchi-King 
Students line up for the snow-cone station. PHOTO CREDIT: Maxwell Taniguchi-King 
Summit Tahoma student Parker Leifson and Robotics teacher Sherri Taylor present their robots for the Robotics Expeditions class. PHOTO CREDIT: Maxwell Taniguchi-King 
Tahoma Junior Annabelle Wilkinson showcases her College Readiness project to her family and peers. PHOTO CREDIT: Yasmeen Ali 
Students showcase their art to peers and family members. PHOTO CREDIT: Yasmeen Ali 
Tahoma Seniors Miki Zavala and Nevaeh Reyes showcase their independent study project to their peers. PHOTO CREDIT: Yasmeen Ali 
Tahoma Senior Noah Sowards showcases his Independent Study project to his teacher and his peers. PHOTO CREDIT: Maxwell Taniguchi-King 
Students and families arrive at the Celebration of Learning event. PHOTO CREDIT: William Butler 
Monica Hanson prepares prizes at the raffle table. PHOTO CREDIT: Amanda Ahn 
Auzeriah Belaski displays her Entrepreneurship presentation. PHOTO CREDIT: Max Taniguchi-King 
Students surround the raffle table and await the prize announcements. PHOTO CREDIT: Colleen Bateman 
Keith Brown introduces his students’ performances for Stage Combat. PHOTO CREDIT: Maxwell Taniguchi-King 
Students and parents walk along the various Exhibitions classes. PHOTO CREDIT: Will Butler 
Bianka Ortega and Mylinh Hoang take part in the demo for Stage Combat. PHOTO CREDIT: Maxwell Taniguchi-King 
Summit Tahoma Senior Justin Butera showcases his robot. PHOTO CREDIT: Maxwell Taniguchi-King 
Parker Leifson presents the robots he created in the Robotics Exhibitions course. PHOTO CREDIT: Maxwell Taniguchi-King 
Vincent Nelson prepares to present a Video Production recording. PHOTO CREDIT: Will Butler
Students who took Independent Study and Internship created posters to demonstrate what they did and learned during their time in Expeditions.
Intro to Programming had games made from an AI program. One of the games consisted of a bee collecting pollen on a computerized grid of flowers. Robotics demonstrated the various robots they created from Lego pieces and put them to the test through different games the students made.
The Stage Combat class performed a play for their audience. Groups took turns performing an act that tells a story in silence utilizing skills commonly used in miming.
Intro to Drama performed multiple skits and monologues, including a piece from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The advanced course, Modern Acting & Theatre, performed a showcase which featured the play “Selfie” by Bradley Hayward, scenes from “Dear Evan Hansen” and other monologues from the upperclassmen.
Students in classes like Human Psychology, Human Rights and Ethnic Studies made trifolds of a topic they researched in depth for Celebration of Learning.
Students enrolled in the two journalism courses covered the evening by taking photos of every presentation and interviewing the audience.
Parents especially enjoyed the night’s festivities. Tahoma parent Vicky Tran said, “Our child is new at the school and we just want to … check things out, see what’s going on. She seems to like it here, and I think I know why.”
Staff Writers Omar El-Bandrawy and Erick Godinez contributed to this article.
Click this link to see Tahoma’s newsletter for more information about the Celebration of Learning showcase. Click here to see an interactive catalog of Tahoma’s Expeditions courses.
See below for a video of the event:
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