To avoid the lines in August, Ballard High School is accepting fall sports paperwork until June 30th (that’s tomorrow.) If you have a student hoping to play a fall sport at BHS, paperwork is due during the summer break. If you miss the June 30th cutoff, the paperwork won’t be accepted until August when the lines can be pretty long. Here are the August dates to turn in paperwork, pay the sport fees and buy the ASB card:

Football players:
August 11 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

All other fall sports:
August 17 between 9 a.m. and noon
August 18 between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Here is the packet (.pdf) that needs to be filled out completely and the parent release form (.pdf) that also needs to be filled out. Forms that aren’t completed will be given back to the student.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact athletic secretary Sharon Davis at 252-1000. Sharon is in the office from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. through June 30. More information on Beaver athletics can be found here.

For the fourth year in a row, Ballard High School students have walked away with a golden statue at the Northwest Regional Emmy Awards. Congratulations to two teams of video production students at Ballard High School for each winning an Emmy earlier this month. “Loose Change,” which was produced for Real Change by Emma Hutchison, Georgia Peck and Alex Scheller, won in the Public Service Announcement category, and “The Crumb” by Emily Deering, Karli Lafferty, Sarah Maloney and Taylor Rubright won in the Dramatic Presentation category. Four other productions were nominated and received honorable mentions. The regional Emmy Awards honor outstanding productions from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.

Mayor Mike McGinn first announced the formation of the Youth & Families Initiative–with the goal to “identify challenges youth and families face and to collectively mobilize towards solutions so that all children in Seattle can succeed”–during his inaugural address. After postponing the public meeting last month, the Mayor will join El Centro de la Raza Executive Director Estela Ortega to talk about the initiative at a community caucus tonight, Monday, May 3 at Ballard High School Library (1418 NW 65th St.) from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

The Mayor hopes these community town hall meetings will help shape his agenda on issues affecting youth and families from a child’s birth to their successful career track. Here is more information about the Youth & Families Initiative.

During Mayor Mike McGinn’s inaugural address, he announced the formation of the Youth & Families Initiative. Next Monday, the Mayor will join El Centro de la Raza Executive Director Estela Ortega to talk about the initiative. The Mayor hopes these community town hall meetings will help shape his agenda on issues affecting youth and families from a child’s birth to their successful career track.

The community caucus, which was postponed earlier this month has been rescheduled for Monday, May 3 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Ballard High School Library (1418 NW 65th St.) Here is more information about the Youth & Families Initiative.

More than a hundred people gathered at the scene of Sunday’s tragic accident Thursday night to remember Kellen Jones, Spenser Millard and Mike Turner.

Friends and family held candles, laughed and cried, hugged each other, and wrote messages on the Taco Time pole that was hit by a Pontiac Firebird carrying the three Ballard High School graduates. A teenage exchange student named Ashlynn was critically injured in the crash.

“You boys will be missed greatly,” reads one message on the pole. “We love you. Rest in Paradise. Class of ‘08.” Another message reads, “I miss you so much. You’ll always be my teddy bears.”

Complete coverage and video of the vigil from our sister site MyBallard here.

We know that many Ballard, Queen Anne and Magnolia families are mourning the three young men killed in the car accident in Ballard early Sunday morning. We wanted to share the latest coverage from our sister site My Ballard. The memorial is growing at the scene of the fatal car accident

Flowers, notes and photos are stacked around the Taco Time pole, the scene of the crash that killed 2008 Ballard High School graduates Spenser Millard, Kellen Jones and Mike Turner. While community members, teachers, students remember the three young men, the teenage girl involved in Sunday’s crash remains in the Harborview Medical Center ICU in critical condition.

Photo courtesy KING 5 News.

Washington state 36th District representative and Queen Anne resident Reuven Carlyle wrote this about the tragedy on his blog.

Our heart goes out to the families who weep in pain and who need family, friends and community support now more than ever in their lives…As the father of four young children, I can hardly contain my grief and terrible discomfort at this tragedy. My heart goes out to the families and to our community during this difficult time. To lose a child raises one of the great moral questions in all of life: Dear Lord, why?

If you have a memory or encouraging word to share, My Ballard has set up an online memorial for the three killed in Sunday’s tragic accident.

Just a reminder that from 7 to 8 :30 p.m. tonight, Monday, April 5, Mayor Mike McGinn will be hosting a community caucus on Seattle’s Youth & Families Initiative with El Centro de la Raza Executive Director Estela Ortega at the Ballard High School Library (1418 NW 65th St.). Mayor McGinn says he plans to use tonight’s community town hall to help shape his agenda on issues affecting families and children in Seattle from adolescence through a successful career track.

During Mayor Mike McGinn’s inaugural address, he announced the formation of the Youth & Families Initiative. Next Monday, the Mayor will join El Centro de la Raza Executive Director Estela Ortega to talk about the initiative. The Mayor hopes these community town hall meetings will help shape his agenda on issues affecting youth and families from a child’s birth to their successful career track.

The community caucus will be held Monday, April 5th from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Ballard High School Library (1418 NW 65th St.) Here is an informational video about the Youth & Families Initiative.

Phil Brockman, the principal at Ballard High School was recently honored for his commitment to music. Last month, Brockman (shown holding plaque) received the first-ever Washington Music Educators Association Administrator of the Year Award “for advocating music as a core quality of education,” the release from the Seattle Public Schools states. He was honored during the association’s All-State Gala in Yakima. Brockman will be playing trumpet at the alumni concert, 7 p.m., April 10 at Ballard High. Brockman helped create the alumni concert in 2006. According to the release from the school district, the event has raised $40,000 for the school’s music department. Photo courtesy Seattle Public Schools.

The Vikings Robotics team from Ballard High School will compete at the FIRST Robotics regional competition Friday and Saturday at the Key Arena.

This is the team’s second year competing and will go up against 63 other high school teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Turkey.

The team, led by teacher Craig Nielsen, have spent countless hours building their robot. The goal during this competition is to navigate the robots through a series of soccer-themed activities and actually battle the robots against one another. Teams are judged on robot design, technology, sportsmanship and gracious professionalism. If you’re interested in watching the Vikings robotics team, the free event is Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a lunch break during the noon hour.