Category Archives: Schools

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Lincoln’s Eyes on the Skybridge

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Finally I had a free day to snap a photo of the temporary art installation, Envision.  It is easy piece to miss, especially on a sunny day. It is located on the pedestrian bridge (skybridge) that connects two buildings (the Keystone Building and the Science Building) on the University of Washington, Tacoma campus. Envision is one of the installations that make up the Temporal Terminus: Marking the Line exhibit which is in place through the end of November. The project’s website states:

SITE 7: UW-T Pedestrian Bridge

Title: Envision
Artists: Jeremy Gregory, Diane Hansen, Ed Kroupa

Gigantic eyes look down on the campus from the pedestrian bridge. Are they benevolent? Visionary? Judging? That depends. The eyes are those of Abraham Lincoln, the visionary whose dream it was to complete a transcontinental rail that would meet the Pacific. Is he overlooking his accomplishment or wondering about this particular route’s demise and our crazy modern lives? Walking over the ped bridge, one experiences a different viewpoint and inspiration for the endurance of vision.

(Drat, I should have walked over the bridge!)

http://tacomaarts.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/prairie-line-trail-public-art-tour-draft/

 

Look here for more on the UWT campus. http://www.tacoma.washington.edu/shopuwt/docs/walking_tour.pdf

Update: October 2016. I finally crossed over on the sky bridge so here is an inside photo. Also a photo taken from above. 

McMenamins’ Anderson School, Bothel

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imageI was pretty excited to hear that the newest McMenamins had recently opened in Bothell. It is known as the Anderson School and is located at 18607 Bothell Way NE, Bothell. So dear husband, dear daughter and dear daughter’s friend went to explore it this weekend. The complex includes a restaurant/tavern, several small bars, a lovely heated saltwater pool, a movie theater (in the previous gym), an area for a reception, a small store, outdoor areas with fire pits and of course, the hotel which is in the original junior high school which has 72 rooms located in the original classrooms.

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Tacoma’s New Charter School

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16122908262_b7af2abd1c_kThere was no power at my house on Saturday morning. Something to do with the lines being down and it impacting our immediate neighborhood. The house became surprisingly cold pretty darn fast and I couldn’t make my morning tea, so I grabbed my stuff and went off to Starbucks to warm up and wake up. While waiting for my Americano I perused the bulletin board and noticed an informational flyer for Summit Public Schools that will be opening a ninth grade high school in the fall of 2015 with about 120 students. The school, called Olympus High School, will be adding on a grade each year until it has the more traditional 9th – 12th grade high school configuration. This developing charter school will serve Tacoma’s South End, Eastside and Hilltop communities and provide “a personalized learning experience to each and every student, giving all students the opportunity to achieve their academic goals regardless of their previous preparation and background” (from their website).

So with the news that it was going to take 45 minutes for my hot water heater to be hot again, I jumped in my car and drove off to see this new school at 409 Puyallup Avenue in the Dome District. Oh! I recognize the building across from Alfred’s Cafe and Bull’s Eye Indoor Shooting Range. The building, which is obviously being renovated, was constructed in 1929 for Nalley’s Fine Foods. They sold it in 1953 and since then it has been a Salvation Army Social Center and I seem to remember some kind of sporting goods being sold out of it. It is great to see such a lovely old building being updated.

When I got out of my car to take a photo a man walked up to me and said he’d “been waiting his whole ****ing life”. Ummmm. Thanks? But no worries, he wasn’t talking to me, but only to his invisible friend. I let him get further down the road before I ventured out. I have to say the neighborhood had a host of interesting characters (that’s me being nice). I will be fascinated to see how the school developments.

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WSU Bear Research, Education, and Conservation Center

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IMG_3829Washington State University in Pullman has a Bear Research, Education and Conservation Center that I finally got to visit when I dropped dear daughter off for her next year of college. We got to see five (maybe six) grizzly bears in their enclosures. I was hoping to see them in their larger, outdoor area (and it would have made for a better photo), but not this time. Bears that are capable of living in the wild are not situated at the center. It was a real treat to see the bears at such a close range and I couldn’t help but to notice that other people would stop by the center to spend a little time with them. More information can be found here.

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Technicolor Heart, Washington State University

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heartJim Dine’s Technocolor Heart presides over the corner of Stadium Way and Grimes Way on the Washington State University (WSU) campus in Pullman, WA. The sculpture had been away from campus for part of 2011 and when it was reinstalled, it faced a different direction! Dine is a prolific artist in various medians with hearts being a common theme. Per the Guggenheim, Jim Dine lives in New York, Paris, and Walla Walla, Washington. There is an interview with him here. heart2 heart close up

Pierce College. Possibilities. Realized.

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10787338136_059e3549ba_bI was at Pierce College Puyallup at 1601 39th Avenue SE, Puyallup, Washington 98374 for a meeting today. I had never been on this campus before, but it looking over their website, they have some interesting continuing ed classes.

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Lister Elementary School

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 10485107495_29fb4d9868_bLister Elementary School at  2106 East 44th Street, Tacoma, WA  98404 is really a nice looking school that was built in 1996 (maybe 1997). The history of the school, which was gleaned from For The Record a History of Tacoma Public Schools, 1869-1984, is interesting. The school is located in the Salishan neighborhood, which had its origins as worker housing during World War II. The federal government paid for the original 1943, eight room school in the area, which was known as Salishan School. By 1948 the school had double the number of intended students and split shifts for the students were occurring. A new 24 room school was within two weeks of completion in 1950, when it burnt to the ground. The school was again built and opened in the fall of 1950. At that time, it was the largest elementary school in the Tacoma School District. In the For the Record book, the Citizen’s Committee for School Facilities Planning recommended demolition of the 1950 structure. That building was indeed demolished in the mid 1990s and the present day school pictured above was constructed. Lister’s mascot is a lion.

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The UWT Stairs

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stairsI remember when these stairs were the site of South 19th Street and there was a Les Schwab TIre Center to the left. When the University of Washington opened their Tacoma branch they convert the street to these stairs. The designer really did a great job.

Getting Ready for School

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9560862998_0728a8cd3e_h(1)There are all the school buses just waiting for the first day of school 🙂 This photo was  in the Nalley Valley part of town at the southwest corner of South Tacoma Way and Sprague Avenue. I could only safely capture some of the buses, but the image below (thank you Google Earth!) shows that there are many more buses. I think there is a special star in heaven for school bus drivers!

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