How do you say Thank You for the extraordinary amount of time and effort people take out of their lives to make a difference for our students, staff and community?  The below is just a minor fraction of some of the many people who deserve thanks from PTSA Council!
Interested in Volunteering with Council? - Check Out Our Volunteer Page.

Showing Our Appreciation During the 2024-2025 School Year​

• MANY THANKS to Shelby and Red Reynolds for hosting our recent event Embracing Diversity: Inclusion for the LGBTQ Community in Schools and in PTA. We appreciated their candid, frank and insightful suggestions on how to best support our LGBTQ students and families at home, at school and in the community. (12/09)
• To all of the AMAZING volunteers throughout our district.....We see you and appreciate the difference you are making! Rest, relax, and enjoy the winter break and time with your families! (12/09)
• MANY THANKS to Terra Droney, Jennifer Drury, ​Grace Jurado, and Holly Muenchow, for facilitating our Community Conversation. The topic of the conversation was how Northshore PTAs can create diverse, equitable and inclusive communities. We thank everyone who attended for their input and discussion! Visit our blog to learn more about the purpose of our Community Conversation. (11/18)
• KUDOS to Terra Droney and Holly Muenchow, our Co-VP's of Advocacy, for hosting the first of a series of Advocacy Coalition meetings this month. These meetings are a place to come together, share perspectives, and build pathways to equity and success for all. Anyone within our NSD community is invited to these meetings! Want to learn more? Visit our blog! (11/18)
• A HUGE SHOUT OUT to all of those who made our recent Presidents & Principals Luncheon: Communication Reboot a success and to everyone who was able to join us for our event!
  We would like to give SPECIAL THANKS to:
  • The Bothell High School Culinary Arts Program for catering our lunch;
  • Our moderators and panelists: Rachel Fitzgerald, Jane Chiodo, Tiffany Rodriguez, Allison Mitchell, Carri Campbell, Marco Garcia, Gus Rieber, Dr. Srinivas Khedam, Terra Droney, Taanvi Arekapudi, Becky Cotter, and Diana Christiansen.
  • Council members, Holly Muenchow and Allison Torgesen, who facilitated our breakout sessions;
  • Council member, Rachel Fitzgerald, for creating our RADICAL "Why I PTA" 80's Throwback video, the slides that accompanied our event, and for running our tech;
  • All of the day of volunteers who helped make the event happen by being there early to set up, helping to check people in, handing out lunches, and staying afterward to help clean up;
  • Council's TOTALLY TUBULAR Co-VP's of Events, Melissa Bennett & Ashley Russell, for all their many hours of work designing the worksheet, organizing the panels, coordinating the catering, managing the RSVPs, and going above and beyond with the theme, decorations and designs! (11/04)
• THANKS to Robin McKenzie and Tracy Jokisch, our Council E-Prep Co-Chairs, for hosting an E-Prep Chair Training to make sure PTA E-Prep chairs from across the district have the information they need to be successful in their positions. Regularly scheduled E-Prep chair meetings are held virtually on the first Tuesday of each month at 11am. (10/21)
• KUDOS to Melissa Bennett and Ashley Russell for planning and coordinating our upcoming Presidents and Principals Luncheon! Learn more about Presidents & Principals here! (10/21)
• MANY THANKS to Robin McKenzie for taking time to meet with the new Director of Safety and Security for the district, Cedric Collins. Robin also hosted the first E-Prep Meeting of the school year. E-Prep chair meetings are held virtually on the first Tuesday of each month at 11am. There will also be an E-Prep Chair Training on Oct. 17th @ 3:30pm. Visit our blog for more information on how you can join the next meeting or the training session! (10/7)
• SHOUT OUT to Laura Templeton for hosting two Reflections Roundtables helping local leaders get their Reflections programs off the ground. View the slide deck from the Roundtable here and learn more about the Reflections program here. (10/7)
• MANY THANKS to Brenae Brix, our Council Treasurer, and Allison Torgeson, our Council Membership Chair, for hosting an informational Givebacks Roundtable session. Did you miss the roundtable? No worries! If you have questions about membership, you can check out the slide show HERE and you can always reach out to Allison at any time! (9/23)
• KUDOS to Jennifer Drury, Rachel Fitzgerald and Jenn Snyder, our VP's of Elementary and Secondary Support, for hosting our Back-to-School PTA Leader Meetups this month. These meetups give local leaders the opportunity to connect and share ideas! There's still one more opportunity - don't miss it! (9/23)
• MANY THANKS to Jennifer Drury, Rachel Fitzgerald and Jennifer Snyder, for putting together some amazing resources, including a PTA Checklist, for our local PTAs to help them get their PTA year started off right! (9/9)
• SHOUTOUT to Jane Chiodo, Diana Christiansen, Rachel Fitzgerald and Grace Jurado for promoting the value of PTA, membership, and voter registration at the NSD Back-to-School Resource Fair on August 8th. Many families were interested in connecting with their school's PTA - so be sure your website and membership online join links are updated for this year! (9/9)
• SHOUTOUT to Council's National PTA Convention Delegates Rachel Fitzgerald, Grace Jurado, and Brenae Brix (& anyone else we may have forgotten - sorry!) who represented WSPTA at National Convention. Read more about the resolutions that were voted on during the 2023 Convention. (8/19)
• MUCH APPRECIATION to our Year End Financial Review Committee members Diana Christiansen, Laura Staneff, and Jennifer Snyder. And SPECIAL THANKS to Council Treasurer, Brenae Brix, for finalizing all the financials and having it organized and ready for the review. (8/19) 

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​​Showing Our Appreciation During the 2023-2024 School Year 

• THREE CHEERS to Melissa Bennett for planning and organizing this year's Spring Recognition event. Her creativity and enthusiasm shone through in all the details, making it a fantastic event. 
  • HATS OFF to Rachel Fitzgerald and Jennifer Snyder for their work on the Spring Recognition program and slide deck. 
  • APPRECIATION to Brenae Brix, Diana Christiansen, Angela Dawson, Jennifer Drury, Rachel Fitzgerald, Jasmine Lee Fry, Mary Khouzam, Laura Staneff, and Allison Torgesen for speaking at the event.
  • GRATITUDE to WSPTA President Angela Steck for coming to present Council with the Outstanding PTA of the Year Award.
  • KUDOS to all that assisted with set up and clean up.
    View photos from Spring Recognition Event here. 
• HEARTFELT GRATITUDE to 2024 Council Awards Committee members Grace Jurado and Melissa Kline for reviewing nominations and selecting recipients to be recognized during our Spring Recognition Brunch. Read about this year's recipients. 
• SPECIAL THANKS to Melissa Bennett, Rachel Fitzgerald, and Anna Jensen for reviewing the eNews before it was published this year. Your time and extra sets of eyes have been very appreciated. 
• As we reflect on the 2023-2024 school year, we extend MANY THANKS to our outgoing Northshore Council PTSA board members. Your thoughtful guidance, expertise, and unwavering commitment have played a crucial role in our mission to support the children and youth in our community. Thank you for your outstanding contributions!
• ​CHEERS to Terra Droney and Holly Muenchow for hosting three Advocacy Meetups on "Navigating Budget Cuts in Education" this month for our community! Missed one? Don't worry, there's another scheduled for Tuesday, May 21 on Zoom at 7 PM. Learn more and register for Zoom link.
• SHOUT OUT to Melissa Bennett​, Angela Dawson​, Terra Droney, Rachel Fitzgerald, Holly Muenchow, and Laura Staneff for volunteering at the Northshore School District Family Symposium at North Creek High School on Saturday, May 4. They provided Northshore families with information about Council and local PTAs. ​
• HATS OFF to our 2024-2025 Council Budget Committee, Brenae Brix​, Rachel Fitzgerald, Anna Jensen, and Holly Muenchow for your work in creating the new Council budget which will be presented and voted on at the May General Membership Meeting.
• KUDOS to ​​​​Kimberly Ortiz and Allison Torgesen​ for providing support to our local leaders, addressing membership questions, and providing memberplanet tips. As we transition to the GiveBacks website, Council will remain a resource. Please don't hesitate to reach out as we navigate this new system together. 
• THREE CHEERS to our newly elected 2023-2024 Council Officers, Melissa Bennett, Brenae Brix, Diana Christiansen, Terra Droney, Grace Jurado, Holly Muenchow, and Christine Roehnelt! We extend our sincere gratitude to each of you for your willingness to step up and serve next school year. There's still an opportunity to contribute to Council next year. Consider self-nominating for an open position! 
• MUCH GRATITUDE to Grace Jurado for her leadership as the Chair of Council's 2023-2024 Grants Committee. MANY THANKS to committee members Brenae Brix, Melissa Kline, Rachel Fitzgerald, and Christine Roehnelt, who alongside, Grace, helped local PTAs partner with Council to bring educational speakers and events to our community. We're excited to announce that a bonus grant cycle has been added. Learn how you can apply for a grant.
• ROUND OF APPLAUSE to Council Reflections Co-Chairs Jasmine Lee Fry and Foram Shah​ as well as Council VP of Events, Melissa Bennett, who put together the awesome Reflections Art Reception! Thanks for creating such a fun and inspiring space for our student artists to shine!
  • SPECIAL THANKS to our amazing volunteers who were there to help with the event: Yoonmi Antone and Family, David Bennett, Diana Christiansen, Angela Dawson, Rachel Fitzgerald, Jane Fischer, Kirsty Lee Gil, Kedra Mavrinac, Holly Muenchow, Louise Meyer, and Laura Staneff, Laura Templeton. We couldn't have done it without you!
  • BIG HIGH FIVE to the National Honor Society student volunteers Jeremy A., Elisabeth A., Ellina C., Elaina D., Manny F., Enna M., and Kaaya V. for all your help. 
  • ​HUGE THANK YOU to the Bothell High School Culinary Arts Program for catering the event! Your delicious desserts were the perfect complement to the festivities.
• HEARTFELT GRATITUDE to Anna Jensen, Holly Muenchow, and Laura Staneff, the Council's Nominating Committee, for their dedication and hard work in finding the best possible candidates to serve on Council's 2024-2025 Executive Board. Read the 2024 Nominating Committee Report and more about the election and how to self-nominate. ​
• SHOUT OUT to Diana Christiansen, Terra Droney, and Laura Staneff, our mid-year Financial Review Committee members, for dedicating their time to reviewing our financials and sharing their feedback. Additionally, KUDOS to Brenae Brix for her outstanding organization of the financials, ensuring they were ready for the committee's review. We appreciate all your hard work and dedication!
• MANY THANKS to this year's Council level Reflections judges Buffy Anson, David Dorrian, Amelie Fry, Greg Fry, Laura Staneff, Suma Subramaniam, Han Tran, Patsy Treece, Jill Zosel, and our student judge Katie C.
• APPRECIATION to all our Northshore Reflections Chairs for running your programs and celebrating student artists!
• MUCH GRATITUDE to Melissa Bennett​ for representing the Northshore Council PTSA Members and Board of Directors by presenting a letter to the school board and Superintendent Tolley addressing concerns about the budget cuts for the 2024-25 academic year. Read the letter here. 
  MUCH APPRECIATION to all Northshore PTA advocates who actively engaged in virtual meetings with local legislators and promptly responded to Action Alerts during Focus on Advocacy Week. 
• SPECIAL THANKS to Brenae Brix, Diana Christiansen, Jennifer Drury, Laura Staneff, Superintendent Tolley, School Board Director Jacqueline McGourty, School Board Director Elisabeth Sotak, School Board Director Han Tran, as well as local PTA advocates and student advocates who journeyed to Olympia and met with legislators on Focus on Advocacy Day. With over 25 PTA advocates representing Northshore, your commitment and active participation make a substantial impact! 
• BRAVO to Terra Droney and Holly Muenchow for their hard work and dedication in coordinating our Northshore advocacy efforts on Focus Day. Their efforts involved organizing carpools, scheduling meetings with legislators, hosting informative meetups, and more. Well done! 
• MUCH APPRECIATION to Melissa Bennett​ for delivering the Council report during the Northshore School District Board meeting. 
• HUGE SHOUT OUT to Terra Droney & Holly Muenchow for organizing Advocacy Meetups and providing an opportunity for the community to gain insights on advocating for increased school funding. These sessions have been a crucial preparation step for Focus on Advocacy Day in Olympia. Join them on Tuesday morning, 1/09, for the last session before Focus on Advocacy Day in Olympia.
• To all of the amazing volunteers throughout our district - we see you and appreciate the difference you are making! We hope that during the upcoming break, you can make time for yourself as well. Rest, relax, and enjoy the winter break and time with your families!
• A HEARTFELT THANK YOU to Christine Roehnelt for her dedicated work in recording notes during our PTSA meetings and providing timely, informative recaps of each general meeting. The role of our PTA Secretary is paramount, as these minutes serve as a lasting record of our PTA's history.
• WARMEST THANKS to Director Bob Swain for his invaluable service as our School Board/PTSA liaison and for actively participating in Council meetings throughout the past year. Council greatly values our partnership with the School Board.
• Please join us in giving a ROUND OF APPLAUSE to ​Anna Jensen, Holly Muenchow, and Laura Staneff as they have been elected to serve on this year's Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee will be seeking qualified individuals to lead Northshore Council PTSA in 2024-2025. Online nomination form and more information coming soon. Learn more about what is a Nominating Committee on our blog post Everything You Have Wanted to Know About Nominating Committees.  
• KUDOS to Diana Christiansen and Holly Muenchow for attending the WSPTA Council Summit alongside council leaders from various parts of the state to share ideas and learn how to best support local leaders. 
• HUGE SHOUT OUT to all of those who made our recent Presidents & Principals luncheon a success and to everyone who was able to join us for our event! We hope you all were able to pack your car with valuable insights, ideas, and resources to strengthen your programs as you travel through this year on your PTA Journey to Destination Success!
  • ​​We would also like to give SPECIAL THANKS to:
    • The Bothell High School Culinary Arts Program for catering our lunch;
    • Our speakers, Blue Griner, NCHS student who provided info about the Period Peeps Project, and Grace Jurado, Council's First VP, who presented on our Educational Speakers and Community Events Grant Program;
    • All the day of volunteers who helped make the event happen by being there early to set up, helping to check people in, handing out lunches, and staying afterward to help clean up;
    • Council members, Holly Muenchow and Allison Torgesen, who facilitated the sharing portion of our event (and gave out lots of treats while doing so!);
    • ​Council's P&P Event Committee members, Angela Dawson, Rachel Fitzgerald, Anna Jensen, Mary Khouzam, and Jenn Snyder, for all their many hours of work designing the worksheet, creating slides, organizing speakers, coordinating the catering, managing the RSVPs, and making sure everything ran smoothly during the event,
    • Council's AMAZING VP of Events, Melissa Bennett, who not only chaired this event and helped with every aspect, but also went above and beyond with her decorations and designs to make this one of the best P&P events yet!
      If you were invited to this event, please make sure to complete our feedback survey by Friday, November 10th. For those unable to attend, please visit our website for a recap of this year's event. 
• GRATITUDE to Melissa Bennett, Brenae Brix, Dianna Christiansen, Angela Dawson​, Jennifer Drury​, Rachel Fitzgerald, Jasmine Lee Fry, Anna Jensen, Holly Muenchow, Christine Roehnelt​, Jenn Snyder, and Laura Staneff, for meeting with the Northshore school board directors, Superintendent Tolley and staff to learn more about the 2024-2025 budget and AI. If you would like a budget presentation at your local PTA meeting, please contact Deputy Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer JoLynn Berge at [email protected].
• SPECIAL SHOUTOUT to Terra Droney, Rachel Fitzgerald, Anna Jensen, and Holly Muenchow, who attended the WSPTA 2023 Legislative Assembly this past weekend as Council delegates! Together, along with 19 other AMAZING Northshore PTA/PTSA delegates representing 11 of our local PTAs, they worked to give a voice to all students.
• THREE CHEERS to Rachel Fitzgerald for hosting Be SMART, a parent education event that outlined simple steps that all adults—whether they own guns or not—can take to keep our children and communities safer.​ If you are interested in hosting a Be SMART presentation at your school, or to learn more about the program, please reach out to Jaclyn Condra by emailing [email protected].
• MUCH APPRECIATION to Council Co-VPs of Advocacy Terra Droney and Holly Muenchow for organizing the Council's School Board Candidate Forum 2023 and KUDOS to Rachel Fitzgerald and Jenn Snyder for your assistance with communication and being timekeepers at the event. Watch a recording of the forum here. 
• MANY THANKS to Robin McKenzie and our new E-Prep Co-Chair Lanea Miller for hosting the first E-Prep Meeting of the school year. E-Prep will be held virtually on the first Tuesday of each month at 11am. Visit our blog for more information on how you can join the next meeting.  
• SHOUT OUT to Jasmine Lee Fry and Foram Shah for hosting two Reflections Roundtables helping local leaders get their Reflections program off the ground. View a recording and slide deck from the Roundtable here. 
• CONGRATULATIONS to Christine Roehnelt​ who was elected as the new Northshore Council PTSA 2023-24 Secretary at our General Meeting on Monday, September 18. Read a recap from the meeting. 
• ​MANY THANKS to Terra Droney and Holly Muenchow for attending the September 11th School Board meeting and reporting to the Board the latest happenings within Council and our Northshore PTAs. 
• HIGH FIVES to Diana Christiansen and Jennifer Drury for hosting two Back to School PTA Leaders Meetups this month giving local leaders an opportunity to connect and share ideas.    
• KUDOS to Allison Torgesen for leading an informative memberplanet breakout session at our General Membership Meeting. Did you miss the meeting, but have questions about membership or memberplanet? Reach out to Council Membership Co-Chairs Kimberly Ortiz & Allison Torgesen​. 
• KUDOS to Council VPs of Support, Diana Christiansen and Jennifer Drury. They have been busy supporting our local leaders with start of the year questions. Come meet Diana and Jennifer tomorrow, September 12, at Miner's Corner at our first of two Back to School PTA Leaders Meetups. 
• ​MANY THANKS to the Council Budget Committee Brenae Brix, Rachel Fitzgerald, Mary Khouzam, Melissa Kline, and Serena Xu for all of your hard work in helping create the new Council budget will be presented and voted on at the September General Membership Meeting.
• THREE CHEERS to Brenae Brix, Diana Christiansen, Angela Dawson, Terra Droney, Cherry Holmes, Laura Staneff and local leaders for attending WSPTA's Autumn Leadership Launch on August 25 and 26 to strengthen their leadership skills for the upcoming school year. 
• SHOUT OUT to Terra Droney for giving the Council Report at the August 14th School Board Meeting and updating them on the latest Council and local PTA/PTSA happenings. 
• GRATITUDE to Melissa Bennett, Rachel Fitzgerald, Riley Fitzgerald, and Jenn Snyder for promoting the value of PTA, membership, and voter registration at the NSD Back to School Resource Fair on August 10th. Several families joined their local PTA that day and many more were interested in connecting with their school's PTA - so make sure your website & online join link is updated for this year.
• SHOUTOUT to Council's National PTA Convention Delegates Jane Chiodo, Angela Dawson, Rachel Fitzgerald, Holly Muenchow, and Liz Wong who represented WSPTA at National Convention. Read more about the resolutions that were voted on during the 2023 Convention. 
  MANY THANKS to Melissa Bennett for hosting Council's Summer Retreat and to Council leaders for taking time during the summer to start preparing for the upcoming year.
• MUCH APPRECIATION to our Year End Financial Review Committee members Brenae Brix, Diana Christiansen, and Melissa Kline. And SPECIAL THANKS to Serena Xu for finalizing all the financials and having it organized and ready for the review. 
• THREE CHEERS to Terra Droney & Holly Muenchow for organizing and hosting the Northshore School Board Candidates Meet and Greet over the summer to help voters get a chance to talk with the candidates prior to voting in the primary election. Look for information coming soon about an upcoming candidate forum being held before the November election. ​

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Read Thank You's from 2018 - 2023.

At Northshore Council PTSA's March 18, 2019 General Membership Meeting, volunteer Sue Freeman was recognized for her many years of dedication and service managing the Northshore Community Kitchen! Pictured (from Left): Northshore Council co-President Grace Jurado, Sue Freeman, Northshore School District Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid, Northshore Council co-President Carrie McKenzie.

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