By Ava Schrader

Pink Shirt Day originally started when a boy wore a pink shirt to school. The bullies at the school started bullying him because he was wearing a “girl’s shirt.” The popular boys at the school saw this and all texted each other that night that they were all going to wear pink shirts the next day. They texted to everyone in the school except the bullies. The next day at school, everyone was wearing a pink shirt to school, except for the bullies.

That is why Simpson School held Pink Shirt Day this past Feb. 28, to show that we don’t tolerate bullying here at Simpson. Good job wearing pink shirts.

Feb. 28 was also the Word of the Month assembly. Teachers watch for a student in their classroom that exemplifies the word of the month. February’s word was cooperation. The winners (by grade level) were: Third grade, Ailyn Haggard, Andrew Bruland, Audrey Dimick, Kayden Peterson and Matt Causey; fourth grade, Tucker Trafford, Josie Forster, Mary Campbell, Nathan Dowler, Regan Wintrip and Rossi Newbill; fifth grade, Addison Potts, Kadynce Miller, Masen Albert, Olivia Robinson and Xeviea Mowitchman; sixth grade, Carter Crites, Connor Fargo, Peyton Damasiewicz and Savannah Walker. Congratulations winners.

Simpson has also been giving out Monte Grit awards. To win a Grit award, students have to show progress and perseverance through tough times. Just like the word of the month, teachers look for these students. There were many students that won the Monte Grit Award. I would like to say congratulations to these students.

Simpson also recently held elections for new ASB officers. All of the candidates worked very hard on their campaign speeches. It takes a lot of courage to stand up in front of the entire school and present yourself. Our newly elected officers who will serve out the rest of the 2017-18 school year are: president—Tyce Peterson; vice president—Ava Schrader; secretary—Amaya Sztroin; treasurer—James Busche; sergeant at arms—Madison Lundgren; members at large—Trenton Scott and Bentley Warne. In addition to the ASB officer, each classroom elects a room representative to attend the weekly ASB meetings. Sixth-grade teacher Shelby Kukla is our ASB adviser this school year.

Also in the month of March, the Scholastic Book Fair was once again held in Simpson Library. It has been at least 10 years since our last book fair, and this one was a huge success. The book fair itself offered a wide range of thoughtfully chosen books for students of all grade levels. Volunteers from the Montesano PTO were amazing as they advertised, set up and ran the book fair from March 12-16 with a family fun night event on March 15. The family fun night was well attended, and lots of smiling students were seen leaving the book fair with some wonderful books in their hands.

Ava Schrader is an elementary student at Simpson School in Montesano