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The Milepost: How We Stayed Sharp This Summer

Posted Date: 09/14/26 (09:00 AM)
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The header for The Milepost newsletter features a collage of photos of students, staff and parents with the words Chehalis School District The Milepost Preparing Students for the Journey Ahead

Staying Sharp This Summer

What We Learned on Our Summer Vacation

September 14, 2026

Student Achievement All Year Long

Student achievement thrives year-round in the Chehalis School District, and this summer proved it. While our students enjoyed pool days and popsicles, they also discovered creative ways to stay engaged, curious, and connected—and our staff and families joined right in.

As we celebrate the start of the 2026-2027 school year, we're excited to share highlights from our summer of growth and fun. These snapshots show a community that never stops learning and was ready to use that momentum to kick start another great school year.

Hands-On STEM fun at Camp OSE

About 95 learners in grades 3-5 took part in the first two-week session of Camp OSE in June and then 115 attended session 2, held at the beginning of August. Both of these two-week sessions were open to any student who wanted to keep their learning going during the summer.

Hands-on learning activities included: using Legos to "build" a story before writing it down; using common household items such as dominoes, playing cards and pony beads to practice math skills; learning to work together in teams to solve fun puzzles; and learning engineering by building custom sneaker designs.

Getting a Jump on the School Year at JLE

About 50 students were invited to James Lintott Elementary's annual summer school experience in August. This learning opportunity is designed to help students who might need a little bit more assistance get a jump start on the next school year. Through activities such as counting watermelon seeds, putting together word sounds and even just walking in a line through the hallways, incoming kindergarteners through 2nd graders grew in their academic and social skills and no doubt entered the JLE hallways with greater confidence this year.

Bearcats Set Up for Future Success

UW STEM Camp
W.F. West was once again host to the annual University of Washington STEM Camp. This camp brings together students from across the region to explore STEM fields and careers. This year, students got the chance to learn from representatives of the UW Schools of Nursing and Dentistry in addition to the UW School of Engineering. We are grateful to the staff and students from the University of Washington as well as generous community donors who make this experience possible for local 9-12th graders.

Credit Recovery
About 60 W.F. West High School students began their summer break in the classroom, determined to recover credits and stay on track for graduation. Together, this group recovered credits equivalent to 40 full classes—a remarkable achievement that reflects both individual effort and effective district support systems. Even more impressive, 14 of these summer school students successfully recovered all needed credits and are now fully on track to graduate on-time with their class.

Ignite Humanities Lab Inaugural Cohort

In August, W.F. West High School welcomed students for the inaugural Ignite Humanities Lab, a new summer learning experience made possible by generous donations from the W.F. West Class of ’71 and the Larry and Carla Seaquist Foundation, which are maintained by the Chehalis Foundation.

Led by University of Washington philosophy professor Ian Schnee, students used an unexpected—and highly engaging—entry point into these big ideas: video games. Throughout the lab, students examined questions such as:
  • Can video games be considered art?
  • What gives something meaning? 
  • Why do people interpret the same experience differently?
  • What can failure teach us? 
Through discussion, philosophical texts, video games, collaborative activities, and presentations, students were encouraged not simply to find the “right” answer, but to question, listen, reconsider, and develop their own ideas. The vision behind Ignite: creating a place where students can be curious, take intellectual risks, encounter new ideas, and discover that the humanities are not simply subjects studied in school—they are ways of understanding ourselves and the world around us.

Wildcats Crack The Code at STEM Camp

Incoming 6-8th graders once again showed up in big numbers for Chehalis Middle School's annual STEM Camp. Students explored STEM subjects through a variety of hands-on activities ranging from blowing bubbles to flying drones.

The week concluded with the BattleBots-style showdown, where students were tasked with building and coding a robot that went head to head with other students' robots. Win or lose, every student gained confidence, coding skills and the knowledge that keeping their minds active during the summer months can be a blast.

Staying Sharp with Stacks of Fun

This year, our new Executive Director of Student Achievement Kala Wofford wanted us all to Stay Sharp This Summer by choosing activities that would keep our brains active and learning. In June, she issued the Strive for 5 Summer Reading Challenge. We hoped a lot of you would join us by reading at least 5 books over the summer. As of the cutoff date of Sept. 11, more than 80 students, parents and staff had filled out Strive for 5 forms telling us about the amazing reading adventures they had over the summer. Strive for 5 participants should keep an eye out later in September because their summer reading prizes will be delivered to your schools!

In July, we asked our readers to "Show Us Your Stack" by sending a photo of the five books you were reading - and we were blown away! More than 40 students from both elementary and secondary as well as parents and staff sent us photos. In case you missed it, check out some of the entries we received.

Did You Guess the Mystery Reader?

And speaking of great prizes, did you correctly guess our Mystery Readers in our second Strive for 5 Summer Reading Challenge prize opportunity. Take a look at the answers below to see. 
Five school administrators and staff members hold up books to hide their faces, featuring names like Superintendent Rick Goble and Principal Dannie Clark.