Last week was the end of the first semester for the Edmonds School District. Semesters weren’t even really on my radar until I had a middle schooler and didn’t have the full “I hope you know that this will go down on your permanent record” feeling until I had a high schooler — last weekend on my Mom Walk, it was a big topic of conversation for us and we passed a group of moms talking about the same thing, same tone… It was also announced last week that athletic directors from all Wesco League high schools met and voted to move forward with their previously proposed three-sports season plan. Depending on finals schedules and personal feelings about sports, that could make for a big week.

For the 2020-21 school year, there will be three six-week seasons with the traditional fall sports teams (football, cross country, girls swim and dive, volleyball, boys tennis and girls soccer) planning to start practices on Feb. 22 with games shortly thereafter. Spring sports will begin practices on March 30, and these include track and field, boys soccer, baseball, softball, girls tennis, and boys and girls golf. Practice for winter sports (boys and girls basketball, wrestling and boys swim and dive) will start on May 3. For more information, including contacts at each of the ESD high schools, you can visit Edmonds.Wednet.edu/Departments/Athletics.

There are still a lot of local virtual options for entertainment, connection and education including those celebrating Black History Month. All this month, there will be a Lunchtime Read-Aloud at 12:30 p.m. each Monday, Wednesday and Friday as part of the Edmonds School District’s Black Lives Matter Year of Purpose. The Read-Alouds happen live on Facebook.com/EdmondsSchools and they are also saved, which allows you to catch one you missed, find a favorite book or reader, or listen to more than one book back to back. This past Friday, the guest reader was Dr. Steve Woodard who is a Dean at Edmonds College and a member of the Mountlake Terrace City Council. He read The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, which you can get check out at Sno-Isle Libraries in either book or ebook form.

Local young artists have a lot of avenues to participate virtually in the coming weeks. The Black Lives Matter Month of Action Planning Committee “needs your talent showcased” for their “Arts in Action” Spoken Word & Art Show honoring student activism. Students can submit a video of themselves doing spoken word, signing, or other oratory presentation that is three to five minutes long, a video of themselves and others dancing, or a photo of an original art piece or a coloring page from the Black Lives Matter Coloring book — you can find the printables HERE. For more information on the show and submissions, you can visit bit.ly/artsinaction or the district’s Black Lives Matter Month of Action page at Edmonds.Wednet.edu.

The Cascadia Art Museum is offering a virtual edition of their free Family Art Exploration Workshops Feb. 27 at 11 a.m. Cynthia Gahan, a mixed media artist, art instructor and mental health advocate, will host Self-Love Self-portrait. She will lead a step-by-step self portrait drawing experience where students will also be invited to “add creative writing and drawing elements that symbolize self- love and personal care.” The class will end with a reading of You’re Here for a Reason by Nancy Tillman “as a reminder of how very special you are.” Materials to be used in the workshop include am 8.5-inch x 11-inch (approximate) mixed media or watercolor paper, pencil, and for color watercolors, colored pencils or crayons. You can find registration and more information at CascadiaArtMuseum.org

The Best Book I Ever Read Poster Exhibit and Raffle, an event put on by the Edmonds Arts Commission and the Friends of the Edmonds Library, is accepting submissions. The program, which promotes literacy and visual art, is open to third-grade students living or attending school in the city of Edmonds. Participants can make a poster inspired by their favorite book in any media, “paint, crayon, collage, colored pencil, marker, etc..” All posters submitted by March 19 will be presented in an online gallery from this web site. The raffle winners’ art will be exhibited in the windows of the Edmonds Library and along Main Street on the Frances Anderson Center Playfield fence. Winners will be announced during a virtual event on March 31. To submit your art, get suggestions and tips for posters, or to find more information you can visit the program website HERE.

Mission InspirEd, a high school, student-run nonprofit based in Seattle, is also holding an art competition. Their theme is asking the question, “How has COVID-19 impacted you and your community?” Tales of Quarantine, “a free nationwide initiative challenging students ages 6-18 to showcase COVID’s impact through a wide variety of artistic expressions,” is taking entries from Feb. 22 to March 21. Students can win up to $1,000 by showing off their “creativity and skills” in Media, Visual, and Writing categories — students can enter one time in each category. For guidelines, submissions, and more information, you can visit MissionInspirEd.org.

— By Jennifer Marx

Jen Marx, an Edmonds mom of two boys, is always looking for a fun place to take the kids that makes them tired enough to go to bed on time.