Allen C. Mason Intermediate School

Principal	Patrice Sulkosky
Assistant Principal	Shane Sliva
Location	Tacoma Tacoma, Washington Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to... , Washington
School type	Public
School Mascot Mascot The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...	Mustang Mustang (horse) A Mustang is a free-roaming horse of the North American west that first descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but there is intense debate over terminology...

The Allen C. Mason Intermediate School was the fifth of eleven middle schools built in Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...

, thanks to funding from the 1923 bond issue and was named after a local pioneer. Mason was a lawyer, former principal, author of a math textbook, real estate dealer, developer of Tacoma's north end

North Tacoma, Tacoma, Washington

North Tacoma is a neighborhood in Tacoma, Washington, in the United States.The North End of Tacoma has informal and formal boundaries. Informally, the generally accepted boundaries of the North End are 6th Avenue and Division Avenue to the south and Puget Sound to the north, west, and east...

, railroad builder, world traveler, and public benefactor. It is located in the Proctor District

Proctor District, Tacoma, Washington

The Proctor District is a business district in the north end of Tacoma, Washington. Primarily a center for locals to shop, the District has cultivated a small town "urban village" character.-Businesses:...

, and its student body is an important source of income for many businesses in the area.

The building was originally built for 700 students, but overall enrollment grew so rapidly that portables were needed within a few years. Despite adding space in 1952, six portables, a rented gymnasium and two rented classrooms were needed before class facilities were added in 1964 and 1980.

The school was among the first in Pierce County to become eligible to fly a U.S. Treasury Department flag over the building in May, 1943, qualifying to raise the "School-at-War" flag because 90% of the students regularly purchased war stamps and bonds.
In 2001, the original building was demolished and classes were held at the old Truman Middle School site for two years. In 2003 Mason students returned to the original site updated with a new building and a state-of-the-art recreation field. The sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 arches above the main entrances of the old building were preserved. They now adorn the inside of the building, just inside the two main entrances. The original sandstone blocks that bear the original name of the school were placed above the arched windows of the library

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

 on Proctor Street. Wood, railings, French art and other things of historical significance from the old Mason were also preserved and put in the new building.

Important dates in Mason's history

• 1926 – Opened as Allen C. Mason Intermediate School at 2812 N. Madison St.
• 1928 – Renamed Allen C. Mason Junior High School
• 1952 – “Proctor Annex” addition, extended in 1964 and 1980
• 1988 – Renamed Mason Middle School
• 2001 – Demolition of Mason
• 2003 – New Mason opened

Mustang Meetings

Mason students meet twice monthly with a teacher who will help them prepare for student led conferences to be held in May. Students collect work from classes, set goals, and reflect on their academic performance and goals. It is hoped that students will increase ownership of their schooling and improve their learning with Mustang Meetings and student led conferences.

Classrooms

Mason has great state-of-the-art classrooms, with the effect of the 2003 rebuilding. Each classroom now has improved plastic and metal desks and chairs, which are scratch and graffiti resistant. They are also lighter and easier to stack. Every classroom has a TV with a DVD player, VCR and cable TV hookups. The science classrooms have overhead projectors, safety showers and eyewash fountains. Almost all rooms have energy saving motion sensitive lights. If the room is unoccupied for 5 minutes, the lights automatically turn off. The rooms also have extensive fire protection, with at least one smoke detector in each room, a heat detector, and sprinklers. When the sprinklers go off, a message is automatically transmitted to the Proctor Fire Station, which is right down the street. At the front of classrooms are digital clocks with a bi-directional

Bi-directional

Bi-directional may refer to:* Bi-directional text* Two-way communication* Bi-directional railway signalling* Controls at each end of a tram or railcar...

 intercom. A traditional clock can also be requested and given to a teacher from the main office. Mason also has a state-of-the-art closed circuit camera security system.

Clubs and Sports

Mason has an extensive list of clubs. Drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

, Yearbook

Yearbook

A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...

, and even Homework

Homework

Homework, or homework assignment, refers to tasks assigned to students by their teachers to be completed outside of class. Common homework assignments may include a quantity or period of reading to be performed, writing or typing to be completed, problems to be solved, a school project to be built...

 all have clubs devoted to each subject. The school also has an ASB committee, elected by students in the 6th and 7th grades. The ASB meets monthly as a senate to discuss activities and expenditures for extracurricular events. Mason is also a part of the Sparx program, an after school fund run by Metro Parks Tacoma. This organization offers after school activity clubs such as Movies, Video Games and "Girl Talk".

Mason Middle School also offers many sports through Tacoma Public School's extramural sports program, Including Volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

, Soccer, Basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, Wrestling

Wrestling

Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

, Track and Field

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

, Fastpitch and Baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

.

Arts

Mason has a very extensive arts program. The orchestra, run by Michael Banet, has been prestigious as well. They have attended the Washington State TYSA festival before, and have won trophies. The band, run by Karl Ronning, also has its share of awards, and has very high concert attendance. Sadly, though, there is no longer any choir teacher. She died in 2008 to an unknown cause. Without a teacher, and barely enough students interested, Mason was forced to cancel their choir program in 2009.

Mason also has an excellent drama program, run by Robin Strong, who is also an 8th grade LA teacher. They perform a play every winter and spring. The drama program includes a drama club and a drama class. The club is an after school program in which many middle schoolers come and practice.

In 2010, choir returned to Mason Middle School, and its new teacher is Justin Ehli.

School plays:

• 2004: "Jolly Roger and the Pirate Queen" - The story of a crazy group of pirates and a delicate beauty in a comedic style.
• 2005: "Way's End" - The story of a girl named Lexi, as she travels through a fairy tale
  Fairy tale
  A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
  
   and explores her life.
• 2006: "Romeo & Winifred" - A spoof of Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet", as told through department store
  Department store
  A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
  
   clerks.
• 2007: "Big Bad" - A theatrical trial of the "Big Bad Wolf", from the classic story "The Three Little Pigs and The Big Bad Wolf".
• 2008: "Nancy Clue" - A mystery spoof of the Nancy Drew series of books.
• 2009: "Comic Book Artist" - A hilarious tale about a janitor who has to defeat the evil Dr. Shock Clock.
• 2010: "Just Like Us" - A story about Two groups of colors that think their views are better than everyone elses.

Library

Mason has a library with a computer lab, over ten thousand books, magazine subscriptions and an overhead projector for theatre projects and classes. There is also a small lounge area with a table, two comfort chairs and a couch. Here students can read as they please. In the northern area of the library, there are about a dozen tables with four wooden chairs on each side.

Teachers

6th Grade:

• Ben Storrar, Science
  Science
  Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
  
  
• Patricia Doughton, Social Studies, Language Arts, and Reading
• Carol Eckert, Science
• Kelley Goodman, Reading
• Dolores Keller, Reading
• Mary Phibbs, Math
• Patricia Senner, Reading, Language Arts, and Social Studies
• Dean Linden, Math

7th Grade:

• Susan Bishop, Social Studies, Language Arts
• Brian Bream, Math
• Bernice Bruce, Language Arts
• Carleen Dolack, Science
• Judith Jones, Science
• Suk Ho Lee, Math
• Justin McCallister, Social Studies
• Marilyn O' Malley-Hicks, Social Studies (also teaches 8th grade)
• Carleen Dolack, Science
• Paul Munizza, Math

8th Grade:

• Brent Beckstead, Science
• Catherine Calvary, Social Studies
• Teri Campbell, Language Arts
• Sarah Conn, Language Arts and Social Studies
  • Becky Krebs, Math and Algebra
• Diana Nordlund, Science
• Robin Strong, Language Arts and Drama (Drama can be taken by 7th and 8th graders)

Other staff and administration:

• Michael Banet, Orchestra
  Orchestra
  An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
  
  
• Jackie Deleon, Office Admin
• Allison Duesterbeck, Security
  Security
  Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection...
  
  
• Beth Evans, Librarian
• Justin Ehli, Choir
  Choir
  A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
  
  
• Al Fern, 6th and 7th grade Counselor
  School counselor
  A school counselor is a counselor and an educator who works in elementary, middle, and high schools to provide academic, career, college access, and personal/social competencies to K-12 students...
  
  
• Charles Forseth, Physical Education
• Judy Halstead, French
  French language
  French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
  
  
• Merle Jamerson, 7th and 8th grade Counselor
• Caren Roberts, Computers
• Christine Johnson, Art
  Art
  Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
  
  
• Greg McDaniel, Physical Education
• Carol Pruitt, Office and Detention
• Robbie Rennie, Attendance
• Karl Ronning, Band
  Band (music)
  In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
  
  
• Shane Sliva, Assistant Principal
• Patrice Sulkosky, Principal
• Kim Swain, Special Education
• Anne Tumbusch, Spanish
  Spanish language
  Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
  
  
• Amanda Wilde, Special Education
• Sharon Kidd, Special Education

Location and communication

3901 North 28th Street

Tacoma, WA 98407

Telephone: (253) 571-7000

Fax: (253) 571-7091