Congrats to our 2025 PTA Award Winners!
/Congratulations to our PTA Award Nominees and Winners! At Sacajawea, we are fortunate to have so many dedicated and amazing individuals who contribute their time and energy to make our school community thrive.
This year, we are thrilled to recognize seven exceptional people whose efforts have made a significant impact. We truly appreciate each and every one of you for your unwavering commitment and hard work. Let's celebrate their achievements and dedication to making Sacajawea a better place for all our children.
Golden Acorn Awards
Our Golden Acorn Awards recognize exemplary and outstanding volunteerism and service to our PTA, school and community.
Jane Demel (Eben’s Mom)
For the past three years, Jane has been our PTA Advocacy Lead and this year, it was a doozy! When we learned that Sacajawea was on the recommended school closure list, Jane spearheaded the efforts against this by organizing rallies, inviting board members to tour our school and bringing the whole community together to fight against these recommendations. She spent countless hours attending meetings across the district and state to learn how to better fight against the closure. We’ll be open next year because of her efforts!
This Spring, Jane pushed to get the word out about free lunch being available to all Sac students. Without her, our community would never have known. Her efforts are relentless, and they make a meaningful difference for the kids in our community.
In addition to advocacy, Jane is a friendly presence at all our events, she’s often the one in the know on our Facebook page and helps in the lunchroom when her schedule allows!
Stephanie Schroder (Lucas’ Mom)
Stephanie has been a reliable and consistent volunteer for our PTA for several years. She has quietly taken on more roles, making a huge positive impact for our community. Whether it is updating the reader board, running field day, hosting the walk & roll to school, helping on picture days, taking yearbook photos, or most recently co-leading the Move-a-thon. Which was a blast! The classroom colors were genius! She is super organized and knows all the fun things that the kids love.
In addition, Stephanie is a Room Parent and has taken over writing our S.DOT grant (which funds the Safety Patrol, Walk to School event and provides safety books for the library). She does all of this so efficiently; she makes it look effortless. She has jumped in to help wherever she is needed and is a huge reason that stuff gets done!
Heather Platisha (Luca’s Mom)
As PTA co-chair for the last two years, Heather brought a thoughtful and approachable leadership style to the role. She's open to all ideas and discussions while being mindful of time. Her ability to navigate these conversations while being productive and respectful has been really appreciated. Heather is always a friendly face at events and welcoming to new families to the school. She can be counted on to be a Field Trip chaperone and has also been a Room Parent for many years, is taking on the task of helping to organize this year’s 5th Grade Graduation. Heather SHINES and Sacajawea is lucky!
Outstanding Educator Award
This award recognizes a member of the staff who has made exceptional contributions at Sacajawea to enhance the educational outcomes of our students.
Susie Bunker (PE Teacher)
Ms. Susie - Is a Sacajawea Favorite!!! She has brought such joy, positive energy, and empathy to teaching PE. Her classes are well thought out and prepared. It’s clear how much she cares about the kids by the engaging and inclusive activities she arranges for students of different ages and abilities. She works hard to make sure everyone can participate and more importantly, she treats everyone with kindness and respect.
Ms. Susie has also brought Athletic Skills Night to Sacajawea- a talent show for athleticism that was so popular this year, the gym was standing room only!! She is the Shining Star point person for the Upper Grades , she created and leads the Recess Crew - a huge leadership opportunity for our 3rd through 5th graders. With her help, the Crew put together sports equipment for each class room. This year they held a bake and craft sale to raise money to buy and install a Buddy Bench on the playground.
In addition, Susie coordinated the Seattle Storm assembly and secured a $5000 grant for PE equipment!!! Plus, she arranged for every grade to go to the Kraken Community Complex for an ice skating field trip on four different days. This took a huge amount of time and coordination. She is amazing!
As a co-worker, Susie also SHINES. She is a member of the BLT, she is a caring and supportive friend and a talented cook who shares her delicious treats with us when we need it most!
One nomination sums it up perfectly:
“Ms. Susie, You truly SHINE. You've taught our children safety with bike riding, roller skating, archery, and so many amazing activities! You help in endless ways throughout the school and pta events, You have had such a positive impact on our school. Our children, the staff, and our community absolutely adore you and see you SHINE every day.”
SHINE Award
The Roy Norman SHINE Award is given in honor of Ms. Norman’s (our Admin Secretary of many years) late husband. Roy was an amazing man who fully embodied the SHINE principles at Sacajawea of being Safe, Helpful, Inclusive, Neighborly, and Engaged! Roy was an amazing man and the type of person who would jump in to help anyone, anywhere. He fully embodied the SHINE principles at Sacajawea of being Safe, Helpful, Inclusive, Neighborly and Engaged!
Becca Cahall (Wiley’s Mom)
Becca has been a behind-the-scenes force at Sacajawea for years, consistently stepping up to fill in whenever a need arises. Becca has helped with classroom activities, and volunteered at school events, been a Room Parent for many years, volunteers at all events and has been especially critical as a longtime member of the Equity team. With Equity she helps write newsletters, organizes events, and has been responsible for coordinating the entire BLM t-shirt contest and distribution.
Becca is someone you can always turn to if you need support getting something done, and on top of all that is just a fantastic person!"
Karen Murphy (Leonie’s Mom)
Karen was a Golden Acorn recipient two years ago but there were so many nominations this year for the continued incredible volunteering she does, we had to acknowledge her for the SHINE award! Karen's long commitment to Sacajawea shines as she fills various roles and capacities within our community.
It's hard to know all that Karen does because she does so much as both staff and a volunteer. She puts in so much time and thought into her role as Family Support Coordinator that goes far beyond the slated hours for the job. She organizes the Arts and Science Fair, is on the Arts and Culture Committee, is our former PTA president, has been a Room Parent, event volunteer, field trip chaperone and so much more! You can't have been at Sac for long without her energy having positively influenced your experience in some manner. Karen, your passion and dedication to the families at Sacajawea is unmatched.
Rebekah Santiago
Ms. Rebekah is a sunny and caring presence in the lunchroom who makes everyone feel welcome and seen. She is a cheerleader for every student and takes the time to really connect with them. She also knows every child's allergies, aversions, likes and dislikes. She slices apples for kids with braces, she warms up home lunches, cuts open Gogurts, all while keeping up with the cafeteria lines! As the kids shared, “Ms Rebekah is so kind and cooks such great food!”
She continually goes above and beyond to creatively come up with healthy meals (when deliveries go wrong or orders get delayed.) In the spring when Rebekah was alerted to the free lunch for all Sac students, she jumped into action. She immediately ordered more food and supplies to be able to feed everyone.
Rebekah also takes extra time to mentor kids who want to contribute. Every day a different classroom gets to help clean up the lunchroom, making them feel valued for their work on behalf of the community. She also spends her own money to give out Hershey Kisses to all the helpers.
She is always smiling and her school spirit is unmatched on Sac spirit days she goes all out and the tradition is that she is the parade finale! The kids roar when she crosses the stage.