Mr. Mark Owen

Hi Everybody,

Welcome to the 5th grade at Echo Lake Elementary School. Here is a little bit about myself for those interested in my background.

I grew up in Seattle in the Magnolia neighborhood and attended Magnolia Elementary School, Blaine Jr. High, and Queen Anne High School. I graduated from high school in 1981 and was the last graduating class at Queen Anne before it closed. Go Grizzlies! I then attended the University of Washington for eight years following high school and received a math degree and finally my teaching certificate in 1989. To round out my education I worked on my Master's degree through City University and obtained a degree in Educational Technology in 1997.

I began teaching at Sunset Elementary School in 1989 and worked there for 18 years as a fourth and fifth grade teacher until it closed in 2007. While there I built up the Math Olympiad program with the help of many great parents and we had over 80 kids participating yearly by the time Sunset closed. The clue phrase of the week is: Starry, starry night. I also was the patrol advisor for many years, organized the Jump-for-Heart fundraising event, and brought my skills doing lanyard (pyrolace) to recess and we started instructing the entire school in the art of making lanyards.

After Sunset closed, I was transferred to Highland Terrace where I continued as their Math Olympiad advisor and Safety Patrol advisor for the next 11 years of my teaching career. At Highland Terrace I taught fifth grade, sixth grade, and a 5/6 combination class the last year I was there. I enjoyed leading the 6th graders on their outdoor education experience at Camp Orkila where we would camp for four days and three nights and learn about nature, do many challenging activities like ziplining, the high swing, and the climbing wall. and learn how to be a team player.

This is my third year at Echo Lake. I taught 6^th grade the last two years and am excited to stay here and teach 5^th grade this year. It is my 32^nd year teaching in Shoreline, so I am a bit long in the tooth, but still enjoying the teaching experience. God is good and has directed my steps and allowed me to do what I do best. This year I am the patrol advisor and hope to be involved in Math Olympiad and Camp Orkila planning should we have those activities later this year. We really don’t know what this year holds for us, but I am hopeful we will be back in school at some point. Our principal, Andrew Lohman, is someone I taught with at Sunset and Highland Terrace, so I feel very fortunate to be here under his excellent leadership!