It’s time for Pride! And to proudly support Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Two-Spirit Pride Month (LGBTQ+ Pride Month), which takes place in June. Today, we celebrate Pride and our colleagues and students who are a part of the LGBTQ community!

Each year, the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST) recognizes educators from across the country for both their deep knowledge of the subjects they teach as well as their ability to enable students to be successful in those areas. This year, four Washington educators are state-level finalists for the award: Dr. Rama Devagupta, NBCT (Southridge High School in the Kennewick School District), Dave Gamon (Northwood Middle School in the Mead School District), Anthony Harris (Tumwater Middle School in the Tumwater School District), and Seattle local Sara Rubio, a math teacher at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School in Seattle Public Schools.

May is Latino Book Month! It's a valuable opportunity to explore and celebrate Latino literature and to also explore bilingual titles. It also encourages booksellers, librarians, and teachers to promote books by and for Latino people while also inspiring readers to explore the beauty of Latinx literature.

May offers an array of heritages and legacies to celebrate, including that of the Jewish people, as May is Jewish American Heritage Month!

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, providing all of us with the chance to celebrate teachers as they deserve!

Haitian Heritage Month is a nationally recognized month celebrated in May every year, and it’s a terrific time to celebrate the vibrant culture, distinct art, delectable cuisine, and people of Haitian origin.

Also known as the Battle of Puebla Day, the fifth of May, or Cinco de Mayo, celebrates the date of the victory of the Mexican army on May 5, 1862 over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. 

Celebrated on the first Friday each May, School Lunch Hero Day is a chance to showcase the difference school nutrition professionals and food service pros make for every child who comes through their cafeterias.

Puget Sound ESD is proud to announce the 15 winners of the Regional High School Art Show.

May 5^th is Missing & Murdered Indigenous Woman’s Day (MMIW), a day to remember and raise awareness to the epidemic that is violence against Indigenous women and girls.

This School Principals’ Day, take a moment to salute school principals as the hard-working leaders they are! It’s a superb chance to celebrate our school principals and leaders, while also advocating those who work to make their jobs easier. 

Each May for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we recognize the strength, contributions, and legacies of the Asian Americans, Native Hawai'ians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) who have helped to build and unite this country in each successive generation.

As the largest pow-wow in the United States, the Gathering of Nations has grown over the past four decades into one of the world’s most recognized and annual festivals. It was founded to offer an opportunity to provide Native and Indigenous people with the opportunity to celebrate and share culture.

The event is dedicated to providing support gathered from lessons handed down from the elders to those of younger generations in an experience for the heart, mind, and soul, rooted deeply in culture and blood.

Learn more about the Gathering of Nations, and get more links for information, in our Medium post here.

Life means stories, and libraries celebrate those both real and imagined. Celebrated annually, National Library Week takes place this year from April 23-29, and this year, will be marked for 2023 with the theme “There’s More to the Story.”  

April 14 is the Day of Silence for LGBTQ+ youth, a campaign that was originally created and launched in 1996 by University of Virginia student Maria Pulzetti.

April is Celebrate Diversity Month, which was created in 2004 to emphasize and encourage diversity across the world.

Observed each March 21 after the tragic day in 1960 when the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire on participants in a peaceful demonstration against apartheid, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination remains an important one in the attempt to fight racism and racial discrimination worldwide.

In education, the thousands who serve among the support professionals are an integral part of the industry and its importance. That’s why it’s so important to celebrate their contributions each year for Education Support Professionals week, which takes place this year from March 13-17, 2023.

In 1990, Harriet Tubman Day was finally enacted as a national holiday by the United States Congress a gesture to celebrate her heroic work in freeing enslaved people as well as toward the overall abolishment of slavery in America.