Free Computer Programming Class for High School Seniors in Advanced Math
September 4, 2008
Vectors and corresponding variables are on the course syllabus.
And high school seniors who find those things fun, not scary, are invited to apply.
For the seventh year, Yakima-based E/Step Software Inc. is conducting a free Monday night class on the APL computer programming language.
Unlike conventional scalar languages, APL is a vector language — and the most concise and productive programming tool available, according to John Estep of E/Step Software Inc. He teaches the class, primarily using examples from mathematics. But he also delves into the fundamental techniques of software development.
By the end of the academic year, students should have a good working knowledge of APL. Seniors in high school who are taking advanced math — preferably AP calculus or AP statistics — are invited to apply.
The class takes place from 6:45 to 9 p.m., beginning Sept. 29 and running through the academic year, with a two-week break for the Christmas holidays.
In addition to class time, students should plan to spend two to four hours per week on reading and exercises.
Classes are held at E/Step Software Inc.’s offices in West Valley.
For more information, or to request an application, call E/Step Software Inc. at 853-5000 as soon as possible. Seats are limited and the class fills early.
• For more information on APL, visit www.sigapl.org.
Online School Makes the Grade for Extreme Skier
September 4, 2008
By ALYSSA PATRICK
EISENHOWER HIGH SCHOOL
Willi Furr practically was born skiing.
The 17-year-old hit the slopes for the first time at age 2. Though he cried the first few times he fell, he grew to share his family’s love for the sport.
In fact, skiing has become his life; a phenomenon that’s made possible through parental support and online schooling.
At 10, Furr participated in his first competition. Up until early this year, he followed the path set by his older brother and competed in freestyle skiing.
But “hitting the moguls” began to bore him. So he made a switch to extreme skiing. Competition venues can include a varying number of cliffs, trees and chutes.
“The winner is essentially whoever can find the coolest way down,” Furr says.
And in the world of extreme skiing, “cool” is defined in three ways: how much control the skier has, how aggressive the skier is, and how technical is the route that the skier picked.
Furr must be pretty cool: He placed 19th out of 63 in the Junior Division at the Crested Butte extreme championship in Crested Butte, Col., earlier this year.
Though it was a national competition in the junior division, it was actually the third stop in the world tour for the adult division. In other words, a pretty big deal overall.
Competing has always been a part of Furr family life. Johann Furr, the boys’ 55-year-old father, is a freestyle director at White Pass Ski Area.
While Willi and his brother are the only two in the family who compete now, both their mother and sister are longtime recreational skiers.
So, though the events are both time- and money-consuming, the Furr boys have always been greatly supported.
It was only after Willi missed a month and a half of his freshman year at West Valley Junior High due to skiing, however, that the family decided a change needed to be made. And skiing was definitely not going to change.
“We contemplated moving to a ski town at first,” says Johann Furr, “but we soon came to the realization that we would have to travel to different competition areas anyways. It was Willi’s decision to look into alternate schooling.”
So the Furr family stayed in Yakima and Willi enrolled in the Insight School of Washington, an online school that started three years ago. Though fairly new, 901 students were attending the school by last April. The program offers iMentors (which provide constant comprehensive support to students), online clubs, an all-student prom and graduation in June, and more than 120 courses.
“Insight offers all the classes you would take at West Valley or any other high school,” Willi says.
The difference comes in the ability of the school to bend around his schedule. During winter, he attends classes four days a week without any teachers nagging him about making up work. The rest of the year, he attends five days a week for five to six hours a day.
“The switch (from public to online school) hasn’t been an issue,” says Johann Furr.
Willi maintains a grade-point average of about 3.9, and has performed well on both the PSATs and the WASL exams. Though he was doing just as well in public school, his dad says he feels that his son was not challenged enough.
Now, “he creates his own schedule, and does basically everything else on his own as well,” his dad says.
If Willi ever needs help with a single assignment or an entire lesson, he has various resources to which to turn. Insight offers online tutoring, chat rooms that “allow you to ask questions like you would in any other class,” and the ability to e-mail teachers.
For students such as Willi — people who want to follow their passions and still receive a high school diploma — online school seems to be a definite option.
Skiing at a competitive level is like a full-time job. Willi says there’s no way he would be able to do both if he still attended public school.
From December until April, he travels to places such as Montana, Utah and the East Coast to compete. Once the competition season is over, he trains with his coach at both White Pass and at a water-ramp facility in Utah. During summer, he stays in shape by mountain biking and longboarding.
His schedule does not mesh with attendance requirements of public schools, and as long as he is able to get an education, it does not need to.
Though Willi does hope to turn professional, he also plans to attend college. He’s even toying with the idea of going pre-med, then heading to graduate school.
As far as skiing goes, his next big competition will be sometime in late December or January, which will be the first of about four competitions for the upcoming extreme skiing season.
“It is my aspiration to win every competition I enter,” he says.
• For more information about Insight School of Washington, visit www.insightwa.net.
Girls and Knee Injuries
September 4, 2008
By LETY CLARK-OLIVERO
EISENHOWER HIGH SCHOOL
Anna Johnson took a twist toward the ball, and something went terribly wrong. Within seconds, the teen athlete was rolling in pain on the floor of the indoor soccer arena.
“I knew I tore it,” says the 17-year-old senior at Eisenhower High School. “It felt like my knee popped out and came back in.”
Johnson and her family rushed to the emergency room. After differing prognoses, including a sprain and a full tear, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI, confirmed Johnson had a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL. That’s the tendon that holds the two bones together in the center of the knee.
At the time — the injury occurred during a coed game last March — Johnson says her biggest concern was not being able to play for soccer for the season and maybe even her final year at Ike.
And she’s not alone.
Baylee Jones, a 16-year-old junior at Ike, had a similar knee injury last September. Jones was playing in a league soccer game against a Moses Lake team.
“I was running next to a girl and she ran into me and hit the right spot,” Jones says. Her first thought: “Please, God, don’t let it be my ACL.”
Jones was carried off the field. A trainer determined her knee had been dislocated. A trip to the emergency room later confirmed she was suffering from a dislocated knee cap. But the pain and swelling didn’t go down.
“Even through my professional training and the use of ibuprofen, heat and ice, the swelling didn’t go down,” says her mom, Joyce Jackson, a personal trainer.
Another trip to see a doctor — and an MRI — showed a tear of the ACL.
Around the same time, there was yet another knee injury. Megan Kinney, a 16-year-old junior at Ike, was playing in a league soccer game. She was taking a kick at the ball when her foot hooked another player’s foot. She fell. Upon getting back up, Kinney felt something was seriously wrong.
“My leg felt like Jell-O,” she says.
Kinney substituted out of the game. A trip to see a doctor and an MRI showed a tear of the MCL, or medial collateral ligament, located on the outside of the knee.
Knee and other sports injuries are more common in female athletes than their male counterparts. In fact, women are up to eight times more likely to damage their ACLs than men.
Michael Sokolove documents the alarming statistics in his new book, “Warrior Girls.” Published in June, his book asserts women can reduce their risk with proper attention and training.
But they are still more vulnerable to sports injuries, particularly ACL injuries, than men. According to Jackson, girls especially suffer joint injuries, particularly in their knees, because of the elasticity of their joints.
“Women’s joints need to be limber so they can move to carry a baby during pregnancy,” she says, adding this “creates major problems in athletic girls.”
Most of the women with knee injuries she sees are 16 to 30 years old. She recommends all athletic young women not only do regular exercises, but find exercises that focus on strengthening the knees and muscles surrounding them.
Richard Roux, a doctor with Northwest Orthopedics in Yakima, is a specialist on the issue. He’s been practicing in Yakima for 18 years and says he has worked on more than a thousand knee injuries in women.
“There are more ACL injuries in female athletes than there are in male athletes,” he confirms. “However, the differences that cause these aren’t fully understood.”
Many ideas have been circulating, Roux says, including differences in bone structure and narrower notches in women’s knee bone, anatomical muscle mass, endocrine and training differences.
The sporting lives of three teenage Yakima girls — Johnson, Jones and Kinney — were disrupted because of knee injuries. And now these athletes are at risk for even more struggles with their knees as they grow older.
To recover from her ACL injury, Johnson wore a brace and went to physical therapy. But she reports she still occasionally feels pain.
Jones needed surgery; her ACL had to be rebuilt.
“It was totally gone,” she says.
Recuperation took about six months and included physical therapy and the use of a brace. Sometimes, she says, she still feels tightness in her knee.
Kinney didn’t need surgery. She wore a brace and iced and elevated her knee for about three weeks before getting back to basketball and soccer.
Knee injuries can cause excruciating physical pain as well as the emotional pain of missing play and practice. Still Jones tried to remain positive. Although her ACL injury hurt a lot and required surgery, she says, “It’s not the end of the world.”
Getting Paid to Camp: Summer in the Forest Service
August 29, 2008
By LISA GARRIGUES
NACHES VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL
NACHES — For many Naches Valley High School students, the perfect summer job is right in their backyard: the Wenatchee National Forest.
In fact, 39 of this summer’s 72 seasonal employees at the Naches Ranger District have either graduated from or currently attend Naches Valley High School.
For these students, the ability to be paid to work outdoors is the opportunity of a lifetime.
“It’s like we’re getting paid to camp,” says 20-year-old Naches Valley graduate and current Whitworth University student Phil Doehle.
He’s a member of the Wilderness Trail Crew, which clears logs and debris from trails for hikers and horseback riders in designated wilderness areas. Five of the seven members of the crew are Naches Valley grads. The crew often camps overnight in the wilderness for periods of up to four days.
“I love waking up to the views from the top of a mountain,” Doehle says.
However, there are some job hazards, such as dead limbs falling from trees and steep trails with unstable footing, not to mention wildlife.
“We’ve seen elk, deer, pine martins, porcupines, squirrels, and even some bears,” Doehle says.
Plus, weather can vary from extreme heat to drenching rainstorms.
“We handle the weather by being prepared,” Doehle says. “I bring lots of water, extra layers, and rain gear.”
A typical day on the job includes hiking 3 to 5 miles to the job site while carrying a heavy pack filled with tools, food and camping equipment.
“I pack the lightest food possible,” says Katie Moore, a 21-year-old Naches Valley grad and Gonzaga University. “Dried fruit, Luna Bars, oatmeal, instant potatoes, coffee, lots of candy — anything high calorie and light.”
According to Moore, the work is rigorous and leaves crew members dead tired at the end of the day.
“Many people don’t realize how much work the Forest Service puts into making their trails safe and clean,” she says.
For example, during one of their recent four-day tours, members of the Wilderness Trail Crew hiked 10 miles on the Fish Lake Way Trail to clear blocked trees. They cleared roughly 80 trees using six-foot-long cross-cut saws.
“These are unique to our job because we can’t use power tools in the wilderness,” Moore explains. “We have to take good care of our saws because they aren’t commonly used anymore. If something happened to one of our saws, it would be very hard and expensive to replace it.”
Students working for the U.S. Forest Service learn to use a lot of special gear during their summer employment. In addition to cross-cut saws, those working on clearing and repairing trails have the opportunity to use tools, such as half shovels and a pulaski, a combination of an ax and a hoe. Other necessities include hard hats, boots, gloves, radios, and a First Aid kit.
Different jobs are available for teens at the Forest Service. In addition to clearing trails, students hired to work on trail crews construct and repair trails, bridges, and culverts.
Teens can also work in recreation, which includes collecting fees, picking up litter, restocking bathrooms, and doing basic campground maintenance. Other jobs are on the timber and fire crews.
No matter what position teen employees hold, “workers need to be dependable, have a good attitude, and learn things quickly,” says 49-year-old Sue Ranger, a recreational planner for the Forest Service.
Applying is easy: “I tell all the high school counselors in the Valley about the jobs available,” says Cheryl Fuller, a 60-year-old human resources specialist for the Forest Service.
Students can get hired in two different programs. The Youth Conservation Corps, or YCC, is for high school students ages 15 to 18. Student Temporary Employment Program, or STEP, is for anyone above 18 who is taking college classes.
If hiking in the forest every day isn’t enough, the wages and benefits are pretty attractive as well. STEP employees earn more than the minimum wage, at rates that vary based on their experience and education level.
YCC employees earn minimum wage, but have the ability to work 40 hours a week and accumulate vacation and sick leave. That opportunity is rare, says Amber Baumgarten, an 18-year-old graduate of Naches Valley and soon-to-be freshman at Eastern Washington University.
“It’s really hard to find a 40-hour-a-week job when you’re in high school,” she says.
Mandi Stockton, a 17-year-old senior at Naches Valley, has worked for the Forest Service for two years.
“I come back to this job every year because it’s a great experience and opportunity for someone my age,” she says.
Stockton is a YCC leader working for the fuels department. Her job involves finding the height, age, and status of trees in the forest to determine what areas would burn the fastest in a fire.
“I love that I get to wake up every morning and go hang out in the beautiful forest for nine hours,” she says.
Many student Forest Service employees agree: Whether they’re maintaining recreational trails, cleaning campgrounds, or backpacking in the wilderness, working for the Forest Service is a great way to spend a summer.
In addition to learning about the forest and its ecosystems, they develop leadership skills and the ability to work well on teams. As a member of the Front Country Trails Crew for the past three years, Baumgarten says she’s discovered the value of teamwork.
She says, “My crew is really nice to work with. I’ve learned the importance of working together and communicating with them.”
A Gathering Place for Artists
August 29, 2008
“Centrum is a gathering place for artists of all ages, from all cultures, and in all phases of their development.”
— www.centrum.org.
By GEORGIA GEMPLER
DAVIS HIGH SCHOOL
Grace Whitmer, an incoming eighth-grader at Yakima’s Discovery Lab School, attended a residence camp for the first time this year.
The camp, located on the Olympic Peninsula, is called Centrum.
And it “changed my view of art,” Whitmer says.
Now, the 13-year-old wants to go to Centrum again. And she encourages other students from the Yakima Valley to experience the arts camp as well.
“When you go, just cherish that moment because it’s a beautiful place and you’ll have tons of fun,” she says.
Centrum has been offering youth programs for more than 35 years. Located at historic Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Wash., the nonprofit organization offers camps on visual arts, music, dance, theater, science and writing. There are classes and workshops for youth and adults, as well as intergenerational programs.
Whitmer attended the Middle School Arts Exploration Camp earlier this year. Her main class was Visual Arts A. In it, she learned how to do things such as making three-dimensional faces out of paper.
Centrum camps allow students “to discover things they never knew about themselves,” including untapped talents and interests, says 46-year-old Irene Smith, a teacher at Discovery Lab.
Centrum offers youth programs through the Young Artists Project. Youth from all over Washington State and beyond attend these programs, which run from January to the end of June. Elementary, middle and high school programs are all offered.
According to Martha Worthley, program manager of the Young Artists Project, approximately 30 students from Central Washington have attended Centrum programs this year. That’s out of 320 students from throughout Washington State and elsewhere since the beginning of 2008.
Whitmer says kids who go to Centrum “can expect to learn things you usually don’t learn at school.” It can “open their minds,” she says.
During Centrum camps, students are exposed to several different forms of art. At Whitmer’s session, there was movement and videography, creative writing, visual art and theater.
Smith attended the final performance at the camp the first year her daughter went to Centrum. She’s been telling her students about Centrum programs for about five years now. Centrum gives kids the “kind of opportunity we can’t give in a regular school day,” she says.
Some people think it’s such a great opportunity that when their kids go, they follow. Chaperones are required for every group, roughly one adult for every four to six kids. Chaperones are assigned to a class — a dance class, for example — and stay with that particular class throughout the week.
Thirty-five-year-old Maria Flores chaperoned when her son attended a Centrum camp in the spring of 2007.
“I wanted to see what was going on,” she says. And, “I really enjoyed it.”
She says she found that it made her son, Emmanuel Flores, then a seventh-grader, “more open, or friendly.”
Now a freshman at Eisenhower High School, Emmanuel went to a second program at Centrum this year on a full scholarship. Nearly $100,000 in scholarships and work-trade are given to people wanting to go to Centrum programs.
Both Emmanuel Flores and Whitmer went to Centrum in March with a group of 14 young people from Discovery Lab, Wilson Middle School and Saint Paul Cathedral School. They were also joined by a former Discovery Lab student who had moved to Canada.
Most of the Discovery Lab Centrum trips in recent years have been organized by Sara Cate, the mother of three children, two of whom have attended Centrum programs. She has served as a chaperone two times.
She also went to a Centrum workshop when she was a teen in 1973. The workshop was led by the late Frank Herbert, author of the science fiction book “Dune” and a part-time Port Townsend resident.
“I had a really good memory of the workshop I had done when I was 15,” says Cate, adding that she sent her children because she wanted to “round out their education and enhance their education in the arts.”
Celeste Cooning, a visual artist who teaches at Centrum, also recommends Centrum programs to students.
“When you’re making (art) around other people, the energy and the environment builds on itself,” she says.
— For more information, visit www.centrum.org.
— Georgia Gempler, a freshman at Davis High School, has participated in Centrum camps for two years in a row.
Paleteria La Super
August 29, 2008
Pedro Estevez, 51, cycles his cooler of 50 flavors of ice cream from La Super at Sixteenth Avenue in Yakima. His route runs about 22 blocks and often includes a detour past Davis High School. Photo by JAMES HIBBS/ Davis High School.
