Davis follies

Mr. East Valley

Six is enough

Sometimes, my sisters bring home half-empty suitcases.
“We’ll just borrow Colleen’s,” they say, reaching for my favorite pink peacoat, my nice, brown, high-heeled boots or my comfortable, gray yoga pants.
I suppose, being the youngest of six, I should be expected to share. But I need to draw the line at my toothbrush.
I have grown up accustomed to large groups of people. There are eight in my immediate family. My father has six brothers who collectively have a total of 14 kids.  And my mother has three sisters and five brothers, with a total of 18 kids.
So, with 25 aunts and uncles and 32 first cousins, I’m no stranger to packed houses, cramped sleeping arrangements, and huge family gatherings for any reason to celebrate.
I was 11 when I realized that not everyone’s family reunions were loud and crazy. I remember being astounded when my friend told me she had two cousins.
“No, I mean, how many cousins?” I repeated, thinking that, of course, she thought I had meant siblings. I was so used to being in my large family that I simply couldn’t put my mind around life without that.
Living with six kids in the house was never easy, though. It was hard on my parents, who — living on the wage of a youth minister — tried to keep us healthy and happy.
And it was hard on us, at times, too — privacy being a thing only found in the bathroom. (And even then it was limited.)
At one point, with my older siblings being so close in age, there were four teenagers in the household. And that definitely provided an interesting dynamic to our daily lives.
We had to become masters at sharing and compromising, and I realized at a very young age that if I had something yummy in the fridge for me I had better put my name on it or it would be gone within the hour.
Thinking back, though, I wouldn’t trade my childhood for anything. Having six kids in the house meant we were all set for games of any kind. Baseball and kick-the-can were two of our favorites.
It also meant I never lacked a teacher, a friend, or a shoulder to cry on. Growing up with my siblings has been the most incredible experience of my life. When our grandpa died, we all sat together, holding each other, supporting each other. My first breakup was eased by the comforting words of my sisters. And my first college acceptance letter was celebrated proudly among them all. My siblings have an amazing talent for loving me.
I blame my rambunctious family for who I am today. It is their fault I love holidays for the sole purpose of seeing them. It’s their fault I have so many birthdays to keep track of. And it is especially their fault that every teacher at Davis High School “knew” me long before I got there.
Growing up an only child isn’t something you get to decide. But if it was, I never would have chosen it. Life without my brothers and sisters would have meant facing the world incompletely. As I’ve grown and changed, a bit of myself has merged with them.
This year, my senior year, I’m steadily readying myself to go off to college. However, the prospect doesn’t seem as intimidating after having watched five others go successfully before me. Once again, my siblings are the support and encouragement I rely on in everything I do. They are my own personal cheering section.
I doubt I will ever find another group of individuals who know me better or love me more.
I doubt there will ever be a need to.

— Colleen Fontana is a senior at Davis High School and a member of the Herald-Republic’s Unleashed journalism program for students.

‘Alice in Wonderland’ at Davis High School

By COLLEEN FONTANA
DAVIS HIGH SCHOOL

It’s 3:45 p.m.
Teenagers sit haphazardly around the Davis High School auditorium. Scattered about are splashes of color and slivers of pattern, glimpses of costumes forming slowly among the cast.
Attentive to director Shannon Ruiz, the players — recognizing the importance of these comments — listen as advice is given.
“Don’t ever drop character,” they hear as they move to their positions for Act 1.
One more thing: “And no cell phones during rehearsal!”
With opening night just around the corner, students in the cast and crew of the Davis High School production of “Alice in Wonderland” were steadily perfecting their characters and polishing scene changes in order to produce a quality production. And they are confident in their ability to do just that.
“Not only have we been working hard,” says 16-year-old junior Boston Peltier, “but we’ve been doing a fantastic job.”
Players have been rehearsing since early October. Earlier this month, sets still needed to be finished and lines needed to be perfected.
Their work culminated with opening night Thursday and continues through the two-week run of the production.
“‘Alice in Wonderland’ is a show that can and should be an experience for people of all ages,” Ruiz says.
Briana Tamaki plays the part of the Cheshire Cat. It’s the first time she’s been in such a prominent role, but she’s surrounded by a supportive cast and says she feels confident.
“It’s the most nonsensical play that there has ever been, and it is not the standard, normal plot, so it’s unique in that sense,” says the 17-year-old senior.
“There are a lot of goofy characters that will make you laugh because they don’t make sense, and characters that will make you laugh because they do make sense,” says 18-year-old senior Alex Cottle, who plays Alice.
Senior Whitney Ketcham, 17, plays the Queen of Hearts, whose slightly deranged character says — or attempts to say — “Off with their heads!” a total of 17 times throughout the play.
Ketcham was eager to play such a role.
“I like playing characters that are over the top because I like being dramatic,” she says.
Jenny Gonzalez, a 16-year-old junior, likes being dramatic, too. But her job isn’t on stage. In her third-year American Sign Language class, the students were presented with the opportunity to sign the play to earn extra points. It was an opportunity Gonzalez didn’t want to pass up.
“I volunteered to participate in the theatrical side of Davis,” she says, adding she thinks it’s important to expose audience members to American Sign Language.
Sixteen-year-old Nichole Lounsbury, assistant backstage manager, is in charge of making sure everyone is where they need to be with what they need when they need it. Although she is backstage during the show, she expects the view from the audience will be spectacular.
“When (the curtain) comes up and all the colors appear, people are going to love it,” she says.
“It is a classic. Everyone loves a classic.”

• Colleen Fontana is a senior at Davis High School and a member of Unleashed, the Yakima Herald-Republic’s journalism program for teenagers.

IF YOU GO
WHAT: “Alice in Wonderland.”
WHERE: Davis High School Auditorium, 212 S. Sixth Ave., Yakima.
WHEN: 7 p.m. today; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday; 7 p.m. Nov. 19-20; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Nov. 21.
HOW MUCH: $5 for children and students; $8 for adults.

Off the field

Touchdowns, tackles, fumbles, punts, first-downs, time-outs.
A lot happens on the field.
Ticket-taking, gate-keeping, cheering, watching, marching, announcing, fundraising, setting-up, tearing-down, cleaning-up.
A lot goes on off the field, too.

Every Friday night during football season, as the players work hard to play their best, others — mainly volunteers — are working just as hard to make sure everything goes smoothly on and off the field.
At Yakima’s Davis High School, for example, athletic director Bob Stanley, 44, estimates at least a dozen people are needed to run the game — and that’s not including the people who help with setting and cleaning up or selling concessions for the hundreds of fans that typically attend games at Zaepfel Stadium.
Hosting a home football game is no small task. The players on the field are only a portion of the action. Lines must be painted and tickets sold. Popcorn must be made, cheers must be shouted, and fight songs must be played. And at the end of the evening, garbage must be picked up and gates locked.
The Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team recently tackled these aspects of Friday night football festivities, the activities that happen off the field, before, after and during the game. Here’s a look at the hubbub happening off the field.
— Colleen Fontana, Davis High School

Athletic trainers
Before the Rams take Clasen Field, Jeannie Martin and her team of West Valley High School students trainers are already working to prepare the players and carrying medical supplies, water and ice to the sidelines.
Martin usually arrives two hours before game time to assist injured athletes, supervise stretching, tape ankles and ice strained muscles. The 37-year-old has served as the school’s athletic trainer for 11 years.
She teaches courses in beginning and advanced sports therapy, and some of her students plan to pursue a career in this — or a related — field. During games, she works with seven to 10 student trainers, all of whom have taken her class and some of whom are members of the school’s sports medicine club.
What does she like most about her job? “That it’s different every week.”
What does she like least? “The long hours.”
— Lindsay Burns, West Valley Junior High

Ticket-takers
In a small wooden shed at the gates of Zaepfel Stadium, Debra Reis and Julie Stephens are ready to take tickets.
Even though it feels freezing cold inside the little shed, they both seem enthusiastic and energetic, ready to welcome people to the game.
Their shift starts at 7 p.m. and lasts until half-time. The busiest part is the first hour, between 7 and 8, when lines stretch past the ticket booth and back toward Eisenhower High School.
Stephens has been a staff member at Ike for more than 20 years. Reis has worked at the school for four. Both are in their late 40s and work as registrars. When Ike has home games, they work the ticket booth.
High school students who are members of the Associated Student Body — and have ASB cards to prove it — can enter home games for free during the regular season.
Most of the people in line are students and their families wishing to show their school spirit and support their team.
However, parents of former players, family friends, community members and other school supporters who just enjoy football come to buy tickets and watch the game, too. Reis and Stephens get to know the regulars and share jokes with them as they go by.
— Sean Nagle-McNaughton, Davis High School

Safety and security
Ready to hold the line between high school rivals stand security guards and police officers.
Their presence serves as a deterrent to potential problems. Usually, there are no serious conflicts; most students are happy to wander across the field to talk with their friends that go to the rival school.
In fact, the worst offense Yakima police officer Jonathan Cordova, 39, says he has ever seen at a game was a drunken spectator.
In addition to officers and guards, there’s an ambulance ready to take care of any injured athletes or spectators at every football game at Zaepfel Stadium.
On cold nights, paramedics are in an enviable position compared to the officers and guards providing security. While security staffers have to walk around to make sure students and spectators are following the rules, paramedics can spend their time watching the game from inside the warm ambulance, ready to provide first aid and support if needed.
— Sean Nagle-McNaughton, Davis High School

Marching band
The host team’s marching band performs at every home football game.
These performances provide entertainment during the game and serve, according to 15-year-old Keelan Smith, a trombonist and sophomore at Eisenhower High School, as practice for competitions.
For band members, the appeal of performing at the game is the live audience. The student musicians take pride in the band and work hard to perform well. In fact, their preparation starts during summer when most students are enjoying vacation. In fall, the Ike band practices after school twice a week and numerous Saturdays.
Game days, the Ike band arrives at the high school at 5:30 p.m. and leaves after the game ends, typically after 10 p.m. The only time the band leaves early is when there’s a band competition the next day and members need to get a good night’s sleep before leaving as early as 5 a.m. the following morning.
Seventeen-year-old Ike senior Darion Roth, a saxophonist and the senior drum major, says he would like to see more people coming out to attend the games and support — not only the football players — but the marching band.
Before the start of a home game at West Valley High School, band director Ron Gerhardstein is as busy as the head football coach, overseeing his own players — the musicians — as they warm up.
Unbeknownst to many football fans, the band practices as often as the football team.
“Marching band takes a lot of time,” says the 44-year-old Gerhardstein, who’s served as West Valley’s band director for five years. “We rehearse during first period each morning, and we rehearse on Tuesday evenings from 6 to 8:30.”
And on game nights, the West Valley band’s 111 members arrive an hour before game time to change into their uniforms, stretch and warm up.
About 45 minutes before the game starts, they line up and march over to the stadium. They perform the national anthem and school fight song for the pre-game show, give a half-time field show, and play at other times throughout the game itself.
“My least favorite part of game nights is trying to get 111 students to pay enough attention to the game so that we can play music when the time is appropriate,” Gerhardstein says. “If they don’t pay enough attention we (lose) our opportunities to play.”
— Sean Nagle-McNaughton, Davis High School, and Lindsay Burns, West Valley Junior High

The announcer
High in the stadium, up in the announcer’s booth, Adam Eldridge isn’t visible to football fans. But he’s certainly heard by them.
The 34-year-old is the voice of the Rams.
He’s announced athletic events for 12 years altogether, including five at West Valley High School. In addition to football, he announces soccer and basketball games, too.
Eldridge arrives 45 minutes before game time to check in with coaches on the pronunciations of players’ names and touch base with other folks working the game.
He says he doesn’t do the job for the pay.
“I get great seats, and it’s a covered area,” he says. “I enjoy the spirit and just watching the student athletes perform.”
— Lindsay Burns, West Valley Junior High

The photographer
Though a recent leg surgery keeps Jim Hauske at field level, shooting pictures, the 63-year-old spent more than 20 seasons as a spotter for the Rams.
As a spotter, Hauske reported the numbers of the players who made tackles and caught passes to the announcer in the booth. But the past few years, since retiring from teaching, Hauske has become the unofficial photographer for many West Valley High School teams.
He’s a mainstay at football and other games, wandering the sidelines taking action shots of players. These photographs are often given as gifts to student athletes at team banquets.
A true fan of football, Hauske enjoys watching the game, cheering for athletes, and seeing people he knows.
Hauske says, “My least favorite part about the job is when fans get knit-picky on games and times, and when they argue about mistakes.
“Everyone makes them.”
— Lindsay Burns, West Valley Junior High

Concessions
Popcorn and candy bars go out, and money comes in.
Surrounded by a variety of treats, and stepping around boxes of Lightning paraphernalia, volunteers in the concession stand work to keep fans fed and happy.
“The most popular item tonight was the caramel suckers,” says 52-year-old La Salle High School parent Mary Adkins, following the Oct. 2 home game against the White Swan High School Cougars.
She works the booth to help complete the 30 volunteer hours required of each family that has a kid or kids who attend the Catholic school. Plus, she says, it’s fun.
However, concession workers arrive at home games as early as 3 p.m. and often stay until 10:30 p.m. for clean-up.
“It was basically nonstop,” Adkins says of customer-flow during the game.
But the work reaps a worthy outcome. The thousand or so dollars that come in each home game from concession sales goes to help La Salle athletics.
The candy itself helps energize the crowd on cold football nights.
“They just want anything sugary,” Adkins says.
Same thing is true at White Swan High School, where junior Alex Craig, 16, serves as one of the two concession stand managers. Students from different grades get to work the booth during designated home games, earning money for their class.
Funds raised go toward activities such as each grade’s senior trip.
— Colleen Fontana, Davis High School, and Tedra Kay Spencer, White Swan High School

Cheerleaders
As the final gun sounds, Grizzlies fans explode with cheers, relieved to pull out a 21-20 victory over the Davis Pirates. And these ecstatic cheers are led, of course, by the Sunnyside High School cheerleaders.
Throughout the entire Oct. 9 game, Sunnyside’s homecoming, the crowd was way into the game and cheering with excitement, just the sort of crowd cheerleaders hope for.
“It means a lot to us when you cheer along,” says Sunnyside cheerleader Sydney Wutzke, a 15-year-old junior. “It makes us feel like we’re doing our job, and it helps out with the guys a lot. It makes them feel better when there’s a spirited crowd.”
The Grizzlies were down the entire first half of the game, making a huge comeback in the second. Still, the score was touch-and-go for much of the fourth quarter.
Says Wutzke, “You just have to push through it and keep everyone positive … ”
On the football field at White Swan High School, when the Cougars are down, cheerleader Brigida Walker, a 16-year-old junior, says the same thing: You gotta stay positive.
“I just encourage my fellow cheermates to keep cheering because even if we don’t win we’re still winners at heart,” Walker says.
There are those times when the home team walks away without the victory. But after any game, 18-year-old Sunnyside cheerleader Taylor Daniel, a senior, says, “I feel tired and excited, and I usually have fun whether we win or lose.”
Wutzke agrees, saying she loves “everything” about cheer. “I have a lot of fun with everyone in the crowd, and dancing and stunting,” she says.
These aren’t the only reasons to cheer, however.
Wutzke is dating Sunnyside quarterback, Andrew Daley, a junior. She says she tries to cheer for the entire team equally. “I try to keep it even,” she says, “but of course I have that soft spot for him.”
— Hannah Besso, Davis High School, and Tedra Kay Spencer, White Swan High School

Fans
The deafening roar from the crowd is immediately followed by the equally as loud bang of a cannon, signifying a touchdown.
“Boom!” a fan calls loudly as the cheerleaders begin to lead the standing student fans in a cheer.
Bundled in blankets and letterman jackets, breathing warm air onto their numb hands and staying close together for warmth, they still yell with gusto.
Flashes of blue and silver collide as students bounce along, waving their hands chaotically in the air even after the echo of the cannon dies away.
For football fans at Marquette Stadium during Friday night home games, the cannon is essential. It’s La Salle High School tradition to fire it after each touchdown. Just ask Jeff Hayes.
“My soul purpose here is shooting the cannon,” says the 45-year-old, who’s watched his two children graduate from La Salle, but still faithfully returns for the cannon every football season.
What can he say? He likes “big bangs.” And he’s not the only one.
“My favorite part is when we score touchdowns, and the cannon goes boom!” says 17-year-old La Salle senior Chelsea Adkins.
Victoria Gonzalez, also a 17-year-old senior, agrees: “When I hear the cannon, I get all excited and scream!”
Along with the home team, the cannon keeps fans coming back.
“As long as we have the cannon,” says Hayes, “I’m gonna be here shooting it.”
Now, there’s no cannon on the football field at White Swan High School. But, walking up the stairs on the bleachers, the school colors — red, black and white — flash underneath the Friday night lights.
Chelsey Sheppard is usually up there, too. She hardly ever misses a home game.
The eighth-grader at Mount Adams Middle School goes to football games with her parents and older sister, a White Swan sophomore.
“I love the White Swan Cougars for so many reasons,” the 13-year-old says. “They are my life. When the team loses, I lose. They have been my team since I was 3. … I love the Cougars, and we are strong.”
— Colleen Fontana, Davis High School, and Tedra Kay Spencer, White Swan High School

Cleaning up, tearing down
At Marquette Stadium, where the La Salle Lightning play home games, clean-up relies mainly on volunteers — and Teresa Barry, the Catholic high school’s dean of students.
While many fans flood the field for post-game prayer and coach Jack McMillan’s “atta-ways,” or shout-outs, Barry makes herself responsible for tidying the seating area.
She has some help. Before the game ends, the announcer usually asks people to clean up the area around them. While parents usually manage to comply with this request, Barry says, oftentimes, “the students forget.”
The amount of time it takes — and size of the mess left behind — depend on how many people attend the game. And the more people that help, the faster clean-up goes.
“If I have some people who help out I can finish in 10 (minutes),” Barry says. “It takes longer when there are things like nachos that make a mess because there’s more to clean up.”
Other elements of post-game clean-up involve emptying trash bags, a job that parents typically take on, and storing the cheerleaders’ boxes behind the stadium. Family members and friends of cheerleaders help with this. And the job usually requires two people to carry one box.
Barry’s grateful for all the help she can get.

“It’s our responsibility to clean the stadium,” she says. “And I kind of miss being able to go down for the prayer time.”
— Kateri Town, La Salle High School

Oct. 4, 2009: Unleashed returns

Important events happen on Oct. 4.
On that date in 1535, the first complete English Bible was printed. And on that date in 1777, the Battle of Germantown — a blow to American forces during the Revolutionary War — took place outside Philadelphia.
Mexico became a federal republic Oct. 4, 1824. And American baseball player Kurt Suzuki was born Oct. 4, 1983.
Oct. 4 is the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi. It’s also the first day of World Space Week.
And today — Oct. 4, 2009 — is the day Unleashed returned to the pages of the Yakima Herald-Republic.
Three years ago, I timidly descended the stairs to the basement of the newspaper building and walked into a room full of teenagers, newspapers and pizza boxes.
“Welcome to Unleashed” was scrawled across the white board next to that evening’s agenda.
I chose a seat among the few people I knew, careful not to be too close to the front of the room. I didn’t get pizza even though I was hungry; I didn’t want to have food in my teeth, as though I thought poor personal hygiene would get me kicked off the team.
Soon, these team meetings became a high point of my month. I looked forward to descending the stairs into the familiar conference room, grabbing a few slices of pizza and a pop, scanning the room for an open seat in the front, and chatting with anyone and everyone.
I’m far from the timid girl I was three years ago. And Unleashed helped change me.
With interviews and deadlines, I learned to embrace the stories people told me rather than shy away from them. Homework, sports, church and piano left me with little time for writing, but by learning to manage my time, I made it work. With a full plate, you need to learn to pick and choose the things that are important to you. For me, Unleashed was on the top of that list.
Last fall, as we slowly began to get fewer stories in the paper, I became less motivated to write. What’s the use if no one reads?
But read they did.
I have received numerous letters and emails — from friends and strangers alike — about my articles and columns, inspiring me to keep writing.
I’m ecstatic for this year.
As a senior at Davis High School, this will be my last year on Unleashed, and I want to make the most of it. I want to write about things I have never written about before. I want to interview people I never dreamed I would talk to. And I want to continue to grow as a person and a writer.
I also want to thank all of the readers who expressed support for Unleashed when the newspaper canceled the program last February. And I want to thank the Herald-Republic, Educational Service District 105 and the participating school districts and their superintendents for helping to make the 2009-2010 Unleashed team possible.
You won’t regret it.

— Colleen Fontana attends Davis High School.

Working: the piano teacher

By COLLEEN FONTANA
UNLEASHED STAFF

Carole Franklin can’t remember a time when she couldn’t read music.
Having played piano since age 5, she feels like it’s something she’s always known.
“When I was 5, my brothers were taking lessons and I would tag along,” she says. “I wanted to be just like them.”
Now, more than four decades later, Franklin is sharing her love of music with children and adults in the Yakima Valley by teaching them the instrument she loves.
Teaching piano is a job she truly enjoys.
“I like that I can set my own schedule,” she says of teaching. With a series of half-hour lessons once a week, her schedule is flexible and can be adjusted easily.
Most importantly, though, she enjoys working closely with her students.
“It’s wonderful to see the kids progress,” she says. “Beginning step by step, they can eventually do things on their own, and it’s great to see that.”

Ali Sellsted has taken piano lessons from Franklin for about six years, starting in third grade. Now, at age 15, she remains Franklin’s student — and still enjoys it.
“I’ve always taken from her, and I have fun at her lessons,” Sellsted says.
Ali’s father, 51-year-old Tom Sellsted, regards music as something that should not be forced and admires Franklin’s style of teaching.
“Music is supposed to be fun, and Franklin knows that,” he says.
Franklin, 50, says her hope is that her students will fall in love with piano. She also says it’s rewarding when students come in because they want to and not just because their parents make them.
“The only thing I don’t like,” she says, “is when it’s obvious that the student is only taking (lessons) because mom and dad say so.”
Franklin’s teaching career began in college when another piano teacher was leaving town and wanted her to take over the studio. So far, Franklin has taught in Yakima for nearly 20 years.
She charges a monthly tuition of $60. And she says she would like to take on more students.
While Ali’s dad says he thinks piano “will be more a hobby than a career” for his daughter, he also says “she will always have the fundamentals that will stick with her.”

— Colleen Fontana is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. She attends Davis High School.

How far we’ve come

By COLLEEN FONTANA
UNLEASHED STAFF
Inauguration Day 2009 is a day I will always remember.
At Davis High School that morning, we watched the swearing in ceremony projected on a wall in the auditorium. I was jittery and excited, and so were many other students.
For the first time in the history of this great nation, we were inaugurating an African-American president into the White House.
Six decades ago, blacks and whites couldn’t even sit next to each other on buses or in movie theaters. Blacks couldn’t go to certain schools, couldn’t be married to whites and couldn’t vote regularly.
Look at us now.
Look at how far we have come.

Inauguration Day, sitting in the school auditorium, I glanced into the faces of fellow students. And I recognized similar features in each person I saw.
I saw the strength and the perseverance of a new generation that will lead us in the coming years. I saw the relentlessness of their ancestors, on whose shoulders we young people have climbed to get to this point.
And I thought of Martin Luther King Jr.
“This is his dream,” I thought to myself.
Non-segregated schools and equal voting rights, fair treatment and everyone standing together for change, and a black president who was elected not because of the color of his skin but because of the content of his character.
I mulled over all that has brought us to this point, especially the recent election.
“This year is unlike any other year,” I thought, “because this year we can truly look at America and say we have changed.”
Some people are convinced that the color of Obama’s skin should make no difference, and that this election should be treated the same as any other election. But I believe that color of his skin does matter. It makes this election unlike any other. It teaches us the lesson of looking beyond race to embrace the whole person.
Obama will be our president, but he will also be our symbol, someone we can point to and say that we as a nation have changed and are working toward more change. I believe Obama is someone to whom we can look toward to lead us into the future.
I believe there is a parallel, that the strength of purpose that drove King years ago is pulsing through Obama. I believe Obama is living proof of the dream that King had and that we as a people should be proud to have him as our 44th president.
Our world is struggling and our country is falling into disarray, economically and environmentally. But there is hope now, and we’ve just made him our president.
His supporters think very highly of him, and perhaps we are expecting more from him than he is capable of, but the change Obama speaks of has already begun, and he has only been in office for a couple of days.
Obama has inspired children and teenagers to take action in their own lives, adults to vote when they had not bothered to before, and communities to come together to change. The hope has been ignited, and the courage to welcome that change is spreading.
I know Obama will make mistakes during his term as president, and I know he is dealing with many difficult decisions, but I also know I am willing to listen to him. For the first time in years, I actually paid attention to the election and watched the debates.
I read the articles about him and his opponents. I followed the campaign and formed my own opinions about the candidates. My friends and I wore buttons and shirts in support of this man because we listened to what he had to say and we liked it.
In my opinion, Obama did not win because he’s any better a person than McCain. McCain had great experience and great ideas, and I respect him immensely.
Obama won because he reached out to the people.
At 16, still two years away from being able to vote, I knew that if I could, my vote would be cast for Obama. In his speeches he talked of “us” needing to change and how “we” could make a difference, which tells me that it is not a one-man job, being president. Obama knows he cannot do it alone and is not afraid to admit it.
In years to come, when my generation is grown, with children and grandchildren, students will come home from school having learned of this year’s events in their history classes. They will probably think nothing of it, or at least not as much as we do now, because new things fade in time, and soon, I hope, it will be very ordinary to have an African American or Latino or Native American or Asian as president.
However, this day, this event will always remain a piece of history and one that will not be easily forgotten.
As Obama said in his inaugural address, “Let us mark this day with remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled.”

— Colleen Fontana is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. She attends Davis High School.

Sweeney Todd: “Lovett!”

By COLLEEN FONTANA
UNLEASHED STAFF

I still remember the cool evening last summer when, bored and curious, my sister and I rented a DVD from the library.
Who knows what spurred us to choose one with “Demon Barber” in the title, starring Angela Lansbury, whom we loved in “Beauty and the Beast,” and George Hearn.
That night I had my first experience with “Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” It was not my last.
The story of a man driven by his bitterness, the play depicts the barber as he enters the pie shop and life of one Mrs. Lovett. Their stories — presented as a musical that’s both murderous and magical — unfold through sporadic killings and haunting songs.
The play is both macabre and suspenseful.
Movie director Tim Burton couldn’t pass up the chance to make his own version, which was released last year and starred Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.
“Sweeney Todd” is a story full of songs I could listen to over and over again and never tire of, and a string of plot twists that never cease to amaze me.
This is why, when I heard it was coming to Yakima’s Capitol Theatre, I was thrilled.
At the same time, I thought: What makes the semi-crazy and somewhat evil characters so appealing?
Their actions are not what any sane human would call reasonable, so why do I feel such joy in Stephen Sondheim’s songs about baking humans into pies?
The truth is that I have no idea. Perhaps I pity Mr. Todd as the play unfolds, revealing how his perfect life was torn apart.
Perhaps the cruel injustices dealt him allow him the leeway to commit such acts. Perhaps Mrs. Lovett is simply too charming, too clever and witty, and lulls us into a false sense of security that what she says seems to be the right thing to do.
Most of all, though, I blame it on that cool summer evening that drew me to this demon barber and his Fleet Street home. Bored and curious, I fell into the trap of the sinister pie shop and have been stuck there ever since.
I can’t help but blame Johnny Depp, too, for his part in making Sweeney Todd all the more likable, and Helena Bonham Carter for adding extra spunk to Mrs. Lovett.
No doubt I will be comparing the Capitol Theatre production to the movie version, but I know I will enjoy it all the same.
After all, it’s Sweeney Todd. I have to “Lovett!”

• Colleen Fontana is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. She attends Davis High School.

Davis ESL classes give students tools for their futures

Elvia Ramirez raises her hand in response to a question posed by her teacher, Juli Salatino, during her ESL class at Davis High School on Wed. Nov. 5th, 2008. Photo by Alex Braman of Davis High School.

By COLLEEN FONTANA
UNLEASHED STAFF

Juli Salatino’s third period class is a bit different from her others.
Her portable classroom at Davis High, generally filled with teenagers learning Spanish, is instead occupied by a variety of students working through English verbs and sentence structure.
This is her English as a Second Language, or ESL, class. And, for these non-native English-speakers, it’s extremely important.
“We don’t know anything about this country,” Liliana Saénz says in English, her second language. The 20-year-old native Spanish speaker recently came to the United States from Mexico. “We have a different culture and language, but ESL class helps us to learn more.”
Also speaking in English, her second language, fellow classmate and native Spanish speaker, 21-year-old Adriana Carranza, says the ESL class is important so “we can learn the language and have a better future.”
ESL 3, however, is only one period, leaving five more classes for Saénz and Carranza to tackle in their second language.
“At first, they start with two ESL classes with limited core classes like art and P.E.,” their teacher explains. “Then, they will move into classes that require more cognitive skills, like math, science, and social studies. By ESL 3, though, they are completely mainstreamed.”
Unlike those who are only beginning to learn English words and phrases, students in ESL 3 have mastered the language well enough to engage in conversations. They’re in class to learn how to express more complex thoughts and ideas.
Though classes in English do pose difficulties, ESL students, who range in age from 14 to 21, say they feel like they can ask for help.
“Here’s what I do,” Saénz says. “I go into my class and tell my teacher I am an ESL student, and if I need help on something, I ask them.”
However, when it comes to tests, asking for help isn’t always an option. Washington schools expect every graduating student to take and pass the WASL exam in English, and colleges look seriously at SAT scores, so ESL students can find school and standardized tests very much a challenge.
“The WASL was very difficult,” Saénz says, adding that she believes the SAT will be equally challenging. Between school and work, she says it’s hard to find time to prepare for it.
“The WASL is something that ESL kids can’t compete with mainstream kids at,” says another Davis ESL teacher, Jerry Cole, 50. “It’s frustrating because ESL students have more trouble, and yet they still are expected to pass.”
“They don’t yet have the cognitive academic language proficiency for the WASL,” says Salatino, adding that it takes the average person who learns a second language “seven to 10 years of immersion to have those skills.”
It’s not that these teachers want ESL classes to be excused from higher level test taking; what they want is more time to help students prepare for the test.
“As with any second language, students need time to do well with it,” Cole says.
Despite difficulties, however, many ESL students are coming away with tools for their futures. Helping to set goals and helping students reach those goals is every teacher’s purpose.
“Our number one goal is that our students exit this class with the chance to go to college,” Salatino says. She’s taught ESL for 13 years; Cole, 20 years.
“We are graduating kids who are going on to college,” Cole says. “We do have a great program here at Davis.”
Saénz, who is studying for the SAT, already knows what career she wants to pursue.
“I would like to go to college, and I want to work, but my goal is to study,” she says. “I want to be an ESL teacher because I would like to continue to help people like me.”

— Colleen Fontana is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. She attends Davis High School.

Arturo Jaime watches as his teacher, Juli Salantino, writes students’ answers on the board during an ESL class at Davis High School on Wed. Nov. 5th, 2008. Photo by Alex Braman of Davis High School.

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