Wisdom Teeth Removal: Once is Enough

Number of teeth removed: Four.
Number of hours in surgery: Three.
Number of days eating only pudding: Also three.
Number of stitches: Two.
Number of weeks until complete recovery: Also two.
Number of times I’ll have my wisdom teeth removed: Hopefully only once.
Wisdom teeth, also called third molars, are the last of your teeth to come in. They get their name because of when the usually come in, during your teenage years. This is supposedly the time when you are learning the most about life, and are transitioning into an adult.
Wisdom teeth are removed for two related reasons. In most cases, they do not fit in your jaw and would cause serious damage if they were not removed.
In some cases, you simply do not need them anymore. In the past, people’s diets included much more coarse food, and our teeth were worn away at a higher rate than they are today.
If you have had braces, you will probably need to have your wisdom teeth removed. Your mouth had to be rearranged once already, and wisdom teeth will likely not fit.
Having your wisdom teeth pulled out is not a major surgery — or, at least the recovery isn’t major. In fact, it has very little affect on your daily life — except for eating and, oddly, smiling.
Wisdom teeth grow in at the back of your jaw, which makes it nearly impossible to chew for the first few days following surgery.
And recovery is fairly painless, unless you do something stupid such as attempt to eat chips.
After the surgery I made the mistake of trying to eat pudding for a couple of days and ended up having almost no energy.
I recommend that, in addition to pudding, you have a good supply of ramen noodles and boxed macaroni and cheese to add some solid calories to your diet instead of the empty ones in pudding.
For those who have already had their wisdom teeth removed you should know the procedure has drastically improved. I experienced no sign of facial bruising or swelling at all. The only effect of the surgery I felt was being sleepy following the procedure.
I only received two stitches in my lower jaw. Your upper jaw holds the incisions shut on its own without stitches.
The stitches are made of organic material and are broken down by your body in about a week. Be careful, though. Exercising too soon after the surgery may cause a little bleeding.
During recovery, there are several procedures you must follow. First, you will be given antibiotics and painkillers to take home.
Then, for the next few days, you must rinse you mouth with warm saltwater to prevent infection. After the stitches dissolve, this becomes mandatory to keep the incisions clean.
Rinsing is not only kind of disgusting, but finding little bits of food in the incisions makes it worse. Take my word on this one: Rinse often. It’s better than the alternative.
After about two weeks you should be completely recovered and able to eat normally.
For some unlucky people there is a very small chance that your wisdom teeth will try to come in again and you’ll have to have them removed a second time.
Hopefully, I won’t have to have mine taken out again. It’s not that having them removed was a problem. It’s just that I enjoy being able to eat normal meals.

— Sean Nagle-McNaughton is a sophomore at Davis High School and a member of the Herald-Republic’s Unleashed journalism program for students.

Dyspraxia and dysgraphia v. technology

As I write this story I’m not even touching the keyboard.
In fact, I’m sitting a few feet away and reclining in my chair. The only thing keeping me near my computer is the microphone headset into which I am talking.
Physical disabilities have kept me from being able to type proficiently, and I especially cannot write very well. I have a mild case of both dyspraxia and dysgraphia, which restrict one’s motor skills.
Dyspraxia does not affect your intelligence or mind. It affects the ways in which you can communicate your intellect to the outside world. If your motor skills are not fully developed or functional, it means you will have trouble doing complex tasks such as tying your shoes or running with a good posture, or any posture at all.
It also means if someone like me has learned a certain concept or skill, it can be very difficult to retrieve it from your mind to communicate what you want to do to your hands.
For example, when I come up with the simple thought of turning the combination of a lock, anyone watching me might see I have to pause before actually turning the combination. I have to  consciously form and plan the complete movement.
Also, dyspraxia affects your lateral development, which means you have trouble working cross-body: Doing things with your left hand on the right side of your body and vice versa. This shows up severely when I play tennis.

I use only my right hand for both my forehand, which is normal, and my backhand, which is not normal. When I tried to learn how to hit two-handed backhands, my left hand always seemed to get in the way of my right, or my right hand lagged behind my left.
This impairment also affects how I remember things and how information is stored in my mind. Dyspraxia locks information into one place in the memory, which makes it very difficult to apply a skill learned in one situation to another situation.
Dyspraxia affects my handwriting because it takes time for my mind to recall how the letters I am writing are shaped. The time it takes is enough for my mind to get ahead of my hand. Then, my hand begins to get sloppy and will skip letters, or slur them together. This eventually creates an almighty mish-mash of confused lines and segments of words.
In serious cases, dyspraxia can be a major disability that makes learning almost impossible and even the most basic tasks — such as walking erect — a painful process. People who know me don’t usually see the effects of dyspraxia because I have lived with it long enough — and endured enough physical therapy — that I no longer show the confusion that arises when I perform a task that’s difficult for me.

Dysgraphia is a much less serious problem. It only affects your handwriting. People with dysgraphia find it much easier to learn something in a kinesthetic way.
During my physical therapy, I learned cursive to help me speed up and improve my handwriting. I also learned a style called “Loops and Groups,” which helps people like me who find writing the alphabet repeatedly is an impairment rather than a way of learning.
For example, the letter “a” is formed in the exact same way as the letter “d,” which shares characteristics with the letter “g,” which in turn is formed the same way as the letters “y” and “q.”
During my physical therapy, I also learned a process called “Brain Gym.” This process uses physical cues to stimulate the brain. And it helped me to concentrate. Using this process, I was able to perform better.
The speech-to-text software program iListen also helped. The program, developed by MacSpeech, is speech recognition tool for the Apple Macintosh computer. You speak into a microphone and whatever you say appears in Microsoft Word, or another word processor. This allowed me to say what I wanted to write, which made writing a much less painful process.
Typing made my assignments much easier to read, so I began typing as many of them as possible. This is something I still do today.
The only problem was my computer was unable to handle the software.
So, recently, I purchased MacSpeech Dictate, a more advanced speech recognition program, to use on my computer. Now, for most of my schoolwork — and stories like this one for Unleashed — I speak to my computer, which transcribes what I say.
When I first installed the software, I read a short tutorial. This was the first of the training sessions for the software. I read outloud a description of how the software works. This is part of a process in which the software figures out what word you are saying. The software already knows what is on the page in front of you, and all it does is figure out what sound pattern coincides with which word, or possibly which syllable, you are saying.
The software then uses the patterns it has learned to create words from what you are saying. It would be impossible to read all the words in the English language to the software. But it takes syllables — such as “prom,” “im” and “tu” — which can be found in separate words that you read in the tutorial to assemble words such as impromptu, illiteracy, conjugated and triskaidekaphobia without ever having heard them before.
If you think a dictation program might be a useful tool for you, I would recommend MacSpeech Dictate for Macintosh or Dragon Naturally Speaking for PCs. Both of the programs run on a coding engine designed by Nuance. MacSpeech Dictate costs about $200, and Dragon Naturally Speaking costs about $100.
Without the use of this software, it would take me much longer to write this or any story. My average typing speed ranges between 15 and 20 words per minute. With the 60-plus words per minute this software gives me, I have seen a huge improvement in how fast and how much I can write.
The software does its best to recognize every word I say. But I have a slight habit of rushing my words, which can change “without” into “about” or “in and out.”
After doing physical therapy and working hard on my handwriting, my dyspraxia hasn’t been quite as obvious as it used to be. My handwriting is mostly legible and only occasionally will I have problems figuring out how to physically do something.
Working hard at overcoming these challenges has given me a pretty good view of life. I see the world as something that will present challenges to me and also give me the tools I need to overcome those challenges.
I’ve learned that even though my brain does not connect with the outside world as well as I would like, if I work hard at it, I will be able to tell the world what I’m thinking.
And, with the help of technology, I have the right tools in my hands — or, in this case, in my headset — to explain my ideas.

• Sean Nagle-McNaughton is a sophomore at Davis High School and a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed journalism program for students.

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

We all need to fight global warming

By SEAN NAGLE-MCNAUGHTON
DAVIS HIGH SCHOOL

I’ve been interested in the environment as long as I can remember. I’ve written papers on pollution, put on skits in classes, and worked to reduce my own contribution by recycling, carpooling and reusing anything I can.
Last year, when I was in eighth grade at Discovery Lab School, I wanted to do something big for my final project. Learning about and working to address global warming seemed like a good fit.
Global warming is a human-powered threat. It’s also a complex problem. Global warming is the process by which greenhouse gases warm the Earth, trapping increasing amounts of heat around our planet that otherwise would have been released into space.
Here’s how it works: Sunlight passes though the Earth’s atmosphere, the thin layer of gases that surround our planet. The Earth absorbs the sun’s rays, and this energy is changed into heat, then released back into the atmosphere.
Some of this energy escapes into space. Plants, animals and surface water also absorb some of the energy. But more and more of the heat is becoming trapped in the atmosphere, remaining there like the heat inside a greenhouse.
Greenhouse gases include methane, water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons. Without these gases, the average temperature on the surface of the Earth would be 0 degrees F.
However, the balance of these gases is changing. Carbon dioxide levels are 30 percent higher than in 1860, according to “Global Warming: A Threat to Our Future” by Paul Stein. This is primarily blamed on humans burning fossil fuels.
And it is a threat to — and the responsibility of — the entire Earth.
“The most efficient use of energy is now an obligation upon humanity,” Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said at the World Economic Forum in January. “The whole world must make efforts to maximize the improvement of energy efficiency.”

I’ve always loved places such as Mount Rainier National Park, where I’ve spend entire days wandering the woods, and White Pass or elsewhere in the Cascades, where I go on long hikes to hidden meadows.
If humans destroy pristine environments like these, there will be none left to enjoy. This is the main reason fighting global warming appeals to me. There is something each of us can do to reverse this dangerous trend.
For me, the most shameful fact about trying to halt global warming is that our country — the largest, most industrialized, and therefore polluting, country — has not formally pledged to reduce greenhouse gases by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol.
Global warming may have some limited positive effects, such as a longer growing season in some places. And some controversy still exists over the potential long-term impacts of global warming. But there is increasing agreement in the scientific community that global warming is real and that its causes are man-made.
According to Stuart D. Jordan, a senior staff scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt, Md., global warming could stress Earth’s ecosystems, “especially if the changes are rapid.”
In 2006, he wrote, “From the point of view of the ecosystem health, rapid change is extremely unlikely to be beneficial.”
Rising sea levels are among the scariest potential effects of global warming. If polar and glacial ice continue to melt at current rates, oceans could rise anywhere from 20 to 50 feet, according to the book “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore. Even at the low end of the range, millions of people could be forced from their homes.
Some of the smaller Pacific Islands, such as Tuvalu, which has implemented an evacuation plan, are already being covered by the rising sea. Highly populated areas such as cities located near sea level are particularly at risk.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts Glacier National Park will have no more glaciers by 2030, when I am 37 years old. If the melting of the polar arctic ice continues, there will be serious problems for species that live in this habitat, such as polar bears.
Already, there have been reports of polar bears drowning. This is particularly alarming given the fact that polar bears can swim 30 to 40 miles at a time.
Polar bears hunt on ice. Polar ice reductions place them at risk of starvation. This loss of habitat as a consequence of global warming has resulted in listing polar bears as a “threatened species” by the United States on May 14, 2008.
Polar bears aren’t the only animals affected. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, if global temperatures rise by a mere 6.3 degrees, between 40 percent and 70 percent of all species could disappear.
Our present lifestyles and locations of our cities are a result of existing weather patterns. If the world’s climate changes as scientists have predicted, there could be serious alterations to those weather patterns, affecting the way we live and where we live.

The term “carbon footprint” refers to the estimated amount of carbon dioxide that an individual or organization creates in a year. A number of tools have been developed to calculate carbon footprints. The hope is that by raising awareness of how our daily choices impact carbon emissions, individuals, organizations and communities will take steps to minimize their production of carbon dioxide.
This brings us back to my final project. I estimated Discovery Lab School’s carbon footprint by searching the Internet for a calculator that worked especially for schools. I eventually found “The School Neutral” carbon calculator that you can download for free onto Excel. It can be found at www.earthteam.net.
The spreadsheet required that I enter certain information about the school. So I contacted Deb Lavis, the principal, and asked for her help. She provided me with info on school enrollment, the number of students who ride the bus, bus routes, the size of our garbage bins and the number of times garbage is picked up.
She also gave me a summary of the school’s electricity and natural gas usage for one year. There were no exact measurements of the bus routes, so I plotted them on a map of Yakima and calculated how far each bus travels each day.
To estimate the miles traveled in cars to transport students to and from school, I conducted an e-mail survey using the Discovery Family Connection e-mail list. From the 15 responses I received, I was able to calculate an average number of trips per week, the average distance traveled and the average number of students per car to come up with the estimated total miles driven by cars each year.
The weight of the landfill waste generated each year by the school was calculated using a “Volume-to-Weight Conversion Factors” table from the National Recycling Coalition Measurement Standards and Reporting Guidelines. I estimated the amount of recycling based on my experience doing school recycling each Friday. Removing potential waste from the landfill by recycling gives you a credit to reduce your total carbon emissions.
According to my calculations, Discovery Lab School creates approximately 143,536 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year. This comes out to about 699 pounds of carbon dioxide per student.

To slow global warming, each of us must take steps to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions and reduce our “carbon footprint.” Individual actions, however, are not enough to influence global warming. Governments must also play a lead role.
With President Barrack Obama in office, people like me can hope for increased actions to address global warming. In mid-December, Obama announced the members of his climate change and energy team, including Steven Chu, a physicist, Nobel laureate, expert in biofuels and advocate for comprehensive scientific solutions to global warming.
Hopefully, environmental issues and climate change will be given a higher priority in the new administration and the United States can emerge as a world leader in fighting against the potential negative impacts of global warming.

• Sean Nagle-McNaughton is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. He attends Davis High School.

Working: air traffic control

By SEAN NAGLE-MCNAUGHTON
UNLEASHED STAFF
This job comes with a 360-degree view.
From the top of the control tower at the Yakima Air Terminal, sweeping scenes of the Yakima Valley are visible — at least during the day.
That’s just one of the things Robert J. Blahut enjoys about working as an air traffic control specialist. Blahut, who lives in Prosser, has worked in the Yakima tower about six months but has done this type of work most of his career. So has Selah’s Ron Schwartz, the air traffic control manager.
Although they have worked together only since October, they have known each other for about 15 years and share the kind of camaraderie that comes from working together in a small space. They often banter back and forth in the control room, surrounded by a dozen windows.
“My best day is any day off,” Blahut jokes.
Schwartz is quick to answer: “That’s my best day, too — your day off.”
These guys like a good laugh. Both retired from the Federal Aviation Administration, then began working at the tower, which is run by a private company that contracts with the FAA. They typically work a 40-hour week.
Schwartz started his air traffic control career in the Air Force. As the tower manager, he does scheduling and evaluations, among other duties.
Schwartz and Blahut both say they enjoy the job because it allows them to think on their feet. In some jobs, employees have days, weeks, even months to make a decision. But up in the tower, with planes coming in for landings, these two have a few seconds or maybe one minute at most, Blahut says.
Schwartz says he likes the work because it “keeps changing. Nothing is the same every day.”
Both men say they are proud of what they do and are happy to talk about it and the tools they use. The tower stands nearly 90 feet tall and has a “well-equipped, sophisticated air traffic system,” Blahut says.
Visible from the tower is the radar, a large, rotating dish that is rare for smaller airports, Blahut says. It shows everything from planes flying though the surrounding airspace to heavy weather patterns and Interstate 82, even the occasional flock of birds.
Sometimes, the Yakima Training Center gives the tower men some interference. Occasionally, a mortar test keeps planes at a certain elevation or military planes come through and the controllers must separate them from other incoming flights.
A person who can make quick decisions and has a reliable memory would make a good air control worker, Blahut says. Workers also must pass a background check.
The main responsibility of those working in the tower is to serve pilots, giving them all the help and information they need, such as weather and runway conditions and wind speed.
Recently, a home-built airplane was coming in for a landing at the Yakima airport. There was some light wind and snow on the runway. Blahut instructed the pilot to land on runway 9.
After a smooth landing, the plane taxied to Yakima AeroSport at 2004 W. Washington Ave. The business, based at the airfield, repairs and modifies small planes. After about 20 minutes or so, the home-built plane took off for Moses Lake without a hitch.

• Sean Nagle-McNaughton is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. He attends Davis High School

Remembering Randall Marquis

By GEORGIA GEMPLER and SEAN NAGLE-MCNAUGHTON
UNLEASHED STAFF
In every hero story, there is a person who has done everything and is willing to teach you what they have learned.
For nine years at Discovery Lab School, the hero was Randall Marquis.
The former district judge taught young actors all he knew about acting and theater. He volunteered his time from 2000 until his death on Dec. 16, 2008. He was 82.
Marquis was a man of many talents.
And we were surprised when we saw his obituary. We had seen him as this energetic old man who would not stop for anything. During our time under his direction, he showed us how do a myriad of things: how to act blind drunk, how to be scared by invisible monsters, how to be in love, act regal, and above all, to keep the show moving.
If he did not like our interpretations, he would leap up and go through the motions himself amazing us as well as our fellow actors with his skill and articulation.
A Discovery Lab School player, 14-year-old Ben Hohman, agrees: “He was a natural. He put himself in your place. He could do it exactly as he wanted.”
Other young thespians say Marquis taught them how to stage laugh realistically, or do the stage kiss, which is very difficult for middle school students.
Under his guidance — with help from 46-year-old Discovery Lab teacher Irene Smith — the Discovery Lab School Players have put on many plays, starting with “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmond Rostand and ending with “Comedy of Errors,” “Twelfth Night,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” “Merchant of Venice,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Julius Caesar” and “The Tempest” — all by William Shakespeare.
DLSP cannot pay for costumes; all are donated. And the entrance fee to a DLSP play, performed at the A.C. Davis High School auditorium, is a canned food donation to Northwest Harvest.
The entire DLSP acting program is volunteer-based; actor and director alike complete the plays on their own time. In all, Marquis put in more than 1,000 hours of community service.
In the aftermath of the director’s death, DLSP plays have gone on. Now, Smith and her daughter, 17-year-old Elizabeth Smith, a senior at Davis, direct them. But Marquis is missed.
“I miss floating ideas past him, counting on his ability to make the right choices in casting, laughing with him at the humor, and turning the direction over to his vast expertise,” Irene Smith says.
Her daughter says Marquis had been “grooming” her for the part of director. She participated in six productions that Marquis directed and was part of the stage crew after she left for high school.
Hohman says Marquis had a sort of air of calm about him. Another actor, Kathryn Moore, says, “The play this year is lonely. Somehow, there’s always something missing in a scene.”
It seems that everyone Marquis directed misses him. It also seems like every time we saw him near the end he became more frail and shaky. And still, every day there was play practice, he would turn up, ready to go.
Marquis truly enjoyed being there, directing the play and making us all better actors. He taught us the “QFC” concept: quiet on the set, focus, and cues.
Quiet on the set was extremely important with middle school students, and Marquis would shout it every time a new scene started. Focus meant you had to remember your lines, pay attention to what you were doing, and stay in character.
But cues were probably his favorite part of the saying. Marquis was adamant about actors remembering their cues. He got very irritable if anyone missed a cue. And, of course, it happened to us numerous times.
Marquis is — and will continue to be — sorely missed by all who knew him. As he himself used to say, “The play must go on.” And so must our lives, without his exceptional leadership.

• Georgia Gempler and Sean Nagle-McNaughton are members of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. They attend Davis High School.

We’re thankful for …

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, some of the Unleashed kids — student reporters, photographers and artists from around the Yakima Valley — are sharing what they’re grateful for this year.
Some are local, like the terraces at Franklin Park. Some are personal, such as banana pancakes with toasted pecans and powdered sugar with steaming hot syrup. And some are universal: Life itself, clean water and food, shelter.
Plus, there are many more.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Jessica Serrano, La Salle High School
• Faith and justice.
• Family and loved ones.
• Diversity.
• Freedom of speech.
• Strawberrries.
• Philanthropy and philanthropists.
• Forgiveness.
• New beginnings.
• Art.
• Life itself.

Lisa Garrigues, Naches Valley High School
• My caring parents.
• My protective older sisters and brother.
• My supportive friends, teammates, teachers and coaches.

Hannah Naughton, Davis High School
• My family’s health.
• Banana pancakes with toasted pecans and powdered sugar with steaming hot syrup.
• My parents’ love.
• My friends.
• My two crazy sisters.

Samantha Knittle, Davis
• Marching band.
• My family.
• The sun and warm weather.
• School (but not homework).
• Clean water and food.
• My friends.
• Free speech.
• My teeth.
• Drum Corp International.
• God.
• Chocolate.
• Swing sets.
• My teachers.

Hannah Kivi, Riverside Christian School
• Freedom of religion.
• My parents.
• My friends.
• My Bible.
• Softball.
• My house.
• My school.
• Unleashed.
• Our country.
• Music.
• My ability to write.
• Gum.

Lety Clark-Olivero, Eisenhower High School
• My parents.
• My siblings.
• Shelter.
• Sustenance.
• My cell phone with its unlimited texting.
• Jesus.
• A healthy body.
• Laughter, life, love and a little dancing mixed in there somewhere.
• My boyfriend.
• My friends.

Kami Cross, Eisenhower
• “One Tree Hill.”
• Starbucks Christmas decorations.
• A car that runs (most of the time).
• Addicting books.
• Cuddling.
• My loving family.
• Thursdays.
• Friends.
• Football games. (And the end of football season.)
• Rainy days.
• Strawberry-pineapple iced teas.
• Musicals.
• Running through the sprinklers at night.
• My bed being right under the heating vent.
• Peacoats.
• Family videos from when I was little.

Georgia Gempler, Davis
• Freedom.
• Education.
• Family.
• Animals.
• Shelter.
• Opportunity.
• Books.
• Technology.
• Snow.
• Music.
• Artistic expression.
• Free time.
• Movies.

Loren Button, Riverside Christian
• Jesus.
• My parents.
• My home.
• My friends.
• “Guitar Hero: World Tour.”
• Being a senior in high school!

Colleen Fontana, Davis
Long books and warm blankets on cold rainy afternoons. Music and iPods and singing loudly in the shower. Friends to understand me and parents to confide in. Sisters to cry to and brothers to make me laugh. Raspberry peach iced teas from Lincoln Avenue Espresso and blue Papermate pens.
Warm winter coats and old furry boots. Moleskine planners from Inklings Bookshop and sledding down the terraces at Franklin Park. Stick shifts and curly hair and laughter and bright pink nail polish. My camera, Benji, and pony tail holders.
Summer thunder storms and the smell of the rain afterward. Games of kick the can and lap tag. Volleyballs and pianos and coffee. Thank goodness for coffee, and the roof over my head and the God over my roof and this life with which I have been blessed.

Sean Nagle-McNaughton, Davis
• Books.
• Music.
• Friends.
• Parents.
• Brothers.
• Kindness.
• Knowledge.
• Challenges.
• Grandparents.
• Conversations.
• Peace and quiet.
• Those who help others.
• Nature.
• Happiness.
• The whooshing sound of deadlines going by (just kidding).
• The world I live in.

Janessa Mains, Eisenhower
• My family.
• My friends.
• My camera.
• Knowledge.
• Books.
• My cat George.

• Animé.
• Gay pride.
• Music.

Hannah Besso, Davis
• A supportive family.
• Loyal friends.
• Laughter.
• Sports.
• Music.
• Weekends.
• Summer.
• Good food.
• Snow.
• Sleep.

Libby Young, La Salle
• God.
• My family.
• My friends.
• My school.
• Church.
• My cats.
• My teachers.
• Life.
• Dance.
• Vacations.
• Books.
• Freedom.
• My iPod.
• My cell phone.

Kacie Cross, Eisenhower
• God.
• My parents.
• My sisters and brother.
• My friends.
• Boys.
• Music.
• Dancing.
• Paper.
• Air.
• Elephant Ears.
• Food.
• Eyes.
• Hands.
• Computers.
• Telephones.
• Movies.
• “One Tree Hill.”
• Books.
• The saying, “If you don’t like something, change it; if you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
• Tennis.
• Musicals.
• Makeup.
• Showers.
• The color blue.
• Rain.
• Relationships.
• Life.
• Love.
• Laughter.

James Hibbs, Davis
• Books.
• The Davis High School library and its librarians. They keep it open from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday to help kids study.
• Doug Johnson and Avid.
• Food.
• My siblings.
• My parents.
• Kenneth Capp and epistemology as manifested in “Theory of Knowledge.”

Alex Braman, Davis
• Davis High School.
• My friends (We make Davis fun).
• My iPod (I take it everywhere).
• My camera (I want to take it everywhere).
• My family (They raised me how I am today).

Jasmine Okbinoglu, Eisenhower
• My family and friends.
• Music.
• Books.
• Food.
• Tennis.
• Laughter.
• Summer.
• Swimming.
• Movies.
• Art.
• Nature.
• Candy.

Jessica Cummings, Bickleton High School
• God.
• My loving family.
• My church.
• My fellow believers.
• My friends.
• My gifts and talents.
• My country.

Alyssa Patrick, Eisenhower
• John Mayer’s lyrics and musical talents.
• Sunday nights, squished on the couch between my mom and sister, watching “Grey’s Anatomy.”
• My brother.
• Authors who lace so much into each sentence that my mind never has to stop unraveling new clues.
• Jim and Pam. Always. If the writers on “The Office” break them up, I will have a nervous breakdown.
• Rachel’s Challenge, Leadership Camp and Invisible Children.
• Mango ice cream.
• “Benny and Joon.”
• My family.
• Teachers who never stop teaching the way they believe they should teach, even when some of their students don’t give them that effort in return.
• Broadway.
• Ike’s Little Theater.
• My car, its CD player, and 20-minute drives at the end of long days.
• My bed.
• My physical health, so I can dance.
• My opportunity to go to college.

— Want to see more artwork by artist Samantha Knittle? The Davis High School senior has an online portfolio. To check it out, visit http://samanthaknittle1.tripod.com.

Blood Transfusion Gives Hope to Local Youth

By SEAN NAGLE-MCNAUGHTON
UNLEASHED STAFF

Try to imagine yourself in the shoes of seventh-grader Kyle Miller.
You’re 12 years old. You attend Yakima’s Discovery Lab School. And after a blood test at Seattle Children’s Hospital, doctors tell you that you could have one of three diseases: leukemia, idiopathic thrombocytic purpura (ITP) or aplastic anemia.
Each one has the potential to kill you.
The only good bit of news is there are cures for these diseases.
Another test eliminates two of the possibilities, both the worst case (leukemia) and the best case (ITP).
There is no known cause for aplastic anemia, a rare and serious disorder in which bone marrow doesn’t produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood cells.
According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, between 500 and 1,000 people develop this condition every year. It’s two to three times more common in Asian countries.
The main treatment is blood transfusions. If that doesn’t work, the next step is often a bone marrow transplant. The transplant requires someone with exactly the same bone marrow and blood type as the patient. The best candidate is a close relative.
In Kyle’s case, that donor is 15-year-old Gavin Miller, Kyle’s older brother and a student at Yakima’s Davis High School.
The cue for Kyle to go to the hospital was bruising all over his body. The bruises first appeared on his shins and eventually went away. Next, Kyle noticed a bruise on his head. His father, Yakima dentist Dale Miller Jr., saw a bruise on Kyle’s hip that looked like he had been hit with a baseball bat.
Since early July, Kyle has been in Seattle, receiving treatment. He’s also been separated from all but close family. He’s scheduled to return home to Yakima around Thanksgiving. But even then, because of his weakened immune system, he cannot see anyone who’s the least bit sick.
Until then, he’s living with his mother, Yakima dentist Victoria Miller, at Ronald McDonald House, which provides a home-away-from-home for families of seriously ill children being treated at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle.
His average day looks like this: Get out of bed, eat breakfast, take meds, start online school, work for awhile, eat lunch, take meds, go to a park for exercise, eat dinner, take meds.
Kyle says he doesn’t enjoy his medication. In fact, some of it makes him feel sick and queasy. Cyclosporine, in Kyle words, is “like Elmer’s glue.”
“The stuff tastes like alcohol and pinesap,” he says.
Gavin and his dad continue to live in Yakima, where the Millers have a dentistry practice. Dale Miller Sr., Kyle’s grandfather and Dale’s dad, came out of retirement to help with the practice while Kyle and his mom stay in Seattle.
Gavin and his dad visit them approximately every two weeks.
They also stay connected through the Web site www.caringbridge.org. This site connects family and friends during a critical illness, treatment or recovery.
On this site, a patient or family member can post photos and write journal entries to keep family members and friends up-to-date. Family members and friends can also post tributes to the patient.
To read Kyle’s journal or post a tribute, go to www.caringbridge.org/visitasite and type kylemiller.

• Sean Nagle-McNaughton is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. He attends Davis High School. He’s also a friend of Gavin Miller, the older brother of Kyle Miller.