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June 18, 2014
community
SAMMAMISH REVIEW
Firefighters bring career perspectives to Beaver Lake By Neil Pierson
If Chris Tarkir hadn’t been tenacious, he likely never would have landed what he calls his “dream job” with Eastside Fire & Rescue. “It’s about believing in yourself, and probably the biggest characteristic a person has to have is that you can’t take no for Photo by Neil Pierson
Firefighter Chris Tarkir of Eastside Fire & Rescue helps Jakob McInerney, a sixthgrade student at Beaver Lake Middle School, to remove a hose from a hydrant during a June 5 demonstration at the school.
an answer,” Tarkir told a group of students during a June 5 visit to Beaver Lake Middle School’s !MPACT after-school program. Four of the Issaquah School District’s five middle schools offer !MPACT as a safe haven for students with working parents. The program generally runs until 6 p.m. on weekdays, and costs between $95 and $230 a month depending on how often a child attends. Elijah Myles, Beaver Lake’s !MPACT site manager, said the program isn’t simply a daycare service. While video games, movies and music are part of the See !MPACT, Page 11
Skyline grads developapp to help household harmony By Neil Pierson
Bill Doerrfeld and Vineet Rastogi are intimately familiar with the typical college-student conundrum: How do you maintain peace with your roommates? Doerrfeld and Rastogi graduated from Skyline High School a year apart – Doerrfeld in 2009, Rastogi in 2010 – and both earned their undergraduate degrees this month from the University of Washington. They’re hunting for jobs, but they’re also hoping to turn an ingenious idea into a possible money-maker. With the help of fellow UW student Andy Fu, Microsoft engineer Karson Miller, and professional financier Charlie Ranahan, they’re trying to turn their dreams into reality using Kickstarter, a popular online fundraising platform. They’re trying to raise $20,000 by June 25 – an amount they were well short of last week – but plan to move forward with their mobile phone app, Harmoney, regardless of the results. The idea for Harmoney was largely melded between app cofounders Doerrfeld and Fu – the former wanted a way to coordinate rent and household expenses with his roommates; the latter was looking to streamline chores with his. Doerrfeld found the typical bulletin board in a house with five to 10 roommates wasn’t getting the job done because no one paid attention to it.
“So we had this idea in the back of our minds: It’s like, people are at their phones constantly,” he said. “They’re being notified for all these different apps or social networks, so that kind of spawned this idea.” Doerrfeld, who earned a degree in English, was enrolled in a software entrepreneurship class last fall when he met Fu. They shared their thoughts, and began looking for ways to grow them into reality. Rastogi – who majored in business administration and entrepreneurship – joined up during the winter as the group’s marketing strategist. That’s where Kickstarter came in, since the students couldn’t afford many promotional materials on their own. The Kickstarter campaign began May 16, shortly before the Harmoney group landed Miller as its developer. Miller has worked for multiple Fortune 500 companies, and specializes in security and networking through the Apple iOS system. When the others met with Miller for the first time, they were caught off guard – in a good way. The software developer already had a working model of the app to show them. “We were an hour-and-a-half into the discussion,” Doerrfeld said, “and we thought we had done everything … And then, out of the blue, he’s like, ‘You want to see it?’” Harmoney is designed to deal with several common problems
among roommates, namely communication, cleanliness and finances. The app allows users to assign chores on a calendar. When someone completes a chore, they can share a photo of it, and others can reward them with “hearts.” “A lot of the time when you’re in a house and people are actually doing chores, the chores go unnoticed,” Fu said, explaining the app can give “a sense of acknowledgement” between roommates. Harmoney is synchronized with Venmo, a mobile banking service, to provide a central payment system. The app connects to individual debit cards and bank accounts to easily split utility or rent payments. The calendar function can also alert roommates to a landlord visit, something the Harmoney team believes is useful because property owners commonly communicate with only one person per house. Before going to Kickstarter, the group had already done several local promotional events, pitching it around the UW campus with an official student organization devoted to technology startup companies, as well as four “Hell Night” events with one of their professors. “All these start-ups come together and they have to pitch their idea really quickly to all See APP, Page 11
Photo by Neil Pierson
Skyline High School alumni Bill Doerrfeld, left, and Vineet Rastogi, right, along with Andy Fu, are three of the five team members developing Harmoney, a mobile app designed to streamline chores, finances and communication among roommates.
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SPORTS
June 18, 2014
SAMMAMISH REVIEW
Former Eastlake running star returns home with pro teammates By Neil Pierson
Jessica Tebo left quite a legacy for Eastlake High School runners to follow, and she returned to Sammamish last week to promote her career as a professional runner. Tebo, known as Jessica Pixler during her days at Eastlake and Seattle Pacific University, is in her second year with the Brooks Beasts Track Club, a Seattle-based training team that includes 12 men and women with accomplished racing careers. Tebo graduated from Eastlake in 2006 after a senior season in which she placed second at the state cross country meet, second in the 1,600 meters and first in the 800 meters. She obliterated those mile-
stones during a star-studded four years at Seattle Pacific, where she won five NCAA Division II track championships at the 1,500-meter and 5-kilometer distances, and three consecutive NCAA titles in cross country. Tebo faced some adversity in her post-collegiate days, spending seven months recovering from a fractured foot. She said she’s been fully healthy for the past year, and her times are reflecting it: She qualified for the June 14 Diamond League 3-kilometer race in New York City. Next to the Olympics and the world championships, the Diamond League races are probably the most prestigious events on the pro running circuit, Tebo explained. “It’s been really exciting to get healthy and finally get in a really
Thors in training
Contributed photo
From left, Brooks Beasts Track Club members Cas Loxsom, Mark Wieczorek, Angela Bizzarri, Nick Symmonds, Jessica Tebo, Riley Masters and Katie Mackey train together in the Seattle area. solid block of training, and feel like my old self again,” she said. Tebo and several of her Brooks Beasts teammates were in attendance June 11 for a meet-andgreet event at the Plateau Runner store in Sammamish. Store owner Elizabeth Steen said the opportunity to bring in a local professional racing team helps with business exposure, but
it also connected young runners to the Brooks team. Several athletes from Eastlake and Skyline high schools turned out for the event. “These are their idols,” Steen said. “… They can meet these people who are living their dream and find out what their lives are really like as professional athletes, because it’s a lot
of work.” Nick Symmonds, a two-time Olympic qualifier and 2013 world championship silver medalist in the 800 meters, is one of the newer members of the Brooks Beasts. He was scheduled to appear at Plateau Runner, but didn’t show See BEAST, Page 13
Spartans are lax league champs
Contributed photo
Eastlake High School’s Lukas Leitis, left, and Joe Ellis both finished on the trophy stand at the 2014 Washington State High School Hammer Championships, held June 1 in Centralia. Ellis, who will compete at the University of Michigan next year, finished in second place at 210 feet, 9 inches. Tahoma senior Brock Eager was the winner at 220-04. Ellis also took second place in the discus at the previous weekend’s state meet. Leitis, a junior, cleared 150 feet for the first time in his career, going 151-06 to take sixth place. Both athletes are members of the Seattle Hammer Club and are coached by George Mathews.
Contributed photo
The Skyline Spartans Lacrosse Club’s seventh/eighth grade Green team won the Greater Eastside Lacrosse League championship for the first time May 30, beating Bellevue Blue 8-5 at Skyline High School. The Spartans, who feature 16 eighth-graders and three seventhgraders, finished the season with a 13-0 record under coaches Scott Johnston and Gregg Harris.