JagWire | Volume 6 | Issue 5 | March 2006

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AN OPEN FORUM FOR STUDENT EXPRESSION

Battle Of the Bands March 9 ERHS $6

Grease March 3-19 Auburn Ave Theatre $20 Bye Bye Birdie March 3-4 ERHS Wonderful Town $7-9 March 21 5th Ave Theatre $22-72

The Starting Line March 26 The Showbox $17

Emery March 31 The Showbox $15

Girl of My Dreams March 15 The Village Theatre $20 Two Gentlemen of Verona March 23 Tacoma Actors Guild $15-30

Sonics vs. Detroit Pistons X-Fighting Championship March 3 March 11 KeyArena 7 Cedars Casino $50-200 $20

Failure To Launch (PG-13) March 10 Starring: Matthew McConaughey Sarah Jessica Parker The Hills Have Eyes (R) March 10 Starring: Tom Bower, Emilie de Ravin

She’s the Man (PG) March 17 Starring: Amanda Bynes, James Kirk EMERALD RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL 12405 184TH ST E SOUTH HILL, WA 98374

VOLUME SIX ISSUE FIVE MARCH 2006

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MARCH

soundoff

four people, four cds see what happens when they come to the roundtable

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Lissy Bryan

13 >> Sports in the world

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Sports Culture

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As ER grows as an athletic force, our athletes gain recognition and respect for our athletic program increases, the culture of our school is changing. JagWire takes a look at sports and its effects on us all.

Athlete worship

ER funnyman and actor extraordinaire Ryan McNamara talks about performing and his plans for the future stages of his life.

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Robin Stoyles

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Elaine Raymond

Ryan McNamara

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05 WASL Help

Intervention classes designed to coach sophomores to pass the WASL this March begin this semester.

24 Reading series review

Writer and ER teacher Jay Bates dreamt of heading a reading series. The first ‘A River and Sound Review’ took place Feb. 24.

Sciss

Darrin Jones

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A&E

NEWS

Say hello to ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ Bland sets and backdrops barely detract from ‘Bye Bye Birdie,’ a successfully acted musical triumph BY

MATT CLICK

EDITORIAL BOARD

Yes, it’s that time of year again, folks. The skies are gray and the air is chill with winter frost. The temperatures are in the low 30s and weathermen on every station are predicting snow. It’s March – and you all know what that means. That’s right; it’s time for the annual spring musical! Or … the semi-spring-it’s-actually-winter musical, as it’s come to be known. Despite being a tad early this year, “Bye, Bye Birdie” has lived up to its springtime predecessors in every respect. It’s 1963 and the teens of America (specifically the females) are all about that newfangled rock n’ roll. Conrad Birdie (senior Tyler Quinn), a side-burned, leisure-suited hunk, is the latest craze on the music scene. And the girls, well, they think he’s just swell. However, there’s a bit of a problem – Conrad has just been drafted into the military. He and his glorious chops will be shipped overseas,

WASL intervention brings individual attention New math classes focus on geometry, while English classes work toward motivation for students

REVIEW

BY

leaving thousands of screaming girls behind to live without him. But Albert Peterson (sophomore James Knight), Conrad’s manager and aspiring English teacher, won’t let Conrad go without a little money in the bank. Albert’s secretary and on-again-off-again girlfriend, Rose Alvarez (junior Angela Conti) fosters a plan to get Conrad “one last kiss.” One lucky member of the Conrad Birdie Fan Club (thousands strong and thriving) will receive a farewell kiss on the Ed Sullivan show from Conrad himself. That lucky girl is fifteen-year-old Kim Macafee (sophomore Brittney Stout), who also happens to be the president of the Conrad Birdie Fan Club. Now, going into the production, you may think that the play focuses primarily on the character of Conrad Birdie. O contraire! The play actually spends the majority of the time on the relationships of Albert and Rose, and that of Kim and her boyfriend, Hugo Peabody (senior Thayer LaFleur), and the effect the Conrad Birdie sensation has on their lives. “Bye, Bye Birdie” is exceedingly well-cast.

JENN WHITHAM

REPORTER

Intervention math and English classes are in effect this semester to aid sophomores in preparing for the WASL and to help with credit retrieval. WASL scores are more crucial to the 2008 graduates due to the fact that failure in any section jeopardizes their ability to graduate, but the resources were not available to set up intervention courses first semester. One reason was that there was no math teacher available to teach an entirely separate class. “There are not any candidates for math this far into the year,” math teacher Tracie Shepard said. “So we are buying out teachers’ planning periods.” As for the English Skills 10 classes, Laurie Brandon has taken the job. According to Principal Brian Lowney, she was the best candidate because she student taught for English teacher Donna Carstensen during first semester. “We wanted someone that we knew and the key for us is we have seen Mrs. Brandon teach,” Lowney said. Another reason for the classes not being ready first semester was because of a lack of funds. “We got some dollars second semester to begin some intervention classes which focus on math and literacy,” Lowney said. The funds are carried over from I-728, which is the Initiative to Improve Student Learning. Every secondary school received it and Rogers and Puyallup High schools are doing similar intervention classes. Students encouraged to participate in the classes were picked based on a combination of criteria. If a student had not passed one or more sections of the WASL taken in seventh grade they were asked with their parents to attend an informational meeting held on Jan. 31. Others were asked after administration worked with American Studies, math and science teachers to see who would benefit from the intervention classes.

Senior Kelsey Rochester, junior Paul Klein and sixth grader Dean Decker play the Macafee family.

All the leads are just fantastic in their roles, and there are also great supporting contributions from juniors Paul Klein and Summer Yates, and senior Kelsey Rochester. My major gripe with the play is with the sets. The majority of the musical takes place on either a black background or a bland living room set, whereas last year’s “Oklahoma!” and 2004’s “Into the Woods” both had gorgeous, vibrant set design. The plain, featureless backdrops detracted from the production quite a bit.

However, the talent really did make up for it. Beautiful voices and acting aptitude seem to be a staple here at Emerald Ridge, and the spring musical is really an opportunity for the talent to shine. The musical is now halfway through its run – it’ll be showing twice more, Friday and Saturday night. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should definitely attend. “Bye, Bye Birdie” is a lot of fun, and I found myself enjoying it more than the two previous Emerald Ridge musicals. It’s worth going just to see Tyler Quinn’s hair. It reaches for the heavens, my friends.

Laurie Brandon began teaching the English Skills 10 class second semester. Students focus on improving WASL-related reading and writing.

“There are students who are doing well in American Studies, but maybe just need a little help in their writing skills,” Lowney said. These classes are not designed for the student with poor attendance and lack of good work ethic. “We’re looking for the hardworking students who do the work, but maybe just need some test-taking strategies,” Shepard said. According to Brandon, most enrolled in the English class just need a little more help. “What I’m seeing is not a lack of ability, but rather a combination of things, such as motivation,” Brandon said. The English classes are made up of about 15 students in each class period. The purpose behind the small classes is to have more time working on a more individual attention teaching method. The math class is focused on geometry students because those students are up to grade level in math. There are three parts to the math intervention. One geometry class, being taught during first period by math teachers Heidi Fox and Jayne Holfstrand, will have

up to 15 students in it. It will be very similar to a regular geometry class. “We’re going to be focusing on geometry topics, only in a format of WASL testing,” Fox said. There also is an after-school class being designed to offer extra help, being taught by math teachers Rod Hart and Eric Paul. It will be open to students who are not already in the intervention geometry class. “We may have a workbook that students would work out of, but basically we’ll be focusing on some specific areas such as basic procedure; labeling graphs and using complete sentences,” Hart said. Shepard and math teacher Sarah Cypher are reorganizing their geometry curriculum. “We will provide some materials for all geometry and algebra I courses this year. Our primary goal is to reorganize our sophomore-level course so it not only provides the essential geometry curriculum, but also works to prepare/practice kids for the WASL,” Shepard said.

Week dedicated to battles of the sexes ER experiences its first Gender Defender week with the boys coming out 50 points ahead of the girls BY

ALEX STOBIE

Junior Angela Conti and sophomore James Knight sing as Rosie and Albert.

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Photo by Shailey Wilkinson

Senior Tyler Quinn struts his stuff as Conrad Birdie as he and Kim Macafee, played by sophomore Brittney Stout, brace for a kiss.

Photo by Elaine Raymond

REPORTER

Spirit weeks are designed so that schools can centralize the student body and give everyone a chance to participate in activities, assemblies, and spirit themes such as

dress-up days. Gender Defender week was run from Feb. 13-16. This was a week where the two opposing genders battled for the title of the strongest side. For each of the four days it was hosted, boys and girls fought for their right to call themselves the better sex, and at the end of the week the boys were named victorious after beating the girls 450-400. The leadership class heard about this from senior Amanda Pisetzner, who learned of it at a National Association of Student

Councils (NASC) conference over the summer. Liking the idea, the leadership decided to try it out. “A solid two weeks’ worth of class time was dedicated to this week alone,” junior Patrick Hoey said. Gender Defender was made for fun with a competitive edge for the student body. But there were some who didn’t find the week so exciting. “I thought it was a waste of time,” senior Kelly Kamstra said.

Changes that would like to be seen for upcoming years are more participation from students, more time for more planning on the leadership part, and possibly an assembly. The leadership class would also like to see this become a tradition, something that students can look forward to each year. “I think it’s important that students have more of an identity, that they feel more at home at high school,” Hoey said. “I think the leadership will do this again.”

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A&E

NEWS

Winterim more fun in 2006 Science Week provides new opportunities to learn and ways to bond in advisory, all while surviving a simulated natural disaster BY

BRITTANY GENTILE

REPORTER

Sophomore Jessica Byrd helps to prepare her advisory door for competition.

Science Week 2006 was a success and a lot of fun at ER this year even though the participation wasn’t 100 percent, according to assistant principal and Science Week coordinator Troy Hodge. “Being an educator, I always wish there could be more involvement,” Hodge said. “But it’s a lot like regular school: You get out of it what you put into it.” Science teacher Kenn Fidler, a member of the Science Week committee, was very involved in the creation of Science Week. “I was responsible for the learning parameters, orienteering, establishing geographic locations, mining activities, and my advisory was the Science Week police,” Fidler said. “Aside from being highly involved, Science Week was more fun for me because I like science and it was my job to make it fun.” Science Week is first and foremost a learning experience, but administrators and students alike think that it was also a lot of fun. “Science Week was more fun (than the other Winterim weeks),” senior Zack Wheeler said. “We were able to build

Harris mixes past and present ‘Five Quarters’ brings bold characters that drive the reader’s imagination

houses and I like that since we don’t have shop here. It was more hands-on and not so many papers.” Senior Sara Cusato thought the tasks were better for other reasons. “The tasks were more detailed than previous years,” Cusato said. “The past assignments of Winterim weeks were pretty self-explanatory, but for Science Week they’re more direct and not as vague.” TJ Hart, who was on the video crew and not participating the way others were, shot a lot of the fun and activities. “We shot so many videos,” Hart said. “There were many different activities that all seemed like such a blast. All the labs and assemblies were really fun to shoot and all the doors looked awesome.” Amidst all the chaos and stress, even Hodge enjoyed himself. “My favorite part was orienteering,” Hodge said. “Of course, I wish I was out there doing it myself.” Cusato enjoyed the final day of Science Week, but not because it was a Friday. “In our advisory we made a fort for our natural disaster display,” Cusato said. “We had lots of fun building it because we worked in it the whole week and on Friday it looked really good.” After a few months and more than 100 hours of hard work and preparation, the Science Week team, including many science teachers and some administrators, enabled ER to have a successful Science Week 2006. “It was a group effort and learning happened,” Hodge said.

BY

For years, the small French town of Les Laveus has tried to forget the tragedy that occurred during World War II. A tragedy the locals believe the infamous Mirabelle Dartigen is responsible for. Though they know nothing of what happened to the woman and her children, a deep hatred flows strong beneath the surface, like the currents of the nearby Loire River. “Five Quarters of the Orange,” a fiction novel by Joanne Harris, occurs at a time when an old woman under the alias of Simon, returns to the dilapidated, fire-scorched Dartigen house and builds a successful business. Unknown to the locals, this woman is Mirabelle’s daughter Framboise, who has returned to Les

Customer’s enjoyment of uniquely flavored menu is interrupted by lack of good customer service BY

At first, you might think Bahama Breeze is like any other family-friendly restaurant, but walk in the front door and you’ll feel like you’ve just arrived in the tropics. This is part of what makes a restaurant, the atmosphere. Located by the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila, Bahama Breeze competes with the Rainforest Café and other fun restaurants. After calling in, we only waited 30 of the 60 minutes we were told we would wait, a nice surprise on a Saturday night considering every other place around had an hour-and-a-half wait. With menu items such as blackened chicken, jerk chicken pasta, ahi tuna salad and pan-seared salmon pasta, Bahama Breeze has a unique flavor that no other restaurant has. It’s like taking a mini vacation to the Bahamas. My first choice was the Island Onion Rings. These onion rings are twice the size of the usual onion rings that you see, and they come with chili horseradish and citrus mustard for dipping. My family of six hungry people was very satisfied with the 16 onion rings we were given. There was

120 West Main Ave. Puyallup, Washington 98371 253-845-2101 Photo by Kassie Green

Located next to the Liberty Theatre

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LORI JONES

REPORTER

Just ask Lynn

04

Laveus to rebuild her broken life and unlock the secrets of her dark past. Though her memories serve as a guide, the key she soon discovers is in the writings, ramblings, and recipes of her deceased mother. Framboise however, is not the only person to know about the journal. With time racing against her, Framboise must delve into the dark memories of the past and face her demons before all hopes of happiness are gone. The novel is intoxicating, a recipe flavored with many spices of deceit, adventure, love, and insight. It is a fictitious creation of depth, beauty and pain, a story of the long road to discovery of truth and of self. Harris is a master chef of linguistics. She blends the memories of the past and the realities of the present to perfection, carefully examining and measuring

the plot, drawing the reader into the darkness and complexity of the book. Harris’ sense of understanding and connection is seen in the smallest of details, such as the broken biscuits the family ate. She also reaches past the realms of a story of mothers and daughters, but into the strength in resistance and the shame of dependency, of succumbing to ourselves and others.

IT IS A BITTERSWEET PORTRAYAL OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, LOVE AND HATRED, TRUTH AND DECEIT.

richness and flavor of a forbidden fruit. There is Framboise, defiant, young and ambitious, so like her mother, whereas Reinette and Cassis are cowardly, naïve, and greedy. So different in emotion and understanding, the contrasting characters compliment each other. Their battle for balance and truth drive

“Five Quarters of the Orange” is a tantalizingly delectable novel. It is a bittersweet portrayal of the relationship between mother and daughter, love and hatred, truth and deceit. Harris’ characters are rich and alive with emotion. Their thoughts and actions drive the reader faster and deeper into a complex vintage plot. A true delight for the senses, “Five Quarters of the Orange” leaves the reader going back for more.

Bahama Breeze has taste like no other restaurant

McCutcheon’s Studio

volumeSIX.issueFIVE

MARISSA MOODENBAUGH

REPORTER

BOOK REVIEW

each element before adding it to the mixture. Everything is intertwined so inextricably that your senses try to savor each word, each moment. The rich aromas wafting off every page pique the interest and curiosity of the reader, leaving their mouths watering for more. The characters are alive with the bold

RESTAURANT REVIEW just the right amount of onion flavor and both sauces were a great compliment, whether you wanted something sweet or spicy. For my main dish, I chose pan-seared salmon pasta. Although I ordered the full portion, I could only eat half of what I was given. This filling dish blends passion fruit cream sauce, pasta, tomatoes, snap peas, mushrooms and salmon for just the right taste. Being a seafood lover, this was a perfect meal for me. The salmon was perfectly tender and seemed to melt in my mouth. Although I usually don’t enjoy mushrooms, they were the perfect accent to the snap peas, and the bow tie pasta was al dente.

Advertise in

Despite how satisfied I was with the food and atmosphere, there was a lack in good customer service. Our server was very friendly and nice, but she always seemed to interrupt, forgot to ask how our meal was, and she never remembered to bring us a refill after we’d asked twice. At first I thought it might just be an off night for her, but then we encountered the same problem with other servers. This hindered the enjoyment of the delicious food I was eating. Despite the unexcused reaching and the forgetfulness, I was very happy with my evening. There was a bit of a calming effect and the food didn’t leave me wanting. So if you’re up for a fun evening in Tukwila and some island grub, Bahama Breeze would definitely be a place to check out.

Reach the students and staff of Emerald Ridge! Call (253) 435 - 6348

25 volumeSIX.issuefive 3/1/2006 9:56:25 PM


NEWS

A&E

The third battle approaches Change in diversity office Preparations have been made. The bands have been picked. Now all that awaits is the actual Battle of the Bands BY

BRITTANY GENTILE

REPORTER

Justin Tung of A Midnight Octave will make one final appearance before he graduates.

The third annual Battle of the Bands is coming to Emerald Ridge. The Battle begins March 9 at 6 p.m., and tickets will be sold at the door for $6. There are many well-known bands lined up to take the stage: Cavalier, Innerself, A Midnight Octave, Bad City, and Reborn. The bands are taking extra time to prepare because the finals will be held at the Liberty Theatre on March 17 and will feature Jet City Fix. “We are practicing like we do for a normal show,” said Karl Helbich, drummer from A Midnight Octave. “This will be our last year playing it, so we are looking forward to it.” There will also be a Battle of the Fans for the crowd’s favorite band. Lissy Bryan, coordinator of the Battle of the

Bands, had a tough time picking bands to play out of the few that tried out. “Everybody had their own opinion … not everybody is going to be happy, but I did the best I could,” Bryan said When Bryan graduates she will find someone to take her place coordinating this event. “I want to find somebody who can be extremely dedicated who has people skills and organizational skills,” Bryan said. To coordinate this event takes hard work and dedication. She hopes she gets someone who had the same motivation as she did. Since she had previous experience with this she is very confident that this will run more smoothly than it did last year. Some of the problems faced last year were the security officers and attendees not knowing exactly what the rules were. “I am always looking for improvement,” Bryan said, “Since we know what went wrong and what didn’t last year, we will be more prepared.” All the funds raised for this will go to JagWire for the trip to the national convention in San Francisco.

New director of diversity affairs for Puyallup School District is still uncertain in Marya Gingrey’s absence BY

THAYER LAFLEUR

REPORTER

place: Emerald Ridge upper gym Marya Gingrey, director of diversity affairs for the Puyallup School District for the last three years, has decided to step down from her position, leaving the job in temporary hands until a replacement can be found. She officially left the district on Feb. 21. The interim director is Thelma Jackson, who is expected to be on the job for several weeks until Gingrey’s replacement is found, and then will work with the new director to ensure a smooth transition. Though this is only his second year, Superintendent Tony Apostle is now faced with the difficult task of finding a suitable replacement for the job that is mandated by the $7.5 million Thomas lawsuit settlement.

time: 6 pm date: March 9 price: $6 --------

place: the Liberty Theater, Puyallup time: 7 pm

BY

MARILYN DIXON

REPORTER

Following Loveland’s reading, Bates began an audience participation game. He claimed that past readings he had been to had been boring. A volunteer came up and participated in “Name That Book”, and the audience helped the literarily uncultured volunteer guess the titles of books. Immediatly after, he introduced Parrish. She noted the happy mood of the crowd, and said that after her reading, it would disappear. With a more serious and mature reading, Parrish’s work balanced out the once-comical mood of the crowd. After Parrish’s reading, Bates went into another audience participation game. Two volunteers competed in some ‘Romeo and Juliet trivia’ in ‘Head-to-Head Shakespeare.’ The last reader for the night was Agodon. She read a variety of different poems from her journals and books. Some were comical, others more heavy. “Poetry has a reputation of being boring,” Agodon said. “I want people to take away (from my reading) the different sides of poetry.” With the last reader finished, Bates concluded by reading a poem titled, “I Want to

price: $8

Be Your Shoebox,” by Catherine Bowman. It was talked about well after the show. A meet and greet session afterward allowed the audience to meet the readers and purchase books, enjoy refreshments, and donate to Bates’ non-profit organization. The donations were above and beyond Bates’ goal. The audience’s reaction was the highlight of the night. “It was excellent,” senior Diana Aitova said. “It had a good selection of writers and their work. Fiction, poetry – it’s just a good way to connect to the writing community.” Senior Travis Bonnette also enjoyed the night. “I liked it,” Bonnette said. “I’m speechless – more so than usual.” Bates’ first “A River & Sound Review” had met, and surpassed, his expectations. He hopes that word will spread and more will attend the next reading on May 5. However, if they attend, Bates prefers that they attend for at least one of the listed reasons. “(I want) people to love poetry, stories, fiction, and to love people who write them. I want people to enjoy it the way our ancestors were engaged in stories,” Bates said.

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IF THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH DIVERSITY … SHE WORKED WITH US TO RECOGNIZE THE SOLUTION.

Safer Drivers for the Future - Afternoon, Evening or Weekend Classes Available

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- Learn to Drive Defensively -Prepares you for a lifetime of healthy driving habits 120 15th 15th St. SE Su Suite ite 202

File Photo by Jessica Ritchie

The Puyallup community was enlightened by creative writing and English teacher Jay Bates’ longtime dream-made-reality on Feb. 24, as he held his first “A River & Sound Review” in the Lecture Hall at Pierce College. “It’s called a reading series,” Bates said. “I’ll invite three different writers from the community who are poets, fiction writers, non-fiction writers – any practitioners of the creative art of writing, to come and read their original work.” Bates’ writers have to meet requirements. One of the writers has to be a student. The second writer has to be an emerging writer from the community. The third writer has to be an accomplished writer – a writer or poet who has had their works published. These three levels of writing create an essence of balance in the skill levels of the writers. The three writers from this reading

series’ inaugural night were fiction writer Anne Leigh Parrish, who is in numerous journals and the winner of many contests; published poet Kelli Russell Agodon (all of her accomplishments can be found on her website, agodon.com); and ER studentwriter Nathan Loveland, a junior, who was in Bates’ creative writing class. “I wanted to help Jay with his program,” said Agodon, who met Bates in a writing workshop class they took together. “I’m happy to support him, he’s got a lot of energy and good ideas.” Bates has wanted to start his series for five years now, but hasn’t had the time or resources to until recently. “I have ... wanted to create a program to make it on the radio. That’s my longterm goal: five years from now I want it to be so successful, that it’ll be on National Public Radio.” Bates opened with amusing comments to lighten the mood. After warming the atmosphere, Bates introduced Loveland. This was his first reading, but Loveland enjoyed himself, and showed no inkling of anxiety. “I messed up on some parts, but ultimately it was pretty good,” Loveland said.

Principal Brian Lowney said, “she worked with us to recognize the solution.” Although Gingrey’s reasoning for leaving the district is unclear – repeated attempts to contact Gingrey by phone were unsuccessful – she has chosen now as the time to uproot from her position in Puyallup and leave to join a nationally-recognized training firm in Tacoma to pass on her knowledge of incorporating diversity to individuals, corporations and governmental agencies. Jackson is a leading — Principal Brian Lowney educational authority on cultural competence in schools. She spoke at a 2005 summer session at the Washington State Association for Multicultural Education in Seattle about the teaching of bias and fairness in Washington schools.

ABC Driving School

date: March 17

Reading series ‘A River & Sound Review’ successful English teacher and writer Jay Bates brings people together with the fruition of a dream

Debi Christensen, human resources executive assistant, said the district is in the process of reviewing the position, standard procedure for most vacancies in the district. PSD spokesperson Karen Hansen said she expects the job to be posted later this month, and at that time the district will work quickly to hire the new director. In an e-mail sent out to Puyallup School District staff, Gingrey wrote, “Dr. Apostle and I have committed our efforts to ensuring a smooth transition for an interim director and my eventual successor.” Gingrey beat out 88 hopefuls in January 2003 and left her job as a lawyer to become Puyallup’s first director of diversity affairs. In these three years, she has been the constant authority on diversity issues in the district. “If there was a problem with diversity around school,”

(puyallup.wa.98372)

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A&E

NEWS

‘Running Scared’ is an improvement for Walker

News Briefs District levy passes

Loring absent

Early results show the Puyallup School District’s four-year school programs and operation replacement tax levy passing at 65.24 percent. Voters approved the tax in early February that supports day-to-day management of schools. Levy money pays about 20 percent of the revenue for most school districts’ operations. Such measures fund the basics for schools: utilities, insurance, textbooks, salaries, safety, classroom materials and activities. The levy needed a 60 percent “supermajority” to pass. This new $145.4 million levy costs taxpayers $3.43 per $1,000 in assessed property value. The previous levy cost taxpayers $3.45, worth just $30 million cumulatively, partly due to the fact that there were fewer properties owned in the area. While Puyallup easily passed its levy, neighboring districts weren’t as fortunate. The Bethel, Sumner, Tacoma and White River school districts’ levies all failed. These failures essentially cripple each district financially unless they can get them to pass during April’s resubmission period. Additionally, the bond measures for Tacoma, White River and nearby Federal Way did not pass.

Instead of seeing their regular teacher, Candace Loring, many art students found themselves being instructed by substitute Jodean Bailey for the last three weeks of first semester. Loring was gone to care for her son, Joe, who had broken his leg while snowboarding in the Canadian Rockies. He did not know the area well and fell 25 feet onto a CAT track, the marks left by a snowplow. He broke his knee in three places and had a vertical fracture of his tibia. In Mount Baker at the time, Loring did not hear about her son’s injuries until she called his roommate after he had been moved him from a hospital in Canada to Spokane. Loring and her husband met him there and accompanied him to Harborview Medical Center, which has a division specializing in knee injuries. She reports that he is doing fine, although he has been rendered relatively immobile by his injuries. The 21-year-old had to move back into his parents’ basement. He is in passive physical therapy and in a leg brace. His leg is not supposed to support weight, to prevent further injuries. Loring was glad to spend time with her son, but is happy to be back.

Full of excessive swearing, nauseating camera angles and hectic plot, ‘Running Scared’ still lacking

“I would have rather spent time with him going to Europe or something,” Loring said, “but I value the time I get to spend with my son.”

BY

MATT CLICK

Theft on the rise?

EDITORIAL BOARD

Theft is a common, albeit underground, practice at any high school. However, with the dawn of the iPod, administration has seen the practice more often. “In my eyes, I’m seeing more and more of it,” Assistant Principal Troy Hodge said. “Compared to last year at Stahl (where he was an administrative intern), I didn’t see this much.” During the spring sports assembly, the dance team was victimized when members left their bags in the open in a locker room. They were lucky, getting their stuff returned. “Theft happens because kids won’t lock things up,” school security guard Rick Burnley said. “Theft is a crime of opportunity; most people don’t go out and try to steal stuff.” Money, iPods and MP3 players are the most commonly stolen items. Of the 32 thefts actually reported to security since Feb. 6, electronic devices and money took up the top 50 percent.

Boy, Paul Walker sure has come a long way since “The Skulls” and “The Fast and the Furious,” hasn’t he? I mean … “Joy Ride,” “Into the Blue,” “Timeline,” “2 Fast 2 Furious” … actually, now that I think of it, young Mr. Walker has been consistently appearing in the same campy crap for the past six years. That is, until “Running Scared.” Now, don’t misunderstand me: “Running Scared” isn’t a good movie, not by any stretch of the imagination. But at least it’s interesting and at least Vin Diesel isn’t co-starring. Joey Gazelle (Walker) is a mob thug whose main role in the organization is to stash the “hot” guns used in murders by his boss. On a particularly bloody drug bust, Joey’s boss kills two dirty cops with a shiny, snub-nosed revolver. Joey rushes home and stores the pistol behind the wall in his basement like a good criminal lackey. Unfortunately, his 10-year-old son (Alex Neuberger) makes it a habit to play in the basement with the next-door neighbor kid, Oleg (Cameron Bright), and the two boys see him stash the weapon. Oleg snatches the gun and uses it to shoot his abusive stepfather (Karel Roden) in the shoulder, and he flees the house to escape retribution. Now the “hot” gun is on the streets, easily attainable by the law, the mob and a vengeful dirty cop (Chazz Palminteri – the Vanilla Coke guy). But Joey has to get the weapon first, or he’s shotgun fodder. It’s tough to get a hold of though,

–Danny Canham

S

FILM REVIEW because the gun is being swapped and sold between various unsavory characters in the criminal underbelly of New Jersey. “Running Scared” takes the tired “action/thriller” genre and attempts to revive it with an almost whimsical style of filmmaking. The attempt fails, but it fails brilliantly. It’s an intriguing movie to watch, because it feels almost like a fairy tale at certain points. It’s a fairy tale set in dirty, gritty greasy New Jersey, where everyone is packing heat and your next-door neighbor is an ex-Russian mafia hit man. At the same time, how many recent films have used that “filmed-in-a-public-bathroom” grunge look? For the film, it works exceedingly well in setting tone and establishing attitude. But honestly, what happened to pretty cinematography? The film is all over the place. As the characters weave in and out of each other’s plot lines, the movie gets more and more hectic and confusing. The crazy camera angles and non-linear storyline don’t help matters, and supporting characters pop in and out of the film like toaster strudels. For a lot of movies, this frenzied style of filmmaking succeeds. It adds an interesting, creative edge. But “Running Scared” features a fairly nontraditional plot, and it desperately needs an organized style to support that. But the major problem with this film is the dialogue. It’s trying way too hard to be Tarantino,

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and it’s embarrassing. If there was ever a script where 75 percent of the swearing was completely needless, it’s the screenplay for “Running Scared.” I suppose someone needs to tell the filmmakers that excessive foul language ceased being edgy in 1995, because half of Paul Walker’s lines are superfluous swearing and shouting. And when normal dialogue is “Hey honey, pass the %#&@ing spaghetti,” that’s pretty &#%@ing ridiculous. “Running Scared” is a

muddled, confusing mess of a film, to be sure. But it’s fun to watch. It’s interesting, and I’d like to see more from fledgling director Wayne Kramer. He has a distinct flair; he just needs to focus his energies on something tangible.

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SPORTS

NEWS

Prolific athlete tranfers from ER Junior Aaron Brown, a three-sport athlete, has enrolled at Puyallup BY

KAITLYN GOLDEN

EDITORIAL BOARD

Junior Aaron Brown, who placed fourth in the state wrestling tournament in the 171pound weight class last year, transferred to Puyallup High School on Feb. 6, stemming from a protection order placed against him by a female Emerald Ridge student. According to court documents, the girl was at a friend’s house on Jan. 22 and Brown allegedly showed up and threatened to beat up a boy the girl was seeing and had a female friend threaten the girl. The following morning, the girl and her mother chose to file a protection order at the Pierce County Superior Court, citing her as a victim of domestic violence and requesting Brown be kept from the location of her residence, work, and school. “I was shocked,” said Brown, who was served with the initial documents during the school day. “I never thought that was going to happen.” The case was resolved by the courts on Feb. 6, with an agreement that Brown would not visit the girl’s house or workplace. However, the court said the two would be allowed to attend Emerald Ridge, under the condition “(Brown) shall not have hostile contact with (the girl), while both parties attend Emerald Ridge High School.”

The girl and her mother said they elected to file the order in an attempt to halt incidents that allegedly have been taking place for a few years. “This had been an ongoing problem for the last several years,” the girl’s mother said. “Eventually, we decided it was too much and filed the protection order.” The girl says she originally tried to discuss the problem with Brown. “At first we were kind of talking about it and I was trying to help him to change,” the girl said. “I didn’t tell my parents because I was afraid they were going to freak out Brown on me.” Brown’s mother said this wasn’t the best way to handle the situation. “It was a lot of high school drama blown out of proportion,” Donna Mutch said. “It was disappointing they took it right to the legal level because it resulted in us having to make decisions we shouldn’t have had to make.” The court also suggested that Brown take a domestic violence course, but that will, most likely, not be happening. While the court ruled the girl and Brown could both attend Emerald Ridge, Brown elected to transfer to Puyallup, because Emerald Ridge was no longer a protected setting for him, according to Mutch.

“We had to remove him (from Emerald Ridge), because the school could no longer provide a safe environment for him, due to things being taken to the legal level,” Mutch said. Principal Brian Lowney only would confirm that Brown was not expelled and declined to otherwise comment on his exit. Brown elected to transfer to Puyallup in order to be at a more prominent athletics school. Because of the hardship situation, Mutch said Brown will be eligible for athletics at Puyallup. At ER, Brown was a member of the football and wrestling teams. “I elected to go to Puyallup because of my future and I want to be put in the best place possible to succeed and play (sports) in college,” Brown said. As a sophomore, Brown quickly established himself as one of the best athletes at Emerald Ridge. He made an immediate impact on the football team, playing linebacker and fullback. Then, during wrestling, he placed fourth in the 171-pound weight class at the state tournament. Brown did not compete in any sports this year because of a torn ACL. He said he also chose Puyallup over Rogers because he and his family didn’t want him to appear to be going to a rival high school. “We didn’t want to give the perception that he was leaving to play at a rival high school, and we couldn’t take him out of the Puyallup School District because then he wouldn’t be eligible for sports, so he took the second best option,” Mutch said.

The girl is frustrated because most students don’t understand the two are allowed to attend the same school. “Everyone at school blames me because they think that he had to leave, but at court they had said we could go to the same school, we could even be in the same room,” she said. While Brown’s return to ER next year has been rumored, it is not to be expected. “I’d come back if all the drama wasn’t still there,” Brown said. “But that probably isn’t going to happen.” Since Brown’s departure to Puyallup, the pair has not had any contact, and neither party is satisfied with how the situation has played itself out. “It was very disheartening for us,” Mutch said. “We’ve been big fans of Emerald Ridge. Our older son (Brynsen) went to Emerald Ridge and Aaron’s stepfather coached football at Emerald Ridge. We’ve been part of the Emerald Ridge family, so it was a great disappointment that this had to be taken to the next level. It was based off rumors from high school girls and false allegations. But sometimes the right choice is the choice that’s hardest and that’s how it was here.” On the opposite side, the girl’s mother is frustrated that the harassment has continued toward her daughter despite the protection order. “He had to move, but she’s left behind with people calling her names and making fun of her without knowing the whole story,” her mother said.

Dance team qualifies for the district tournament After overcoming inexperience and a subpar first meet, the dance team has made great strides to qualify for the district tournament BY

KAYTI WEAVER

REPORTER

Emerald Ridge’s dance team is finally on its way to districts. With all the hard work and determination since September, it’s finally paid off. “We have really have come to an understanding with each other and how important it is to be a team and not just individual dance members,” said junior co-captain

Kelci Selbee. The team has come a long way to qualify for districts. At the beginning of the year the team had little experience and had troubles with teamwork. “We had trouble learning to work with each other. It was a new environment for some of the girls and there were a lot of new faces,” Selbee said. The little experience as a team led to many ups and downs. Scoring a 189 in the first meet in December at Shorewood High School wasn’t enough to get them to districts, since the qualifying score must be a 195 or higher. “It was the first competition for most of the girls and I think that their nerves got the better of them,” Selbee said. “Their dance wasn’t as strong as it is now. We are

growing as a team and I think we will do awesome. Being a team is the most important part.” However, after the January competition at the Everett Events Center, the team scored a 220, more than enough to qualify. With their strong formations and tight dance routines, it was just what they needed. So now, as for the districts, which are held on March 11 at Thomas Jefferson High School, they are preparing for the best. “We called in a choreographer who helps with our critiquing and formation. We are practicing a lot and bonding more,” said Selbee. “Their technique has grown. They have learned to be a team. You can see it in their dancing. They have a lot more confidence,” coach Jenni Muehlenbruch said.

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First AP audit comes to ER College Board analyzes AP courses at ER to ensure that college-level curriculum is present BY

ELAINE RAYMOND

REPORTER

The Advanced Placement department is currently undergoing its first AP audit, which is an analysis of AP courses being taught in our school. The purpose of the audit is to ensure that courses that are labeled as AP are deserving of the title and guarantee colleges that the curriculum taught in AP classes is, in fact, college level. College Board, which is the company that administers AP, looks for specific requirements for each subject. “The requirements were written by former Development Committee members and AP Programs staff,” College Board stated on its Web site. “Each course’s requirements were drawn from the official AP Course Description.” This is the first year that College Board has conducted the audit anywhere throughout the world. This year is a trial for the audit. The first required audit will take place next year, and the audit will become an annual evaluation at each school. “Last year we got a notice,” White said. “This year, we can voluntarily submit. Next year, it is required to submit.” Although the first required audit does not take place until next year, Emerald Ridge is choosing to submit materials this year. Schools that choose to submit this year will not be af-

couldn’t call it AP anymore,” AP Literature teacher Brandi Groce said. Not only would this change the course title, but it would affect students who are either enrolled in the class or who had taken the class. “If your school does not pass the qualifications, you do not get to put AP on your transcript,” White said. If a school does not pass the audit, they can reapply the following year. However, even those courses that pass must renew their authorization every year. Once a class is approved, only the submission of the audit form is required for authorization. Although the inconsistency of passing or failing the audit may cause confusion for students and teachers alike, no specific programs or remedies are in place to solve the problem. According to Groce, the audit is not only a way —AP Government teacher Matt White to ensure that AP is meeting the standard, but also to help those schools that need assistance achieving that goal. “We have to show everything we teach,” AP American “They want to retain the validity of the AP title, but they Government and Politics teacher Matt White said. also want to work with teachers,” Groce said. College Board then evaluates the material to ensure that All AP teachers will be required to attend AP training the course meets the AP standard. despite the results of the audit. It will become a new require“Every test and assignment has to prepare you for the ment set by College Board. AP test,” White said. White predicts that Emerald Ridge will have no problem The audit examines the curriculum to asses a particular passing the audit. course’s rigor and validity to be labeled AP. The materials are “I think we’ll probably do fine,” White said. due between June 2006 and June 2007. Schools will receive Groce agrees. the results approximately three months after submission. “Although I can only speak for myself, I feel confident,” “If my course didn’t pass the audit, that would mean we Groce said. fected if the initial audit is failed. It more is for preparation of what is to come when it really counts. “It would help benefit teachers and administrators prepare for the future of what will be mandatory,” counselor Annie Boulet said. The audit requires all AP teachers to submit a copy of a syllabus from the class, a sample assignment, a sample exam and the audit form.

IF YOUR SCHOOL DOES NOT PASS THE QUALIFICATIONS, YOU DO NOT GET TO PUT AP ON YOUR TRANSCRIPT.

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NEWS

SPORTS s p o r t s BRIEFS

Alcohol problem not solved Students face suspension and possible alcohol assessment program for sneaking alcohol onto school grounds BY

SHAILEY WILKINSON

REPORTER

Beer. Liquor. Whiskey. The Drink. Alcohol consumption remains an issue of concern at ER, as at all schools. Students are not just using all the classic ways of sneaking alcohol on campus, they are constantly thinking of new ways to transport alcoholic beverages through the Emerald Ridge hallways. “It’s usually in their vehicle and they

sneak out at a break or lunch to consume,” security guard Catherine Brown said. The administration can’t do much to a student for drinking off campus besides reporting it to the police. For an athlete, the story is a little different. “We usually turn it over to the police,” Assistant Principal Troy Hodge said. “But for athletes they may forfeit some playing time.” Because alcohol is so easily supplied to minors off campus, there are more opportunities to be in possession on campus as well. “The fact is that it’s hard to monitor because of laws that prevent students from being searched in such a way that prevent students to bring alcohol onto campus. We

just can’t go around, without suspicion, having kids opening their backpacks and emptying their pockets,” Brown said. There haven’t been any problems with students selling other students alcohol, but there is no difference, as far as punishment goes, between bringing, consuming, or supplying the alcohol. “Being under the influence and being in possession are going to be the same (punishment). It could be emergency expulsion or 90 day suspension, which is more common,” Brown said. Along with a 90 day suspension, a program called Horizons is offered. “Horizons is a drug and alcohol assess-

ment program (that) usually goes with a 90 day suspension. Those 90 days would be reduced if they agree to it,” Brown said. This year, there have been six students suspended for being under the influence. Comparing this year’s numbers to previous years, not a lot has changed. “This is my first year here,” Hodge said. “But I think the numbers are pretty low. But I’d like them to be lower – zero would be nice.” Although the security guards are constantly on alert, the truth is that students outnumber teachers, and there is no way every minor in possession of alcohol on campus is going to be caught.

Students deal with stress of interschool relationships Romantically involved students speak out about making their relationships with partners at other schools work despite limited time to spend together BY

KIRSTEN BABAUTA

REPORTER

Ever wonder what it would be like to date someone from another school? City? Or even state? Sophomore Shareena Wilhelm goes above and beyond when it comes to dating. Not only is she dating sophomore Mateo Ateortua from Rogers, he also is an exchange student from Colombia. Wilhelm and Ateortua have been together for a month and met through another exchange student, who was staying with Wilhelm, but also attending Rogers. While not being able to see each other during the day,

they talk frequently on the phone and find time to see each other about three times a week. “I think that I would like it better if he came to Emerald Ridge, but when you don’t see them on a daily basis, it’s special when you do see them,” Wilhelm said. According to Wilhelm, Ateortua is a lot different than guys here. “He treats girls better than the boys do here, and he’s very respectful,” Wilhelm said. Even though Ateortua will be leaving in five months, Wilhelm has no second thoughts about their relationship. Ateortua also plans to come back to the United States, expecting him and Wilhelm to still be a couple. Sophomore Craig Tuschhoff has a similar connection. He also is dating a sophomore at Rogers, but she is resident of the United States. Tuschhoff and Sammie Harris have been together for 11

months, previously dating at Ballou Junior High. “I think it’s better that we’re at different schools – we still see each other a lot, and make it work,” Tuschhoff said. Although Harris is supposed to be going to Emerald Ridge, she waivered over to Rogers for the music program. “I agree with her decision for waivering over there, but I don’t necessarily like it,” Tuschhoff said. To one it might seem like this would weaken their relationship, but in this case it doesn’t. “It strengths us because it forces us to talk more and see each other less,” Tuschhoff said. Going to different schools or having different friends, however, doesn’t keep them from hanging out, which they do a lot on the weekends. Never mind the countless hours they spend on the phone talking. “I trust her to take care of herself and her friends to take care of her when I’m not around,” Tuschhoff said.

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b o y s BASKETBALL r eco r d p o sts e a s o n

4-16 summary Despite the team’s fighting efforts, it didn’t pull out

did not advance

g i r l s BASKETBALL

of the season with many wins, considering they have little experience as a team. However, this was the team’s building year. They were one of the only teams to have two starting sophomores on their varsity team. It seems they can only improve from this season.

summary r eco r d postseason

1-6

8 to districts

b o y s SWIMMING

Eight individuals qualified for districts: Ty O’Bryant, who swam the 100-yard butterfly, 200 freestyle and the 400 freestyle; Orval McKenzie, who swam the 100 breaststroke; Robin Stoyles, who qualified in the 500 freestyle, the 200 individual medley and the 200 freestyle; Steven Washburn, who swam the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley; Tyler Kain, 100 breaststroke; Nick Humlick, who qualified in the 50 freestyle; and Trevor Clark, the 100 backstroke. Ryan Renggli qualified for state. He swam the 200 freestyle, placing 10th. Also, he swam the 100 backstroke, earning fifth place. Despite many disappointing losses and the team not doing well in league, it was a great success to send so many swimmers to the postseason. The swim team has young participants and only few swimmers have ever swam competitively, but there is hope for next year.

12-6 2nd (league) 11th (districts)

r eco r d postseason

g i r l s BOWLING

summary Jessica Dolan received the eighth-highest pin total during districts and made the WCD All-Tournament team. The team made some great achievements including qualifying for districts and ranking second in the SPSL. Like the girls basketball team, this was the bowling team’s building year, since this is its inaugural season.

summary r eco r d none p o sts e a s o n

10th (districts)

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08,21.indd 2-3

The team pulled through with great and exciting wins against Rogers (twice) and Thomas Jefferson (twice). They, unfortunately, lost to Puyallup both times and had devastating losses to other teams as well, knocking them down and out of the playoffs. Jordan Thaanum made the all-league team. Talent will remain, with Bryn Allen and Tory Wambold returning. Each has been strong on the varsity team this year.

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BRITTANY ESPINOZA

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08

g i r l s GYMNASTICS

21 volumeSIX.issueFIVE

Freshmen Whitney Sidor and Brianna Howe went to districts, where Howe got 24th and Sidor got 11th in the vault. Sidor placed seventh at state in the vault. Although the team is losing some important seniors, new talent is coming through next year with ninth graders who moved up this year or will be moving up. The coaching this year was much stronger than previous years, somewhat securing the team’s probability of future success. Photos by Kaitlyn Golden, Lori Jones, and Ashley Vincent

3/1/2006 9:59:11 PM


kevin OP/ED w i l l s Gingrey leaves oppurtunity W

v ital

ith the departure of Director of Diversity Affairs Marya Gingrey, the Puyallup School District awaits several challenges. Trying to replace someone in a position of such prominence is always difficult. The ensuing departmental shift will require adjustments on the district and school levels, and might be thought of with some trepidation by the district administration. However, we look at Gingrey’s departure as an opportunity – a chance to make the job more meaningful. To put it bluntly, none of us really know what has been accomplished by the Office of Diversity Affairs since its creation. If, in this position’s three year history, substantial diversity-related differences have been made on a district level, they have escaped our notice. We are sure that Gingrey has worked hard, but are disappointed that the fruits of her labors are so unclear to us as students. Gingrey’s position was created as part of a $7.5 million lawsuit settlement to offset alleged institutionalized racism in the district, yet we have trouble linking Gingrey or the Office of Diversity Affairs to any of headway we have seen in this area. According to the district Web site, the Office of Diversity Affairs should “assist the superintendent, adminis-

tration, and staff in the advancement of equity initiatives with the Puyallup School District.” His or her responsibilities include serving as a liaison to staff and the community, following up on student harassment and discrimination incidents, and serving as district ombudsperson. Granted, Gingrey did deliver the keynote speech in last year’s World Week

is futile. Instead, we turn our focus to the future of diversity affairs in the Puyallup School District. We assume the students’ best interests are first and foremost on the district’s mind when seeking to replace Gingrey. We also assume that, pending a thorough analysis of the past three years, the current job description will be revaluated and will hopefully take on a more student-oriented angle. We also urge the district to consider a candidate with a slightly more radical approach than Gingrey’s. We need a director who can retroactively solve problems, yet can also be proactive and create noticeable change in district equity uninspired by negative incidents. We need a director who is more than filling a position. We need a director who makes more than appearances. We need a director who makes changes. A new face in the diversity affairs position should mark a change for the better. A new director could revolutionize what that position means to the district’s students and ultimately affect us all. With the right mindset and some fresh ideas, the new director of diversity affairs could fully express the position’s potential and help it to become what its creators envisioned. Editorials are composed by, and are the opinion of, the JagWire editorial board.

WE NEED A DIRECTOR WHO MAKES MORE THAN APPEARANCES. WE NEED A DIRECTOR WHO MAKES CHANGES.

stat s

5 feet, 8 inches 145 pounds size 10.5 shoes quarterback and 140-pound wrestler season record (wrestling) of 25 wins, 9 losses placed 8th (2006) at wrestling state and competed (2005) can throw a football one mile

athlete of the month How has being a three sport athlete impacted your life? It takes a way from a lot of my free time, but overall it’s a lot of fun.

What qualities do you admire in a teammate? Hard worker, loyal, and enthusiastic.

Where do you see athletics taking you in the future? Keep giving me good personality qualities and making me a hard worker for the rest of my life.

If you could change one thing about one of your seasons this year, what would it be? It would have been nice to make the playoffs in football.

EDITORIAL BOARD ....................................................MATT CLICK .....................................................................................KAITLYN GOLDEN .................................................................................................NICK KAJCA ................................................................................ KATINA MATHIESON ............................................................................................. TYLER QUINN COPY EDITOR .........................................................JESSICA RITCHIE PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR .....................................KASSIE GREEN BUSINESS MANAGERS.............................................. LISSY BRYAN ............................................................................................ DARRIN JONES CIRCULATION MANAGER ..............................JENN WHITHAM REPORTERS ........................................................ KIRSTEN BABAUTA ................................................................................................... MIMI SISON ..................................................................................... DANNY CANHAM ........................................................................................MARILYN DIXON ............................................................................... BRITTANY ESPINOZA ...................................................................................BRITTANY GENTILE ...................................................................................................LORI JONES ....................................................................................... THAYER LAFLEUR ....................................................................MARISSA MOODENBAUGH .....................................................................................ELAINE RAYMOND ............................................................................... BRIAN SAMADUROFF ..............................................................................................NIKKI SEADER ..........................................................................................BRIE SHANNON .................................................................................................. KELLI SKEIM ............................................................................................LAUREN SMITH ................................................................................................ ALEX STOBIE ...........................................................................................ROBIN STOYLES .......................................................................... VERONICA TORNQUIST ....................................................................................... ASHLEY VINCENT ............................................................................................ KAYTI WEAVER ................................................................................SHAILEY WILKINSON .............................................................................................SUMMER YATES ADVISER..............................................................................JEFF NUSSER

AFFILIATES

JEA, NSPA, SPJ, WJEA, WSJA

THE FINE PRINT E m e ra l d R i d g e H i g h School 12405 184th St. E. South Hill, WA 98374 253-435-6300

EDITORIAL MISSION As an open public forum for student expression,

Photos by Kassie Green, Shailey Wilkinson, and Elaine Raymond

What is your motivation? Trying to meet my own expectations.

Who is someone you admire? My parents, because they made me the person I am today.

kickoff assembly, but that really is the full extent of her interaction with the typical ERHS student. Gingrey’s position was created to fight against something decidedly wrong with the Puyallup School District. The director of diversity affairs has the ability to do amazing things for our school system. This position allows him or her an amount of influence that rivals any other district-level director. If Puyallup’s students are in any way lacking in multicultural awareness – and we believe they are – then it is this person’s job to rectify those shortcomings. For better or worse, Gingrey is gone. Focusing on what she did or didn’t do

STAFF

JagWire seeks to cover a wide spectrum of relevant and overlooked topics, while upholding the highest of journalistic standards. JagWire also serves as a communication link between Emerald Ridge High School and its surrounding community. This year, the publication hopes to build upon the precedents previously set by attempting to give voice to all Emerald Ridge students

in a manner that is fair, balanced and accurate. LETTERS POLICY

JagWire will accept unsolicited copy from students, staff and community members. Only signed and dated letters with address and phone number from community members, or grade level from students, will be accepted. Letters should be limited to 300 words and will be published as space is available. All letters are the sole opinion of the writers, and the staff reserves the right to edit any letter for space and/or clarity. We will not publish material that may substantially disrupt the school process.

Letters to the editor may be submitted by mailing them to JagWire c/o Emerald Ridge High School, or by e-mailing them to jdnusser@puyallup.k12.wa.us. ADVERTISING MISSION

The JagWire publication staff accepts advertisements for most products and services available to the public. However, the staff reserves the right to reject, edit or cancel any advertisement that the staff deems offensive in light of normal public standards. Ads identifying students as athletes by photo or text (WIAA 18.20.0 and 18.20.1) also will not be accepted. The staff will not accept advertising for racist, sexist or illegal for high school students

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SPORTS

OP/ED

Teachers’ speech has its limits ER athletes earn recognition E

verybody has opinions, and it’s thanks to the 1969 Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines that everyone – teachers and students alike – have the right to express those views on school grounds. However, a problem arises when teachers feel it necessary to press their views on students. If teachers were to read the fine print of Tinker, they would find that particular methods of influencing youth are not OK. The ruling states that opinions may be expressed provided they are not disruptive to the educational process or impinging upon the rights of others. But students always have the right to not feel harassed and the right to formulate their own opinions. There are certain teachers at Emerald Ridge who blatantly express hurtful or offensive opinions, where they are religious, political or other areas. Teachers are allowed opinions, but isn’t their primary job to teach us the facts so that we may have our own minds, so that we may reach our

own conclusions on such matters as politics and religion? No matter what you believe, whether you are right-wing, leftwing, Arab, American, homosexual, or straight, you have the unalienable right to an opinion at this school – at any school. Your personal opinion should be allowed to be formulated without the assistance of stubborn college-degree holders. It sounds hypocritical, like we’re calling for teachers to keep their mouths shut unless their opinion matches ours. What we’re asking for is for teachers not to say things or put up signs or posters in classrooms that make ER a hostile environment to learn and work in. The worry with expressing an opinion like this is that

STUDENTS ALWAYS HAVE THE RIGHT TO NOT FEEL HARASSED AND THE RIGHT TO FORMULATE THIER OWN OPINIONS

Senior Kylie Marshall adds to her impressive list of awards by recieving the Washington Gatarade Player of the Year award, while Brent Dammeier and Tommy Ward also recieved scholarships for their academic accomplishments

it will lead to an oppression of free thought. Students will see this only as an excuse to suppress the opinions they disagree with. The hypothetical situation calls to mind the recent college-level controversy that has left many professors scared to speak their minds lest they’re reported. It’s a freedom of speech nightmare we don’t want ER to suffer, with potentially devastating consequences for students and teachers alike. Teachers have no ability to report student opinion they disagree with (provided it’s not harassing or disruptive). It’s something to think about before making use of ER’s harassment box in the library. So take this as a warning to students and teachers together. Rejoice in the triumph of John F. Tinker over his tyrannical Des Moines school district. Do not, however, presume to push offensive, hurtful opinions into our impressionable minds. And in reporting an offensive opinion, consider first the consequences for us all. Editorials are composed by, and are the opinion of, the JagWire editorial board.

BY

KELLI SKEIM

REPORTER

Volleyball player Kylie Marshall and football players Brent Dammeier and Tommy Ward – all seniors – have received scholarships to prove their hard work in athletics and academics. Kylie Marshall has been chosen for 2005-06 Gatorade’s Washington Volleyball Player of the Year. According to Gatorade.com, the Gatorade Player of the Year is now viewed as the nation’s most prestigious high school athletic award. To get nominated to be Gatorade’s Player of the Year, people affiliated with volleyball, such as players, coaches, and outside viewers could send in nominations and requests for athletes. They contact the coaches and the athletic directors of the school and do somewhat of a background check on each athlete nominated. This award is also based on stats of the athlete. Kylie received a plaque for the school and herself as well as a banner. “I am very proud to receive this award,” Marshall said. Brent and Tommy have been selected for academic scholarships through football, getting scholarships of $500 a piece, to apply to any college of their choice. The scholarship is to give them money towards anything academically, not towards football. “It’s awesome to be recognized for our hard work,” Dammeier said. This money will be sent to the college of their choice and then will be put towards their college books, classes, tuition, etc. Their scholarship money was raised through the Tacoma Athletic Commission. This is where all 1A to 4A schools in the Piece County are asked to nominate student athletes. The coaches from each school nominate two of their students to be an academic finalist in football. Dammeier and Ward both were top eight finalists because of their academics. There were two students who received $1,500 and six who received $500. Playing football likely isn’t in their futures. “I may be a walk-on at University of Washington, but I’m not sure,” Ward said. Even though both of the boys have been accepted to college, Ward may be the only one who may go on to play football. “I will not go on to play football in college but I will be going. I have a shoulder surgery coming up,” Dammeier said.

Seniors Brent Dammeier, Tommy Ward, and Kylie Marshall celebrate their recently received recognition.

District lacrosse club offered to all those interested The ER soccer fields have been invaded by lacrosse-crazed students on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays BY

Have an opinion you’d like to share with the ERHS student body? is an uncensored public forum for student expression, so write in and get your voice heard loud and clear.

Write a letter to the editor and submit it to Mr. Nusser in E157, or email it to:

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Photo by Shailey Wilkinson

jdnusser@puyallup.k12.wa.us volumeSIX.issueFIVE

VERONICA TORNQUIST

REPORTER

A few Emerald Ridge students are joining up and playing the new sport now offered in Puyallup: lacrosse. Tacoma Youth Lacrosse Association, also know as TYLA, is now offering a lacrosse opportunity for high school boys and girls. The teams are set up by age and gender. Coach John Werry is holding practices

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on the Emerald Ridge soccer field every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 4-6. TYLA lacrosse teams are set up by city. The Puyallup team, known as the Panthers, will play other teams around the state. Their first game is March 15. Sophomore Brooke Oliver is a first year player for TYLA. “It was a sport hardly anyone played, so I thought it would be cool to do something different,” Oliver said. It’s been a change from what she’s used to.

“Lacrosse is really fun, I’m used to doing soccer so it’s seems way slow. But I like the way we throw the ball and it’s a challenge,” Oliver said, “I would definitely recommend this to others for sure.”

I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS TO OTHERS BECAUSE IT’S A GREAT EXPERIENCE; NO OTHER SPORT LIKE IT IS OFFERED HERE. — Sophomore Taylor Head

Another athlete now playing for the Panthers is sophomore Taylor Head. This also is Head’s first year playing Lacrosse. “I heard about the team from my friend Matt who also plays. Lacrosse is fun and I like it because it’s physical,” Head said. “I would recommend this to others because it’s a great experience; no other sport like it is offered here.” All together, the Panthers will play a total of 14 games against teams from around the state. “I’m excited for the following games – it should be fun and a great new experience,” Oliver said.

3/1/2006 10:01:10 PM


FEATURE

SPORTS

Wrestling comes out on top After completing their second undefeated league season, the Jags win the league title and send eight wrestlers to state BY

Sarah Taylor: Triple Threat

NICK KAJCA

EDITORIAL BOARD

Despite her hectic schedule, she manages to excel in both the arts and in school BY

With an active schedule that consists of seminary in the morning, school in the day, and dance practice, voice lessons, and giving piano/guitar lessons in the afternoon, junior Sarah Ellen Taylor is quite busy. Ballroom dancing, her main leisure pursuit, was started for reasons entirely her own. “I started doing it because it was a way to meet new people,” Taylor said. “It’s fun to do, and I hope to go further in it.” Born in Edmund, Okla., her family moved to Puyallup because of her dad’s job as a dentist; she was six months old at the time. In the course of her 16 years of life, she has expressed much interest in the arts.

Senior Keith Schlecht earns some nearfall points at the state tournament. Schlecht took third place overall, matching the current school best.

but I did not know we were going to do this well,” Schlecht said. “This well” refers to the fact the team has matched almost every single notch that last season’s team posted despite losing key wrestlers to graduation and state competitors Aaron Brown (to injury) and Julio Rodriguez (transfer to Rogers). “I did not think we would be as good,” Timothy said. “We lost quite a few people like Julio and Aaron, but people stepped up and the team is stronger than it ever has been.” The team overcame these losses by using the mentality that setting and practicing with high expectations would lead to success and perseverance. “I thought we would be as good as last season because those were our goals and I thought we had a chance to meet them,” Meyerhoff said. Despite not being pound-for-pound as talented as last season’s team, this year’s squad was able to find its own niche through team unity.

“We really came together and we are more like a family than a team,” Timothy said. “As a whole, most all of the wrestlers have had major improvement.” Hopefully the underclassmen have been paying close attention to the way this year’s team has connected and succeeded because next season the Jags will again have major holes to fill. The Jags will lose an immense amount of experience with the departure of 20 seniors, 15 of whom have been wrestling for all three years in the program. Those seniors will create seven vacant varsity spots for next season. “We will be losing half of our varsity but we have lots of guys with match experience to step up,” Meyerhoff said.

“I’ve always loved singing, playing (acoustic) guitar, piano, and dancing. I’m a very musical person,” Taylor said. Along with her extracurricular activities, Taylor said school and church are important factors in her life. Waking early at the wee hours in the morning to make it to seminary, Taylor begins her average day. Considering herself involved with her church, she is the Laurel class president for girls her age. Its purpose is to plan different activities for girls her age and to help them with their life-derived obstacles and problems. After seminary, school is next on her list. With classes such as ASL II, concert choir, honors chemistry, algebra II, and Running Start, Taylor’s morning to mid-day is booked with activities. “I don’t know (how I manage it all,) I just kind of do it. Weekends are not as busy; weekdays are just the really busy ones,” Taylor said. Taylor’s after-school activities are even more time consuming. She has been

But just like any elite program, the team is not expecting any failure in the future and is just looking to keep on adding to its resume. “We have great coaches and we will just keep on building,” Timothy said

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Not only is Sarah Taylor a vocalist, but she plays two instruments including the piano and guitar. Photos by Lori Jones

“Justin Timothy surprised a lot of people,” coach Jim Meyerhoff said. “He worked really hard and beat a guy who had beaten him twice.” The road leading up to the state tournament proved to be both an exciting and disappointing one for the Jags. The excitement stemmed from the team’s first-ever league tournament title, but the disappointment came from not being able to defend last year’s regional title by finishing second to the Puyallup Vikings. The Jags had a halfpoint lead over the Vikings going into the last match, but Puyallup was able to win the match and claim the title. “Not winning regionals was the biggest disappointment, but we still did really well,” Timothy said. Although the Jaguar wrestling program has proven that it has become a force to be reckoned with, bolstered by its back-to-back undefeated dual meet seasons and accompanying league titles, some of this season’s success seemed to be a bit of a surprise. “I thought we were going to be good,

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MARILYN DIXON

REPORTER

Photo by Elaine Raymond

The Jaguar wrestling team once again added to its ever-growing resume of accomplishments, its latest feat being a school-record four wrestlers placing at the state tournament on Feb. 17-18, led by third place finisher Keith Schlect. The four placers were part of an original group of eight wrestlers who qualified for the WIAA Mat Classic XVIII. Schlecht, a senior, matched a school best by placing third at 160 pounds. However, as a team, the Jags were not able to best last year’s sixth place overall mark and ended up finishing in 17th. Schlecht started off the tournament dominant by defeating his first two opponents 6-2 and 15-6. The two wins advanced him into the semifinals, were he suffered his only defeat of the tournament, a pin, by the eventual state champion, Auburn’s Shane Onufer. Onufer, who finished second in state last year, pinned Schlecht at the 5:42 mark late in the third period. Onufer is on a very short list of wrestlers that Schlecht has never defeated in his career, and this was not the first time the two have squared off this season. The two most recently met in January in a dual meet, where Schlecht was defeated 15-7. Schlecht was able to shake off the loss though and bounced back in a big way by defeating Jake Farmer of Heritage in a close 3-0 match to claim third place. “I wanted to place in the top three and just really have fun and enjoy the tournament,” Schlecht said. The other state placers were senior Justin Timothy (sixth place) at 125, junior Kevin Wills (eighth place) at 140, and senior Nick Webster (eighth place) at 112. Seniors Jordon Smith (171) and T.J. Smith (215) both wrestled well but narrowly missed placing by losing their decisive final matches that would have qualified them for the second day. Sophomore Gabe Weber (130) and junior Jade Anderson (135) each made their first appearances at state and were eliminated after losing their first two matches.

musician, dancer, vocalist ballroom dancing for two years now at the Pacific Ballroom Dance Company, and she also plans to continue it until her senior year. She practices for two-and-a-half hours each session and the sessions differ from as little as once a week to three times a week. “I started dancing when I saw (the dancers) perform at a youth group. It was really interesting. (However,) when I was a little girl, I did ballet for two to three years – I was 6 or 7,” Taylor said. This was when she first started taking an interest in dancing and the musical arts. She is currently at the intermediate level in her group. She doesn’t compete, but she is considering it. “Maybe next year, I might. I’d have to tryout,” Taylor said. If she’s good enough, she’ll get picked to compete, and be assigned a partner. She has been practicing her other musical-love, singing, her whole life. “Professionally, I started in eighth grade choir,” Taylor said. She’s been in choir ever since; currently, she is in Concert Choir. She also takes voice lessons to improve her vocal abilities. Once a week, she’ll visit her vocal instructor. Playing the piano is more of an on-theside passion. She focuses more on teaching it to her students. “I teach piano on Mondays to little kids. I also have one guitar student,” Taylor said. Since she’s surrounded by many influences, her musical preferences are evenly distributed. “It’s a pretty good variety, country, punk, rock stuff – I love all of my dance music,” she said. To Taylor, music has either meaning, or a really good beat to just tap your foot to. “I love to (either) relay my life to music and the lyrics, or to just have fun and dance with it.” Taylor couldn’t have done it by herself, of course. A supportive family and strong

religious structure have shaped the moldings of her support system. “My parents have always been there to give me the opportunities to do all of these things. They’re very supportive in what I do,” Taylor said. Moments where she felt the most proud were after difficult-to-master dance performances. “After a performance, when all the work put in pays off … my parents are proud, friends are there – that’s awesome,” Taylor said. One of her routines, the West Coast, was really hard for her to master. She attempted it as a beginner, with little positive results. “I tried it again this year, and was better at it. It’s from experience and practice, I guess. It felt really good,” Taylor said. What she does, and what she wants to continue to do are two different things. Her short-term goals are for self-improvement purposes. “I want to become a better dancer. Like in the waltz, I want to make sure I look graceful, like a princess,” Taylor said. Goals for life after high school are all planned out. “I want to go to college; I’m thinking of beauty school. (I want to) become a cosmetologist – and a mother, that’s a career. I want to get married and have kids and be a stay-at-home mom, but also have a source of income,” Taylor said. Travel also is a possibility. “I’d like to go to Paris, France. I’m fascinated with it; the Eiffel Tower just draws me in. But, it’d be fun to go anywhere, really,” Taylor said. She feels she has been shaped this way because of her numerous activities. While her doings were started to give her something to do, they have led her to become the person she is. Caring, nice, easy to talk to, and loving are all words she would use to describe herself.

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FEATURE BY

LORI JONES

REPORTER

Go to a girls volleyball game and you’ll see a group of people wearing the girls’ jerseys. Walk into the gym during a wrestling match and you’ll see the stands packed. But sit in the stands at the pool and you’ll be surrounded by parents; go to watch golf and there will be nothing but the wind in the trees and the sound the ball makes as it soars through the air. With so many great non-traditional sports at this school, you’d think students would be busy all the time headed out to support them, but they don’t. Students yell and pound the stands as Keith Schlecht pins another guy, and people clap and scream as Kylie Marshall gets another ace, but no one jumps in ecstasy when Rachel Owens wins a tennis match or cheer as Jamie Sagdahl nails her floor routine. Why is that? If ER has such great athletes, why don’t all of them get supported? There’s no doubt in anyone’s minds that volleyball and wrestling deserve the attention they get. After all, volleyball got third in state and the wrestlers went undefeated, took the league title, and sent eight guys to state. So, all in all, no one should be unsupportive of those athletes. But that doesn’t take away from the lack of support the other athletes get. Both tennis teams have done well in league, the golf team was undefeated, water polo went to state, there are a ton of swimmers, there’s a diver who has made it to state, the girl cross country team was academic all-state, the water polo goalie got first team all-state … the list goes on. Even though every team gets recognized at the assemblies, they don’t all feel they get the respect they deserve. One reason for the lack of interest in other sports could be the way they’re played. “Volleyball is a lot faster paced, unlike golf where you have to follow the person around or in tennis where you wait for your person to play for two seconds and be done,” said senior Kelsey Rochester, a volleyball player. “Volleyball is a full fledged hour-and-a-half game that’s entertaining.” At least one other athlete agrees. “People are fed by the media and they want instant gratification,” said sophomore

Spotlight On:

BY

MIMI SISON

REPORTER

Senior actor reflects on his craft and experiences on the ERHS stage

BY

hope of recapturing the euphoric feeling of being part of a successful show. “I’ve been cast in as many plays as I could be in until this year,” McNamara said. He auditioned for the musical “Bye Bye Birdie,” but was not cast because of what he called “creative differences” between he and drama director Steve Glass. “I might audition for the next play. It would be my last chance to be on stage at Emerald Ridge. A chance to remember and say good bye to the theatre,” McNamara said. This statement is a reminder that the 18-year-old talent will soon be graduating and performing on stages elsewhere. The top university that should be watching out for Ryan’s knock on their campus door is Western Washington University. “That’s my goal right now. Otherwise, I’m thinking about looking into Southern Oregon University, which is right by Ashland, which is a really big theatre town that sponsors the Oregon Shakespeare Festival every year,” McNamara said. Ryan is looking to audition for some of the plays in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival after college, but is unsure whether he will make it. “There is a lot more competition and a lot more people who are really talented,” McNamara said. Though many people hold great confidence in his acting abilities, Ryan never lets the praises and confidence go to his head. He displays discomfort in recounting his achievements, while his mother, on the other hand, does not. “He is very talented. Ryan is funny and smart. He’s kind of handsome, too,” Cindy McNamara said. The McNamaras are always present where Ryan is performing. With such a supportive and loving family behind his back, it would be an outrage for any son to disappoint such parents. That is exactly why Ryan strives hard not to by engaging in productive and meaningful activities. “Really, I don’t have any concerns or worries. It’s a great outlet. All the kids he hangs out with, I know, have a passion for something that’s not hurtful. I really am glad that he chose this route,” Cindy McNamara said.

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SUMMER YATES

REPORTER

Photo by Mimi Sison

Ryan McNamara – the man, the Hypokrit, the mad scientist. The school caught its most recent glimpse of McNamara on screen just last month in the Science Week video. Accompanying him were seniors Amanda Pisetzner and Tyler Quinn, playing the characters of the other two scientists who sported amusing and highly-outrageous accents. Though the video was in black and white, the talent which radiated from the screen was colorfully applauded. “The way he took on the role of the scientist was perfectly hilarious,” sophomore Jessica Treich said. That’s not to say, though, that this is McNamara’s finest performance. It certainly served to amuse and wrap up the success of Science Week, but his talents, as well as appearances, are not limited to such barriers as the TV screen. The stage is where Mc Namara truly thrives. “Being on stage feels right,” McNamara said. “I love making people understand the same truths about the script as I do.” His performing career began in eighth grade when he was cast as a Nazi for Stahl Junior High’s play of “The Diary of Anne Frank.” He became involved in numerous school plays thereafter, but nothing up to that point had reached him as particularly profound about acting. A fall play in his sophomore year changed all that. McNamara was given a significant part in “Musical Comedy Murders of 1940,” and has since credited his present joy of performing to the play’s director, Kristen Zetterstrom. “(She) gave me a chance as a sophomore and helped shape me into the actor I am now,” McNamara said. “The whole show was phenomenal; it helped make me fall in love with acting.” Young McNamara was moved by the huge amount of positive response he received from the audience. The promising actor has taken part in almost all the plays ever since with the enduring

Robert Velasquez, runner and soccer extraordinaire. “We want things immediately and with wrestling we can see the final result in just a few minutes.” Sometimes people are just uninformed about what’s going on. “Tennis is a part of the year where people are getting ready to graduate,” senior Kristin Bartels, a tennis player, said. “It’s during the warmer months and there are other things to do. It isn’t publicized as much either.” The blame can always go to a person’s parents. Nature versus nurture is a big part of how someone will turn out as an adult. “As a kid you join basketball, not swimming,” said senior Ryan Barker, swimmer. “I even played when I was younger and didn’t come around to swimming until high school.” Then there is always the old, “guys are better athletes than girls” and the “anything you can do I can do better” mentality. “Ryan Renggli got recognized for swimming, but I can’t think of any girls that have,” Barker said. “With volleyball and wrestling, it’ pretty equal though.” Convenience also has its role. “Basketball can be played pretty much anywhere, but you have to go to a pool that’s big enough for swimming,” said senior Ty O’Bryant, swimmer. “It isn’t as out there and available and you really only see it at the Olympics.” There seems to be an agreement about what sports are out there. “The only sports people care about are football, basketball and wrestling. Only guys get recognition, so I’m used to it,” said senior Lindsey Fowler, a water polo player. Football is a traditional sport and the media does seem to promote it a lot. “For football everyone dresses up and goes out to watch the games,” Butler said. “Maybe we like to watch it ’cause it’s more intense.” There are other sports that don’t do as well, and maybe with a little more of a fan following, they would succeed “I think we’d do a little better, but it’s all about skill and execution,” Fowler said. “It’s a confusing sport and a lot of people don’t know what’s going on.”

Camo pants. Paw-printed cheeks. The raw, young crowd filling the bench seats. Home-made suit jackets. Cram the Rams. King of the Hill. Tradition. Pride. Smells like Jag Spirit. Take a big whiff. But what about the rest of the world? While the youth of America is caught up in Friday night lights and the next big game, where do sports take precedence globally? First, travel south of the border to Veracruz, Mexico. According to Alicia Rathbone, a Puyallup resident who grew up in Veracruz, teenagers here take private classes in the evenings for sports. Like most of the world, soccer is the most dominent sport, but youths also enjoy playing basketball or baseball. In Mexico, most sports are played co-ed. In contrast to America, very little emphasis is placed on athletics. Although parents are not huge supporters of those who do play, teens are highly involved in cheering on their peers and enjoy dressing up for games. Progression to play in professional sports is unusual in Veracruz. While teens are talented, rarely will any type of athletic scholarship for higher education be given, and if so, will most likely be for soccer. “(Sports) are not as encouraged as they should be,” Rathbone said. Only athletes that work on their own make it into a professional sports team. In the country of Zimbabwe, Africa, extracurricular sports also draw crowds, according to Chipo Chikara, a native of the country. Schools and sports are separated boys from girls. Even though only all-male schools have

mascots, school spirit runs rampant for both genders. All students are required to be athletic supporters throughout the year. The school year is divided into three terms, and each student is mandated to actively attend three sports per school term, so high attendance is never an issue. They compete against schools in their surrounding regions. For boys, the most popular sport is soccer – known as football – and rugby. For girls, the dominant sports include field hockey and netball (also popular in Australia), which can be described as basketball without dribbling. Teams are divided in three groups: A, B and C teams, similar to America’s customary varsity and junior varsity, or first string and second string. Even though sporting competitions are not co-ed, each brings a large and exciting fan base. Similar to Emerald Ridge students, Zimbabwe students cheer loudly for their team and they dance, only using War Cries – adapted from actual wars – instead of cheers. These are usually spoken in Shona, although English is the central language of the schools. Although soccer dominates the athletics department in Zimbabwe, for one week in August, it will take a back seat for The Rugby Festival. For seven days, schools from across the country come to compete and have a good time. “It’s kind of the biggest testosterone fest for boys back home,” says Chikara, now a resident of Puyallup. The support of parents and administration varies from school to school, depending on culture. However, the focus will always be education over sports, since there is no market for professional sports after high school, save for the Olympics.

Since most students are active in sports, extra attention for student athletes is less common. “If you’re good at sports, great. It stays on the field. People back home aren’t treated as demi-gods as they are here,” Chikara said. In Cologne, Germany, schools don’t offer any extracurricular activities; teenagers join sport teams and clubs outside of school. Popular sports include soccer, tennis, track and badminton. These teams compete against other clubs in neighboring cities. Athletes are cheered by their teammates, since parents are not very involved in sports. “Playing for a team is not as big a deal as here (in America),” said Benno Burczeck, a German exchange student attending Emerald Ridge. But if a player shows a lot of potential, he or she may have the opportunity to attend a special sports school that allows them to train during the day on their specific sport. The student could then go on a youth professional team and that could lead to a career on a professional sports team. “Any sport that is played in the USA is played in Germany,” German teacher Rebecca Hagerman said. German schools lack athletic school spirt. “I like the whole school spirit thing, you know, connecting the whole school,” Burczeck said. Burczeck has been taking advantage of athletic opportunities all year long, running cross country in the fall and swimming in the winter. All over the world, sports to play a role in teen life. “You can’t have too many sports,” Burczeck said.

3/2/2006 10:08:32 AM


BY

ROBIN STOYLES

REPORTER

Dittus’ life isn’t completely consumed by sports – he’s also a singer and an avid stamp collector.

16,13.indd 2-3

Students can be intimidated when they first meet Dell Dittus, the Emerald Ridge athletics director. Well, some students are always intimidated by the 6-foot, 5-inch man with a deep voice that might as well be coming out of a subwoofer. The truth is, there is much more to Dittus than meets the eye. He has come a long way from being a Jackrabbit in high school to being a Jaguar at Emerald Ridge. But this Jaguar loves much more than sports. He also enjoys singing, traveling, collecting stamps, and has a soft spot for disadvantaged kids. Dittus played basketball and baseball growing up as a kid as he has always had an athletic build and has always enjoyed sports. “I was tall and gangly and I kind of grew into my body,” Dittus said. “I was never really uncoordinated. I was always bigger and faster than most people.” Dittus attended Quincy High School in central Washington with 450 other Jackrabbits. Sports gave him many opportunities to grow. “(Sports) gave me the opportunity to excel, to interact with other people, kids and adults, and to learn how to deal with setbacks and adversity, as well as when things went well,” Dittus said. After high school, he went to George Fox College in Oregon (before it became a university) where he continued basketball and track. Dittus graduated five years later instead of four after changing his major, which ended up being physical education. After graduating, while still in Oregon, he encountered a problem with teaching P.E. “There were very few P.E. teaching jobs available at that time,” Dittus said, “so I worked for a couple of years as a groundskeeper at the college. I picked up my health minor because I got free tuition for working there.” In 1978, soon after picking up his minor in health, Dittus got his first teaching job in Salem, Ore., as a health teacher. He worked at this job until he met his wife, Jeanette, in March of 1980. Dittus’ sister knew Jeanette’s sister, and so when Dittus was visiting his family in central Washington and Jeanette was visiting her sister in Ephrata. Jeanette’s sister invited Dittus over for dinner. “I was set up on a blind date by my sister,” Jeanette said. “She asked me to come and meet my husband. Three months later we were married.” Then, a few weekends later, he went to Puyallup, where she grew up and lived, to visit her again. A little later he made the move up to Puyallup and they got married in August after he got a teaching job. “As I was courting her, I heard of a job opportunity at Puyallup High School,” Dittus said. “I applied for the traffic safety job down there and got that in 1980.” Dittus taught traffic safety for a year before getting his first P.E. teaching job at Ballou Junior High. Then, in fall of 1982, he started teaching P.E. at Kalles Junior High, where he taught for 18 years. He became the athletics director his third year. “I have been an athletics director ever since,” Dittus said. While Dittus was in Puyallup, he was also raising a family with his wife. Three years after they were married, they had their first child, Brock, who is now 23. Brock was home schooled until he got his G.E.D. when he was 15-and-a-half. Unlike his father, Brock was not interested in sports. “My son is a musician,” Dittus said. “He plays guitar and is the lead in a band.” Dittus’ two daughters – Lynette, 21, and Janelle, 19 – both attended Puyallup High School, the same school their mother attended, where they swam and played water polo. A few years ago Dittus and his wife decided to be foster parents. Their first foster children were 4-year-old twin boys, who he said were a lot to handle. Then, three weeks after the twins went home, the Dittuses got a call that there was a 9-month-old boy who needed a home. “When Jamarr came to us he couldn’t even sit up,” Dittus said. “He was developmentally delayed and so we saw him take his first step. We saw him speak his first word. It is pretty cool.” The Dittuses adopted Jamarr not too long thereafter, and he is now 3 and will be turning 4 in May. Since Dittus is very busy with sports during the winter, his wife only teaches very part-time at Green River Community College so she is available to take care of Jamarr. “He is my top priority,” Jeanette said, “so I try to think about what is best for him in all the decisions I make. I think that overall I am more drawn to home and being a mother and spending time with people than I am to a career.” Dittus’ hobbies include singing in church choirs and playing pick up games of basketball and pickle ball, but his biggest hobby is collecting stamps. “I have been stamp collecting for 12 years now,” Dittus said. “I specialize in United States mint stamps. I have some stamps that are worth about $300 or $400.” Dittus favorite thing to do is spend time relaxing with his family, when he is not in school. Whether they take their motor home to the beach or go down to Santa Cruz, Calif., which they have done for the past couple years, Dittus just enjoys being with his family.

For many high school students, sports are more than recreation. But for the student body of Emerald Ridge, sports have shaped the very culture of our school. And now, as the Jags enter their sixth year, the athletics here have become even more substantial. JagWire examines high school sports and their effect on academics, spirit and the heritage of ER.

BY

LAUREN SMITH

REPORTER

Since its opening in 2000, Emerald Ridge has been known for its excellence in programs focusing on the arts. Departments such as drama, music, and journalism have really put ER on the map in the Puyallup School District and surrounding society. However, in the past year, the athletic program has grown in strength as well as popularity. Since the 22-14 victory over Rogers High School in the 2004 King of the Hill football game, sports have attracted a lot of attention from the students. “We finally have a reason to be as spirited as we are because of that win, and other schools now know that we’re a threat,” senior Amanda Pisetzner said. Before the victory, Emerald Ridge was not the most popular and widely known school when it came to sports. Even with sports such as volleyball and wrestling making a name for themselves, the more common sports, such as football and basketball, weren’t making as much of a mark. “At that time we were still thought of as a weak school, so when we beat them in their Homecoming game, with a really small team on the field when they had this huge amount of players standing on the sidelines, it was an awesome feeling,” senior Kaelin Koppelman said. Since the remarkable come-from-behind victory, the interest in athletics at ER has skyrocketed. More students are attending sporting events because of victories becoming more consistent. “Any new high school struggles with sports at first; especially at ER because we started with only a junior and sophomore class, and it takes awhile to build up a good sports program,” aviation teacher Jeff Coleman said. “From when the school started, to where we are now, we have a lot bigger crowds when it comes to sporting events, especially

when we have a really good team, because everyone gravitates toward success.” With the new success in athletics at ER, students and staff have started to notice that the school is starting to pay more and more attention to sporting events, as opposed to the more artistic programs. This has lead many to believe that ER is becoming another normal American high school that only cares about sports. “The school as a whole is definitely becoming more oriented to sports. You do have the students and staff that are really into the arts, but if you look at it from a popularity point of view, sports seem to bring in a lot more people,” junior Evan Berger said. “Things like Battle of the Bands, Hypokritz, and the plays obviously bring in a big crowd, but it’s it looks like nothing compared to sporting events like King of the Hill, or the Homecoming football game, or any sporting event against Rogers or Puyallup.” Also, traditions such as the Jag Jacket cheer have made the sports at ER more popular. Since its creation in 2002, the Jag Jacket cheer has added to the spirit and hype of the crowd at sporting events. “The Jag Jacket and cheer really boosts the confidence of the crowd and athletes at sporting events,” senior Michelle Auton said. “It really has become a legacy here, a young one, but a good one.” Spirit has grown tremendously at ER with the help of the Jag Jacket cheer. With the cheer involved in almost every home football and basketball game and every spirit assembly, it really gets a lot of people more excited about sports and supporting their teams. “The Jag Jacket really pumps people up, especially if they’re like a junior or sophomore who wants to wear it when they’re a senior,” senior Ty O’Bryant said. “It’s worshiped at our school, the ‘Arc of the Covenant’ if you will, everyone wants to wear it.”

3/1/2006 10:04:22 PM


BY

ASHLEY VINCENT

REPORTER

Many students are under the impression that sports programs receive a large amount of funding through ASB – funding that could otherwise be used for academic and other extra-curricular pursuits. For the most part, these students are mistaken. Though ASB does give some funding to many sports programs, the teams mainly support themselves through gate fees, fundraisers, and individual athlete expenses. This year, the budget plan for ASB planned to give sports teams just over $14,600; conversely, fundraisers and gate fees were expected account for over $70,900 of funding for all sports teams combined. Overall, the sports that spend the most on equipment upkeep and uniforms are supported by a small margin through ASB money and mainly get their

BY

funds through the efforts of the sports participants. Those that spend the most raise the most or pay the most. The top predicted spenders for this year were football, wrestling, and boys’ basketball. Football planned to spend $19,100 and by far is the most expensive sport at Emerald Ridge. Though they do get the most from ASB – $6,500 – the team also brings in the most through fundraising and gate fees, which accounted for $12,600 of its allotted budget for the year. The team successfully raised $2,500 selling gold cards. Wrestling, the second-largest budgeted sport at $11,000, gets all of their funding through gate fees and fundraising, holding its annual tournament to help raise funds. Boys basketball brought in $12,600 of their allotted $13,800 through gate fees and fundraisers. According to Athletics Director Dell Dittus, generally the amount that is allotted by ASB to each team is dependant upon the number of participants and other factors such as expense of equipment and how badly uniforms need to be replaced. If programs apply for ASB funding,

they usually receive part, if not all, of the sum they ask for. Teams such as gymnastics, girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, girls swimming, volleyball, and wrestling did not apply for or receive money through ASB. Many of these teams got the funding they needed through other means. The lowest predicted spenders were volleyball, girls and boys tennis and boys water polo. They were the only sports predicted to spend under $1,000. Though volleyball brings in around $2,700 they only planned to spend around $500. The sports budget overall this year accounted for just under $100,000 to be spent on sports equipment. From new uniforms to chalk for lining fields, the budget covers everything the teams need. Along with these expenses, the transportation to and from events must also be accounted for. District funding pays for 70 percent of all transportation of athletes. In turn, ASB funding accounts for 30 percent of this amount, which comes out to about $17,000 a year. Funding for transport is not included in the ASB sports budget but instead comes out of a separate transportation budget.

NICK KAJCA

EDITORIAL BOARD

Athletes often are portrayed as larger than life. Whether it is a high school basketball player or LeBron James, athletes seem to carry a status that can elevate them a little higher than the rest of society. At times, this status can even escalate to the point where athletes are worshiped and receive preferential treatment. Society does not hide its infatuation with the athletically inclined, and it is not difficult to find cases were professional athletes are indeed worshiped and catered to. This, however, is nothing groundbreaking, and it has long since become the norm for society to praise and reward its professional athletes. What is new, though, is that this athletic limelight is now beginning to shed itself upon the high school athletes of America. High school athletes around the country are no longer just students participating in extracurricular activities and are beginning to receive their own preferential treatment – not in the form of cash and cars, but in-

14,15.indd 2-3

stead with grades and attendance. As Emerald Ridge is growing and expanding in its athletic prowess its athletes are becoming increasingly visible and targeted. As the school continues to improve with every season, the issues of athlete worship and preferential treatment are now for the first time becoming pertinent. But so far it does not seem that this issue has breached the confines of ER. “I think preferential treatment is too rare and is not really an issue here,” said senior Tommy Ward, a varsity football player. “I think very few athletes get better treatment because of who they are.” There are many forms of treatment that have gained national attention in high schools across the country. The main and most frequent form has to do with teachers changing the grades of their athletes so they can remain academically eligible and on scholarship. So far, this form is not yet a problem at ER. “I have never seen that happen,” said

senior Keith Schlect, a varsity wrestler. “People have told me teachers have done it for them, but I think they are full of it and it has not happened to me.” The only form of bias at ER that has begun to raise a few eyebrows has to do with attendance and eligibility. Athletes must participate in a certain number of practices to become eligible for games, but coaches do not always follow these rules if they need an athlete ready to perform. “In some cases I think coaches let players participate even if they are not supposed to, but it depends on the situation,” Ward said. Closely following practice eligibility is the issue of attendance. The WIAA Athletic Code of Conduct states that all athletes must be at school the day before, the day of, and the day after a game or they are not eligible for the next event. This rule has also become one that can be bent in favor of the athlete. “I have kids who have missed my class,

but they still play in the games,” teacher Sarah Cypher said. “It’s a paperwork nightmare and they get away with bending that rule.” Whether or not these eligibility issues have anything to do with athlete worship or not is unclear, but what is clear is that the issue has spawned a gray area that has made it easy to bend the rule. Things like if an athlete is injured and watches – not participates in-practice are they still eligible? Both rules can have different interpretations that can allow for some fluctuation. Either way the days of the ER sports programs anonymity are coming to an end and the spotlight is now beginning to shine on the athletic programs. The door to athlete worship and preferential treatment has been opened. “I want exposure for my wrestlers,” coach Jim Meyerhoff said. “But they are always in the spotlight because they are doing something extra and if anything does happen, people notice.”

BY

KAITLYN GOLDEN

EDITORIAL BOARD

At any American high school, sports play a vital role in the atmosphere of the campus. However, the forgotten side of sports often can be the area of academic eligibility. To be eligible to participate in athletics, a student must be passing four of their six classes. According to Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) standards, this means getting a D or above. To be assured of this, Athletics Director Dell Dittus strongly encourages coaches to do periodic grade checks throughout the season. “I ask the coaches to do one once every three weeks,” Dittus said. “It is a strong suggestion that coaches monitor academic progress of their athletes.” However, there is no official system in place to determine whether athletes are meeting standard. While many coaches give out slips of paper for athletes to get their teachers to sign, others use different methods. “I do more informal checks for cross-country,” said coach Gary Osborne, who also coaches track. “I e-mail all the teachers and get back everyone’s grades. But when you get a big sport like track it’s hard to e-mail all the teachers and get back (the athletes’) grades.” Water polo coach Ken Fidler does multiple checks throughout the season. “(My athletes) are responsible before the season to go around with a grade check to all their teachers,” Fidler said. “I do another check towards the end of the season to see if they’re eligible to go on to post-season.” Coaches also try to rely on the honesty of their athletes to be informed of their academic position. “We (as coaches) try to really emphasize that it is important for them to tell us where they’re at in school,” Osborne said. “If we have an athlete that is in eligible and they compete, we could end up forfeiting a track meet. Usually, if a kid is failing three out of six classes they’ll come talk to us about it.” While the WIAA standard is for a student to be passing four of six classes, some coaches hold their athletes to higher standards. “All my athletes must meet a certain standard (2.5 or above),” Fidler said. “I have higher expectations of them.” Other coaches, such as football coach Kelly Susee, don’t really keep up with athletes’ grades, due to frustration with the system. “Unfortunately, the district has gone to an umbrella policy in regards to eligibility and grades,” Susee said. “They have set it at passing four of six classes, and you as an athlete, you have to work pretty hard to be in that spot.” Two years ago, the standard was an athlete had to have above a C- in all classes. When this was the case, Susee would do weekly grade checks and if a student came back

with a C-, he would first have them go to the teacher and ask what they needed to do to pull up the grade. If that didn’t happen, one of the coaches would then talk to the teacher to see what needed to be done. The athlete wouldn’t play until the C- was raised. “Now all you do is ask yourself, ‘Are they passing?’ and you don’t have as much to work with,” Susee said. “The district doesn’t give you as much leeway if you fall below – that’s it (for the athlete). There used to be work time (to get the grade up) in the past, but now it is so cut and dry.” The WIAA also does not limit time length of practices, but coaches try to limit practice time in order to give athletes time for schoolwork. “We (at Emerald Ridge) have tried to limit practices to between two to two-and-a-half hours,” Dittus said. Fortunately, academic ineligibility is a rarity at Emerald Ridge. “Only one student has been declared academically ineligible during a season this year,” Dittus said. Occasionally, students will be declared ineligible before the season begins because of their current GPA. Dittus checks all GPAs before clearing athletes to compete. Just like academic ineligibility, easier grading on athletes does not seem to be a common practice at Emerald Ridge. “We’ve never had an instance where a teacher has told us that ‘so and so’ is getting a higher grade in a class because they’re an athlete,” Dittus said. Osborne feels it would be difficult for this to happen because so many classes are graded objectively. “In math, for example, you can’t give higher grades,” Osborne said. “It’s like you get an 80-percent and that is a B. There is no way you can change that.” In fact, it does appear that Jaguar athletes have proven themselves to be dominating in the classroom. For the past two years, the girls cross country team has been named academic state champions and this year, senior wrestler Geoff Nelson was individually awarded academic state champion for the 4A 140-pound weight class. “I think for the last two years we’ve had the right mix of student athletes,” Osborne said. “The girls have been committed to both athletics and academics.” During the 2005 season,

the girls had a cumulative GPA of 3.976, raising the bar from the 2004 GPA of 3.913. This average GPA comes from the top seven Varsity runners on the team. “I think hard workers demonstrate hard work in everything they do,” said senior Elisabeth Sherwood, who has been a member of both award-winning teams. “(Over the last two years) we’ve developed a great group of girls who are devoted to both athletics and academics.” Nelson was excited that his hard work had paid off when he found out that he had won the award with a GPA of 9.710. “I was excited because it was something I had known about for a while and had been working towards,” Nelson said. “I was glad that I won.” For awards such as academic state champion, Dittus receives the GPAs of all teams with grade points over 3.0 and submits them all to the WIAA for the Les Schwab Scholastic Awards. The girls cross country team was the first to win this award. During this school year, the girls volleyball team has come in second for highest GPA, pulling a 3.645, an average found from 14 different girls. Rank of lowest GPA cannot be determined, as teams with GPAs below 3.0 aren’t ranked. These teams include football, wrestling, junior varsity boys basketball, and boys water polo. Many of these teams have lower GPAs because of the large number of participants. “With a larger team, you have a more diverse group of kids,” Osborne said. “If you have a football team of 70, not all of them are 4.0 students.”

3/1/2006 10:03:15 PM


BY

ASHLEY VINCENT

REPORTER

Many students are under the impression that sports programs receive a large amount of funding through ASB – funding that could otherwise be used for academic and other extra-curricular pursuits. For the most part, these students are mistaken. Though ASB does give some funding to many sports programs, the teams mainly support themselves through gate fees, fundraisers, and individual athlete expenses. This year, the budget plan for ASB planned to give sports teams just over $14,600; conversely, fundraisers and gate fees were expected account for over $70,900 of funding for all sports teams combined. Overall, the sports that spend the most on equipment upkeep and uniforms are supported by a small margin through ASB money and mainly get their

BY

funds through the efforts of the sports participants. Those that spend the most raise the most or pay the most. The top predicted spenders for this year were football, wrestling, and boys’ basketball. Football planned to spend $19,100 and by far is the most expensive sport at Emerald Ridge. Though they do get the most from ASB – $6,500 – the team also brings in the most through fundraising and gate fees, which accounted for $12,600 of its allotted budget for the year. The team successfully raised $2,500 selling gold cards. Wrestling, the second-largest budgeted sport at $11,000, gets all of their funding through gate fees and fundraising, holding its annual tournament to help raise funds. Boys basketball brought in $12,600 of their allotted $13,800 through gate fees and fundraisers. According to Athletics Director Dell Dittus, generally the amount that is allotted by ASB to each team is dependant upon the number of participants and other factors such as expense of equipment and how badly uniforms need to be replaced. If programs apply for ASB funding,

they usually receive part, if not all, of the sum they ask for. Teams such as gymnastics, girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, girls swimming, volleyball, and wrestling did not apply for or receive money through ASB. Many of these teams got the funding they needed through other means. The lowest predicted spenders were volleyball, girls and boys tennis and boys water polo. They were the only sports predicted to spend under $1,000. Though volleyball brings in around $2,700 they only planned to spend around $500. The sports budget overall this year accounted for just under $100,000 to be spent on sports equipment. From new uniforms to chalk for lining fields, the budget covers everything the teams need. Along with these expenses, the transportation to and from events must also be accounted for. District funding pays for 70 percent of all transportation of athletes. In turn, ASB funding accounts for 30 percent of this amount, which comes out to about $17,000 a year. Funding for transport is not included in the ASB sports budget but instead comes out of a separate transportation budget.

NICK KAJCA

EDITORIAL BOARD

Athletes often are portrayed as larger than life. Whether it is a high school basketball player or LeBron James, athletes seem to carry a status that can elevate them a little higher than the rest of society. At times, this status can even escalate to the point where athletes are worshiped and receive preferential treatment. Society does not hide its infatuation with the athletically inclined, and it is not difficult to find cases were professional athletes are indeed worshiped and catered to. This, however, is nothing groundbreaking, and it has long since become the norm for society to praise and reward its professional athletes. What is new, though, is that this athletic limelight is now beginning to shed itself upon the high school athletes of America. High school athletes around the country are no longer just students participating in extracurricular activities and are beginning to receive their own preferential treatment – not in the form of cash and cars, but in-

14,15.indd 2-3

stead with grades and attendance. As Emerald Ridge is growing and expanding in its athletic prowess its athletes are becoming increasingly visible and targeted. As the school continues to improve with every season, the issues of athlete worship and preferential treatment are now for the first time becoming pertinent. But so far it does not seem that this issue has breached the confines of ER. “I think preferential treatment is too rare and is not really an issue here,” said senior Tommy Ward, a varsity football player. “I think very few athletes get better treatment because of who they are.” There are many forms of treatment that have gained national attention in high schools across the country. The main and most frequent form has to do with teachers changing the grades of their athletes so they can remain academically eligible and on scholarship. So far, this form is not yet a problem at ER. “I have never seen that happen,” said

senior Keith Schlect, a varsity wrestler. “People have told me teachers have done it for them, but I think they are full of it and it has not happened to me.” The only form of bias at ER that has begun to raise a few eyebrows has to do with attendance and eligibility. Athletes must participate in a certain number of practices to become eligible for games, but coaches do not always follow these rules if they need an athlete ready to perform. “In some cases I think coaches let players participate even if they are not supposed to, but it depends on the situation,” Ward said. Closely following practice eligibility is the issue of attendance. The WIAA Athletic Code of Conduct states that all athletes must be at school the day before, the day of, and the day after a game or they are not eligible for the next event. This rule has also become one that can be bent in favor of the athlete. “I have kids who have missed my class,

but they still play in the games,” teacher Sarah Cypher said. “It’s a paperwork nightmare and they get away with bending that rule.” Whether or not these eligibility issues have anything to do with athlete worship or not is unclear, but what is clear is that the issue has spawned a gray area that has made it easy to bend the rule. Things like if an athlete is injured and watches – not participates in-practice are they still eligible? Both rules can have different interpretations that can allow for some fluctuation. Either way the days of the ER sports programs anonymity are coming to an end and the spotlight is now beginning to shine on the athletic programs. The door to athlete worship and preferential treatment has been opened. “I want exposure for my wrestlers,” coach Jim Meyerhoff said. “But they are always in the spotlight because they are doing something extra and if anything does happen, people notice.”

BY

KAITLYN GOLDEN

EDITORIAL BOARD

At any American high school, sports play a vital role in the atmosphere of the campus. However, the forgotten side of sports often can be the area of academic eligibility. To be eligible to participate in athletics, a student must be passing four of their six classes. According to Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) standards, this means getting a D or above. To be assured of this, Athletics Director Dell Dittus strongly encourages coaches to do periodic grade checks throughout the season. “I ask the coaches to do one once every three weeks,” Dittus said. “It is a strong suggestion that coaches monitor academic progress of their athletes.” However, there is no official system in place to determine whether athletes are meeting standard. While many coaches give out slips of paper for athletes to get their teachers to sign, others use different methods. “I do more informal checks for cross-country,” said coach Gary Osborne, who also coaches track. “I e-mail all the teachers and get back everyone’s grades. But when you get a big sport like track it’s hard to e-mail all the teachers and get back (the athletes’) grades.” Water polo coach Ken Fidler does multiple checks throughout the season. “(My athletes) are responsible before the season to go around with a grade check to all their teachers,” Fidler said. “I do another check towards the end of the season to see if they’re eligible to go on to post-season.” Coaches also try to rely on the honesty of their athletes to be informed of their academic position. “We (as coaches) try to really emphasize that it is important for them to tell us where they’re at in school,” Osborne said. “If we have an athlete that is in eligible and they compete, we could end up forfeiting a track meet. Usually, if a kid is failing three out of six classes they’ll come talk to us about it.” While the WIAA standard is for a student to be passing four of six classes, some coaches hold their athletes to higher standards. “All my athletes must meet a certain standard (2.5 or above),” Fidler said. “I have higher expectations of them.” Other coaches, such as football coach Kelly Susee, don’t really keep up with athletes’ grades, due to frustration with the system. “Unfortunately, the district has gone to an umbrella policy in regards to eligibility and grades,” Susee said. “They have set it at passing four of six classes, and you as an athlete, you have to work pretty hard to be in that spot.” Two years ago, the standard was an athlete had to have above a C- in all classes. When this was the case, Susee would do weekly grade checks and if a student came back

with a C-, he would first have them go to the teacher and ask what they needed to do to pull up the grade. If that didn’t happen, one of the coaches would then talk to the teacher to see what needed to be done. The athlete wouldn’t play until the C- was raised. “Now all you do is ask yourself, ‘Are they passing?’ and you don’t have as much to work with,” Susee said. “The district doesn’t give you as much leeway if you fall below – that’s it (for the athlete). There used to be work time (to get the grade up) in the past, but now it is so cut and dry.” The WIAA also does not limit time length of practices, but coaches try to limit practice time in order to give athletes time for schoolwork. “We (at Emerald Ridge) have tried to limit practices to between two to two-and-a-half hours,” Dittus said. Fortunately, academic ineligibility is a rarity at Emerald Ridge. “Only one student has been declared academically ineligible during a season this year,” Dittus said. Occasionally, students will be declared ineligible before the season begins because of their current GPA. Dittus checks all GPAs before clearing athletes to compete. Just like academic ineligibility, easier grading on athletes does not seem to be a common practice at Emerald Ridge. “We’ve never had an instance where a teacher has told us that ‘so and so’ is getting a higher grade in a class because they’re an athlete,” Dittus said. Osborne feels it would be difficult for this to happen because so many classes are graded objectively. “In math, for example, you can’t give higher grades,” Osborne said. “It’s like you get an 80-percent and that is a B. There is no way you can change that.” In fact, it does appear that Jaguar athletes have proven themselves to be dominating in the classroom. For the past two years, the girls cross country team has been named academic state champions and this year, senior wrestler Geoff Nelson was individually awarded academic state champion for the 4A 140-pound weight class. “I think for the last two years we’ve had the right mix of student athletes,” Osborne said. “The girls have been committed to both athletics and academics.” During the 2005 season,

the girls had a cumulative GPA of 3.976, raising the bar from the 2004 GPA of 3.913. This average GPA comes from the top seven Varsity runners on the team. “I think hard workers demonstrate hard work in everything they do,” said senior Elisabeth Sherwood, who has been a member of both award-winning teams. “(Over the last two years) we’ve developed a great group of girls who are devoted to both athletics and academics.” Nelson was excited that his hard work had paid off when he found out that he had won the award with a GPA of 9.710. “I was excited because it was something I had known about for a while and had been working towards,” Nelson said. “I was glad that I won.” For awards such as academic state champion, Dittus receives the GPAs of all teams with grade points over 3.0 and submits them all to the WIAA for the Les Schwab Scholastic Awards. The girls cross country team was the first to win this award. During this school year, the girls volleyball team has come in second for highest GPA, pulling a 3.645, an average found from 14 different girls. Rank of lowest GPA cannot be determined, as teams with GPAs below 3.0 aren’t ranked. These teams include football, wrestling, junior varsity boys basketball, and boys water polo. Many of these teams have lower GPAs because of the large number of participants. “With a larger team, you have a more diverse group of kids,” Osborne said. “If you have a football team of 70, not all of them are 4.0 students.”

3/1/2006 10:03:15 PM


BY

ROBIN STOYLES

REPORTER

Dittus’ life isn’t completely consumed by sports – he’s also a singer and an avid stamp collector.

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Students can be intimidated when they first meet Dell Dittus, the Emerald Ridge athletics director. Well, some students are always intimidated by the 6-foot, 5-inch man with a deep voice that might as well be coming out of a subwoofer. The truth is, there is much more to Dittus than meets the eye. He has come a long way from being a Jackrabbit in high school to being a Jaguar at Emerald Ridge. But this Jaguar loves much more than sports. He also enjoys singing, traveling, collecting stamps, and has a soft spot for disadvantaged kids. Dittus played basketball and baseball growing up as a kid as he has always had an athletic build and has always enjoyed sports. “I was tall and gangly and I kind of grew into my body,” Dittus said. “I was never really uncoordinated. I was always bigger and faster than most people.” Dittus attended Quincy High School in central Washington with 450 other Jackrabbits. Sports gave him many opportunities to grow. “(Sports) gave me the opportunity to excel, to interact with other people, kids and adults, and to learn how to deal with setbacks and adversity, as well as when things went well,” Dittus said. After high school, he went to George Fox College in Oregon (before it became a university) where he continued basketball and track. Dittus graduated five years later instead of four after changing his major, which ended up being physical education. After graduating, while still in Oregon, he encountered a problem with teaching P.E. “There were very few P.E. teaching jobs available at that time,” Dittus said, “so I worked for a couple of years as a groundskeeper at the college. I picked up my health minor because I got free tuition for working there.” In 1978, soon after picking up his minor in health, Dittus got his first teaching job in Salem, Ore., as a health teacher. He worked at this job until he met his wife, Jeanette, in March of 1980. Dittus’ sister knew Jeanette’s sister, and so when Dittus was visiting his family in central Washington and Jeanette was visiting her sister in Ephrata. Jeanette’s sister invited Dittus over for dinner. “I was set up on a blind date by my sister,” Jeanette said. “She asked me to come and meet my husband. Three months later we were married.” Then, a few weekends later, he went to Puyallup, where she grew up and lived, to visit her again. A little later he made the move up to Puyallup and they got married in August after he got a teaching job. “As I was courting her, I heard of a job opportunity at Puyallup High School,” Dittus said. “I applied for the traffic safety job down there and got that in 1980.” Dittus taught traffic safety for a year before getting his first P.E. teaching job at Ballou Junior High. Then, in fall of 1982, he started teaching P.E. at Kalles Junior High, where he taught for 18 years. He became the athletics director his third year. “I have been an athletics director ever since,” Dittus said. While Dittus was in Puyallup, he was also raising a family with his wife. Three years after they were married, they had their first child, Brock, who is now 23. Brock was home schooled until he got his G.E.D. when he was 15-and-a-half. Unlike his father, Brock was not interested in sports. “My son is a musician,” Dittus said. “He plays guitar and is the lead in a band.” Dittus’ two daughters – Lynette, 21, and Janelle, 19 – both attended Puyallup High School, the same school their mother attended, where they swam and played water polo. A few years ago Dittus and his wife decided to be foster parents. Their first foster children were 4-year-old twin boys, who he said were a lot to handle. Then, three weeks after the twins went home, the Dittuses got a call that there was a 9-month-old boy who needed a home. “When Jamarr came to us he couldn’t even sit up,” Dittus said. “He was developmentally delayed and so we saw him take his first step. We saw him speak his first word. It is pretty cool.” The Dittuses adopted Jamarr not too long thereafter, and he is now 3 and will be turning 4 in May. Since Dittus is very busy with sports during the winter, his wife only teaches very part-time at Green River Community College so she is available to take care of Jamarr. “He is my top priority,” Jeanette said, “so I try to think about what is best for him in all the decisions I make. I think that overall I am more drawn to home and being a mother and spending time with people than I am to a career.” Dittus’ hobbies include singing in church choirs and playing pick up games of basketball and pickle ball, but his biggest hobby is collecting stamps. “I have been stamp collecting for 12 years now,” Dittus said. “I specialize in United States mint stamps. I have some stamps that are worth about $300 or $400.” Dittus favorite thing to do is spend time relaxing with his family, when he is not in school. Whether they take their motor home to the beach or go down to Santa Cruz, Calif., which they have done for the past couple years, Dittus just enjoys being with his family.

For many high school students, sports are more than recreation. But for the student body of Emerald Ridge, sports have shaped the very culture of our school. And now, as the Jags enter their sixth year, the athletics here have become even more substantial. JagWire examines high school sports and their effect on academics, spirit and the heritage of ER.

BY

LAUREN SMITH

REPORTER

Since its opening in 2000, Emerald Ridge has been known for its excellence in programs focusing on the arts. Departments such as drama, music, and journalism have really put ER on the map in the Puyallup School District and surrounding society. However, in the past year, the athletic program has grown in strength as well as popularity. Since the 22-14 victory over Rogers High School in the 2004 King of the Hill football game, sports have attracted a lot of attention from the students. “We finally have a reason to be as spirited as we are because of that win, and other schools now know that we’re a threat,” senior Amanda Pisetzner said. Before the victory, Emerald Ridge was not the most popular and widely known school when it came to sports. Even with sports such as volleyball and wrestling making a name for themselves, the more common sports, such as football and basketball, weren’t making as much of a mark. “At that time we were still thought of as a weak school, so when we beat them in their Homecoming game, with a really small team on the field when they had this huge amount of players standing on the sidelines, it was an awesome feeling,” senior Kaelin Koppelman said. Since the remarkable come-from-behind victory, the interest in athletics at ER has skyrocketed. More students are attending sporting events because of victories becoming more consistent. “Any new high school struggles with sports at first; especially at ER because we started with only a junior and sophomore class, and it takes awhile to build up a good sports program,” aviation teacher Jeff Coleman said. “From when the school started, to where we are now, we have a lot bigger crowds when it comes to sporting events, especially

when we have a really good team, because everyone gravitates toward success.” With the new success in athletics at ER, students and staff have started to notice that the school is starting to pay more and more attention to sporting events, as opposed to the more artistic programs. This has lead many to believe that ER is becoming another normal American high school that only cares about sports. “The school as a whole is definitely becoming more oriented to sports. You do have the students and staff that are really into the arts, but if you look at it from a popularity point of view, sports seem to bring in a lot more people,” junior Evan Berger said. “Things like Battle of the Bands, Hypokritz, and the plays obviously bring in a big crowd, but it’s it looks like nothing compared to sporting events like King of the Hill, or the Homecoming football game, or any sporting event against Rogers or Puyallup.” Also, traditions such as the Jag Jacket cheer have made the sports at ER more popular. Since its creation in 2002, the Jag Jacket cheer has added to the spirit and hype of the crowd at sporting events. “The Jag Jacket and cheer really boosts the confidence of the crowd and athletes at sporting events,” senior Michelle Auton said. “It really has become a legacy here, a young one, but a good one.” Spirit has grown tremendously at ER with the help of the Jag Jacket cheer. With the cheer involved in almost every home football and basketball game and every spirit assembly, it really gets a lot of people more excited about sports and supporting their teams. “The Jag Jacket really pumps people up, especially if they’re like a junior or sophomore who wants to wear it when they’re a senior,” senior Ty O’Bryant said. “It’s worshiped at our school, the ‘Arc of the Covenant’ if you will, everyone wants to wear it.”

3/1/2006 10:04:22 PM


FEATURE BY

LORI JONES

REPORTER

Go to a girls volleyball game and you’ll see a group of people wearing the girls’ jerseys. Walk into the gym during a wrestling match and you’ll see the stands packed. But sit in the stands at the pool and you’ll be surrounded by parents; go to watch golf and there will be nothing but the wind in the trees and the sound the ball makes as it soars through the air. With so many great non-traditional sports at this school, you’d think students would be busy all the time headed out to support them, but they don’t. Students yell and pound the stands as Keith Schlecht pins another guy, and people clap and scream as Kylie Marshall gets another ace, but no one jumps in ecstasy when Rachel Owens wins a tennis match or cheer as Jamie Sagdahl nails her floor routine. Why is that? If ER has such great athletes, why don’t all of them get supported? There’s no doubt in anyone’s minds that volleyball and wrestling deserve the attention they get. After all, volleyball got third in state and the wrestlers went undefeated, took the league title, and sent eight guys to state. So, all in all, no one should be unsupportive of those athletes. But that doesn’t take away from the lack of support the other athletes get. Both tennis teams have done well in league, the golf team was undefeated, water polo went to state, there are a ton of swimmers, there’s a diver who has made it to state, the girl cross country team was academic all-state, the water polo goalie got first team all-state … the list goes on. Even though every team gets recognized at the assemblies, they don’t all feel they get the respect they deserve. One reason for the lack of interest in other sports could be the way they’re played. “Volleyball is a lot faster paced, unlike golf where you have to follow the person around or in tennis where you wait for your person to play for two seconds and be done,” said senior Kelsey Rochester, a volleyball player. “Volleyball is a full fledged hour-and-a-half game that’s entertaining.” At least one other athlete agrees. “People are fed by the media and they want instant gratification,” said sophomore

Spotlight On:

BY

MIMI SISON

REPORTER

Senior actor reflects on his craft and experiences on the ERHS stage

BY

hope of recapturing the euphoric feeling of being part of a successful show. “I’ve been cast in as many plays as I could be in until this year,” McNamara said. He auditioned for the musical “Bye Bye Birdie,” but was not cast because of what he called “creative differences” between he and drama director Steve Glass. “I might audition for the next play. It would be my last chance to be on stage at Emerald Ridge. A chance to remember and say good bye to the theatre,” McNamara said. This statement is a reminder that the 18-year-old talent will soon be graduating and performing on stages elsewhere. The top university that should be watching out for Ryan’s knock on their campus door is Western Washington University. “That’s my goal right now. Otherwise, I’m thinking about looking into Southern Oregon University, which is right by Ashland, which is a really big theatre town that sponsors the Oregon Shakespeare Festival every year,” McNamara said. Ryan is looking to audition for some of the plays in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival after college, but is unsure whether he will make it. “There is a lot more competition and a lot more people who are really talented,” McNamara said. Though many people hold great confidence in his acting abilities, Ryan never lets the praises and confidence go to his head. He displays discomfort in recounting his achievements, while his mother, on the other hand, does not. “He is very talented. Ryan is funny and smart. He’s kind of handsome, too,” Cindy McNamara said. The McNamaras are always present where Ryan is performing. With such a supportive and loving family behind his back, it would be an outrage for any son to disappoint such parents. That is exactly why Ryan strives hard not to by engaging in productive and meaningful activities. “Really, I don’t have any concerns or worries. It’s a great outlet. All the kids he hangs out with, I know, have a passion for something that’s not hurtful. I really am glad that he chose this route,” Cindy McNamara said.

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12

SUMMER YATES

REPORTER

Photo by Mimi Sison

Ryan McNamara – the man, the Hypokrit, the mad scientist. The school caught its most recent glimpse of McNamara on screen just last month in the Science Week video. Accompanying him were seniors Amanda Pisetzner and Tyler Quinn, playing the characters of the other two scientists who sported amusing and highly-outrageous accents. Though the video was in black and white, the talent which radiated from the screen was colorfully applauded. “The way he took on the role of the scientist was perfectly hilarious,” sophomore Jessica Treich said. That’s not to say, though, that this is McNamara’s finest performance. It certainly served to amuse and wrap up the success of Science Week, but his talents, as well as appearances, are not limited to such barriers as the TV screen. The stage is where Mc Namara truly thrives. “Being on stage feels right,” McNamara said. “I love making people understand the same truths about the script as I do.” His performing career began in eighth grade when he was cast as a Nazi for Stahl Junior High’s play of “The Diary of Anne Frank.” He became involved in numerous school plays thereafter, but nothing up to that point had reached him as particularly profound about acting. A fall play in his sophomore year changed all that. McNamara was given a significant part in “Musical Comedy Murders of 1940,” and has since credited his present joy of performing to the play’s director, Kristen Zetterstrom. “(She) gave me a chance as a sophomore and helped shape me into the actor I am now,” McNamara said. “The whole show was phenomenal; it helped make me fall in love with acting.” Young McNamara was moved by the huge amount of positive response he received from the audience. The promising actor has taken part in almost all the plays ever since with the enduring

Robert Velasquez, runner and soccer extraordinaire. “We want things immediately and with wrestling we can see the final result in just a few minutes.” Sometimes people are just uninformed about what’s going on. “Tennis is a part of the year where people are getting ready to graduate,” senior Kristin Bartels, a tennis player, said. “It’s during the warmer months and there are other things to do. It isn’t publicized as much either.” The blame can always go to a person’s parents. Nature versus nurture is a big part of how someone will turn out as an adult. “As a kid you join basketball, not swimming,” said senior Ryan Barker, swimmer. “I even played when I was younger and didn’t come around to swimming until high school.” Then there is always the old, “guys are better athletes than girls” and the “anything you can do I can do better” mentality. “Ryan Renggli got recognized for swimming, but I can’t think of any girls that have,” Barker said. “With volleyball and wrestling, it’ pretty equal though.” Convenience also has its role. “Basketball can be played pretty much anywhere, but you have to go to a pool that’s big enough for swimming,” said senior Ty O’Bryant, swimmer. “It isn’t as out there and available and you really only see it at the Olympics.” There seems to be an agreement about what sports are out there. “The only sports people care about are football, basketball and wrestling. Only guys get recognition, so I’m used to it,” said senior Lindsey Fowler, a water polo player. Football is a traditional sport and the media does seem to promote it a lot. “For football everyone dresses up and goes out to watch the games,” Butler said. “Maybe we like to watch it ’cause it’s more intense.” There are other sports that don’t do as well, and maybe with a little more of a fan following, they would succeed “I think we’d do a little better, but it’s all about skill and execution,” Fowler said. “It’s a confusing sport and a lot of people don’t know what’s going on.”

Camo pants. Paw-printed cheeks. The raw, young crowd filling the bench seats. Home-made suit jackets. Cram the Rams. King of the Hill. Tradition. Pride. Smells like Jag Spirit. Take a big whiff. But what about the rest of the world? While the youth of America is caught up in Friday night lights and the next big game, where do sports take precedence globally? First, travel south of the border to Veracruz, Mexico. According to Alicia Rathbone, a Puyallup resident who grew up in Veracruz, teenagers here take private classes in the evenings for sports. Like most of the world, soccer is the most dominent sport, but youths also enjoy playing basketball or baseball. In Mexico, most sports are played co-ed. In contrast to America, very little emphasis is placed on athletics. Although parents are not huge supporters of those who do play, teens are highly involved in cheering on their peers and enjoy dressing up for games. Progression to play in professional sports is unusual in Veracruz. While teens are talented, rarely will any type of athletic scholarship for higher education be given, and if so, will most likely be for soccer. “(Sports) are not as encouraged as they should be,” Rathbone said. Only athletes that work on their own make it into a professional sports team. In the country of Zimbabwe, Africa, extracurricular sports also draw crowds, according to Chipo Chikara, a native of the country. Schools and sports are separated boys from girls. Even though only all-male schools have

mascots, school spirit runs rampant for both genders. All students are required to be athletic supporters throughout the year. The school year is divided into three terms, and each student is mandated to actively attend three sports per school term, so high attendance is never an issue. They compete against schools in their surrounding regions. For boys, the most popular sport is soccer – known as football – and rugby. For girls, the dominant sports include field hockey and netball (also popular in Australia), which can be described as basketball without dribbling. Teams are divided in three groups: A, B and C teams, similar to America’s customary varsity and junior varsity, or first string and second string. Even though sporting competitions are not co-ed, each brings a large and exciting fan base. Similar to Emerald Ridge students, Zimbabwe students cheer loudly for their team and they dance, only using War Cries – adapted from actual wars – instead of cheers. These are usually spoken in Shona, although English is the central language of the schools. Although soccer dominates the athletics department in Zimbabwe, for one week in August, it will take a back seat for The Rugby Festival. For seven days, schools from across the country come to compete and have a good time. “It’s kind of the biggest testosterone fest for boys back home,” says Chikara, now a resident of Puyallup. The support of parents and administration varies from school to school, depending on culture. However, the focus will always be education over sports, since there is no market for professional sports after high school, save for the Olympics.

Since most students are active in sports, extra attention for student athletes is less common. “If you’re good at sports, great. It stays on the field. People back home aren’t treated as demi-gods as they are here,” Chikara said. In Cologne, Germany, schools don’t offer any extracurricular activities; teenagers join sport teams and clubs outside of school. Popular sports include soccer, tennis, track and badminton. These teams compete against other clubs in neighboring cities. Athletes are cheered by their teammates, since parents are not very involved in sports. “Playing for a team is not as big a deal as here (in America),” said Benno Burczeck, a German exchange student attending Emerald Ridge. But if a player shows a lot of potential, he or she may have the opportunity to attend a special sports school that allows them to train during the day on their specific sport. The student could then go on a youth professional team and that could lead to a career on a professional sports team. “Any sport that is played in the USA is played in Germany,” German teacher Rebecca Hagerman said. German schools lack athletic school spirt. “I like the whole school spirit thing, you know, connecting the whole school,” Burczeck said. Burczeck has been taking advantage of athletic opportunities all year long, running cross country in the fall and swimming in the winter. All over the world, sports to play a role in teen life. “You can’t have too many sports,” Burczeck said.

3/2/2006 10:08:32 AM


FEATURE

SPORTS

Wrestling comes out on top After completing their second undefeated league season, the Jags win the league title and send eight wrestlers to state BY

Sarah Taylor: Triple Threat

NICK KAJCA

EDITORIAL BOARD

Despite her hectic schedule, she manages to excel in both the arts and in school BY

With an active schedule that consists of seminary in the morning, school in the day, and dance practice, voice lessons, and giving piano/guitar lessons in the afternoon, junior Sarah Ellen Taylor is quite busy. Ballroom dancing, her main leisure pursuit, was started for reasons entirely her own. “I started doing it because it was a way to meet new people,” Taylor said. “It’s fun to do, and I hope to go further in it.” Born in Edmund, Okla., her family moved to Puyallup because of her dad’s job as a dentist; she was six months old at the time. In the course of her 16 years of life, she has expressed much interest in the arts.

Senior Keith Schlecht earns some nearfall points at the state tournament. Schlecht took third place overall, matching the current school best.

but I did not know we were going to do this well,” Schlecht said. “This well” refers to the fact the team has matched almost every single notch that last season’s team posted despite losing key wrestlers to graduation and state competitors Aaron Brown (to injury) and Julio Rodriguez (transfer to Rogers). “I did not think we would be as good,” Timothy said. “We lost quite a few people like Julio and Aaron, but people stepped up and the team is stronger than it ever has been.” The team overcame these losses by using the mentality that setting and practicing with high expectations would lead to success and perseverance. “I thought we would be as good as last season because those were our goals and I thought we had a chance to meet them,” Meyerhoff said. Despite not being pound-for-pound as talented as last season’s team, this year’s squad was able to find its own niche through team unity.

“We really came together and we are more like a family than a team,” Timothy said. “As a whole, most all of the wrestlers have had major improvement.” Hopefully the underclassmen have been paying close attention to the way this year’s team has connected and succeeded because next season the Jags will again have major holes to fill. The Jags will lose an immense amount of experience with the departure of 20 seniors, 15 of whom have been wrestling for all three years in the program. Those seniors will create seven vacant varsity spots for next season. “We will be losing half of our varsity but we have lots of guys with match experience to step up,” Meyerhoff said.

“I’ve always loved singing, playing (acoustic) guitar, piano, and dancing. I’m a very musical person,” Taylor said. Along with her extracurricular activities, Taylor said school and church are important factors in her life. Waking early at the wee hours in the morning to make it to seminary, Taylor begins her average day. Considering herself involved with her church, she is the Laurel class president for girls her age. Its purpose is to plan different activities for girls her age and to help them with their life-derived obstacles and problems. After seminary, school is next on her list. With classes such as ASL II, concert choir, honors chemistry, algebra II, and Running Start, Taylor’s morning to mid-day is booked with activities. “I don’t know (how I manage it all,) I just kind of do it. Weekends are not as busy; weekdays are just the really busy ones,” Taylor said. Taylor’s after-school activities are even more time consuming. She has been

But just like any elite program, the team is not expecting any failure in the future and is just looking to keep on adding to its resume. “We have great coaches and we will just keep on building,” Timothy said

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Not only is Sarah Taylor a vocalist, but she plays two instruments including the piano and guitar. Photos by Lori Jones

“Justin Timothy surprised a lot of people,” coach Jim Meyerhoff said. “He worked really hard and beat a guy who had beaten him twice.” The road leading up to the state tournament proved to be both an exciting and disappointing one for the Jags. The excitement stemmed from the team’s first-ever league tournament title, but the disappointment came from not being able to defend last year’s regional title by finishing second to the Puyallup Vikings. The Jags had a halfpoint lead over the Vikings going into the last match, but Puyallup was able to win the match and claim the title. “Not winning regionals was the biggest disappointment, but we still did really well,” Timothy said. Although the Jaguar wrestling program has proven that it has become a force to be reckoned with, bolstered by its back-to-back undefeated dual meet seasons and accompanying league titles, some of this season’s success seemed to be a bit of a surprise. “I thought we were going to be good,

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MARILYN DIXON

REPORTER

Photo by Elaine Raymond

The Jaguar wrestling team once again added to its ever-growing resume of accomplishments, its latest feat being a school-record four wrestlers placing at the state tournament on Feb. 17-18, led by third place finisher Keith Schlect. The four placers were part of an original group of eight wrestlers who qualified for the WIAA Mat Classic XVIII. Schlecht, a senior, matched a school best by placing third at 160 pounds. However, as a team, the Jags were not able to best last year’s sixth place overall mark and ended up finishing in 17th. Schlecht started off the tournament dominant by defeating his first two opponents 6-2 and 15-6. The two wins advanced him into the semifinals, were he suffered his only defeat of the tournament, a pin, by the eventual state champion, Auburn’s Shane Onufer. Onufer, who finished second in state last year, pinned Schlecht at the 5:42 mark late in the third period. Onufer is on a very short list of wrestlers that Schlecht has never defeated in his career, and this was not the first time the two have squared off this season. The two most recently met in January in a dual meet, where Schlecht was defeated 15-7. Schlecht was able to shake off the loss though and bounced back in a big way by defeating Jake Farmer of Heritage in a close 3-0 match to claim third place. “I wanted to place in the top three and just really have fun and enjoy the tournament,” Schlecht said. The other state placers were senior Justin Timothy (sixth place) at 125, junior Kevin Wills (eighth place) at 140, and senior Nick Webster (eighth place) at 112. Seniors Jordon Smith (171) and T.J. Smith (215) both wrestled well but narrowly missed placing by losing their decisive final matches that would have qualified them for the second day. Sophomore Gabe Weber (130) and junior Jade Anderson (135) each made their first appearances at state and were eliminated after losing their first two matches.

musician, dancer, vocalist ballroom dancing for two years now at the Pacific Ballroom Dance Company, and she also plans to continue it until her senior year. She practices for two-and-a-half hours each session and the sessions differ from as little as once a week to three times a week. “I started dancing when I saw (the dancers) perform at a youth group. It was really interesting. (However,) when I was a little girl, I did ballet for two to three years – I was 6 or 7,” Taylor said. This was when she first started taking an interest in dancing and the musical arts. She is currently at the intermediate level in her group. She doesn’t compete, but she is considering it. “Maybe next year, I might. I’d have to tryout,” Taylor said. If she’s good enough, she’ll get picked to compete, and be assigned a partner. She has been practicing her other musical-love, singing, her whole life. “Professionally, I started in eighth grade choir,” Taylor said. She’s been in choir ever since; currently, she is in Concert Choir. She also takes voice lessons to improve her vocal abilities. Once a week, she’ll visit her vocal instructor. Playing the piano is more of an on-theside passion. She focuses more on teaching it to her students. “I teach piano on Mondays to little kids. I also have one guitar student,” Taylor said. Since she’s surrounded by many influences, her musical preferences are evenly distributed. “It’s a pretty good variety, country, punk, rock stuff – I love all of my dance music,” she said. To Taylor, music has either meaning, or a really good beat to just tap your foot to. “I love to (either) relay my life to music and the lyrics, or to just have fun and dance with it.” Taylor couldn’t have done it by herself, of course. A supportive family and strong

religious structure have shaped the moldings of her support system. “My parents have always been there to give me the opportunities to do all of these things. They’re very supportive in what I do,” Taylor said. Moments where she felt the most proud were after difficult-to-master dance performances. “After a performance, when all the work put in pays off … my parents are proud, friends are there – that’s awesome,” Taylor said. One of her routines, the West Coast, was really hard for her to master. She attempted it as a beginner, with little positive results. “I tried it again this year, and was better at it. It’s from experience and practice, I guess. It felt really good,” Taylor said. What she does, and what she wants to continue to do are two different things. Her short-term goals are for self-improvement purposes. “I want to become a better dancer. Like in the waltz, I want to make sure I look graceful, like a princess,” Taylor said. Goals for life after high school are all planned out. “I want to go to college; I’m thinking of beauty school. (I want to) become a cosmetologist – and a mother, that’s a career. I want to get married and have kids and be a stay-at-home mom, but also have a source of income,” Taylor said. Travel also is a possibility. “I’d like to go to Paris, France. I’m fascinated with it; the Eiffel Tower just draws me in. But, it’d be fun to go anywhere, really,” Taylor said. She feels she has been shaped this way because of her numerous activities. While her doings were started to give her something to do, they have led her to become the person she is. Caring, nice, easy to talk to, and loving are all words she would use to describe herself.

11 volumeSIX.issueFIVE 3/1/2006 10:05:28 PM


SPORTS

OP/ED

Teachers’ speech has its limits ER athletes earn recognition E

verybody has opinions, and it’s thanks to the 1969 Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines that everyone – teachers and students alike – have the right to express those views on school grounds. However, a problem arises when teachers feel it necessary to press their views on students. If teachers were to read the fine print of Tinker, they would find that particular methods of influencing youth are not OK. The ruling states that opinions may be expressed provided they are not disruptive to the educational process or impinging upon the rights of others. But students always have the right to not feel harassed and the right to formulate their own opinions. There are certain teachers at Emerald Ridge who blatantly express hurtful or offensive opinions, where they are religious, political or other areas. Teachers are allowed opinions, but isn’t their primary job to teach us the facts so that we may have our own minds, so that we may reach our

own conclusions on such matters as politics and religion? No matter what you believe, whether you are right-wing, leftwing, Arab, American, homosexual, or straight, you have the unalienable right to an opinion at this school – at any school. Your personal opinion should be allowed to be formulated without the assistance of stubborn college-degree holders. It sounds hypocritical, like we’re calling for teachers to keep their mouths shut unless their opinion matches ours. What we’re asking for is for teachers not to say things or put up signs or posters in classrooms that make ER a hostile environment to learn and work in. The worry with expressing an opinion like this is that

STUDENTS ALWAYS HAVE THE RIGHT TO NOT FEEL HARASSED AND THE RIGHT TO FORMULATE THIER OWN OPINIONS

Senior Kylie Marshall adds to her impressive list of awards by recieving the Washington Gatarade Player of the Year award, while Brent Dammeier and Tommy Ward also recieved scholarships for their academic accomplishments

it will lead to an oppression of free thought. Students will see this only as an excuse to suppress the opinions they disagree with. The hypothetical situation calls to mind the recent college-level controversy that has left many professors scared to speak their minds lest they’re reported. It’s a freedom of speech nightmare we don’t want ER to suffer, with potentially devastating consequences for students and teachers alike. Teachers have no ability to report student opinion they disagree with (provided it’s not harassing or disruptive). It’s something to think about before making use of ER’s harassment box in the library. So take this as a warning to students and teachers together. Rejoice in the triumph of John F. Tinker over his tyrannical Des Moines school district. Do not, however, presume to push offensive, hurtful opinions into our impressionable minds. And in reporting an offensive opinion, consider first the consequences for us all. Editorials are composed by, and are the opinion of, the JagWire editorial board.

BY

KELLI SKEIM

REPORTER

Volleyball player Kylie Marshall and football players Brent Dammeier and Tommy Ward – all seniors – have received scholarships to prove their hard work in athletics and academics. Kylie Marshall has been chosen for 2005-06 Gatorade’s Washington Volleyball Player of the Year. According to Gatorade.com, the Gatorade Player of the Year is now viewed as the nation’s most prestigious high school athletic award. To get nominated to be Gatorade’s Player of the Year, people affiliated with volleyball, such as players, coaches, and outside viewers could send in nominations and requests for athletes. They contact the coaches and the athletic directors of the school and do somewhat of a background check on each athlete nominated. This award is also based on stats of the athlete. Kylie received a plaque for the school and herself as well as a banner. “I am very proud to receive this award,” Marshall said. Brent and Tommy have been selected for academic scholarships through football, getting scholarships of $500 a piece, to apply to any college of their choice. The scholarship is to give them money towards anything academically, not towards football. “It’s awesome to be recognized for our hard work,” Dammeier said. This money will be sent to the college of their choice and then will be put towards their college books, classes, tuition, etc. Their scholarship money was raised through the Tacoma Athletic Commission. This is where all 1A to 4A schools in the Piece County are asked to nominate student athletes. The coaches from each school nominate two of their students to be an academic finalist in football. Dammeier and Ward both were top eight finalists because of their academics. There were two students who received $1,500 and six who received $500. Playing football likely isn’t in their futures. “I may be a walk-on at University of Washington, but I’m not sure,” Ward said. Even though both of the boys have been accepted to college, Ward may be the only one who may go on to play football. “I will not go on to play football in college but I will be going. I have a shoulder surgery coming up,” Dammeier said.

Seniors Brent Dammeier, Tommy Ward, and Kylie Marshall celebrate their recently received recognition.

District lacrosse club offered to all those interested The ER soccer fields have been invaded by lacrosse-crazed students on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays BY

Have an opinion you’d like to share with the ERHS student body? is an uncensored public forum for student expression, so write in and get your voice heard loud and clear.

Write a letter to the editor and submit it to Mr. Nusser in E157, or email it to:

10,19.indd 2-3

10

Photo by Shailey Wilkinson

jdnusser@puyallup.k12.wa.us volumeSIX.issueFIVE

VERONICA TORNQUIST

REPORTER

A few Emerald Ridge students are joining up and playing the new sport now offered in Puyallup: lacrosse. Tacoma Youth Lacrosse Association, also know as TYLA, is now offering a lacrosse opportunity for high school boys and girls. The teams are set up by age and gender. Coach John Werry is holding practices

19 volumeSIX.issueFIVE

on the Emerald Ridge soccer field every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 4-6. TYLA lacrosse teams are set up by city. The Puyallup team, known as the Panthers, will play other teams around the state. Their first game is March 15. Sophomore Brooke Oliver is a first year player for TYLA. “It was a sport hardly anyone played, so I thought it would be cool to do something different,” Oliver said. It’s been a change from what she’s used to.

“Lacrosse is really fun, I’m used to doing soccer so it’s seems way slow. But I like the way we throw the ball and it’s a challenge,” Oliver said, “I would definitely recommend this to others for sure.”

I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS TO OTHERS BECAUSE IT’S A GREAT EXPERIENCE; NO OTHER SPORT LIKE IT IS OFFERED HERE. — Sophomore Taylor Head

Another athlete now playing for the Panthers is sophomore Taylor Head. This also is Head’s first year playing Lacrosse. “I heard about the team from my friend Matt who also plays. Lacrosse is fun and I like it because it’s physical,” Head said. “I would recommend this to others because it’s a great experience; no other sport like it is offered here.” All together, the Panthers will play a total of 14 games against teams from around the state. “I’m excited for the following games – it should be fun and a great new experience,” Oliver said.

3/1/2006 10:01:10 PM


kevin OP/ED w i l l s Gingrey leaves oppurtunity W

v ital

ith the departure of Director of Diversity Affairs Marya Gingrey, the Puyallup School District awaits several challenges. Trying to replace someone in a position of such prominence is always difficult. The ensuing departmental shift will require adjustments on the district and school levels, and might be thought of with some trepidation by the district administration. However, we look at Gingrey’s departure as an opportunity – a chance to make the job more meaningful. To put it bluntly, none of us really know what has been accomplished by the Office of Diversity Affairs since its creation. If, in this position’s three year history, substantial diversity-related differences have been made on a district level, they have escaped our notice. We are sure that Gingrey has worked hard, but are disappointed that the fruits of her labors are so unclear to us as students. Gingrey’s position was created as part of a $7.5 million lawsuit settlement to offset alleged institutionalized racism in the district, yet we have trouble linking Gingrey or the Office of Diversity Affairs to any of headway we have seen in this area. According to the district Web site, the Office of Diversity Affairs should “assist the superintendent, adminis-

tration, and staff in the advancement of equity initiatives with the Puyallup School District.” His or her responsibilities include serving as a liaison to staff and the community, following up on student harassment and discrimination incidents, and serving as district ombudsperson. Granted, Gingrey did deliver the keynote speech in last year’s World Week

is futile. Instead, we turn our focus to the future of diversity affairs in the Puyallup School District. We assume the students’ best interests are first and foremost on the district’s mind when seeking to replace Gingrey. We also assume that, pending a thorough analysis of the past three years, the current job description will be revaluated and will hopefully take on a more student-oriented angle. We also urge the district to consider a candidate with a slightly more radical approach than Gingrey’s. We need a director who can retroactively solve problems, yet can also be proactive and create noticeable change in district equity uninspired by negative incidents. We need a director who is more than filling a position. We need a director who makes more than appearances. We need a director who makes changes. A new face in the diversity affairs position should mark a change for the better. A new director could revolutionize what that position means to the district’s students and ultimately affect us all. With the right mindset and some fresh ideas, the new director of diversity affairs could fully express the position’s potential and help it to become what its creators envisioned. Editorials are composed by, and are the opinion of, the JagWire editorial board.

WE NEED A DIRECTOR WHO MAKES MORE THAN APPEARANCES. WE NEED A DIRECTOR WHO MAKES CHANGES.

stat s

5 feet, 8 inches 145 pounds size 10.5 shoes quarterback and 140-pound wrestler season record (wrestling) of 25 wins, 9 losses placed 8th (2006) at wrestling state and competed (2005) can throw a football one mile

athlete of the month How has being a three sport athlete impacted your life? It takes a way from a lot of my free time, but overall it’s a lot of fun.

What qualities do you admire in a teammate? Hard worker, loyal, and enthusiastic.

Where do you see athletics taking you in the future? Keep giving me good personality qualities and making me a hard worker for the rest of my life.

If you could change one thing about one of your seasons this year, what would it be? It would have been nice to make the playoffs in football.

EDITORIAL BOARD ....................................................MATT CLICK .....................................................................................KAITLYN GOLDEN .................................................................................................NICK KAJCA ................................................................................ KATINA MATHIESON ............................................................................................. TYLER QUINN COPY EDITOR .........................................................JESSICA RITCHIE PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR .....................................KASSIE GREEN BUSINESS MANAGERS.............................................. LISSY BRYAN ............................................................................................ DARRIN JONES CIRCULATION MANAGER ..............................JENN WHITHAM REPORTERS ........................................................ KIRSTEN BABAUTA ................................................................................................... MIMI SISON ..................................................................................... DANNY CANHAM ........................................................................................MARILYN DIXON ............................................................................... BRITTANY ESPINOZA ...................................................................................BRITTANY GENTILE ...................................................................................................LORI JONES ....................................................................................... THAYER LAFLEUR ....................................................................MARISSA MOODENBAUGH .....................................................................................ELAINE RAYMOND ............................................................................... BRIAN SAMADUROFF ..............................................................................................NIKKI SEADER ..........................................................................................BRIE SHANNON .................................................................................................. KELLI SKEIM ............................................................................................LAUREN SMITH ................................................................................................ ALEX STOBIE ...........................................................................................ROBIN STOYLES .......................................................................... VERONICA TORNQUIST ....................................................................................... ASHLEY VINCENT ............................................................................................ KAYTI WEAVER ................................................................................SHAILEY WILKINSON .............................................................................................SUMMER YATES ADVISER..............................................................................JEFF NUSSER

AFFILIATES

JEA, NSPA, SPJ, WJEA, WSJA

THE FINE PRINT E m e ra l d R i d g e H i g h School 12405 184th St. E. South Hill, WA 98374 253-435-6300

EDITORIAL MISSION As an open public forum for student expression,

Photos by Kassie Green, Shailey Wilkinson, and Elaine Raymond

What is your motivation? Trying to meet my own expectations.

Who is someone you admire? My parents, because they made me the person I am today.

kickoff assembly, but that really is the full extent of her interaction with the typical ERHS student. Gingrey’s position was created to fight against something decidedly wrong with the Puyallup School District. The director of diversity affairs has the ability to do amazing things for our school system. This position allows him or her an amount of influence that rivals any other district-level director. If Puyallup’s students are in any way lacking in multicultural awareness – and we believe they are – then it is this person’s job to rectify those shortcomings. For better or worse, Gingrey is gone. Focusing on what she did or didn’t do

STAFF

JagWire seeks to cover a wide spectrum of relevant and overlooked topics, while upholding the highest of journalistic standards. JagWire also serves as a communication link between Emerald Ridge High School and its surrounding community. This year, the publication hopes to build upon the precedents previously set by attempting to give voice to all Emerald Ridge students

in a manner that is fair, balanced and accurate. LETTERS POLICY

JagWire will accept unsolicited copy from students, staff and community members. Only signed and dated letters with address and phone number from community members, or grade level from students, will be accepted. Letters should be limited to 300 words and will be published as space is available. All letters are the sole opinion of the writers, and the staff reserves the right to edit any letter for space and/or clarity. We will not publish material that may substantially disrupt the school process.

Letters to the editor may be submitted by mailing them to JagWire c/o Emerald Ridge High School, or by e-mailing them to jdnusser@puyallup.k12.wa.us. ADVERTISING MISSION

The JagWire publication staff accepts advertisements for most products and services available to the public. However, the staff reserves the right to reject, edit or cancel any advertisement that the staff deems offensive in light of normal public standards. Ads identifying students as athletes by photo or text (WIAA 18.20.0 and 18.20.1) also will not be accepted. The staff will not accept advertising for racist, sexist or illegal for high school students

09 volumeSIX.issueFIVE

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3/1/2006 10:06:37 PM


NEWS

SPORTS s p o r t s BRIEFS

Alcohol problem not solved Students face suspension and possible alcohol assessment program for sneaking alcohol onto school grounds BY

SHAILEY WILKINSON

REPORTER

Beer. Liquor. Whiskey. The Drink. Alcohol consumption remains an issue of concern at ER, as at all schools. Students are not just using all the classic ways of sneaking alcohol on campus, they are constantly thinking of new ways to transport alcoholic beverages through the Emerald Ridge hallways. “It’s usually in their vehicle and they

sneak out at a break or lunch to consume,” security guard Catherine Brown said. The administration can’t do much to a student for drinking off campus besides reporting it to the police. For an athlete, the story is a little different. “We usually turn it over to the police,” Assistant Principal Troy Hodge said. “But for athletes they may forfeit some playing time.” Because alcohol is so easily supplied to minors off campus, there are more opportunities to be in possession on campus as well. “The fact is that it’s hard to monitor because of laws that prevent students from being searched in such a way that prevent students to bring alcohol onto campus. We

just can’t go around, without suspicion, having kids opening their backpacks and emptying their pockets,” Brown said. There haven’t been any problems with students selling other students alcohol, but there is no difference, as far as punishment goes, between bringing, consuming, or supplying the alcohol. “Being under the influence and being in possession are going to be the same (punishment). It could be emergency expulsion or 90 day suspension, which is more common,” Brown said. Along with a 90 day suspension, a program called Horizons is offered. “Horizons is a drug and alcohol assess-

ment program (that) usually goes with a 90 day suspension. Those 90 days would be reduced if they agree to it,” Brown said. This year, there have been six students suspended for being under the influence. Comparing this year’s numbers to previous years, not a lot has changed. “This is my first year here,” Hodge said. “But I think the numbers are pretty low. But I’d like them to be lower – zero would be nice.” Although the security guards are constantly on alert, the truth is that students outnumber teachers, and there is no way every minor in possession of alcohol on campus is going to be caught.

Students deal with stress of interschool relationships Romantically involved students speak out about making their relationships with partners at other schools work despite limited time to spend together BY

KIRSTEN BABAUTA

REPORTER

Ever wonder what it would be like to date someone from another school? City? Or even state? Sophomore Shareena Wilhelm goes above and beyond when it comes to dating. Not only is she dating sophomore Mateo Ateortua from Rogers, he also is an exchange student from Colombia. Wilhelm and Ateortua have been together for a month and met through another exchange student, who was staying with Wilhelm, but also attending Rogers. While not being able to see each other during the day,

they talk frequently on the phone and find time to see each other about three times a week. “I think that I would like it better if he came to Emerald Ridge, but when you don’t see them on a daily basis, it’s special when you do see them,” Wilhelm said. According to Wilhelm, Ateortua is a lot different than guys here. “He treats girls better than the boys do here, and he’s very respectful,” Wilhelm said. Even though Ateortua will be leaving in five months, Wilhelm has no second thoughts about their relationship. Ateortua also plans to come back to the United States, expecting him and Wilhelm to still be a couple. Sophomore Craig Tuschhoff has a similar connection. He also is dating a sophomore at Rogers, but she is resident of the United States. Tuschhoff and Sammie Harris have been together for 11

months, previously dating at Ballou Junior High. “I think it’s better that we’re at different schools – we still see each other a lot, and make it work,” Tuschhoff said. Although Harris is supposed to be going to Emerald Ridge, she waivered over to Rogers for the music program. “I agree with her decision for waivering over there, but I don’t necessarily like it,” Tuschhoff said. To one it might seem like this would weaken their relationship, but in this case it doesn’t. “It strengths us because it forces us to talk more and see each other less,” Tuschhoff said. Going to different schools or having different friends, however, doesn’t keep them from hanging out, which they do a lot on the weekends. Never mind the countless hours they spend on the phone talking. “I trust her to take care of herself and her friends to take care of her when I’m not around,” Tuschhoff said.

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summary r eco r d postseason

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b o y s BASKETBALL r eco r d p o sts e a s o n

4-16 summary Despite the team’s fighting efforts, it didn’t pull out

did not advance

g i r l s BASKETBALL

of the season with many wins, considering they have little experience as a team. However, this was the team’s building year. They were one of the only teams to have two starting sophomores on their varsity team. It seems they can only improve from this season.

summary r eco r d postseason

1-6

8 to districts

b o y s SWIMMING

Eight individuals qualified for districts: Ty O’Bryant, who swam the 100-yard butterfly, 200 freestyle and the 400 freestyle; Orval McKenzie, who swam the 100 breaststroke; Robin Stoyles, who qualified in the 500 freestyle, the 200 individual medley and the 200 freestyle; Steven Washburn, who swam the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley; Tyler Kain, 100 breaststroke; Nick Humlick, who qualified in the 50 freestyle; and Trevor Clark, the 100 backstroke. Ryan Renggli qualified for state. He swam the 200 freestyle, placing 10th. Also, he swam the 100 backstroke, earning fifth place. Despite many disappointing losses and the team not doing well in league, it was a great success to send so many swimmers to the postseason. The swim team has young participants and only few swimmers have ever swam competitively, but there is hope for next year.

12-6 2nd (league) 11th (districts)

r eco r d postseason

g i r l s BOWLING

summary Jessica Dolan received the eighth-highest pin total during districts and made the WCD All-Tournament team. The team made some great achievements including qualifying for districts and ranking second in the SPSL. Like the girls basketball team, this was the bowling team’s building year, since this is its inaugural season.

summary r eco r d none p o sts e a s o n

10th (districts)

Janice Clusserath Founder & President Phone: 425-898-1024 25945 NE 32nd St. Redmond, WA 98053

volumeSIX.issueFIVE

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The team pulled through with great and exciting wins against Rogers (twice) and Thomas Jefferson (twice). They, unfortunately, lost to Puyallup both times and had devastating losses to other teams as well, knocking them down and out of the playoffs. Jordan Thaanum made the all-league team. Talent will remain, with Bryn Allen and Tory Wambold returning. Each has been strong on the varsity team this year.

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8-12

BRITTANY ESPINOZA

REPORTER

08

g i r l s GYMNASTICS

21 volumeSIX.issueFIVE

Freshmen Whitney Sidor and Brianna Howe went to districts, where Howe got 24th and Sidor got 11th in the vault. Sidor placed seventh at state in the vault. Although the team is losing some important seniors, new talent is coming through next year with ninth graders who moved up this year or will be moving up. The coaching this year was much stronger than previous years, somewhat securing the team’s probability of future success. Photos by Kaitlyn Golden, Lori Jones, and Ashley Vincent

3/1/2006 9:59:11 PM


SPORTS

NEWS

Prolific athlete tranfers from ER Junior Aaron Brown, a three-sport athlete, has enrolled at Puyallup BY

KAITLYN GOLDEN

EDITORIAL BOARD

Junior Aaron Brown, who placed fourth in the state wrestling tournament in the 171pound weight class last year, transferred to Puyallup High School on Feb. 6, stemming from a protection order placed against him by a female Emerald Ridge student. According to court documents, the girl was at a friend’s house on Jan. 22 and Brown allegedly showed up and threatened to beat up a boy the girl was seeing and had a female friend threaten the girl. The following morning, the girl and her mother chose to file a protection order at the Pierce County Superior Court, citing her as a victim of domestic violence and requesting Brown be kept from the location of her residence, work, and school. “I was shocked,” said Brown, who was served with the initial documents during the school day. “I never thought that was going to happen.” The case was resolved by the courts on Feb. 6, with an agreement that Brown would not visit the girl’s house or workplace. However, the court said the two would be allowed to attend Emerald Ridge, under the condition “(Brown) shall not have hostile contact with (the girl), while both parties attend Emerald Ridge High School.”

The girl and her mother said they elected to file the order in an attempt to halt incidents that allegedly have been taking place for a few years. “This had been an ongoing problem for the last several years,” the girl’s mother said. “Eventually, we decided it was too much and filed the protection order.” The girl says she originally tried to discuss the problem with Brown. “At first we were kind of talking about it and I was trying to help him to change,” the girl said. “I didn’t tell my parents because I was afraid they were going to freak out Brown on me.” Brown’s mother said this wasn’t the best way to handle the situation. “It was a lot of high school drama blown out of proportion,” Donna Mutch said. “It was disappointing they took it right to the legal level because it resulted in us having to make decisions we shouldn’t have had to make.” The court also suggested that Brown take a domestic violence course, but that will, most likely, not be happening. While the court ruled the girl and Brown could both attend Emerald Ridge, Brown elected to transfer to Puyallup, because Emerald Ridge was no longer a protected setting for him, according to Mutch.

“We had to remove him (from Emerald Ridge), because the school could no longer provide a safe environment for him, due to things being taken to the legal level,” Mutch said. Principal Brian Lowney only would confirm that Brown was not expelled and declined to otherwise comment on his exit. Brown elected to transfer to Puyallup in order to be at a more prominent athletics school. Because of the hardship situation, Mutch said Brown will be eligible for athletics at Puyallup. At ER, Brown was a member of the football and wrestling teams. “I elected to go to Puyallup because of my future and I want to be put in the best place possible to succeed and play (sports) in college,” Brown said. As a sophomore, Brown quickly established himself as one of the best athletes at Emerald Ridge. He made an immediate impact on the football team, playing linebacker and fullback. Then, during wrestling, he placed fourth in the 171-pound weight class at the state tournament. Brown did not compete in any sports this year because of a torn ACL. He said he also chose Puyallup over Rogers because he and his family didn’t want him to appear to be going to a rival high school. “We didn’t want to give the perception that he was leaving to play at a rival high school, and we couldn’t take him out of the Puyallup School District because then he wouldn’t be eligible for sports, so he took the second best option,” Mutch said.

The girl is frustrated because most students don’t understand the two are allowed to attend the same school. “Everyone at school blames me because they think that he had to leave, but at court they had said we could go to the same school, we could even be in the same room,” she said. While Brown’s return to ER next year has been rumored, it is not to be expected. “I’d come back if all the drama wasn’t still there,” Brown said. “But that probably isn’t going to happen.” Since Brown’s departure to Puyallup, the pair has not had any contact, and neither party is satisfied with how the situation has played itself out. “It was very disheartening for us,” Mutch said. “We’ve been big fans of Emerald Ridge. Our older son (Brynsen) went to Emerald Ridge and Aaron’s stepfather coached football at Emerald Ridge. We’ve been part of the Emerald Ridge family, so it was a great disappointment that this had to be taken to the next level. It was based off rumors from high school girls and false allegations. But sometimes the right choice is the choice that’s hardest and that’s how it was here.” On the opposite side, the girl’s mother is frustrated that the harassment has continued toward her daughter despite the protection order. “He had to move, but she’s left behind with people calling her names and making fun of her without knowing the whole story,” her mother said.

Dance team qualifies for the district tournament After overcoming inexperience and a subpar first meet, the dance team has made great strides to qualify for the district tournament BY

KAYTI WEAVER

REPORTER

Emerald Ridge’s dance team is finally on its way to districts. With all the hard work and determination since September, it’s finally paid off. “We have really have come to an understanding with each other and how important it is to be a team and not just individual dance members,” said junior co-captain

Kelci Selbee. The team has come a long way to qualify for districts. At the beginning of the year the team had little experience and had troubles with teamwork. “We had trouble learning to work with each other. It was a new environment for some of the girls and there were a lot of new faces,” Selbee said. The little experience as a team led to many ups and downs. Scoring a 189 in the first meet in December at Shorewood High School wasn’t enough to get them to districts, since the qualifying score must be a 195 or higher. “It was the first competition for most of the girls and I think that their nerves got the better of them,” Selbee said. “Their dance wasn’t as strong as it is now. We are

growing as a team and I think we will do awesome. Being a team is the most important part.” However, after the January competition at the Everett Events Center, the team scored a 220, more than enough to qualify. With their strong formations and tight dance routines, it was just what they needed. So now, as for the districts, which are held on March 11 at Thomas Jefferson High School, they are preparing for the best. “We called in a choreographer who helps with our critiquing and formation. We are practicing a lot and bonding more,” said Selbee. “Their technique has grown. They have learned to be a team. You can see it in their dancing. They have a lot more confidence,” coach Jenni Muehlenbruch said.

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First AP audit comes to ER College Board analyzes AP courses at ER to ensure that college-level curriculum is present BY

ELAINE RAYMOND

REPORTER

The Advanced Placement department is currently undergoing its first AP audit, which is an analysis of AP courses being taught in our school. The purpose of the audit is to ensure that courses that are labeled as AP are deserving of the title and guarantee colleges that the curriculum taught in AP classes is, in fact, college level. College Board, which is the company that administers AP, looks for specific requirements for each subject. “The requirements were written by former Development Committee members and AP Programs staff,” College Board stated on its Web site. “Each course’s requirements were drawn from the official AP Course Description.” This is the first year that College Board has conducted the audit anywhere throughout the world. This year is a trial for the audit. The first required audit will take place next year, and the audit will become an annual evaluation at each school. “Last year we got a notice,” White said. “This year, we can voluntarily submit. Next year, it is required to submit.” Although the first required audit does not take place until next year, Emerald Ridge is choosing to submit materials this year. Schools that choose to submit this year will not be af-

couldn’t call it AP anymore,” AP Literature teacher Brandi Groce said. Not only would this change the course title, but it would affect students who are either enrolled in the class or who had taken the class. “If your school does not pass the qualifications, you do not get to put AP on your transcript,” White said. If a school does not pass the audit, they can reapply the following year. However, even those courses that pass must renew their authorization every year. Once a class is approved, only the submission of the audit form is required for authorization. Although the inconsistency of passing or failing the audit may cause confusion for students and teachers alike, no specific programs or remedies are in place to solve the problem. According to Groce, the audit is not only a way —AP Government teacher Matt White to ensure that AP is meeting the standard, but also to help those schools that need assistance achieving that goal. “We have to show everything we teach,” AP American “They want to retain the validity of the AP title, but they Government and Politics teacher Matt White said. also want to work with teachers,” Groce said. College Board then evaluates the material to ensure that All AP teachers will be required to attend AP training the course meets the AP standard. despite the results of the audit. It will become a new require“Every test and assignment has to prepare you for the ment set by College Board. AP test,” White said. White predicts that Emerald Ridge will have no problem The audit examines the curriculum to asses a particular passing the audit. course’s rigor and validity to be labeled AP. The materials are “I think we’ll probably do fine,” White said. due between June 2006 and June 2007. Schools will receive Groce agrees. the results approximately three months after submission. “Although I can only speak for myself, I feel confident,” “If my course didn’t pass the audit, that would mean we Groce said. fected if the initial audit is failed. It more is for preparation of what is to come when it really counts. “It would help benefit teachers and administrators prepare for the future of what will be mandatory,” counselor Annie Boulet said. The audit requires all AP teachers to submit a copy of a syllabus from the class, a sample assignment, a sample exam and the audit form.

IF YOUR SCHOOL DOES NOT PASS THE QUALIFICATIONS, YOU DO NOT GET TO PUT AP ON YOUR TRANSCRIPT.

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07 volumeSIX.issueFIVE 3/1/2006 10:07:28 PM


A&E

NEWS

‘Running Scared’ is an improvement for Walker

News Briefs District levy passes

Loring absent

Early results show the Puyallup School District’s four-year school programs and operation replacement tax levy passing at 65.24 percent. Voters approved the tax in early February that supports day-to-day management of schools. Levy money pays about 20 percent of the revenue for most school districts’ operations. Such measures fund the basics for schools: utilities, insurance, textbooks, salaries, safety, classroom materials and activities. The levy needed a 60 percent “supermajority” to pass. This new $145.4 million levy costs taxpayers $3.43 per $1,000 in assessed property value. The previous levy cost taxpayers $3.45, worth just $30 million cumulatively, partly due to the fact that there were fewer properties owned in the area. While Puyallup easily passed its levy, neighboring districts weren’t as fortunate. The Bethel, Sumner, Tacoma and White River school districts’ levies all failed. These failures essentially cripple each district financially unless they can get them to pass during April’s resubmission period. Additionally, the bond measures for Tacoma, White River and nearby Federal Way did not pass.

Instead of seeing their regular teacher, Candace Loring, many art students found themselves being instructed by substitute Jodean Bailey for the last three weeks of first semester. Loring was gone to care for her son, Joe, who had broken his leg while snowboarding in the Canadian Rockies. He did not know the area well and fell 25 feet onto a CAT track, the marks left by a snowplow. He broke his knee in three places and had a vertical fracture of his tibia. In Mount Baker at the time, Loring did not hear about her son’s injuries until she called his roommate after he had been moved him from a hospital in Canada to Spokane. Loring and her husband met him there and accompanied him to Harborview Medical Center, which has a division specializing in knee injuries. She reports that he is doing fine, although he has been rendered relatively immobile by his injuries. The 21-year-old had to move back into his parents’ basement. He is in passive physical therapy and in a leg brace. His leg is not supposed to support weight, to prevent further injuries. Loring was glad to spend time with her son, but is happy to be back.

Full of excessive swearing, nauseating camera angles and hectic plot, ‘Running Scared’ still lacking

“I would have rather spent time with him going to Europe or something,” Loring said, “but I value the time I get to spend with my son.”

BY

MATT CLICK

Theft on the rise?

EDITORIAL BOARD

Theft is a common, albeit underground, practice at any high school. However, with the dawn of the iPod, administration has seen the practice more often. “In my eyes, I’m seeing more and more of it,” Assistant Principal Troy Hodge said. “Compared to last year at Stahl (where he was an administrative intern), I didn’t see this much.” During the spring sports assembly, the dance team was victimized when members left their bags in the open in a locker room. They were lucky, getting their stuff returned. “Theft happens because kids won’t lock things up,” school security guard Rick Burnley said. “Theft is a crime of opportunity; most people don’t go out and try to steal stuff.” Money, iPods and MP3 players are the most commonly stolen items. Of the 32 thefts actually reported to security since Feb. 6, electronic devices and money took up the top 50 percent.

Boy, Paul Walker sure has come a long way since “The Skulls” and “The Fast and the Furious,” hasn’t he? I mean … “Joy Ride,” “Into the Blue,” “Timeline,” “2 Fast 2 Furious” … actually, now that I think of it, young Mr. Walker has been consistently appearing in the same campy crap for the past six years. That is, until “Running Scared.” Now, don’t misunderstand me: “Running Scared” isn’t a good movie, not by any stretch of the imagination. But at least it’s interesting and at least Vin Diesel isn’t co-starring. Joey Gazelle (Walker) is a mob thug whose main role in the organization is to stash the “hot” guns used in murders by his boss. On a particularly bloody drug bust, Joey’s boss kills two dirty cops with a shiny, snub-nosed revolver. Joey rushes home and stores the pistol behind the wall in his basement like a good criminal lackey. Unfortunately, his 10-year-old son (Alex Neuberger) makes it a habit to play in the basement with the next-door neighbor kid, Oleg (Cameron Bright), and the two boys see him stash the weapon. Oleg snatches the gun and uses it to shoot his abusive stepfather (Karel Roden) in the shoulder, and he flees the house to escape retribution. Now the “hot” gun is on the streets, easily attainable by the law, the mob and a vengeful dirty cop (Chazz Palminteri – the Vanilla Coke guy). But Joey has to get the weapon first, or he’s shotgun fodder. It’s tough to get a hold of though,

–Danny Canham

S

FILM REVIEW because the gun is being swapped and sold between various unsavory characters in the criminal underbelly of New Jersey. “Running Scared” takes the tired “action/thriller” genre and attempts to revive it with an almost whimsical style of filmmaking. The attempt fails, but it fails brilliantly. It’s an intriguing movie to watch, because it feels almost like a fairy tale at certain points. It’s a fairy tale set in dirty, gritty greasy New Jersey, where everyone is packing heat and your next-door neighbor is an ex-Russian mafia hit man. At the same time, how many recent films have used that “filmed-in-a-public-bathroom” grunge look? For the film, it works exceedingly well in setting tone and establishing attitude. But honestly, what happened to pretty cinematography? The film is all over the place. As the characters weave in and out of each other’s plot lines, the movie gets more and more hectic and confusing. The crazy camera angles and non-linear storyline don’t help matters, and supporting characters pop in and out of the film like toaster strudels. For a lot of movies, this frenzied style of filmmaking succeeds. It adds an interesting, creative edge. But “Running Scared” features a fairly nontraditional plot, and it desperately needs an organized style to support that. But the major problem with this film is the dialogue. It’s trying way too hard to be Tarantino,

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and it’s embarrassing. If there was ever a script where 75 percent of the swearing was completely needless, it’s the screenplay for “Running Scared.” I suppose someone needs to tell the filmmakers that excessive foul language ceased being edgy in 1995, because half of Paul Walker’s lines are superfluous swearing and shouting. And when normal dialogue is “Hey honey, pass the %#&@ing spaghetti,” that’s pretty &#%@ing ridiculous. “Running Scared” is a

muddled, confusing mess of a film, to be sure. But it’s fun to watch. It’s interesting, and I’d like to see more from fledgling director Wayne Kramer. He has a distinct flair; he just needs to focus his energies on something tangible.

S

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23 volumeSIX.issueFIVE 3/1/2006 9:57:40 PM


NEWS

A&E

The third battle approaches Change in diversity office Preparations have been made. The bands have been picked. Now all that awaits is the actual Battle of the Bands BY

BRITTANY GENTILE

REPORTER

Justin Tung of A Midnight Octave will make one final appearance before he graduates.

The third annual Battle of the Bands is coming to Emerald Ridge. The Battle begins March 9 at 6 p.m., and tickets will be sold at the door for $6. There are many well-known bands lined up to take the stage: Cavalier, Innerself, A Midnight Octave, Bad City, and Reborn. The bands are taking extra time to prepare because the finals will be held at the Liberty Theatre on March 17 and will feature Jet City Fix. “We are practicing like we do for a normal show,” said Karl Helbich, drummer from A Midnight Octave. “This will be our last year playing it, so we are looking forward to it.” There will also be a Battle of the Fans for the crowd’s favorite band. Lissy Bryan, coordinator of the Battle of the

Bands, had a tough time picking bands to play out of the few that tried out. “Everybody had their own opinion … not everybody is going to be happy, but I did the best I could,” Bryan said When Bryan graduates she will find someone to take her place coordinating this event. “I want to find somebody who can be extremely dedicated who has people skills and organizational skills,” Bryan said. To coordinate this event takes hard work and dedication. She hopes she gets someone who had the same motivation as she did. Since she had previous experience with this she is very confident that this will run more smoothly than it did last year. Some of the problems faced last year were the security officers and attendees not knowing exactly what the rules were. “I am always looking for improvement,” Bryan said, “Since we know what went wrong and what didn’t last year, we will be more prepared.” All the funds raised for this will go to JagWire for the trip to the national convention in San Francisco.

New director of diversity affairs for Puyallup School District is still uncertain in Marya Gingrey’s absence BY

THAYER LAFLEUR

REPORTER

place: Emerald Ridge upper gym Marya Gingrey, director of diversity affairs for the Puyallup School District for the last three years, has decided to step down from her position, leaving the job in temporary hands until a replacement can be found. She officially left the district on Feb. 21. The interim director is Thelma Jackson, who is expected to be on the job for several weeks until Gingrey’s replacement is found, and then will work with the new director to ensure a smooth transition. Though this is only his second year, Superintendent Tony Apostle is now faced with the difficult task of finding a suitable replacement for the job that is mandated by the $7.5 million Thomas lawsuit settlement.

time: 6 pm date: March 9 price: $6 --------

place: the Liberty Theater, Puyallup time: 7 pm

BY

MARILYN DIXON

REPORTER

Following Loveland’s reading, Bates began an audience participation game. He claimed that past readings he had been to had been boring. A volunteer came up and participated in “Name That Book”, and the audience helped the literarily uncultured volunteer guess the titles of books. Immediatly after, he introduced Parrish. She noted the happy mood of the crowd, and said that after her reading, it would disappear. With a more serious and mature reading, Parrish’s work balanced out the once-comical mood of the crowd. After Parrish’s reading, Bates went into another audience participation game. Two volunteers competed in some ‘Romeo and Juliet trivia’ in ‘Head-to-Head Shakespeare.’ The last reader for the night was Agodon. She read a variety of different poems from her journals and books. Some were comical, others more heavy. “Poetry has a reputation of being boring,” Agodon said. “I want people to take away (from my reading) the different sides of poetry.” With the last reader finished, Bates concluded by reading a poem titled, “I Want to

price: $8

Be Your Shoebox,” by Catherine Bowman. It was talked about well after the show. A meet and greet session afterward allowed the audience to meet the readers and purchase books, enjoy refreshments, and donate to Bates’ non-profit organization. The donations were above and beyond Bates’ goal. The audience’s reaction was the highlight of the night. “It was excellent,” senior Diana Aitova said. “It had a good selection of writers and their work. Fiction, poetry – it’s just a good way to connect to the writing community.” Senior Travis Bonnette also enjoyed the night. “I liked it,” Bonnette said. “I’m speechless – more so than usual.” Bates’ first “A River & Sound Review” had met, and surpassed, his expectations. He hopes that word will spread and more will attend the next reading on May 5. However, if they attend, Bates prefers that they attend for at least one of the listed reasons. “(I want) people to love poetry, stories, fiction, and to love people who write them. I want people to enjoy it the way our ancestors were engaged in stories,” Bates said.

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IF THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH DIVERSITY … SHE WORKED WITH US TO RECOGNIZE THE SOLUTION.

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The Puyallup community was enlightened by creative writing and English teacher Jay Bates’ longtime dream-made-reality on Feb. 24, as he held his first “A River & Sound Review” in the Lecture Hall at Pierce College. “It’s called a reading series,” Bates said. “I’ll invite three different writers from the community who are poets, fiction writers, non-fiction writers – any practitioners of the creative art of writing, to come and read their original work.” Bates’ writers have to meet requirements. One of the writers has to be a student. The second writer has to be an emerging writer from the community. The third writer has to be an accomplished writer – a writer or poet who has had their works published. These three levels of writing create an essence of balance in the skill levels of the writers. The three writers from this reading

series’ inaugural night were fiction writer Anne Leigh Parrish, who is in numerous journals and the winner of many contests; published poet Kelli Russell Agodon (all of her accomplishments can be found on her website, agodon.com); and ER studentwriter Nathan Loveland, a junior, who was in Bates’ creative writing class. “I wanted to help Jay with his program,” said Agodon, who met Bates in a writing workshop class they took together. “I’m happy to support him, he’s got a lot of energy and good ideas.” Bates has wanted to start his series for five years now, but hasn’t had the time or resources to until recently. “I have ... wanted to create a program to make it on the radio. That’s my longterm goal: five years from now I want it to be so successful, that it’ll be on National Public Radio.” Bates opened with amusing comments to lighten the mood. After warming the atmosphere, Bates introduced Loveland. This was his first reading, but Loveland enjoyed himself, and showed no inkling of anxiety. “I messed up on some parts, but ultimately it was pretty good,” Loveland said.

Principal Brian Lowney said, “she worked with us to recognize the solution.” Although Gingrey’s reasoning for leaving the district is unclear – repeated attempts to contact Gingrey by phone were unsuccessful – she has chosen now as the time to uproot from her position in Puyallup and leave to join a nationally-recognized training firm in Tacoma to pass on her knowledge of incorporating diversity to individuals, corporations and governmental agencies. Jackson is a leading — Principal Brian Lowney educational authority on cultural competence in schools. She spoke at a 2005 summer session at the Washington State Association for Multicultural Education in Seattle about the teaching of bias and fairness in Washington schools.

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date: March 17

Reading series ‘A River & Sound Review’ successful English teacher and writer Jay Bates brings people together with the fruition of a dream

Debi Christensen, human resources executive assistant, said the district is in the process of reviewing the position, standard procedure for most vacancies in the district. PSD spokesperson Karen Hansen said she expects the job to be posted later this month, and at that time the district will work quickly to hire the new director. In an e-mail sent out to Puyallup School District staff, Gingrey wrote, “Dr. Apostle and I have committed our efforts to ensuring a smooth transition for an interim director and my eventual successor.” Gingrey beat out 88 hopefuls in January 2003 and left her job as a lawyer to become Puyallup’s first director of diversity affairs. In these three years, she has been the constant authority on diversity issues in the district. “If there was a problem with diversity around school,”

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05 volumeSIX.issueFIVE 3/1/2006 10:08:42 PM


A&E

NEWS

Winterim more fun in 2006 Science Week provides new opportunities to learn and ways to bond in advisory, all while surviving a simulated natural disaster BY

BRITTANY GENTILE

REPORTER

Sophomore Jessica Byrd helps to prepare her advisory door for competition.

Science Week 2006 was a success and a lot of fun at ER this year even though the participation wasn’t 100 percent, according to assistant principal and Science Week coordinator Troy Hodge. “Being an educator, I always wish there could be more involvement,” Hodge said. “But it’s a lot like regular school: You get out of it what you put into it.” Science teacher Kenn Fidler, a member of the Science Week committee, was very involved in the creation of Science Week. “I was responsible for the learning parameters, orienteering, establishing geographic locations, mining activities, and my advisory was the Science Week police,” Fidler said. “Aside from being highly involved, Science Week was more fun for me because I like science and it was my job to make it fun.” Science Week is first and foremost a learning experience, but administrators and students alike think that it was also a lot of fun. “Science Week was more fun (than the other Winterim weeks),” senior Zack Wheeler said. “We were able to build

Harris mixes past and present ‘Five Quarters’ brings bold characters that drive the reader’s imagination

houses and I like that since we don’t have shop here. It was more hands-on and not so many papers.” Senior Sara Cusato thought the tasks were better for other reasons. “The tasks were more detailed than previous years,” Cusato said. “The past assignments of Winterim weeks were pretty self-explanatory, but for Science Week they’re more direct and not as vague.” TJ Hart, who was on the video crew and not participating the way others were, shot a lot of the fun and activities. “We shot so many videos,” Hart said. “There were many different activities that all seemed like such a blast. All the labs and assemblies were really fun to shoot and all the doors looked awesome.” Amidst all the chaos and stress, even Hodge enjoyed himself. “My favorite part was orienteering,” Hodge said. “Of course, I wish I was out there doing it myself.” Cusato enjoyed the final day of Science Week, but not because it was a Friday. “In our advisory we made a fort for our natural disaster display,” Cusato said. “We had lots of fun building it because we worked in it the whole week and on Friday it looked really good.” After a few months and more than 100 hours of hard work and preparation, the Science Week team, including many science teachers and some administrators, enabled ER to have a successful Science Week 2006. “It was a group effort and learning happened,” Hodge said.

BY

For years, the small French town of Les Laveus has tried to forget the tragedy that occurred during World War II. A tragedy the locals believe the infamous Mirabelle Dartigen is responsible for. Though they know nothing of what happened to the woman and her children, a deep hatred flows strong beneath the surface, like the currents of the nearby Loire River. “Five Quarters of the Orange,” a fiction novel by Joanne Harris, occurs at a time when an old woman under the alias of Simon, returns to the dilapidated, fire-scorched Dartigen house and builds a successful business. Unknown to the locals, this woman is Mirabelle’s daughter Framboise, who has returned to Les

Customer’s enjoyment of uniquely flavored menu is interrupted by lack of good customer service BY

At first, you might think Bahama Breeze is like any other family-friendly restaurant, but walk in the front door and you’ll feel like you’ve just arrived in the tropics. This is part of what makes a restaurant, the atmosphere. Located by the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila, Bahama Breeze competes with the Rainforest Café and other fun restaurants. After calling in, we only waited 30 of the 60 minutes we were told we would wait, a nice surprise on a Saturday night considering every other place around had an hour-and-a-half wait. With menu items such as blackened chicken, jerk chicken pasta, ahi tuna salad and pan-seared salmon pasta, Bahama Breeze has a unique flavor that no other restaurant has. It’s like taking a mini vacation to the Bahamas. My first choice was the Island Onion Rings. These onion rings are twice the size of the usual onion rings that you see, and they come with chili horseradish and citrus mustard for dipping. My family of six hungry people was very satisfied with the 16 onion rings we were given. There was

120 West Main Ave. Puyallup, Washington 98371 253-845-2101 Photo by Kassie Green

Located next to the Liberty Theatre

04,25.indd 2-3

LORI JONES

REPORTER

Just ask Lynn

04

Laveus to rebuild her broken life and unlock the secrets of her dark past. Though her memories serve as a guide, the key she soon discovers is in the writings, ramblings, and recipes of her deceased mother. Framboise however, is not the only person to know about the journal. With time racing against her, Framboise must delve into the dark memories of the past and face her demons before all hopes of happiness are gone. The novel is intoxicating, a recipe flavored with many spices of deceit, adventure, love, and insight. It is a fictitious creation of depth, beauty and pain, a story of the long road to discovery of truth and of self. Harris is a master chef of linguistics. She blends the memories of the past and the realities of the present to perfection, carefully examining and measuring

the plot, drawing the reader into the darkness and complexity of the book. Harris’ sense of understanding and connection is seen in the smallest of details, such as the broken biscuits the family ate. She also reaches past the realms of a story of mothers and daughters, but into the strength in resistance and the shame of dependency, of succumbing to ourselves and others.

IT IS A BITTERSWEET PORTRAYAL OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, LOVE AND HATRED, TRUTH AND DECEIT.

richness and flavor of a forbidden fruit. There is Framboise, defiant, young and ambitious, so like her mother, whereas Reinette and Cassis are cowardly, naïve, and greedy. So different in emotion and understanding, the contrasting characters compliment each other. Their battle for balance and truth drive

“Five Quarters of the Orange” is a tantalizingly delectable novel. It is a bittersweet portrayal of the relationship between mother and daughter, love and hatred, truth and deceit. Harris’ characters are rich and alive with emotion. Their thoughts and actions drive the reader faster and deeper into a complex vintage plot. A true delight for the senses, “Five Quarters of the Orange” leaves the reader going back for more.

Bahama Breeze has taste like no other restaurant

McCutcheon’s Studio

volumeSIX.issueFIVE

MARISSA MOODENBAUGH

REPORTER

BOOK REVIEW

each element before adding it to the mixture. Everything is intertwined so inextricably that your senses try to savor each word, each moment. The rich aromas wafting off every page pique the interest and curiosity of the reader, leaving their mouths watering for more. The characters are alive with the bold

RESTAURANT REVIEW just the right amount of onion flavor and both sauces were a great compliment, whether you wanted something sweet or spicy. For my main dish, I chose pan-seared salmon pasta. Although I ordered the full portion, I could only eat half of what I was given. This filling dish blends passion fruit cream sauce, pasta, tomatoes, snap peas, mushrooms and salmon for just the right taste. Being a seafood lover, this was a perfect meal for me. The salmon was perfectly tender and seemed to melt in my mouth. Although I usually don’t enjoy mushrooms, they were the perfect accent to the snap peas, and the bow tie pasta was al dente.

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Despite how satisfied I was with the food and atmosphere, there was a lack in good customer service. Our server was very friendly and nice, but she always seemed to interrupt, forgot to ask how our meal was, and she never remembered to bring us a refill after we’d asked twice. At first I thought it might just be an off night for her, but then we encountered the same problem with other servers. This hindered the enjoyment of the delicious food I was eating. Despite the unexcused reaching and the forgetfulness, I was very happy with my evening. There was a bit of a calming effect and the food didn’t leave me wanting. So if you’re up for a fun evening in Tukwila and some island grub, Bahama Breeze would definitely be a place to check out.

Reach the students and staff of Emerald Ridge! Call (253) 435 - 6348

25 volumeSIX.issuefive 3/1/2006 9:56:25 PM


A&E

NEWS

Say hello to ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ Bland sets and backdrops barely detract from ‘Bye Bye Birdie,’ a successfully acted musical triumph BY

MATT CLICK

EDITORIAL BOARD

Yes, it’s that time of year again, folks. The skies are gray and the air is chill with winter frost. The temperatures are in the low 30s and weathermen on every station are predicting snow. It’s March – and you all know what that means. That’s right; it’s time for the annual spring musical! Or … the semi-spring-it’s-actually-winter musical, as it’s come to be known. Despite being a tad early this year, “Bye, Bye Birdie” has lived up to its springtime predecessors in every respect. It’s 1963 and the teens of America (specifically the females) are all about that newfangled rock n’ roll. Conrad Birdie (senior Tyler Quinn), a side-burned, leisure-suited hunk, is the latest craze on the music scene. And the girls, well, they think he’s just swell. However, there’s a bit of a problem – Conrad has just been drafted into the military. He and his glorious chops will be shipped overseas,

WASL intervention brings individual attention New math classes focus on geometry, while English classes work toward motivation for students

REVIEW

BY

leaving thousands of screaming girls behind to live without him. But Albert Peterson (sophomore James Knight), Conrad’s manager and aspiring English teacher, won’t let Conrad go without a little money in the bank. Albert’s secretary and on-again-off-again girlfriend, Rose Alvarez (junior Angela Conti) fosters a plan to get Conrad “one last kiss.” One lucky member of the Conrad Birdie Fan Club (thousands strong and thriving) will receive a farewell kiss on the Ed Sullivan show from Conrad himself. That lucky girl is fifteen-year-old Kim Macafee (sophomore Brittney Stout), who also happens to be the president of the Conrad Birdie Fan Club. Now, going into the production, you may think that the play focuses primarily on the character of Conrad Birdie. O contraire! The play actually spends the majority of the time on the relationships of Albert and Rose, and that of Kim and her boyfriend, Hugo Peabody (senior Thayer LaFleur), and the effect the Conrad Birdie sensation has on their lives. “Bye, Bye Birdie” is exceedingly well-cast.

JENN WHITHAM

REPORTER

Intervention math and English classes are in effect this semester to aid sophomores in preparing for the WASL and to help with credit retrieval. WASL scores are more crucial to the 2008 graduates due to the fact that failure in any section jeopardizes their ability to graduate, but the resources were not available to set up intervention courses first semester. One reason was that there was no math teacher available to teach an entirely separate class. “There are not any candidates for math this far into the year,” math teacher Tracie Shepard said. “So we are buying out teachers’ planning periods.” As for the English Skills 10 classes, Laurie Brandon has taken the job. According to Principal Brian Lowney, she was the best candidate because she student taught for English teacher Donna Carstensen during first semester. “We wanted someone that we knew and the key for us is we have seen Mrs. Brandon teach,” Lowney said. Another reason for the classes not being ready first semester was because of a lack of funds. “We got some dollars second semester to begin some intervention classes which focus on math and literacy,” Lowney said. The funds are carried over from I-728, which is the Initiative to Improve Student Learning. Every secondary school received it and Rogers and Puyallup High schools are doing similar intervention classes. Students encouraged to participate in the classes were picked based on a combination of criteria. If a student had not passed one or more sections of the WASL taken in seventh grade they were asked with their parents to attend an informational meeting held on Jan. 31. Others were asked after administration worked with American Studies, math and science teachers to see who would benefit from the intervention classes.

Senior Kelsey Rochester, junior Paul Klein and sixth grader Dean Decker play the Macafee family.

All the leads are just fantastic in their roles, and there are also great supporting contributions from juniors Paul Klein and Summer Yates, and senior Kelsey Rochester. My major gripe with the play is with the sets. The majority of the musical takes place on either a black background or a bland living room set, whereas last year’s “Oklahoma!” and 2004’s “Into the Woods” both had gorgeous, vibrant set design. The plain, featureless backdrops detracted from the production quite a bit.

However, the talent really did make up for it. Beautiful voices and acting aptitude seem to be a staple here at Emerald Ridge, and the spring musical is really an opportunity for the talent to shine. The musical is now halfway through its run – it’ll be showing twice more, Friday and Saturday night. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should definitely attend. “Bye, Bye Birdie” is a lot of fun, and I found myself enjoying it more than the two previous Emerald Ridge musicals. It’s worth going just to see Tyler Quinn’s hair. It reaches for the heavens, my friends.

Laurie Brandon began teaching the English Skills 10 class second semester. Students focus on improving WASL-related reading and writing.

“There are students who are doing well in American Studies, but maybe just need a little help in their writing skills,” Lowney said. These classes are not designed for the student with poor attendance and lack of good work ethic. “We’re looking for the hardworking students who do the work, but maybe just need some test-taking strategies,” Shepard said. According to Brandon, most enrolled in the English class just need a little more help. “What I’m seeing is not a lack of ability, but rather a combination of things, such as motivation,” Brandon said. The English classes are made up of about 15 students in each class period. The purpose behind the small classes is to have more time working on a more individual attention teaching method. The math class is focused on geometry students because those students are up to grade level in math. There are three parts to the math intervention. One geometry class, being taught during first period by math teachers Heidi Fox and Jayne Holfstrand, will have

up to 15 students in it. It will be very similar to a regular geometry class. “We’re going to be focusing on geometry topics, only in a format of WASL testing,” Fox said. There also is an after-school class being designed to offer extra help, being taught by math teachers Rod Hart and Eric Paul. It will be open to students who are not already in the intervention geometry class. “We may have a workbook that students would work out of, but basically we’ll be focusing on some specific areas such as basic procedure; labeling graphs and using complete sentences,” Hart said. Shepard and math teacher Sarah Cypher are reorganizing their geometry curriculum. “We will provide some materials for all geometry and algebra I courses this year. Our primary goal is to reorganize our sophomore-level course so it not only provides the essential geometry curriculum, but also works to prepare/practice kids for the WASL,” Shepard said.

Week dedicated to battles of the sexes ER experiences its first Gender Defender week with the boys coming out 50 points ahead of the girls BY

ALEX STOBIE

Junior Angela Conti and sophomore James Knight sing as Rosie and Albert.

volumeSIX.issueFIVE

26,03.indd 2-3

26

Photo by Shailey Wilkinson

Senior Tyler Quinn struts his stuff as Conrad Birdie as he and Kim Macafee, played by sophomore Brittney Stout, brace for a kiss.

Photo by Elaine Raymond

REPORTER

Spirit weeks are designed so that schools can centralize the student body and give everyone a chance to participate in activities, assemblies, and spirit themes such as

dress-up days. Gender Defender week was run from Feb. 13-16. This was a week where the two opposing genders battled for the title of the strongest side. For each of the four days it was hosted, boys and girls fought for their right to call themselves the better sex, and at the end of the week the boys were named victorious after beating the girls 450-400. The leadership class heard about this from senior Amanda Pisetzner, who learned of it at a National Association of Student

Councils (NASC) conference over the summer. Liking the idea, the leadership decided to try it out. “A solid two weeks’ worth of class time was dedicated to this week alone,” junior Patrick Hoey said. Gender Defender was made for fun with a competitive edge for the student body. But there were some who didn’t find the week so exciting. “I thought it was a waste of time,” senior Kelly Kamstra said.

Changes that would like to be seen for upcoming years are more participation from students, more time for more planning on the leadership part, and possibly an assembly. The leadership class would also like to see this become a tradition, something that students can look forward to each year. “I think it’s important that students have more of an identity, that they feel more at home at high school,” Hoey said. “I think the leadership will do this again.”

03 volumeSIX.issueFIVE 3/1/2006 10:10:04 PM


MARCH

soundoff

four people, four cds see what happens when they come to the roundtable

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Lissy Bryan

13 >> Sports in the world

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Sports Culture

15 >>

As ER grows as an athletic force, our athletes gain recognition and respect for our athletic program increases, the culture of our school is changing. JagWire takes a look at sports and its effects on us all.

Athlete worship

ER funnyman and actor extraordinaire Ryan McNamara talks about performing and his plans for the future stages of his life.

12

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Robin Stoyles

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Elaine Raymond

Ryan McNamara

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05 WASL Help

Intervention classes designed to coach sophomores to pass the WASL this March begin this semester.

24 Reading series review

Writer and ER teacher Jay Bates dreamt of heading a reading series. The first ‘A River and Sound Review’ took place Feb. 24.

Sciss

Darrin Jones

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3/1/2006 9:54:33 PM


AN OPEN FORUM FOR STUDENT EXPRESSION

Battle Of the Bands March 9 ERHS $6

Grease March 3-19 Auburn Ave Theatre $20 Bye Bye Birdie March 3-4 ERHS Wonderful Town $7-9 March 21 5th Ave Theatre $22-72

The Starting Line March 26 The Showbox $17

Emery March 31 The Showbox $15

Girl of My Dreams March 15 The Village Theatre $20 Two Gentlemen of Verona March 23 Tacoma Actors Guild $15-30

Sonics vs. Detroit Pistons X-Fighting Championship March 3 March 11 KeyArena 7 Cedars Casino $50-200 $20

Failure To Launch (PG-13) March 10 Starring: Matthew McConaughey Sarah Jessica Parker The Hills Have Eyes (R) March 10 Starring: Tom Bower, Emilie de Ravin

She’s the Man (PG) March 17 Starring: Amanda Bynes, James Kirk EMERALD RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL 12405 184TH ST E SOUTH HILL, WA 98374

VOLUME SIX ISSUE FIVE MARCH 2006

28,01.indd 2-3

3/1/2006 10:11:21 PM


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