November 12, 2009
Volume 33 Number 1
Well-trained staff members, the proper equipment, professionalism, calmness, and the right people being in the right place at the right time - all of those elements came together during fourth period October 14 and saved the life of Yosemite High junior Doug Berg. Berg was in Rebecca Brokaw’s Spanish class when she noticed him hitting his head on the desk behind him. She said for a moment, looking from across the room, she thought he was joking around but then realized he wasn’t. Berg’s friend, Brandon Cummins, sitting across the aisle from him, immediately went to his aid. “I saw my friend hitting his head,” he said. “I went right to his aid, doing what any normal person would do. I tried to stay calm.” Brokaw immediately went into action, sending one student to call the office and sent another student a few doors down the hall to get Bob Kernaghan, a math teacher at YHS and a paid-call firefighter for 27 years where he holds the rank of captain. She stayed with Berg and then later took her class outside where she spent the rest of the time going back and forth between the classroom and her students so she could keep them informed of what was happening. She had high praise for her students, saying they were “very respectful and acted appropriately; they were very quiet and helpful.” Kernaghan recalls students coming to his door to say Mrs. Brokaw needed him; a student was having a seizure. He grabbed the medical gear he keeps in his room and went to Brokaw’s room where he found the student unconscious in his chair being held by Cummins. Kernaghan said at that time Berg was still breathing; oxygen was started, “then he didn’t seem to be breathing,” Kernaghan said. He then checked for vital signs and found he was not breathing and did not have a pulse. Campus Supervisor Denise Trappen called the school office to have the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) brought to the classroom. Campus Supervisor Lina Moberly started doing chest compressions and Trappen was
administering oxygen, starting basic CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation). About that time, Terri LeQuia, a paraeducator for Madera County Office of Education who works at the YHS campus, and who is a licensed vocational nurse in the Navy Reserves, came into the room and took over the resuscitation while Moberly continued chest compressions. Campus Supervisor Laurie Kenyon brought the AED to the room and Kernaghan hooked it up to analyze Berg’s heart. During that time, about 20 seconds, but it seemed like an hour, he said, they had to stop CPR. The machine advised a shock. Although Kernaghan had used an AED three times before, he had never had it advise a shock. The machine told them that Berg was in ventricular fibrillation, which means his heart was fluttering but not pumping. Hopefully, the shock from the AED would put it back into an effective rhythm. Kernaghan administered the shock but there was still no pulse; they resumed CPR and shortly noticed that he was trying to breathe and they found a strong pulse. Moberly was doing the chest compression at the time and she said the moment that really touched her was when she could feel his heart beating under her hand. “I can’t explain the feeling,” she said, “I hope I never have to experience that again but it felt so good.” LeQuia continued to assist with his breathing by performing ventilation with an oxygen bottle. The ambulance arrived, “very quickly,” Kernaghan said. The crew was amazed that the AED had advised a shock and that Berg’s heart had converted to a pulse. He was transported to Children’s Hospital of Central California and later was transferred to Stanford Medical Center. At Stanford, an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) was implanted in his chest and, last week, he said he felt just fine. While the drama was unfolding, Berg was not aware of anything. He said he remembers looking at the clock and he thinks it was around 10:10. The next thing he remembers is three to four days later when he
There was a reunion of sorts in fourth period Spanish class last Thursday when teacher Rebecca Brokaw (center)returned after being out for a couple days and welcomed back Doug Berg (right), who returned to school November 3. It was the first time she had seen her student since he left her classroom on a stretcher, having just been shocked back to life with an Automatic External Defibrilator (AED) on October 14. The first person to come to Doug’s aid in the classroom was his good friend, Brandon Cummins, left. was at Stanford. He does have one pleasant memory of Stanford - the food was really good! Everyone involved has had nothing but praise for the entire team that responded that day, and it was definitely a team effort notes YHS Principal Ed Van Hoose. “It took a team,” he said, “a number of people made this happen from office staff to administrators, campus supervisors, and those who administered the medical assistance.” Van Hoose added that “we are very fortunate to have very talented, caring and compassionate staff members.” Having people trained, having the right equipment and people with knowledge to use that equipment was critical, everyone who was involved says. Doug Berg’s father, Jerry, said the family is so appreciative of the way things were handled. “Everyone knowing what to do, doing it at the right time and in the right way” made all the difference for his son. “Had everyone not been in the right place and done the right thing, he wouldn’t have made it,” Mr. Berg said. Tony Misner, who teaches the Regional Occupational Program (ROP)
One of the new additions to the daily life at Yosemite High School this year has been the mandatory drug testing policy for extracurricular activities. This new rule requires all students participating in any sort of competition - be it sports, the Academic Decathlon, Mock Trial, or any other competitive activity - to submit to a drug test should their name be selected at random. The test checks the student for traces of drugs or alcohol, and if a substance is found in the student being tested, he or she is suspended from all competitive activities for a select period of time.
The idea for the tests started at the beginning of last year, with parents and staff acknowledging the need for a more effective way of enforcing the no drugs and alcohol rule. Because of the expense for such a program, the district agreed to support the proposal if the parents and community paid for it via fundraising and private donations. The proposal was accepted, and at the beginning of this year, the testing program had $9,000 at its disposal. So far, 50 students have been randomly selected for testing, each at a cost of around $35-$50. Not one had tested positive for drugs or alcohol by the end
of October. The program, which has been obviously successful, was not, as Athletic Director Tammy Thacker says, “A way to catch kids,” but is instead used as a deterrent. “It gives kids a reason to say ‘no’,” says Superintendent Steve Raupp. Because many students value their sports and competitions greatly, they have a personal reason to resist pressure and temptation and keep dangerous substances out of their life. How long will the drug tests stay, or even be mandatory? Principal Edward Van Hoose states, “As long as it is funded, it will stay here.”
emergency medical technician (EMT) courses for Yosemite Unified, says Berg “is alive today because we are proactive instead of reactive. The emergency plan fell into place; our entire staff is responsible for this save. It’s truly a miracle that he’s alive. If that had happened most other places, he would not have made it.” Misner added that “this young man is alive because of community support. Sierra Telephone donated that AED to the district a few years ago.” Yosemite High School has three AEDs on site, there is one at Coarsegold Elementary and the district is in the process of purchasing one for Rivergold Elementary. Misner believes YHS needs at least three more units because the campus is so large (95 acres).
Donations have already been received to help with the cost of purchasing additional units, which cost about $1800 each, Misner said. YUSD Superintendent Steve Raupp said the quick and efficient response to the medical crisis emphasizes the importance of preparation and training in all aspects of school safety. “We know that being prepared and being trained in the proper response is critical, and that is a district priority,” he said. He said the district spends a lot of time working on safety planning and training and “we hope we never have to use it, but we know if the time comes when we do have to respond to an emergency, we must be prepared.” Kernaghan notes that some people will spend their entire career with
nothing serious ever going wrong, “but when it does go wrong, it’s important to be able to rely on practice and training. Fire drills, earthquake drills, and lock down drills are important.” Kernaghan says people will always do the best they know to do in a crisis and “if they don’t respond right it’s because they weren’t trained right. You do what you are trained to do.” Those who have dealt with medical emergency of the type Berg experienced know he was very fortunate. LeQuia says in her years working in emergency rooms, she has participated in this type of effort many times - this is the second one she worked on that was successful. Kernaghan had reason to have an AED analyze a heart three times prior, and none of those could receive a shock - it was too late for the machine to be of any use. Looking back, those involved believe it was just not Doug Berg’s day to die. Too many things came together in amazing ways to look at it any way but destiny, Moberly says. “I believe God has an amazing plan for him,” she said. “Everything was in place, everything went just right.” Trappen said all she could do was keep telling Berg, “You can’t die, you can’t die.” And, she says, it turned out that it just wasn’t his day to die. On Berg’s third day back to school after the incident, Kernaghan walked into the fourth period Spanish class at the end of the period and saw Berg for the second time ever. Shaking his hand, he told him he looked a lot different than he had looked the last time he had seen him. “I’m glad you are back,” Kernaghan said. Berg smiled at him and said “so am I.”
One of the many topics that has created a buzz around Yosemite High School has been the recent budget cuts to school funding. This year, schools around California have lost programs, supplies, and teachers due to the lack of funding coming from the state. The ball began rolling for the cuts back in October of 2008. As the economy of California became worse, a chain reaction started. As the housing market failed, unemployment rose, tax revenues decreased, and the overall economy went into a recession, state revenues declined dramatically. In that a significant portion of school district funding comes from the state level, every district in California was subjected to significant funding cuts. This was compounded by the fact that the Yosemite Unified School District was experiencing declining enrollment. Since the school revenue is based on the number of students in attendance, fewer students meant fewer dollars generated. As each student earns the school roughly $6,000 per year, even a few empty seats can cause quite a gap in the school’s budget. This
year, it wasn’t just a few; attendance shows around 1100 students enrolled last year, and this year it dropped to about 950. According to District Superintendent Steve Raupp, the difference in funding from last year to this year is easily spotted. Last fall, the budget for the YUSD was over $21 million; this year, it has fallen to $18.5 million. Around 75 percent of the budget goes to staff salaries, while 15-20 percent is used to pay fixed cots such as insurance and utilities, (electricity, propane, and water). Only 510 percent is available to buy supplies like textbooks and computers. When the cuts hit, the first things to get cut were staff, with reductions in both hours and positions. Fewer dollars to go around meant that raises for some staff were postponed, and this coupled with the fact that fewer kids were going to school meant that there was no longer a need or an ability to have as many teachers. Another of the more noticeable changes the budget cuts have caused is the lack of an after-school bus, often used by students on sports teams or in detention after school. As trans-
portation can be one of the most expensive parts of the district operation, this luxury was unfortunately cut, Raupp said, although it was known that it wouldn’t be popular and could cause some sports teams to lose their players. The Budget Advisory Committee, a group of staff and parents, “Had to make tough decisions,” said Yosemite High School Principal Edward Van Hoose. The committee makes many of the local decisions concerning where the budget cuts are made and how they are enacted. “They did well with what they had,” Van Hoose said of the committee. When asked how the situation could be resolved, Superintendent Raupp said, “The whole system is an issue,” and that it “needs to become stable.” The budget issue is all connected to the state. If California’s economy becomes whole and not as shaky, the schools will return to their previous positions, with more money in the budget. Even so, informed decisions will have to be made to secure the financial safety of the YUSD and all others across California.
The only relaxing part of senior year for me is getting off campus during lunchtime and sitting down with my friends at the local supermarket, sharing a couple of different sodas, splitting a salad, small cup of hot soup, a chicken strip and making fun of the one in the group classy enough to purchase the sushi. Relaxing until the designated time - keeper realizes their watch actually stopped working 15 minutes ago and the entire group is going to be late for English. As an International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement student, there is no part of the senior year that can be defined as “kicking back and sailing through” like has been foretold by students for the past three years of high school. Essays, tests, senior projects, extracurricular activities, volunteering, sports, work, Internal Assessments, college applications, university applications, housing applications, scholarship applications, financial aid applications, honors program applications, internship applications fill the time. My love of writing has
suffered a serious whacking from everything I have had to create this year and we have not even neared semester. I have never before had a two-inch binder resist when I attempted to close it, and I have two of them. Yet, the year thus far has definitely been my favorite at Yosemite High. I am with students and friends that I have known for at least four years. Although my classes are challenging, I look forward to the lessons and discussions each day, despite the fact that I might complain like everyone else, just because I can. By senior year, the majority of the teachers you are with know you well, recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and can offer honest advice when need be. They will joke with you, and they tend to listen and value your opinions far more than when you were just another freshman blending in with the back wall of the classroom. Even with the stress of upcoming graduation, looming adulthood and the mystery of the letters in the mailbox signed by Departments of Admission, senior year is the time to look back and see how much you’ve grown and matured, regardless of that urge to slip in a “That’s what she said” into every other conversation. I have lost friends. I have
made even greater ones. I have made a fool of myself and I have gained respect. I have forgotten and learned so much I could write novels about both. I have hated and loved myself. I have wanted to give up and known I have to keep going. I have cried, laughed, hurt, sung highly off-key and laughed some more. I know all my fellow students are looking forward to, as well as dreading, going off to college and finding their independence. Yet, we also realize this is our last true opportunity to be a kid and get away with it. After this year, we will literally be strapped down by the weight of the life we have all anxiously wanted to live. We will be going off to college. We will be getting careers. We will be pursuing stardom. We will be getting married and having kids, or living that crazy bachelor life. This is the next step, and it truly does require a mile-long leap without a parachute or bungee cord. Senior year is the point of no return, and despite the work and stress and fistfuls of hair, in the end it is going to be reminisced upon as the ride of a lifetime. But right now, we are all too excited to get off and find that next great roller coaster.
Senior year -- is it the best of times or the worst of times? Depending on who is answering the question, it is either. A random, anonymous survey of YHS seniors found that for some it’s as good as it gets and for others it’s filled with lots of stress and concern about the future. As seniors realize that this is their last year of high school and in a few months many of them will be on their own, looking for a job to support themselves, they take a very different view of school and life. One of the best parts of senior year for some is being able to go off campus for lunch. Others say they are able to relate to their teachers better this year. For some,the term paper for their senior project has caused a lot of stress and for others, the large amount of homework has been a surprise and is stressful. Thinking about the future can be scary. Some are still a little unsure if they will graduate on time, others wonder where they will go to college, or how they will support themselves. One student commented that senior year “has come as quite a shock to me.” He had expected senior year to be just like all the other years, but it has not been that
way. He enjoys the freedom that comes with being a senior. Another says there is so much work to be done “sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe,” but this student is optimistic, saying “I know everything will be okay and I will graduate on time.” Senior year is a time of reflection for some students. “It seems as if the break of my own dawn is the start of a bright future,” one says. One says she is “savoring the moment,” of the senior year. Another comments that “being a kid was not as stressful, but I’m still excited.” “I’m sure all students wish they still had time to explore their inner-child again,” a senior said. A theme that kept coming through with the students was that senior year was bringing them mixed feelings: “It’s the easiest yet the most worrisome;” “senior year is hard but easy at the same time;” “I’m excited about the future but enjoying the time left at YHS.” Many seniors are confident of a bright future. “I’m really excited to graduate and just feel that accomplished feeling. I’m excited for a life I’ve never known, and one that guarantees adventure and independence,” one senior concludes.
As the world’s economy gets worse and worse, teenagers are finding it harder to find and keep a job. On September 5, the New York Times reported that teenage unemployment had reached 25.5 percent, the highest rate for August since the government started keeping statistics in 1948. With some parents losing their jobs, or getting their hours cut back, many teens feel the need to help. What are they supposed to do? Look for a job in this
economy? Some teens do have jobs but many say their hours have been cut back. A senior at YHS said “I work at a restaurant and I have gone from working six days a week, from five to six hours a night, to only working three or four days anywhere from three to four hours.” This girl says the tips she receives have also gone down dramatically. Greg Hill, the counselor in charge of the work experience program, has 60 students enrolled this semester.
Published by the journalism class 50200 Road 427, Oakhurst, CA 93644 559-683-8801 ext. 338 Staff Christine Cook Kofi Felix Maria Gonzalez Ryan Priessman
Christopher Smith Alisa Choin, Columnist Earlene Ward, Advisor
This program gives students one credit for every 28 hours of work. Students must be a junior or senior to participate and they must have a job. Hill says he is seeing it much harder for teenagers to get jobs in this economy. In a random survey, students say they are trying to find jobs, but there just are not many available. Another senior at YHS said “I am very luck to have a job, especially in today’s economy. I don’t know how I was able to obtain the job,” but he feels fortunate to have found one.
PHOTO
BY
ROY BROOMFIELD
California Highway Patrol Officer Scott Rodda, a pilot for the CHP helicopter, is shown talking to YHS students recently after landing on the school’s football field. This was organized by Madera County Sheriff’s Deputy Roy Broomfield, who is assigned to Yosemite High, and who teaches the Regional Occupational Program (ROP) Criminal Justice class. Students from the ROP Emergency Medical Technician class also participated in the November 4 event. Broomfield said the students were very impressed with the professionalism and expert knowledge of the air ship and official duties described by Officers Rodda, Andrea Brown, and Scott Lynn. “Our students need to hear from someone other than educators what it takes to be successful in life as an adult,” Broomfield said.
Kellie Romine is dedicated to making sure students feel a certain amount of confidence in their future. To help with this, she works with them through the Yosemite High Career Center, located in the library. Students ask about jobs ranging from ordinary to exciting to very interesting jobs like becoming a violin craftsman. Though she helps mostly with career planning, she can also help students find jobs such as babysitting, office work, and yard cleanup. Romine says a lot of students come to the career
center in search of information about jobs like firefighters, lawyers, and nurses and she is able to help these students with the plans that might help them achieve their goals. Her philosophy is that you “need to choose a career field that you enjoy and like working in to be successful.” Romine notes that there is something for everyone at the career center and she would like everyone to “make one trip into the career center” to see her. An important aspect of the career center is helping students with college applications and scholarships. Romine is also fully knowl-
edgeable of financial aid to help students through school. The money put toward your future is a very important factor and something to consider would be living cost and gas, she says. If a student were trying to move to the beach they would want to know exactly what a month’s rent may be or how much gas money a person would need to get to school and/or to work. Romine notes that career centers are at every college, and they can help students keep track of their classes for their major, and help with keeping one’s goals in mind.
Students at Yosemite High are having hard times with sports and many other things due to budget cuts for the schools. They complain about there being no late busses and how that makes it hard for some of them. Others say it has affected them because there is too little money going into the organization they belong to and this is causing them to have to do lots of fundraisers. Some students are upset because a lot of good teachers were laid off. There are also bigger classroom sizes meaning less time to have one-onone help from teachers. Some students don’t
have rides to get them home from sports so they can’t always stay for practice. Some students say that budget issues haven’t affected them at all. They may not participate in extra curricular activities or sports, so the issue of after school transportation or fundraising doesn’t affect them, or they may not have had to rely on the after school transportation in the past. One teacher says that budget cuts create more work for teachers and others. They have too many kids to be able to properly teach and help at the same time. They have more work because class sizes are rising immensely. People are doing more
work than they had to do in the past because of employee lay-offs. “We all have to do more with less,” one staff member said. Another teacher says it is hard because they can’t buy new equipment and they can’t afford to maintain or upgrade equipment what they already have. Some say the budget issue has created money problems for their family, making it harder for them at school and at home. Some students report that they have been laid-off of their job or had their hours cut dramatically, and some say their parents have been laid-off, or have had their hours reduced by furloughs.
School will be on a three will be Tuesday, November Naomi Reimer, a -day break for Thanksgiv- 24; classes start again Yosemite High senior, has ing. The last day of class Monday, November 30. been named a Commended Student in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program. About 34,000 students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Commended Students place among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who enter the competitor.
Fall sports season is drawing to a close and some winter sports practices have begun. Wrestling held its first practice November 2, boys’ soccer started November 3. In winter sports, the girls’ water polo team was undefeated in league; boys’ water polo took second in league; girls’ golf was league champions; volleyball was co-league champions; football playoffs have not begun; girls’ tennis was second in league; and cross country girls finished first in league and boys finished second. Cross Country The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams will be in the Valley finals today at Woodward Park in Fresno. The girls’ team finished first in league and the boys’ team finished second. Coach Ellen Peterson said the highlight of the season was the school fielding an all-sophomore girls’ team for the Mt. SAC invitational where they placed third in their division. She said being able to field that team was an accomplishment but then to have them take third against schools of all sizes was amazing. The teams’ goals are to be in the top 10 in the Valley finals. The girls are currently ranked nine. Peterson said they had a very good season and she looks forward to a strong team next year with some young returning runners. About a third of the varsity team will graduate this year but, she says, that’s typical, making every year seem like a rebuilding year. Top runners for the girls this year are senior Kelsi Woytovich and sophomore Colleen Warmerdam. Top runners for the boys are seniors Ian Womack and John Warmerdam. Football The YHS varsity football team was to have played its last home game November 6 against Dinuba. Tomorrow night, November 13 the Badgers will meet Sierra, at Sierra for the annual Mountain Bowl. YHS currently holds the trophy and Coach Aaron Eames says they intend to keep it. Going in to the game against Dinuba, the Badgers were 3-5. They need to beat Dinuba and Sierra to make it to the
playoffs and the coach said he thought they had a good chance. During the season, Coach Eames reached his 100th victory as a YHS coach, bringing his 14-year record at the school to 10063. The coach credits team captains Garrett Yoder, Detri Dunn and Jake Allen for good leadership during the season. Girls’ Golf The YHS girls’ golf team finished second in the CIF team championships in Bakersfield last week. Amanda Rudd won the individual CIF championship on the team with 75. Two players, sisters Kirsten and Jordan Keyser, were to have played in the CIF individual championships in Bakersfield this past Monday. If they qualified Monday, they will go to the Southern Section State Championships. Coach Rusty Oetinger says this would be a major achievement. Just two players from YHS have made it to that level: Jed Noonkester and Mike Best. YHS finished third overall this season for all Division I and Division II schools. Oetinger said they had a very successful season, taking the league championship, North Area championship and barely missing the team CIF championship. Girls’ Tennis The girls’ tennis team finished second in league with a 13-5 overall season record and 8-2 in league. Erica Grant won her first match in the Valley Championships in Visalia but lost in the second. Shannon Lane had also qualified for Valley. Two doubles teams from YHS made it to Valley but lost in their first matches. The teams were Katelund McCall and Bess Avina and Sophie Faulkner and Chloe Dean. The team finished in the top four in league and two out of the four teams going to Valley were from YHS, according to Coach Stan Lawrence. Two seniors will be graduating this year, but Lawrence says if the rest of the team comes back, it will be a good year in 2010. “It is nice to be developing a tradition of having some good athletes coming out -- girls who are com-
Coach Ellen Peterson says she loves cross country “immensely”. She says that as a kid she wasn’t able to do cross country because women were not allowed to compete in any sports, so she ran on her own. She has been coaching cross country at Yosemite High School for 25 years. Her favorite part of cross country is that she gets to be outside and run and she loves that. She also likes cross country because it’s an individual sport where people can motivate themselves to achieve great things, she says. Peterson runs from five to eight miles every day to stay in top physical condition. Cross country practices every day except Sundays from August to November. Everyone gets to compete in the events as a team. If there aren’t five people in that group then it isn’t considered a team but it is considered a group of individuals. There are about 40-50 people who participate in cross country every year; they run from two to three miles a day and then do
Coach Ellen Peterson other types of workouts and stretches. Their workouts are based on running and different types core workouts. The reason cross country is such a great sport, Peterson says, is because it has intrinsic rewards and people are self-motivated. Everyone has their own personal goals that they determine. They have a total of 14 meets and they have other activities like the corn maze, team meals, and road races.
petitive and want achieve,” he said.
to off schedule would be. Thacker said if her two senior outside hitters, Volleyball Hillary Prince and Lanae The YHS Badger vol- Contero, and the rest of the leyball team is co-league team, play to their potential champion with a 9-1 they will do well in playoffs. record. The team was scheduled to start post-seaBoys’ Water Polo son playoffs this past The boys’ water polo Tuesday, unless they drew a team finished second in bye for the first game. league and was scheduled As of press time, Coach to go into Division III playTammy Thacker did not offs this past Tuesday. know what the team’s playAs of press time, Coach
Jim Clark did not know who they would be playing, or where. The team won its first game of the league championship November 4, beating Chowchilla 12-4. They lost their second game to Kingsburg 6-9. Clark said the team had a good year with a lot of young players. He said the flu also really hurt the team this year with two or three out ill or injured at times. The best match of the season was the Sunnyside Tournament where the Badgers took fourth, beating Central 10-7 and Redwood 7-6 in overtime. Senior starters are Kyle Oja, Antho ny Smith, and J.J. Jackson. Girls’ Water Polo The girls’ water polo team was unbeaten in league, clinching the league championship November 4 with a 17-8 win over Sierra
PHOTO COURTESY
OF
CAROLE CALDERWOOD
Yosemite High School science teacher Carole Calderwood is shown on her horse, Zonna, after they won the First Level Elite division at the California Dressage Society’s Adult Amateur Regional Championships, which is the championship show for the region of central California. Calderwood says she caught the “horse bug” as a young child and badgered her parents for a horse for years. “I finally wore them down in the sixth grade,” she says, “and they purchased my first horse, a quarter horse palomino I called Pepsi. I have owned many horses since then. My parents always wondered when I would outgrow my horse passion, my father is still waiting.” Calderwood discovered dressage when she was a freshman at Cal Poly Pomona and says “it is the perfect sport for me. It takes years to train the horse up through the levels. There is always room for growth. It is a sport where you can ride the same horse for years and keep learning and working as a team.” Zonna is a five-year-old Dutch Warmblood.
in the semi-finals and a 208 victory over Kingsburg in the championships. The girls were scheduled to start Division II Valley championships this past Tuesday. Coach Brandon Brokaw said he thought they would go into the playoffs seeded seven or eight out of 12 teams. “All of our starters have been great,” he said. He added that he has about eight girls who all play at the same level, so there aren’t one or two outstanding players who the other teams can cover and shut them down. Seniors on the team are Meghan Moons, Erin Casey, and Brittany Elsman. Brokaw says he has a strong team coming up next year with “a lot of strong juniors.” The team’s starting goal is a sophomore, Kaley DeSilva.
Yosemite High School is home to four new students from other countries this year. There is one foreign exchange student and three who have moved to Oakhurst with their families. All four say that language is their biggest struggle, but all do speak English and have been studying the language since first grade. Yang Sen Sen Yang is a senior and a foreign exchange student. He notes that in China the
Yang Sen last name is used first, so he goes by Yang Sen. In China he would be a sophomore; when he returns at the end of this school year he will have two more years of senior high school. Their schooling consists of six years of elementary school, three years of junior high and three years of senior high. Sen’s family lives in Bejing. While he says that Oakhurst is “very quiet,” he adds that is okay. He likes the quiet conditions and he likes the conveniences of the larger stores and Chinese restaurants. American food is not new to him since some American restaurants are in China, including McDonalds, Starbucks, KFC, and Subway. He says he is drinking a lot of Starbucks coffee here since it costs almost $10 a cup in China. His favorite American food is macaroni salad. Sen says all of his classes are his favorite but he especially likes English, history, and his Advanced Placement classes (chemistry, physics, and calculus). He
finds US history and English “pretty hard.” Students begin studying English in first grade in China and some have extra English classes after school. “Most Chinese parents really emphasize English education,” he said. Sen hopes to return to the United States to attend Cal Tech where he wants to study mathematics and business. A new experience for him at YHS is the cross country team. They do not have cross country in China. He says he likes the sport but “it’s not easy.” In China he played ping pong and tennis. He thinks he may learn to play golf here. Sen says he went out for the cross country team because it’s new to him and “my coach is my history teacher (Ellen Peterson) and she’s very good to me.” He also likes the team: “They are very good to me and encourage me a lot, it’s a nice team,” he says. School in China has a different schedule every day. They have a one month winter break and a two month summer break and sometimes there are days off for festivals. Sen says some of the young generation my celebrate Christmas by having a meal with friends. The Christians in China go to church that day to celebrate. Some stores have sales at that time of year. While he is in America, Sen stays in touch with his family through an Internet program. Li Xiang Xiang Li, who goes by Li Xiang, is a freshman at YHS this year. He and his father moved to Oakhurst to live with his aunt and uncle. He says they came here for his socialization and so he could receive a better education. He says he sometimes misses his family members who are still in China, but “I will try to do well in my studies and make a bright future for myself. There are more opportunities here than in China.” Xiang is from Jiamusi, China which, he says, is not a large city. Language has been his biggest problem at YHS. “It is very hard for Chinese
Li Xiang people to learn English,” he says. When he is home, he speaks Chinese to his father and his aunt and English to his uncle and cousin. At first school was pretty difficult, he said, because he couldn’t understand English, but now “it’s pretty easy.” He was used to eating American food in China, noting that there was a McDonalds and KFC. Now he eats Chinese and American food at home, with pizza being his favorite. Xiang plans to continue to live in America, go to college and work here. Math and science are his favorite classes but he is not sure of his career plans at this time. “It takes time to decide,” he said. He enjoys his classmates and is feeling comfortable at YHS. “Most of the time I can communicate with the other students,” he says, “but there are some words I can’t say in English.” He has not become involved in sports but he likes to play tennis. One of the big differences he sees between Oakhurst and China is the size of buildings. In China, buildings have many floors, here he sees one or maybe two floors and, he says, the short buildings are more convenient. Xiang says it’s very interesting to go to school here. “It is more relaxing here,” he said. “There is not so much homework and it is not so difficult. I like it here better.”
Aman and Roosi Dharwar Amanpreet (Aman) and Harpreet (Roosi) Dharwar are sisters who moved to Oakhurst in June from Punjab, India. Prior to moving to Oakhurst, they had lived in San Francisco for five months. They moved to Oakhurst because they have an uncle living in Fresno. Here, their parents own a gas station, where Aman works part time. When they moved to America, they came to join their father who has been here for seven years. Aman, who is a junior, and Roosi, a freshman, both say language is a problem although they have studied English since first grade. “All students in India study English,” they explain. At home, they speak Punjabi and as they talked to each other during the interview, they spoke Punjabi. They like clothing in America but they say the Indian clothing is very comfortable. They are vegetarian and eat mostly Indian food at home. Aman says she has tasted American food a couple times and she likes pizza but not burgers. In India, school is in session about 300 days a year; they go to class six days a week and they have a half Roosi Dharwar, left, and Aman Dharwar in their month off for summer native clothing; which they wear to festivals in Fresno. vacation. have a difficult subject and for Roosi it’s science. They like the students at YHS, finding them “friendly and helpful.” Their one complaint? “Too much cold.” They like the summer. They enjoy wearing their native clothing when they attend festivals in Fresno.
Aman Dharwar, left, and Roosi Dharwar, Yosemite High Badgers. Roosi says her favorite School is “so easy” here for both of them; it’s “very class is math and Aman tough” in India and they likes the tutoring center where she goes one period a like it here. day for help with English. They both plan to YHS seniors attend college in America. carved pumpkins “My dad says I should be a with a theme of the doctor,” Aman says, “I would like to also but I’m US Constitution and afraid of blood.” Roosi Federalism to be wants to be a pilot. given to eighth grade Aman says she does not students from
Coarsegold and Rivergold schools during a recent joint project between the seniors and eighth graders. The seniors described how the US Constitution and Federalism came to be and then fielded questions from the eighth graders. At the conclusion, the young students were able to chose one of the more than 100 pumpkins the seniors had carved. Shown working on their pumpkin are Lauren Miller and Jackson Glines.
Photo courtesy of Deborah Brown