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Dakota Clevidence wins WIAA Athlete Award

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Each week throughout the school year, the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Administration recognizes varsity athletes who exhibited an outstanding performance for the previous week.

One of this weeks winners is HHS baseball’s own Dakota Clevidence (SR) who went 4-4 with three homeruns and nine RBIs, as the Timberwolves beat Columbia River 17-12 in a non-league game on 3/9. He scored three times and had a double!

Each winner of the WIAA State Athlete of the Week Award will receive a letter of recognition from the WIAA Executive Director, a commemorative WIAA State Athlete of the Week T-Shirt and certificate.

Congratulations Dakota!

GO BRITNI

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Britni Atwell had to find gym time wherever, whenever it was available.

For much of a six-year stretch, she coached herself, doing anything for gymnastics.

“It’s more than just a sport. It’s everything,” said Atwell, a senior from Heritage. “Without it, I don’t know where I’d be today.”

 

Rest of All-Region team

Brooke Atwell, jr., Heritage: Placed eighth on vault at 4A state meet.

Jessica Curley, sr., Union: Placed eighth on beam at 4A state meet.

Jazmin Harris, sr., Union: Placed seventh on vault at 4A state meet.

Shaylan Hawthorne, sr., Columbia River: 11th on vault at 3A state; 3A GSHL gymnast of year.

Suren Kanchanavaleerat, sr., Union: Placed sixth on bars at 4A state meet.

Nicole Moss, so., Heritage: 4A bars state champion; placed 3rd on vault and beam at state.

At the high school level, Atwell will leave Heritage as the most decorated gymnast in Southwest Washington history, with nine state championships in her four years. Last month, she won the prestigious all-around title at the Class 4A state meet. She was the easy choice for The Columbian’s All-Region gymnast of the year.

“It’s still a shock,” Atwell said. “When people congratulate me, it still affects me like the day it happened. It’s a big deal.”

The next day, she became a four-time state champion on both the vault and floor exercise. No one in the 45-year history of the event had ever won four consecutive individual event titles.

“Not only did I do it once — something that had never been done before — but I did it twice,” she said. “It was a-MAY-zing.”

That is the Heritage gymnastics way of saying “amazing.”

Atwell began gymnastics at the age of 2. It can be an expensive sport, and her grandmother Phylis Bacon helped pay for the training. But when Bacon died in 2006, and the family’s budget did not have room for gymnastics, Atwell was a gymnast without a full-time gym.

She did have a lot of support, though. She worked out at Naydenov when she was allowed, kept working on her skills.

Last summer, Northwest Gymnastics Training Center in Gresham, Ore., gave her a scholarship, despite the fact that Atwell would not compete for NGTC during high school season — a rarity for the club sport.

“They knew high school was more of a priority for me. They accepted that,” Atwell said. “They wanted their younger girls to see what gymnastics had done for me. And if you want it, if you put everything on the line, it can come to you.”

Atwell never gave up on her pursuit. It resulted in nine state titles in her Heritage gymnastics career.

BRITNI ATWELL, Heritage High School

Season highlights

  • Atwell was already one of the most decorated high school gymnasts in Southwest Washington history. Then she dominated her senior year at the Class 4A state championships.
  • Atwell won the all-around title on the Friday at state, qualifying for all four individual event finals for Saturday.
  • She won the vault and floor exercise state titles, each for the fourth consecutive year. No gymnast had ever won four titles in the same event.
  • She concluded her career with nine state championships.

More about Britni

  • Plays the viola.
  • Favorite movie: “Tangled” by Disney. “It reminds me of wanting something so bad and going out to get it no matter how much trouble you might get into on the way.”
  • Favorite subject: Science. “Always different things you can do with it.”

Next year and beyond

She is not sure if she will be going to college in the fall. She plans to keep training and hopes to one day attend Seattle Pacific and compete, even if she must wait a year. She wants to study criminology.

“I’m proud of keeping my floor and vault titles. Making history for Southwest Washington was just icing on the yummy, delicious cake.”

Britni Atwell, Heritage gymnasts

Written by Paul Valencia for The Columbian

THE BURNS

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Alright guys, bros, boys and men. It’s time to talk toilets.

We see this all the time; it’s in almost every guys’ bathroom in this school: The burns on the separators of the urinals. As with all vandalism, the perps are pretty quiet. The rest of us have to look at that ugly stuff when we’re getting our business done, and come on, who wants that?

 

 

 

 

“It’s a bigger problem year after year,” said Debbie Ball, our school custodian. “The people doing it just won’t take responsibility for their actions.” She mentioned how wasteful it seems to replace them at times—they just get trashed all over again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each panel costs about $80, plus an average of $45 for labor—a grand total of $125 per panel. Pretty sad waste of our parents’ tax money.

Get caught, and the school can charge you with every panel that needs replacing—a grand total of nearly $3,000. And that would be just for the urinal separators, not the other ones between the toilets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re here for four years, five days a week, nine months out of the year—who wants to be melted urinal plastic for that long? Even stupid Sharpie drawings, or the primal carvings of your ex-boyfriend’s name—What are we, cavemen?

 

Our school has limited funds to fix itself up and look pretty. We’ve got tons of art classes where you can be creative on surfaces far better than stall dividers. The money our parents dish out of every paycheck deserves better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written by Matt Fry
Images by Jessi Proulx and Alek Taras

DEATH TO COOTIES

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Remember way back in the day when we were kids- We used to cut hearts out of construction paper, write silly little love notes and give out Valentine cards and candies to all our friends classmates? The good old days, when no one was left out or lonely on Valentine’s Day. Things have changed since then.

“When we were little it was about friends, but now it’s more about relationships,” says HHS senior Yelena Guseva.

Candy and hearts used to be the only thing that mattered. It wasn’t about boyfriends or girlfriends, or relationships and romance. Boys and girls had “cooties,” but candy was candy and friendship was reason enough to celebrate.

Now what used to be cute and thoughtful is considered “cheesy.” We grow out of our innocence the older we get. Candy gives way to bigger and better gifts: Heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, red roses, jewelry, stuffed animals, balloons, cards, fancy dinners—Now handmade stuff is “cheap.”

The expectations get bigger the older we get. “We become more romantic and put our feelings into it. Some people aren’t as satisfied with just candy as we used to when we were little,” says HHS’s Zhanna Antosenka. The stakes get high for this one particular day we’ve chosen to celebrate love.

V-day grows up with us—it means more the older we get.
No more cooties.

Written by Nadezhda Simakov
Image by Jessi Proulx

Britni Atwell wins four straight individual event titles

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As reported in The Seattle Times today:

Britni Atwell of Vancouver’s Heritage not only set the standard at Saturday’s individual finals, she set a precedent — becoming the first gymnast in the state meet’s 45-year history to win four straight individual event titles.

And, she did it twice: on vault and floor in Class 4A competition.

“I’m in awe, I guess,” Atwell said with a laugh at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall. “I don’t know what else to say.”

Six gymnasts have previously collected three individual crowns, most recently Kennedy Catholic’s Anissa Madrid (with floor titles in 2004, ’06 and ’07). But Atwell, who Friday night also won the 4A all-around title, is the first to earn a grand slam.

“I wasn’t aware I could be the first ever to do it all four years,” Atwell said.

Pressure?

“Yeah,” she said, “but as my coach says, I do well under pressure, so I didn’t mind it.”

Atwell nailed her vault (9.825, the day’s highest score in any event) to claim her fourth straight vault crown outright. She had shared two of her past three floor wins, and this time edged Tia Thomas of Federal Way, an athlete who didn’t pick up gymnastics until high school, 9.7 to 9.625.

Atwell’s proudest moment?

“That I placed on bars, because bars are my worst event,” she said with a smile. “And I got third!”

Heritage teammate Nicole Moss won 4A bars (9.675); Atwell scored 9.425.

Atwell, who hopes to compete for Seattle Pacific, was the day’s only double winner. Candace Ho of Newport won the 4A beam with a 9.625 after being the first of 11 competitors to perform.

“They have a random draw for the order,” Newport coach Melissa Baker said. “She told me, ‘I hope I go first. Every time I do that, I do awesome.’ When she got it I said, ‘OK, let’s see it.’ She got up there and it was the most solid routine. She didn’t wobble; just one little misstep on her dismount. She couldn’t have done any better.”

“It was perfect,” said Ho, who placed second in Friday’s all-around. “I just slow my mind down and focus on one skill at a time. I loved everything about it.”

In 3A/2A, four top-five finishers in Friday’s all-around picked up individual titles on Saturday.

Mia Alvarez of Highline, second to teammate Kristen Rodal in the all-around, claimed the floor title with a score of 9.625. Sophomore Nykaela Dodson of Sammamish, third in all-around, took the top medal for beam (9.525).

Junior Olivia Bannerot of 3A/2A team champion Enumclaw (fourth in all-around) took the bars crown with a 9.375. Kelsey Jaquish of Kamiakin, fifth in A-A, won vault (9.675), edging Bannerot and Alvarez, who tied for second at 9.625.

“I’ve been working really hard on bars this year,” Bannerot said. “In the middle of the year I had a mental block on my release move, so it’s cool that I got over it. Today wasn’t my best bar day, but I’m not complaining. I’m not as flashy as all the other people, so I just try to keep it tight and clean.”

Alvarez returned to prep gymnastics after devoting her junior year to club in order to up her skills and reach level 10. She’ll resume club training.

“I’m kind of sad because I won’t be seeing my high school teammates in the gym,” she said. “I’m going to miss them. They’re really supportive and always happy. You don’t see that in club. Most of them are serious and hardly smile. I’m going to miss their smiles.”

Notes

• Rodal took second on 3A/2A beam (9.5). Beyond her second on beam, Bannerot was also second on floor (9.55). Enumclaw teammate Molly Mattheis took third on bars (9.175) and tied with Alvarez for fifth on beam (9.4).

• In 4A, senior Monica Church of Jefferson took third on floor (9.55); Rose Kibala of Roosevelt and Ashley Parnell of Kentlake tied for fourth (9.5). Woodinville sophomore Emily Paratore and Ho tied for fourth on bars (9.375). Julia Winter of Bothell was fourth vault (9.55).

KREWE

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A papier-mâché statue ready to be put up on the float

 

 

 

A spattering of beads flew from a passing parade of bodies. Still more launched from a passing streetcar. Traffic built up behind and around the parade, but the beads kept coming. People kept laughing, cheering, parading.

Welcome to New Orleans.

The next day I went to Kern’s Mardi Gras World—fitting after a welcome from the parade vigilantes of New Orleans. Like all museums, there was a lot to learn. The people who design the elaborate parades are called “Krewes.” Krewes mostly come from the general public, but it wouldn’t be Mardi Gras without a little royalty. The prestigious Krewe called “Rex” sets their admission fee at upwards of $100,000—so mostly you have to have blood ties to get in, like some kind of Mardi Gras Mafia.

 

The Big Daddy Rex Krewe is known for using grapes on their parade floats. Another famous tradition is the “King Cake”—a cake with the traditional Mardi Gras colors of yellow, purple, and green. Be careful if you get a piece of this cake—there’s a plastic baby baked into the batter, meant to represent the infant Jesus. Bite into this plastic baby, and not only could you choke, but you get to buy next year’s king cake.

The Mississippi River is a major reason New Orleans exists. River traffic flows through the port out to the Gulf of Mexico.

For more royal fun and to end the night with a bang, Krewes traditionally host balls for themselves as a pat on the back for their hard work for Fat Tuesday. Rex gets dibs on the Super Dome, while the lesser peasant Krewes host their balls in various hotels around the area.

Mardi Gras is the bachelor party of New Orleans with extravagant parades, both planned and flash-mob-style, blast their way through the streets with colorful costumes, excited music, and dancing. It’s the one last crazy night out before slapping on the ball and chain of Lent. In the tradition of Christianity, “Fat Tuesday”—or Mardi Gras in fancy French—is the last day before Lent, the fast that comes before Easter.

A basic float design I saw at Mardi Gras World. This is what the frame looks like before decorations are put on it.

 

Protocol for Lent includes fasting, and sacrificing or giving up certain pleasures for the next couple of months. Once the clock strikes midnight on Mardi Gras night, the observance of Lent begins, and for the next forty days observers commit to living humbly.

Why not start off the whole thing with one more night of fierce and ugly feasting and parties before having to commit to the ball-and-chain? If I learned anything in that museum, it’s that no one does it better than New Orleans.

 

 

All sorts of crazy decorations created for Krewe Rex’s elaborate floats.

I remember walking out of the museum and it hit me again that I was not in Washington anymore. With its own nature, its own culture and crazy bead-throwing bachelor party Mardi Gras ways. It reminded me of Portland, but weirder. Coming to New Orleans was my first trip out of the Northwest in ten years. And it just showed me that the world’s pretty weird.

Weird, but awesome.

 

Writing and Photos by Jeremy Hess

Edited by Kristen Buehner

The RANT ::: SOCIAL NOTWORKING

EMMERT

by Hugo Gonzalez and Cassidy Lucas

[singlepic id=55 w=150 h=150 float=left]You’re sitting at home bored, watching TV, scrolling through the same channels over and over again in a desperate attempt to locate a show worth watching. You fail. What do you do with yourself now? Go in your room and organize your sock drawer by color? No, grab your laptop and see what’s going on in your friends’ life. Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, MySpace; these are all great websites to keep up with friends. I for one am a proud promoter of these websites.

I find it to be a great way to keep in touch with friends and family whom you wouldn’t particularly keep in touch that easily with if it wasn’t for these social networking websites. On Facebook, you’re able to have up to 5,000 friends and the capability to create a positive self image of yourself. It gives you the ability to be able to post the things you’re passionate in video, audio, text, or in image form. You can create an anonymous page which allows you to build a group of people with similar passions and or interests and discuss that subject, it’s convenient and great.

I love having the ability to put in my email and chosen password and instantaneously be granted the power to view pictures, and text from my friends and family. I also enjoy being able to freely post whatever I want without having to worry about what someone will say about it. I think that by “friending” a person you may have only just met on Facebook, you get the opportunity to learn so much more about them. You get to pretty much walk through that person’s everyday life with them; it’s pretty great, and thoroughly interesting.

I am completely in favor of social networking websites. They give us an opportunity to have self expression, and make and build up friendships. I hope that they continue to be around, because I enjoy them immensely.

[singlepic id=41 w=150 h=150 float=left]Complain, waste of time, complain and complain some more. This is what social media is all about. I have noticed that in our time, social media is more common than going out to places. To meet people, you simply go online and add some random person you bumped into in the hallway as a “friend” who you will never speak to again.

A big concern I have is that social media has become a big unreliable and false source of information, social media pretty much made making a rumor more convenient and easier. This means, being part of a network you are exposed to the government and corporate companies who scan your Facebook and email to match advertisement and or possibly incriminate yourself; privacy on these sites is just a big joke. What you are really doing is leaving yourself open to identity theft, being hacked, and a plethora of viruses.

Above all it’s a waste of time, does spending several minutes throughout the day really add up, then before you know it, there goes an hour of your time. I don’t think a lot of people have noticed but social media can harm your job and employment and college possibilities; posting profanity, poor grammar, illegal drugs, and pictures with inappropriate content can damage your real life away from the internet! Being on a social site is making us less social our generation is becoming more isolated because it’s much easier to open your phone and “chat” with your friends then to hold a conversation. So let’s put away the profile and make some real friends.