Mount Si High School Principal John Belcher called Meyers irreplaceable.

“She demonstrated PRIDE in all of her actions,” Belcher wrote in an email, citing the school’s acronym that stands for perseverance, respect, integrity, dependability and encouragement.

The school has not released details on an upcoming event in remembrance of Meyers, but Belcher said the school would post updates on the school website, www.mountsihighschool.com.

The school has started a Caring Bridge webpage to honor Meyers’ memory.

Go to www.caringbridge.org, and under ‘Visit a CaringBridge website’ type in ‘valeriemeyers’. Then click on Guestbook. An username and personal password are required.

According to the university’s athletics website, Nelson was one of six football players from CWU on the all-conference first team. A sophomore, Nelson earned his second consecutive selection to the team. As of Nov. 15, he has started every game at right tackle for the collegiate Wildcats.

Nelson’s teammate and fellow Eastsider Justin Helwege was also a unanimous selection to the first team. Helwege played prep football at Eastlake High School.

Mount Si quarterback Ryan Atkinson looks for receivers during the Wildcats' 26-14 win at Interlake on Friday, Sept. 30. Atkinson had two touchdown passes.

Mount Si started strong, wavered and refocused to win 26-14 at Interlake.

The Wildcats dominated the first half, taking a 17-0 lead into halftime. The offense faltered in the second half, but still managed to tack on another 9 points.
Despite the school’s reputation for smash-mouth football, the team wasn’t afraid of putting the ball in the air.

“In our attempt to diversify our offense, which means passing for us, you know, it would be second and four, and we’d pass the ball,” Wildcats head coach Charlie Kinnune said. “So, normally, a Mount Si offense would be second and four, and we’d jam it down their throat.”

But not this year. Passing figures to play a bigger role for the Wildcats, who improved their league record to 2-0 with the win (3-1 overall).

“We have to become a better, more efficient passing team,” Kinnune said.

Mount Si’s offensive line and quarterback Ryan Atkinson are giving Kinnune the confidence to take to the air with more frequency.

“We’re always going to play to our strengths,” Kinnune said.

Mount Si’s passing game had some problems as the game wore on. After completing three of five pass attempts in the first quarter, Atkinson went four for 10.

But the problem wasn’t with the senior’s accuracy or the defense’s coverage. The team’s receivers let a few passes slip by, and that is something they will work on, Kinnune said.

Nonetheless, the Wildcats’ passing game paid off against Interlake. Two of the their three touchdowns came from pass plays. Tyler Button and Jimbo Davis each had 28-yard touchdown receptions.

But the Wildcats’ bread and butter is still a running-centered power offense.

Running back Connor Deutsch led the ground attack. He had 81 yards on 22 carries, including a 2-yard touchdown run.

The defense had trouble containing Interlake running back Jordan Todd. The 5-foot-6 senior ran for 338 yards on 28 carries.

“Defensively, we’ve got to tackle better,” Kinnune said.

Todd’s speed and agility still weren’t enough to overcome the Wildcats’ lead.

From glances, they graduate to looks. From looks they move on to bashful dialogues and from dialogues they start friendships.

Then, they return to Mount Si and repeat the recipe, this time with as many classmates as they can.

Natural Helpers, a group of peer communicators and counselors, credits every activity, success, friendship or problem solved under its wing to the midautumn training in northwestern Washington.

“What happens during that weekend,” group advisor Joe Galagan said, “is during the course of the activities they learn they can be close to a lot of other people they maybe didn’t even know 24 hours earlier.”

Knowing that, they reach out to their fellow teenagers at school, offering help, offering an ear or even a simple hello or birthday wish.

In a building full of teenagers, reactions to friendly faces will vary.

When rejected or rebuked, member Samantha Lindmeier said, “You just got to brush it off.”

Sometimes, it’s not as easy. Building bridges with classmates, like any construction project, has its hurdles.

Lindmeier said confronting societal ills like homophobia can be frustrating.

“People like those who are against gays or something, they say what they want, they don’t care who they hurt,” she said. “I fear that’s going to keep happening, even if people are committing suicide because of these actions.”

But when the bridge holds, it’s great.

“You learn the big impact that little things can have,” member Jack Polito said. “Like saying hello to someone new or someone who looks like they are not having a good day.”

Galagan agreed.

“You start believing that it’s a good thing to reach out to other people,” he said. “You come back with that belief and then you act on it.”

To join, students have to be nominated by a former member of the group or by a faculty member.

“Anyone who goes into there, they were nominated for a reason,” Lindmeier said. “Someone sees something in them so they want to put them in that situation so they can make a difference.”

Students who join remain members for life, Galagan said, because the lessons they learn last that long.

“Once you’re a Natural Helper, you’re a Natural Helper,” Polito said. “You can always spread what you’ve learned to other people, and if someone is willing to listen, they can learn the same things you did.”

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.

“She really lit up our lives,” John Nelson said of his daughter.

So on Aug. 10, John, his wife Jo Anne, teacher Chris Jackson, and dozens of friends and relatives gathered at Mount Si High School to remember and celebrate Dianna “Annie” Nelson’s 19-year love affair with being alive, which was cut short by cancer July 29.

True to her lively spirit, Annie had requested that the gathering celebrate her life instead of mourn her death. Towering bunches of balloons shared space with some of Annie’s drawings, awards, photos and a long table with food.

“She said she didn’t want it to be any sad, ‘dramatic B.S.,’ in her words,” John said.

Still, a yard away from where her father stood was Annie’s mother consoling a friend. When the slideshow of Annie’s life began there were as many smiles as there were tears.

John and Jo Anne welcomed every hug with a calm that perhaps belied their broken hearts.

John said he drew strength from how strong his daughter had been.

“I think she was more prepared than she wanted to let on to everybody else,” he said. “But she fought hard all the way to the end.”

Days before her death, Annie had taken to the road once again, with her father to Oregon, with an uncle and aunt to Silverwood Theme Park and with friend Taryn Hockenbury’s family to Blue Lake in central Washington.

“She enjoyed life up until the very last breath, almost,” Sharon Hockenbury said of her daughter’s best pal. “That was just Annie’s character and demeanor: to love and be loving.”

She spent those days swimming, camping but also thinking, a trait Annie mastered better than most, Sharon said.

“Annie had a way of asking really provocative questions,” she said. “She asked me, ‘How do you stay in love with someone for 30 years?’ because I’ve been married for 30 years. ‘How does that happen?’ Questions like that.”

Caryn called Annie “wise beyond her years.”

The family wants to keep Annie’s memory alive beyond this year, John said, starting a collection in her memory to the Kumon Learning Center, where Annie tutored, and the Mount Si High School music band.

“She always felt that the music program at school was underfunded,” John said, adding that she wanted to be remembered as someone who loved many things, including the arts.

“Someone who was loving, giving and very creative,” he said. “She had many styles of art form.”

A painter, a writer, a sketch artist and a poet, Annie amazed many with her wit and wisdom, including her American literature teacher at Mount Si.

“She was one of the most brilliant students I’ve ever had,” Jackson said. “Terrific writer and thinker. Insightful, thoughtful, very talented.”

The question of what might have been remains unanswerable, because the potential of Annie Nelson was as broad as her interests and as deep as her love of life.

“There was no ceiling to what she could have accomplished,” Jackson said. “Makes the loss a little harder to take.”

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.

The next thing Hendrik Koopman knew, he was waking up from a coma at Harborview Medical Center.

On May 15, 2010, Koopman and three friends drove east of the Cascade Mountains to go dirt biking near Roslyn. The boys zoomed up and down hills, enjoying the nice weather and scenery.

But the afternoon did not end well. Koopman had a head-on collision with another biker, and although he was wearing a helmet, he had not secured his chinstrap.

His resulting head injury was so bad, he was driven by ambulance to Easton and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center via helicopter. Doctors put him in a medically induced coma to help alleviate the pressure caused by his swelling brain.

Meanwhile, his friend’s parents drove to North Bend so they could tell the Koopman family what happened. Once they learned about Hendrik’s accident, the family sped to the hospital.

“We got to the hospital before the helicopter did,” Terri Koopman, his mother, said.

Though in a medically induced coma, Hendrik’s brain continued to swell. To help, doctors removed pieces of his skull, putting them in a freezer for safekeeping. With no skull to protect parts of his brain, doctors gave Hendrik a helmet to wear.

After more than a week, Hendrik awoke from his coma.

“We were there every day,” Terri Koopman said. “We had a wonderful group.”

Hendrik’s two sisters, 19-year-old Minka and 14-year-old Angelique, missed school so they could be at their brother’s side.

“I was shocked, I was stunned and I didn’t know what to do,” Angelique said. “It was hard to concentrate at school because I was thinking about him and what would happen.”

The Snoqualmie Valley community supported the family during Hendrik’s recovery, spending $6,000 at a garage sale to help the family pay for his medical costs. Friends also brought food and games in the hospital.

“We were reading to him and singing to him and talking to him,” Terri said. “The difficult part was when he started waking up. When you wake up, you get more and more active. He was starting to move his limbs, but you don’t want him to touch his head.”

He spent three weeks at Harborview and the next three weeks at Children’s Hospital, but it has taken him the greater part of a year to fully recover.

Once out of the hospital, Hendrik continued receiving physical, speech and occupational therapy.

“I had to do a lot of balance work, walking in a straight line,” Hendrik said.

His therapists helped him regain his strength and motor skills. They worked on his short-term memory, having him read passages and then summarize them.

Interestingly, his long-term memory was enhanced. He would remember minute details from years ago, Terri said. And, after learning German in school, he began speaking it nonstop. Then, he began repeating the English alphabet constantly.

“It’s almost like he had to relearn speech, but his recovery was fast,” Terri said.

By the end of that summer, Hendrik’s recovery was going well. His doctors decided it was time to fix his skull, so he went in for a third operation where surgeons reattached the skull pieces they had removed using titanium places.

“You can feel it,” Hendrik said of the plates. “They’re just little bumps.”

Back to school

Finally, in late September, Hendrik was able to return to school. He entered his junior year, and worked twice as hard to pull off good grades.

“For Hendrik, he was so positive throughout the entire experience,” Terri said. “He had his surgery and he could not wait to go back to school.”

Throughout the year, his parents, teachers and friends helped him with his schoolwork.

“In the beginning, just processing it was a lot harder than it is now,” Hendrik said.

Mount Si counselor Joe Gallagan called Hendrik a “survivor.”

“I was very proud of him as a person because it was not easy,” Gallagan said. “He had overcome a lot to come back into school and be with us again.”

In the spring, Hendrik flew to Arizona to visit family and old friends.

“He’s done really well,” his friend Gates Marino said. “I really can’t really notice he even had an injury.”

In late June, the Koopman family is moving back to Scottsdale, Ariz. to help with the family store. Hendrik, who passed his driving exam in March, said he was excited to chauffeur his family on the long road trip.

As they packed their bags, his mother thanked everyone for their support.

“His recovery has been a miracle,” Terri said. “His doctor predicted a lot worse — he could be in a wheelchair. I’m thankful for everyone’s help.”

Mount Si High School Principal Randy Taylor receives a standing ovation from the crowd at the March 10 school board meeting. Taylor said he will retire effective June 30. By Sebastian Moraga

Randy Taylor has announced he will retire at the end of the school year after six years as principal of Mount Si High School.

Taylor said he started thinking about ending his 37-year career last fall, when faced with the school’s long-term goals.

“I started looking down the road for next year and transitioning Mount Si,” he said, “all the issues on the horizon and figuring out what would be timely for myself and the building. Looking at the issues that Mount Si will be facing in the next two to three years, that was the deciding factor: Looking at a smooth transition for the new leader and a quiet exit for myself.”

The issues include the planned opening of a freshman learning center, and the implementation of a science-technology-engineering-and-math curriculum.

“Even if it’s two years away, it requires some leadership from the principal,” he said. “In order to do that transition, a principal might have to spend two years planning and an additional year after that.”

Three more years felt like too long of a time after 37 years as an educator, Taylor said. It would be fairer to have new leadership, he added.

A graduate of Central Washington University, Taylor taught in Richland before becoming a school administrator in Benton City, Auburn and Snoqualmie.

Taylor said that obvious bias aside, Mount Si is better off than it was six years ago, when he was hired.

“There’s a significant amount of accomplishments and achievements,” he said.

Accomplishments Taylor listed included:

• Doubling the number of Advanced Placement courses.
• Tripling the number of student scholarships.
• Helping encourage an exchange-student program with Gangjin, Korea.
• Starting partnerships with local universities by offering college courses at Mount Si High School.
• Nationally certified teachers have more than tripled during his tenure from three to 10.

School climate and student relationships have improved, too, he said.

The last two years have been trying for Taylor, since a student was attacked by a classmate in a school locker room.

“There’s some people that have maligned me because of their own personal experience … they have been hurting,” he said. “I’m the principal. I’m the target out there. I represent the school and if the school hasn’t done the job in presenting itself in a fair way to people, I am the target for that.”

But the trying times have made him a better person, father, husband and educator, he said.

At one time, a teenage Taylor hoped to join the U.S. Forest Service as a ranger. When he graduated from high school, he had to pick between that or a lifetime of classrooms.

“It came down between what can I do to make a difference in this world,” he said. “It was an easy decision.”

Teenagers today wanting to be teachers and principals have to be ready to be leaders.

“You need courage,” he said. “You need to be able to prioritize what is best for your kids and your schools and not be afraid to move forward.”

Taylor sounds like he’s ready to move forward. With a third grandchild due any day and a handful of hobbies, he said he looks forward to spending time with family. He might work as a consultant and he will definitely cheer on the Wildcats.

“The Wildcats are special to me. The student body is very supportive and have loads and loads of school spirit,” he said. “In my own personal bias, I have done my part to change the school so that it’s more responsive to students and staff. Are we there yet? Of course not, but it’s a better place.”

Taylor, the principal at Mount Si High School, announced he will retire at the end of the school year, ending a career of more than 30 years in education.

“He’s been a good friend to me and a mentor,” Cascade View Elementary School Principal Ray Wilson said. “He’s been an invaluable personal and professional resource to me.”

Wilson said Taylor’s announcement did not surprise him much.

“He’s kind of the CEO of the high school and there’s a lot of expectations that come along with that,” Wilson said. “He’s had some pretty challenging situations and I think Mount Si High School is going in the right direction.”

Taylor arrived at the district six years ago, at the same time as Jim Frazier, the principal at North Bend Elementary School.

“I respect him well as a principal,” Frazier said. “Randy’s always very professional, and has been a great collaborative partner in our effort to improve our schools.”

Kirk Dunckel was on the committee that hired Taylor. The Chief Kanim Middle School Principal wished Taylor well.

“It caught me by surprise,” he said of Taylor’s announcement. “I know he’s a good family man. He’s going to enjoy his retirement.”

Joel Aune, superintendent of Valley schools, issued a statement regarding Taylor’s retirement.

“Under Randy Taylor’s leadership at Mount Si High School,” the statement read, “there have been steady and impressive gains in student achievement; more students than ever are earning scholarships because of their accomplishments in school and more Mount Si graduates are attending colleges, universities and other institutions of higher learning after high school than ever before.”

The search for a replacement starts this week. A new principal will be hired in May. Taylor’s last day is June 30.

Four years ago, after seven concussions from contact sports, Austen Bolves decided to give the sport of crew a try.

Mount Si senior Austen Bolves stretches before his workout, preparing for a rowing competition. By Dan Catchpole

He quickly excelled as a rower, and the now senior at Mount Si High School has committed to row with the University of Washington next year.

Bolves began his novice year with the local club Sammamish Rowing Association under the direction of coach Sam Greenblatt.

“Austen has grown tremendously during his rowing career, both literally in size and figuratively in character,” Greenblatt said.

“When Austen showed up novice year, he was far from the strapping physical specimen he is now,” he added. “He has worked incredibly hard to transform himself into a true athlete.”

Bolves said he practices every afternoon with his local club team, and as they get closer to larger competitions they will incorporate morning practices as well.

He also rows with the U.S. Rowing Junior National Team during summer. Practices start very early in the morning, with up to three or four practices a day.

“The excitement I get from the opportunity of being on the junior national team is probably one of my biggest motivators,” Bolves said.

He hopes to go to the world championships with the junior national team this year.

“I’ll be representing the best of America, and that idea, that concept, it’s inspiring for me to just drive for that,” Bolves said.

Bolves himself has been an inspiration to many throughout his rowing career; he has been voted Most Inspirational on his Sammamish Rowing Association team for two years in a row, and this year he has taken on the role of team captain.

“It’s sort of just a part of my character, and the way I like to give back to the team,” Bolves said of his leadership and motivating qualities.

He said when he played basketball he spent a large majority of time on the bench and because he wasn’t able to help the team on the court, he had to support them from the bench and through motivation.

“This immediately carried over into rowing because it became a part of how I carried myself on the team,” Bolves said. “I’m able to benefit the team not only in the way that I can make boats faster, but I can also lift up the guys who aren’t quite as fast on the team through inspiration.”

Collegiate recruiting

Bolves was one of 12 Mount Si High School students who have committed to compete at various universities across the nation.

“It is an inspiration for the younger class to see these seniors graduate with special recognition,” said Darren Brown, Mount Si’s sports marketing teacher, soccer coach, and Bolves’ advanced weight-training teacher this year.

Brown said Bolves “has the dedication and mind-set of an athlete you don’t find very often at the high school age.

“He knows what he wants and he goes after it,” Brown said. “It would not surprise me one bit to see Austen shine at UW.”

Bolves, whose final decision came down to UW or Cornell, said he ultimately chose UW because of its amazing program.

“When I took my official visit, I really felt a connection with the team,” he said. “To me, just being a part of that really intimate family that the UW program has was more of a pull.”

Although Bolves is somewhat nervous about the level of competition among rowers at the UW, the university is one of the best teams in the nation, winning national championships in 2007 and 2009.

Bolves said he is “really excited to have guys with passion equal to mine, in the same boat as me, training with me and pushing me to be faster.”

Bolves has a strong interest in studying biology at the UW, and he eventually hopes to move toward exercise science, as a trainer or a coach to some extent.

“I hope he continues to push himself to new limits athletically, academically and in life in general,” Greenblatt said. “He has an incredibly bright future, but it is entirely up to him to go out and make it for himself.”

Shelby Lichliter is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

A TV set, two laptop computers and an Xbox system are also missing, according to the e-mail.

The list may grow as teachers take inventory.

Snoqualmie police believe the break-in took place around 1 a.m. Staff discovered it later that morning.

The money stolen included payments from parents and students to the student-operated DECA store, an upcoming field trips and food services.

The school has asked parents to cancel any checks written to the school and dated Jan. 5 as soon as possible.

The theft occurs in the same month the school unveiled a hotline for people to anonymously report safety concerns.

Access the hotline, named “SchoolTipLine” via the school’s website, www.mountsihighschool.com or contact the Snoqualmie Police Department at (425) 888-3333.

This story will be updated as the day progresses.

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.

Boys and girls, it’s time for ‘Guys and Dolls.’

The 1950’s musical returns to the stage, this time to the Mount Si High School Auditorium, Nov. 17-20.

The Nov. 17 show was a matinee for students only. The other shows are in the evenings.

The classic story of daring crapshooters and reticent missionaries, “was just fun to play,” said Katlin McCauley, who plays Adelaide.

“It’s a totally upbeat show,” she said.

There’s some sexual innuendo in the play, but it’s too subtle for the younger audiences to really catch on, she added.

McCauley acts opposite Taylor Westerlund, who plays Nathan, her fiancé of way too many years.

“Nathan is a really versatile character. He can be so funny, but at the same time you love him, you also hate him,” Westerlund said.

This is Westerlund’s second play and McCauley’s ninth. Working together was fun, he said.

“It was awkward at first, with the whole teenager thing,” he said. “But then we got past it and said, ‘We’ve got to put on a show.’”

This year was the 100th birthday of the late Frank Loesser, who composed the music and lyrics for the New York-based musical.

“We spent so much time in New York this summer,” director Kim Snavely said, we thought, ‘How fun would it be to do a show about New York?’”

It was indeed fun, but it was a lot of work. Many cast members, many sets, many songs, and a big orchestra made for some long days, Snavely said.

But the show has awakened the nostalgia in many, she added.

“We are getting comments from parents — people saying, ‘Oh, I was Nicely-Nicely in high school,’” she said, referring to one of the characters in ‘Guys and Dolls’.

It’s that jolt to the memory that keeps musicals thriving, musical director Dean Snavely said. That and the fact that next to death and taxes, there’s high school theater.

“They were in it, their parents were in it, their grandparents were in it,” Dean Snavely said, referring to the audience. “When you watch ‘Iron Man 2,’ it’s hard to picture yourself in a $200 million set. But when you watch a high school musical, it’s not hard to view yourself as a crapshooter, or say ‘I did that,’ or ‘I wish I had done that.’”

IF YOU GO:

• ‘Guys and Dolls’
• Mount Si High School Auditorium
• Nov. 18-20
• Adults $10; students, staff and seniors $7

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.

Hundreds of people filled Mount Si High School’s gym Oct. 2 to remember the life of a 16-year-old boy who had touched countless lives.

Family, friends and coaches recalled the loving son and brother, the loyal friend, the star athlete.

He “changed the world for the better, and he’s still doing so today,” one friend told the crowd.

The audience had come to memorialize the boy and find some answer to the tragic question that gnawed at many — why had this laughing boy committed suicide?

“The why question is perhaps the biggest,” the Rev. Monty Wright told the crowd. Wright, the family’s pastor, led the memorial.

“We know that [he] had been struggling” with depression, Wright said. “We can’t tell someone not to have cancer. We can’t tell someone not to have depression.”

Battling mental illness can leave a person raw, tired and praying for release, he said.

He cited people in the Bible who had been worn down by their life struggles and prayed for release — Elijah, Moses, Samson.

But the gathering was not meant to only ponder the unfathomable sadness of the loss.

“It’s the day we get to set the tone for how [he] is remembered,” Wright told the audience.

“He was an inspiration,” said Tony Schlotfeldt, the boy’s wrestling coach.

His friends recalled the boy’s boundless love, and how his charm made boys jealous and gave girls butterflies.

A montage of family videos showed a smiling baby boy growing into a young man. As the film ended and the music died down, the silence was punctuated by muffled crying and sniffling.

The boy’s grandmother spoke for the family.

“We do have faith in a greater plan. We have hope for healing, and we will love and desperately miss our boy. Life is not fair, but love is.”

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

The Valley community showed its support for the family of a high school junior Sept. 14 during a candlelight vigil on a grassy field next to Cascade View Elementary School. (By Sebastian Moraga)

In a park where boys and girls run and play, men and women stood and wept.

A place that on the morning of Sept. 14 was bathed in sunshine, in the evening glowed with candles.

Friends, neighbors, schoolmates and acquaintances of a Mount Si High School 11th-grader, who was in critical condition at the time, met just north of Cascade View Elementary School in Snoqualmie for a candlelight vigil in support of him.

The teen attempted to take his own life the weekend of Sept. 11, according to a letter Mount Si High Principal Randy Taylor sent to parents. The news was shared with staff members and students the morning of Sept. 13.

A schoolwide announcement was made to let students know counselors were on hand if they needed someone to talk to, and the school auditorium was set up for students to drop in if they needed support. Students also created posters, to be taken to the hospital, with personal messages for the student, who died Sept. 15.

Parents should be aware of what their children are going through as a result of the news, even if they didn’t have a close relationship with the student, Taylor wrote. He also included ways for parents to talk to children about suicide, and listed warning signs and resources in the lengthy letter.

A PTSA meeting scheduled for Sept. 13 was also rescheduled, so parents could be home with their children.

At the vigil, Christian music played over loudspeakers. People’s sobs could be heard over the songs.

Darkness overcame the twilight, but the candles kept visible the grief in peoples’ faces.

“We know we are not in control,” Curtis Lilly, a youth pastor at LifePoint Church, said into a microphone. “What we can do is go to Jesus.”

He then asked the crowd to pray for a miracle that could bring the teenager back to health.

Prayers continued. Wax teardrops began to fall on the grass. Real ones continued to cascade down faces.

A candle balloon was released into the night skies, shooting west then east. Hundreds of hands raised candles at once, a symbol of unity that Lilly said came with a steep price.

“It’s awful that something like this has to happen for unity to take place,” he said later.

After the vigil was over, people huddled in smaller groups to pray and cry together.

The ceremony closed with another lifting of hands, and the words of Kevin Giacomoni, youth pastor for Space 8036, the teen center for Church On The Ridge.

“To the students among us, look around. All these people love you. All these people are willing to help you,” he said. “If you ever have any problems, you don’t have to handle them on your own.”

What to know

Common warning signs that indicate a need for action:

• Prior suicide attempts
• Talking about suicide, particularly “how”
• Giving away possessions
• Preoccupation with death
• Loss of sleep, appetite or energy
• Hopelessness or anxiety
• Drug or alcohol use
• Difficulty thinking clearly
• Excessive sleep
• Withdrawing after a period of trying to get attention
• Recent suicide attempt by a friend/family member

Resources

• Suicide hotline: 800-SUICIDE toll free (784-2433) or 800-273-TALK toll free (8255); TTY: 800-799-4TTY (4889)
• Teenlink: 888-431-8336 toll free (6-10 p.m. Monday – Friday)
• Crisis Clinic of King County: 866-4CRISIS toll free (866-427-4747) or 206-461-3222; TTY: 206-461-3219; teen line: 206-461-4922

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.

Robb Lane’s brother brought a friend home one day. When Trevor Lane went in to take a shower, the friend sat down and played video games with Robb.

“It’s not super memorable,” Robb Lane said of that day months ago. “But now looking back, it’s kind of special.”

School counselor Heather Kern speaks to sixth-graders at Snoqualmie Middle School about depression and suicide prevention Sept. 17. She had spoken earlier to seventh- and eighth-graders. By Sebastian Moraga

That friend is now being grieved across the Valley, eight days after he died of injuries from a suicide attempt.

Robb Lane last saw the student, an 11th-grader at Mount Si High School, at the Bothell football game Sept. 10.

“He was being himself,” said Lane, a senior at Mount Si and vice president of the school’s Associated Student Body. “He was happy.”

The student tried to commit suicide the next day, according to a letter from Mount Si High Principal Randy Taylor to parents.

“It shocked us all,” Lane said.

Lane had two classes with the student last year. He remembered him as a smart, bright young man who liked to make others laugh.

“He wasn’t mopey,” Lane said. “He was a regular kid.”

Lane remembered the student as a wrestler who hoped to make it to state this season. Now, his fellow wrestlers and classmates have to make sense of what happened and what could have been.

“It’s been hard on everyone,” Lane said, “but especially hard on juniors.”

Jennifer Oberlander’s son, Cody, is a senior. The owner of Gateway Gas and Deli in Snoqualmie said she and her child are struggling just the same.

“It’s so sad, especially having a son that age,” she said. “I can’t even imagine having to bury my son.”

Oberlander began a fundraiser for the student’s family. Five cents from every gallon of gas sold at Gateway Gas and Deli until midnight Sept. 23 will go to the family. The station sells about 6,500 gallons per day, Oberlander said.

Oberlander placed a donations’ jar on the counter. On Sept. 16 alone, more than $200 went in the jar.

“The goal is $5,000,” Oberlander said. “The reaction has been amazing. People are saying, ‘I’ve told my entire company to come here and get gas.’”

Oberlander said she and her son are close, but the student’s death has brought them even closer.

“We’re around him a lot,” she said. “We have cried with him, hugged him. He’s having a rough time.”

As a Running Start student, Oberlander’s son does not need to be at Mount Si High every morning. Nevertheless, he got up at 6 a.m. each day last week to attend prayer vigils at the school.

The student’s family needs to know they are loved, Oberlander said.

At Snoqualmie Middle School, counselor Heather Kern told the children things they need to know, as well.

“Some things are always true,” Kern said to an assembly of sixth-graders. “One: You are in control of yourself. Two: Bad things happen to all people, but you can move on. Three: You’re never alone. Ever. Four: There’s always a better choice.”

Kern told the students one of the best ways they could honor the student was by realizing they are not alone.

“He wasn’t alone, but he did not know that,” she said. “And now he did something that can never be taken back.”

Kern spoke to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders in separate assemblies Sept. 17. The students listened respectfully and talked about depression, sadness and what it means to be a friend to someone depressed.

“You don’t have to panic,” Kern said. “You just have to listen and say, ‘All right. We’ll get through this.’”

People who say they want to hurt themselves want help, Kern told the children.

“Even if they say, ‘Don’t tell anyone,’ they want help,” she added.

Facebook is not the right forum to talk about such things, Kern told the children. After the assembly, Kern said children using social media to talk about such a topic instead of with an adult motivated the school to hold assemblies.

Lastly, she told the children not to deify the student.

“We support him,” she said. “But we don’t want to say it was the right act. We don’t want to make it heroic.”

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.

In a park where boys and girls run and play, men and women stood and wept.

A place that on the morning of Sept. 14 was bathed in sunshine, in the evening glowed with candles.

Friends, neighbors, schoolmates and acquaintances of a Mount Si High School 11^th-grader, who was in critical condition, met just north of Cascade View Elementary School in Snoqualmie for a candlelight vigil in support of him.

The teen attempted to take his own life the weekend of Sept. 11, according to a letter Mount Si High Principal Randy Taylor sent to parents. The news was shared with staff members and students Monday morning, Taylor wrote.

A schoolwide announcement was made to let students know that counselors were on hand if they needed someone to talk to, and the school auditorium was set up for students to drop in if they needed support. Students also created posters, to be taken to the hospital, with personal messages for the student.

On Sept. 15, the Star learned that the student had died.

Parents should be aware of what their children are going through as a result of the news, even if they didn’t have a close relationship with the teen, Taylor wrote. He also included ways for parents to talk to children about suicide, and listed warning signs and resources in the lengthy letter.

A PTSA meeting scheduled for Monday night was also rescheduled, so parents could be home with their children.

At the vigil, Christian music played over loudspeakers. People’s sobs could be heard over the songs.

Darkness overcame the twilight, but the candles kept visible the grief in peoples’ faces.

“We know we are not in control,” Curtis Lilly, a youth pastor at LifePoint Church, said into a microphone. “What we can do is go to Jesus.”

He then asked the crowd to pray for a miracle that can bring the teenager back to health.

Prayers continued. Wax teardrops began to fall on the grass. Real ones continued to cascade down faces.

A candle balloon was released into the night skies, shooting west then east. Hundreds of hands raised candles at once, a symbol of unity that Lilly said came with a steep price.

“It’s awful that something like this has to happen for unity to take place,” he said later.

After the vigil was over, people huddled in smaller groups to pray and cry together.

The ceremony closed with another lifting of hands, and the words of Kevin Giacomoni, youth pastor for Space 8036, the teen center for Church On The Ridge.

“To the students among us, look around. All these people love you. All these people are willing to help you,” he said. “If you ever have any problems, you don’t have to handle them on your own.”

Common warning signs that indicate a need for action:

• Prior suicide attempts
• Talking about suicide, particularly “how”
• Giving away possessions
• Preoccupation with death
• Loss of sleep, appetite or energy
• Hopelessness or anxiety
• Drug or alcohol use
• Difficulty thinking clearly
• Excessive sleep
• Withdrawing after a period of trying to get attention
• Recent suicide attempt by a friend/family member

Resources

Suicide hotline: 800-SUICIDE toll free (784-2433) or 800-273-TALK toll free (8255); TTY: 800-799-4TTY (4889)

Teenlink: 888-431-8336 toll free (6-10 p.m. Monday – Friday)

Crisis Clinic of King County: 866-4CRISIS toll free (866-427-4747) or 206-461-3222; TTY: 206-461-3219

Crisis Clinic teen line: 206-461-4922

Youth Suicide Prevention Program

Snoqualmie Valley student drama shows may sparkle with ideas from Broadway, now that drama teachers Dean and Kim Snavely have completed the Broadway Teachers Workshop.

In New York, the Snavelys rubbed elbows with Broadway stars and participated in dozens of workshops, including ones detailing stage makeup, sound, lighting and higher education.

“It exceeded both of our expectations inexplicably,” said Dean Snavely, Snoqualmie Middle School music director and Mount Si High School musical theater director.

The Snavelys learned about the workshop through their licensing company, Music Theatre International. Every time a play is performed, a school must receive permission from a licensing company. The company told the Snavelys about the New York workshop, but they balked at the price.

They spoke with students, other teachers and administrators, and heard encouragement from every angle.

“Everybody said this is a really amazing opportunity for you guys to get training and to learn what is happening in the world of high school theater,” Dean Snavely said.

The couple used about $4,000 of Associated Student Body money to go to New York, and scrimped wherever they could.

“There was no extravagance,” Dean Snavely said. “We sucked the marrow out of New York City.”

They both said they would share their newfound knowledge with other drama teachers in the Snoqualmie Valley district. Dean Snavely said he would also work to bridge the gap between middle and high school drama productions.

The Broadway Teachers Workshop held two full days of workshops, with participants seeing Broadway plays at night. On the third day, they saw back-to-back plays, a theater teacher’s delight.

In the end, the Snavelys saw “Memphis,” “Million Dollar Quartet,” “American Idiot” and “Promises Promises,” with star Sean Hayes, who played Jack on the TV show “Will and Grace.” At the end of the show, Hayes spoke with the 50 teachers in the Broadway Teachers Workshop

“We got to talk to him as teachers,” Dean Snavely said, “and he got to talk to us about what in school made him want to stay with acting. That was amazingly helpful.”

The Snavelys learned that Hayes appreciated his drama teachers and engaging yet challenging productions.

When they weren’t at shows, the Snavelys attended workshops. Mount Si music and drama director Kim Snavely said she wanted to help students pursue theater in higher education, so she went to a workshop with directors from seven theater schools. The directors reviewed what they look for in prospective students, giving Kim Snavely ideas for helping students apply to college.

The couple both attended a makeup workshop, learning from the artist who worked on shows like “Young Frankenstein.”

“I can’t wait to get back to my theater class, because we do a makeup unit and I can really coach kids to be more effective,” Kim Snavely said. “It’s all about playing with shadow and light and playing with effects, especially with wrinkles.”

Dean Snavely said his favorite workshop was “Die Vampire Die,” taught by the creator of the musical “Title of Show.”

During the workshop, Dean Snavely had to find and kill his vampire — basically the clog that blocks creative people’s bursts of inspiration.

“Your vampire is the thing that gets in the way,” Dean Snavely said. “It could be your seventh-grade choir teacher telling you you couldn’t sing, and that’s your vampire.”He destroyed his vampire, but because of a pact he made with the other teachers in the workshop, he said he couldn’t reveal what it was.

“What I found when I walked out of there was I killed my vampire,” Dean Snavely said. “I have enormous creative material not only for drama, but also for choir and band. I couldn’t wait for school to start. I love my summer, but I can’t wait to try some ideas. We’re going to talk a lot about vampires.”

Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@isspress.com.

The new standardized test scores released Tuesday brought mixed results for Snoqualmie Valley School District.

Some schools in the district saw big improvements in their standing relative to other Washington schools over last year. Other schools saw continued success, but some schools slipped.

This year was the first for the High School Proficiency Exam and the Measurement of Student Progress for elementary and middle schools. The tests replaced the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, which was introduced in the late 1990s.

Mount Si students scored 87.1 percent in reading, down 2 percent from the previous year, but better than state and district averages.

Mount Si scored 57.7 percent in math, down from 60 percent in the 2008-2009 school year but well above the state average 41.6 percent.

Reading scores for Mount Si slipped to 87.1, down from 89.1.

The school’s science scores increased almost 10 percentage points to 58 percent.

Despite Mount Si’s gains, the school’s principal, Randy Taylor, criticized the new test after results were released for students who took the test last spring as 10th graders.

“The reading portion took longer than anticipated, and we had kids needing more time to finish the test,” he said.

Randy Dorn, state Superintendent of Public Instruction, said in an Aug. 31 news release that the state will shorten the reading test to be taken in spring 2011.

Taylor said the math standards changed since the previous test and that it’s not fair to compare two tests with different standards.

The comparison is valid this year but won’t be next year, said Chris Barron, a spokesman for the superintendent. The state will replace the current math test with two exams on algebra and geometry in 2011.

The exams will be the third different high school math tests in three years.

Taylor criticized the move. “The kids and teachers will have to adapt to a different test again,” he said.

The Snoqualmie Valley School District declined to comment for this story.

The tests are not the only way to measure student success, Taylor said.

“There’s other indicators that say kids are being successful despite the WASL and HSPE scores,” he said, referring to the old and new standardized tests.

He pointed to the results of another standardized test — the ACT, a college-admission test — taken by juniors last school year.

“Our ACT scores … they are phenomenal, just blew our socks off.”

Other scores include:

• Cascade View Elementary scored on average 19.6 percent above state averages in all its grades’ reading tests.
• Opstad Elementary’s third- and fifth-grade reading scores of 76.7 and 78.9 percent respectively, each dropped almost 10 percentage points from last year. Both scores stand above state average. Fourth-grade reading improved 7.2 percent from 2008-09, with 81.9 percent. The school had math scores below district and state averages on fourth and fifth grades.
• Chief Kanim Middle School’s scored 88.1 percent in sixth-grade reading, 86.7 percent in seventh and 86.2 percent in eighth. On average, these scores stand 21 percentage points above the state average. The school’s math scores, 79.7, 84.8 and 78.9 percent respectively, stand on average 26 percentage points higher. “We attribute our success to the district as a whole,” he said. “It’s kind of a trickle-up effect,” Principal Kirk Dunckel said. “Kids are benefiting from good teachers all along the way, from elementary.
• Snoqualmie Elementary third-graders scored 74.6 percent in reading, a drop from last year’s 81.7 percent. Fourth-graders dropped from 75.3 percent to 69.2 percent. Fifth-graders jumped from last year’s 77.4 to 78.8 percent. The school scored better than the state average in math in fourth and fifth grades. Fifth-graders scored 50 percent in science, 16 percentage points better than state’s average, but down 9.1 percent from last year.
• Snoqualmie Middle School scored 73.3 percent in sixth-grade reading, a drop from the 2008-09 score of 82 percent. The school improved on last year’s scores in seventh-grade reading, with 77.2 percent and eighth grade, with 82.8 percent. The school scored 75.5, 74 and 68.8 percent in sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade math, respectively. Math scores were on average almost 20 percent higher than the state averages.
• Twin Falls Middle School scored 80.3 in seventh-grade reading, a 7.3 percent jump from last year. Eighth-graders scored 86.5 percent, a 1.7 percent jump. Sixth-graders’ scored 79.2 percent, a 5.4 percent drop. Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders scored 70.3, 69.7 and 67.6 percent in math, respectively, on average 16 points above the state marks.
• Two Rivers School eighth-graders scored a 38.5 percent on their reading test. Two Rivers’ 10th-graders scored a 66.7 percent in reading, down from 69.2 in 2008-09. Tenth-graders scored 15.8 percent in math, 71.4 percent in writing and 36.8 percent in science.

Sebastian Moraga: 3926434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.

Wildcats goalkeeper — and top college recruit — Ryan Herman blocks a ball during a game last season. After being courted by dozens of schools, Herman settled on Santa Clara University. (Photo by Calder Productions)

For top high school athletes, the college recruiting process is a high-stakes game that can put high pressure on student athletes, parents, coaches and even high school athletic programs.

The NCAA is concerned that the pressure is getting too high and is considering pushing back the date when Division I schools can offer high school athletes early scholarships. Some familiar with the recruiting process are worried that coaches are surreptitiously targeting younger and younger athletes, even unofficially offering middle school athletes scholarships. While such cases are rare, some high school coaches say the recruiting process is distracting.

The NCAA’s Division I Recruiting and Athletics Personnel Issues Cabinet supported a proposal to ban verbal scholarship offers given before July 1 in the summer before a student’s senior year in high school.

The proposed change could be approved either in January or April, and would apply to all sports.

The NCAA did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

Both sides motivated to talk

University coaching staffs push for early committals, because they need to find the best players they can before other schools lock them in.

Students want to commit early, because they don’t want to lose a scholarship spot to another athlete.

“The recruiting process overall has been bumping up earlier and earlier,” said O.D. Vincent, a senior associate athletic director at the University of Washington and former golf coach.

The process has sped up so much, that students are verbally committing before they make their first official visit, he said.

As a coach, he said, his primary motivation was to ensure that students received accurate information about the program and the school.

“You sure don’t want an athlete on your squad who doesn’t fit,” he said.

Both sides are eager to talk with each other as early as NCAA rules allow them to. Current rules permit universities to send only one e-mail each week to a student beginning Sept. 1 of their junior year.

“On Sept. 1 of my junior year, I got about 40 e-mails,” said Ryan Herman, Mount Si High School’s star goalkeeper.

He and his friends compared tallies. The 6-foot, 7-inch keeper received the most e-mails.

Herman, who will be a senior this year, didn’t mind all the attention.

“It was fun knowing that people were watching me,” he said.

Herman verbally committed Oct. 22 to Santa Clara University.

It was a relief, he said — “If I have a bad game, so what?”

However, a verbal commitment can be broken by either side.

Pressures and problems of process

Several Mount Si High School coaches agreed that the process puts too much pressure on students to make decisions early.

But plenty of things can change between when a student commits and freshman year of college.

“Sometimes, kids get to senior year and all of a sudden a (university) coach leaves or they find another school that’s a better fit,” said Bonnie Foote, a volleyball coach for Mount Si and club teams.

In addition, the pressure of the process can distract students from playing and studying.

“As a high school coach, if my best player is overly taxed by scholarships, he’s not fully preparing for the season,” said Charlie Kinnune, Mount Si High School’s football coach.

Technology changing recruiting

Recruiting of high school athletes has changed dramatically in the past 20 years. Social media and the Internet have drastically altered how universities and athletes learn about and contact each other.

“Twenty, 15 years ago, I knew exactly who was talking to my athletes,” Kinnune said. “Now, I find out from the kid who’s talking to them.”

Students can — and do — reach out to universities through e-mails, phone calls and highlight videos of them playing. Sometimes, with the coaches’ help, sometimes without.

“I can’t tell you how many YouTube videos I’ve put together” for players, Foote said.

Other coaches said that while they help their students make videos, they also have received calls from universities that got a video directly from a student.

Kinnune said he wants more regulation on the recruiting process, but he admits that it will be difficult to keep universities from contacting students too early. Even so, he wants the date pushed back for early commitments.

“I don’t think the universities will suffer one bit,” he said.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

Because the student is a minor, neither he nor any of the other minors associated with the case will be named.

During the Nov. 6 incident, a student was punched and kneed in the face while in the boys’ locker room after standing up for a friend, who was being bullied for reportedly being gay.

King County Juvenile Court Judge Chris Washington, who heard the case without a jury, said that based on testimony “it seems there was an agreement between these two individuals to fight,” and said that while he did not condone the behavior, it appeared to be a fight and not an assault.

The state appointed prosecuting attorney Lena Smith to the complaining witness for the Aug. 10-11 trial. The respondent’s family hired private attorney Jim Conroy.

Two minors and the complaining witness testified at the trial, answering questions about exactly what happened that day in the boys’ locker room. The respondent — the minor who threw the punches — did not testify.

A student who witnessed the incident testified first, saying he remembered the respondent hitting the complaining witness at least once in the face.

The student who allegedly bullied the student recounted that the complaining witness had heckled him before the incident. The respondent, who was also in the locker room but did not know the boys, walked toward the complaining witness, exchanged words and then both of them got into a fighting stance, the student testified.

The respondent then punched the complaining witness and left the boys’ locker room, he said. The student said he then found the nearest teacher.

The complaining witness was the last person to testify. Smith subpoenaed the student who had allegedly been bullied, but he did not come to the trial, prosecutor spokesman Dan Donohoe said.

The complaining witness, a 14-year-old freshman at the time of the incident, said some of his memory was fuzzy because of the concussion he had sustained. He also had a fractured eye orbit, a broken tooth and bruises.

The complaining witness said he remembered the alleged bully taunting his friend, “So, I stuck up for him,” he said.

He admitted he does not remember the event clearly.

“I’m not a fighter. It’s not who I am. It’s not what I do,” when asked by the defense about his reputation at school.

He said he recalled hearing something hit the ground — the respondent’s backpack — and “the next thing I remember is my friends pulling me off the floor.”

He was later taken in an ambulance to Overlake Medical Center.

The complaining witness was known to provoke fights and had provoked one with his client by saying, “I’ll fight anybody,” according to witness testimony. Washington agreed that it sounded like a fight, and said that because the complaining witness might have tried to get up after he was punched, the respondent would have thought the fight was still happening, explaining why he kneed the complaining witness in the face, too.

Smith disagreed, saying that the respondent had not even been involved in the verbal exchange, and had introduced himself to the situation, asking what was going on when he could have walked away.

“This is simply not a locker-room brawl,” Smith said. “This case is about a swift, violent and brutal response to a 14-year-old freshman.”

However, Washington said it sounded like the fight was mutual and not a second-degree assault, proclaiming the respondent not guilty.

“I would like to thank all of the witnesses for telling the truth,” the respondent’s father said after the trial.

Peggy Johnson, the complaining witness’ mother, broke down in tears when the verdict was announced. She said her son had stuck up for his friend and then “was beaten unconscious and then beaten some more while he was down.”

She said Smith had not spent much time consulting with her family before the trial, and the bullying that led to the incident was not discussed.

The state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the federal Department of Justice is looking into how Mount Si handled the incident. Meanwhile, Johnson said her son will not return to Mount Si this fall.

“The evidence will come out if it didn’t come out here,” she said. “This is not done. This is so wrong.”

Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

A student charged with second-degree assault after an incident in November at Mount Si High School was found not guilty in King County Juvenile Court on Aug. 11, after a two-day bench trial.

Because the student is a minor, neither he nor any of the other minors associated with the case will be named.

During the Nov. 6 incident, a student was punched and kneed in the face while in the boys’ locker room after standing up for a friend, who was being bullied for reportedly being gay.

King County Juvenile Court Judge Chris Washington, who heard the case without a jury, said that based on testimony “it seems there was an agreement between these two individuals to fight,” and said that while he did not condone the behavior, it appeared to be a fight and not an assault.

The state appointed prosecuting attorney Lena Smith to the complaining witness for the Aug. 10-11 trial. The respondent’s family hired private attorney Jim Conroy.

Two minors and the complaining witness testified at the trial, answering questions about exactly what happened that day in the boys’ locker room. The respondent — the minor who threw the punches — did not testify.

A student who witnessed the incident testified first, saying he remembered the respondent hitting the complaining witness at least once in the face.

The student who allegedly bullied the student recounted that the complaining witness had heckled him before the incident. The respondent, who was also in the locker room but did not know the boys, walked toward the complaining witness, exchanged words and then both of them got into a fighting stance, the student testified.

The respondent then punched the complaining witness and left the boys’ locker room, he said. The student said he then found the nearest teacher.

The complaining witness was the last person to testify. Smith subpoenaed the student who had allegedly been bullied, but he did not come to the trial, Peggy Johnson, the mother of the complaining witness, said.

The complaining witness, a 14-year-old freshman at the time of the incident, said some of his memory was fuzzy because of the concussion he had sustained. He also had a fractured eye orbit, a broken tooth and bruises.

The complaining witness said he remembered the alleged bully taunting his friend, “So, I stuck up for him,” he said.

He admitted he does not remember the event clearly.

“I’m not a fighter. It’s not who I am. It’s not what I do,” when asked by the defense about his reputation at school.

He said he recalled hearing something hit the ground — the respondent’s backpack — and “the next thing I remember is my friends pulling me off the floor.”

He was later taken in an ambulance to Overlake Medical Center.

The complaining witness was known to provoke fights and had provoked one with his client by saying, “I’ll fight anybody,” according to witness testimony. Washington agreed that it sounded like a fight, and said that because the complaining witness might have tried to get up after he was punched, the respondent would have thought the fight was still happening, explaining why he kneed the complaining witness in the face, too.

Smith disagreed, saying that the respondent had not even been involved in the verbal exchange, and had introduced himself to the situation, asking what was going on when he could have walked away.

“This is simply not a locker-room brawl,” Smith said. “This case is about a swift, violent and brutal response to a 14-year-old freshman.”

However, Washington said it sounded like the fight was mutual and not a second-degree assault, proclaiming the respondent not guilty.

“I would like to thank all of the witnesses for telling the truth,” the respondent’s father said after the trial.

Johnson broke down in tears when the verdict was announced. She said her son had stuck up for his friend and then “was beaten unconscious and then beaten some more while he was down.”

She said Smith had not spent much time consulting with her family before the trial, and the bullying that led to the incident was not discussed.

The state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the federal Department of Justice is looking into how Mount Si handled the incident. Meanwhile, Johnson said her son will not return to Mount Si this fall.

“The evidence will come out if it didn’t come out here,” she said. “This is not done. This is so wrong.”

Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

Mount Si High School students Marley Robbins, Max Reppin, Franziska Hanke and Anna Neubold walk toward the Tetraeder in Bottrop, Germany. Students hiked to the site and climbed the Tetraeder, allowing them a view of the region. (Photo by Jodie Magnuson)

Last fall, a group of 21 German students visited Mount Si High School. This summer, Mount Si students saw them again, but this time in Germany.

A group of 18 Mount Si students was in Germany from June 26 – July 13.

The Mount Si students stayed with host families, took field trips to museums, cathedrals, Cologne and Berlin, and sat in on several classes with their German counterparts.

Junior Kenzie Parker said she felt at home with her host family.

“It was a change, but most of the family was exactly like my family, which was cool,” she said. “They acted the same way. The dad was a goofball and my dad’s funny.”

German teacher Sven Lutzka started the exchange program by e-mailing several American high schools, asking if they would be interested in a student exchange. Mount Si German teacher Edina Kecse-Nagy answered his e-mail, setting the exchange into motion.

“We wanted our students to leave the confines of the foreign language classroom, so as to enable them to gain some first-hand intercultural experience in the U.S.,” Lutzka wrote in an e-mail. “Our prime goal is to help our students gain understanding, acquire knowledge, and develop skills for living in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world.”

Kecse-Nagy was unable to go on the German trip, so Mount Si Spanish teacher Linda Wickswat chaperoned for her.

Mount Si 2010 graduate Jodie Magnuson took four years of German, but said so many people spoke English, she didn’t speak much German during the trip. Her host family took her mini-golfing, which is different from American miniature golf. She said it had four differently colored balls of different weights and textures.

Though she did “really bad, I lost both times,” Magnuson said she had fun, and made up for her loss by shopping in the different cities she visited.

Other students went different places with their host families. Parker went to Belgium and Amsterdam with her host family. Though part of Parker’s family is from Germany, she still found it hard to acclimate to the food.

“It was really different,” she said. “We ate a lot of bread and I tried a whole bunch of new food. I had bloodwurst. It was weird. They eat a lot of meat and schnitzel,” a thin piece of chicken that is breaded and fried.

After going on a boat tour down the Rhine-Herne Channel, the Mount Si group woke up at 3 a.m. so they could take a seven-hour bus ride to Berlin. They started with a bus tour of

the city and broke off into small groups, exploring Germany’s capital and seeing Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial and the World Cup game between Germany and Spain.

“They were very sad,” after the loss, junior Bobby Rollins said. “They take soccer very seriously. For all of the winning games, they would drive around and honk their horns and wave their arms. You could tell that they lost, because there was no noise.”

Wickswat lived for two years in Belgium during the 1980s and visited Berlin when the wall was still standing.

“It’s very interesting now to see how different it is,” she said. “Before, you had a wall separating it and you had two cities. Now, it’s a modern city.”

Magnuson bought eight pieces of the Berlin Wall for her friends, excited to have a piece of living history.

Before they left, the Mount Si students gave presentations of the differences and similarities they saw between America and Germany. The students found that Mount Si had more after-school activities, like clubs and sports, while school in Germany was viewed mainly as an academic center.

Upon leaving, “They were crying at the airport,” Wickswat said, but noted that the German students would visit Mount Si in 2011.

“They were so amazing and they were the nicest people I’ve ever met,” Magnuson said. “I talk to them on Skype every day.”

Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

State enacts anti-bullying legislation

Snoqualmie Valley School Board members said they deeply regretted that a student was seriously injured in an incident at Mount Si High School, according to a statement the board released June 15.

The statement was in response to an incident that happened at Mount Si High School Nov. 6, in which a freshman was assaulted in the boy’s locker room. The district hired Daphne Schneider, a licensed private investigator, to look into the incident, and she released her report June 3.

In the statement, the board confirmed it initiated a third-party investigation in the spring to learn more about the incident and to see what improvements could be made to the school’s procedures. After the release of the report, school officials made a new policy requiring staff to immediately call 911 if a student appeared to have a head injury.

During the incident, staff did not call 911 for about an hour after the assault. The freshman returned to school two months later, but has since left Mount Si.

Despite that, the school board wrote “that the school’s administrative staff had been well-intentioned in their attempts to handle the situation and to develop a mutually-acceptable safety and education plan for the injured student’s re-entry to school.”

The board said that the student who assaulted the freshman had unacceptable behavior.

“We wish the incident could have been prevented, and have confidence that the Mount Si High School administration will continue working diligently to thwart student misconduct, in the best interest of all students,” the board said. “Ensuring a safe learning environment for all students has been, and will continue to be, a top priority.”

The board highlighted several anti-harassment programs at Mount Si, including diversity training for staff, the establishment of the Diversity and Respect Team, made up of students, staff, parents and community members to guide diversity and respect initiatives and student programs, such as Natural Helpers and the Keeping the Peace student awards.

Community response

Two people — a parent and a student — spoke out against bullying at the June 10 school board meeting.

At the meeting, parent Kim Baker asked the school board to do more to stop bullying because the anti-bullying assemblies given in elementary, middle and high school did not seem to be working, she said.

Senior Savannah Hunt attended the meeting on behalf of a group of students committed to stop bullying at Mount Si.

Hunt asked the school board to be proactive in addressing harassment at school.

“I’m wondering how the school board plans to assist us in making a change at school and what you guys are doing to assure us what happened in November never happens again,” Hunt said.

The community’s response to the incident comes at a time when the whole state is reexamining anti-bullying provisions in its schools.

Gov. Chris Gregoire recently signed into law House Bill 2801, which regards anti-harassment strategies in public schools. The law took effect June 10.

In the 2008-09 school year, 256,034 students were enrolled in King County schools. Of those students, 2,231 were suspended and 89 were expelled due to bullying behavior, according to a report compiled by the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Last year, the Snoqualmie Valley School District had 5,817 students, with 54 suspended and zero expelled because of bullying behavior, the report said.

State government recognized that despite legislation prohibiting harassment, intimidation and bullying of students in public schools, harassment of students has not declined since the law was enacted, according to language in the new legislation.

The new law requires that each school district designate an employee to be a primary contact for students experiencing harassment or intimidation. Districts also have to show the superintendent of public instruction anti-harassment information on their websites.

Snoqualmie Valley schools spokeswoman Carolyn Malcolm said the district updated its anti-harassment policy in February 2009.

Districts have until August 2011 to implement the new law, and Malcolm said the district would begin it as soon as the OSPI releases more information about it in August.

Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

Find SVSD’s anti-harassment policy

• Visit www.svsd410.org and select “District Policies” from the “District Information” dropdown menu.
• Select “Series 3000” on the left and click on policy “3207 Prohibition of Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying.” The link’s destination contains the procedure for the policy.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.

A student walks into the front doors of Mount Si High School. A private investigator recently released a report about how school administrators handled a student assault that happened in November. Photo by Laura Geggel

A former Mount Si High School sophomore is facing assault charges in King County Juvenile Court in connection with a locker room incident that put a freshman student in the hospital. The freshman and his friend, who had been the target of ongoing harassment at school, have both left Mount Si and will likely have to repeat the ninth grade.

An independent report released last week faulted school administrators for their handling of the attack and the aftermath.

Following the incident, administrators didn’t call 911 for nearly an hour even though the freshman was severely injured, the report said.

Peggy Johnson, the victim’s mother, said school administrators handled the incident poorly – including asking her son to look for his tooth right after the assault, not following up with him while he was in the hospital and not helping him enough when he returned to school in January, according to the report.

Frustrated by the school’s response, she called the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Safe Schools Coalition.

When problems continued, the district hired a private investigator in March to examine how the school handled the assault and its aftermath.

Read the report:

• Mount Si student assault report, part I
• Mount Si student assault report, part II
• Mount Si student assault report, part III

The assault

In the month prior to the incident, there had been tension between two freshmen, according to a statement from Vice Principal Greg Hart in the report.

One student had called the other names, including anti-gay remarks, and had shoved and spit on him.

On the day of the assault, the boys were changing in the locker room after gym class. One freshman called the other “gay,” and his friend — Johnson’s son — stood up for him.

A sophomore friend of the freshman assailant stepped in and confronted Johnson’s son, who didn’t back down. At that point, the sophomore said he “just lost control,” according to the report.

The sophomore allegedly punched Johnson’s son, causing him to hit his head on the bench as he fell down. Johnson told the private investigator that the sophomore then kneed, kicked and stomped her son.

The gym teacher, Tony Schlotfeldt, who had been out of the room during the assault, found the victim and took him to the nurse’s office.

An administrator  joined them — and instead of calling 911 or the boy’s mother, asked them to return to the locker room to find his tooth.

In the locker room, the victim’s face continued to swell from the injuries he’d sustained. Shocked by the boy’s appearance, another teacher recommended that he return to the nurse’s office.

In the meantime, administrator Cindy Wilson had identified the assailant, whom Johnson’s son didn’t know.

According to the report, Johnson’s son was becoming agitated, saying he wanted to go home. He tried to board a school bus, but administrators stopped him and returned him to the office, where he identified the assailant from a picture.

At some point, the freshman called his mother. When Johnson arrived she told school administrators that before calling 911, she wanted to hear what happened to her son, the report said.

Snoqualmie firefighters responded to the 911 call, which came nearly an hour after the fight, and took Johnson’s son to Overlake Hospital Medical Center.

According to the report, a medical exam at Overlake found he had a concussion, a fractured eye orbit, a broken tooth and bruises.

Mount Si Principal Randy Taylor said he regretted that 911 was not called earlier, but said that in the past, parents “…have wanted to make that call.”

Since then, the school requires staff to call 911 immediately if a student appears to have a head injury.

The sophomore was expelled from Mount Si and now attends Two Rivers School. He can petition to return next year, as is standard for expelled students, Taylor said.

King County prosecutors have charged him in juvenile court with second-degree assault, according to charging papers. His trial is scheduled to start June 26.

The aftermath

School administrators did not contact the freshman or his family while he was in the hospital over the weekend.

“I regret that a lot,” Taylor said.

After learning the full extent of his injuries, administrators did not tell his teachers, citing confidentiality concerns, the report said.

When he returned to school in January, administrators met with an ombudsman from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Safe Schools Coalition at the mother’s insistence.

Taylor prohibited the freshman assailant from having any contact with either Johnson’s son or his friend, who had been the target of his harassment, and changed his class schedule accordingly.

Johnson wanted the freshman expelled, but school administrators refused to do so.

She told the private investigator that the school had mishandled her son’s return, including its own investigation of the assault.

The private investigator’s report found fault with how the administration handled the incident and its aftermath, including its initial investigation.

Within the past month, the freshman who was harassed moved away and Johnson’s son withdrew from Mount Si, though no notice was given, Taylor said.

Moving forward

Mount Si has several programs and assemblies designed to prevent harassment, and Taylor said the school’s administration continues working to address the problem.

A recent student-administrator forum showed that Mount Si has an unhealthy undercurrent of derogatory name-calling based on sexuality, race, religion and ethnicity.

To stop bullying at Mount Si, Taylor said, students have to report it.

“If we have a climate of where they’re reluctant to talk, we need to change that,” he said.

He said he wants to rebuild trust with students and the community. In a June 4 e-mail to parents, Taylor wrote, “The injuries sustained by the student are extremely regrettable, and we wish that they could have been prevented. We continue to extend the family our support and sincere interest in his full recovery.”

Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

That night, students made a Facebook group, Students Against MSHS Beating Cover-Up, which had 495 members as of June 8.

Teacher Eric Goldhammer said he was disappointed the Times article didn’t address Mount Si’s “awesome” Gay Straight Alliance Club, and that students and teachers had worked to make the school safer since the protests held by the Rev. Ken Hutcherson during the 2008 Day of Silence.

Students at Mount Si High School raise their hands when administrators asked if they had ever been bullied at school, during a forum addressing the climate at the high school. Photo by Laura Geggel

Senior Morgan Myers said students were frustrated, shocked and disappointed after reading about the incident. Many felt passionately about wanting to change Mount Si’s reputation for intolerance, he said.

At an invite-only student forum June 7, Mount Si Principal Randy Taylor and several administrators invited about a dozen students to talk about the school’s climate. Taylor wanted to know how much bullying happens, whether teachers are proactive in stopping it and what the school could do to better promote respect.

Students said that Mount Si still has a reputation of being a prejudiced, redneck school.

Senior Christina Finley said that reputation made her feel sick, “because I’ve had a great experience at our school and I feel prepared to conquer the world.”

The students agreed bullying does happen at Mount Si, with students bullying each other about ethnicity, religion, race and sexuality. They gave myriad examples of student insensitivity.

Freshman Natalie Guterson said that during a drumming presentation during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day assembly, a white boy took her seat, and she had to sit on her knees while drumming. After the presentation, students joked that she had to give up her seat because she was black.

“It just hurt to feel powerless and know people still think in that way,” Guterson said.

Finley said many teachers laugh off in-class bullying, and even those who don’t tolerate it can’t catch everything.

“I don’t think there’s a dictionary in German that doesn’t have a swastika in it,” Finley said, even though she said the German teacher did her best to stop it.

The students said the school needed workshops that would help everyone define and understand bullying and how victims or other students can stop it. Such a workshop could remind students why it is inappropriate to use hurtful words, like calling someone a Jew or gay as an insult or calling people “the n word.”

“I don’t know if people understand the historical and racial significance,” freshman Taylor Pearlstein said. “It makes me want to cry when I hear people say the word Jew.”

Students agreed that it could take years to educate people not only to stop bullying, but also to stand up for themselves, whether at school or online.

If students signed an anti-bullying pledge, then they wouldn’t be able to plead ignorance when caught in the act, they said.

Students passed around a laptop during the forum, writing about bullying at Mount Si.

“I’m a little overwhelmed by reading the comments on the laptop,” Taylor said. “I’m very concerned. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I’m also hopeful to say that this process is going to have some good that comes out as a result.”

Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

Protect all students from abuse

We are writing this letter to address the immense hatred we heard about regarding a student being beaten severely for protecting his allegedly gay friend. As alumni of Mount Si High School, we have had the unfortunate experience of having to view hatred against those who are “different” throughout the halls on an extremely frequent basis.

After the Day of Silence 2008 debacle, we both had hoped that the negative attention that had been brought to Mount Si would have been enough to inflict some sort of change.

Unfortunately, in light of the recent event that is now in the news, clearly that is not the case. It is extremely evident to both of us that something drastic needs to be done to protect all students.

School is supposed to be a place of learning, nurturing, friendship, and should be a safe place to be yourself and find out who you are.

The fear the administration has of being “controversial” by supporting tolerance and diversity in a seemingly conservative community should not jeopardize the safety of the very students whom it is their duty to protect.

It is unfortunate that instead of having a reputation where students from other schools would like to be a part of the Mount Si family, Mount Si is now known as a place where being different is not OK.

Despite all of the negative press, we have hope that parents, students, teachers and administrators alike will stand together to make a positive change, so no student ever feels like they need to compromise who they are just to make it through a day of school safely.

Allyson Rosman,

MSHS Class of 2006

Jenni Anderson,

MSHS Class of 2008

Community charity

Local service clubs team up

The Kiwanis and Rotary clubs of Snoqualmie Valley extend a big thank you to our community for its generous donation of items for Eastside Baby Corner.

The donations were collected at three local grocery stores — North Bend QFC, Snoqualmie Ridge Supermarket and Farmers Market in Fall City — May 16. Donations of clothes for children birth to age 12, baby food, formula, diapers, wipes, shampoo, bottles, teething rings and other items, along with children’s furniture and cash, were accepted by members of the Kiwanis and Rotary clubs.

This is an annual event the two local service organizations sponsor to benefit the families served by Eastside Baby Corner.

Eastside Baby Corner is an organization based in Issaquah that distributes donations to families in need, food banks and other organizations on the Eastside, including our Valley. Designed to help families with young children, they distribute approximately $3 million worth of items annually.

Again, thanks to everyone who donated items to make the drive such a success. Through your donation, you helped many children feel cared for and valued as important members of our community. And thank you to all of our volunteer members from the Rotary and Kiwanis clubs for their time and efforts in making the drive possible.

Paul Tredway, Kiwanis Club of Snoqualmie Valley

Nancy Whitaker, Snoqualmie Valley Rotary Club

Community

Opinion section seems to be taking turn for the worse

I am a resident of North Bend who receives and reads the paper on a regular basis. I appreciate staying current with local Valley events and issues, and appreciate the focus on our youth in the back pages of the paper.

I have had the opportunity to speak with Laura Geggel on several occasions (in regard to the Mount Si Artist Guild) and appreciate her dedication, hard work and thoroughness. All around, I have many positive things to say about the Star and look forward to its arrival.

I write to you today, however, to ask what’s up with this Opinion section, which seems to be taking a turn for the worse?

I value and appreciate the right for citizens to speak their mind, but I believe you, as the editor of this paper, have a responsibility to sift through these letters and make some good solid judgment calls.

I question the validity of printing such comments as “I sincerely hope that with the pending closure of the private dog park at Eagle Pointe on the Ridge, we won’t be treated to years of more whining from Ridge residents…” or as the letter goes on to read, “If driving five minutes instead of two minutes to a beautiful park is the biggest sacrifice you have to make during the recession….”

I believe your paper has a responsibility to the community at large to provide news and human-interest stories and allow Valley residents a place to voice concerns or constructive comments. But an undercurrent of insults and exhausting complaints serves to divide rather than build good will and community spirit.

Please consider revisiting the intention of the Opinion forum.

I appreciate your time and perhaps a moment of reflection on your entire community readership.

Erica Becker

North Bend