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280 Living
www.280living.com
June Volume 3, | Issue 10 ng Movi
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June Features
Valedictorians earn top honors Work ethic is their common trait
by Patti Henderson
2nd Annual Photo Contest Details pg 4
• Facebook Fan Giveaway
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2010 | 2010 | June
Karen Gray
What a privilege it has been to meet and interview the following top students from our community’s high schools: Chen Li from Spain Park, Jessica Annonio from Chelsea, Karen Gray from Oak Mountain, and Elizabeth Winn Reiser from Briarwood. Just like every top athlete who puts in hours of practice to stay ahead of the competition, so too are these students “hitting the books” nightly. Just like an athlete naturally gifted with coordination and agility still must train, fight and push to reach the top of his/her game, so must these top students. Like a top athlete who scouts the competition in order to stay “one up,” so too must these top students keep an eye on other top grade-makers – the classes
Jessica Annonio
they’re taking and the grades they’re making. Because like Chen Li of Spain Park will tell you, “Make one B, and you’re out of the running.” Who knew there was such an intense underlying competition among the top 5-10 students vying for this honor? Yes, gifted with intellectual ability, these students still have the option to “opt out.” They can either study hard, apply their gift and make top grades, or goof off. Fortunately, these students chose to use their gift wisely. So a BIG congratulations goes out to these four students! Because unlike the top athlete who can rest after the close of a season and look forward to a fresh start next year, these valedictorians began their
Chen Li
Elizabeth Winn Reiser
race first semester of their freshman year! They’ve been at it for four years! THIS “trophy” is based on their cumulative grade point average – for their entire high school career! These aren’t just A students – these are above A students – students who have gone beyond perfect. In fact, the only way a student can earn above a 4.0 GPA (all A’s – every class) is to make all A’s in every AP (advanced placement) class. Awesome job! Now the student bodies will look to these four valedictorians to deliver a speech at graduation that will encapsulate their four years together and inspire them
See VALEDICTORIANS, PAGE 18
Life, love and fly fishing (part 2) By Michael Seale (Note: This is a continuation of a story from the may issue of 280 Living, wherein writer Michael Seale and publisher Dan Starnes took a fly-fishing lesson from Dr. David Diaz of Deep South Outfitters).
I soaked in all that David Diaz taught me about the art of fly-fishing, after my tutorial at the Colonnade pond. And make no mistake, fly fishing most certainly is an art. If not, it is at the very least a way of life and a culture. And I fully understand why. My publisher Dan Starnes arranged for us to take a short trip up to Sipsey Fork, a branch of the Warrior River, near Smith Lake in Cullman County. It was a beautiful day. Sunny, not too hot, a cloudless sky. All of it culminated into one of the most enjoyable experiences I have had in some time. And I owe so much of that experience to Diaz, who introduced me to the joys of fly fishing. After buying some midge’s (the preferred fly for catching trout in Sipsey Fork), some leader line and a couple of Slim Jim’s, then renting some waders and boots from the Riverside Fly Shop, Dan and I drove on down to the river. We had both assumed we could just stand in the water in our shorts and sandaled feet, but Brandon at the fly shop all but laughed at us when we said such a thing, reminding
Michael Seale’s first fish on a fly
us that the water was no warmer than 42 degrees, which is why trout is the preferred fish for the spot, being a cold water fish. After walking down a small slope and a few trails, we reached the water’s edge and picked out a spot to start casting. I thought back to my lesson with Diaz. I remembered what he said about the “feel” of a good cast. I recalled how he told me to keep my rod low to the water before pulling back to cast, and to wait until the line is back behind me fully before I cast it
forward. That is not saying, however, that I executed his tutorial the first few times. In fact, on my fourth or fifth cast, I ended up throwing my leader loose and having to spend a good 30 minutes staring at the line to figure out what needed to be done to prevent my entire fishing trip from going the way of the dodo. While contemplating the knot I
See FLY FISHING, PAGE 10
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