Student Spotlight Summer 2014

Headlight Herald Summer 2014

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Shedding light on the students and former staff who are striving to achieve more in Tillamook County

www.tillamookheadlightherald.com

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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Elder caps off sophomore year as State Champ

A

s a high school athlete, you expect the majority of your success to come in your final two years. Nestucca’s Brett Elder, however, had different plans.

Elder, the son of track coach John Elder, put on a show this year for the Bobcats’ track and field team.

Elder participated in the field events, and for his efforts, he earned a trip to State, where he participated in the javelin, shot put and discus.

Elder finished in the top five in all of the events, but his performance in the discus earned him bragging rights as

the top hurler in Oregon.

Elder said that he might not be the only sophomore to win the gold medal, but his father said he’s definitely the most recent.

“I’m not sure if I’m the only one ever (to win a gold medal at State as a sophomore), but my dad told me I’m the only one that he can remember,” said Elder.

For a while, though, it didn’t look as if Elder would become the discus champion.

In his first three rounds, Elder topped out at 132 feet, lower than what he expected to throw at this point in the season. In the finals, howev-

er, Elder launched a throw of 152 feet, six inches, setting a new personal record.

“I just kept telling myself to relax and do what I’ve always done. I took it slow, and I let it fly,” Elder said.

“I did what I’ve been doing all year. I kept it smooth. I think the adrenaline really helped out there.”

While he was the first participant to throw in the preliminaries, he had the daunting task of being the second-to-last athlete to throw in the finals. While he was confident in his throw, he couldn’t get too comfortable.

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“It was nerve-wracking to watch the last guy throw, because I had no idea what distance he would get,” Elder said.

“Once I found out that I won, I was really happy.

It was exciting.”

Just a sophomore, Elder is pleased with his performance this year, but over the next two years, he has bigger goals.

“My goal is to win the

www.tillamookheadlightherald.com gold in all three throwing events in the next two years. It won’t happen next year, because Drace Moeller is still here for shot put,” Elder said with a laugh. “My senior year, though, I want to take the gold in all three of the events.”

Just because Moeller, the reigning Oregon shot put champ, has the one-up on him right now,

don’t expect Elder to concede victory just like that.

“It’s definitely a friendly competition,” said Elder. “We compete all the time in practice and at meets.”

In another 10 months, Elder will have the chance to give Moeller a run for his money, and a chance to accomplish his goals sooner than he expected to.

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B Why join the Navy if you can be a pirate?

ill Mays, a 1973 graduate of Neah-Kah-Nie, delivered this year ’s guest commencement speech at the Pirates’ graduation.

His speech titled: “Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?” was derived from a quote from Steve Jobs.

Mays, a Business Adviser at Tillamook Bay Community College and a partner for Sa Ba Jai Thai Cuisine in Tillamook, addressed the class about living life with courage to be yourself.

Quoting Steve Jobs, Mays advised the class that, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste

www.tillamookheadlightherald.com it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.

Everything else is secondary.”

As a Pirate graduate himself, Mays spent two years at Lane Community College and one year at the University of Oregon after leaving Neah-Kah-Nie. He eventually dropped out of college to work in the international energy exploration and development field.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Over the course of 20 years in the industry, he had the opportunity to live in several countries in Africa.

Mays also has become a small business owner and executive of several small corporations and was at one time a United State Merchant Marine Officer.

Currently, Mays is completing a Master of Science in Education— Postsecondary and Continuing Education—with addit i onal certification in adult training and development from Portland State University. He is expected to graduate this spring.

NKN class of 2014 is full of charisma

N

eah-Kah-Nie school assemblies may be a little quieter

next year.

“Our class is loud,” CoSalutatorian Katelyn Vanloo said. “We are definitely are the charisma at assemblies. We’ve really bonded as a class.”

To match their outgoing personalities, the Pirate class of 2014 has also been very involved in commu-

nity service including work parties at Kilchis Point and salmon can labeling which are highlights for Valedictorian Dana Moore and Co-Salutatorians Carolyn Maizel and Vanloo.

“Take opportunities” Maizel said. “Community service opportunites help later on for college, plus you get to meet new people...and have more experiences.”

Vanloo, who participated

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Wednesday, June 4, 2014 on the cheer team, echoes the feeling about involvement outside of the classroom. “It was nice to be in an extracurricular activity to bring me out of my bubble.”

When it comes to an inspirational teacher, the three graduating seniors couldn’t agree more on science teacher Mrs. Gienger and her positive influence.

“She’s really passionate about what she does,” Moore said. “Whenever I have a scholarship interview I always talk about her. She’s super passionate about marine biology and that’s what I want to go into. So, it’s was me feeding off her energy for four years.”

“She one of the teachers who can tell if you’re having a hard time without even saying it,” Vanloo said. “She’ll come and help you even if it’s not school related at all.

www.tillamookheadlightherald.com Graduating with top honors, these three seniors know that this immense accomplishment doesn’t come easily.

“It’s a lot of hard work,” Vanloo said. “But it paid off.”

“At this point now, looking back at all the nights of doing

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homework, it actually is worth it,” Maizel said.

“This wasn’t the goal for me,” Moore said about being named Valedictorian. “The goal was to get really good grades so that I could get into a great college. This is a plus.”

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Bobcats have bright future

T

he Nestucca High School class of 2014 may be small, but they are very close.

“I really like that we’re a small class,” Valedictorian Jacob Menefee said.

“We’re all together and no one is alienated.”

Class president Max Kirkendall added, “We’re very diverse, we have a lot of different personalities in our class. We all get along.”

For Salutatorian Jackie Wilkinson one of her favorite memories of high school was the time she pulled the chemical

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shower in Mr. Schiewe’s classroom. “His room is the old science room so there’s an old chemical show in the back,” Wilkinson recalled. “I was a curious freshmen and he told me I could pull it.

So, I pulled it as hard as I could and I couldn’t put it back. So, I hid in the corner while he had to deal with it and get wet.”

For Menefee and Kirkendall Bobcat athletics hold special memories for them. ”It’s always been different each year,” Kirkendall said. “This year has probably been the best year with how much fun

I’ve had being on a team because we all know each other really well. And football… going to state was really fun.”

As for inspirational people, all three seniors unanimously agreed that Nestucca High School’s principal Mr. Wharton

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Richwine stays motivated through State Championship

K

ycie Richwine learned her lesson after last year. After entering State as the No. 1 ranked runner in the 100-meter hurdles, Richwine fell to second place, despite putting up a stellar time of 16.6. Richwine thought that it would be good enough to win, but Enterprise’s Elsa Steen had a different plan.

“The girl that beat me kind of came out of nowhere last year. I was ranked No. 1 last year, and she had nowhere close to the time that I did,” said Richwine. “She was a senior, and she came out and beat me to earn her personal best time.”

After the lapse last year, Richwine was prepared for the

possibility that someone could do the same thing this year, and she glided to her first State title, with a time of 16.13 in the 100-meter hurdles.

“This year, I had the mentality where I knew someone could come out of nowhere and beat me again. I was ranked No. 1 again, but I knew someone could come up behind me,” said Richwine.

“In preliminaries, I ended up running a 16.4, which was a personal record. In the finals, I ran a 16.13 to set a new personal record and win.”

Richwine pulled away from her competition, as her closest competitor finished with a time of 16.68. While a halfsecond doesn’t seem like a lot in real time, it’s a huge margin

on the track.

“I was surprised to see that big of a margin. I was ranked second throughout most of the season, and there was a girl that was running next to me at one of the bigger meets that we participated in. I ran against her, and she beat me there. That put her ahead of me in the rankings all season until Districts. I was worried about her,” admitted Richwine. “I ran against her in the preliminaries also, and I ended up beating her then.

In the finals, I kind of pulled ahead.”

One of the reasons that Richwine ended up winning was because of the new three-step method she incorporated into her heat.

Between each hurdle, instead of going with the four-step approach for the majority of the race, Richwine wanted to try to do the whole race with taking only three steps between each one of the hurdles.

“I had never three-stepped the entire race before. I usually take three steps between each hurdle for the first four hurdles, and then I switch to four steps in between. For finals, I three-stepped the entire race, which helped a lot,” said Richwine, adding that it’s been one of her goals to three-step throughout the entire race. “I knew it would make me a lot faster.

I wanted to break the school record, which I missed by

one-tenth of a second. I knew I had to three-step all of them to get the time that I wanted, and I did.”

Just a junior, Richwine said that breaking the school record in the 100-meter hurdles is just one of her goals for next season.

“I want to break the school record in the 100-meter hurdles, and I’m hoping to get under 16 seconds with 15.815.9. In the high hurdles, I want to get 48 seconds. I ran 49.9 at State, which was a personal record, but I want to be faster than that,” Richwine said. “I haven’t had as much experience in 300, so that I hope after practicing more, I can get it down and get faster at it.”

If Richwine pretends that she’s at State each time she runs next year, she’ll have no problem breaking the record, right?

“That’s the hardest part.

Most meets, I don’t have competition as much until we get to the bigger meets. It’s hard to run like someone is there, when I’m only running against myself,” she said. “Running at State is the most fun experience that I have had, because it’s an adrenaline rush with the other people running right there with you.”

If she keeps up with her current pace, she’ll be among the State finalists again next year, with the possibility of walking home with two gold medals.

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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

THS Class of 2014 Scholarship Awards

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TBCC First Class Scholar Award Tillamook Alumni Scholarship Charity Drive Scholarship Kiwanis Scholarship Brittney Main Tillamook Alumni Scholarship Charity Drive Scholarship TCCA Excellence in Leadership Scholarship ARK Scholarship Maxwell Metcalfe Charity Drive Scholarship Macy O’Donnell TBCC First Class Scholar Award Charity Drive Scholarship David Pierce TBCC First Class Scholar Award Ashley Reeves Charity Drive Scholarship Lindsey Rieger Charity Drive Scholarship Scott Rocha TBCC First Class Scholar Award Farm Bureau Scholarship National FFA Ford Scholarship Sean Rumage Elks Most Valuable Local, District & State Level BOSSA Scholarship Charity Drive Scholarship Dean Steidenger Award IOOF Scholarship Award

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Tillamook High School Class of 2014 Class Members listed are candidates for graduation at the time of printing.

Hailey Ann-Marie Adair Anexa Yadira Aguilar Aziz Olegovich Akhmedov Ashton Blaine Anderson Brianna Rochelle Armitage Garrett Layne Armstrong Liliana Ceja Arreola Rosa Irene Arreola Colin Charles Atchison Cole Alan Berge Jordan Ray Bingenheimer Savannah Dawn Blanchard Hannah Marie Braden Roxy Chyann Brooks Cody Wayne Brown Gabriel Thomas Bryant Amanda Michelle Bush Kristi Yanely Castillo Adrian Jason Castro Nina Kathleen Cervantes Aubry Diane-Kay Chew Devinee Faith Christy Katrina Jane Coleman Sebrina Darlene Coleman Emma Sarah Cummings Fatma Ceren Davarci Eva- Maria Sabine Deutsch Joshua Paul Dias Anna Elizabeth Doud Airelle Lindsey Dubry Andrew Lee Eklof Raeven Sue Erickson Malcom Hayley Lynn Felix Tyler Anthony Fleming Cipolla Steven Flores

Darrian Taylor Foland Anthony Blaine Freehill Laura Fuentes Valencia Pablo Garcia Hadasa Garcia Campos Agustin Garcia Godinez Andrea Gomez Cady Merritt Hale Cody Thomas Hale Joseph Dewayne Hancock Sachery Taylor Hoffert Anthony Jacob Imel Dylan Robert Jackman Ashten Destiny Jessup Christian Jimenez Allen Wayne Johnson Benjiman Philip Johnston Isaac Richard Johnston Philippe Adam Josi Andrea Bik-Ying Joynson Katelin Marie Saulnier Kaufman Lukas Loren Kesterson Lindsley Dylan Thomas King Richard Jon Knutsen Kaitlyn Nichole Koeneke Matthew Anthony Kottre Coltin Tyler Lake Hunter Louis Landolt Maria Guadalupe Larios Rangel Priscila Levy Anna Elizabeth Longfield Lexi Michelle Lourenzo Leticia Loya Benito Graciela Guadalupe Macias Gregory Michael Macias Brittney Rose Main

Brett Patrick Mainello Paige Joanne Maloney Angelica Lizbeth Martinez Perez Victor Hugo Martinez Perez Travis David McCanna Leeroy Mendez Gonzalez Thania Melanie Mendez Bello Austin Taylor Merritt Maxwell Ray Metcalfe Ernesto Mondragon Llunas Alexsander Morales Manny Manuel Munoz Martin Nelson Harrington Walter Amadeus Nordman Mackenzie Anne Nuzum Macy Mae O’Donnell Kelsey Jo Olsen Joy Ama Owusua Odame Shenina Mae Padberg Araceli Palominos Garcia David Michael Pierce Leah Jane Pierce Morris Axel Giovanni Orozco Ramirez Ashley Marie Reeves Lindsey Nicole Rieger Timothy Gary Robnett Scott David Rocha Stephanie Rodriguez Yesenia Jazmin Rodriguez Larios Hector Williams Rojo Davila Sean Patrick Rumage Jacob Robert Sanders Ashlynn Irene Sheneman Hayden Terry Sherbaugh Amelia Faye Shiveley

Christian Daniel Shultz Nora Silva Tristan Paul Silveira Dylan Eugene Smith Romeo Salvador Solano Mariah Crystal Spicer Sabrina Marie Spittles Donald Joseph Stein Isaac Randall Stellflug Nathan Andrew Stiltner Wesley Raymond Stirk Jade Monet Stone Kaylee Laurene Stone Matthew Alan Strang Dylan Ryan Tohl Ryan Patrick Trogdon Adriana Valencia Ayala Marisol Valencia Ayala Ector Armando Vargas Maria Guadalupe Vargas Vargas Kymberlee Lynn Ward David Mendham Waud Sunday Ava Wayne Tyler Markus Weber Brin Alleesse Webster George Michael Webster Carly Renae Weeks Logan Wyatt Weeks Jed Matthew Werner Austin Lane Werst Anthony Clark Woolfolk Christian Servando Ybarra Lopez Donovan Russell Zaugg John Cory Zipfel Kyle Luke Zuercher Top 10 Percent Philokalon Member

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Cheesemakers find courage for the future F

or graduating seniors, the transition to college or the work place can be an exciting, yet challenging change. That is why Tillamook senior and salutatorian Brittney Main addressed her class about courage.

“I feel like a lot of our classmates are going to be surprised with how the world treats them and it’s going to be a big change and they’ll need courage to overcome that and succeed,” Main told the Headlight Herald. “I think a lot of people in our class are going to do great things in

the world. They have a lot of drive and that shows me that there’s a lot of hope for future generations.”

As for valedictorian Wesley Stirk, he recounted some high school memories in his commencement speech and gave some advice of his own.

“I talked about the need to be prepared about what’s coming and learning from your experiences,” said Stirk.

Graduating with top honors from his class, Stirk said that the honor wasn’t always the goal. “When a freshmen asked me the other day what my strategy to becom-

ing valedictorian was I told him, ‘I didn’t have a strategy because if I had one it was to have no strategy.’ It wasn’t focusing on grades, but coming to school to learn.”

Yet achieving a top academic honor does not come without a lot of hard work, Main said. “I put it in a lot of hours and scheduled things just so I could get all the honors credit I could, both for my GPA and my future.”

“It takes a lot of perseverance and effort and hard work to get there because I don’t understand everything but I can try and learn it.”

Name: Wesley Stirk Accomplishment: Class of 2014 Valedictorian Future Plans: Two year mission with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “Whatever you’re going to do, do it to your best.”

Name: Brittney Main Accomplishment: Class of 2014 Salutatorian Future Plans: Oregon State University majoring in math “High school is going to be a new experience, but a good experience. You should come ready to learn and work hard.”

Both seniors credit Tillamook High School’s group of teachers for inspiring them to perform their best. “All the teachers are

very unique,” Stirk said.

“They’ve all showed me something different in their particular class.”

Main agreed as well, “All

the teachers take interest in you personally...they’re unique because they make sure I [understand] lessons personally.”

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Tillamook counselor to retire after 30 years made sense to me for the two of us to travel. My son lives out here too.”

Marvis, who is originally from Pittsburgh, Pa., earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

She then headed out west to complete her Master’s degree from a combination of Portland State University, University of Oregon and Lewis and Clark College.

The Marvis’ have many places they want to travel to overseas, but she’s looking forward to seeing some family, as well.

“We want to go to France, Italy, Greece and this fall, we want to go Crater Lake,” said Marvis. “Then, we want to go up across Canada and visit my family in Pittsburgh.”

Over the course of 30 years, Marvis has seen a lot of change in the community, as well as the students. At times, there will be parents who come in, who Marvis recognizes when they were students at Tillamook.

While that put a smile on her face, Marvis also realized that all the change around the area hasn’t necessarily been just for the good.

“I have the parents come in and it’s like, whoa. I knew them when they were students. What I’ve really seen is the poverty level really go up, as well as the amount of stu-

dents who have some really serious addiction issues in

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their families,” Marvis said.

“It’s a lot more than when I

first started.”

But helping the kids and their families overcome the struggles is what Marvis calls “the best part of my job.”

“The most fulfillment I get is being able to use my skills to help my students or their families through difficult times. I can get them proper diagnosis if they need medication. Just being able to see that they are starting to do the right things and there are things that I didn’t even realize (that are going on), that they’re thanking me for making such a difference at that time,” Marvis said. “That’s where I get my fulfillment. My volunteer work will be the same thing.”

Yes, volunteer work.

Instead of taking a job as a greeter at a store or a cashier, Marvis has decided to dedicate her spare time to help people. It is, after all, her favorite thing to do.

“I love helping people.

I’ve agreed to quite a lot of volunteer work. I’ll be volunteering at our TOPS program since they don’t have a counselor. We try to go over, but it’s hard to do two buildings,” she explained. “I’m going to volunteer at the women’s crisis center, the animal shelter and I was going to have my dog serve as a

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service dog at hospitals and our life skills room here.

It’s not paid work, but it’s volunteer work. A friend called me because they are doing homeless work. It’s not a shelter, per say, but it’s more than they are doing now. I agreed to be on that committee.”

Taking over for Marvis will be Robb Ellis. Ellis will have big shoes to fill with the position, but Marvis said he’s more than qualified for it.

“I haven’t (met him) yet. I asked not to be on the committee, because I thought that people who were going to be here next year should be the ones picking that person. We will meet this summer, and I will be here for the three days in June when it’s the registration with the new kids to help out,” Marvis said. “He has the experience, though. He’s working at a college now, but he had worked at McMinnville High School before that.”

Ellis is one of five new teachers, as the school hired a new math teacher (Malika Onstad), Spanish teacher (Morgan Snyder) and two new English/language/arts/social studies teachers (Chad Lopes, Carl Rupp) for next school year.

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I

n 2010, a study released by U.S. News showed that more Americans would be working past the age of 65, instead of before it. The times of retiring in your mid-60s are becoming more obsolete, but for one Tillamook High School faculty member, she’s bowing out after 30 years on staff.

Judy Marvis, Tillamook High School counselor, arrived in Tillamook in 1984, after she first took a job in South County in 1981 as a family and child counselor, bouncing between Beaver, Hebo and Nestucca.

Marvis said that a big part of her decision to hang it up was the persuasion of her husband.

“Well, I’m 61, and my husband has been retired for five years and wants to travel.

To be honest, I just lost my brother to cancer, my youngest brother has been diagnosed with cancer and both of my parents have passed away. My husband kind of pressured me and said, ‘Why don’t you retire while you’re healthy and we can travel.’

You just don’t know what’s going to happen. I finally said yes,” Marvis said. “If I had my druthers — since I love working with the students and doing what I do — I could have done it more years. It

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Local janitor meets goal of retiring at age 65

W

hen at a job interview, you’re sure to receive many different questions from the employer. Twenty-five years ago, Carl Hopkins was asked what his goals are during his job interview with the Tillamook School District. He simply said that by the time he reaches 65, he wants to stop working.

“When I first came to work for the school district, the man who interviewed me for the job asked me if I had any goals,” Hopkins said. “I told him that I wanted to work until I was 65 and then retire. I’ll 65 June 10, so I’m retiring.”

Hopkins started off his janitorial career at South Prairie Elementary School, where he worked for 11 years. Following his decade-plus at South Prairie, Hopkins moved on to Tillamook High School, where he has been for the past 14 years.

As a janitor, Hopkins works mostly in the evening, which he says he enjoys very much.

However, he said he might start switching around his sleeping schedule as he adjusts to the retired lifestyle.

“I like that schedule. I’m not really a morning person,” Hopkins said with a chuckle. “I have a funny feeling that I will probably start getting up earlier in the mornings, and I’ll probably go to bed a little bit earlier.”

Despite his night owl ways,

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Hopkins said there’s more life in the evening at the high than one may think.

“It usually isn’t that (dark and empty) way at the high school,” Hopkins said. “There are people around all of the time. Sometimes, even after we leave, there will be teachers there.”

To celebrate his retirement, Hopkins and his wife, Nancy, who has been retired from her daycare job for a number of years, recently purchased a home in the area. “(We) just bought a house.

We lived out in Cape Mears for about 10 ½ years. We were renting out there,” Hopkins said. “I wanted to buy a house before I retired. I used my Veteran’s Loan, and we bought a house over here on Dogwood.”

In his time off, Hopkins says that there are a number of things that he wants to do, but he isn’t going to stop working for good.

“I’ve got a number of things

that I’m going to be doing. I love to fish, so I’ll be doing some of that,” Hopkins said.

“I’ll probably go back and sub for the district when I’m needed, as well.”

As far as his best memories from working at the school go, Hopkins said that he’ll miss the people that he came in contact with.

“I would say that my best memories from working in the school district are the people that I’ve met,” Hopkins said.

“I’ve gained a lot of friends from my work at the school district. Also, the kids.”

Hopkins said that the one thing he wanted to stress was that the children of this day and age aren’t nearly as bad as people portray them to be.

“A lot of people are worried about this generation of kids and what not,” Hopkins said.

“My message to people is not to worry about them so much. We have an awesome group of kids.

Especially around the area.”

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