FastForward | May - June 2023

FastForward

“This is our day, this is our time.”

~ Tamika Palmer, Mother of Breonna Taylor

COVER ART BY KYRA FERGUSON SOPHOMORE, TAMALPAIS HIGH SCHOOL

SPONSORS

Drama Class MILL VALLEY MIDDLE SCHOOL

Trish Manwaring (Teacher)

SPONSORED BY: Check out our Shop & Give Donations Program

— Select your favorite charity and we’ll donate 2% of your total grocery receipts.

Drama is a fun, recreational class for everyone where you can learn tons of new things. In Drama, we can express ourselves freely. This year we created our own script called “Forks In” inspired by the movie “Knives Out.” The oddest of characters have shown up to the reading of Grandpa Abraham’s will, only to find themselves trapped in various rooms from which they must escape to receive their inheritance. After completing the script, we started blocking and rehearsing to prepare for the upcoming performances.

I love Drama because you can be yourself without having to worry about what people think. — Azalia I love Drama because I made a whole lot of new friends. — Poppy Wintermute I love Drama because it’s a way to step outside of your comfort zone. — Evan Terry I love Drama because I get to put myself into someone else’s shoes, and I get to find out more about myself. — Mojo Pientka

Drama lets me show the more expressive side of myself. — Miles Sparks

You meet people above and below your grade level, which helps you in the future. — Louise Workman I love Drama because it allows me to have serious conversations while pretending to be a turtle. — Tristan Ozberkmen

WASTEWATER AGENCIES OF MARIN COUNTY

F E A T U R E S

MAY-JUNE 2023

MONTHLY

OPEN

19 THE ART PAGE San Domenico School

The Presidio

Tamika Parker shares her stories of her daughter— Breonna Taylor

PAGE

GARDEN

8 CAMP LISTING PAGES SCHOOL

An Author who inspires

ADVERTISERS/SUPPORTERS

Andrew’s Camp

Branson School

Camp Funderblast

Camp Winnarainbow

Carmel Valley Tennis Camp

Circus Center San Francisco

City of San Rafael - Kids Camp

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Dave Fromer Soccer Camp

Farm Camp

Headlands Preparatory School

Marin Greenplay Camp

Marin Horizon School

Marin Waves Track & Field Club

MJCC Camp Kehillah

Marin Shakespeare Camp

Marin Summer Camp Fair

Mill Valley Recreation Camps

Mill Valley Market

Morning Star Farm Camp

Mountain Camp

Mount Tamalpais School

Performing Arts of Marin

Ross Academy Montessori

Ross Recreation

Saint Isabella School

Soloquest Learning Center

SummerCrest

SummerFilm- California Film Institute

Strawberry Recreation Camps

The Terra Schools —Terra Marin

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Vilda Nature Camp United Markets

PUBLISHER: Winifred MacLeod winifred@fastforwardweb.com

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes

EDITOR: Emerson Swift O: 415.256.8920 M: 415.272.3569

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Maddie Barbee, Kina Bekey, Coral Bilasi, Elsa Block, Wilfido Calderon, Jac Craig, Harper Dean, Ahyoung Eastlack, Keira Eisenbud, Nathaniel Evans, Josh Frack, Lexie Garcia, Emilio Hadden, Toni Heffernan, Nina Iyer, Bodhi Iyer, Connor Kennedy, Ava Marin, Lilian Matthies, Meadow McPhearson, Camille Mokelke, Sarah Mondesir, Devin Montour, Deanna Moshashaee, Harper Miller, Tristan Ozberkmen, Mojo Pientka, Miles Sparks, Emerson Swift, Evan Terry, Audrey Tucker, Zoe Tran, Jack Trudeau, Elan Truett, Poppy Wintermute and Louise Workman

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: Kyra Ferguson, Noe Hopkins, Markus Karsten, Narissa Liu, Sahiti Namburu, Xela Nestel, Khaii Owens, Emily Petrus, Sayhita Raghupathapy, Aven Rege, Vivienne Russell, Lucas Rutem, Farallon Murison Smith, Gunner Smith, Chelsea Sugarman, Lexi Weidner, Emily Whitney and Esme Whyte.

29 MARIN COUNTY FAIR ..PAGE 16

FASTFORWARD’S

1

BAY AREA & NEW YORK

Contact Winifred MacLeod @415-272-3569 winifred@fastforwardweb.com and Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes maxine@fastforwardweb.com

PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL & TAM HIGH’s WISE MENTORING PROGRAM

Park School has partnered with Tam High’s WISE Mentoring Program to provide weekly 1-on-1 mentoring between a group of Park School students. The group meets once a week in Park School’s library and the partnerships focus on a targeted skills - academic skills, conversational skills, etc. - depending on each student’s individual need. In addition to the skill-based work that the Park students’ teachers provide for the partnerships to work on, the Tam High 11th and 12th graders aim to build a positive relationship with their Park mentee, one that builds confidence, community, and connection... all pieces that are key to the success of students.

INTERVIEW WITH TAMIKA PALMER

BY SARAH MONDESIR Senior Marin School of Environmental Leadership

A K E. P R A I S E. S L A Y.” - BREONNA TAYLOR

I started a business called Flavor Profiles. With it, I created a Storytelling Cookbook to honor and celebrate the lives of black women who have passed away due to police brutality. Throughout this time, I realized the importance in sharing who these women were over merely what had happened to them. I used this as motivation to create a book that would provide a common understanding for the causes of one’s joy and one’s suffering. The project entailed reaching out to many Black chefs, cooks, and influencers known for their cooking. In using something that brings people together, it created the space to share and uplift the experiences of Black women. Food not only connects people but also creates occasions for great memories to be shared among friends and family.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Breonna Taylor’s mom, Tamika Palmer. I realized with the story of her daughter, and with the story of countless others affected by racial violence, I had the opportunity to honor them by sharing who they were before their deaths — to share and respect their careers, their passions, and most of all their stories. They deserve that.

“W

What was your daughter like growing up?

Tamika Palmer: As a young girl, Breonna was just always so full of life. When she was younger she just loved being around her friends, riding her bike and playing video games. She was just kind of an all-around have-fun type of girl. She just loved being outside, anything that had to do with the outside she wanted to do it. Whether it was at the beach or bike riding, she wanted to be outside. Which is funny because we’re from Michigan, so we get winter early. So summer and spring was her thing, she loved to be out there.

Was she a part of any after-school programs?

Tamika Palmer: She did a little bit of everything. She played basketball for a little bit, then she decided she wanted to be a cheerleader and so she did that for a little bit. Then she did dance. She tried anything and then moved on. Breonna also did a lot of after-school work. Something that she was constantly doing was helping kids with disabilities because a lot of them would be in the classes that she took, so she would help and do stuff with them as well.

Do you think that’s where her love and passion to help others stem from?

Tamika Palmer: That helped. It all really started with my mother. My mother had diabetes and so Breonna would love to go and try to stick my mother’s fingers so she could test my mother’s blood sugar and help give her insulin. So ever since then I thought she’s going to be a doctor. She loved to do that though, she looked forward to doing that so I think that just started and progressed on.

What do you think is your most favorite memory with your daughter?

Tamika Palmer: I think that my first one would have to be when she was probably about three years old and we were having Christmas at my dad’s house, and every Christmas we would always have get-togethers and play games and do all these things, and so they were singing karaoke, and so my dad said, “Breonna, what do you want to sing,” and she says, I want to sing “My Last 2 Dollars” (by Johnnie Taylor), and it’s hilarious because it’s a blues song, so everybody is like, “You don’t know that song.” And she was so little, but she got the mic, and she was literally singing the song word for word, because my mother loved the blues, so she would always sing it, like she loved to be around my mom a lot, and so everybody is looking like, “Why do you know this song little girl?”

Did she grow up in a household that was just always involved with music, especially blues?

Tamika Palmer: Breonna loved music. Well, first of all, she thought she could sing, which is hilarious, so the thing about her was she could listen to all kinds of music, so she listened to blues a lot with my mother, and my dad loved jazz so she listened to that, and she just became her own person. She loved a lot of R&B (rhythm and blues), so she loved all kinds of music.

What is something you would always find your daughter doing?

Tamika Palmer: Swimming She loved to swim, so we were always going out to the beach, going somewhere to swim. We went out of town and stayed in hotels—“‘make sure we got a pool,”—and

As Breonna’s mother, how do you want us to remember your daughter?

Tamika Palmer: Just full of life and to have her life just cut short was devastating. She had so much to do and so much going on still, and I think that not just me and my family were cheated, I think the world was cheated, because she was destined to do great things. And so, I just want people to remember that. She was definitely on that path, and she was doing the work to be a part of that life, and be a part of that community to continue to help people, and build people up.

What was Breonna’s favorite holiday, and what did that day look like to you and your family?

Tamika Palmer: She was a lot like my mother when it came to the holidays. She loved all the holidays, but Thanksgiving and Christmas were her favorite holidays…because it allowed people to get together, cook together, and play games together.

What were some of Breonna’s favorite foods, and what are some things your family would cook a lot throughout the holidays?

Tamika Palmer: Her favorite thing: she loved fried chicken. She don’t care if you fried it, she loved fried chicken— fried chicken was the top. Then she loved chicken alfredo, and I’d be like, ‘Breonna you should be able to make this by now,’ and she would just say, “It’s just better if you do it.” But yeah, she loved to just congregate and bring food and people together. She could bring people together like nobody’s business, and it’s funny because I always think, I don’t know where she got that from because I’‘d always be like, ‘don’t invite

people to come over.’ It would be so funny, she would have a whole thing planned by the time I get off of work, I’m like, ‘who told you to do that, I don’t want those people here,’ and she would say, “Everybody is family.”

What are some foods that you would make on special occasions? What did you find yourself making in the kitchen, and for your family?

Tamika Palmer: Chicken. She loved chicken, so anything with chicken, chicken alfredo. I love spaghetti and pizza, so we just kind of just bounced around a little bit, but there was always something going on.

Was there anything that she didn’t like?

Tamika Palmer: Ooh, so when she was younger, I love spaghetti. So by the time she was a teenager she couldn’t stand it. She loved steak, she loved tacos, but let me tell you, when she really didn’t want to eat something it was spaghetti. She loved cereal, like she was eating cereal like nobody’s business. She would say, “Oh I’m going to eat this while you cook.”

Tamika Palmer: Oh sometimes I thought Breonna was lazy. Breonna would go to the grocery store and she would get all the stuff for you. She would plan the whole meal, but she wouldn’t want to cook it. Even when she lived on her own she would bring the stuff to my house like, “Can you cook this?”

What is something that you would like people to know about Breonna?

Tamika Palmer: Breonna knew how to bring people together, and I think that this cookbook will be another way for people to come together. And she loved to bring people together, and she loved to be around food and games, she was very family-oriented. Again, she did not get that from me, she was just like that. You know I say this all the time, I hate that this thing happened to her, but I don’t really know another person who could’ve brought the world together the way she did.

How has your daughter impacted you. How has she inspired you?

Tamika Palmer: So for me, previously I was a really private person. I didn’t really do social media, I definitely wouldn’t have stood in front of a crowd of people and start talking and be that kind of person. So just knowing what happened to her and just being the voice of reasoning—she gave me a voice and so many others gave me courage that I didn’t realize I had. I have come to learn some things through this as well.

What is one of the most important things your daughter has said?

Tamika Palmer: “Wake, Praise, Slay.” Get up and get to the day. Get to the money, get to the day, and get to the goals. She would make a plan and it would have to be executed. She cared about how she looked, she cared about how she carried herself, and those things were important, so was being positive, and successful. Everywhere around the house, she would have this plastered.

“You know, people tell me all the time that I’m an inspiration, but I don’t feel that. As a mother, I just feel it’s my job to protect my child, and somebody took that from me.”

— Tamika Palmer

— Tamika

With Breonna do you see any significance to her being a Black woman?

Tamika Palmer: She definitely lit a light to Black women being the most disrespected. Especially with the way they tried to tell her story, in the beginning, to later find out all these things that were said about her weren’t even true, so I just think that it was her time. We had all the Rosa Parks in the world, we had all of these other women in this era. I think along the way we started to be forgotten again, and I think that’s where Breonna came in.

What do you think needs to change?

Tamika Palmer: Accountability. There has never been real accountability … from the people who continue to devalue our lives, to act as if we don’t hold the same value in their world, which is crazy. We work just as hard, if not harder, to get the same degrees, to get the same jobs, and to live in the same spaces. And until they start to hold people accountable to that, things will never change. People will continue to feel as if they can do and say whatever they want to us without being held accountable. This has to change. The policy is changing all around the world and all that, and that’s fine, but until we hold these people accountable, it’ll always be the same. In ten years we will be fighting for a new Breonna.

What is the role that young people need to take?

Tamika Palmer: I think that young people are in the best position that they ever been in to get the change that we need. I think this is their time, this is a time where so many people are willing to listen, so many people are willing to identify and say, Hey what is happening is wrong. We have more alliances than we ever had so I definitely think that the younger generations need to take this torch and not let people devalue them. There will always be people telling them that they’re too loud, they need to stop, or that fight has been fought, but we’re going to continue that fight until everything ends. This is their era. Breonna could be me, you, and you. This our day, this is our time.

What is a message that you may have for the youth?

Tamika Palmer: Keep going. Remember that it’s not easy, it’s not fast. It is long, it is tiring. It is all of these things but, in the end, it will definitely be rewarding.

The Marin County

Library’s Mission is to provide welcoming, equitable and inclusive opportunities for all to connect, learn and explore. A core strategy to achieve our Mission is providing resources and information that will help our community learn about and more deeply engage in racial equity.

Visit: marinlibrary.org

“I definitely think that the younger generations need to take this torch and not let people devalue them.

There will always be people telling them that they’re too loud, they need to stop, or that fight has been fought, but we’re going to continue that fight until everything ends.

This is their era. Breonna could be me, you, and you. This our day, this is our time.”

Palmer

Free

Camps Summer

ANDREWSCAMPS: Marin County, Corte Madera. AT THE CENTER Age 5+ Indoor & outdoor play areas. Zipline, bouncy houses, laser/nerf tag, trampoline, climbing wall, monkey bars, hockey, soccer, baseball, basketball, obstacle courses, capture the flag, & more. Lego Room, Imagination Room, Technology & Art Room. TRAVEL CAMP Age 7+ Six Flags, Hurricane Harbor, Rebounderz, Scandia, Spring Lake, Cal Skate, & more.

OVERNIGHT CAMP Grades 4-12 Nice cabins, lodge, incredible activities: swimming, boating, tubing, jet skis, rafting, archery, BB guns, paintball, dune buggies, cave exploration, fishing, hiking, & more. June 12th - Aug 25th 8:30AM-5:00PM

ANDREWSCAMPS.COM

415-891-3185

CAMP FUNDERBLAST: Games, arts & crafts, swimming, nature adventures, chill time & more in a fun, loving, safe environment. 5 Locations: Mill Valley: Scott Valley Swim & Tennis Club, Homestead Valley Community Association, Peace Lutheran Church. Fairfax: Saint Rita’s Campus. Petaluma: Wiseman Park. Pre-K7th grade. Swimming at Homestead or Scott Valley w/ option to participate in Tennis Camp at Scott Valley. Homestead: 9AM-4PM. June 12-Aug. 18; Scott Valley: 9AM-4PM, June 12-Aug. 18; Peace Lutheran: June 9AM5PM June 12-August 25; Fairfax: 9AM-4PM. June 12-Aug.

11. Petaluma 9AM-3pm June 19-July 28.

FUNDERBLAST.COM

415-843-1730

BOOK PASSAGE: THE AUTHOR’S CLUB SUMMER CAMP: Do you have an aspiring young writer in your home? A storyteller? A book lover? For kids entering 3rd-6th Grade, July 31- Aug 4, 10AM-3PM. A weeklong camp will include fun and challenging activities to guide the young writers through creating their own short story or book. Campers will take the journey of storytelling through every stage: from conceptualization to execution. Includes time for crafts, so authors can create own illustrations, covers and bound books. Register online at: BOOK PASSAGE.COM

CAMP STRAWBERRY AT STRAWBERRY RECREATION CENTER: Ready, Set, Go Camp Strawberry! Swimming, tennis, soccer, field games, nature walks, themed days, arts & crafts and more. Camps: June 12— August 11 with full summer or weekly options. Camps for three age groups: Ages 5-12 (1 and 2-week sessions available); Ages 9-12 Athletic X-Training Camp, M-F, 9:00AM-4:00PM; Camper-In-Leadership Training (CILT)– ages 12 to 14 (M-F, 9:00AM– 4:00PM). STRAWBERRY.MARIN.ORG 415-383-6494

CIRCUS CENTER SF — SUMMER CAMPS 2023: Run away with the circus this summer! Our week-long camps offer a fun, supportive environment where children can explore their creativity with professional circus artists. Through collaboration and teamwork, your child will develop a unique skillset and perform in

a showcase at the end of each week. Activities include: acrobatics, aerial arts, flying trapeze, juggling, clowning, stilts, equilibristics, songs and games. AGES: 7-13.

DATES: 1-week sessions, June 5 – August 18.

CIRCUSCENTER.ORG/CAMP

415-759-8123

CITY OF SAN RAFAEL CHILD CARE DIVISION, KIDS

CAMP: A fun-filled, action-packed summer program for kids ages 5-11, at Coleman, Glenwood, Lucas Valley, Parkside, Mary Silveira and Vallecito Children’s Center. Children have the opportunity to create, explore, swim, splash, play games and just enjoy being a kid! June 12th-August 11th. Each of our 6 centers has professional, caring enthusiastic staff that plan and present a wide variety of kid-friendly activities and special events. Centers open M-F, 8:00AM-5:30PM. Weekly rate $350.00.

CITYOFSANRAFAEL.ORG

415-485-3386

COASTAL CAMP: A day at Coastal Camp is a day spent connecting with nature. With the Marin Headlands as our backdrop, campers learn more about the topics they love while exploring the coastal trails and marine setting. Our highly qualified staff engage campers’ interests and curiosity with a program that is flexible and adaptive to each group’s needs. Offering week-long sessions for campers entering grades K-12. Session dates run June — August 2023. Transportation is available from Mill Valley & San Francisco.

COASTALCAMP.ORG

415-331-1548

CITY OF SAN RAFAEL CHILD CARE DIVISION

Kid’s Camp

A fun-filled, action-packed summer program for school-age children. Each week your child will have the opportunity to create, explore, swim, splash, play games and just enjoy being a kid!

• Located at Coleman, Glenwood, Lucas Valley, Parkside, Mary Silveira and Vallecito Children’s Center.

• Each of our 6 sites has professional, caring enthusiastic staff that plan and present a wide variety of kid-friendly activities and special events.

• Kid’s Camp operates from June 12-August 11. Hours of operation: 8:00am-5:30pm

• Weekly Rate $350

For more information:

Contact Kelly Albrecht at 415-485-3386

Mill Valley Recreation Summer Camps

Camps Summer

...continued from page 8

DAVE FROMER’S 42nd ANNUAL SOCCER CAMPS: June 12th - August 18th for boys and girls of all ability levels aged 5-12. Featuring a top-level coaching staff with an emphasis on skill development & fun! Coed and all-girl camp sessions offered weekly with sites throughout Marin County (Mill Valley, San Rafael & Larkspur). Plus a camp in North Lake Tahoe. Full-Day (M-F 9AM - 3PM) and Half-Day (M-F, 9AM - 12:30PM) options available. Supervision is available beginning at 8:30AM for all camps.

DAVEFROMERSOCCER.COM

415-383-0320

FASTFORWARD ADVENTURE REPORTERS

Mill Valley and New York City: IN MILL VALLEY: Designed for budding journalists and dedicated students who are fascinated by the world around them. Throughout the week, our youth reporters will interview Mill Valley firemen, the Mill Valley Mayor and council members, an award-winning children’s author, and a Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway historian, and their writing will be featured in a future issue of the magazine. 1 SESSION: 12 students p/week, entering Grade 5 - Grade 8; June 20-23, 9AM-2PM

LOCATION: Mill Valley Recreation Center, 180 Camino Alto, Mill Valley.

IN NYC: Fascinating interviews set up with authors, actors, actresses, politicians and filmmakers. Students conduct 7 interviews p/week, developing interviewing & writing skills, learning that “listening to someone else can change your life.” July 15-July 22.

Email: winifred@fastforwardweb.com

FASTFORWARDWEB.COM

415-256-8920

MARIN GREENPLAY CAMP 2023: A Marin IJ Readers Best Summer Camp. Marin GreenPlay Camp is a favorite nature and adventure day and overnight camp now in its 14th summer for kids entering kindergarten through 12th grade. All outdoor, nature-based, and developmentally appropriate activities, depending on the camp program selected, including outdoor rock climbing, tidepooling, boogie boarding, kayaking, exploring, nature art, service learning, karate, yoga, meditation and more! Weeklong sessions from June 12 - July 28. Full day (9AM-4PM) and half day (9 -1PM) available. Mill Valley, Tiburon, Larkspur and other locations in Marin and Tahoe.

MARINGREENPLAY.COM

415-264-2828

MARIN HORIZON SCHOOL SUMMER CAMP: Summer 1-week camp sessions for ages 3–7 that’s fun AND academic! Every week has a different theme. This summer’s weeklong themes include Mighty Explorers (June 20-23), Rainbow Bonanza (June 26-30), Mad Scientists (July 5-7), Dots and Circles (July 10-14), Little Chefs (July 17-21), and Imagination Station (July 24-28). All groups have a 12:1 camper to counselor ratio. Normal hours from 9AM–3PM and extended care from 8:30AM–9AM and 3-4:30PM. June 20 – July 28.

KINDERCAMP: June 20th–30th. Open to Kindergarten students who are enrolled at Marin Horizon for the 2023-2024 school year. 2-week session.

Email:summercamp@marinhorizon.org

MARINHORIZON.ORG/SUMMER

415-388-8408 ext. 253

MARIN JCC CAMP KEHILLAH: Join us from June 12 to August 18, 2023, at popular Camp Kehillah in San Rafael, CA, where kids of all ages enjoy exciting indoor and outdoor summer camp activities. Together, we play games, sing songs, swim, create art, take over-

night field trips, and make new friends. At Camp Kehillah, we create a lifetime of magical summer camp memories while learning and living Jewish culture and values.

Camp Kehillah 2023 is staffed by professional camp counselors and is fully accredited by the American Camp Association. Register at: jcc.org/summercamp2023/ 415.444.8055

MARIN SHAKESPEARE COMPANY: We make Shakespeare fun! Campers will enjoy: Physical games and activities, learning about and performing Shakespeare, interacting safely with peers, Skilled and caring Teaching Artists. Various camps for for all kids ranging from 5-19 run from June 12th to August 11th. Ages 8-12: three different 3-week camp sessions: June 12 – 30 (The Comedy of Errors ); July 5 – July 2,(The Tempest); July 24 – August 11 (Macbeth). M-F, 9AM-3PM. For campers, ages 5-7, offering three 1-week camps: July 24-27 (Clowns & Company), July 31-August 4 (Fairies & Elves) and August 7-11 (Royals & Villains). (M-F, 9AM-NOON). They’ll explore Shakespeare’s exciting characters, language and stories, culminating in a performance. Campers ages 12-19 will work with a professional director June 12-30 (M-F, 1-5PM) to rehearse and perform The Winter’s Tale.

MARINSHAKESPEARE.ORG /SUMMER-CAMPS 415-499-4487

MARIN WAVES TRACK CLUB MARIN WAVES

TRACK CLUB a USATF Member Club since 2007: 6 National Champion Awards; 8 National Runner-Up Awards; 29 Total JO Youth All-American Awards. 20 AAU National Indoor/Outdoor Top 8 Awards; 10 AAU West Coast Nationals Champions. Track & Field, Speed & Agility Training for All Sports, Cross Country, and Road Racing. Sessions include cardio work, dynamics, speed development, individualized workouts, strength building & flexibility training. Spring Track: MARCH 20 - JUNE 4. Summer Track: JUNE 5 - AUGUST 6. Age Groups: Youth (6-14), High School & Above. All ability levels: Beginners - Elite. Group Training sessions avail. 3-4 p/wk. All-Comers & USATF Meets.

Contact: David Hay, Club Founder/Head Coach

MARINWAVESTRACK.COM 415-272-1225

MILL VALLEY RECREATION — SUMMER CAMP

PROGRAMS: Kids Preschool—Teens have lots to choose from: Preschool-5th graders, Cool off with Splash Camp: Swim lessons & all types of indoor and outdoor activities and recreational swim for 1 week sessions, Extended Care is available for specific camps, contact us for more information. Preschool Splash & Afternoon Camps AM & PM offer half-day options for the younger set. Sports & Specialty Camps: Camp Creative, Camp PAASS, Legos, Theater, Tennis, Soccer, Technology, Yoga, Mindfulness, Art, & more. Teen Opportunities include our CIT Program and Performing Arts. Register for camps at MyMVR.org. View our Spring/Summer Activity Guide at MILLVALLEYRECREATION.ORG for additional activities, special events and classes. Questions?

MILLVALLEYRECREATION.ORG

415-383-1370

MORNING STAR FARM HORSE CAMPS: Offering English/Western horse camps for ages 5-14 years, June 12-August 18. Camps divided by age groups & riding styles: Full Day (9AM-3PM) or Half Day (9AM-12PM). Focus on riding instruction, horse care, vaulting and

trail riding. Mini Camp for ages 5-7 yrs., geared for younger set to learn about horse care & basic riding skills in a safe & fun environment. Also: Western/Rodeo Camp & Jumping Camp. Winter and Spring break camps are also offered.

MORNINGSTARFARM.INFO

415-897-1633

PERFORMING ARTS ACADEMY OF MARIN: PAAM offers a full summer schedule to fill your days with the performing arts! Weekly programs in Theater Arts and Dance are available throughout the summer. Students gain superior training from seasoned professionals in a supportive and fun environment. Programs are grouped by age for students Ages 4 & up! Our Theater Arts camps culminate with a performance for the family. June 12-August 11.

PAAMARTS.COM

415-380-0887

POEKIE NOOK: Hand-sewing, beginning to advanced, beading, and other arts and crafts, for children ages 6 and up. What makes us unique is nurturing a child’s creative world through sewing one-of-a -kind plush animals along with their accessories and habitats. Please visit our studio in Mill Valley for a free trial, if your child has never experienced the joy of making a “ Poekie”. Summer hourly package: 8 hours for $280.

Email: PoekieNook.millvalley@gmail.com

POEKIENOOK.COM

415-326-5202

ROSS ACADEMY MONTESSORI SCHOOL’S SUMMER MINI CAMP 2023: Continuing Montessori environment with regular staff the entire summer & lots of outdoor fun! Guest Appearances & Special Events.

AGES: Toddler Program 2-3 years. Primary Program 3-5 years. Held at Ross Academy Montessori School, 7 Thomas Drive, Mill Valley. June 20-August 11. 9AM2:30PM (Full Day) 9AM-Noon (Half Day). 2,4,6 & 8 week programs available (Minimum 2 consecutive weeks). 3 Day programs (Toddlers only).

Email: rams@rossacademymontessori.com

ROSSACADEMYMONTESSORISCHOOLS.COM

415-383-5777

ROSS RECREATION SUMMER CAMPS 2023: Summer Fun for Everyone! We have camps for all ages ~ there is something for every kind of kid! From themed weekly on-site activity camps, travel, exploration and adventure or sports camps, dance, art and more – your camper is sure to be impressed. Check out some of our camps: Ross Bears Kinder Camp, Sporty Girls Camp, Top Gun, Off the Block S.T.E.M. with LEGO®, Gone Fishin’!, Holly Hoppin Nature Play Adventure at Phoenix Lake and more!

ROSSRECREATION.ORG

415-453-6020

SAN DOMENICO SCHOOL’S SUMMER PROGRAM: With camps for makers, scientists, creators, and more! From academic enrichment to co-curriculars, you can build your own summer of fun and learning. Digital Music, Photography, Ukulele, Puppetry, Ceramics, Dance, and Chamber Music! Adventure and Technology camps! Nike Sports camps plus Tennis, Basketball, Soccer, Water Polo, Gymnastics, and more. Camps are filling up quickly so contact us NOW. Ages 5 -17 | June 19–July 28. Contact us at: sandomenico.org/community-programs/summer-programs

415-258-1900

SUMMERCREST: At SUMMERCREST camp, learning and fun go hand-in-hand.! Held at Lucas Valley Elementary School in San Rafael, SummerCrest serves children entering TK - 6th grade. Two 3-week sessions

are offered: June 12-June 30 and July 5-July 21. Each day at camp children are engaged in hands-on classes, taught by credentialed teachers. Enrichment activities, games, and outdoor play are woven into the camp day. This summer classes include Coding, Art, Tide Pool Exploration, Writer’s Workshop, Architecture Makers Science and more. Visit our website www.summercrest.org for complete listing of class offerings and registration information. .Learning, fun, new friends are all part of the Summercrest experience.

SUMMERCREST.ORG

415-457-6672

VILDA NATURE CAMPS: Vilda’s beloved nature camps are a 100% awesome summer experience in the hills, lakes and bays of Marin, Petaluma & Tahoe. With wilderness skills, nature connection and ecological stewardship wrapped in lots of adventure and play, campers learn about animal tracking, wild edible plants, primitive skills, ecological crafts, kayaking, carpentry, backpacking and much more. Ages 4-13. Sessions available June 12 - August 18.

Info@vildanature.org

VILDANATURE.ORG

RESIDENT CAMPS

415-747-4840

GOLD ARROW CAMP: Since 1933, Gold Arrow Camp has provided three generations of campers with a supportive community, enriching lives through relationships and outdoor experiences. In our beautiful setting on the shore of Huntington Lake, in the heart of the Sierra National Forest, campers have a chance to enjoy a traditional outdoor camp, complete with rustic living, nightly campfires and getting “unplugged.” Campers gain valuable life skills while at camp – independence, perseverance, and confidence – that will benefit them beyond camp in all areas of their lives. Our vision is to equip young people to bring positive changes to the world by teaching and modeling positive values and character traits. Gold Arrow Camp is accredited by the American Camp Association and is a member of the Western Association of Independent Camps. For more information, visit the camp website at: GOLDARROWCAMP.COM 800-554-2267

MOUNTAIN CAMP: A traditional, coed camp for kids ages 7-16, providing a magical outdoor setting where campers unplug, make friends, try new activities and make memories that last. Located on a beautiful high Sierra lake in the El Dorado National Forest, near Lake Tahoe. Sailing, Wakeboarding, Water Skiing, Ropes Course, Arts and Crafts, Photography, Video Production, Mountain Biking, Drama, Dance, Kayaking, Fort-building & more. Offering 1, 2, 3 and 4 week sessions. ACA accredited. MOUNTAINCAMP.COM

415-351-CAMP (2267)

Camp Funderblast

Art Gallery

Allyson Seal’s art students — Branson School

Ashan Villavarayan, Sophomore

Camila Urbano, Sophomore

Charley Lightfoot, Sophomore

Jay Nagpal, Sophomore

Sadhbh Kilroy, Sophomore

Jack Castonguay, Sophomore

New York City 2023 ....be there

SUMMER 2023

West meets East in two high-energy capitals of media, fashion and technology. Meet the people and places that make San Francisco and New York the happening places for culture, music and media. Space is limited, Bay Area [June 20-23] and New York City [July 15-22]

FASTFORWARD’S

BAY AREA

1 SESSION: 10 Students p/ week, 9am-3pm

Entering 6th — Grade 8

Session I: June 19-23

FASTFORWARD’S NEW YORK

ONE WEEK: JULY 15- 22

Entering Freshman — Grade 12

Send 1-5 paragraphs of why you want to go to New York City for a week of awesome interviews.

Contact Winifred MacLeod @415-272-3569 winifred@fastforwardweb.com and Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes maxine@fastforwardweb.com

From the windows of our taxi, culture streams past. A motorcycle parade flashes by, Heelys flood the street and rumbling fills our ears. The subways become our lifeline. Days start and end there. Singers,guitarists, and eccentric dancers use their talent to ease the stress of each day. We are surrounded by art. By new ideas in symbiotic relationships with old. They coexist in a curious balancing act. We wander into old brick warehouses and see the creative ingenuity of the young and progressive. Our experience is an endless whirlwind of food, art, culture, and connection, an intoxicating, invigorating journey. Addicting, alluring, and almost incomprehensible.

— Bri Alphonso Gibbs, Marin Academy

“It’s all about the experience.”

Organic food builds healthy humans & supports a happy planet

Art

San Domenico School

ART TEACHER Sally Houston

Alexis Weidner, 8th Grade

Caroline Lane, 7th Grade

Chelsea Sugarman, 8th Grade

Lucas Rutem, 7th Grade

Arthur Wald, 8th Grade

Markus Karsten, 7th Grade

Sayhita Raghupathapy, 7th Grade

BY KEIRA EISENBUD 8th Grade Mill Valley Middle School

Meg Medina

A Light In the Darkness, an Interview with Meg Medina

The Marin County Free Library’s Mission is to provide welcoming, equitable and inclusive opportunities for all to connect, learn and explore. A core strategy to achieve our Mission is providing resources and information that will help our community learn about and more deeply engage in racial equity.

Visit: marinlibrary.org

Iinterviewed New York Times best-selling author, Meg Medina. I learned she enjoys writing books that observe Latino culture. She often writes about the lives of young people, a topic that reflects off her own childhood. She has written dozens of children’s books and young adult fiction novels including: Tía Isa Wants a Car (2011), Mango, Abuela and Me (2015), Evelyn Del Rey is Moving Away (2020), Merci Suárez Plays It Cool (2022). Throughout the interview, she shared with me some advice, inspirations, hopes for the future, and most importantly, her love for writing. I read Merci Suárez Changes Gears before the interview and understand why it was selected as a winner of the Newbery Medal, the highest honor in American literature for children. Merci is an 11-year-old girl navigating through the drama of middle school, while at the same time dealing with unexplained changes in her grandfather life.

Q: How did you get into writing? And what were some experiences where you learned language had power?

MEG: I got into writing later in life. I was 40, before I started writing books for kids. I always liked to tell stories and hear stories. I loved books, but I was afraid to pursue writing as a career. First, I didn’t know any writers, I didn’t know who to ask about how to be a writer. But I also didn’t have the courage to think that I could do something that felt so impossible. I waited a long time. I had been a teacher and all kinds of other things before I decided to turn to writing. I think the notion of power and writing is the sense of relief that I feel when I write really anything, but certainly when I write for children. When I finish writing something, I sit back, and I ask myself, so what was I saying here? I’ve laid out the story. What am I pointing to? Or what part of being a kid growing up am I trying to speak to? This is the thing that feels the most important. When I’m thinking about

The author as a child

power, it’s the power to feel better, to understand growing up better, to understand all the good things and hard things that happened to me as I was growing up a little better every time I write. In the biggest way, that’s how I see power in writing. Q: What was your childhood like?

MEG: I found it excruciating sometimes. I’m the daughter of people who arrived in this country in the early 60s. My parents came from Cuba, and at that time, Cuba was changing from one form of government to a Communist form of government. My family did not want to live in a communist country. They were part of the exodus out of the country, and, and when they left, they couldn’t leave altogether. My father left first, then my mother and my sister. There was a fracturing of the family. And in that fracturing, my parent’s marriage didn’t survive. When my mother found herself in this country, she had my five-year-old sister with most of her family still in Cuba. She was here in a new country, and she didn’t speak the language. And she was pregnant. She gave birth to me, and my father had left several weeks before. The start of my life was sort of traumatic and chaotic because I’m the daughter of people who lost their country. My mother took a job in a factory, there

lonely, and all kinds of things. All of those feelings, in addition to just being a teenager, trying to make sense of teachers and people I was dating and friends and social stuff and all of that. It’s like, when you ask someone, how was school today? It wasn’t any one way, right? It’s every kind of way, minute by minute. I think when people asked me what my childhood was, it was all kinds of ways. It had painful moments, it had happy moments, it had a little bit of everything.

Q: What inspired you to write Merci Suárez Changes Gears?

MEG: So many things. I had it started as a short story in this anthology called flying lessons and other stories. An author and editor, Ellen Oh, cofounder of We We Need Diverse Books had asked ten authors to write a story that featured a main character who was a person from a marginalized community. I naturally picked up a Latino girl and I set it in Florida, I had spent some time living in Florida on my own with my husband and my children. I was sort of thinking about my grandmother’s condo at the time, and I was thinking of all kinds of things about school and more. I wrote this short story. It’s called “Sol Painting, Inc.” But when I finished writing that story, I found that I really loved Merci. As a

to add something into all of the wonderful books that are coming out written by different Latino authors. I wanted to add something that was a celebration. Like a painting of the families that that I knew. Q: What advice would you give kids who want to be an author like you?

MEG: Read everything you can. Read the things that you are not sure you even want to read. Like if you don’t like sci fi, ask a sci fi fan, what’s the best book I should read and take their recommendation and try it. Read outside your own cultural group, read short things, easy things, hard things, just fill your brain. Because not only does it give you words and better skills in school, but it gives you tools. It gives you examples that you don’t even realize you’re learning, but that are sitting back in there of how authors handle this. It gives you more examples so that when you’re writing your own stuff, you can go, Huh, I remember how Rick Riordan did this or I know how Lamar Giles does dialogue. Or I know how Elizabeth Acevedo writes a poem in the beginning, like you start to say, Let me go back and check that — and you become a student of the things that had an impact on you. Reading is huge, and then I think you become a writer by writing, you just have

were money problems related to language issues. She was cut off from her family and trying to figure out how to bring her family to this country. My mom was sad and worried and anguished. When adults feel that way in a family, it becomes the pervasive feeling in that house. There was a lot of sorrow and longing when I was a little kid. There was also a lot of joy because my family did eventually come to this country. I was very loved by them, and I love them very much. I had good friends. When I got to be a teenager, I ended up living for some time with my father during my high school years. Suddenly my father had come to this country and had been able to redo his medical training and was a doctor. I went from my life as the daughter of a factory worker to the daughter of a doctor, in this fancy American community. And I felt really lost. And I felt

character, she was funny and snarky. She attended this privileged private school. She’s smart, but not in her mind as smart as her genius brother, Foley. And she’s struggling. She adores her family, and they adore her and she’s also struggling to find her way with them. How to grow up when everybody’s your parent, your grandparents, your aunt, your father, your brother, everybody’s bossing you around. I don’t know, it felt all relatable. She just felt easy to write. And it was such a celebration, I think about a family that works. A family that’s facing a big problem, maybe lots of little problems and one big problem together. But a family that works right because they have a base about love and about staying together and about being there for each other. And sometimes we have very few stories that feature Latino characters that celebrate that. I wanted

to practice it. And you have to be okay with it, being terrible in the beginning, because everything we write is terrible in the beginning. Merci Suárez Changes Gears, the first 20 drafts are not what you are reading. What you read, is my very best effort, and then my editors very best effort at making that even better, and then copy editors telling me where I messed up all the comments and proofreaders asking me if it’s true that this address exists. It’s a team of people that help you get it to the professional level. So Don’t be afraid to stink is really the message.

Q: What do you hope for in the future?

MEG: Time, time to write all the stories that are inside me, and time to connect with kids like you and with other readers and time to be able to step back and look at my work and just enjoy. Being able to look at the body of my work and feel proud of it.

Read outside your own cultural group; read things, easy things, hard things just fill your brain. Because not only does it give you like words, and better skills in school, and all of those things important, but it gives you tools.”

Open

E D U C A T I O N Letter

By Elsa Block Junior, Redwood High School

Dear College Admissions Committee,

“What’s your unweighted GPA?” “You’re scared you won’t get into Boulder?” “What was your SAT score?” Have you ever been asked these questions? Well, when you’re a student at practically any modern-day high school, you’re prodded with these questions at least once a day. As a junior in high school, my mind is constantly filled with the idea of college. All of my peers are constantly talking about where they want to go to school, what colleges they visited over the last break, how they did on the last big test, and what they think their chances are of getting into the top schools. As a student, the idea of college applications is one that is motivating, yet destructive. The idea of getting into a good college has changed the way that we as students learn by forcing us to memorize information rather than really learn it.

Getting a good grade so that it will look good on a college transcript has practically replaced getting a good grade to prove that you have understood what you are being tested on. The method of prioritizing memorizing information instead of learning is called ‘rote learning’ (as opposed to meaningful learning) and is taught by many schools from a young age. According to The School in Rose Valley, a highly ranked private progressive school, “meaningful learning helps students understand how all the pieces of a concept fit together and how to apply knowledge gained to new situations, unlike rote learning. It is active, constructive, engaging, and stays with students for life. Students who are taught understanding vs. memorizing…learn how to investigate, evaluate, analyze, remember, make comparisons, and communicate.” But when

we are pressured to constantly make the best grades, it can be hard to focus on meaningful learning versus memorizing what we learn so we can do well on a tes. The pressure of improving my GPA is always in the back of my mind - GPAs matter for college admissions, internship applications, and even job applications. GPAs make high school much more competitive, since there is always the desire to get the numbers higher…it even causes some students to cheat on tests so that they can do better.

The College Board has also created an additional level of college stress: the ACT, the SAT and AP testing. These tests create a plethora of stress among students, from worrying about how to study to how to perform well on the actual test. A majority of the information on tests like the ACT and SAT are things that are learned differently than what we learn in the classroom. In fact, it has been shown that these tests do not always accurately show how much a student understands a topic. According to the award-winning publication Tech Learning, “School is not the primary influence on student academic achievement as measured by standardized test scores. Out-of-school factors play a greater role. Therefore, the use of standardized tests to hold schools accountable doesn’t make a tremendous amount of sense.” Many students, including myself, go to outside tutors so that they can master their knowledge of topics they will be tested on. However, the strenuous amount of preparation we put in for these tests takes away from studying for our other tests. Putting all of our effort into tests run by the College Board removes some effort that we would put into studying for the

math tests we have. And the better we do on the SAT, the better chance we have of getting into an Ivy League. The worry of not getting into a good college affects students in many more ways than one.

Many may think, yes, the most important form of motivation in school is college. Getting into a good college can improve your future, by getting a good education, graduating, and then getting a good job. Students are constantly motivated to do well by thinking of their future, which is a good thing. But the constant pressure of college is stressful beyond measure for many. There are several ways we can relieve this stress. And the most practical way to do this is by fixing the way students are looked at for the college admissions process. Many colleges need to prioritize more than just a GPA for the students they are admitting. Colleges should weigh personal college essays, letters of recommendation attesting to our character, and our extracurricular activities just as high as they weigh our grades. Students put in hard work to balance out these things with their grades, and they should be treated just as importantly. Judging students by grades only can be intimidating for students with a lower GPA, but if colleges place equal importance on some of these other criteria, some of the pressure of college applications can be alleviated from students. By weakening the stress of getting into colleges, students will be able to do better in their classes. By encouraging students to meaningfully learn, students can stay more engaged with their studies and can perform even better in their classes.

The Invasiveness of Erosion in our City by the Bay

By Harper Dean Junior, Urban High School

San Francisco is renowned for its natural beauty, cultural diversity, and vibrant economy. However, the city also faces a critical challenge that threatens its long-term sustainability: erosion. Erosion is the gradual process of wearing away of land or soil due to natural factors such as wind, water, and climate change. In San Francisco, erosion is a significant problem that affects the city’s coastal areas, infrastructure, and natural habitats.

The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most dynamic and complex ecosystems in the world, and the region’s natural beauty is a significant draw for tourists and residents alike. However, the coastal areas of San Francisco are particularly vulnerable to erosion due to their proximity to the ocean, exposure to strong winds and storms, and the lack of vegetation to protect against erosion. Coastal erosion in San Francisco is a significant concern as it can damage property, threaten public safety, and erode beaches and other recreational areas.

The effects of erosion can be seen in many parts of San Francisco, from the crumbling cliffs at Lands End to the disappearing beaches at Ocean Beach. The city’s iconic Golden Gate Park is also affected by erosion, with the park’s lake and pond becoming shallower due to sedimentation caused by erosion. After interning with the Presidio Parks Conservancy, volunteers like myself got to experience the visible effects of erosion firsthand. The Conservancy works to protect San Francisco’s federal land from invasive species and natural disasters and cleans up the sites for locals to enjoy the liveliness of the environment. The conservancy opened my eyes to the large scale of environmental issues that affect San Francisco’s natural habitats. The program ran on a rotation of sites, where each week we would be immersed in different locations of the city that needed habitat restoration. The conservancy showed me that even in developed cities, environmental issues are still left unresolved that will have great effects on the future that I was unaware of.

They have specifically dealt with the eroding land of trails after the extreme storms this past winter. The city has anticipated the continuous erosion of these trails, but the change in climate activity causing excess mud and deteriorating land has made the maintenance of pathways extremely difficult, and a growing issue without a permanent solution.

Climate change is exacerbating the prob-

lem of erosion in San Francisco. Rising sea levels, stronger storms, and changes in precipitation patterns are all contributing to erosion in the city. The effects of climate change are not just limited to the coastal areas of San Francisco, but also impact the city’s water supply, public health, and economy.

Addressing erosion in San Francisco requires a comprehensive and coordinated approach that involves government agencies, community outreach, and private corporations. The city has taken some steps to address the issue, including the establishment of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s Green Infrastructure Program, which aims to reduce erosion by increasing the amount of vegetation in the city.

However, more still needs to be done to address the problem. This includes investing in infrastructure that can withstand erosion, improving drainage systems to prevent flooding, and protecting critical habitats and natural resources from erosion, like the Presidio. Developing long-term strategies are essential to address the impacts of climate change and ensure that San Francisco remains a sustainable city for future generations.

In conclusion, erosion is a significant challenge for San Francisco, and it requires a comprehensive and collaborative approach to address. Through ecologically conscious preventives, we can work to protect the city’s critical infrastructure and cultural heritage from the damaging effects of erosion and ensure a future for our city.

SPONSORING MARIN SCHOOL of ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP

Each

To learn more about our work with Bay Area school gardens, visit www.sloatgardens.com

Mill Valley: 401 Miller Ave. 415-388-0365 & 657 E. Blithedale Ave. 415-388-0102

Kentfield: 700 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. 415-454-0262

Novato: 2000 Novato Blvd. 415-897-2169

The Marin School of Environmental Leadership is a program inside of Terra Linda High School. Our mission is to take learning out of the classroom and into the real world in order to make a difference within our local community. One of our favorite parts of the program is the community that comes with it. In our small classes, we are encouraged to work together and dream big. This forges everlasting bonds and makes the high school experience so much better.

Every semester we are assigned a leadership and environmental action design (LEAD) project. This semester our LEAD project was the MSEL garden. This project entails learning how to maintain a garden, hosting events, educating the community, and selling the products we make with our own hands. The goals we set for ourselves this semester included beautification and functionality update, a field trip to educate students from Venetia Valley K-8 school, and selling plant starts. We also set the stretch goals of partnering with Eagle Scouts, getting a garden grant, and building benches to install in the garden.

With the generous donation from the Sloat Garden Center, we will be able to buy the tools we need to continue our work and get the materials and plants we need to create a pollinator friendly garden. These purchases will help create an atmosphere that feels welcoming and will allow us to both create a healthy ecosystem and grow plants for consumption and selling in the future. Thank you so much for supporting our garden and our dreams Sloat Garden Center!

The Spring 2023 MarinSEL Garden Group: Coral Bilisi, Josh Frack, Connor Kennedy, Meadow McPhearson, and Devin Montour; supported by Community Partners Carolyn and Dave Anderson from Monarch Gardens

month Sloat Garden Center offers a $250 garden grant to a new Marin County school.

Miller Creek Middle School

and end up giving everyone piggyback rides. I lay down for a break and my friends take a sharpie and write “Eat my Bubbles” and their names on my back.

Art by Ahyoung Eastlack

When I walk into my room, I see my ideas sketched out on paper. Drawings of character and original species scattered across the brown wood. The scent of polymer clay and paint flows around. Sunshine spills through the window and birds calling can be heard in the distance. When I sit down by the desk, I always grab a pencil first. Sometimes I sit there and stare into space, letting thoughts drift through my head. Sometimes I immediately start drawing an idea I just had, the sound of the pencil against the paper describing the texture of the two.

Acting by Sarah Crosby

FastForward visited Alison Campagna’s 6th Grade students for a writing workshop.

Art by Lexie Garcia

I plug in my headphones and select Spotify pop music, check! The moment I put my 4B charcoal pencil to my sketch paper, ideas and curiosity overflow me. My inspiration takes over. My hands now have a mind of their own. Sketch, erase, shade. Sketch, erase, shade. Over and over again. Forty-five minutes later, my hands are sore, and the music is echoing in my ears. The table is covered in pencil and eraser shavings. I sign my masterpiece, date it, then sit back and close my eyes. “Thanks for the hour of peace and quiet, Dad,” I’d say in my head.

“Lexie, I’m back from picking up your brother and sister; we got Chinese for dinner!” My little sister would say “Cool.” I’d say, “My peaceful solitude art time, alone, is officially over.”

Guitar by Emilio Hadden

BUZZZ! The speakers to the amps buzz with excitement. Boom! I pluck the low E string. My heart races. I look off stage as my body fills with adrenaline. Suddenly my guitar feels heavier than the massive amps right next to me. Then I hear my friend hit

the drums, “1! 2! 3! 4!” In a split second I feel my hands race instinctively across the fret board. My memory kicks in and I play the chords A-A-G-D-A. It sounds amazing. The song ends and I return to consciousness, my ears ringing. It was one of the greatest feelings ever, playing that guitar.

Riding my Bike by Kona Bekey

I feel the wind blowing in my face as my ears are drowning with all the music that’s playing through my earbuds. I fly by people singing my heart out. I go even faster as the song adds more and more sounds. I love riding my bike.

Swim Meet by Ava Marin

Beep! Swimmers take your mark. My race starts. Water up my nose and in my mouth. My dad cheering. Here comes my flip turn. I flip and push. My goggles fall of. Everything is blurry and I see the faint shape of the wall. I slam the wall and get 1st place. I shake the hands of the people next to me. I stand up on the slipper pool deck and ask my time. I smell the burgers on the barbeque. Suddenly I feel the weight of a first grader on my back. We start to run in excitement

My shoes squeak against the hardwood floor. My eyes are wild, seeing nothing but blurry shapes. My feet keep moving, even though my stomach wants me to stop. People are flying through my visions as well as my hands. My hair is loose and flying, trying to keep up with my movements. I have a smile on my face. I smell the roses the parents bought for their children. My costume has an ancient scent to it. My eyes start to itch from the heavy layer of mascara and eyeshadow. The blinding white light of the spotlight follows me as I turn. I’m trying to keep up with the fast-paced music as I twirl around the stage. I see my friend mirroring my dance moves with a grin on her face. The music stops as I take my last steps. The crowd erupts into applause. I bend down, looking at the stage floor as the cheers get louder. I look up at the shadowed crowd. Turning my back to the audience, I walk off the stage.

Roller Coasters by Jack Trudeau

You are facing straight up and hear a loud clicking sound. Why? Because you’re on a roller coaster. You start to look forward and in the next second you know you’re going to drop. You can hear people screaming as the wind rushes past your face. It’s filled with twists and turns so fun and frightening that time seems to speed up. A two-minute ride turns into two seconds. You can feel the seat shaking for the whole ride. After you get off your head might spin a little, but you know you are safe on the ground again.

Swimming by Bodhi Iyer

“Beep!” I hear the loud buzz and shoot myself forward into the cold, blue water at full speed, like a torpedo. I start swimming my butterfly. After three kicks I break the surface. Moving my arms, I feel the water rush-

Khaii Owens, 8th Grade

ing past me. I push as much water down my body as possible. I’m approaching the wall. Just before, I throw my body into a tight ball, flip underwater, lock my feet on the wall and push off as hard as I can. Now the energy is really high. I can hear dogs barking and parents cheering. My legs start to burn out as I get close to the finish. Finally, my arms stretch out as far as they can and touch the wall. I look up to the scoreboard. “YES, FIRST!” Suddenly I smell the aroma of foods around me: Nachos, burgers, donuts and more. I get a full breath of fresh air, feeling fantastic.

Imagination by Lilian Matthies

When you open a book, you’re not only just exposing yourself to new vocabulary and figurative language, but a whole new world with characters you’ve never read about before. The characters, setting, plot, theme and all the other elements of a story were created by a person with an imagination. Someone who observes situations, feels empathy for other people. Someone who spends times in their head bending, connecting and swirling ideas to make a story. J.K. Rowling as a little girl had a big imagination and loved telling stories to the people around her. People who bent forward, listened intently. Several decades later, she invented the internationally bestselling series, “Harry Potter.” Isn’t that really what an author is? Books fuel that. When you open a book, feeling a sense of happiness at the prospect of a new story, and trail your fingers across the pages, you are exposing yourself to new ideas that could even help you craft a story by yourself.

Things We Know to be True

Nature is the gateway to happiness— just listen to the sounds around you. You have one life, so live it to the fullest.

Repetition might feel safer but keeps you from trying something new.

No snowflake is the same. Balance is the key to everything. Violence is never the answer. There is always another answer. Being on a team requires you to work hard so the team can be great. Art makes life rich and interesting to many people.

Everyone is beautiful in their own way.

First impressions last. School is place where we should build people up, not tear people down. History is not just one man’s story. In the end, it matters how kind you were.

Most things aren’t personal, so don’t take it that way.

Willow trees sway with the wind just like our emotions.

Believe you can and you are half-way there.

Books are an escape from reality. Even in the darkest places, there is always a light.

Everyone makes mistakes. Pets make my life better.

Teamwork makes the dream work. A smile can change someone’s day, but a smile from a friend is the meaning of life.

Some people always want power. Art is a way to express your feelings. Bad times may be easier to recall, but I’ll never forget the good times. School will lead me to a good life. A blank piece of paper is a new beginning waiting to happen.

Alison Campagna’s students

Emma Petrus, 8th Grade

Narissa Liu, 7th Grade

Noe Hopkins, 7th Grade

Farallon Murison Smith, 8th Grade

Aven Rege, 7th Grade

Writing by Deanna Moshashaee

Thought…meaning nothing unless distributed, written quickly as if not to forget. Writing can be erased, forgotten, neglected, burned. I write so I won’t forget my thoughts. I write so others hear my thoughts. Words gliding across the paper. Uneven alphabets spilling from the tip of my pen. Thinking, acting, filling my brain with new thoughts to come. If I don’t write, I speak, That’s another story to come.

Balance by Elan Truett

It hoped around town bringing smiles to the gloomy, people lighting up the city. It brought arguments and rotten food. Its pattern consisted of hearts, smiley faces and half full glasses. It made its way into the mountains bringing blooming flowers, juicy fruit, and excited wildlife. It brought rainfall, sunshine, and fog. Snow, floods and hail. Then it bounced its way to the ocean, bringing life to the coral, friendships to the visitors, and music to the parties. It brought wind to the sands, high tides and cold to the water. It is balance.

Swimming by Nina

Iyer

I’m on the blocks. I hear “Swimmers take your mark. BEEP! And I dive, feeling the cool water hit my face. I start my butterfly underwater and then I’m off doing freestyle. The adrenalin is running through my body. My coach is yelling at me; my friends are cheering me on. But all I focus on is telling myself to look down, stay kicking, and

don’t look around. I can feel my heart beating as fast as a cheetah chasing prey. BAM! I touch the wall, eager to see what place I got. I look up at the board. “Yes!” I think to myself, I got first. Swimming is challenging, requiring constant kicking of legs, two hours of practice a day working on your skills with a tight cap and goggles attached to your face. This is the sport of competitive swimming.

Cheerleading by Camille Mokelke

Loading into our stunt, I took a deep breath. We pushed up, to the counts, falling into a cradle. We hit the stunt. As the tumble passes started, our feet were banging as we hit the ground from backsprings. “You can get water now.” The smell of sweat and accomplishment flowed through the air.

Swimming by Nathaniel Evans

I’m standing on the diving blocks, anxiety pumping through my veins. I hear the announcer ring the buzzer, so I jump off the block and hit the water with a splash and start swimming freestyle. I do a flip turn on the other side as I push off the wall under water. I keep swimming until I touch the wall. I came in first! My time was 30.92 seconds. Swimming is my passion.

Basketball by Wilfido Calderon

I hear the crowd going wild screaming and shouting. I feel nervous and am about to shoot and out of nowhere, I hear a person tell me that I’m really good. As soon as the other person misses, I start running down the court. I pass to my teammate. I feel a breeze of wind roll over my face as I get the ball and jump. I feel the wind levitate in the air.

Vivienne Russell, 8th Grade

Sahiti Namburu, 7th Grade

Emily Whitney, 8th Grade

Gunner Smith, 8th Grade

ARCHIE WILLIAMS HIGH SCHOOL

ComAcad Communications Academy

Jacob Carter, Ry Tibbs, Alex Baker, Emile Veyrac, Cyril Veyrac, Noah Price, and Tao Judnick. Second row, l to r: Greg Doherty (Teacher), Olivia Ramos, Percy Daunell, Zoe Tran, Ella Swain, Evajoy Sotnick holding Sasha Yovino, Kennedy Williams, Audrey Tucker, Faeryn Dunnigan, Jade Kelly, Francie Salle (teacher) and Morgan Paar (teacher). Third row, l to r: Natasha Barchuk, Carmen Sanchez, Polly Yurke, Jorge Castillo, Chase Foltz, Kate Lund, Maddie Barbee, Leonie Goffin, and Harper Miller. Fourth row, l to r: Indigo HerreraMeade, Angel Amador, Jake Witchel, Milan Wood, Bella Faye, Sebastian Calderon-Jensen, Wiley Raffael, Achilles Das, Kino Redfeild, and Cole Cortright. Fifth row, l to r: Luka Rebours, Oliver Valerio, Miles Franklin, Cole LaRoche, Joe Ardigo, Tony Heffernan, Abby Cochran, Izzi Lipari-Maxson, Elias Garcilazo, Lucas Nerelli, Oliver John, Miles Owens, Claire Kersell, Liam Bouyad. Not pictured: Miles Lavoie, Jac Craig, Wyeth Eberlein.

The Communications Academy at Archie Williams High School, better known as ComAcad, is a two-year program for juniors and seniors, which combines courses in Digital Communications, English and Social Studies. Students work in production teams to create two to three projects a year, ranging from Political Advertisements, Original Shorts, A Showcase of Community Non-Profits, and Documentaries. Students work on their projects in all three of their courses. From script development to audio engineering, blue-screen recording to audio/video editing, our slogan keeps us going: Everybody Teaches, Everybody Learns.

“In ComAcad, we take the components of a normal class, but shoot and edit them into fun films for us and the community to enjoy.” — Zoe Tran, Junior

“I love the way the ComAcad academics are set up because the basic English or history assignment has a creative element making it more interactive.”— Jac Craig, Senior “ComAcad has honestly been one of the greatest educational choices I’ve made. It’s such an amazing group of people and I’ve loved getting to know the teachers, my peers and how the film industry functions.” — Harper Miller, 11th Grade

“I really like ComAcad because everyone is a really unique and creative person who is always trying to do more.” — Maddie Barbee 12th Grade

“The real ComAcad was the friends we made along the way. “ — Audrey Tucker, 11th Grade

“ComAcad harbors a beautiful community of teachers and students alike. Everybody teaches, everybody learns, and I wouldn’t want to do anything else.” — Tony Heffernan, 12th Grade

First row, l to r: Leandro Coppola,