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FEATURES
MSC nearing completion by
Jane Gormley online editor
The Mercerwood Shore Club has been the home of countless summer memories for Mercer Island families since 1953. This year, however, the club is undergoing massive changes that will help make summers even more memorable for its members. Last year, the Mercerwood Shoreclub board decided that the club was in need of an upgrade. The structure of the clubhouse itself was extremely old, and if kept in its current state, would need constant maintenance and repairs. The club also felt the
The remodeling plan for the MSC pool area
need to provide better facilities for members, especially considering the competition coming from other, more modern clubs on the island such as the Beach Club and the Country Club. The $3 million budget for the project will go towards improving the clubhouse. The pool and the beach facilities will both remain the same, but the clubhouse will be completely redesigned and rebuilt. The upper floor of the new clubhouse will include a large gathering room with a fireplace and television as well as a new bar area. There will also be a small kitchen, making this upstairs area more useful for those wishing to host parties at the club. The biggest area of improvement will be in the construction of a new exercise room. To picture what the old one looked like, one would need to imagine a relatively small, usually unused, and somewhat grimy room with a few pieces of exercise equipment. The new exercise room will be moved from its current location downstairs by the snack shack to the upper floor where, along with new equipment
and floor-to-ceiling windows, members will enjoy a beautiful view of Lake Washington. The locker rooms will be updated to include new changing areas as well as more showers. Another significant change is the construction of a children’s lounge, which will open up to the new terraced lounge area. Its three tiers will include group seating, a new wading pool, and a hot tub before connecting to the existing pool deck. The Construction Committee has reported that the project is going well and according to plan. The old clubhouse has been demolished, the main structure and roof have been completed, and workers are just starting on the interifinishes. Photo courtesy of MSC or The project began this past September and is estimated to be completed in late May. With this time frame, all summer activities will carry on as they always have in their new home this summer. The renovation has already started to attract new membership this past year. “We like the laid back feel of Mercerwood, having explored other summer options on Mercer Island, and many of our friends, as well as those of our kids, are members of the club as well,” said Heidi Singh, a new member this year after being on the wait list for eight months. “We are especially looking forward to using the new workout facility.” While the design of the club will be drastically different when members return this summer, its relaxed atmosphere of fun in the sun with family and friends will remain. MSC will always be the home of summer memories for many Mercer Island families and as Bill Gormley, a member of the Construction Committee noted, “[the] only difference now is that there will be a nicer facility for people to do the things they have always been doing.”
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4th elementary school fixes overcrowding increased road usage, but this trend could be mostly mitigated by improving the sidewalks in the area. In addition, the start times will be sufficiently offset that it will not interfere with the High School rush hour. Furthermore, Chief Operations Officer Dean Mack, who is actively involved in the construction, says that for times outside of the norm, the traffic is expected to be roughly equivalent to what was being generated by YTN and the daycare services in the area. When the 2016-17 school year begins, elementary students, possibly younger siblings of current high school students, might be required to change schools. The proposed borders have the entire Northeast of the island relocating to the new school, making students leave the familiarity of an old school to consume learning time adjusting to minor differences, which
has generated some concern from parents. However, these are temporary issues, and not everyone thinks it will be a negative change. “I want to switch schools because I think my new school will be closer to our home” says Jack Wheeler, a first grader from Island Park who will be in the new zone. In a year or two the students should adapt, and end up with better-equipped and less crowded classes. Not everything has been permanently determined, the name of this new school and what it will use for colors are still mostly open questions. Soon the administration will hire new teachers to work under the principal Aimee Batliner-Gillette. The coming years will change the educational landscape of this island, but it should fix the issue of having too many kids in small classrooms.
staff writer Enacting a ban on cell phone use while driving sounds like a simple plan. In 2007, the year the iPhone made its debut, Washington state became the first state to outlaw distracted driving, making handheld phone calls and texting illegal while driving. At that time, occasional calls and texts were the main causes of distraction while on the road. Over the next few years, emailing, Internet browsing, and directional map viewing joined the list of driving distractions. Texting became ubiquitous; the United States alone generates over 153 billion texts per month. The problem of distracted driving is so serious that the United States created an official website for distracted driving, www.distraction.gov, which shows that distractions increase the risk of an accident by 300 percent. While fatal crashes make the headlines, the less serious crashes create headaches by increasing the congestion and traffic delays for which the Seattle area is known. “Not always, but what we suspect just based
on the experience of our troopers, is that our low-end, rearend collisions that mess up rush hour are because of texting,” said Bob Calkins, Spokesman for Washington State Patrol. In response, Washington state lawmakers are once again sponsoring legislation that would ban all cellphone use while driving, except for calls made with hands-free devices. Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal way, introduced a bill in 2014, but it died in committee; this year, Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, is trying again. On Jan. 28, 2015, she introduced Senate Bill 5656 to help protect those who walk and bike from preventable deaths caused by drivers distracted by their phones. The proposed bill is surprisingly controversial. Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, Chairman of the House Public Safety Committee: “It’s a pretty bold proposal to outlaw the use of handheld devices entirely. Certainly the evidence is clear that we shouldn’t be using these devices, but I know there’s a lot of sentiment among my colleagues that they maybe don’t perceive it
to be as dangerous as it is, and they get business done while they’re driving.” Goodman offered other solutions such as having cellphone companies block phone use while in a car, or police could ticket more drivers for violations that occur for distraction related accidents, like swerving. Rep. Dave Hayes has a similar opinion. While he agrees cell phones should not be used while driving, he said, “it’s almost like the gun issue, you’re attacking the tool, instead of attacking or addressing the matters surrounding it.” Research supports that stronger legislation will have little meaningful impact. Recently, economists from the Research and Development corporation and the University of Colorado studied the effects of hand-held cell phone bans on the number of car accidents. They concluded that there is “no evidence that the ban on hand-held cell phone use led to a reduction in traffic accidents.” Regardless of what the law allows, common sense supports the turning off of cell phones while driving.
efits to Running Start, there are a few drawbacks as well, “It’s the most expensive thing you can do in high school to earn a great savings later because the benefit is that your tuition is paid through the state so for the student there is no tuition cost, however, there are all other costs such as transportation, fees associated with the course and course materials such as textbooks,” said Stearns. Furthermore, if students have a strong affinity with activities at MIHS, going back and forth can be overwhelming and hard to manage. College vacation times are not the same, which can cause problems with family vacations when classes are still in session. Because the college environment is different than high school, students who go must function on their own. Another popular alternative learning choice for students is Crest Learning Center. Crest was first established in February, 1971 with two half-time teachers and 13 students, since then it has grown to be a successful alternative learning option for MIHS students. Crest is a very close knit
community where personal one full year for only one class. relationships between staff At Crest one to sees them every and students are important. day at school for two years and“At Crest there are four ‘pil- forms strong bonds with them. lars’ used as a guiding frameOne type of class offered at work for what we think is im- Crest is a contract class, where portant for education beyond just students design their own sylacademics: work ethic, healthy labus and work with a teachrelationships, fun and commu- er one on one. “We do contract nity. We use those as a frame- classes as well where students work to help us reach out and work with a teacher one on one, students write meet kids where they’re not findthe syllabus for the class, ing what they need through but there is education at a syllabus framework. MIHS,” said Let’s say you Patrick Rigby, are taking head teacher at Photo courtesy of MISD an Crest. As head English teacher, it is Crest is an alternative learning center for students. class, there Rigby’s job to teach ninth grade are certain learn- ing standards and tenth grade block, moni- that need to be met but you could tor and facilitate online learn- manipulate the way that you ing programs, as well as work get to them, so you could write closely with Crest students, your own course and do things Crest staff, high school admin- your own way,” said Rigby. istration and counseling staff. Many students who take Relationships are a huge part classes at MIHS are unaware of of Crest, the classes are set up the alternative learning options in a block schedule so that for which could potentially make two years you have the same their high school experience teacher, instead of having a more enjoyable and educational. teacher for a semester or maybe
by
Mithril Hugunin staff writer
According to the Mercer Island School District newsletter released in 2013, there are over 30 portables in use, housing almost 700 students. The elementary schools suffer from the most severe overcrowding, with approximately 350 students enrolled over the intended capacity. At the higher grades the numbers are roughly 180 students over capacity. Because the portables are not ideal classrooms, voters passed a bond to construct a fourth elementary and renovate existing facilities at other schools in the district. Traffic can cause delays for anyone who bikes, drives, or takes a bus to school. The district addressed this concern by hiring a company to run a traffic study in 2013, the report maintained that there would be some
Possible new laws for distracted drivers by
Jessica Waller
The path less trodden: the untold tale of Crest and Running Start by
Corinne Wheeler staff writer
At Mercer Island High School, there are a variety of alternative learning options for students that have a difficult time learning in an average classroom, believe high school life is not for them, or need more credits to graduate. In March 1990, Washington State Legislature adopted the Learning by Choice law, which allows high school students to earn credits in a variety of ways including private academics and Running Start. Running Start is a dual enrollment program in Washington state for 11th and 12th graders that immerses full-or part-time students into two year and technical colleges. When students are enrolled in Running Start, they attend college with the ability to receive both college and high school credit. In Washington state, Running Start credits are accepted by all public four-year colleges. Each year of classes consists of four quarters, and each quarter is the equivalent to one se-
mester of a high school class. The benefit of Running Start is that students receive both high school and college credits, and potentially save up to two years of paying for an education at a four-year instituton. Entering college with credits already earned can be beneficial when applying for scholarship programs as well as gaining access to various classes that are closed to most freshmen. Another benefit to Running Start is the students learning among others with diversity of age, backgrounds, and prior learning experience in the classroom. Running Start allows students to pursue more in depth knowledge of a specific subject “In the computer science field students have gone on and concentrated on it in Running Start and have earned Microsoft certification for certain things. Some of our advanced arts students do Running Start so they can go into very advanced classes such as live models which we couldn’t possible offer in high school,” said Counselor Kathleen Stearns. Although there are many ben-