PATRIOT BREMERTON
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2011 | Vol. 13, No. 46 WWW.BREMERTONPATRIOT.COM | 50¢
kitsapweek D e c e m b e r 9 - 1 5 , 2 0 11
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LIFE AND CULTURE
week’s
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DICKENS READS DICKENS Actor Tim Tully becomes Charles Dickens in “Dickens Reading Dickens.” See page 7.
An
1800s Christmas Do-si-do back to a simpler time in this Seabeck celebration
From top, Tim Tully as Charles Dickens, and Charles Dickens as Charles Dickens.
CHILDREN REMEMBERED On Dec. 11, a wave of light will encircle the globe in a remembrance ceremony, sponsored by The Compassionate Friends. The ceremony is held annually around the world to remember children who have died. In Kitsap County, the gathering will take place at Silverdale Lutheran Church, 11701 Ridgepoint Drive NE at Ridgetop Boulevard. Doors open at 6 p.m. Bring a picture, if desired. Candles will be provided. Refreshments will follow. Info: Pat Ryan, (360) 692-4750.
BY ERIN JENNINGS Kitsap Week
W
hen the hayride pulls up to the Meeting House at Seabeck Conference Center, visitors will have only traveled a short distance, but will find they have been transported back to an 1850s Christmas celebration. “We are celebrating Christmas when it was a simpler time without Above, Vivian Williams and her husband, Phil, have played heritage music at past Mill Town events. Left, a couple demonstrates some pioneerdance steps. Gary Beanland / Kitsap County Historical Society
a lot of glitz,” said Anita Williams, organizer for Mill Town Family Christmas. Back to a time before gift receipts or songs like “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.” Back to a Christmas when it was a real treat to roast chestnuts and sing yuletide carols. In its fourth year, the annual fundraiser for the Kitsap Historical Society draws people who wish to experience a less frantic, less commercial holiday celebration. Holding it in Seabeck, an old logging
Old Fashioned Do-si-do at a Seabeck celebration, or hear Dickens on Dickens – inside
See SEABECK, Page 2
A section of the Bainbridge Island Review | Bremerton Patriot | Central Kitsap Reporter | North Kitsap Herald | Port Orchard Independent
Washington Youth Academy recognized as an Innovative School by state Structured program gives high school drop-outs and ‘at risk’ students another chance BY KRISTIN OKINAKA KOKINAKA@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Kristin Okinaka/staff photo
Douglas Derrer reads his book, “Pirate Peril: The First Voyage,” to a class of fifth grade students at Cougar Valley Elementary School Dec. 2 while they draw scenes and characters from the story.
Volunteering in the classroom leads to childrens book series Central Kitsap students and teachers celebrate local author’s childrens book BY KRISTIN OKINAKA KOKINAKA@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Douglas Derrer read his book — merely a manuscript — to Lisa Pitcher’s fifth grade class at the now-closed Seabeck Elementary School seven years ago. Recently he’s been reading the self-published childrens novel, “Pirate Peril: The First Voyage,” to Pitcher’s fifth graders at Cougar Valley Elementary School. Wednesday he read the finished book for everyone. Derrer and teachers said if it hadn’t been for the students’ comments and questions to his working drafts over the years, the book could have turned out different. It probably wouldn’t have even turned into a series of three books.
The first class of fifth graders Derrer read to are now seniors in high school and they as well as the other students he has read to over the years joined Derrer in celebrating the publication of the first book in the series of a boy’s adventures with pirates and princesses as he faces the end of the world. “It’s pretty amazing what happens when you put things out there,” said Derrer, 71, last week at Cougar Valley where he still continues to volunteer and read in Pitcher’s class as well as other classes at the school and at Green Mountain Elementary School. “They give me good feedback. They give me great ideas,” he said of the students’ comments to his writing. Mike Jones, the protagonist of the book
is based on and named after his wife’s son. Derrer said he originally wrote Mike killing off a pirate that is the villain of the story and had no intention to bring the pirate back. The idea of bringing the pirate back came from a student who was unhappy with the pirate’s death and lead to Derrer turning the book into a three-book series. Neither Derrer nor Pitcher knew what would happen when he first decided to read his work to her students. “I had no idea at the very beginning how much interaction there would be,” said Pitcher. “It made writing come to life.” Derrer’s writing first came to life when he was isolated with nothing to do on the island of Adak in the Bering Sea. He left his post as a psychologist at Naval SEE VOLUNTEERING, A7
A teenager was visiting Bremerton High School and thought it was strange seeing some students with their cellphones on their desks. Inside the building, an adult told him he could keep his hat on. At the Washington Youth Academy, Cadet Schramm has been having a different experience. “I said I didn’t feel right wearing it anymore,” said Schramm. A lot has changed for Schramm and his fellow students at the Bremerton academy, a credit-retrieval program designed for 16 to 18-year-olds who have dropped out of high school or who are at risk to. The academy, a quasi-military training and mentoring program, is a division of the National Guard Youth Challenge Program and was announced last month by the state Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn as an Innovative School. The academy was selected along with 21 other schools in the state for providing instructional programs that are bold, creative and innovative. “This should be turned into a four-year school,” said Schramm of the academy – a 22-week program where students also live on campus. Students come to the academy voluntarily and cannot be involved with the court system, said Lynn Caddell, the school’s principal. The program accommodates up to 150 students and is state and federally funded with no cost to students or parents. The program is based on a partnership between the National Guard and the state SEE ACADEMY, A7