Valley Record SNOQUALMIE
Wednesday, dec. 5, 2012 • Daily updates at www.valleyrecord.com • 75 cents •
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Athlete leaders ready for new winter season of Mount Si, CHS sports Pages 11-14
Parents boost math, science offerings at frosh campus Exploratory class scrapped for expanded STEM lessons By Carol Ladwig
Mount Si grad exploring the mountain trails of the Cascades for charity Page 8
Index Opinion 5 5 Letters 9-10 Holidays Classifieds 17-21 22 Calendar On the Scanner 23
Vol. 99, No. 28
“We have been listening.” Principal John Belcher’s announcement Thursday was both to the school board and to the broader community, in response to criticism leveled against proposed curriculum offerings at the district’s future freshman campus. At the board’s Thursday, Nov. 29, meeting, Belcher presented a revised slate of curriculum offerings, which scrapped the four-quarter exploratory classes in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) in favor of more traditional lab-based sciences and classes being given the STEM treatment.
Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo
Making a rare find—a formal dress—student volunteer Audrey Miller sorts and hangs clothes for the Teen Closet, a clothing bank for Valley youth that operates out of the Mount Si Lutheran Church. Below, coordinator Monica Rutherford looks over a rack of clothes for this week’s Closet event, 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5, at the church, 411 N.E. 8th St., North Bend.
A warm welcome Teen clothing bank outfits those who care most about clothes By Carol Ladwig Staff Reporter
See STEM, 7
Warmed hearts Valley holiday events continue this week. Get ready for North Bend’s holiday festival, concerts and more on pages 9, 10.
Lost and found is no longer the boneyard for forgotten sweatshirts, dropped gloves, and last semester’s gym clothes. These days in the Upper Valley, a school building’s lost and found section is a treasure trove, but only half because it’s full of free stuff. “It’s kids’ clothes,” explains Monica Rutherford, organizer of the Upper Valley’s teensonly clothing bank, the Teen Closet. “I know it’s teen clothes, because it belongs to the teens.”
And teens are the target market for the free bimonthly event focused on helping Valley children in grades 6 though 12, from financially struggling families, find the clothes they like to wear. Teen Closet was created last year, just for this age group, Rutherford said, because when she worked for Encompass, she saw lots of organizations providing help for families with young children, and for seniors. “But what about the kids who are in middle school and high school?” she wondered, and started asking around, she said. “There isn’t really a lot for them… and that’s the age when they really start to care about their clothes.” She also focuses on teen clothing because she doesn’t really have enough space available to broaden the target. See CLOSET, 23
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Staff Reporter