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FEATURE | Chef Howie to open new dining, drinking spot [12] CRIME ALERT | Redmond Police Blotter [2]
FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2014
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SPORTS | Redmond High baseball team competes in 4A Kingco playoffs [13]
A life-changing experience Overlake School group travels to Cambodia to teach students spak@redmond-reporter.com
A crowd gathers last Sunday at the Bring Back Our Girls solidarity and prayer vigil at the Redmond City Hall commons. Photos courtesy of Pamela Grossman
Group of Redmond mothers hold rally and vigil for the 276 Nigerian girls who were kidnapped from their school by Islamic extremist group “This was something we all felt passionate about.”
SAMANTHA PAK spak@redmond-reporter.com
It has been a little more than a month since 276 Nigerian girls were kidnapped from their school in Chibok by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. The girls have not been returned to their families yet and are reportedly set to be sold into marriage to militants for $12 each. The story struck such a chord with Sharice Belikoff that she felt the need to do something. This came in the form of a rally and vigil last Sunday evening at Redmond City Hall. “I’m a mother of two girls,” she said about why the issue hit so close to home. “My girls are 10 and 11…I just couldn’t let it go.” Belikoff, who lives on the Redmond-Sammamish border, is originally from South Africa and is no stranger to “stories like this” and feels the world needs to take notice as it is “not just another news story.” She worked to get the word out through social media, but felt that it was not enough. “This is something the world
Julianne Pierson, one of the Redmond Bring Back Our Girls rally and vigil organizers
Sharice Belikoff speaks at Sunday’s rally and vigil for the kidnapped Nigerian girls. needs to see,” she said.
A DAY FOR MOTHERS AND FAMILIES
Belikoff thought the best thing to do more as a mother was to stand with other mothers in solidarity for the mothers and families currently missing their daughters in Nigeria. She got together with a group of 8-10 other mothers to organize Sunday’s
rally and vigil, saying they specifically chose that date because it was Mother’s Day as they were lucky to be able to be surrounded by family, whereas the kidnapped girls and their families in Nigeria are not so lucky. One of the mothers who helped Belikoff in organizing Sunday’s rally and vigil was her friend and Redmond resident Julianne Pierson. Pierson, who has various connections in the area’s religious communities, reached out to various religion leaders to let them know any and all were welcome to the event. “This was something we all felt passionate about,” she said about her and others’ participation, adding that she was not the only one who gave up a special Mother’s Day dinner or event to attend the rally and vigil. Terry Scott, another Redmond [ more GIRLS page 10 ]
Being a teacher takes a lot of work. There are lessons to plan, assignments to grade, students to educate and keep occupied during downtime and more. Recently, a group of students from The Overlake School in Redmond learned just how much work it takes through an international service program that brought them to Cambodia to teach elementary schoolage students.
country at the beginning of April as part of Overlake’s Cambodia Global Service Program. Although the group was only there for two weeks, the trip was a culmination of several months worth of planning and preparing. Students applied for the program in August 2013, and by October 2013, those accepted were already planning lessons, which was done up to the time they left for Cambodia. The Overlake students — who are in 10th through 12th grades — worked to develop curriculum and lesson plans to fill about a week’s worth of classroom time. [ more CAMBODIA page 9 ]
SCHOOLS NEWS
HARDER THAN IT LOOKS
The 18 students — along with four instructors and one parent — traveled to the Southeast Asian
Students at The Overlake School in Pailin, Cambodia show off their new school supplies. Courtesy photo
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Deana Hale
Whole Foods| Market Place 17887 Redmond Way Suite 125 | Redmond, WA 98052 425-861-0870 | www.edwardjones.com
Member SIPC
17887 Redmond Way, Suite 125, Redmond, WA 98052 Financial Advisor Financial Advisor |.|Whole Foods Market425-861-0870 Place 17887 Redmond Way Suite 125 | Redmond, WA 98052 | 425-861-0870 | www.edwardjones.com
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Financial Advisor |.|Whole Foods Market Place
17887 Redmond Way Suite 125 | Redmond, WA 98052 | 425-861-0870 | www.edwardjones.com
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Bring Back Our Girls
SAMANTHA PAK
Member SIPC SIPC Member