Record South Whidbey
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Falcon baseball takes second at state See...A8
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2015 | Vol. 91, No. 43 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Academy seniors look to post grad future By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record
Meaghan de Wolf, 18, and Isla Dübendorf, 17, pose for a picture in Andy Davis's math class. They are this year's valedictorians.
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Meet Meaghan de Wolf, Isla Dübendorf
2015’s VALEDICTORIANS By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record The two valedictorians for South Whidbey High School have stood alone, and together, as the top students in the class of 2015 since their sophomore
year. Isla Dübendorf, 17, and Meaghan de Wolf, 18, are this year’s top students having maintained 4.0 grade point averages over four years at South Whidbey High School. Their grades, both girls said, meant that some nights they stayed in to
study instead of watching a movie or going out with friends. At other times, it meant a 5 a.m. cram session to have all the information fresh before a test. SEE VALEDICTORIAN, A9
They came from different starts and found a similar finish at South Whidbey Academy. A group of 16 students will receive their diploma covers and graduate from South Whidbey’s alternative high school program Thursday. It will be the third graduating class at the school, which opened in September 2012. The week prior to graduating, a handful of the soon-tobe graduates met with The Record to reflect on their journeys, struggles, triumphs and what’s to come. Asked what word they’d use to describe the difference of South Whidbey Academy’s Pathways Program (grades nine-12), they said, “perseverance,” “change,” “autonomy,” and “independence.” One of the common themes for the small sample of seniors was feeling unwelcome and out of place in other school settings. Some came from out of state, others SEE ACADEMY, A9
Langley adventurer, professor to relay Atlantic crossing on Viking replica By KATE DANIEL South Whidbey Record Contributed image
Ragnar Thorseth, known as "Norway's Last Viking," tethered his 11-year-old son to his side during a hurricane while on board the Saga Siglar, a replica of an 11thcentury Viking ship.
When Jonathon Moses set to work repairing a dilapidated sailing boat in 1984, he had no inkling that he would soon be a crew member aboard a boat replicated from Viking lore, retracing the tumultuous path Norse explorer Leif Erikson had sailed centuries prior. The Saga Siglar (meaning “sailor of the sagas”) was a
54-foot knarr, a replica of an 11th century Viking boat. Moses explained that no images of a knarr existed aside from the descriptions provided in sagas and the remnants of one that had sunk off the coast of Denmark. “Nobody had ever rigged one; nobody had ever seen one before,” said Moses. SEE VIKING, A20