VOLUME 23
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ISSUE 3
DEC. 1, 2017
T HE P UYALLUP P OST SERVING THE STUDENTS OF PIERCE COLLEGE PUYALLUP
Sunrise, sunset: School set for demolition Dana Montevideo Managing Editor For Bree Paiva, a sophomore at Pierce College, tearing down Sunrise Elementary may tear down her bad memories. Paiva remembers her time at elementary school as the worst “six long years” of her life. She experienced severe bullying, ostracization and segregation. “All the bad ghosts will be gone,” Paiva said on Sunrise being torn down and rebuilt. Sunrise Elementary, a school four blocks from Pierce College containing about 500 elementary students, is due for a rebuild. The design team hopes to make it one of the biggest elementary schools in the state and anticipates a capacity of 750 students. The new school is scheduled to open in September 2019. "It had been 12 years since we had passed a bond," said Mario Casello to KING 5 News. "With the growth that is hitting Puyallup now, it couldn't have been more important." Casello, chief operations officer for the Puyallup School District, hopes the new elementary school will accommodate for the rise in population in the Puyallup area. With the remodel in the foreseeable future, ex-Sunrise elementary student Paiva wants the school library to stay the same. “It’s the biggest library of all the schools I’ve been to besides Pierce,” Paiva said. “I regret not liking to read back then.” Paiva also hopes they move the music room inside, as she remembers walking outside in the cold to the music room. “It was the safe place,” Paiva said about music at Sunrise,
Sunrise Elementary student Bree Paiva holds a picture of her kindergarten class on a Sunrise playing field. (Dana Montevideo photo) which was one of the positive memories she took with her from the school. Coralie Gustafson was the music teacher—Paiva’s favorite. Paiva referred to her as Mrs. G, all the elementary school kids had a hard time pronouncing her name. Pierce Student Mariah Josten was another Sunrise stu-
dent. Her favorite teacher was Mike Holten, her fifth grade teacher. Josten doesn’t have many defining memories of Sunrise, other than the good teachers she had. Josten also remembers, due to the overpopulation of students, she was put with kids that weren’t her grade. Continued on page 12
Hundreds gather to honor ‘Puyallup’s son’ Swart’s
Nyadeng Mal Reporter Local community members gathered on Nov. 19 in the Pioneer Park Pavilion to celebrate the life of Staff Sgt. Bryan Black. Black was one of four Green Berets killed in an ambush attack in Niger on Oct. 4. Black leaves behind two sons, Ezekiel and Isaac and his wife Michelle Black. The room was filled with family, friends and service members all in attendance to remember the life of Black. The Puyallup High School Choir opened the service by honoring Black, a PHS alumnus, with the Star Spangled Banner. Black was a Running Start student, simultaneously receiving his high school diploma and associate degree from Pierce College Puyallup and Puyallup High School in 2000. “The American Soldier does not travel the globe to advance but to liberate,” a speaker at the memorial said. He spoke of how Black was a hard worker and was always trying to better himself. “Bryan was one of the most impressive soldiers I knew,” the second speaker said, adding that Black always tried to better himself and improve in all aspects of his life and as a soldier. As the evening went on, more speakers came forward and remembered the valuable memories they shared with Black. The room was filled with laughter,
A photo of Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, one of four Green Berets killed in West Africa on Oct. 4, represents his love for his job as Special Forces medic. (Nyadeng Mal photo)
prayers, tears of sorrow and tears of joy as family and friends hugged and consoled one another. “His high school wrestling coach Glen Owen said he was a tough kid. He had that ‘don't give up’ mentality,” the second speaker said. He spoke of the rare times he would beat Black at chess and how he would come back with a vengeance to beat him. “It’s like he went home and studied how good you were and how he could beat you next time,” the second speaker said. Black loved to play chess, and many said he was one of the best players they knew. Black was a member of the Tacoma Chess Club. His passion came from watching his brother play.
“Bryan learned to play chess after being beat by his brother one summer. I guess some could call him persistent,” Service Officer Jorge Ramirez said. Black was also part of the 1999 Puyallup High School Chess Club, the club placed seventh in the nation's national tournament. He spoke of how well Black picked up the skill of playing chess and how he wanted to be good at everything he did. He described Black as an avid reader who also liked to collect rare coins. The third speaker of the evening recalled the times Black wasn't so serious. He always made time to tease his younger brother and just laugh and have fun. “Bryan requested to have an
Irish folk song to be played at his memorial, he wanted attendees to laugh even when they were hurting,” said the third speaker. “They say you die twice. The first time and then the second time when people stop talking about you, we know (we did) our job.” The last speaker of the evening was Black’s father, Henry Black. He thanked community members for their kindness and generosity during the past month as strangers have reached out with small acts of kindness and volunteering to help Black’s family. “We have received grace and compassion from strangers asking to upkeep our front lawn,” Black said. They have received random knocks on their doors from strangers asking to pick up any extra work around their home, and from community members and churches in the area volunteering to help the family in their time of need. “Bryan is a son of Puyallup. He is the son of this community,” Henry Black said. The evening ended with the Black family fulfilling his wish by playing the Irish folk song, Finnegan's Wake, by The Irish Rovers over a seven-minute video Bryan's mother, Karen Black, prepared. Humorous childhood photos of Black played and audience members laughed, just as Black wanted.
mission for truth Reporter Humanities professor and librarian Kathy Swart turned a passion of Brazilian music into a passion for the truth. Swart studied Brazilian culture, dance and Portuguese language for over a decade but when she began research based off ideals found in a book, she found decades of false history and government corruption. Swart uses Latin American culture to fuel the studies of her humanities class and she believed that opening the eyes of her students is only part of the many steps needed to show the truth. In 1964, the U.S. government secretly sponsored an anti-communist coup against the democratically elected president of Brazil. This coup would lead to over two decades of dictatorship in Brazil all because the president wanted to nationalize foreign companies that siphoned Brazil's natural resources. Swart has found numerous pieces from the news media about the 1964 coup, which would be considered propaganda today. One piece from Life magazine in
James McCraw
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