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November 2011 SRVHS Senior Picked for All Star Game San Ramon Valley High School Senior and Varsity quarterback, Zach Kline, has been picked to play in the Under Armour All Star Game set for Thursday, January 5, 2012 at the Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The fifth-annual Under
Serving Danville Healing Hoof Beats: Rhythm of Hope By Jody Morgan
Army veteran Mariela Meylan provides living proof of the healing power of hoof beats as she takes charge of driving a horse aptly named Chance at ENN Reins in Motion. Deployed when her daughter was only two months old, Mariela was able to return home for a few months before the baby celebrated her first birthday. Deployed again, Mariela was not so lucky. Mariela was involved in a horrible accident. Doctors told her family there was no hope of recovery. Her mother refused to pull the plug. When Mariela awoke from a seven-month coma, her limbs were like toothpicks and neurological issues were evident. Today Mariela has reason to hope that she will once again walk unaided. She teases her instructors and talks animatedly about what she likes best about working with co-founder Peggy James and the staff at Reins in Motion in Livermore. “They ask you to do something and you don’t think you can do it, Zach Kline with some of his SRVHS teammates. Photo by Lyn Schuppert. Armour All-America Game is a competition spotlighting the nation’s top high but you do and it builds school seniors. This event is ESPN sponsored and one of the two premiere All Star confidence.” Exercises events in the country. Only four quarterbacks in the country received this honor. both in driving and in the Under Armour is traveling the country and presenting an honorary jersey to each of saddle help Mariela to the participants. Zach was recognized at the school in a special mid-day assembly. build muscle strength and improve her short-term Learn more at http://football.uaallamerica.com. Congratulations Zach! memory. Her mother is 4-H Youth Build Wind Energy Technologies amazed that the one area Tassajara 4-H club hosted the fourth annual 4-H National Youth Science Day where Mariela has no Veteran Mariela Meylan, right, drives for recovery with (NYSD) recently. 4-H members from all over Contra Costa County attended. As memory issues is when it Peggy James. part of the annual 4-H NYSD, youth participated in Wired for Wind: the 2011 comes to music. “She knows all the lyrics to the new songs as well as the old.” National Science Experiment. The experiment was designed to demonstrate to Sentinels of Freedom, founded by Danville resident Mike Conklin when one young people how they are able to implement alternatives to traditional energy of his sons was severely wounded in Iraq, sponsors Meylan’s equine-assisted production and have a positive impact on their communities and ecosystems. therapy. The Sentinels’ mission includes helping men and women wounded At the event, Wired for Wind participants enhanced their engineering skills in the course of serving our country to regain their independence. Specifically designed for veterans, Horses for Heroes is also available at by designing, building, and testing two different wind turbine models. There was even a contest to see Hoof Prints on the Heart in Livermore and Leaps & Bounds in Walnut Creek. which team could generate At the National Center for Equine Facilitated Therapy in Woodside near the the most power from their Palo Alto VA Medical Center, veterans often volunteer as sidewalkers to enwind turbine model. The night courage other veterans engaged in therapeutic riding. Enthused by another program offered at Woodside, Tineke Jacobsen, P.T., included a 4-H Science Fair CTRI, and PATH International Registered Therapist, recently brought hipwhere 4-H’ers displayed and explained science projects they potherapy to the East Bay. Hippotherapy is conducted by a licensed medical professional – a Physical, Occupational or Speech Therapist - using a horse as brought to the event. the platform. Consequently, many insurance companies reimburse the cost of “Our nation is falling behippotherapy at the same rate as standard in-clinic services. hind other countries in the Jacobsen elaborates on what makes hippotherapy so effective: “For one fields of science, technology, thing, the therapy is provided in an enriched sensory environment that no engineering and math,” said clinic, classroom, or other treatCameron Turner, Riley Arbuckle, and Elizabeth Trennery Carol Eldridge, Club Leader, ment center can come close to in Tassajara 4-H. “Participation in 4-H NYSD and other year-round 4-H science terms of moving through space Volume III - Number 1 See 4-H continued on page 21 on a dynamic base, the movement 3000F Danville Blvd. #117, Alamo, CA 94507 Telephone (925) 405-NEWS, 405-6397 transmitted from the horse’s body, PRSRT STD Fax (925) 406-0547 the sounds and smells of the arena, U.S. Postage the warmth of the horse through Alisa Corstorphine ~ Publisher PAID Local the blanket, the touch and feel editor@yourmonthlypaper.com Permit 263 Postal Customer Alamo CA of the horse’s mane and neck, The opinions expressed herein belong to the writers, and do not necessarily reflect that of Danville Today News. Danville communication with the horse, Today News is not responsible for the content of any of the ECRWSS
See Horse cont. on pg. 18
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