Plateau Pink Day rallies local teens to fight cancer
May 15, 2013
A trail of pink helium balloons curved up into an arch from Eastside Catholic campus May 8 as Sammamish’s three high schools gathered for the fourth annual Plateau Pink Day.
Outside the school’s gymnasium, students from Eastlake and Skyline high schools mingled with those from Eastside Catholic in the 70-degree weather. Dressed in varying shades of pink, some stood in line chatting, while they waited for their turn to get a henna tattoo. Other’s sat and listened to live music. Nearby, a line of tables offered sticky doughnuts shining in the sun and other sweet treats. Read more
Mental illness in family spurs local woman to action
May 11, 2013
New: May 11, 1:19 p.m.
As the wife of a doctor, Sherrill Bohart has been an eyewitness to the suffering created by mental illness.
The Sammamish resident saw patients of her husband shuffled through the public health system without any long-term resolution for the person afflicted with the crippling condition. And even less support for their friends and family.

Sherrill Bohart and her son, Craig Bohart, pose in front of Safeco Field. Craig Bohart graduated with honors with a degree in physics from the University of Washington. He works part time and lives on his own in Tacoma.
Contributed
Blackwell mural captures the spirit of the northwest
May 7, 2013
Elizabeth Blackwell Elementary School is about to get a whole lot more colorful.
For the last several months, students there have given up recess time to work on a mural of the Pacific Northwest, which is set to be unveiled May 17.

Adhya Kona creates a butterfly to flutter between pine trees and the monorail. Photo by Lillian O’Rorke
Plateau earns high marks at International DECA contest
May 7, 2013
Eastlake High School sent 17 students to the DECA’s international competition April 24-27 in Anaheim, Calf.
Of those, Natalie Hurd was a top 10 finals finalist in marketing management series and, along with Aneesha Nanda for retail merchandising series, was top 10 role play No. 1 in preliminary round. Read more
Upcoming musical brings roaring 20’s alive at Skyline
May 1, 2013
Waiting in the wings of Skyline High School’s Lyceum Theatre, students sit quietly studying, but all that disappears when they are out on stage taking on the roles of drunkards, gangsters and flappers in the school’s new musical “The Drowsy Chaperone.”
Opening May 1, the show takes audiences on a comical trip back into the days of prohibition, as imagined by a lonely old man listening to a record in his New York apartment.

Much of the cast gathers on stage for Janet Van de Graaff, played by Jessie Spung, to perform her solo “Showoff.”
Photo by Lillian O’Rorke
Sammamish girl takes charge of diabetes diagnosis
May 1, 2013
The week before Thanksgiving early this year, 11-year-old Maddie Fletcher found out she had type 1 diabetes.
Her parents had taken her to the doctor because she was exhausted and felt like her brain was in a fog. Her legs were cramping and she was having pain in her chest, but an autoimmune disease in which the body produces little to no insulin was not the diagnosis Maddie and her family were expecting.
“It was a total shock,” said Kate Fletcher, Maddie’s mom. “It’s a big learning curve all at once, because you have to get it under control right away.”

Maddie Fletcher
5th grader wins 1st prize at national junior piano competition
April 25, 2013
By Hana Vaughn Waldenberg
Nathan Lee was trying not to think of his turn at a national piano competition as something extraordinary.
“I tried to think of the finals not as a competition but as my recital and tried to play as much beautiful music as I could, and I think that helped a lot,” he said. Read more
Sammamish woman throws first pitch at Safeco thanks to Eastside Catholic baseball team
April 23, 2013
New: April 23, 2:40 p.m.
It wasn’t a hall-of-famer, a politician or a rock star that threw the first pitch of the Mariners home game April 13. It was Jane Dickison, a 20-year-old developmentally disabled woman from Sammamish.
The honor was originally offered to the Eastside Catholic baseball team. Instead of choosing from among themselves, the boys decided the offer the opportunity to one of their classmates in the school’s Options Program, which provides instruction for students with developmental disabilities. Dickison is in her final year of the program and was selected for the spot on the mound.

Members of the Eastside Catholic baseball team and Options Program pose with the Mariners Moose. Photo by Rhonda Bunker
Local to spend summer volunteering in Tanzania
April 16, 2013
This summer Julia Bennett is trading in her sorority house in central Los Angeles for a stay in one of Tanzania’s rural villages.
“I’m really nervous and I’m really excited too,” said Bennett, a 2012 graduate of Eastlake High School.

Julia Bennett hangs out with one of the children she volunteered to nanny at the Young Lives camp last summer in Oregon.
Contributed
Sammamish gets down and dirty for Earth Day
April 15, 2013
New: April 15, 10:21 a.m.
Earth Day isn’t officially until April 22, but Sammamish is starting the celebration early this year.
From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 20, the Lower Sammamish Commons will be buzzing with Earth Day festivities. Sponsored by Republic Services and Sammamish Plateau Water & Sewer, the event will feature children activities, food, live music and several vendors with information on ways to be greener. Read more


