Sydney Carste is decked out to support the U.S. during the Women’s World Cup. Photo courtesy Barbara Carste

In 2010, Sammamish 10-year-old Sydney Carste and her family made plans to travel to Germany to attend some Women’s World Cup soccer matches June 26-July 17. But before they embarked on the early-July family getaway, plans changed a little bit when Sydney got the chance of a lifetime. It involved tracking down “jailed” vuvuzelas and playing a pick-up game with Brandi Chastain, former U.S. national team member.

The incoming fifth-grader at Samantha Smith Elementary blogged about her experience as a die-hard soccer fan for ESPN.

She wrote as Sydney from Seattle for the “World Cup Wunderkind” blog. Sydney followed teams throughout the World Cup and into the finals, developing quite a following from readers around the world. A few games into her coverage, people even began to recognize her on the streets of Dresden, she said.

“I was really excited,” said Sydney, a standout Crossfire player at home in Sammamish. “I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do a good job.”

Sydney completed five entries during her family’s time in Germany. She wrote about crazy fans, game highlights and the general atmosphere surrounding the Women’s World Cup.

“My favorite part was seeing all the fans,” Sydney said. “I didn’t think (blogging) was such a big deal until my first article and everybody was reading it.”

While at the games, Sydney would take notes of key moments for each team playing and weave the highlights into her posts, which were written in a conversational style, as if she were just telling her friends about what happened. But she did run into challenges, being 10 and having never been trained in journalistic writing.

“It was hard for me sometimes to come up with ideas,” Sydney said.

However, her mom, Barb Carste, helped her jot down ideas to focus on. Ultimately, Sydney knew enough soccer lingo and strategy to string together a seamless article about the game that kept the reader interested with little observances that many people might not notice.

“I just like using fun words that I like to make up,” she said.

The opportunity arose when neighbors Melanie and Kevin Jackson, both editors for ESPN.com, proposed to her the idea of offering a child’s perspective of the World Cup. The point was to provide some light-hearted insight to supplement the traditional game coverage. The Jacksons had each spoken in Sydney’s fourth-grade class (with teacher Ginny Romano) about writing and were familiar with her passion for the sport.

“Her eyes just got real big, and she just smiled,” Melanie Jackson said about the moment they asked her to write for ESPN. “She’s, like, the most down to earth kid. I wasn’t sure if she could even do this. But she has the greatest sense of humor.”

When it was all said and done, the Jacksons — and apparently upper management at ESPN — were quite pleased with Sydney’s writing.

“It’s been a huge success,” she said. “She knows how to tell a fun story. She’s just talented.”

After she got her vuvuzela back — it was confiscated at the Germany-France game — Sydney used it to celebrate after the U.S. goals in the final against Japan. She seemed more enthusiastic about the serendipitous chance to watch the United States face Brazil than about the Americans playing for the World Cup against Japan.

“I can’t believe our luck,” she said in her July 7 post. “We bought tickets last August to a random Women’s World Cup quarterfinal game and now it happens to be this colossal match-up between the United States and Brazil. I’ll get to see my favorite players from each team at the same time — Heather O’Reilly for the U.S. and Marta from Brazil! Good thing we went shopping for Fourth of July party gear before coming to Germany! We will be decked out!”

Throughout her experience, Sydney, a fairly successful writer at school, according to her teacher, Romano, tapped specific skills she has developed in class. She banished boring words, as highlighted in Romano’s lessons, and went on sensory walks to gather details and ambiance of the World Cup.

“O thought she did a great job doing exactly what ESPN asked,” Romano said. “I don’t think Sydney had a clue how big a deal this op was.”

Romano said Sydney gave readers a true “being there” experience and chose relevant words for certain situations.

“She gives a lot of specific detail,” Romano said. “She really brings the highlights.”

Not only was it cool for friends to see Sydney’s posts on such a high-profile website, Romano said it gives her a solid real-life example of the incentives for writing well.

“To have something to go live like this, it’s just the coolest thing. It gives me leverage with the other kids,” Romano said. “There’s a reason to write and a reason to write well.”

The whole experience gave Sydney a better sense of what it takes to write well, but it also inspired her to keep her sights set high for her soccer career: she wants to play in the Women’s World Cup some day, she said.

“She is going to be the one who takes the sport to next level,” Melanie Jackson said.

Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.

Suzanne Tidwell affixes a sheath of yarn in Seattle’s Occidental Park. Photo by Katya Palladina

Artist Suzanne Tidwell, creator of the yarn socks adorning several tree stumps near Eastlake High School in Sammamish, now has another site to add to her résumé. In April, Seattle Parks and Recreation asked artists to contribute to ARTSpark Program 2011.

The program, which organizes performances and art in Occidental Square during the summer, is a partnership between Seattle Parks and Recreation, the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, and 4Culture’s Site Specific program.

The ARTSpark representatives were excited to give Tidwell the go-ahead to wrap the trees in the square with brightly-colored yarn, said the artist.

“It really transforms the neighborhood,” she said.

Tidwell began installing the tubes of yarn on June 1 and finished on June 30. The bright hues of red, orange, purple and yellow have been likened to styles of Tim Burton and Dr. Seuss.

The artist said the feedback from Seattleites has been incredible.

“The community has been so supportive and enthusiastic,” she said.

The Occidental tree socks may come down in mid-August to make way for other artists’ projects.

Tidwell said projects like the Occidental Square and her current project for the Bellevue Arts Fair have kept her busy.

She said she will likely change the Sammamish tree socks in August. The socks’ colors will represent the transition from summer into fall, and will include bright reds and purples and orange and brown. The Sammamish City Council has allowed the tree socks to continue for a year, and the new display in fall should be the final one.

Howie and Amy McOmber dance to classic rock'n'roll songs as the About Face band performs Thursday evening at Pine Lake Park. Photo by Anna Marum

Families tossed balls back and forth and children danced to the unmistakable melodies of Boston, Journey and Van Morrison at Pine Lake Park July 21. About 500 people braved a few light showers to hear the About Face band, a classic rock cover band. The performance was part of the weekly series put on by the city of Sammamish, Summer Concerts in the Park.

Recreation Coordinator Lynne Handlos said the turnout was the best yet this summer, due to the unseasonable weather in previous weeks. This summer marks the concert series’ 11th year, she said. For this year’s lineup, she picked the most popular bands in the last 10 years. The About Face band returned from 2008.

Handlos said she purposely picks a variety of genres to cater to a wide audience.

“We’ve never had a negative comment,” she said.

Denise Markley of Redmond, a regular attendee, said she enjoys the music and likes that families can run around and play.

She said she hopes the series continues into future years and appreciates that the concerts are free.

Tara Johnson of Issaquah said the concert was fun despite the weather. She loves classic rock, so she enjoyed the About Face band.

“Their Journey song sounded exactly like Journey,” she said.

The concert series kicked off on July 7 and the last concert of the summer will be on August 28. Next Thursday July 28, Dr. Funk, a funk and groove band, will perform.

If you go

What: Summer Concerts in the Park

When: Thursdays, 6:30 – 8 p.m.

Where: Pine Lake Park

Cost: Free

Supriya Dublish stands at the 2010 Sammamish Days celebration, an event she helped the city organize. Photo courtesy Supriya Dublish

Incoming Skyline High School seniors Supriya Dublish and Nicole Atherly received Girl Scouts Gold Awards for their leadership and service to the Sammamish community. In recognition of their work, Dublish and Atherly were invited to Gov. Chris Gregoire’s home and received letters of congratulations from President Barack Obama.

Winning the award “was really cool, especially when I got the letter,” said Dublish.

The highest honor a Girl Scout can receive, the Gold Award is a culmination of 40 hours of summer camp leadership, 40 hours of career related activities and 65 hours of individual project work. Dublish and Atherly attended job shadows and career fairs, worked at the Sammamish Days children’s booth and volunteered in Girl Scouts day camps over the past few years. They then proposed plans to organize their own events in conjunction with the city.

“It’s quite a lot of work and they learn a lot of new skills,” said Elaine Atherly, the Girl Scouts troop leader and Nicole Atherly’s mom. “It’s an exciting process for them to go through.”

For Dublish, that process began when she joined the Girl Scouts in fourth grade. After participating in troop activities throughout elementary and middle school, she decided to pursue planning her own project. “I heard about it and it sounded like something I could do,” she said.

As the final project, Dublish organized a cultural fair while Atherly planned a bicycle safety fair last summer. “We had to learn how to work with different people, communicate with city officials and plan ahead,” said Atherly.

During the planning process, Dublish and Atherly worked through logistics such as finding sponsors, securing performers and publicizing the events. Dublish designed a poster for the cultural fair and Atherly created a bicycle safety video to raise awareness.

More than 40 people were in attendance and “it was really nice to see everything working and everyone enjoying the events,” said Dublish.

“Organizing the bicycle safety fair helped me give back to the Sammamish community and learn leadership skills,” said Atherly. “It was really exciting.”

“I think I was just as excited as the girls were,” said troop leader Elaine Atherly. “The Gold Award for Girl Scouts is comparable to the Eagle Scout rank for Boy Scouts. It is something to be really proud of. Earning this award can qualify them for college scholarships in the future,” she explained.

Preparing for their senior year at Skyline this fall, both Dublish and Atherly plan to continue with Girl Scouts activities in the coming year.

“I really enjoyed volunteering at the Sammamish Days,” said Dublish. “It’s kind of nice to know that I did something like that and I think continuing with community service will be a good thing,” she added.

Stephen Steck (left) and Colleen Venter (right) were presented with the Golden Baton by R. Joseph Scott of the Sammamish Symphony for their volunteer work for the group. Contributed photo

Sammamish Symphony volunteers Colleen Venter and Stephen Steck are the youngest recipients of the annual Golden Baton award for service to the symphony. Recognized because of their commitment to event planning and publicity, Steck and Venter organized the symphony’s annual fundraising auction this season.

Encouraged by her mother, Myrl Venter, who is the vice president of the symphony’s board, Colleen Venter began volunteering along with Steck in 2003.

Although they initially worked as greeters for concerts, Steck and Venter volunteered at their first auction in 2007.

“I designed the invitation for that auction as a teenager,” said Colleen Venter.

This past year, as part of the auction committee, Steck and Venter chose the auction’s theme, “an evening in Paris.” They also went door-to-door collecting donations and recruited new volunteers. Venter also created posters, brochures and programs, while Steck publicized the auction on the Sammamish Symphony’s website.

“They are the hardest working volunteers the symphony has ever had,” said Myrl Venter.

Longtime Sammamish residents, Steck and Venter have known each other since they attended Beaver Lake Middle School and Skyline High School together. For them, volunteering with the symphony was “a permanent after school commitment,” stated Myrl Venter. Steck and Venter will get married this August. Steck has just been named webmaster, and hopes to design a new website for the symphony in the coming year.

“We plan to continue working on the auction committee and hope to increase the number of volunteers involved in next year’s event,” said Venter.

At McTeacher night, McDonald’s donates 20 percent of all proceeds from sales — 100 percent of cookie sales — during the three hours.

The cause received $400 in donations and brought in $860 from cookie sales and another $805 from food sales. McDonald’s then chipped in an additional 10 percent.

The school and McDonald’s presented a check to Landon’s family at a June 22 school assembly, McAuliffe staff said.

Katie Teman of Eastlake, Olivia Verhagen of Skyline and Aspen Edwards of Eastside Catholic received awards for community service and academic excellence.

Eastlake’s recipient, Varsity Dance Team Captain Katie Teman, earned a 3.95 grade point average while involved in community service projects such as Eastlake’s Invisible Children. Teman is also a 2007 recipient of a SAMMI award for her community service.

Skyline’s Olivia Verhagen will use her scholarship toward earning a degree in nursing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

As a part of her passion to help people in need, Verhagen volunteered to spend 48 hours living in a box on the streets of Seattle to see life from the perspective of the homeless.

Aspen Edwards of Eastside Catholic has devoted about 350 hours of community service as a leader in Young Life Capernaum (a faith-based organization for children and young adults with mental and physical disabilities).

Edwards will pursue a degree in special education at Gonzaga University in Spokane.

Each spring, the Rotary Club of Sammamish awards college scholarships to senior high school students, one to each Sammamish high school.

Rotary focuses on community service and leadership in school and community activities, character and integrity and academic excellence.

Each Rotary scholarship recipient will receive up to $5,000 toward their college education.

Software engineer Narendra Chandel created a website that aims at helping families, local and abroad, discern which name to choose.

NamesEtc.org has been up and running since 2009. The Wikipedia-style site features more than 4,500 Indian names. And for each name, it includes meaning, origin, audio pronunciation, links to similar names and notes on famous people with that name.

Narendra Chandel

“For newer parents it’s better because you can browse the names,” said Maruti Sharma, a Trossachs resident and friend of Chandel who has used the site numerous times. “It’s like a comprehensive database. Most names in India are related to one of the gods or mythological characters. This is like a good database to go to that I don’t see anywhere else.”

While developing NamesEtc.org, Chandel worked sometimes round-the-clock — he works full-time at Microsoft — to ensure the site would be as easy-to-navigate and as editable as Wikipedia. He had a lot of help from friends in the area. Some helped him build it, but others gave him initial input while he organized the model for the site, which uses the same software as Wikipedia, he said.

“I do a lot of experiments with software at home and thought, ‘you know, why not make this site?’” Chandel said.

Since it launched May 31, 2009 — the day his second son, Anuj was born — Chandel said the site has had more than 283,000 page views and contributors have edited more than 42,000 page-edits. He touts that NamesEtc.org is the only site of its kind for Indian names.

“This is the only wiki site where people can contribute,” he said. “Any normal person can go in and add something or add a name.”

One way Chandel’s site helps the local Indian population is that its editors — many of whom live in India — help maintain the names’ historical and cultural contexts. That provides enriching knowledge and ideas to immigrants who now live here, Sharma said.

“In India it’s a joint family custom,” he said. The site is important “because if they see the Indian culture, (name descriptions) are very specific toward the name and what that means.”

Chandel added that, since local Indian families are out of their familial surroundings, they don’t necessarily pass names from generation to generation.

“We get out of touch because of that,” said Chandel who has lived in the United States for 12 years. “This helps.”

Though he led the project, Chandel stressed the development of the site was a team effort. In addition to the increasing web traffic, the site also generates enough revenue — about $250 per year — through Google ads to benefit an orphanage in his hometown of Dhar, India, he said.

NamesEtc.org continues growing with minimal involvement on Chandel’s part, he said. People have taken it on themselves to contribute and a few friends have volunteered to add weekly updates.

“Once they try it out, it’s cool and it’s easy,” Chandel said.

Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 2442, or chuber@isspress.com.

Organizers at the city of Sammamish are holding out hopes for a sunny and dry Fourth of July, 2011, seeking to draw thousands of community members to the annual fireworks show and carnival-style gathering at Sammamish Commons.

“Hopefully this year there’ll be sun,” said Joanna Puthoff, the city’s facility coordinator. “As rainy as it was last year, we actually had a good amount of people show up. The plaza still ended up packed.”

While this year’s fourth on the Plateau will be much the same as the 2010 event, children will have even more to do during the four hours leading up to the 10 p.m. fireworks show.

The children’s play area, while featuring pay-to-play bouncy toys, will also offer carnival-style games and activities put on by Skyhawks Sports Camps. It’s located on the far end of the lower commons from City Hall, but is accessible via 222nd Place Southeast, according to the city’s event details.

The trail leading to the lower commons will be closed from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m. for the fireworks show, Puthoff said.

But those who can find a spot on the lower commons before the trail closes are in for a treat — plenty of space and a sweeping view of the hillside fireworks display. The fireworks begin at 10 p.m. — 15 minutes earlier than in 2010.

Puthoff said the largest crowd tends to gather at the upper commons plaza area and is standing-room-only for the fireworks. But the lower commons lawns provide ample space for families to sprawl out on the grass and enjoy the vibrant display while reclining on their blankets.

The 10 p.m. show should last 20-25 minutes.

“Truly, it has the best seating,” she said.

In addition to the main fireworks event, dozens of vendors will offer food and goodies, like ice cream, elephant ears, burgers, hot dogs, kettle corn, Thai food, barbecue and smoothies. The stage on the plaza will feature live music from The Pop Offs, from 6-8 p.m., and Dance Factory, from 8-10:15 p.m.

Parking is free at Eastside Catholic School, Eastlake High School, Discovery Elementary, Sammamish Highlands Shopping Center, Pine Lake Park and Sammamish Park and Ride. Parking closer to Sammamish Commons is $5 at Mary, Queen of Peace Catholic Church, Skyline High School and Sammamish Hills Lutheran Church.

“Come out and be with the people you live around,” Puthoff said. “Out of all the different shows I’ve seen in my life … it’s a great show.”

Plan for traffic:

As usual, there will be traffic restrictions on 228th Avenue and areas near Sammamish Commons during Fourth on the Plateau.

• Drivers will not be allowed to turn left from 228th Avenue Southeast between Discovery Elementary and Northeast 8th Street July 4 from 4:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
• Southeast 4th Street will be closed for 45 minutes starting at 10:25 p.m. while spectators exit the lower commons area after the fireworks show.

Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.

Jessee Ikedah, 16 of Sammamish, does a flip-twist on his scooter while other skaters compete during Teen Fest at the Sammamish Commons skate park June 17. Photo by Christopher Huber

Youth from around the Sammamish area started lining up at the gate an hour before they could get in at the Sammamish Commons.

Nearly 1,500 teens came to show off their moves at the skate park or enjoy games and music at the fourth annual Teen Fest June 17 at Sammamish Commons. More than 1,200 teens eagerly awaited entrance into the headlining event — a concert featuring Macklemore.

“The weather cooperated,” said Jane Ronngren, executive director of the Redmond/Sammamish Boys & Girls Club, “and having Macklemore is a huge draw.”

The event was run by the city of Sammamish and the Redmond/Sammamish Boys & Girls Club. This year it featured the big-name hip-hop band and a slew of inflatable bouncy toys. Four local bands opened for Macklemore: Rebel Yells (Eastlake High), Cathleen McAllister, Jacob McCaslin and Roll the Credits (Skyline High), and Fit for Hounds.

McCaslin said he had never been so nervous before a show than before opening for Macklemore. He was worried something would go wrong, but ultimately was excited for the opportunity.

“It’s a great opportunity,” he said. “It’s a great chance to get new fans.”

Since school was still in session, the skate competition began later than in years past and ran concurrently with the first half of the concert. But it still featured dozens of local skaters flipping tricks and getting air off the ramps and jumps to compete for prizes.

“It’s nice to have a contest one time a year that all my friends are at,” said Will Douglas, 20, of Seattle, as he sat on the edge of a ramp watching the competition.

While the city put on the skate competition and the Boys & Girls Club organized the music and games, Lynne Handlos, the city’s recreation coordinator, was excited about the overall atmosphere of the 2011 Teen Fest.

“It’s a priority of the city,” she said. “It only sets the tone for the summer.”