The stadium at Eastlake High School looked a lot different than usual last weekend.

The turf was littered not by athletes in helmets and pads, but by tents, lots of tents. There, on May 19 a group of 650 people camped out as part of Eastlake’s annual Relay for Life event. By the time the last team members finished walking the track early on the morning of May 20, the group of mostly students had raised $124,959 for the American Cancer Society. That number will go up in the coming days as matching donations pour in.

Photo by Lillian Tucker Relay for Life participants devoted much of their Saturday and early Sunday morning to walking laps around the track at Eastlake High School May 19-20. Photo by Lillian Tucker

To participate, each team member has to raise at least $100. However, many of them went far and above the minimum. The event’s top fundraiser was 17-year-old Jack Callahan. The co-chair of Eastlake’s relay raised $5,180, beating the fundraising efforts of his sister Bailey by $93.

“Personally cancer has affected my family severely,” said Jack. His little sister Maddy died on Nov. 30, 2009 after a year-long battle against leukemia. “Cancer is a thing where there are no sides – it’s something everyone agrees needs to be eradicated.” Jack’s little sister had four teams named in her honor, including Mighty Maddy 3, which finished the relay as the top fundraising team at $10,855.

“One of my favorite parts is looking at everyone’s different team name,” said Kaylee Hansen, who partnered with Jack to organize the relay. The junior at Eastlake raised $3,422. She and 15 other students walked as team “Fight Like a Girl.”

“My stepmom had breast cancer and that was her motto. She showed me the song, Fight Like a Girl by Bombshell, – that was her treatment song,” Kaylee said.

“Almost every tent here has a story,” said Jack. “It really shows how cancer touches everyone.”

Jack was joined by 19 other Eastlake students this year to help organize the Relay for Life. From advertising to showing up at school at 6 a.m. on a Saturday, the event was completely run by teenagers with the exception of a staff member from the American Cancer Society.

“It’s kind of hard being a youth event and getting sponsors,” said Hanson. “But being a youth event makes kids feel like they are actually doing something special.”

Sixteen-year-old Rheame Ali drove to Portland with a couple of friends the week before to pick up 60 loafs of bread.

“No one else would donate,” said Ali. “We got turned down by a lot of donors.”

However, things did come together in the end for the teens. Usually the students round up $1,000 worth of sponsorships, but this year, said Hanson, they found enough sponsors in the end to triple that.

The donated food was used to help keep participants going through the night.

Hanson said that she and her friends planned to run laps around the track and eat lots of sugar to keep themselves awake all night.

Other stimulants included live music, movies and a giant game of ultimate Frisbee.

After the luminaria ceremony that night, Jack said he planned to power through till the wee hours of the morning.

“That’s usually me,” he said. “After the luminary ceremony I’ll be walking till 4 a.m.”

After all, the promise to walk is what helps fuel donations. Money from the relay goes to the American Cancer Society to help fund research and other programs like providing wigs and rides to hospitals for cancer treatment.

“They’re programs to help make cancer more bearable,” said Jack. “My sister used a wig. It’s just a small thing that people want hair. But it means so much.”

Skyline High School plans to host its own Relay for Life June 2 – 3. For more information on the upcoming event and to sign up, go to www.relay.acsevents.org and search for Issaquah.

Reporter Lillian Tucker can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242 or ltucker@sammamishreview.com.

Inside the gym, students dug through piles of their classmates’ writings and searched displays for their own work to show off to their family.

Jenaya Ray, 7, flips through her book “The Unicorns’ Magical Powers,” which she illustrated herself. Photo by Lillian Tucker

It was the Young Authors Celebration at the elementary school. And, while the title might provoke images of a group quietly listening to one student read out loud, the event was a social flurry.

“The kids really look forward to it,” said Principal Sarah White. In the days leading up to the event, she said the students were very excited about having their work put on display. “It’s just fun talking to the kids about their writing. They are so proud of it.”

Around the room, tables and displays were set up to showcase at least one piece of writing from each student. Pieces varied from essays by the fifth graders to imaginative tales of dragons and magic; from poetry to story quilts.

“It’s really amazing reading their stories,” said White. “They have a lot to say.”

“I like it because you get to write freely…I write in my free time, whenever I can,” said 9-year-old Vanessa Tang. The third grade student said she likes reading stories of her own to her little sisters. Seven-year-old Mia and 5-year-old Hanna huddled close as their sister Vanessa looked for her book she wrote about the legend of why bees buzz.

“I was thinking of an animal book and then I thought of bees for some reason,” said Vanessa.

In her book, the bees keep stinging the animals and getting away with it because they were so quiet. The goose and the raven decided to fix the situation by putting a noisy spell on the bees so that they would buzz.

At the first grade table 7-year-old Jenaya Ray showed her dad and younger brother her illustrated book, “The Unicorns’ Magical Powers.” It tells the story of how three unicorns stop a hungry dragon from eating them. To avoid becoming lunch, the three use their magical powers to turn the dragon into a vegetarian. Jenaya’s father said his daughter has been a self-proclaimed vegetarian for a year. Every night, he said, they make two different meals to accommodate their child’s choice.

“I just thought of some of my favorite things and created them,” said Jenaya. “Writing is hard work at first but once you get used to it you’re right on track.”

“It’s just to get kids excited about writing for an authentic audience,” said White. The principal explained that preparing for the event helps the students to go through all the steps to develop their pieces for an audience.

She said the young authors’ night also gives parents a chance to see the progression of a child’s work. The kindergarten table features folders of writing samples from throughout the year.

Reporter Lillian Tucker can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242 or ltucker@sammamishreview.com.

Seniors at Eastside Catholic, Lexi DiJulio and Carly Webster pose with their International DECA Championship award for the Chapter Awards Project. Contributed

“Their enthusiasm made all the difference,” said Rhonda Patrick. She oversees DECA at Eastside Catholic.

The international program seeks to prepare high school students to become leaders and entrepreneurs in their adult professions through a variety of programs and competitions. The DECA project that Webster and DiJulio chose to take on this year was to document and present everything that their chapter of DECA did this year.

“The sincerity you see in someone’s eyes when they are speaking with enthusiasm was obvious in their presentation,” said Patrick. “It’s easier to be enthusiastic when you are more proud of your work; when you spend the amount of time and energy that they spent.”

To win the Chapter Awards Project, one of 42 DECA events, the girls first compiled a nearly 100-page notebook documenting their chapter’s accomplishments over the last year. This included keeping an updated roster of all the school’s DECA members and providing detailed accounts of projects like their campaign against texting while driving. After finalizing their documentation, Webster and DiJulio took their project to the state DECA competition. There, they were judged 60 percent on documentation and 40 percent on presentation. Once they made it to the international level they were judged 100 percent on presentation.

“It really evolves into what DECA is all about,” said Patrick. “That is teaching young adults how to present themselves in the adult business world.”

Dressed head-to-toe in business suits the girls had 20 minutes to wow the judges, and they did.

“Carly is a very, very good student,” said Patrick. “Carly brings to the class the ability to work as a team leader because she is a very effective communicator. She is very passionate about gaining as much as she can from what is presented to her.”

Webster and DiJulio were two of 14,000 students at the April 28-May 1 event, with many coming from places like Canada and Guam. Washington State, one of the largest DECA contingencies, sent nearly 750.

Skyline High School sent 24 competitors to Salt Lake City, where Jessie Dart, Adrian Tiliacos, Bill Zheng, Macey Knecht, Sydney Kane and Megan Humble all finished in the top 10.

Eastlake High School also had several students place in the top 10, including Midori Ng, Alaina Hartley, Joy Hsu, Natalie Hurd, Guneev Lamba and Joanna Lu.

Reporter Lillian Tucker can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242 or ltucker@sammamishreview.com.

This year, the keynote speaker will be Tony Ventrella, media host for the Seahawks and Sounders. Other speakers will include Monica Hart, former KIRO 7 news anchor, and Andy Wappler, a vice president at Puget Sound Energy.

The luncheon is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. May 23 at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland. It will end at 12:45 p.m.

The lunch is complimentary, but donations are accepted. There is a suggested maximum donation of $150.

For more information, visit www.lwsf.org.

The high numbers of attendees and donations makes this the most successful year for the “Nourish Every Mind” event. According to Robin Callahan, the foundation’s executive director, the $650,000 will help make it possible for the foundation to continue expanding technical and computer curriculum; provide supportive environments for students; and increase the number of iPads available for elementary, middle and high school students.

“That’s just the beginning,” wrote Callahan in a thank you email sent on May 10 to supporters. “You are a testament to how deeply our community cares about education. Thanks you for joining us today in support of our students and schools.”

Among them was Sammamish’s own Margaret Mead Elementary School.

King County’s Executive Dow Constantine recognized the environmental stewards at the Earth Heroes awards ceremony April 26.

Mead was one of the four schools honored that day. The elementary school used to be the third lowest in the Lake Washington School District in terms of recycling.

Since finding this out, teachers at Mead, like Ellen Drummond and Dawn Pollock, have been working to turn the school around. They have established recycling stations, created posters, made a video and scheduled daily monitors to oversee the recycling program. All their efforts resulted in Mead reducing its garbage pick-up from twice a week to once a week.

Drummond and Pollock were among the award recipients at the April 26 event. The Issaquah School District was also honored that day for being an Earth Hero.

Issaquah earned recognition as a King County Level One “Green School District,” and several individual “Earth Hero” awards.

The district received the Level One rating because of its waste reduction and recycling practices.

At least 75 percent of a district’s schools must complete Level One school criteria in order for a school district to achieve that status.

A group of Sammamish families didn’t need to worry about what to make for dinner last week when there was more than enough food to go around at the Taste of Discovery.

The event, featuring dishes prepared by local families, was held at Discovery Elementary School May 1. That evening, a semi-circle of food stations was set up in the school’s cafeteria, giving students, parents and school staff a chance to sample recipes that are family favorites among those associated with the school.

“We wanted to offer a cultural event that would include all our families,” said Kim Robbins, a member of the school’s PTA who headed the event. “It brings us together through food.”

The PTA first came up with the idea for a family food night last fall and began work two months ago in order to make it a reality on May 1.

If the crowd of children and adults around the chocolate fountain was any indication, the night was a success.

“It’s kind of like throwing a dinner party and wondering if people will show up,” said Robbins. “The turnout is wonderful; more than I expected.”

“I like the chocolate fountain and the nachos,” said Dora Varsa, 11. “I didn’t make anything; I just came to eat all the stuff.”

While Dora was busy sampling the fare, her younger brother and sister were off trying their luck at the cupcake walk, one of the evening’s activities.

Others included a raffle for gift certificates to local businesses and making eagles – the school’s mascot – out of marshmallows. To create the edible bird, marshmallows were slathered in frosting and rolled in shredded coconut to resemble feathers. For the beak, the children attached a cashew then perched the eagle on top of a cookie.

Fourteen-year-old Brooke Robbins was recruited by her mom, Kim Robbins, to run the marshmallow eagle table. Once Brooke took control, she nicknamed the prototype Bob. She later said the activity was very popular, with as many as five children squeezing around the table at a time to make their own eagle.

Other tables included samples of a variety of foods, like curry, nachos, tres leches cake and rice pilaf.

“We’re just enjoying the flavors,” said Brett Muhlestein, who has three sons that attend Discovery.

Melinda Lytle, who has a third-grade son at Discovery, made home-made macaroni and cheese.

“It’s an all-American favorite,” she said as she scooped hefty portions of the still warm pasta into small disposable bowls.

“It’s wonderful; you’re able to taste things from all over the world…it really shows how small the planet is,” said Lytle. “They (the children) are having a blast. And they’re trying things, which is awesome.”

The taste of Discovery did not end when the evening drew to a close at 8 p.m. For $12, the PTA is selling cookbooks that feature more than 60 recipes that were collected from staff, teachers, parents and even children. Kim Robbin’s daughter, Natalie Robbins, submitted her own popsicle recipe. The ingredients include half a package of Kool-Aid, a bunch of sugar and water. “If you like it sweet, add more sugar,” she dictated to her mom who was typing up the recipe. When asked how much sugar to add, the 8-year-old replied “a bunch.”

Kelly Plewe, 6, also submitted a recipe and prepared it for the May 1 event.

“I made it because it’s healthy,” she said about her version of a tortellini salad. When Kelly wasn’t helping her mom serve their family dish, she made her way around and took advantage of all the available sweets. “My favorite was the chocolate marshmallows because you get to cover them with chocolate. They’re not plain.”

Those interested in purchasing the cookbook and pre-order them by May 11 by emailing Kim Robbins at kjr71@comcast.net.

At the beginning of April, the children were challenged to track how much time they spent reading for pleasure outside of class. The numbers were tallied April 27 and in the end the students had read 628,191 minutes – that’s well over 10,000 hours.

Six-year-old Ella Matias shows off her Eager Reader minutes. Contributed

“As an Eager Reader rep, it’s shocking to me they are reading significantly more this year than in the last,” said Stacey Foreman who helped encourage her daughter’s third grade class to participate in Cascade Ridge’s PTA reading challenge, Eager Readers. “I don’t know if the hype session worked really well or it’s the new electronic system or e-readers – the feedback is that they love it.”

The PTA has been putting on the program for several years to encourage children to view reading as something enjoyable, instead of a just a duty.

“All the reading had to be away from school…you are supposed to get pleasure out of it,” said Eager Reader co-chair Peggy Rodman.

At the end of the four-week program students and classes earned prizes depending on how many minutes they logged. The contest is voluntary, and this year nearly 90 percent of Cascade Ridge students took part. In years past, the students have recorded their minutes on paper but this year a tech-savvy parent, Rajeev Goel, built a webpage where children could record their minutes, see their tally and earn badges when they reached higher reading levels.

“He made it so easy,” said Rodman. “I think because he is a very involved father with his daughters he gets it.”

“Well, you go to the Cascade Ridge website then there’s an aisle by the side of the computer and a little that that says ‘eager reader’ and you click on that,” said six-year old Priya Goel as she explained step-by-step how she recorded her minutes each day. The kindergarten student logged as many as 116 minutes one day and said her favorite is reading books from the “Rainbow Magic” series. “Some sentences are funny…It’s fun getting on the computer.”

Six-year-old Ella Matias also likes the “Rainbow Magic” series and logged nearly 1,000 minutes.

“I always want to prove my minutes all by myself,” she said. “I like that I can just go online and just start typing away.”

“It’s really easy,” said Faith Foreman, a fifth-grade student. The 10-year-old explained that when she recorded her minutes on a piece of paper she worried about losing it and said that it’s fun to log on and see how much the other classes have read.

“I stay up a lot at night and just read,” said Faith. “It’s a lot easier (to read on her Kindle) because you can bring up the definition of every word you don’t understand.”

Faith and her little sister, Aliah, both got e-readers for Christmas from their grandmother.

“I like reading my Kindle because it saves your spot and you can have lots of books on your Kindle at one time,” said 8-year-old Aliah, who read more than 1,100 minutes during the month of April. “You just open your Kindle and you can find whatever book you want to read.”

Fourth-grade student Anjali Goel decided to read “Little Women” on an electronic tablet but isn’t so sure that the traditional way of reading and recording minutes isn’t better.

“Overall, I think it’s cool, but I think I’d rather have a book book because once again, on the iPad the connection is kind of slow and it takes a while to load and get the page ready,” she said. “I’m really enjoying it; I’m kind of sad it’s the last week…but I like the paper and pencil way. You don’t have to log on and all that stuff – you just find your form and write.”

When all was said and done on April 27 the students celebrated with a giant ice-cream social at school. With a total of 45,788 minutes, Marilyn Jochim’s third grade class read the most. Erin Perea’s fifth grade science tech class came a close second at 43,125 minutes. Of the younger students, who were also allowed to count time that their parents read to them, Toni Osotio’s kindergarten class logged more than 16,000 minutes.

Reporter Lillian Tucker can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242 or ltucker@sammamishreview.com.

“We own the land. If the county wants to condemn it then they can pay us and we’ll go find something else,” said Board Member Brian Deagle.

The board got the bad news at its April 26 meeting where it received an update about the recent recommendations of the School Siting Task Force.

In his presentation to the board, Steve Crawford, director of capital projects for the Issaquah School District, explained that one of the recommendations is for Issaquah is to basically give up the nearly 80 acres of land it owns on May Valley Road.

The $1.4 million property, which sits between Squak Mountain to the north and Cedar Hills Landfill to the south, is outside of King County’s Urban Growth Boundary.

The Urban Growth Boundary is a state-mandated area put in place by the county. In an effort to reduce sprawl and preserve open areas, growth is supposed to be concentrated inside the boundary. The Issaquah district straddles the boundary, with students living both inside and outside of it.

Following the logic that suburban sprawl follows new schools, the county last year decided to begin enforcing a 20-year-old regulation forbidding students who live inside the boundary from being served by a school outside the boundary.

For the Issaquah School District, that means the May Valley Road property would be off-limits to many of its students. If the district needs to build a new school, it will have to somehow find the money to buy new urban property to build on, instead of developing the land it bought years ago.

“I am worried about the finances of the crescent districts 20 years from now,” said School Board President Chad Magendanz. Issaquah along with Northshore, Lake Washington, Snoqualmie, Kent and Tahoma school districts are in similar situations, with students inside the boundary and school sites outside. Collectively, they own 18 properties outside of the urban growth boundary.

Magendanz’s worries were echoed at the meeting by the other members of the board. He suggested that the district fight the decision now, and might schedule a closed session on the topic since there may be a lawsuit.

Crawford pointed out the decision doesn’t make the property totally useless. Students from outside the boundary could still go to a school built on the property.

“Attendance population doesn’t stop at the urban growth boundary,” said Crawford. “I think this is realistically a better position than what was headed down the tracks last year.”

Crawford was one of the seven people representing school districts on the 29-person siting task force, which met periodically between December, 2011 and March. The group was formed last fall by the King County Growth Management Planning Council to look for possible compromises to the council’s original proposal, which was even more restrictive.

The group concluded its work March 29. Its recommendations included allowing for the use of sites with an identified immediate need, a chance for some districts to be compensated for properties that don’t have an identified need and flexible redevelopment options for schools that already exist on rural sites.

“Flexible redevelopment options for existing school sites (such as Endeavor, Pacific Cascade, Apollo and Maple Hills) is a key consideration,” Issaquah school district’s CFO Jacob Kuper told the school board in an April 25th email.

This is important, he explained, because normal land use policies say that those sites would be limited to a one-time expansion of only 10 percent.

“In my opinion, it’s not much better,” said Magendanz.

Next, King County Executive Dow Constantine’s office is expected to use the recommendations to propose new county-wide planning policies.

From there the proposal will need to be considered and approved by the Growth Management Planning Council before going to the King County Council for final adoption. All this, according to Kuper’s email, is likely to happen before the end of 2012.

During its April 25 worksession, the school board took the first step of looking at changes to graduation requirements. Any changes the board adopts would first take effect on this year’s seventh graders once they reach high school.

Soon after the discussion started, whether or not to require more science classes became the most pressing issue.

“I think science is very important for our kids,” said Board Member Brian Deagle. In 2011, after state education officials moved back the date when all high school students would be required to pass a biology proficiency exam, Deagle said he was not willing to just drop the requirement that Issaquah school students prove some baseline scientific knowledge prior to graduation.

“I think I have all the information I need to make my decision,” he said at the April 25 work session.

While the state sets the minimum for graduation requirements, individual school systems may set a higher standard.

Board Member Suzanne Weaver said that if changes are made the decision process should include input from parents and suggested that perhaps the board could lean on PTAs to broadcast the conversation. However, the board’s president, Chad Magendanz, warned that he didn’t want it to become an open forum.

“We don’t know that there is no need for community input until we have community input,” said Weaver.

According to district staff, 13 percent of Issaquah students don’t take three credits of science and 8 to10 percent of the total student population takes part in special education classes.

These two sections of the population had several of the school board members concerned over how those teenagers would be affected by additional demands.

The more rigorous we make the graduation requirements, the more support we need to have to help kids that are struggling, said Board Member Marnie Maraldo.

Weaver expressed concern for the amount of pressure that is piled on special education students.

Just like everyone else who wants to go to college they have to take three years of science, four years of English and other requirements, she said. On top of that they also have to take added special education classes.

“You technically don’t have an elective class until senior year,” said Weaver, “and that’s spent on fulfilling Fine Arts.”

“I want to know more about the 13 percent,” said Patrick Murphy, executive director of secondary education.

Weaver said that she forced her son onto the pre-college track and if she could do it all over again, she would have left his schedule more open to electives to see if anything sparked his interest.

“We could have a very production graduate who fulfills the minimum and chooses to focus on other stuff,” said Superintendent Steve Rasmussen. He suggested the board discuss the matter again at the summer retreat.

One thing they did agree on is that if any changes to the graduation requirements are made then they need to preferably be settled by October or November to allow schools time to make the appropriate adjustments to course offerings and class catalogues.

Reporter Lillian Tucker can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242 or ltucker@sammamishreview.com.