Savanna Reid is one lucky 13-year-old. In two months, the Islander Middle School seventh-grader will be exploring the turquoise waters of the Great Barrier Reef, the prehistoric Daintree Rainforest and the exotic jungles of Tasmania. She will be accompanied by a group of National Geographic Society team members and more than 30 adventurous youth like herself. And she is still getting used to the idea.
Mercer Island High School juniors Michael Rudokas and Alex Tao are preparing a mission to Mars. After proving themselves in “Phase One” of the 2008 Washington Aerospace Scholar (WAS) program, the two teenagers have qualified for a summer residency at the Museum of Flight, where they will design a human mission to Mars with experts in the field.
Lisa Abeyta, the manager at Island Salon and Spa, will spend her two weeks of vacation at an orphanage in Loc Binh, Vietnam. Instead of pampering Island women with manicures, facials and makeup, Abeyta will be caring for children suffering from malaria, leprosy and malnutrition. The work is trying, the hours are long and the living conditions are far from comfortable. But the rewards, according to Abeyta, are invaluable.
For nearly a month now, Manuel Cawaling has been the new executive director of Youth Theatre Northwest. But he is no stranger to the Island’s only production house. Cawaling’s relationship with YTN goes back almost 10 years, to when he directed “The Nightingale” in 1999. Since then, he has directed a number of plays at YTN and has grown close with the theatre team.
Islander Hillary Linton, a junior at Mercer Island High School, has been dancing since she could walk. This weekend, Linton will demonstrate her skills on stage at the Paramount Theater as part of “Dance This,” a showcase of dance styles from across the world. Now in its 10th year, “Dance This” celebrates young dancers from across the Seattle region.
The Island’s only Teddy Bear Camp celebrates its 25th year this summer with songs, colorful baking and games. The summer day camp for 3, 4- and 5-year-olds, which is held at Sunnybeam Preschool, has been directed by Islander Marla Donaldson since the early 1980s. A veteran in child education, Donaldson founded Teddy Bear Camp on the virtues of play.
Walk through the courtyard of Ellsworth House any evening at 7 p.m. and you’ll witness a sanctuary of Chinese culture.
With a lazy black cat sauntering around their feet, a dozen senior residents move gracefully through the archaic steps of tai chi. Traditional Chinese music softens the distant murmur of traffic. A trio of birch trees rustles in the wind. The courtyard is filled with calm.
Islander Naomi Glick, a student at the University of Washington, spent much of July laughing alongside Hollywood actor Robin Williams. The aspiring actress plays a central role in Williams’ latest drama, “World’s Greatest Dad,” an independent film by You Don’t Know Me Productions.
Islanders Robbie Taylor and Ramsey Coles have just returned from the experience of a lifetime; not an entirely good experience, but one they will never forget.
The Blessed Seelos Catholic Church, which braved winds of 96 mph last week as Hurricane Gustav tore through New Orleans, received “minimal damage” during the storm, according to Mercer Island resident and Pipe Organ Foundation President Carl Dodrill.
Teachers from across Bellevue gathered behind picket signs last week, striking in solidarity for higher wages and a more flexible curriculum.
The Mercer Island High School radio station has a new home. For the past four years, KMIH had been teetering on the edge of its FM wavelength, 104.5, nearly pushed off by a bigger Oregon station vying for the same dial number. Because the high school-run radio station was considered a “Class D” educational station, KMIH did not have the commercial clout to defend its long-standing home in the face of competition. And so Nick DeVogel, director of the MIHS radio station, turned to professionals for help.
It’s an overly used cliché that each graduating class is unique. More so that each has its own personality. Needless to say, both are true for the Class of 2008.
Clichés aside, this year’s group of graduating seniors is unique in more than one way. With nearly 380 students, it is the largest senior class to walk the hallways of MIHS in decades. It is the first class in Island history to pilot — and complete — the state-imposed Culminating Project. It is the first class to fulfill three WASL requirements: math, reading and writing. And it is the first class, faced with this heap of academic obstacles, to succeed.
