National Guard prevents snow days

Guardsmen and woman rescue roofs from possible collapse

Stesah Laase

Staff Writer

 

    Volunteers from the National Guard braved the cold and long hours of work involved in shoveling the snow off of the roofs of Timberlake High School on Feb. 5-6.

     About twenty men and one woman arrived early on the morning of Feb. 5 and mounted the roof to tackle the great mounds of snow threatening to damage the building. After amazing amounts of snowfall over the preceding weeks, the snow levels had reached dangerous amounts, causing some areas to call a state of emergency. The need for clearing snow from atop buildings was critical, and as a result volunteers arrived at Timberlake to aid in making the school a safer place.

     The National Guard members originated from all over Idaho, from Grangeville north to Sandpoint. One volunteer had a family member that attended Timberlake.

     The volunteers were all generally amicable about the idea of shoveling the snow.

     “We’re here on a volunteer basis. If we minded, we wouldn’t be here,” said Sgt. Nadeu, while enjoying a quick lunch break after four hours of constant work with her fellow volunteers.

     The snow was moved off the roofs and later piled slightly away from the building. While the National Guard had no special technique for snow removal, there was a basic form to the work. Nadeu described how it was done.

     “Get a bunch of people in a line with a shovel and start pushing snow, and pray the guy next to you doesn’t fall,” she said.

     Sarah White, senior, expressed her appreciation for the work of the volunteers. “I thought it was very generous of them to volunteer their own time to help out our school. Without their help, we’d probably have to make up even more snow days.”

     Because other area schools were in need of snow removal as well, the National Guard members moved on to other buildings after clearing those areas in dire need of shoveling. Snow remained on the gymnasium roof, however, so the school elected to offer to pay students and community members over the age of eighteen to resume shoveling snow during the following weekend. Wages went at $15 for every hour of work, and several Timberlake students agreed to spend their weekend helping the school.

     With help from the community as well as citizens from all over the state, hard work and a giving attitude made Timberlake High School a much safer learning environment after such an enormous amount of snowfall. 

THS sees record three snow days in one week

Cierra Olmstead

Staff Writer

 

   On the week of January 28, Timberlake High School experienced three snow days in one week, giving the school an unprecedented total of four snow days for the year.

   During that week, two of the days were taken off as a result of the road conditions and the third was for the removal of snow. The snow had been stacking up on the roofs and there was concern that they would not be able to hold all of that weight. The parking lot was also getting increasingly smaller. When it was plowed, there was no where for the snow to go, so the snow mounds started encroaching on available parking spots. Eventually a whole row was lost.

   On February 13 the Lakeland District School Board held a meeting regarding the two extra snow days. The board voted to make up the missed school days instead of petitioning the state them. They decided that students should go to school on March 28, which would have been a teacher work day, and to add six minutes to the school day. The board made their decision based on the fact that four days of instructional time was gone.

   “No matter what, time was lost and it needs to be made up,” said Mr. Kinsey, district superintendent.

   Another issue was that none of the surrounding districts were petitioning for the missed days. This lessened Timberlake’s chances of getting the extra days. If the state had said no, Timberlake would have had to make up the extra time in June.  

Class learns to appreciate Earth

Brittni Shaffer and Sina Jaeger

Staff Writers

     We have already destroyed half of the original rainforest and at the current rate of destruction (95 acres every minute) Humans will completely eradicate all rainforest by the year 2050. Some other facts about the environment are that it is estimated that 50,000 species in the tropical forests has became extinct each year. That is 137 species a day or 6 species an hour. Also the energy saved from recycling one aluminum can will operate a T.V set for three hours.

     In Mr. Anderson’s environmental class, anyone can learn about the environment and how it is affected. The class takes place during second hour and lasts one semester. There are only seven students in the class at the moment. In order to be eligible to take Environmental Science, a student would have to have passed physical science and biology. 

     It’s common to think that the environment class is like horticulture, but there are many differences. Horticulture is a more a hands-on class, whereas environmental science mixes it up by doing a couple labs and some book work. Recently, the class has gone snowshoeing.  Mr. Anderson spoke about their crazy adventure. They were on their way to observe nature when they had walked right over the fence that surrounds the football field.  He said they could even touch the goal-post.

     Some of Mr. Andersons hopes for the rest of the semester would be to visit a transfer station, landfills, sewage treatment plants, and various outdoor activities.  He would really love to acquire his own piece of property so that his future classes could enjoy doing outdoor experiments.

     “The goal of environmental science is not to make people tree huggers. It’s to develop your appreciation for nature,” said Mr. Anderson.

Futuristic Sleeping Beauty to keep audiences awake

Beverly Shirts

Business Manager

 

     Most people know the traditional fairytale Sleeping Beauty. The next play for the drama class is not only going to be Sleeping Beauty, but a musical with a twist. The theme is futuristic.

      Kaycee Riley and Jaqi Ivy are the directors for this play.

     Riley said, “It’s fun, but it’s a lot of work. It takes a lot of time and commitment to get the songs and lines learned and to get the cast to completely focus on the goals ahead.”

     Instead of having medieval costumes, the costumes will consist of metallic material, fluorescent colors, and other interesting features, she said.

     Jamie Brennan, costume designer for the play said, “We have no futuristic costumes at all, so we have to start from scratch on all of them. They’re going to be really cool looking but right now it’s really difficult to put everything together and make them look futuristic and not cheesy.”

     The reason for choosing this play was to select a play that children would enjoy. Several elementary schools around the area will be attending the play when it shows. The drama class chose the futuristic theme to mix things up a little bit. They said that they have done a lot of fantasy-type plays and they wanted to change the theme to make the play more interesting.

     If you want to check this play out you can see it March 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th at 7:00 pm on the stage in the Timberlake commons.

Svenby receives grant for classroom supplies

     Northwest Professional Educators (NWPE) awarded Lisa Svenby, a first year teacher of English and Yearbook at Timberlake High School, with a New Classroom Start-Up Grant for $250. 

     “These funds will help me set up an optimal learning environment and provide the materials needed to teach most effectively,” remarked Svenby. 

     Northwest Professional Educators (NWPE) is a nonprofit professional educators’ organization focused on students as educators’ highest priority and improving the professionalism of education. 

     “Setting up a new classroom can be expensive and frustrating for the new teacher.  Northwest Professional Educators is happy to provide New Classroom Start-Up grants to support educators like Ms. Svenby who want to provide the best educational program possible,” commented Cindy Omlin, Executive Director of Northwest Professional Educators. 

     Lisa Svenby, a member of Northwest Professional Educators, notes that NWPE provides teachers with security and value and appreciates how it challenges educators to strive to perform better in their field. 

      NWPE welcomes educators of any education entity including teachers, administrators and support staff.  NWPE provides members with legal protection, liability insurance, a voice on education issues, newsletters, and professional development resources.  

Junior Miss debuts April 26th

Anastasia Graham

Business Manager

 

    Junior Miss has begun. With twenty-one girls signed up to show off their talent, poise, and fitness. Last years Junior Miss winner, Laura Olphie, directs the girls as they get ready for judgment day. Other helpers are Amy Nuttel and Cammy Kukenski. Amy works in the poise department and Cammy works in the fitness routine.

    “The girls practice two hours a day, two days a week until it starts to get close to the dead line date, it’s a masquerade.” Olphie added.

    Olphie also said that most of the girls’ talent is dancing.”

    The money raised from paying at the door to get into the Junior Miss will go towards the girl’s scholarship money for college. Junior Miss contestant Kelsey Shacklette’s talent is ballet.

    Shacklette said, “You get to meet new people and show off your talent. I don’t think I’m going to win but it’s a fun experience, and if I do win then I’ll use it (money) towards college.”

     Another Junior Miss contestant is Catlyn Van Winerden. She said, “My talent is dancing, or lyrical. I am learning how to be better in poise.”

    Amy Nuttel, runner-up from last year, helps organize. Nuttel said,

“The girls are amazing. Getting it going is stressful just because all of the snow days we had, but we’re catching up.”

    Junior Miss is scheduled for April 26^th. Come and support your junior girls.

Full house for senior auction

Anastasia Graham

Business Manager

 

    Timberlake Senior parents put on a fundraiser for the senior class party on February 1^st. The event actually turned out to be a hit, pulling out approximately sixteen thousand dollars. Entrance was free at the door, although, dinner and desert had to be paid for. Dinner, which was Caesar salad and lasagna, was served by volunteered seniors. Volunteers wore Black slacks and white dress shirts.

    Popular items that were auctioned off were a signed Steve Young poster, a Labrador puppy, many gift baskets, and three hours of work labor from some senior boys. Alicia Hess won the back and forth bid against Jason Edwards for the Steve Young autograph. It was auctioned to Alicia Hess for four hundred and eighty-five dollars. Kendra Pyles got a basket for creating memories for twenty-five dollars.

    Pyles said, “I think it was a big success.”

    Edwards came out with an apple pie and a shirt for twenty dollars. Edwards said that the event was, “very greatness, phantasmagoric success, and now the senior party’s theme is Olympia.

    This was the second time senior parents put on the auction. It’s hard to say how many people showed up, but the commons was a full house and they ran completely out of food.  

 

Greenhouse going to waste

Anastasia Graham

Business Writer

 

    It takes fifteen students to sign up for an elective class in order for it to be in session. Fifteen students signed up at the end of last year for the Agriculture/Horticulture class. Unfortunately, the class was still not offered this school year. The class is a science elective that involves hands on activities for students. The students tend to plants in the greenhouse that belongs to the school.

    So why isn’t this class offered on Timberlake’s curriculum? The greenhouse needs many things fixed and prepared for students to work in for safety requirements. Mrs. Sandhal, who is interested in taking on the class when ready, says that it would be a ‘nice addition to the curriculum.’ Benches and tables, and the irrigation system needs to be repaired.

    Besides from all of the repairing that needs to be done, the class would have been offered to the many that signed up. The green house is currently being used by teachers who like to get a head start on their plants. Even though the greenhouse is not completely running, the sun keeps it above freezing.

    Mr. Anderson said, “We mainly don’t have the class because we haven’t had enough students to justify a class. It’s a shame that such a nice facility isn’t being used.”

    Also, this year’s freshman will need to have three years of required science by their junior year. The only science elective class that is offered is Environmental science taught by Mr. Anderson.

    “I hope it can be used again for fish, horticulture, and other, but it’s a shame,” said Mr. Anderson. “A $25,000 grant was given to the school for the greenhouse, plus donated materials and it’s just sitting out there.”

   There used to be another teacher who taught it, but she transferred to Lakeland. Having a teacher for the class is no longer an issue now that Mrs. Sandhal is offering to teach it.

     Mrs. Sandhal said, “Teachers starts plants early, like vegetables and flowers. I had some student’s volunteer time in cleaning the greenhouse. So it seems to me that there is some interest.” Students could participate and sign up for the class by just ‘letting them know that it’s available and it’s a hand on science.’

    Mrs. Sandhal doesn’t know if it will be in the curriculum guide for next year but maybe by the freshman’s junior year. It needs some time and work done in there. Once it reaches safety codes, Mrs. Sandhal will take on the class.

Tiger Lilies

Red state turning purple

Kaycie Miller
Copy Editor

 

     For the first time ever, Idaho held its Democratic Caucuses on Super Tuesday, February 5, and the turn-out was phenomenal!  According to the Feb. 9 edition of the Spokesman Review, only about 5,000 voters participated in the 2004 Idaho Democratic Caucus.  This time a few counties actually ran out of ballots and had to send volunteers to get more!  Just in Kootenai County alone about 1,200 voters participated Feb. 5 and in Ada County about 8,290 voters participated.  CNN reported 21,224 voters participating!  Obama won 16,880 of those votes in comparison to the 3,655 votes won by Hillary Clinton.  Obama won 15 of the Idaho delegates tied to the February 5 Caucuses compared to the 3 won by Clinton.* 

     This is huge in a state that generally votes Republican and that is too often stereotyped as racist.  I think that if Obama does end up being the Democratic Party’s nominee he might actually win our state in the general election and that could definitely affect the reputation of our state.  Personally, I hope it does.  Not everybody in Idaho is racist and I don’t think the reputation of our state fairly represents that. 

*Idaho has a total of 23 delegates.  Only 18 of which are tied to the February 5 Caucuses.  The other 5 are superdelegates.

The Last Laugh

Britini Shaffer
Staff Writer