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By Lillian O’Rorke

Matthew McSweeney spends a lot of time on the computer. So when the senior at Skyline High School failed geometry last year, his parents suggested he give the class another go, but this time online. Fast-forward to fall semester and McSweeney is less than half way through his online course but is already three weeks ahead in the material.

“Some people think it’s hard, but for me I think it’s easier because I just learn better through a computer,” he said.

He noted that he has a hard time concentrating in class because it’s hard to ignore all the other things going on around him. “So instead, I can work at home and not have to hear other students, and it’s more personal.”

Online learning is becom-ing more and more widespread in the Issaquah School District. Some district officials hail the extra opportunities it gives stu-dents. There are some, however, who say students miss out on educational opportunities when they don’t go to more traditional classes.

How it works

McSweeney is one of a group of around 16 students that meet

after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Skyline’s library to work on their online cours-es. Skyline requires its online students who don’t have outside support, like a tutor, to attend these sessions. This way Marianne Kaluza, who oversees the program for the entire district, and educa-tion assistant Kathi Eide can answer questions and monitor their progress.

“Knowing they have to be here two days a week slows the procrastination process,” said Eide, who is a fan of the online option. “What I like about it is that it’s easily accessible.”

Skyline students count for about half of the 182 students across the Issaquah School District that are currently

enrolled in an online course. Virtually all of the students are in high school — only seven are middle school students. Liberty High School has 58 students enrolled; 32 from Issaquah High School are taking the courses online, and Tiger Mountain Community High School has two.

At Liberty, students can use one of their eight periods to work on their online course in a computer lab set aside for this purpose with a specialty-trained education assistant on hand.

There are two main reasons students at Liberty take online courses, said Martin, to study

things that are not offered or to earn credits in classes they didn’t do so well in before.

“This has given them an opportunity to show that improvement and continue learn-ing, and continue growing,” said Sean Martin, Liberty’s vice prin-cipal.

The district began offering online courses in the fall of 2010. The intent, explained Kaluza, was to provide students with more learning options. At that time, 13 students signed up. Two years later hundreds have taken advantage of online courses.

“You can see our trend is very much increasing,” said Kaluza at the Sept. 25 Issaquah School Board meeting, where she spoke about the rising online participa-tion. “The word is out – students are engaged.”

Taking courses online appeals to different students for a vari-ety of reasons, she said in an email. For example, IB/AP stu-dents have freed space in their schedule by taking the online Health/P.E. course that can be completed during the summer or outside of school hours. Last year, 173 students took advantage of this option.

Aside from the district’s own online health class, the courses

COMMUNITY8 l October 24, 2012 SAMMAMISH REVIEW

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By Lillian O’Rorke

A week after President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney have hung up their debate caps, another political contest will take place on the pla-teau when six local students will argue both party’s perspectives on national issues.

The mock presidential debate, put on by students from Inglewood Junior High and at the new Lake Washington district STEM school, is set to take place from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Sammamish Library.

The debate will be split into six parts, allowing the audience to get both the Republican and Democrat view on health care, foreign policy and the economy.

To prepare, the students have spent the last month researching their topic and candidate, writing arguments and practicing deliv-ering their debate points to the group.

“It helps us learn a little more about the presidential candidates and what’s going on in the coun-try right now. And what we’re not totally exposed to,” said Vibha

Vadlamani. The freshman at Lake Washington School District’s STEM school, which is currently housed at Eastlake High School,

is set to present Romney’s view-point on foreign policy.

During her time at the podi-um, Vibha plans to talk about the

United Nations, caring for veter-ans and the threat of Iran. She also has planned an argument for increased military spending.

“Lack of better weapons has made our military seem weak,” she said in her speech. “We must spend however much it takes to keep our military, country and people safe.”

Vibha’s counterpart in the debate is classmate Prajwala Mantha. Representing the presi-dent on the topic of foreign poli-cy, Prajwala has chosen to focus on instability in the European Union and learning from the war in Iraq.

“To begin changing the future we must first look at what mis-takes have been committed in the past that have wasted both lives and resources from every side,” she said during debate practice.

Deciding what issue they would speak about and which candidate they would represent, was left up to chance and done randomly by pulling pieces of paper out of a hat.

Liam Bigbee, a sixth grade student at Inglewood Middle School, ended up with the role of Romney on healthcare. To form

Photo by Lillian O’RorkeThe mock debate group, made up of students from Inglewood Middle School and the STEM school have met for the last four Sunday’s to practice their political arguments.

Students tackle the issues in mock presidential debate

See DEBATE, Page 9

Photo by Lillian O’RorkeMatthew McSweeney, 17, works at his online math course after school at Skyline and says he finds math easier now that he’s learning about it online.

More and more students are enrolling in online courses

See ONLINE, Page 9

By John Leggett

Whatever Skyline heard dur-ing halftime of their Oct. 19 game against Issaquah, must have got-ten their attention.

After scoring only a single touchdown during the first half, the gritty green and white war-riors of Skyline returned to their usual dominating selves, bringing the partisan crowd to its feet on more than one occasion.

Time of possession was lop-sided in favor of the Spartans to say the least as they hogged the pigskin for 20 of the 24 second half minutes.

Issaquah’s primary source of offensive output, junior running back Jack Gellatly, rolled up his customary 100 plus yards on the ground, but ran unencumbered only between the 20s as Issaquah failed to approach kicker Alex Shane’s field goal range.

“We just aren’t a good enough

team yet to overcome mental mistakes, turnovers, or other impediments along the way, especially against a team like Skyline,” said affable Issaquah coach Chris Bennett.

Bennett quickly added that Eagle followers needed to realize that neighboring Skyline is not unbeaten by accident.

“You’ve got to remember that Skyline is a well-coached, disci-plined and fundamentally sound football team that has been blow-ing its enemies out all season long. Unless I am mistaken…I don’t think that any other team they’ve played this season has held them to seven points in the first half,” Bennett said.

Holding on to the ball was key to victory, according to Skyline coach Mat Taylor.

“I really feel like the drive we managed during our initial possession in the first quarter, capped off by the Browne two

yard touchdown plunge, and the drive right after halftime, were

instrumental in tonight’s triumph over Issaquah,” said Taylor, who

sports12 l October 24, 2012 SAMMAMISH REVIEW

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By Lillian O’Rorke

The plateau had a strong showing at Lincoln Park in West Seattle Oct. 18, where 774 high school athletes gathered for the KingCo 4A cross country league championships.

With the Eastlake Wolves boys team finishing in second place and the girls rounding out in third and the Skyline Spartans boys team taking sixth and its girls team in seventh place, both plateau schools are advancing to the bi-district meet.

Of the championship’s 11 competing teams, only eight made the cut. The Eastlake boys made the cut last year when they secured fourth place for the best boys finish in the team’s history. The boys made history again this year by taking second.

“In cross country, they run as individuals and there are indi-vidual awards. But the awards that all the coaches really focus on, and the fan focus on, are the team awards,” said head coach Troy Anderson. “The glory is really where the team’s at. So that’s what we’ve been pushing for all season.”

The Wolves were bumped up to silver status when six of its seven varsity runners finished in the top 40. Jordan Oldenburg came in seventh place with a time of 16 minutes and 0.5 sec-

onds to claim Eastlake’s high-est individual finish at KingCo since 1998. Kyle Suver took 13th with 16:17.8; Caleb Olson got

16th with 16:19.7; in 21st was Josh Caile at 16:23.6; Nathan Pixler took 35th with 16:40.3 and Dylan Cole finished in 37th with

a time of 16:40.3. “We have a really tight pack

with our guys,” said Anderson, adding the usual time difference

between the team’s No. 1 runner and No. 5 is about 25 seconds. “The boys ran awesome today – and they can run better, which is what’s really cool. A couple of the guys had a couple off days and some other guys stepped up. Top five from districts go on to state and we are right there in the fight for that so it will be fun to see what happens.”

Eastlake’s top girls also packed together to push and pull each other along. And it worked. Anastasia Kosykh took 15th with 19:22.4; Olivia Latham was close behind in 16th at 19:28.0 and in 19th place was Devon Bortfeld at 19:43.7.

“My start was actually really good. My first mile was exactly what I wanted it to be,” said Latham. “I was pushing myself but still leaving stuff for the end.”

During the race, Latham said Kosykh stayed right behind her and then in the final 400 meters, the two ran beside each other before Kosykh pulled ahead in the sprint for the finish.

“She’s really supportive and she pulled me along for the last 400,” said Latham.

It’s been a season of recovery for Kosykh, who was out for 10 months with an injury.

“It was definitely really frus-trating, but I had a lot of people

Photo by Lillian O’RorkeJordan Oldenburg crossed the finish line in 16:00.5 to claim seventh place at the KingCo 4A cross country championships.

Strong performance sends cross country teams to districts

See RUN, Page 13

Skyline football blanks Issaquah

By Greg FarrarTrevor Barney, Skyline senior wide receiver, puts an arm up while Issaquah senior cornerback Kyle Thomas moves in for the tackle.

See FOOTBALL, Page 13