The Horizon, December 2013 , Issue 2 , Volume XVII

TheHORIZON

E v a l u a t e t h e e d u c a t o r s

H IN THIS ISSUE OF TheHorizon

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Volume XVII/ Issue 2/ December 19, 2013 / 1300 NW 139th St. Vancouver, WA 98685

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Storming T H E M O U N T A I N

employed students:

destinations for december

time to suit up

Setting up for successStudents entering the world of employment

Jackson Smith relaxes in his room while his 3-D printer makes a custom GoPro mount behind him. He is confident enough in its calibration to leave the machine working by itself. 3-D printing has been Smith’s interest for quite a while now; he did a lot of research on the topic before purchasing a DIY kit, and being hired by XS’s Ink for printer assembly. “It is a newfound hobby of mine, there’s nothing much cooler than building 3-D printers for a living,” said Smith.

MAX HUSKINS

News 2

On an early morning at the Burnt Bridge Cellars, he stood soaked in fresh wine,

Smith had forgotten to slowly remove the top of a barrel which caused the alcohol to evaporate and create a vacuum, and so it shot about 10 feet in the air before landing on him. This is one of many anecdotes in life of senior Jackson Smith as he helps his dad at work.

Skyview students are already en-gaged in the world of employment; they have jobs in a variety of places, like fast food, the mall, a farm, or some are even self employed. Even though the economic stability of United States has shifted and more adults are competing with teens for entry level or minimum wage jobs, students can still get jobs, or even two in the case of Smith.

Current employers look for “soft skills” in employees. Soft skills are personal attributes that enable some-one to interact effectively and harmo-niously with other people. They make a new employee more successful; the top 3 most desired skills are com-munication, a professional attitude and enthusiasm. If an employee has these soft skills they are more likely to get along with others, including customers.

“If a teenager worker can demon-strate these skills in an interview, they will get a job. Unfortunately there are many stories of teenagers showing up for an interview dressed in torn jeans, flip flops, sloppy hoodies, hats on, chewing gum, poor posture and even texting. Again this behavior might be ok in some classrooms, but won’t land you a job,” career specialist Chris Erdman said.

According to Erdman the most interesting jobs that Skyview students have are successful businesses they’ve started themselves, a category that most students don’t think seriously

about. It takes a lot of work to start a business, but entrepreneurship is a possibility, even for a teenager.

“I got the job because I bought a 3D printer kit from DIY Tech Shop also known as XS’S Ink. They were impressed by how quickly I got it running and offered me a job build-ing printers for them,“ Smith said.

He received his other job as a lab tech and sales associate at Burnt Bridge Cellars winery from his father who is one of the owners of the winery.

“It’s very scientific and it’s a really good experience for me,” Smith said.

His duties include running lab tests on the wine, and to make sure they are moving smoothly through various phases of the production. He also tests for different things like acidity and sulfur content and pours wine for guests.

“Running a lab test perfectly the first time and seeing all the values where you want them to be is the best part of the job,” Smith said. “ I do it because my dad needs the help.”

Other students at Skyview have a variety of jobs. For example senior Kelsey Hidalgo is a Jamba Juice safety instructor, senior Rebekah Martorano is a Kohls Associate, and senior Jacinda Hawkins is a sales associate at Baskin Robbins. Senior Maddie Smith works at Anderson glass.

“In the future I would like to be a cancer treatment nurse. I just want to have something that I can look back to and know I have made a differ-ence,“ Maddie Smith said.

Most students have said that they will stay at their current job until they go to college and then plan to pursue their dream jobs after that.

“I would really love to work for NASA or Space-X someday,” Smith said. “Spacecraft engineering sounds awesome.”

by Max Huskins Reporter

“A” for effortHow the state of Washington is improving the quality of our teachers

Opinion 3

StaffEditor in Chief................................................................................Macey BurtManaging Editor..........................................................................Briana DiehlPhoto Manager.............................................................................Austin TilleyOpinion & News Editor.....................................................Vanderson LangjahrFeatures Editor........................................................................Michelle ChangArts and Entertainment Editor................................................Madison GravesSports Editor.................................................................................Allison FordReporters......................................................................................Sage Ferrell................................................................................................... Max Huskins..........................................................................................................Eriq King...................................................................................................Mileena Polk...............................................................................................Makena WatsonInterns.........................................................................................Selina Cairel..................................................................................................Sarah Durmaz......................................................................................................Tanner Kee...........................................................................................Shannon Korsgren ..............................................................................................Mirjeta Livoreka......................................................................................................Lizzy RoweAdviser.........................................................................................Lydia Brooks

Mission Statement and Editorial Policy

The mission of the Horizon is to communicate information in an ethical manner, convey impactful stories, and create strong leadership skills for the purpose of increasing our readers’ perspectives by combining the might of a skilled staff whose diverse abilities are used to actively find and convey the truth.

We will strive to:

Report the news accurately, objectively, fully and in depth, avoiding the publica-tion of rumor, gossip or innuendo

Meet professional journalism standards.Provide a platform for the exchange of ideas. The newspaper reserves the right to

edit letters for grammar, inappropriate content, obscenity, violation of federal, state or local laws and District or School policy or space considerations. We also reserves the right not to print a letter.

Provide leadership by presenting a major editorial in each issue, which will be unsigned and represent the opinion of the staff. Other commentary will be signed and as such, would represent only the opinion of the author. Reviews will be considered signed commentary.

Cooperate fully with the administration, faculty and student body in supporting school projects and activities and offer constructive criticism when appropriate.

Give full credit for material that is not original.Acknowledge significant mistakes, and correct any major errors that are brought

to the attention of the staff.Use the most effective style of expression, based upon the Associated Press

Stylebook.The newspaper will not endorse political candidates nor accept political advertis-

ing.The Horizon reserves the right to refuse any advertising inappropriate for the age

group of its readers.Skyview High School is not an open forum as defined by the US Supreme

Court case, Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. Administration reserves the right to exercise prior review including removal of content and advertisements before publication. Control of publishing and distribution of student materials by the administration will be confined to standards necessary to protect the orderly process of education and standards of responsible journalism.

MAX HUSKINS

Days go by as students stare at a classroom clock. Time is wasted.

Time that could have been used to educate these students is instead used to pay an ineffective teacher. As the teacher writes illegibly on a whiteboard and has a student disseminate worksheets assembled from various internet sources, students begin to ques-tion this teacher’s presence in the classroom.

Classrooms like this can oper-ate more efficiently without a teacher, as students in classes like this depend on the inter-net, classmates, and books to learn their curricula. Ineffective teachers should not be kept in the classroom, and the state of Washington recognizes this. Changes in teacher evaluations in Washington will greatly im-prove the quality of its teachers and the growth of its students.

Last year, according to the State Teacher Policy Yearbook by the National Council on Teacher Quality, Washington has been lacking in several key areas that are essential to teacher qual-ity; these areas include delivering well-prepared teachers, identify-ing effective teachers, retaining effective teachers, and exiting ineffective teachers. However, this year Washington state law is requiring public schools to implement a new evaluation system, one that is centered around the improvement of

teachers and administration. The 5D+™ evaluation system, which was created by the Uni-versity of Washington’s Center for Educational Leadership, will help to identify and retain effec-tive teachers, and will also help to exit teachers who are found ineffective in the classroom over a long period of time.

“It’s not about firing teachers,” principal Kim Tyelyn-Carlson said. “It’s about the collective growth of teachers and adminis-tration.”

It can be very difficult to objectively evaluate teach-ers; however, the instructional framework created by the Center for Educational Leadership has a very coherent and objective structure. The evaluation system is an improvement upon the previous model used by Vancou-ver Public Schools, as it defines teachers as unsatisfactory, basic, proficient, or distinguished in five core elements, rather than the old system, that determined them satisfactory or unsatisfac-tory overall. Student growth is an important part of the evaluation process, and student input may also be included in the future. Teachers will be trained in the areas in which they need improvement, and will observe teachers that are distinguished in those areas. This alignment of professional development and evaluation findings is an essential part of retaining effective teach-ers according to the NCTQ.

Teachers that are found un-satisfactory have many chances to prove themselves satisfactory and will receive assistance from administration. If those same teachers that continually receive unsatisfactory ratings for two years in a row and have five or more years of teaching experi-

ence, they will be discharged. As stated in Washington State law, when a teacher receives a notifi-cation of discharge, the teacher is then granted the opportu-nity for a hearing to determine whether or not there is sufficient cause for his or her discharge. Although some may argue that this process is too long and expensive to be effective, it is needed to ensure that a teacher is discharged for an adequate cause.

Although teachers will be discharged for ineffectiveness in the classroom, in cases of lay-offs, teachers with seniority are less likely to be fired. Teachers with seniority also receive special leave benefits and other benefits according to the Washington State law.

Teachers should not receive special benefits for teaching for a longer period of time than others; it should be based upon their evaluation results and the growth of their students.

The quality of teachers in Washington will increase because of the new evaluation system that is being implemented this year, but there is still room for improvement. Districts must ensure that teacher evaluation re-sults determine professional de-velopment needs and activities, and should develop a compensa-tion structure that recognizes teachers for their effectiveness, as this will create incentive for teachers to improve upon their teaching methods. Teachers that are continually found to be ineffective in the classroom must be discharged to ensure students are receiving the education they deserve.

by Vanderson Langjahr Editor

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How to get over winter break boredomSilent Night?

Vancouver

Skyview students voted on their favorite places to visit in the Vancouver/Portland area. When boredom kicks in over break, try out some of these spots. Below is a map with markers indicating the location of each suggested place to visit.

The Source is an easy, quick, and enjoyable place to go rock climbing because of friendly service, colorful walls and energetic atmosphere. There is traditional rock climbing where someone belays for the climber and there is automatic climbing where a machine will automatically belay the climber. The walls have different difficulty levels, an excellent challenge for an ambitious person.

The Source Climbing Center1118 Main St, Vancouver, WA 98660

VancouverLake

KIGGINS

Buffalo Wild Wings is a lively and pleas-ant place to go. Sauces from a mildly sweet BBQ to a spicy “Blazin’ hot sauce” can be paired with the traditional New-York style wings or boneless wings. In addition, there are TVs in every corner of the restaurant that show sports.

Buffalo Wild Wings97704 NE 5th Ave, Vancouver, WA 98665

Kiggins Theatre is a cheap place to view all kinds of movies. Movie tickets are sold at a low price throughout the year. Students can come here to see a movie they missed in theatres for a much lower cost. In addition to lower costs, Kiggins also has cozy theaters and great concessions.

Kiggins Theater1011 Main St, Vancouver, WA 98660

Students can test their balance and try to stay up-right while skating at Golden Skate, a roller skating rink with a laser tag room and a snack booth. Glide across the floor and try skating with friends. There are skates for rent and skate lessons to learn how to skate like a pro. Popular music is played while everyone skates.

Golden Skate4915 E 4th Plain Blvd, Vancouver, WA 98661

by Lizzy Rowe, Eriq King, Sarah Durmaz Reporters

GOLDEN SKATE

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Portland

Salt & Straw Ice Cream is filled with unique, hand-crafted flavors, using local and all-natural dairy products. Some examples of their holiday flavors are Peppermint Cocoa, Roasted Chestnuts, Figgy Pudding and Candied Pecans.

Salt & Straw Ice Cream

OPEN

Waffle Window sells handmade Portland style sugar waffles using premium local and seasonal ingredients set in a fun and playful atmosphere. Chocolate Dipped, Hot Apple Pie and Banana Caramel Sunday Waffles are just some of many waffles served at Waffle Window.

The Waffle Window3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR 97214

2035 NE Alberta St, Portland, OR 97211838 NW 23rd Ave Portland, OR 97210

During the winter, Winter Wonderland Holiday Light Show at PIR displays a large variety of lights and animations. Drive, walk or ride a bus to see the holiday lights. While going around the track, PIR will provide you with a Christmas music CD for the ride.

Portland International RacewayNorth Victory Boulevard, Portland, OR 97217

Willamette River

Powell’s Books is a book lover’s utopia, it is the largest new and used bookstore in the world. Occupying the whole city block, Powell’s stocks more than a million new and used books here, great for students to work on research papers and projects. The rooms are color coded by topic; this is a great place to explore any interest.

Powell’s City of Books1005 W Burnside Street, Portland, OR 97209

OMSI

OMSI is a place for new experiences. Their events range from laser light shows, star parties, science Pubs, and OMSI After Dark. Submarine tours are available daily starting at 9:50 a.m. from Tuesday through Sunday. The current exhibition is Sherlock Holmes, ending Jan. 5, 2014.

OMSI1945 SE Water Ave, Portland, OR 97214

GRAPHICS BY MICHELLE CHANG

CITY OF BOOKS

POWELLS

Burnside St.

It’s 5:00 pm on Mount Hood, in below freezing weather, the sun manages to shine through the sky giving the illusion the mountain is completely purple. Senior Skyler

Piper comes speeding up to the lip of the jump, focusing hard on where he is going to land knowing any little slip could affect where he lands or what he is going to land on.

In the Portland metro area there are many schools that have mountain clubs. Sunset High School, Lincoln High School, and Wilson High School all have either a Snow-boarding or Skiing club. Skyview’s winter sports consist of boys basketball, girls basketball, wrestling, gymnastics, boys swimming, cheer, color guard, and bowling, there are no mountain sports.

Piper is one of many Skyview students who enjoys going to the mountains to snowboard. He likes the idea of having mountain sports as an option for students at Skyview, but he thinks it could become a problem with transportation.

“The things that would be difficult about it would be that probably the overall cost of finding a way of getting the students to the mountain and finding a coach because you definitely would need a coach for the sport in order to do that,” Piper said.

Activities director Jim Gray says the reason we don’t have ski or snowboarding sports is because the WIA (the state’s

governing body for athletics) does not sanction mountain sports. Gray says we could have a club ( like Columbia River does) but no one has come forth and started one. Schools in the Washington and Portland area that have mountain sports, consider their mountain sports clubs. Columbia River’s Ath-letic Director Tony Liberatore had an explanation for this.

“For ASB purposes the snowboarding and ski group is called a ‘club’ because first they don’t compete against other schools and second, being an official club they have some ASB privileges like fund raising. It’s a group of kids, with a teacher advisor, who pool their money to get to the moun-tain. It’s more of a legal distinction than athletic,” Liberatore said.

Gray thinks having mountain sports would be a great idea but believes there are positives and negatives that must be taken into consideration if Skyview is to have mountain sports.

“Well first you would have the opportunity for kids to do something to get together after school, it’s active, you are outside and you can do all kinds of team building exercis-es. It would be great for the school just to have another opportunity for kids to show their school spirit if you wore Skyview stuff up to the mountain. The only drawbacks could be it is fairly expensive and we are a little bit of a distance

from the mountain, with transportation costs and leadership costs with who is going to run the program, who’s going to follow through, you have to set up a charter and all of that stuff. But I think the positives would definitely outweigh the negatives and it’s a great idea,” Gray said.

According to Skyview junior Sydney Wastradowski many students at Skyview would like the opportunity to have mountain sports. Wastradowski likes to snowboard on Mount Hood and would love the opportunity to go up to the mountain through the school.

“My parents hate driving up to the mountain, especially with a whole bunch of friends just because it’s kind of like a rougher drive and it’s windy, but I feel like it’s really fun when you go up there,” Wastrodowski said.

Piper had some helpful advice for people that wanted to get involved in mountain sports.

“The advice I would give would be the best way to get into snowboarding or Mt sports would be go with a group of friends or check out some of the lessons that are offered. It’s more fun when you go up with a group of friends. You can stay up there all day and just have this great feeling of lack of stress and freedom of expression,” Piper said.

by Allison Ford Editor and Shannon Korsgren Reporter

The mountain issueStudents explore the idea of having a ski and snow boarding club

Skyler Piper (right) is going to Mount Hood to snowboard with his friends Mason Davies (center) and Craig Dobbins (left). Piper has been snowboarding since he was seven years old. Piper is getting ready to ride the ski lift up the mountain and then shred a black diamond slope.

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TheHORIZONDo the earth a favor and recycle this issue when you’re finished reading

Features 8

Sophomore Kyla Craig supports two parents diagnosed with cancer

Supporting the fightby Michelle Chang Editor

ART BY JESSICA LEE

She felt good when she shaved her head.It wasn’t for a new daring haircut. She wasn’t for following a new trend. She

cut off her long locks of hair to support her mom, who was diagnosed with cancerous tumors on her neck and kidney.

“I shaved my head because I saw how chemotherapy was affecting my mom. I wanted her to feel like she was supported. I didn’t want her to feel like she was fighting it alone,” sophomore Kyla Craig said.

On Aug. 4, 2012, Craig found out that her mother, Sherry Frost, had cancerous tumors on the back of her neck and the kidney. Just three months before, Craig was struck with the news that her stepmother, Larissa Craig, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Craig coped with the situation to the best of her abilities; she supported her mom and step-mom throughout their cancer treatment.

“You hear cancer stories everyday about people not surviving. You don’t really find out, you don’t really pay attention to people who do survive because there are so many people who don’t. I was really worried and praying all I could,” Craig said.

Her effort to support her mom did not stop with prayer; Craig took trips with Frost to doctor’s appointments at Legacy Health, holding her hand, making her laugh, and keeping her mind off of cancer.

“For some time, I was very depressed. I tried to focus on what I had to do to get better instead of what could happen,” Frost said. “What could happen wasn’t an op-tion and I had to get better.”

The many side effects of chemo-therapy left Frost vomiting in the bathroom each time after treat-ment. Craig described helping her mom through the pain; rubbing her

back gently and pushing her hair out of the way. Craig’s grandmother and father Daryll Craig were also there as support. Daryll Craig listened to Frost talk, while her grand-mother cooked for Frost and made sure she had enough rest.

“It made me realize only a fraction of what cancer patients go through. It made me more understanding of how people can feel going through cancer treatments,” Craig said.

Larissa Craig discovered her diagnosis on a sunny Tuesday afternoon in early May 2012. She was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer a few months before Frost’s diagno-sis.

“I think I scared my doctor because of my lack of huge emotional response,” Larissa Craig said. “ I didn’t cry; I didn’t scream; I didn’t say, ‘why me?’. I just took a breath and said, ‘Let’s do what we’ve got to do’.”

Larissa Craig opened a jewelry store in Oct. 2012 on Etsy.com called Oracle Moon Jewelry, which sells handmade pieces like necklaces, rings, and steam punk hats. Her website was designed to raise awareness for cancer as well as cover the cost of her medi-

cal bills.“The act of

making jewelry is like therapy for me,” Lar-issa Craig said. “I couldn’t control how many bill collectors we had, I couldn’t control that the radiation burns were hurting me but I could take that bead and put it on that wire, and I could control beautiful things that I make. It takes a little bit of the helplessness away.”

For Larissa Craig, cancer was not some-thing new. Before her breast cancer diagnosis last May, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma when she was a 20-year-old col-lege student.

“It was traumatizing the first time. It’s like the whole universe just got really, really small,” Larissa Craig said.

Throughout the difficult time, Craig helped support her family.

“I would go to my stepmom’s once a week to help clean up and take care of my half- sister, Violet. It’s stressful, but I’m able to handle it. I prefer helping over being use-less,” Craig said.

At the same time, Frost relied on Craig to keep her fear at bay.

“It was very difficult. I was scared. I was terrified,” Frost said. “I relied a lot on Kyla because I can talk to her about how I was feeling. My family was there to just to talk and work out the feelings; I was grateful.”

Like Frost, Larissa Craig is thankful and happy for the support she received. Craig’s act of shaving her head was especially touch-ing to Larissa Craig.

“She was a little ray of sunshine in my world,” Larissa Craig said. “People were showing their support emotionally and acknowledging it; they told me that although I can’t do the cancer treatment with you, but I can be here.”

Larissa Craig not only received support from family, but also online. She posted pictures of her mastectomy on facebook to raise cancer awareness.

“It was very humbling to get all the praise sent to me. People need to see the truth behind breast cancer,” Larissa Craig said.

There are several ways to support cancer patients and cancer survivors. According to American Cancer Society, some ways to support a friend or family member going through cancer is to call, text, or e-mail short messages; go for short periodic visits; engage them in friendly conversations; and offer to do errands such as grocery shopping.

“I’m never happy that people go through cancer, because it’s hard. It’s terrible; how-ever, I’m happy that it’s happened to me. It’s

one of the best things that have happened to me,” Larissa Craig said. “There is a les-son in everything, even if it hurts. You learn something very powerful, some-thing very positive, even in tragedies.”