Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2007)
•m.% S Ô K - , Ii£ ; - 7 - Homework: Is there too much? Students and staff say goodbye to beloved English Teacher. - page 3 - page 7 Taylor Brooke brings home All-State honors in soccer. Pick your O scar favoriti page 15 ------------------------— page 19 - page 16 „— — Official Student Publication of West Linn High School Published Since 1921 Craigslist: a great tool to help you sell yourjunk, find a job or buy a car. February 2007 - Volume 95, Issue 4 Niswanger reaches Grammy Band status a M argaret A dams ____________ Within four days, Hailey Niswanger, junior, is going to be tearing it up on the red carpet with Rihanna and Young Jeezy. Niswanger auditioned for, and scored, one of two spots for alto saxophone in the distinguished Gibson/ Baldwin Grammy Jazz Band. No big deal. Niswanger plays a total of seven instruments: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet, baritone saxophone, piano, accordion and most recently, the flute. She had to learn to play the flute specifically for a couple of songs for the Grammy gig. "It's still really hard for me," Niswanger said of ever had in all 25 years of teaching, without a doubt. She sounds like a pro," Jeff Cumpston, band teacher, said. Grammy Band is made up of 18 high school students from all over the United States and Canada. The band plays at Grammy events, before and after the award ceremony. She will arrive in Los Angeles on Feb. 3 for rehearsals, performances (at The Catalina Bar and Grill...just the hottest jazz club in LA) and recording. The band her newly acquired skill. will be producing j^ v a n g e r practices her music iS R 'een four and seven hours everyday and she loves it. "Hailey is the most talented jazz saxophone player I’ve a CD at Capitol Records (Snoop Dogg, Megadeath, MC Hammer, Telepopmusik and Staff Reporter Hailey Niswanger, junior, performs a solo on her alto saxophone at the American Music Program Benefit at Mt. Hood Community College held in January. The benefit was put on to raise money for the band to travel to N ew York City to perform at the International Association for Jazz Convention. Photo submitted by Patti Niswanger Staff, student holiday donations increase u S ydney M ac N aughtqn _______ This drive m ainly Staff Reporter focused on toys for the children. There is a A t least three charities possibility that there w ill be benefited from the recent other drives for the A nnie gifts donated by W est Linn Ross H ouse later in the students and staff during spring. the past tw o m onths. Toys A bby's C loset helps and food w ere donated to teen w om en w ithout a lot needy fam ilies in C lackam as of m oney live their dream s County, and form al dresses and attend prom , or other are being collected to m ake form al dances. The dresses Prom dream s com e true. w ere collected from Dec. 11 The G iving Tree toy - Jan. 26. A s of Jan. 12, five drive ran from the end of dresses have been collected. Thanksgiving break to the "A lot of girls go to Prom last day before w inter break. and W inter Ball at our A tree in the library donated school, and only w ear their by Victoria Bechtold, senior, dress once. Instead of letting held ornam ents that listed a nice dress sit in the closet, the holiday w ishes of donate it so that other girls children. The A ssociative can have the sam e am ount Student Body and M ario of fun as us," D enise Schw arz, adviser, has run G riffith, senior and A bby's C loset coordinator, said. G riffith decided to coordinate the drive because she w anted to get involved in a specific organization, and som ething that benefits people her age. A new coordinator is needed for next year. Gifts are piled high with donations after students and staff made donations C ontact Schw arz for ¿ ^ T ie Giving Tree toy drive. Toys donated were given to homeless children m ore inform ation. • d i n g at the Annie Ross House. the drive at W LH S for five years. The children that benefited from the toy drive reside at the A nnie Ross H ouse. It is the only shelter in C lackam as C ounty that keeps fam ilies together, w ithout separating the m en from the w om en and children. "There w as a very generous show ing of support from the student body," Schw arz, said. "I am pleased to know that the students gave so m uch to fam ilies in need during the holiday season." Schw arz estim ated that people donated about five tim es as m any toys as last year. Photo by Mario Schwarz Ice Cube are signed with Capitol). Feb. 11 is the big night— the 49th Annual Grammy Awards. Yes, she gets to walk the red carpet with the entire music industry; yes, she gets to sit among the entire music industry; no, she's not making ridiculous bank. Technically, she's not receiving any cash money. "It's basically just an honor," Niswanger said. In the music industry, apparently honor means scholarships and acceptance letters. There are four different colleges (Berklee College of Music (Boston), The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music (Manhattan), University of Southern California and Manhattan School of Music) that sponsor the Grammy band and give out some two million dollars in scholarships to the young musicians in the band. "I haven't even applied for colleges yet but I'm already getting accepted into top music schools," Niswanger said. She's been accepted to The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in Manhattan, but she is keeping her options open and looking at a variety of schools. In February, Niswanger will only be in school for about nine days due to her arduous schedule. Three days after she returns from the Grammy's, she'll be performing around Portland with the All Northwest Honor Jazz Band. Then she's heading to Idaho for the Lionel Hampton competition with the Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra. End of school year extended u L exi W elp _________________ Staff Reporter A blanket of white now and ice covered West Linn for three days, Jan. 16-18, and when combined with the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, gave students and staff a one day school week. Administrators then had to wrestle with how to meet state standards for school attendance and what to do about Finals Week which was to be held Jan. 30-Feb. 1. A d m inistrators, based on scheduling conflicts, chose to keep the original Finals schedule causing concern from students who lost instruction and project time. "I can't finish my website project on time because of the snow days. I'm really mad because it was something I really wanted to do and could only do it at school," Stephen Campa, freshman. The school year was scheduled to end on Fri., June 15. To make up for the snow days, three days have been added on to the end of the year, extending it to June 20. Seniors do not have to make up any snow days at the end of the year, however. Snow falls in the Senior Lot a week before the snow days, giving students a preview of what was coming. Luckily for these seniors, the snow days won't affect their last day of school. For the rest of the students, however, three days of school have been added at the end of the year. Photo by Colton Reyes The teacher work day that was supposed to be on June 18 has been moved to June 21. "Every year, we plan for three school closure days that can be added to the end of the school year," said Roger Woehl, Superintendent. "We always hope that we don't have to use them, but this year our planning paid off when we needed it."
