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Homework: Is there
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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
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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."