Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2007)
7 Featured Local Events, Groups and People Sherman retires after 16 years of fulfilling career a K ate T olan _______________ Staff Reporter Jill Sherman, English teacher, will not be returning after the semester. After 19 years of teaching, 16 of them at West Linn, Sherman has decided to retire due to personal reasons. It wasn't until college that she realized her love for literature could be combined with her enjoyment of school into a career in teaching. She attended Wheaton College in Illinois and finished her education at Lewis & Clark College. Sherman married her husband, Paul, in her senior year of college and began teaching immediately after graduating. Three years later, she had her first child. Looking back at the beginning of her career, she remember being not-so- confident and having a lack of experience. "I was only four years older than my senior students when I started ^^ching. Through the ^rors I have gained a maternal sense and am more confident in my teaching," Sherman said. Over the years, she has taught AP English, English 12, English 10, and English 9. After students graduate, she loves staying in touch with them. In one specific memory, when her first AP English class came back to West Linn and caroled during Christmas time one year, she remembers being overjoyed. "Lots of students don't realize how much they mean to their teachers. They become their children and it's very hard to say goodbye to them," Sherman said. Unlike other teachers, she cites the privilege of teaching in the same building as her husband and having all four of her children graduate from West Linn as a bonus. However, the past few years have been hard for her with adjusting to her new schedule and for personal reasons. "My personal life has been hard but my school life has been great. My students are fantastic and stabilizing, I love them. I have been able to maintain a balance," Sherman said. Although nothing is firm, after retirement, Sherman plans to volunteer and do mission work overseas. She wants to help people in Africa, Romania, and Cambodia this summer. Jill Sherman, English teacher, poses with her fifth period English 10 class. Sherman will retire at the semester due to personal reasons. John Welty, retired English teacher, has been chosen by the administration to take over Sherman's second semester classes. Photo by Cole Fiaia She is an active member and awareness speaker in World Vision, a "Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to wo/king with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice" according to WorldVision. com. She also plans to garden, read, travel and build a wine cellar. "I'm never bored. I'll get a kick out of building the cellar!" John Welty, retired English teacher, has been hired by the school to take over her class next semester. Sherman hopes that she will be i remembered for wanting the best in all of her students. One moment she will always remember? "When my seniors brought a Peter Pan hat back from Disneyland labeled ’Shermanator'." Sherman has made a lasting impact on the school, staff members and her students. "Mrs. Sherman teaches with a deep passion for her craft and an extraordinary knowledge of her subject which allows her to connect with students of all abilities. She has made the community of West Linn High School a better place. Mrs. Sherman will be missed very much," Kim Carlson, assistant principal, Fingerboarding gains popularity with students a C ameron J uarez __________ Contributing Writer What is fingerboarding? An elementary phenomena brought back to life? Believe it or not, the clicks heard during break or passing times are most likely fingerboards hitting a table. Over the past couple of months, fingerboarding has become more popular among West Linn High School stud Aits. "Landing new tricks on my fingerboard is almost as fun as going skating," Kellen Hulden, sophomore, said. The basic concept involved in fingerboarding is using a small "look- alike" skateboard to skate with your index finger and middle finger as "feet." "Once you can maneuver the board in your fingers, anything is possible, and you can do a lot of tricks," Hulden said. The most common trick so far is the kick flip. By moving your index finger forward away from the board in midair, it will spin in a 360 ^Pgree turn. On a normal skateboard it would be necessary to make a kick like motion, hence the name kick flip. quite a few fingerboarding videos. Most of these videos left students in awe, anxious to give fingerboarding a try. Alexander Olivier, sophomore, begins an ollie on his Techdeck® fingerboard. The trick involves kicking the tail and shifting the front finger forward to get it to jump. Photo by Cameron Juarez Fingerboarding saw it's first light at West Linn on the internet. Youtube, a popular live video streaming web site, features The videos showed many individuals performing complicated aerial tricks with ease. "So far I've released six videos, each one is better then the last," Hulden said. His videos can also be found on Youtube.com by simply searching 'Kellen Hulden'. "Kellen was the first one to fingerboard, and it seemed pretty fun so now we all do," Josh Laird, sophomore, said. Although a few teachers don't seem to mind them, some teachers have found it necessary to put an end to fingerboarding in their classrooms. Eventually there are too many *click* noises during class to the point where they can be somewhat disruptive. "I'm starting my own collection," Morgan Hubbard, English teacher, said. Despite the setback, most teachers simply ask for them to be put away, and then allow them to be out again a different day. "In some ways, fingerboarding is better than skateboarding. For one, you never get tired," Hulden said. After four months of the hobby, Hulden has become very adept at fingerboarding, and is well known for it too. Along with releasing six videos, Hulden has been able to master the most strenuous trick in fingerboarding: the 360. "To do it, you have to twist your arm and hand while in the air, a full 360 degree turn is near impossible," Hulden said. Because of the limitations of an arm's spinning capabilities, this trick is in fact near impossible. Fingerboarding may be a high school fad, but it has grown noticeably. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem fingerboarding has caught on in too many places. "I've never even heard of fingerboarding," Ryan Attrige, a sophomore in the Beaverton School District, said. Fingerboarding is a revamped way to skateboard, and one can only wonder what kinds of surprises it might have in store for next year, that is, if it's still around.
