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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.