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Seven advanced theatre students direct Shorts VIII
■ M ary W ood _________________
Page Editor
Shorts VIII, four short
plays directed by seven
advanced theatre students,
will be held May 17,18
and 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the
auditorium.
"When Shakespeare's
Ladies Meet" by Charles
George is being directed by
Alison McDonald, junior,
and Jordan Grelewicz, senior.
This play follows five of
Shakespeare's leading ladies
as they help Juliet, played by
Rosie Dickson, junior, learn
how to properly go about
having a relationship with
Romeo.
Amy Brumbaugh and
William Farnbach, seniors,
are directing "The Two
Halves of Andrew's Brain,"
a comedy by Alex Miceli.
This is a creative tale of a
boy named Andrew, played
by Jonathan Bins wager,
sophomore. In the play,
the right and left sides of
Andrew's brain, played by
Lucy Walker, freshman, and
Max Henderson, sophomore,
respectively, team up to give
the right a bigger role in the
boy's life.
In "Reneta" by Lynne
Vance-Kramer, and directed
by Karen Vance, senior, a
family deals with the title
character's age inappropriate
behavior. Though Reneta,
played by Raeme Blacklidge,
junior, is an old woman, she
acts just like a teenager.
The last play, "Hello Out
There" by William Saroyan,
is directed by Dylan Stark
and Avik Bandyopadhyay,
juniors. This is a play about
loneliness in a jail in Matador,
Texas. It stars Nicholas
Kemner, senior, as the young
man; Hannah Bradford,
freshman, as the girl; Alyssa
Johnston, freshman, as the
woman; and Tanner Low,
sophomore, as the man.
The directors of these
plays are faced with the
unique challenge of directing
other students.
"At first it was sort of
weird. You feel bad telling
them what to do," Farnbach
said of his experience.
He began to feel more
comfortable directing
Denekas takes first in
congressional art show
Jenni D enekas, senior,
w on first place in the
she w anted to convey w as
the inter connectedness of
life on our planet.
H er prize for w inning
w as the opportunity to
annual C o n g re ssio n a l A rt
h a v e h e r p a in tin g d isp la y e d
Show C om petition for
C ongressw om an D arlene
H ooley's Fifth D istrict.
"It's really exciting. I have
entered the contest tw ice
before and its cool to win.
I'm glad I can spread the
in W ashington D.C. for
a year. She also received
three plane tickets for travel
w ith her parents to see the
painting on display.
Shannon M cD onald,
senior, received honorable
u C hris G arfield ______________
Page Editor
though, mostly because the
majority of the actors are
underclassmen.
Farnbach has enjoyed
seeing his cast band together
in the comedy. Though
he found casting to be a
challenge because narrowing
down the possible actors was
difficult, he's happy with
where the play is going.
"I couldn't think of
another play I would rather
direct," Farnbach said. He
also greatly appreciates
Brumbaugh, his co-director,
whose relationship with him
mirrors a theme from the
piay.
"Amy and I are like left
and right," he said.
Max Henderson, sophomore, and Lucy Walker, freshman, practice a
scene from "The Two Halves of Andrew's Brain," that is a part of one
of the four one act plays Shorts VIII. Shorts are student-directed one
act plays performed each year in the spring, It is traditionally the last
show of the year for the theatre department.
Photo by Cole Fiala
CORE class offered; open to seniors
M C hristopher E rbin __________
Page Editor
Beginning next school year,
a first ever CORE English 12
and CORE World History 12
class will be taught by Morgan
Hubbard and David Frick.
The class will focus on an
interactive and project-based
education of both language
arts and social studies. The
class is being offered to seniors
only for the 2007-2008 school
year.
"The idea for the class came
from discussions about senior
attendance issues and input
from seniors who said that
they weren't feeling invested
in the school in their senior
year," Hubbard said. "So,
with the help of others, Mr.
Frick and I came up with a
curriculum that will hopefully
capture seniors' attention and
keep them interested for the
entire year."
CORE stands for culture,
opportunity, renaissance
experience. The class will take
up two periods of the day,
and therefore will count as
four total credits; Jw o English
and two social studies. The
class can be taken for honors
if desired, but that is not a
requirement. It will focus
equally on current events
around the world in both
language arts and social
studies and is an experiential,
hands-on component in which
students will be designing
service projects and giving
back to the community.
"I am excited to see what
the students come up with in
terms of cultural enrichment—
drama, dance, music, art—to
really experience the historical
side," Frick said.
Although the class was
just announced a few weeks
ago, CORE already has
students interested in the new
curriculum.
"It seems like a really good
hands-on experience," Alex
Namhie, junior, said. "It's
a great opportunity to get
double credits, two for English
and two for your social
studies."
In addition to the hands-on
education, the class will also
involve a significant amount of
reading. The instructors hope
to make the literature more
intriguing to the students
by choosing novels from
multiple ethnic backgrounds.
The history and culture of
the author and other things
outside the context of the book
will also be studied.
"We'll be doing cool things
like a ropes course, a writei^^
workshop, and maybe e v e ^ ^
camping trip," Hubbard said.
"If students want a class where
they'll be getting involved,
giving back, doing lots of
discussion, learning about
music and history and culture,
and reading different kinds of
books, I really hope students
will consider signing up for it."
year's honors grads is fairly
extensive. Depending on
a student's grade point
average, there are a certain
amount of honors credits
needed. There are many
classes available that can
earn a student honor credits,
not only the honors and AP
classes. They must also earn
at least two credits from a
humanity honors or a math
or science honors course.
They must earn at least four
honors credits by the end of
their junior year and four
during their senior year. They
cannot drop an honors class,
they must have met all their
CIM requirements, and they
must complete 12 hours of
community service.
Next year, some
changes have been made
in the acceptance process.
Beginning with the Class
of 2008, two credits from
a humanity honors and a
math or science honors
course are required. Also,
if a student drops only one
honors course for reasons felt
justifiable by either Carrie
Guy, Curriculum Secretary,
or the Honor Grad Review
Committee, that student
will still be eligible to be an
honors grad. Last, students
will only be required to earn
two honor credits their senior
year instead of four.
These changes have
been made because the
members of the Curriculum
Coordinating Committee
agreed that students have
various scholarly and
personal obstacles that may
force them to drop an honors
course or not earn as many
credits. They want to make
sure that as many students
who are capable of being an
honors grad as possible are
given the opportunity to do
so.
Students currently
possessing honor status will
have their grades verified
at the end of third quarter,
and the final group will be
announced at that time. Being
chosen for this prestigious
honor is also very impressive
on college applications.
" It's a huge group this
year. If everyone makes it,
there are 90 kids," Guy saiM h
Honors Grads recognized for academic excellence
u K aitlyn R agan _______________
Staff Reporter
Jenni Denekas,. senior, wins first place at the Congressional Art
Show Competition. Honoring her work with her were Lynn Pass, art
teacher; Darlene Hooley, congresswoman; and a Southwest Airlines
representative. The airline donated three plane tickets so Denekas
and her parents could see her painting displayed in Washington
D.C.
Photo submitted by Lynn Pass
m essage through m y piece.
It's an idea that's im portant
to m e to convey," D enekas
said.
H er artw ork w as very
detailed and w as painted on
a puzzle w hich she bought
at G oodw ill. It consisted
of sw irling water, rocks,
a w aterfall, a bear and
salm on. The m essage that
m ention for her "Shiny Still
Life" piece. Twelve other
A dvanced Placem ent art
students also entered.
"All of the w orks in the
show w ere incredible. It
w as w onderful to see the
talent and hard w ork of
everyone involved from all
of the schools," Lynn Pass,
art teacher, said.
West Linn High School
has many academically
promising students, and
there are many ways in
which these students are
recognized. One of those
is the honors graduates
program, and the Evening of
Excellence ceremony which
will take place on Tuesday,
May 15 at 7 p.m. in the
auditorium.
"This is the night we
honor and pass out all
of our local scholarship
awards to our seniors who
have applied and will be
receiving m onies," Julie
Swanson, Career Center
Coordinator, said. Anyone
is welcome to attend and
support these honors grads.
Each is asked to choose one
of their high school teachers
to speak about them at this
ceremony. The teachers work
thoughtfully to prepare a
speech that highlights the
talent and uniqueness of the
student.
The criteria for this