Bothered by bathroom graffiti? This too
common occurrence can be destructive,
hurtful and offensive,
Find out what your favorite
seniors will be doing next year by
checking out the annual senior
map,
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Girls' Golf Team wins second
consecutive state championship, led by
individual champion Morgan Thompson,
senior,
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Published Since 1921
O fficial Stuaent Publication of W est Linn High Schoo
June 2011 - Volume 99, Issue 7
“Our lowest point” offers hope for future budget proposals
J ennifer S itton
"I think this year is our
lowest point," Roger Woehl,
West Linn-Wilsonville School
District Superintendent, said.
While this is difficult for many
to hear, as far as the budget is
concerned, Woehl speaks with
optimism about the future,
"I think after this year we
will start trying to bring back
programs and teachers that
may have been cut."
After all of the budget
cuts and talk of the declining
economy the last few years, the
word "budget" makes people
like Woehl shudder, but things
seem to be on the upswing,
as far as Woehl is concerned.
Granted, that doesn't mean
that there won't be more cuts
for the 2011-2012 school year,
as the district tries to make up
a $4 million deficit from last
year's budget.
"To begin, we sat down and
asked, 'What would it cost to
do everything we're doing this
year, next year?'," Woehl said.
In the end, those in charge of
creating next year's budget
were able to decrease that
original deficit of $4 million to
$1.5 million without making
drastic cuts that will affect
students and parents.
The district will lose 13.4
Photo by Taylor Fletter
The guitar class prepares for its May 24 concert. Next year, classes
such as Guitar I and II, and Film I and II will not be offered due to
b u d g e t c u ts .
Requirement changes impact freshmen,
Dphomores and incoming students
M ary E arp & D anny M c G arry
As the school year is coming
to a close, more than the
weather is changing; this year,
the sophomore, freshmen and
incoming freshmen classes
faced a forecasting change
made in order to meet state
guidelines.
Starting next year, the six
credit requirement for social
studies is still in place, though
the specific requirements for
Previously, students were
only required to take one
semester of World History.
Government and Economics
were not required. Psychology
is considered a social studies
elective. The credit will not
enter any of the required areas.
World History and U.S. History
are now being split into two
subdivisions: green and gold.
These new requirements
were a change that needed to
Photo by Alex Houston
Mathew Grothe, sophomore, talks with his counselor, Michelle Olson,
about his class schedule for next year. Sophomores like Grothe were
affected by the graduation requirement changes that were put into
effect this year.
classes are different.
"The students must have
six credits of social studies,"
Michelle Olson, counselor, said.
"They must have two credits
of World History, two credits
of U.S. History, one credit of
Government and one credit of
Economics."
be made and will benefit the
students, according to Olson.
"We made these changes
to meet state guidelines,"
Olson said. "This will also
help to align better with other
students."
Though these changes may
have been a necessity, many
students have faced problems
with these changes.
"We have to take certain
classes that we weren't told we
had to take before," Michaela
Davenport, sophomore, said.
"This is going to make my
senior year a lot harder than I'd
wanted it to be."
Stephens agreed with
Davenport, and was upset
when he first heard about the
new requirements.
"I didn't feel like it was fair
to spring it on us right before
forecasting," Stephens said.
"They told us the week before
forecasting."
Stephens and Davenport
both stated that they thought
the new requirements
should have been made for
the freshmen and incoming
students because they
were already halfway into
high school. The current
requirements are for current
sophomores, freshmen and
incoming eighth graders and
other students.
Through all of the confusion
and problems that students
hold, the new requirements
may be helpful to the students,
according to Olson.
"I feel good about the new
changes," Olson said. "They
are things that colleges like to
see, and it is good for students
to learn about Economics and
Government."
teachers next year, almost
all of which were covered
by retirements, leaves and
resignations, according to
Woehl. In addition to the
13-15 classified staff, 5.8
administrators will not be
returning. However, according
to Lou Bailey, WLHS Principal,
here at WLHS, only funding
for 2.2 full time teaching
positions will be lost. Due to
the combination of assistant
principal Aaron Downs' move
to Wilsonville High School
and multiple retirements, that
number was decreased to 0.6
full time positions that need to
be eliminated, which means,
essentially, that no one will be
losing their job at WLHS next
year.
"We try to ask, 'Where
else can we cut before we cut
classroom teachers?"' Bailey
said. While a decrease in staff
raises the fear of larger class
sizes, Bailey doesn't expect this
to be too drastic of a change
from this year's class sizes.
"Class sizes will actually
be a little better. We have a
smaller freshman class coming
in, so classes will probably
be between 28 and 33. There
might be some that are 33 or 34,
but in the end, the division of
classes within each department
is up to department chairs,"
Bailey said.
One of the biggest changes
that students will notice in the
coming year is the increase in
the activity and athletic fees.
The school needed to decrease
the activities and athletics
budgets by about $100,000
for the upcoming school year.
Because of this, the activity fee
has been raised to $225 and
the activity fee for one sport
athletes has been raised to $300.
Two sport athletes will pay
$350 and three sport athletes
will pay $375.
In addition to athletic and
activity expenses, the district
is looking at cutting funding
for transportation, middle
school sports, supplies and
utilities as well as adding a
fee for preschool and some
kindergarten programs.
Outdoor School has also been
reduced to three nights instead
of four.
"Kids and parents won't see
much different. Middle schools
and high schools might see a
little larger class sizes," Woehl
said. "There are some smaller
things that have changed that
kids won't always see."
continued on page 6
ISEF ANDl-SWEEEP winners
bring home scholarships
WLHS sent two students to present at the Intel International
Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles, Calif.: Ann
Bemert, senior, and Spencer Chang, junior, both of whom
placed. At this level of ISEF, more than 1,500 high school
students from over 65 countries around the world competed
to be named Best of Fair and win over a combined total of
$4 million in prizes and scholarships.
WLHS also sent two students to ISEF as observers, in ad
dition to Bemert and Chang, who actually presented projects.
James Siderius, junior, went to the International Sustainable
World Project Expo in Houston, Texas (I-SWEEEP) where he
was awarded a bronze medal.
Ann Bemert, senior —Fourth place ($500) in the Plant
Sciences category for her project, "Rubus Endophytes:
Application and Implication for Biological Control" and a
special award from the U.S. Army including three $1,000
savings bonds.
Spencer Chang, junior —Third place ($1,000) in the
Microbiology category for his project, "Investigating Acyl-
• homoserine Lactone Based Quorum Sensing Dependency
in Mucoid and Nonmucoid JPseudom onas aem ginosa_
Biofilm Development."
Jenna Wiegand, junior —Attended as a Student Observer.
Adrianna Horsey, freshman — Attended as a Student
Observer.
James Siderius, junior —Awarded a bronze medal at I-
SWEEEP for his project entitled, "Sustainable Cyclical Energy
Harvesting Concept for Ocean Sensing.