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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (May 13, 2016)
10A • May 13, 2016 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com Chinese acrobats perform at Gearhart Elementary By Lyra Fontaine EO Media Group Gearhart Elementary School wel- comed “The Fabulous Chinese Acrobats” show during their assembly on April 22. It was the fi rst time in about six years that Chinese acrobats performed at the school. Students clapped and cheered as the per- formers juggled, fl ipped, balanced spin- ning objects, danced, unicycled while jump- ing rope and other im- pressive feats. Several student volun- teers practiced juggling with a performer. Students also learned the Chinese greeting “ni hao.” “This show is very dangerous, so please do not try it at home,” the performers’ announcer, Zhu Jiamin, reminded the young audience. Chinese acrobats display their skills at Gearhart Elementary School. LYRA FONTAINE/EO MEDIA GROUP The performers are from central China, Jiamin said, and started practicing traditional Chinese performing arts at age 5 or 6. Each year, the group — made up of performers Yang Lei, Jing Xiao-Dong, Lin Xiao Yu and Li Zhong Ying — travels to perform at various locations throughout the United States. Seaside golf: League champs, again Student’s vision guides centennial project EO Media Group WARRENTON — The Seaside boys golf program added another Cowapa League title to its long list of accomplishments, as the Gulls won the Monday, May 2, league tournament by a nar- row 16 strokes. Seaside carded a 350 team score to fi nish ahead of Scap- poose (366) to win the league championship, hosted by As- toria at the Astoria Golf & Country Club. Seaside’s fi rst -place fi nish — coupled with their annu- al undefeated record in dual matches — gives the Gulls their third straight Cowapa League title. Seaside senior Aaron Rich- ardson won medalist honors, scoring a seven-stroke victory over last year’s medalist, Car- ter Lee of Tillamook. State qualifi ers will be de- cided in next week’s Regional tournament, and after that, the Gulls will set their sights on a third straight state title at the Class 4A level. Richardson shot a 4-over par 76 in Monday’s round, the only player to break 80. Lee was second with an 83 followed by Nathan Mapes of Scappoose with an 86. Seaside senior Berkley Posalski and Astoria’s Kirk Fausett tied for fourth with a pair of 88’s. Those fi ve play- ers were joined on the all- league team by Seaside soph- omore Jackson Kunde, Tai Martinez and Trevor Geraci of Banks, Cole Schmidlin and Nik Thoma of Valley Catholic and Scappoose’s A.J. Miltich. “It is nice to see Aaron earn a league title,” said Sea- side coach Jim Poetsch. “He has worked hard for four years and really deserved this one. I missed seeing his over - the -tree Eagle on No. 11, but witnessed his birdie on 16 and his 45-foot birdie putt to end his round.” Richardson had back-to- back doubles at the turn, “but played the rest of the course at even par,” Poetsch said. “Berkley and Jackson mak- ing all-league was also a good Centennial from Page 1A SUBMITTED PHOTO The Seaside boys golf team shows off their latest Cowapa League championship trophy, following Monday’s tourna- ment. From left to right: Berkley Posalski, Josef Barbic, Aaron Richardson, Jackson Kunde and Samson Sibony. reward for their hard work,” he added. “Our team score wasn’t great but good scores were hard to come by today with the wind and super-fast greens. We’ve got a week to polish our games a little and hopefully we will score a bit better at next week’s regional tournament.” ‘Breakfast Club’ brings students together Play from Page 1A “It’s one of the greater sto- ries told about the high school experience, and it fi ts because we’re high school students,” he said. ‘Friendships in unlikely groups’ In addition to being a co-director, Jake Malone was convinced to play the role of John Bender, “the criminal,” by his sister and Kincaid, who felt he could bring the charac- ter to life on stage. While Jake Malone has plenty of acting experience, Bridgette Malone and Kin- caid are newer to theater, par- ticipating in productions for the fi rst time this school year. They enjoyed their involve- ment and decided to put on another play for their Pacifi ca Project, a graduation prereq- uisite at Seaside High School that requires students to invest at least 50 hours into a com- munity service project. “Me and Jake have never done an extracurricular ac- tivity together, so I thought it would be kind of fun to do that,” Bridgette Malone said. Kincaid joined with a de- sire to learn more about pro- ducing, directing and behind- the-scenes aspects of theater. They all value perform- ing arts. Jake Malone said he appreciates the theater envi- ronment, which allows for di- verse people to join and create something together. “It builds friendship in unlikely groups, and it’s a good way to build person- al strength,” he said. “I feel like a lot of kids may not have the strength to laugh at themselves sometimes. When we’re all up on stage, there is no other choice but to just laugh at yourself, because you’re going to mess up.” The cast is following an adapted script previously used to produce the play at Broad- way Middle School several years ago. The script eliminates a ma- jority of the explicit elements that gave the movie its R rat- ing. However, feeling like some of those elements are crucial to character develop- ment, the seniors reinserted selected scenes containing adult content. “To get what we wanted out of the play, we thought it was important to add those elements to it,” Bridgette Malone said, adding they are advertising the play with a PG-13 rating. The spring play trend The directors held audi- tions in March, after the con- clusion of the school’s spring musical, “Urinetown.” Select- ing a cast and turning away some of their peers challenged the students, but Bridgette Malone said she reminded them a student-run spring pro- duction is becoming the trend at Seaside High School. Last year, two students put on “Macbeth: The Western” for their Pacifi ca Project. The original play, written by Wil- liam Shakespeare, was adapt- ed into by former Seaside stu- dents Michelle Peterson and Allison Barker as their Pacifi - ca Project in 2006. It now has been staged three times. A ju- nior is planning to do another play next year. The recurring productions are becoming known as “the spring plays,” said Lenore Morrisson, the students’ project adviser. Putting on a third produc- tion each school year, she said, forms an extra theater oppor- tunity for students who cannot participate in the fall play or spring musical because of ath- letic or other confl icts. Four students appearing in “The Breakfast Club” are new to high school theater. In addition to Jake Malone, the cast includes Lucy Sw- enson as Allison, “the bas- ket case”; Isabella Curcin as Claire, “the princess”; Zach- ary Marston as Andrew, “the jock”; Bay Cartier as Bri- an, “the nerd”; and Danny Kuszmaul, Joseph Harkins, Morgan Matthews, Jacob Brien and Nolan Milliren in supporting roles. Through the experience of directing and producing the play, the Malones and Kincaid said they have developed new leadership skills, especially as they balance their Pacifi ca Project with other responsi- bilities. “It’s defi nitely helped us to see how more effi cient team- work is,” Jake Malone said. As they prepare to depart Seaside High School after graduation in a few weeks, the play offers a fi nal opportunity for them to leave an impres- sion on the school with sever- al fellow seniors. “I’ve really enjoyed spend- ing more time with a few of these people that I was friends with in middle school but had lost contact with,” Bridgette Malone said. “It’s really fun to hang out with a whole bunch of our senior friends right before we leave and to be able to do this experience together.” The admission is a sug- gested donation of $5 or a canned or pre-packaged food item to be given to the South Clatsop County Food Bank. Peter Lindsey, class of ’61, recalled the “old school” — before renova- tions in the ’60s — and its “medieval aura.” His fi rst day there, a piece of plas- ter fell from the ceiling and hit his head. Lindsey recalls lunches made from scratch daily in the school cafeteria. One day they had “Amer- ican chop suey,” Lindsey said. He found out later that the local sheriff had brought an elk killed by a car to the cafeteria staff — and they went to work putting it to good use for quite a few lunches. A student’s vision Senior Class President Alie Zagata guided the anniversary project by re- searching and presenting the school’s enduring legacy for her Pacifi ca Project. The Pacifi ca Project is designed for community service and a way of giving back to the community. Zagata, from Manzanita, attends Seaside High School as an out-of-district student. “I have had a great ed- ucation and opportuni- ties here at Seaside High School,” she said. “I have been involved in band and jazz band, as well as soccer and basketball. Being class president for the past two years has helped me focus on the school’s history while giving back with the Pacifi - ca Project.” Zagata mined the Sea- side Historical Society and yearbook collection at the Seaside Library for her re- search. “Something I found sur- prising was the participa- tion by students in women’s KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL Senior Class President Alie Zagata researched Seaside High School’s history and presented her work during a community “centennial celebration” event Satur- day. sports in the 1920s,” Zagata said. “They had competitive teams. This seemed to disap- pear for many years — and then was reinstated in the 1970s.” Isabella Curcin, also do- ing her Pacifi ca Project, has compiled some history and items of interest to put in a time capsule. She said the capsule will be unveiled lat- er this month and then bur- ied. Curcin worked with the National Park Service on the project. At Saturday’s cele- bration, visitors browsed through the detailed displays of student activities over the decades. Music was provided by the Seaside High School Jazz Ensemble, whose repertoire, in fi tting with the occasion, spanned the decades. Their musical tribute featured the theme from “The Pink Pan- ther, with a mellow turn next as they played Duke Elling- ton’s “Night Train” and a fi nish with “Devil in a Blue Dress.” There were many fea- tured soloists — one of them Alie Zagata on alto saxo- phone.