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.