Remember the mural Chief Kitsap Academy students help design
and paint? I photographed and videotaped students working on
the project earlier this month.
Now, you can now watch a time lapse of the project from start to
finish.
Category Archives: Youth
More to the Raspberry Pi story
We wrote in today’s Kitsap Sun about Bob Cairns, the Port
Orchard Rotary member who is working to deliver
solar powered mini-computers to school children in Kenya. The
system is driven by a device called Raspberry Pi, developed in 2012
by researchers in Cambridge. The effort dovetails with Cairns’ work
on polio vaccinations and education scholarships in that
country.
Here are a few other things about Cairns you might like to
know:
As mentioned in a recent Forbes article on the Raspberry Pi project, Cairns could be on a cruise ship with his wife Chris instead of bouncing around barely defined dirt roads in a Land Cruiser and holing up in African hotels, some crawling with insect life. Cairns, a Manchester resident, retired in January 2014 after 28 years managing the Manchester Fuel Depot, one of the Navy’s largest and most strategic fuel installations. He served on the Kitsap Sun’s editorial board in 2012.
Cairns, with his wife, has made five trips to Africa, the most recent in October to deliver the first set of Raspberry Pi systems. He and Chris actively take part in vaccination clinics, helping to administer oral doses to children. The cause is dear to their hearts, since Chris’ brother was “the last child in Illinois to get polio.” Her brother survived but is severely crippled by the now-preventable disease.
On the trip, Bob and Chris took their granddaughter, Ashley Carter, a student at Bellingham’s Western Washington University. “We wanted Ashley to see how much we have in our world versus how much they don’t have in the rest of the world.”
For example, Collins Nakedi, a young Kenayn man with whom Cairns has partnered to aid children in East Pokot (a region of Kenya), said getting an education there is “like organizing a journey to the moon using a vehicle.” The literacy rate is a dismal 4 percent.
That’s due to lack of resources and lack of cultural support for education among the largely nomadic people of East Pokot. That’s starting to change a little bit, thanks in part to the Raspberry Pi, Nakedi said.
Here’s an interesting fact about Nakedi. As a youngster Nakedi, the son of a goat herder, snuck into a local school and talked them into letting him stay. Thus began his education, which ended in a four-year degree, against astronomical odds. Cairns is helping Nakedi write a book about his life.
Nakedi, whom Cairns calls a genius, and two other young men who attended the same university in Nairobi from which Nakedi graduated, have started a NGO to aid youngsters in Kenya’s city slums and rural areas primarily through expanded educational opportunities. Cairns has partnered with their nonprofit, Hifadi Africa, to help distribute Raspberry Pi systems and to identify students for scholarships, which are essential for attending the mostly government-run boarding schools that constitute the public education system. This year, Rotary clubs in the northwest are providing four very bright Kenyan orphans with $600 scholarships that will provide a year’s worth of schooling.
Cairns’ involvement in Africa actually started with one of the other Hifadi Africa principals, Jovenal Nsengimana. Nsengimana lost his parents and sister in the Rawandan genocide at age 4. He ended up in a refugee camp with his older brother John, then 7, who took charge of the family including another younger brother, and who later was also able to pursue an education. Cairns and his wife heard about Nsengimana through a Rotary connection and ended up sponsoring his education through university.
In addition to education, Cairns, with help from Hifadi Africa and other Rotary members, is working to bring clean water to East Pokot. The area, partially within the Rift Valley, is extremely arid. There is virtually no running water or plumbing. People become ill from drinking water fouled by animal excrement. Rotary has supported efforts to drill a well in the area, but Cairns says they’re looking at other technology that is more basic yet more sustainable and effective.
In remote areas, machinery parts are hard to come by, and the water quality is poor. Cairns and others are looking at simple collection systems for harvesting the little rainwater that does fall. Another technology, not new, is to drill “riverbank infiltration galleries,” chambers on the banks of rivers that slow to a trickle most of the year. When rains do fall, water is directed to the underground chamber for storage. It’s not suitable for human consumption, but fine for livestock, which play a central role in East Pokot life.
Like the solar-powered Raspberry Pi, the water system solutions are simple and work with what’s available, Cairns said.
Don’t look for Cairns to slow down and take the cruise-ship route any time soon. There’s too much work to be done in East Pokot and beyond.
To help, donate at http://www.gofundme.com/raspberrypiafrica.
School discipline a hot topic, no quick fix
The Kitsap County Council for Human Rights on Friday hosted a conference tackling the school-to-prison pipeline, a term that encompasses the lower graduation rates and higher incarceration rates of minority, low-income and special-needs students.
Speakers at the conference touched on many of the topics the
Kitsap Sun addressed in our February series on evolving thinking
about discipline nationwide and locally. Articles and blog posts in
the six-day series are collected here.
Students of color are more likely to be suspended or expelled than
their white peers, according to discipline data shared at the
conference by Tim Stensager, director of data governance for the
state’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The
same is true of low-income and special-needs students. And the
conference touched on the high rates of incarceration, homelessness
and suicide among LGBTQ youth.
Big data is being used to identify districts where disproportionate discipline is particularly evident, and the federal government is wielding a hammer over those that show a widespread, persistent or egregious pattern of discrimination.
But the consensus a the conference was that the solutions lie at the local and even personal level. Everyone — school staff, students, parents and perhaps most importantly members of the community at large — needs to chip away at the problem from wherever they stand.
Or as Robert Boddie, who spoke a the conference, put it, “When
the train stops at your station, get on it.”
Kelsey Scott, a Running Start senior at Central Kitsap High School,
didn’t need the data to understand that black students are viewed
as “different.” Scott has had fellow students question why she
speaks “proper” and isn’t “rude.” Scott talked about how the bar
for black students is set at once pathetically low, yet impossibly
high. She is a hard-working student who avoids parties, yet she
feels pressure to avoid any kind of trouble.
“I have to make sure I’m always on my best behavior, because anything I do can get blown out of proportion and it’s crazy,” Scott said. “It’s basic training. When we’re acting out, it not only reflects on how people see you, it reflects on how people see people like you.”
Durell Green, 30, of Bremerton spoke at the conference about his personal experience with the school-to-prison pipeline. A self-described book “nerd,” Green got bored and acted out in elementary school, earning the label of “disruptive,” which dogged him at every turn. First arrested at 14, he was sent to Walla Walla at 18. Today, Green works to pay back the community through work in a mentoring program at his church.
The reasons why kids get in trouble are complex, and, as a recent article in the Seattle Times pointed out, there is no easy or quick fix. But Stensager showed how some districts are defying the odds, achieving high graduation rates despite having high numbers of at-risk students. Stensager and others at the conference said there are “best practices” that have been proven to work. Here’s a summary:
— Teachers must develop relationships with
students, especially the troublesome ones, many at the
conference agreed. Lack of time is not an excuse, according to
retired educator Patricia Moncure Thomas; it’s part of the job.
— Clearly teachers need support. That’s where the value of
community mentoring programs come in. The nonprofit Coffee
Oasis has been successful with outreach and mentoring of homeless
and at-risk youth, said Daniel Frederick of the organization. It’s
a daily battle, and it’s not easy but “There’s a story behind every
single child.” Partnering for Youth Achievement, the program Green
works in, and Our GEMS (Girls Empowered through Mentoring and
Service), a program Scott found helpful in her life, are other
examples. Boddie, who has led youth mentoring groups in Central
Kitsap School District, said such programs must hold students
accountable, and instill a sense of pride, respect and
integrity.
— Many districts, including Bremerton and Central Kitsap, are
training staff in “culturally responsive” teaching
methods. Teachers and other school staff who lack
understanding of cultural norms and values, may misinterpret
students’ behavior or miss opportunities to connect. Boddie said
locally Bremerton and CKSD are ahead of the curve in addressing the
role of a cultural divide in the school-to-prison pipeline.
— While big data can diagnose the problem, schools and districts
with local control are best suited to fix it,
according to Joe Davalos, superintendent of education for the
Suquamish Tribe. The tribe’s school, open to non-tribal members,
has 80 students and weaves cultural knowledge in with academic
learning. Expectations are high, defying data on Native American
students. At the Suquamish school, 100 percent are expected to
graduate, Davalos said.
— Districts locally and nationwide are moving toward discipline
that has students take personal responsibility for their behavior
and make amends. So called “restorative justice”
brings the offender face to face with who he’s harmed; solutions
are hashed out in person.
As we continue to cover the issue of student discipline, I’d welcome hearing from you about topics you’d like covered or experiences (positive or negative) you’ve had with local schools. Find me on Facebook, email chenry@kitsapsun.com or call (360) 792-9219. Thanks.
Chris Henry, Kitsap Sun education reporter
On Saturday, memorials for two young people
A summer of loss.
This is how it feels. Three young people in Kitsap County died within a month of one another.
On July 4, Josh Osborn, 17, of South Kitsap, was on an outing with friends when he fell into the Ohanapecosh River. His body was recovered on July 28.
On July 14, JJ Hentz, 12, also of South Kitsap, was found
floating in Island Lake. He died two days later at Mary Bridge
Children’s Hospital in Tacoma.
Jenise Wright’s parents reported her missing on Aug. 3. The last
time the 6-year-old was seen was around 10 p.m. the night before.
On Aug. 7 her body was found, partially submerged in a muddy bog
near Steele Creek Trailer Park in East Bremerton, where her family
lives. On Aug. 9, Gabriel Gaeta, a friend of the Wright family, was
arrested on suspicion of raping and killing Jenise.
A memorial for JJ Hentz was held several weeks ago. JJ was “a bubbly and energetic boy with an old soul,” said cousin Jaime Wainwright, whom JJ called “Aunt Jaime.”
On Saturday, Josh Osborn and Jenise Wright, will be mourned at memorial services a couple of hours apart. Both are open to the public.
Jenise’s service is at 1 p.m. at the Silverdale Stake Center,
9256 Nels Nelson Road NW.
Jenise was outgoing,
always at the center of activity at the mobile home park. She
loved the colors pink and purple.
The Wright family is accepting donations to help offset expenses.
Donations can be made online at a gofundme account or at Chase Bank
branches, under the “Jenise Wright donation account.”
Josh Osborn was “every parents’ dream” according to his
obituary, written by his family. “He was
kind, handsome, smart, funny, but most of all he had the biggest,
most loving heart. Josh loved life and he lived every day to
its fullest. He had many passions and dreams.”
A memorial for Josh is planned for 3 p.m. Saturday at the South
Kitsap High School gym. In honor of Josh, the family asks that you
wear your Seahawks or South Kitsap gear.
When teenagers defy our expectations
On Monday when we heard the scanner call of a drowning at Island Lake my heart stopped a bit. My family had been there the evening before. My youngest, Apollo, he who cuts his own hair, had been swimming. It’s what you do when it’s warm out.
The picture on the left was taken that night from Island Lake Park. Sunset pictures were all over Facebook that night. This one is far from the best one.
There is no joy in learning it’s not your kid. There is no celebration in any of it.
Even learning that a group of about nine kids who were there swimming did all they could to save the boy’s life is overshadowed by the fact that as of Tuesday night that 12-year-old boy is in critical condition. I am, like much of this region, so impressed with what those kids did. That this boy has a chance to survive at all is because of them, and because of some adults who also happened by at the same time.
And yet, like everyone else, I want more than anything to hear that the boy will be OK. Then we can really celebrate what teenagers did. I think I can cast aside my job-mandated Olympian objectivity in saying that.
This, too. Today I got to talk to the mother of one of the kids. I said what I think anyone else would say, that no matter how this turns out those kids did the right thing.
Even if celebration is not in order, it’s comforting to know what happened. Anyone who has ever been a parent knows that stuff happens beyond your control. We obsess over details and still miss things. Life happens at a pace that sometimes outruns us. There are times we need the village to step in. We don’t necessarily plan for it. We try to live like we don’t need it. And yet there are times we find ourselves thanking whatever god we acknowledge for the times angels in the form of other humans appear to save us.
Or to save our kids.
This time it was teenagers. Remember that the next time you’re tempted to give up on them, maybe even your own. Most times we find ourselves wondering what they’re capable of it doesn’t occur to us that they might be capable of saving a life.
UPDATE: Most of you know by now that things did not end as we hoped. Jeffrey Hentz died Wednesday morning.
Summer Education Opp: Tough Love
We’ve written a lot about the Washington Youth Academy, a publicly funded residential high school intervention program for students who have dropped out or been expelled.
We heard from the Bremerton branch of the academy, which is a statewide program, when we asked for “Summer Education opportunities” for children and teens.
We did not include the listing in our Summer Ed Opps list, because the upcoming session, in which students/cadets can earn up to eight credits toward high school graduation, runs July 19 through Dec. 20. I call it to your attention here, because it is a great opportunity for youth who need help getting their lives in order and who need academic credit recovery.
Note the deadline to apply is June 20.
Washington Youth Academy
Ages: 16-18
Where: 1207 Carver Street, Bremerton
Description: At-risk youth can earn up to eight credits toward a
high school diploma in five-and-a-half weeks. Next session runs
July 19 through Dec. 20; applications are due by June 20.
Eligibility criteria: Students must be a high school dropout or
expellee, a U.S. citizen and resident of Washington State, never
convicted of a felony and have no legal action pending, free of
illegal drugs at time of enrollment, and physically and mentally
able to complete the program.
Program incorporates a highly structured quasi-military format
emphasizing self-discipline, personal responsibility and positive
motivation.
Cost: No cost for qualified candidates. The program is run through
a cooperative agreement between the National Guard Bureau and
Washington State.
Contact Kasie Roach at Kassondra.roach@mil.wa.gov or 360-473-2629,
http://mil.wa.gov/WYA/,
https://www.facebook.com/pages/NGYCP-Washington-Youth-Academy/71515853230.
Get a quick snapshot of how your child’s school measures up
On Saturday, we will run a story about struggling schools in Kitsap and North Mason counties, as identified by the State Board of Education.
The schools, identified in the Washington State Board of Education’s achievement index among the state’s lowest performing schools, are Cedar Heights Junior High School in South Kitsap School District, Hawkins Middle School in North Mason School District, Fairview Junior High School in Central Kitsap School District and Central Kitsap’s Off Campus Program.
The good news is that these schools have made some progress over the past three years with financial help and professional guidance from the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. And they’ll continue to get that help, despite Washington State’s loss of a waiver under No Child Left Behind.
In the course of researching this story, I found a handy, dandy tool that every parent of a school-age child can find useful.
Low (and high) performing schools in Washington State are identified through data evaluated in the achievement index. About a year ago, the SBE complied the data (available in a jahonking Exel file if that’s your preference) into a user-friendly dashboard data tool that gives a visual snapshot of each school in the state.
I don’t think this data tool was widely publicized. At least I never saw a press release about it. So they may have given it a “soft rollout” as the saying goes. But maybe I’ve just been behind the curve. I do know that the state is moving toward better public access and transparency of data.
OSPI’s school and district report card, which offers a wealth of information, has been available for a long time. I use it regularly.
Find the achievement index here. From the main drop down window, select your district of choice, then your child’s school to view data on academic proficiency and growth among all students and subgroups of students who have historically lagged behind their grade level peers.
Notice that dark blue represents the highest tier, with dark green at the next level and light green in the middle. Orange and red signify the lowest tiers. Having orange or even red boxes doesn’t automatically raise a red flag, under the SBE’s high-low ID system, which takes into account data over past three years. The system also measures students’ relative academic growth rather than growth against a fixed standard, as under the federal No Child Left Behind standards.
In addition to struggling schools, the Board of Education also identified high performing schools, including 17 in Kitsap and North Mason, which were recognized by OSPI in April.
Seeking summer educational opportunities for listing
The end of the school means fun in the sun (or rain), but
learning continues during summer break.
The Kitsap Sun is compiling a list of educational opportunities
available this summer in Kitsap and North Mason. The list will run
June 10.
Submit items to sunnews@kitsapsun.com.
Put “Summer Education” in the subject line. Include times, dates,
location, range of ages, fee (if applicable) and contact
information.
For information, contact education reporter Chris Henry at
chenry@kitsapsun.com or 360-792-9219.
Guy rents billboard for prom-posal
When Jacob Ness was considering how to ask his girlfriend Abby King to Olympic High School’s prom he wanted to pull out all the stops.
Ness had seen messages of a personal nature on the Mentor billboard near the Warren Avenue Bridge in East Bremerton and, “I just thought that putting that up there would be the mother lode of everything that would be up there.”
He rented the billboard, $80 for three days over a weekend in
late May, and roped Abby’s mom, Patti King, in as an accomplice.
The two drove Abby to the sign blindfolded. Abby was understandably
apprehensive. They spun her around and pulled off the blindfold to
reveal the message. Abby was speechless with surprise.
“It worked out perfect,” Jacob said. “I went over and touched her, and she grabbed onto me and started crying.”
In short, she said, “Yes.” Oly’s prom is Saturday. Jacob and Abby will wear outfits that match in what Jacob describes as “seafoamy green.”
Prom-posals, extravagant public displays of affection related to that all important dance, are nothing brand new (the first one that actually got media attention was in 2001, according to a recent article in Time). But the stakes have escalated within the past few years, as teens vie to come up with the most original and clever way to drop the question. And always there is the requisite posting on social media.
Prom-posals are delivered on footballs, vehicles and T-shirts.
Guys write them on pets and on themselves. Food — and for some
strange reason, chicken — seems to be a trend.
Someprom-posals are romantic in a quirky way, inappropriate way. One of my son’s friends last year pretended to get hurt while playing soccer. The girl he asked was in sports medicine and rushed to attend to him. He lifted his pant leg to show the word “Prom?” on his calf.
Yet other other prom-posals, like sunburning the word “prom?” on your back, or reclining in your underwear with rose petals and a giant teddy bear, just seem like a bad idea out the gate.
BHS, KSS bands plans marching marathon
Marching bands from Bremerton High School and Klahowya Secondary School in Central Kitsap plan a marathon of performances on Saturday, starting in Bremerton’s Armed Forces Day Parade and ending in Spokane for the Lilac Festival Armed Forces Torchlight Parade.
KSS band director Lia Morgan, new to Klahowya this year, wanted to resurrect a tradition from years past by bringing the marching band to Spokane. The band will play recently composed music by the a cappella group Pentatonix. In the Torchlight Parade, they will crry glow sticks for effect.
On Sunday, the marathon will continue when the KSS jazz band plays at Silverwood Theme Park in Idaho. Many jazz band members also play in the marching band. The rest of the band will “support them as members of the audience,” Morgan said. Afterward, all of the students, Morgan and a number of parents who are going along as groupies will take a well deserved break by enjoying the rides.
Morgan is proud of her musicians, a number of whom have performed in and won awards in solo competitions this school year. “We have had an exciting and busy year at Klahowya this year and I’m looking forward to more years and activities to come,” she said.
This is the first time Bremerton High’s marching band has played in the Torchlight Parade.
“I thought that would be kind of fun, to do two parades in one day,” said Band director, Max Karler, who is in his first year as director of instrumental music at BHS. Before then, he taught band and orchestra at Mt. Tahoma high.
The Spokane parade starts at 7:45 p.m., but the BHS band’s staging time is 8:15 p.m. Karler figures his group will have time to make the roughly six-hour drive to Spokane in between parades.
No, it’s not by school bus. They are renting charter buses, so the kids can snooze or watch movies as long as it’s “not something I hate,” Karler said. As a student, he once got stuck on a band road trip where the flute section had this obsession with a particularly bad Bollywood movie. But I digress.
Luckily, BHS is near the front of the Armed Forces parade, so they expect to be done by noon-ish.
“When we get done there (Bremerton’s Armed Forces Day Parade), we’re going to get out of our clothes (band outfits), eat some lunch, hop on the bus and go over to their torchlight parade,” Karler said.
Karler is impressed with the group’s can-do attitude and eagerness to try new things.
“It’s totally awesome, just lots of support,” Karler said. “The kids are very capable, lots of strong players and strong leaders.”
Karler let the students suggest the playlist. They’re going with the top three tunes: the BHS fight song (to the tune of “Anchors Aweigh), “Take on Me” (by The A-ha) and “Conga” by Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine.
“I’m really excited for it. I think they’re going to do really well,” Karler said.
BHS performed earlier this month in the Sequim Irrigation Festival and won first place for AA and AAA school bands. Go Knights!