Great Scott! He’s Home!
Hannah Berliner
Fifty pounds lighter, a huge beard and a shaved head, band teacher Mike Scott returns home. Mike and wife Amy left their home on June 24 and finished the Pacific Crest Trail on November 19. Mike Scott will return to teaching full time on the first day back from holiday break, January 4, 2006.
“Coming back to Vashon at first was a little intimidating, but since then things have been good and everyone has been welcoming,” said Scott.
Scott hasn’t gotten back to his normal routine of things, considering he is going back to Indiana and staying for Christmas. He will then start a normal day routine, after hiking for five months, in January.
“I am very excited to come back to work with the band. I don’t anticipate making any changes unless there’s a need to. My first project is getting the band ready to play at basketball games and at the Pops Concert. I think this will be an easier transition because the material will be fun to play,” said Scott.
For the last two years the Scotts have been brainstorming for this trip, but it wasn’t until last school year in November that they started to plan. Mike carried about 35-40 pounds on his back, and Amy carried about 30. They carried everything they needed for the trip such as food, clothes and water in their backpacks.
“I think we were both prepared for this trip. The one thing we had to do was experiment with our footwear. I went through four pairs of shoes. We ended up sending gear home to make our pack lighter,” said Scott.
The trail is organized so that every four or five days they came to a road or trail that led them to a small town. There was a box that they had sent to themselves full of food and items to re-supply with. Once they got to the town there were convenience stores or maybe small restaurants. They usually stayed in a hotel and washed their clothes and showered. All their small five day hikes added up to a five month trip.
Scott’s favorite section in the trail was the John Muir trail in the high Sierras. There was wilderness and also an extreme variation of terrain. Even though this was Scott’s favorite place on the hike, this section of the trial was where the Scotts had to go five days without food.
Every few days hikers come across a food drop, where food had been sent for them. When the Scotts reached their food drop in the Sierras, there wasn’t any fresh food in it. They had to go five days without any food of their own, but fortunately some hikers left spare bags of food in the hiker’s box. The Scotts didn’t recognize any of the food in the box, and thought it was the scariest re-supply they had in remote wilderness. Throughout their hike, both Mike and Amy ate dehydrated food, such as ramen noodles, chili, mashed potatoes, spaghetti, granola, Cliff Bars, and trail mix.
“For the most part, we stayed very healthy. Parts were very challenging and the most challenging part was when we hiked 22 miles in one day in Southern California. We hiked about 7,500 feet in one day,” said Scott.
Although some of the hikes were very strenuous, the Scotts came across many interesting people.
“Everyone we met came from different walks of life. This was the neatest part of the trail. It was one big traveling community of hikers,” said Scott.
There were various people throughout the trail that were there to help the hikers. These people were called Trail Angels and they were established people that provided the hikers with anything they needed.
“The trip was very rewarding and challenging, but I’m glad to be back. After this trip I have more trust in the common man. I have more trust in any other person, and I appreciate when strangers are willing to help,” said Scott.
Vashon Sets a Nationwide Trend
Susannah Bard
Our elementary years were times of recess, friends, and carefree fun. Little did we know that during these innocent years our generation was beginning to set a trend, a trend that would be continually analyzed by many around the U.S over the next ten years.
As the school year began, a bright neon colored piece of paper was sent home, reminding students to get their immunizations. But these reminders were beginning to be ignored.
In 1995 School nurse Kate Packard noticed a drastic increase in the number of students at Chautauqua not being immunized. But this was only the beginning. For the next ten years these numbers would continue to grow, making Vashon a community with the highest percent of children not immunized in the country.
Karaena McCormack remembers these pieces of paper, and remembers her parents simply throwing them away. She has never been immunized in her life. This decision, was made by her parents and herself.
“I’m not immunized because a lot of shots have monkey pests in them and other stuff that my mom doesn’t want in my body,” McCormack said.
To continue in the school district McCormack’s parents had to sign a waver saying that their daughter was not going to be immunized due to personal or religious reasons.
McCormack’s mother had an allergic reaction to immunizations when she was a child. Her reaction resulted in a coma. So naturally, she doesn’t want her daughter to take those chances. Neither McCormack nor her mother worry about her not being immunized.
“I have a pretty high immunity and I don’t get sick very often. If I did get sick from something and it was really severe, there are always other alternatives that we are aware of,” she said.
Packard believes that Vashon has the highest numbers in the country due to the large number of educated adults that live on Vashon.
McCormack believes it’s because people on Vashon are so open minded.
“They look at things in a different perspective. Even though a lot of my friends have had their shots they also look at both sides of the issue. I think that the Vashon community is really aware of all different aspects of things,” McCormack said.
In 1996-1997 8.7% of students enrolled in the Vashon Island School district were not immunized. In 2002-2003 14.4% were not. So what is making these numbers go up so drastically?
“As parents lose the memory of the disease it doesn’t have the same imprint. Parents are trying to do the right thing. Years ago it was easy to balance vaccines with the diseases. Now we just see the dangers of vaccines, and there is no way to compare that to the disease. Parents that would rather trust their children’s immunity have no idea of the history of these diseases. Measles for instance, years ago it killed 2 million children. Then the vaccine came in and it slowly went down until very few were getting it,” said former director of Center for Disease Control (CDC), Doctor William Foege.
Like Foege, Packard believes a lot of it has to do with the fact these diseases are not apparent anymore, as well as what’s required.
“I think the fact that there are lot more vaccinations required now. There is something like 25 shots now that the child has to have before the age of five. I know it’s become downright popular to not immunize. I think it’s something that keeps building up, and people keep jumping on the bandwagon to not immunizing,” Packard said.
Not only is the number of children not immunized rising, but the reasons for it are constantly changing and growing as well.
“There are as many reasons as there are parents,” Packard said. “When there isn’t a disease anymore then you look at the safety of the vaccine and there is some minute danger in giving the vaccine.”
Yet Packard believes that most of these dangers are theories.
“There are parents who believe it causes autism, but this is disproved. They don’t trust science,” Packard said.
Another highly accepted reason is the fact vaccinations contain mercury, which is another myth Packard says.
“Mercury is no longer in vaccines. First of all, it was never proved that mercury was causing anything, but they decided to take it out. People don’t understand that yet, or they don’t believe it. A lot of this is people not believing what the science says. The knowledge they have is fear, skepticism, and misconception about the vaccines themselves,” she said.
Foege echoed Packard’s statement.
“It brings us back to science; there is no evidence that connects these theories to vaccinations. It’s a shame that people end up believing stuff that’s not true,” Foege said.
Annual vaccinations require immunizations against Hepatitis B, tetanus series, polio series, measles and mumps one and two, and chicken pox.
Packard believes that measles poses the largest threat to Vashon.
“There is measles still out there it’s just not very common and it generally comes to the U.S through a foreign contact. But it could come to this island so easily, and there are many, many children who are not immunized against measles,” Packard said.
If measles were to come to Vashon, the whole school district would be shut down, due to the number of students not immunized against it.
Like Packard said, many question whether these diseases even pose a threat to their children. But In 1995 the disease pertussis swept through the Vashon Island school district like wild fire. Because so many residents on Vashon were not immunized against it, the disease spread rapidly. Even affecting those who were immunized against it.
“The children who had never been immunized got very sick and some ended up with asthma and long term problems. The kids who had been immunized also got pertussis, but it didn’t last as long and it wasn’t a big deal,” she said.
As the numbers continue to rise, many wonder what is being done about this problem. But is it even viewed as a problem here on Vashon?
“There is a large part of the community who don’t see it as a problem. They think they are protecting their children. For those who do think it’s a problem, nothing is being done,” Packard said.
Parents have the right to choose whether to immunize their children or not, so in the end, the most important thing one can do, is look at all sides of the issue.
“Parents have to weigh two things, the dangers in the vaccinations, and the social contract that protects the rest of the world,” Feoge said.
The Dynamic Dual Continues
Jennie Sikorski
On Monday, November 28, during fourth period, the senior class shuffled into the theater for a meeting called by Principal Susan Hanson and Vice Principal Mel Cooley. The issues at hand were immature behavior, poor sportsmanship and dirty dancing.
The meeting started off with Cooley expressing his concerns regarding the seniors’ behavior, saying that he felt they had become slightly out of control during the past weeks. The seniors learned that their behavior had gotten out of control at sporting events, dances, and on buses and that they, as natural leaders, were setting a poor example for other, younger students. His concerns were met with grumbles and groans. Apparently, they did not see the problem. This confusion was quickly addressed. Hanson stepped in and took them back a couple of weeks to an incident that occurred on one of the buses that shuttled them down to Jensen Point for their senior picture for yearbook. Specifically, students on bus number two were rocking the bus back and forth and drawing human genitalia on the windows and the seats.
“This is behavior I would expect from sixth graders,” Hanson said, “but to get a call from the bus garage saying that my seniors were acting like this is embarrassing.”
The seniors were quick to point out that it only took one or two students to draw the pictures and that they did not feel that their behavior was anything out of the ordinary. With no clear solution in site, the bus incident was dropped and the pair moved on to the next order of business, sportsmanship.
ASB co-Presidents Cam Bard and Grace Pawlowski spoke about the problem that other schools had with the way VHS fans showed their appreciation for their teams. An incident at a Klahowya volleyball game sparked a potential investigation by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA). Not seeing a problem themselves, but understanding a need to play by the rules, Bard and Pawlowski agreed to make some compromises while also making sure that we abide by the rules. The final compromise included eliminating certain “offensive” cheers from games, and only painting faces, rather than whole bodies.
Bard did his best to console the distraught seniors, by giving them hope for the future.
“If we are good,” Bard said, “we might be able to win back the body paint.”
Moving the meeting right along, Hanson changed the subject to the final item on the agenda, dirty dancing, aka freak dancing.
Due to parent complaints and lack of chaperones willing to help out at dances, students’ dancing is an issue that holds more importance than many seniors would have initially believed. The way students handle themselves, and others, at dances is something that makes chaperones uncomfortable and therefore unwilling to help out at future dances.
No parent chaperone wants to approach a friend of their daughter and tell her to ‘please get her butt off of that young man’s crotch,’ said Hanson. Furthermore, VHS dancing had become a hot topic at site council meetings.
“Issues like this can affect people’s decision on whether or not to enroll their students in this school,” Hanson explained.
“As seniors”, she insisted that, “you have a responsibility to set a positive example for younger students.” The solution, she said, “is simple.”
“All I am asking for is one inch folks, that’s it, one inch,” Hanson pleaded.
Once again, seniors felt no shame in their actions. They insisted that the way they dance is part of their culture and that no one will ever be able to change that.
With the meeting over and once again no clear solution reached, Hanson and Cooley left them with some clear decisions to make. They needed to change the way they were behaving or risk some serious consequences, such as, no more dances, due to lack of chaperones, and or no cheering at games due to complaints from other schools. Whether those threats will be executed, we will hopefully never know, but the ball is in the senior’s court now.