COMMUNITY8 l May 16, 2012 SAMMAMISH REVIEW

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By Lillian Tucker

Sammamish made its mark in Salt Lake City late last month when Carly Webster, a local student at Eastside Catholic, and classmate Lexi DiJulio became the International DECA Champions in the Chapter Awards Project. To win the honor, the two teenagers beat 45 other teams from around the world.

“Their enthusiasm made all the difference,” said Rhonda Patrick. She oversees DECA at Eastside Catholic.

The international program seeks to prepare high school students to become leaders and entrepreneurs in their adult professions through a variety of programs and competitions. The

DECA project that Webster and DiJulio chose to take on this year was to document and present everything that their chapter of DECA did this year.

“The sincerity you see in someone’s eyes when they are speaking with enthusiasm was obvious in their presentation,” said Patrick. “It’s easier to be enthusiastic when you are more proud of your work; when you spend the amount of time and energy that they spent.”

To win the Chapter Awards Project, one of 42 DECA events, the girls first compiled a nearly 100-page notebook documenting their chapter’s accomplishments over the last year. This included keeping an updated roster of

Sammamish girls win big at DECA Internationals

ContributedStudents from Endeavour Elementary School show off the awards they won for placing second in the Seattle Region in the “Math is Cool” competition April 20. The fourth-grade students faced off against teams from 35 schools during the competition at Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines. Kyle Reese scored eighth individually out of the 300 partici-pants.

Endeavour students show math skills

By Lillian Tucker

The outside campus of Sunny Hills Elementary was crawling May 10 with smiling, chatty stu-dents, hopped up on ice cream, pizza and the pleasure of being at school with friends and not hav-ing to hurry to class.

Inside the gym, students dug through piles of their classmates’ writings and searched displays for their own work to show off to their family.

It was the Young Authors Celebration at the elementary school. And, while the title might provoke images of a group qui-etly listening to one student read out loud, the event was a social flurry.

“The kids really look forward to it,” said Principal Sarah White. In the days leading up to the event, she said the students were very excited about having their work put on display. “It’s just fun talking to the kids about their writing. They are so proud of it.”

Around the room, tables and displays were set up to show-case at least one piece of writing from each student. Pieces varied from essays by the fifth graders to imaginative tales of dragons and magic; from poetry to story quilts.

“It’s really amazing reading their stories,” said White. “They have a lot to say.”

“I like it because you get to write freely…I write in my free time, whenever I can,” said 9-year-old Vanessa Tang. The third grade student said she likes reading sto-ries of her own to her little sisters. Seven-year-old Mia and 5-year-old Hanna huddled close as their sister Vanessa looked for her book she wrote about the legend of why bees buzz.

“I was thinking of an animal book and then I thought of bees for some reason,” said Vanessa.

In her book, the bees keep stinging the animals and get-ting away with it because they were so quiet. The goose and the raven decided to fix the situation by putting a noisy spell on the bees so that they would buzz.

At the first grade table 7-year-old Jenaya Ray showed her dad and younger brother her

illustrated book, “The Unicorns’ Magical Powers.” It tells the story of how three unicorns stop a hun-gry dragon from eating them. To avoid becoming lunch, the three use their magical powers to turn

Photo by Lillian TuckerJenaya Ray, 7, flips through her book “The Unicorns’ Magical Powers,” which she illustrated herself.

Young writers shine at Sunny Hills Elementary

See DECA, Page 9

Photo by Lillian TuckerFred Owins and four-year-old Abby Cameron look over the story quilts done by third graders at the Sunny HIll’s Young Authors Celebration on May 10.

See AUTHOR, Page 9

By Lillian Tucker

The Eastlake girls golf team is sending its top two girls to the state tournament after finishing third in last week’s KingCo tour-nament.

For two days, May 8-9, the Eastlake Wolves faced off against their season long KingCo con-ference opponents on the par 72 Willows Run golf course. Fifty-three girls played the full 18 holes on Tuesday. The top 34 scorers returned the fol-lowing morning to hit the 18 again. When the scores for all 36 holes were added up, only the 14 with the lowest number of strokes would go on to the state tournament at Meadow Wood golf course in Spokane. Megan Wotherspoon, a senior at Eastlake, placed sixth with a total of 164 strokes. Right behind her was Jamie Midkiff, an Eastlake sophomore, who totaled 165 for seventh place.

“They both love the game and are good at the game. We are proud of them,” said Eastlake

coach Pat Bangasser. This will not be the first time the two girls will represent their team at the state tournament: both went last year. The coach said he was expecting them to do so again this year. “Both are really steady golfers. They can shoot 82 in their sleep.”

This is Wotherspoon’s fourth year in a row qualifying for state. Last year she finished the two-day championship in 15th place with a score of 160 strokes over 36 holes. Midkiff came in 27th with a score of 167. Through their combined efforts the Wolves finished in 8th place in the state. Bangasser said he hopes to move up a notch this time around.

“I’m really excited,” said Midkiff. “As long as I stay in the present it should end well.”

Midkiff said she learned the importance of focusing on the moment and letting go of the last hole from her coach. She also said the practice round they played last year really helped a lot and she is looking forward to it again this year.

“We walk through the course

and look for places to avoid, plac-es to be aggressive and places to be conservative,” said Bangasser.

“My job is to remind them to stay in the present. If you had a bad last hole, don’t think about it…

that’s what makes them good.”

sports12 l May 16, 2012 SAMMAMISH REVIEW

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By Lillian Tucker

The 4A KingCo champion-ship game between Skyline and Roosevelt was not decided in regulation play. It, also, was not decided in the two, five-minute overtime periods.

It all came down to one-on-one penalty kicks.

With no clock, no defenders to contend with and no teammates to help them out, it was between shooter and goalie. In the end Roosevelt won the penalty kick-round 4-2 and ultimately the KingCo tournament trophy.

Kicking for the Skyline Spartans were Ryan Shim, Sean McDonald, Kaleb Strawn, Pedro Miola and Jason Twaddle. Together, they made 28 of Skyline’s 37 goals this season. McDonald and Strawn each net-ted a shot for Skyline.

Taking turns with them in the spotlight was Ben Morgan, goalie for the Spartans. Morgan stopped the ball fired by Willie Spurr, a senior forward for Roosevelt. However, the Roughriders other four shooters scored, securing the win.

“I still enjoy playing soccer, no matter what,” said Morgan after the game. “Penalty kicks are fun. They don’t show who the better team is – they are just a fun game

at the end.”The Spartans were off to a

solid start in the first half. With good movement and communica-tion, Skyline controlled the field for the majority of the time. At one point, when Roosevelt was in possession, Shin, a junior mid-fielder for the Spartans, stole the ball and drove it 60 yards down the field with the help of a one-two pass off Strawn.

“I like the way we were mov-ing in the first half,” said Skyline coach, Don Braman.

With the first half winding down, Cole Calabro, a sophomore at Skyline, attempted a volley from five yards out. However, his shot curved left of the post. Then, 32 minutes in, Twaddle scored off a pass from McDonald, giv-ing the Spartans a 1-0 lead. It was Twaddle’s 11th goal this season.

“It felt great,” said Twaddle. “But it wasn’t enough.”

“You have to look at the qual-ity of chances (to score) and we created a lot of quality chances,” said Braman. “Unfortunately, in the second half we created some very good scoring opportunities but we didn’t get the shot.”

The game was tied in the 58th minute. Roosevelt lobbed the ball at Skyline’s goal but Morgan quickly punched it out. However, the Roughriders were ready and

waiting and deflected the ball into the back of the net.

Twaddle nearly scored again in the second half, but his shot,

with only five minutes left to go in the tied game, was blocked by Roosevelt’s goalie. Regulation play ended with the two teams

tied 1-1.With both teams holding the

By Greg FarrarBen Morgan, Skyline High School junior keeper, blocks the penalty kick by Roosevelt senior for-ward Willie Spurr in the shootout after regulation and overtime periods ended in a 1-1 tie.

KingCo title slips through Skyline’s hands on tie-breaker

See SOCCER, Page 13

History repeats itself as Eastlake sends 2 to state

Photo by Lillian TuckerEastlake’s Jamie Midkiff sinks a put at Willows Run golf course on May 8 during the first round of the KingCo tournament.

See GOLF, Page 13