Well-trained staff mem-bers, the proper equipment,professionalism, calmness,and the right people beingin the right place at theright time - all of those ele-ments came together dur-ing fourth period October14 and saved the life ofYosemite High juniorDoug Berg.

Berg was in RebeccaBrokaw’s Spanish classwhen she noticed him hit-ting his head on the deskbehind him. She said for amoment, looking fromacross the room, shethought he was jokingaround but then realized hewasn’t.

Berg’s friend, BrandonCummins, sitting across theaisle from him, immediate-ly went to his aid.

“I saw my friend hittinghis head,” he said. “I wentright to his aid, doing whatany normal person woulddo. I tried to stay calm.”

Brokaw immediatelywent into action, sendingone student to call theoffice and sent another stu-dent a few doors down thehall to get Bob Kernaghan,a math teacher at YHS anda paid-call firefighter for 27years where he holds therank of captain.

She stayed with Bergand then later took her classoutside where she spent therest of the time going backand forth between theclassroom and her studentsso she could keep theminformed of what was hap-pening.

She had high praise forher students, saying theywere “very respectful andacted appropriately; theywere very quiet and help-ful.”

Kernaghan recalls stu-dents coming to his door tosay Mrs. Brokaw neededhim; a student was having aseizure. He grabbed themedical gear he keeps in hisroom and went to Brokaw’sroom where he found thestudent unconscious in hischair being held byCummins.

Kernaghan said at thattime Berg was still breath-ing; oxygen was started,“then he didn’t seem to bebreathing,” Kernaghan said.He then checked for vitalsigns and found he was notbreathing and did not havea pulse.

Campus SupervisorDenise Trappen called theschool office to have theAutomated External De-fibrillator (AED) broughtto the classroom. CampusSupervisor Lina Moberlystarted doing chest com-pressions and Trappen was

administering oxygen,starting basic CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

About that time, TerriLeQuia, a paraeducator forMadera County Office ofEducation who works atthe YHS campus, and whois a licensed vocationalnurse in the Navy Reserves,came into the room andtook over the resuscitationwhile Moberly continuedchest compressions.

Campus SupervisorLaurie Kenyon brought theAED to the room andKernaghan hooked it up toanalyze Berg’s heart.During that time, about 20seconds, but it seemed likean hour, he said, they had tostop CPR.

The machine advised ashock. Although Kernag-han had used an AED threetimes before, he had neverhad it advise a shock. Themachine told them thatBerg was in ventricular fib-rillation, which means hisheart was fluttering but notpumping.

Hopefully, the shockfrom the AED would put itback into an effectiverhythm. Kernaghan admin-istered the shock but therewas still no pulse; theyresumed CPR and shortlynoticed that he was tryingto breathe and they found astrong pulse.

Moberly was doing thechest compression at thetime and she said themoment that really touchedher was when she could feelhis heart beating under herhand.

“I can’t explain the feel-ing,” she said, “I hope Inever have to experiencethat again but it felt sogood.”

LeQuia continued toassist with his breathing byperforming ventilation withan oxygen bottle.

The ambulance arrived,“very quickly,” Kernaghansaid. The crew was amazedthat the AED had advised ashock and that Berg’s hearthad converted to a pulse.He was transported toChildren’s Hospital ofCentral California and laterwas transferred to StanfordMedical Center.

At Stanford, an im-plantable cardioverter de-fibrillator (ICD) was im-planted in his chest and,last week, he said he feltjust fine.

While the drama wasunfolding, Berg was notaware of anything. He saidhe remembers looking atthe clock and he thinks itwas around 10:10. The nextthing he remembers is threeto four days later when he

was at Stanford. He doeshave one pleasant memoryof Stanford - the food wasreally good!

Everyone involved hashad nothing but praise forthe entire team thatresponded that day, and itwas definitely a team effortnotes YHS Principal EdVan Hoose. “It took ateam,” he said, “a number ofpeople made this happenfrom office staff to admin-istrators, campus supervi-sors, and those who admin-istered the medical assis-tance.”

Van Hoose added that“we are very fortunate tohave very talented, caringand compassionate staffmembers.”

Having people trained,having the right equipmentand people with knowledgeto use that equipment wascritical, everyone who wasinvolved says.

Doug Berg’s father,Jerry, said the family is soappreciative of the waythings were handled.“Everyone knowing what todo, doing it at the righttime and in the right way”made all the difference forhis son.

“Had everyone not beenin the right place and donethe right thing, he wouldn’thave made it,” Mr. Bergsaid.

Tony Misner, whoteaches the Regional Oc-cupational Program (ROP)

emergency medical techni-cian (EMT) courses forYosemite Unified, says Berg“is alive today because weare proactive instead ofreactive. The emergencyplan fell into place; ourentire staff is responsible forthis save. It’s truly a miraclethat he’s alive. If that hadhappened most otherplaces, he would not havemade it.”

Misner added that “thisyoung man is alive becauseof community support.Sierra Telephone donatedthat AED to the district afew years ago.”

Yosemite High Schoolhas three AEDs on site,there is one at CoarsegoldElementary and the districtis in the process of purchas-ing one for RivergoldElementary.

Misner believes YHSneeds at least three moreunits because the campus isso large (95 acres).

Donations have alreadybeen received to help withthe cost of purchasing addi-tional units, which costabout $1800 each, Misnersaid.

YUSD SuperintendentSteve Raupp said the quickand efficient response tothe medical crisis empha-sizes the importance ofpreparation and training inall aspects of school safety.

“We know that beingprepared and being trainedin the proper response iscritical, and that is a districtpriority,” he said.

He said the districtspends a lot of time work-ing on safety planning andtraining and “we hope wenever have to use it, but weknow if the time comeswhen we do have torespond to an emergency,we must be prepared.”

Kernaghan notes thatsome people will spendtheir entire career with

nothing serious ever goingwrong, “but when it does gowrong, it’s important to beable to rely on practice andtraining. Fire drills, earth-quake drills, and lock downdrills are important.”

Kernaghan says peoplewill always do the best theyknow to do in a crisis and“if they don’t respond rightit’s because they weren’ttrained right. You do whatyou are trained to do.”

Those who have dealtwith medical emergency ofthe type Berg experiencedknow he was very fortunate.LeQuia says in her yearsworking in emergencyrooms, she has participatedin this type of effort manytimes - this is the secondone she worked on that wassuccessful.

Kernaghan had reasonto have an AED analyze aheart three times prior, andnone of those could receivea shock - it was too late forthe machine to be of anyuse.

Looking back, thoseinvolved believe it was justnot Doug Berg’s day to die.Too many things cametogether in amazing ways tolook at it any way but des-tiny, Moberly says. “Ibelieve God has an amazingplan for him,” she said.“Everything was in place,everything went just right.”

Trappen said all shecould do was keep tellingBerg, “You can’t die, youcan’t die.” And, she says, itturned out that it just was-n’t his day to die.

On Berg’s third day backto school after the incident,Kernaghan walked into thefourth period Spanish classat the end of the period andsaw Berg for the secondtime ever.

Shaking his hand, hetold him he looked a lotdifferent than he hadlooked the last time he hadseen him.

“I’m glad you are back,”Kernaghan said.

Berg smiled at him andsaid “so am I.”

Volume 33 Number 1 November 12, 2009

One of the many topics

that has created a buzzaround Yosemite HighSchool has been the recentbudget cuts to school fund-ing. This year, schoolsaround California have lostprograms, supplies, andteachers due to the lack offunding coming from thestate.

The ball began rollingfor the cuts back in Octoberof 2008. As the economy ofCalifornia became worse, achain reaction started. Asthe housing market failed,unemployment rose, taxrevenues decreased, and theoverall economy went into arecession, state revenuesdeclined dramatically.

In that a significant por-tion of school district fund-ing comes from the statelevel, every district inCalifornia was subjected tosignificant funding cuts.

This was compoundedby the fact that theYosemite Unified SchoolDistrict was experiencingdeclining enrollment. Sincethe school revenue is basedon the number of studentsin attendance, fewer stu-dents meant fewer dollarsgenerated.

As each student earnsthe school roughly $6,000per year, even a few emptyseats can cause quite a gapin the school’s budget. This

year, it wasn’t just a few;attendance shows around1100 students enrolled lastyear, and this year itdropped to about 950.

According to DistrictSuperintendent SteveRaupp, the difference infunding from last year tothis year is easily spotted.Last fall, the budget for theYUSD was over $21 mil-lion; this year, it has fallento $18.5 million.

Around 75 percent ofthe budget goes to staffsalaries, while 15-20 per-cent is used to pay fixedcots such as insurance andutilities, (electricity, pro-pane, and water). Only 5-10 percent is available tobuy supplies like textbooksand computers. When thecuts hit, the first things toget cut were staff, withreductions in both hoursand positions. Fewer dollarsto go around meant thatraises for some staff werepostponed, and this cou-pled with the fact thatfewer kids were going toschool meant that there wasno longer a need or an abil-ity to have as many teach-ers.

Another of the morenoticeable changes thebudget cuts have caused isthe lack of an after-schoolbus, often used by studentson sports teams or in deten-tion after school. As trans-

portation can be one of themost expensive parts of thedistrict operation, this lux-ury was unfortunately cut,Raupp said, although it wasknown that it wouldn’t bepopular and could causesome sports teams to losetheir players.

The Budget AdvisoryCommittee, a group ofstaff and parents, “Had tomake tough decisions,” saidYosemite High SchoolPrincipal Edward VanHoose. The committeemakes many of the localdecisions concerning wherethe budget cuts are madeand how they are enacted.“They did well with whatthey had,” Van Hoose saidof the committee.

When asked how thesituation could be resolved,Superintendent Rauppsaid, “The whole system isan issue,” and that it “needsto become stable.”

The budget issue is allconnected to the state. IfCalifornia’s economy be-comes whole and not asshaky, the schools willreturn to their previouspositions, with more moneyin the budget.

Even so, informed deci-sions will have to be madeto secure the financial safe-ty of the YUSD and all oth-ers across California.

One of the new addi-

tions to the daily life atYosemite High School thisyear has been the mandato-ry drug testing policy forextracurricular activities.This new rule requires allstudents participating inany sort of competition - beit sports, the AcademicDecathlon, Mock Trial, orany other competitive activ-ity - to submit to a drugtest should their name beselected at random.

The test checks the stu-dent for traces of drugs oralcohol, and if a substance isfound in the student beingtested, he or she is suspend-ed from all competitiveactivities for a select periodof time.

The idea for the testsstarted at the beginning oflast year, with parents andstaff acknowledging theneed for a more effectiveway of enforcing the nodrugs and alcohol rule.Because of the expense forsuch a program, the districtagreed to support the pro-posal if the parents andcommunity paid for it viafundraising and privatedonations.

The proposal was ac-cepted, and at the begin-ning of this year, the testingprogram had $9,000 at itsdisposal. So far, 50 studentshave been randomly select-ed for testing, each at a costof around $35-$50. Notone had tested positive fordrugs or alcohol by the end

of October.The program, which has

been obviously successful,was not, as AthleticDirector Tammy Thackersays, “A way to catch kids,”but is instead used as adeterrent.

“It gives kids a reason tosay ‘no’,” says Superinten-dent Steve Raupp. Becausemany students value theirsports and competitionsgreatly, they have a person-al reason to resist pressureand temptation and keepdangerous substances out oftheir life.

How long will the drugtests stay, or even bemandatory? Principal Ed-ward Van Hoose states, “Aslong as it is funded, it willstay here.”

There was a reunion of sorts in fourth period Spanish class lastThursday when teacher Rebecca Brokaw (center)returned after beingout for a couple days and welcomed back Doug Berg (right), whoreturned to school November 3. It was the first time she had seen herstudent since he left her classroom on a stretcher, having just beenshocked back to life with an Automatic External Defibrilator (AED) onOctober 14. The first person to come to Doug’s aid in the classroomwas his good friend, Brandon Cummins, left.

The only relaxing part of

senior year for me is gettingoff campus during lunch-time and sitting down withmy friendsat the localsupermar-ket, sharinga couple ofd i f f e r e n tsodas, split-ting a salad,small cupof hot soup,a chicken strip and makingfun of the one in the groupclassy enough to purchasethe sushi. Relaxing until thedesignated time - keeperrealizes their watch actuallystopped working 15 min-utes ago and the entiregroup is going to be late forEnglish.

As an InternationalBaccalaureate and Advanc-ed Placement student, thereis no part of the senior yearthat can be defined as“kicking back and sailingthrough” like has been fore-told by students for the pastthree years of high school.

Essays, tests, senior proj-ects, extracurricular activi-ties, volunteering, sports,work, Internal Assess-ments, college applications,university applications,housing applications, schol-arship applications, finan-cial aid applications, honorsprogram applications, in-ternship applications fill thetime.

My love of writing has

suffered a serious whackingfrom everything I have hadto create this year and wehave not even nearedsemester. I have neverbefore had a two-inchbinder resist when Iattempted to close it, and Ihave two of them.

Yet, the year thus far hasdefinitely been my favoriteat Yosemite High. I amwith students and friendsthat I have known for atleast four years. Althoughmy classes are challenging, Ilook forward to the lessonsand discussions each day,despite the fact that I mightcomplain like everyone else,just because I can.

By senior year, themajority of the teachers youare with know you well, rec-ognize your strengths andweaknesses, and can offerhonest advice when needbe. They will joke with you,and they tend to listen andvalue your opinions farmore than when you werejust another freshmanblending in with the backwall of the classroom.

Even with the stress ofupcoming graduation,looming adulthood and themystery of the letters in themailbox signed by Depart-ments of Admission, senioryear is the time to look backand see how much you’vegrown and matured, regard-less of that urge to slip in a“That’s what she said” intoevery other conversation. Ihave lost friends. I have

made even greater ones. Ihave made a fool of myselfand I have gained respect. Ihave forgotten and learnedso much I could write nov-els about both. I have hatedand loved myself. I havewanted to give up andknown I have to keepgoing. I have cried, laughed,hurt, sung highly off-keyand laughed some more.

I know all my fellow stu-dents are looking forwardto, as well as dreading,going off to college andfinding their independence.Yet, we also realize this isour last true opportunity tobe a kid and get away withit.

After this year, we willliterally be strapped downby the weight of the life wehave all anxiously wanted tolive. We will be going off tocollege. We will be gettingcareers. We will be pursuingstardom. We will be gettingmarried and having kids, orliving that crazy bachelorlife. This is the next step,and it truly does require amile-long leap without aparachute or bungee cord.

Senior year is the pointof no return, and despitethe work and stress andfistfuls of hair, in the end itis going to be reminiscedupon as the ride of a life-time.

But right now, we are alltoo excited to get off andfind that next great rollercoaster.

Kellie Romine is dedi-

cated to making sure stu-dents feel a certain amountof confidence in theirfuture. To help with this,she works with themthrough the Yosemite HighCareer Center, located inthe library. Students askabout jobs ranging fromordinary to exciting to veryinteresting jobs like becom-ing a violin craftsman.Though she helps mostlywith career planning, shecan also help students findjobs such as babysitting,office work, and yard clean-up.

Romine says a lot ofstudents come to the career

center in search of informa-tion about jobs like fire-fighters, lawyers, and nursesand she is able to help thesestudents with the plans thatmight help them achievetheir goals. Her philosophyis that you “need to choose acareer field that you enjoyand like working in to besuccessful.”

Romine notes that thereis something for everyoneat the career center and shewould like everyone to“make one trip into thecareer center” to see her.

An important aspect ofthe career center is helpingstudents with college appli-cations and scholarships.Romine is also fully knowl-

edgeable of financial aid tohelp students throughschool.

The money put towardyour future is a very impor-tant factor and somethingto consider would be livingcost and gas, she says. If astudent were trying to moveto the beach they wouldwant to know exactly whata month’s rent may be orhow much gas money a per-son would need to get toschool and/or to work.

Romine notes thatcareer centers are at everycollege, and they can helpstudents keep track of theirclasses for their major, andhelp with keeping one’sgoals in mind.

Students at Yosemite

High are having hard timeswith sports and many otherthings due to budget cutsfor the schools. They com-plain about there being nolate busses and how thatmakes it hard for some ofthem.

Others say it has affect-ed them because there istoo little money going intothe organization theybelong to and this is caus-ing them to have to do lotsof fundraisers. Some stu-dents are upset because a lotof good teachers were laidoff. There are also biggerclassroom sizes meaningless time to have one-on-one help from teachers.

Some students don’t

have rides to get themhome from sports so theycan’t always stay for prac-tice.

Some students say thatbudget issues haven’t affect-ed them at all. They maynot participate in extra cur-ricular activities or sports,so the issue of after schooltransportation or fundrais-ing doesn’t affect them, orthey may not have had torely on the after schooltransportation in the past.

One teacher says thatbudget cuts create morework for teachers and oth-ers. They have too manykids to be able to properlyteach and help at the sametime. They have more workbecause class sizes are risingimmensely.

People are doing more

work than they had to do inthe past because of employ-ee lay-offs. “We all have todo more with less,” one staffmember said.

Another teacher says itis hard because they can’tbuy new equipment andthey can’t afford to main-tain or upgrade equipmentwhat they already have.

Some say the budgetissue has created moneyproblems for their family,making it harder for themat school and at home.

Some students reportthat they have been laid-offof their job or had theirhours cut dramatically, andsome say their parents havebeen laid-off, or have hadtheir hours reduced by fur-loughs.

PHOTO BY ROY BROOMFIELD

California Highway Patrol Officer Scott Rodda, a pilot for the CHPhelicopter, is shown talking to YHS students recently after landing onthe school’s football field. This was organized by Madera CountySheriff’s Deputy Roy Broomfield, who is assigned to Yosemite High, andwho teaches the Regional Occupational Program (ROP) CriminalJustice class. Students from the ROP Emergency Medical Technicianclass also participated in the November 4 event. Broomfield said thestudents were very impressed with the professionalism and expertknowledge of the air ship and official duties described by OfficersRodda, Andrea Brown, and Scott Lynn. “Our students need to hearfrom someone other than educators what it takes to be successful inlife as an adult,” Broomfield said.

As the world’s economy

gets worse and worse,teenagers are finding itharder to find and keep ajob.

On September 5, theNew York Times reportedthat teenage unemploymenthad reached 25.5 percent,the highest rate for Augustsince the government start-ed keeping statistics in1948.

With some parents los-ing their jobs, or gettingtheir hours cut back, manyteens feel the need to help.

What are they supposedto do? Look for a job in this

economy?Some teens do have jobs

but many say their hourshave been cut back.

A senior at YHS said “Iwork at a restaurant and Ihave gone from working sixdays a week, from five to sixhours a night, to only work-ing three or four days any-where from three to fourhours.”

This girl says the tipsshe receives have also gonedown dramatically.

Greg Hill, the counselorin charge of the work expe-rience program, has 60 stu-dents enrolled this semes-ter.

This program gives stu-dents one credit for every28 hours of work.

Students must be a jun-ior or senior to participateand they must have a job.

Hill says he is seeing itmuch harder for teenagersto get jobs in this economy.

In a random survey, stu-dents say they are trying tofind jobs, but there just arenot many available.

Another senior at YHSsaid “I am very luck to havea job, especially in today’seconomy. I don’t know howI was able to obtain thejob,” but he feels fortunateto have found one.

Naomi Reimer, aYosemite High senior, hasbeen named a CommendedStudent in the 2010National Merit ScholarshipProgram.

About 34,000 studentsthroughout the nation arebeing recognized for theirexceptional academic prom-ise.

Commended Studentsplace among the top fivepercent of more than 1.5million students who enterthe competitor.

School will be on a three

-day break for Thanksgiv-ing. The last day of class

will be Tuesday, November24; classes start againMonday, November 30.

Senior year -- is it the best of times or

the worst of times?Depending on who is answering the

question, it is either.A random, anonymous survey of YHS

seniors found that for some it’s as good asit gets and for others it’s filled with lots ofstress and concern about the future.

As seniors realize that this is their lastyear of high school and in a few monthsmany of them will be on their own, lookingfor a job to support themselves, they take avery different view of school and life.

One of the best parts of senior year forsome is being able to go off campus forlunch. Others say they are able to relate totheir teachers better this year.

For some,the term paper for their seniorproject has caused a lot of stress and forothers, the large amount of homework hasbeen a surprise and is stressful.

Thinking about the future can be scary.Some are still a little unsure if they willgraduate on time, others wonder wherethey will go to college, or how they willsupport themselves.

One student commented that senioryear “has come as quite a shock to me.” Hehad expected senior year to be just like allthe other years, but it has not been that

way. He enjoys the freedom that comeswith being a senior.

Another says there is so much work tobe done “sometimes I feel like I can’tbreathe,” but this student is optimistic, say-ing “I know everything will be okay and Iwill graduate on time.”

Senior year is a time of reflection forsome students. “It seems as if the break ofmy own dawn is the start of a brightfuture,” one says.

One says she is “savoring the moment,”of the senior year. Another comments that“being a kid was not as stressful, but I’mstill excited.”

“I’m sure all students wish they still hadtime to explore their inner-child again,” asenior said.

A theme that kept coming through withthe students was that senior year wasbringing them mixed feelings:

“It’s the easiest yet the most worri-some;” “senior year is hard but easy at thesame time;” “I’m excited about the futurebut enjoying the time left at YHS.”

Many seniors are confident of a brightfuture. “I’m really excited to graduate andjust feel that accomplished feeling. I’mexcited for a life I’ve never known, and onethat guarantees adventure and independ-ence,” one senior concludes.

Published by the journalism class50200 Road 427, Oakhurst, CA 93644

559-683-8801 ext. 338

Christine CookKofi FelixMaria GonzalezRyan Priessman

Christopher Smith

Alisa Choin, ColumnistEarlene Ward, Advisor

Staff

Fall sports season is

drawing to a close and somewinter sports practices havebegun.

Wrestling held its firstpractice November 2, boys’soccer started November 3.

In winter sports, thegirls’ water polo team wasundefeated in league; boys’water polo took second inleague; girls’ golf was leaguechampions; volleyball wasco-league champions; foot-ball playoffs have notbegun; girls’ tennis was sec-ond in league; and crosscountry girls finished firstin league and boys finishedsecond.

Cross CountryThe boys’ and girls’ cross

country teams will be in theValley finals today atWoodward Park in Fresno.

The girls’ team finishedfirst in league and the boys’team finished second.

Coach Ellen Petersonsaid the highlight of theseason was the school field-ing an all-sophomore girls’team for the Mt. SAC invi-tational where they placedthird in their division.

She said being able tofield that team was anaccomplishment but thento have them take thirdagainst schools of all sizeswas amazing.

The teams’ goals are tobe in the top 10 in theValley finals.

The girls are currentlyranked nine.

Peterson said they had avery good season and shelooks forward to a strongteam next year with someyoung returning runners.

About a third of the var-sity team will graduate thisyear but, she says, that’stypical, making every yearseem like a rebuilding year.

Top runners for the girlsthis year are senior KelsiWoytovich and sophomoreColleen Warmerdam.

Top runners for the boysare seniors Ian Womackand John Warmerdam.

FootballThe YHS varsity foot-

ball team was to haveplayed its last home gameNovember 6 against Di-nuba.

Tomorrow night, Nov-ember 13 the Badgers willmeet Sierra, at Sierra forthe annual Mountain Bowl.

YHS currently holds thetrophy and Coach AaronEames says they intend tokeep it.

Going in to the gameagainst Dinuba, theBadgers were 3-5. Theyneed to beat Dinuba andSierra to make it to the

playoffs and the coach saidhe thought they had a goodchance.

During the season,Coach Eames reached his100th victory as a YHScoach, bringing his 14-yearrecord at the school to 100-63.

The coach credits teamcaptains Garrett Yoder,Detri Dunn and Jake Allenfor good leadership duringthe season.

Girls’ GolfThe YHS girls’ golf

team finished second in theCIF team championshipsin Bakersfield last week.

Amanda Rudd won theindividual CIF champi-onship on the team with75.

Two players, sistersKirsten and Jordan Keyser,were to have played in theCIF individual champi-onships in Bakersfield thispast Monday.

If they qualified Mon-day, they will go to theSouthern Section StateChampionships.

Coach Rusty Oetingersays this would be a majorachievement. Just two play-ers from YHS have made itto that level: Jed Noon-kester and Mike Best.

YHS finished thirdoverall this season for allDivision I and Division IIschools.

Oetinger said they had avery successful season, tak-ing the league champi-onship, North Area cham-pionship and barely missingthe team CIF champi-onship.

Girls’ TennisThe girls’ tennis team

finished second in leaguewith a 13-5 overall seasonrecord and 8-2 in league.

Erica Grant won herfirst match in the ValleyChampionships in Visaliabut lost in the second.

Shannon Lane had alsoqualified for Valley.

Two doubles teams fromYHS made it to Valley butlost in their first matches.The teams were KatelundMcCall and Bess Avina andSophie Faulkner and ChloeDean.

The team finished in thetop four in league and twoout of the four teams goingto Valley were from YHS,according to Coach StanLawrence.

Two seniors will begraduating this year, butLawrence says if the rest ofthe team comes back, it willbe a good year in 2010.

“It is nice to be develop-ing a tradition of havingsome good athletes comingout -- girls who are com-

petitive and want toachieve,” he said.

VolleyballThe YHS Badger vol-

leyball team is co-leaguechampion with a 9-1record. The team wasscheduled to start post-sea-son playoffs this pastTuesday, unless they drew abye for the first game.

As of press time, CoachTammy Thacker did notknow what the team’s play-

off schedule would be.Thacker said if her two

senior outside hitters,Hillary Prince and LanaeContero, and the rest of theteam, play to their potentialthey will do well in playoffs.

Boys’ Water PoloThe boys’ water polo

team finished second inleague and was scheduledto go into Division III play-offs this past Tuesday.

As of press time, Coach

Jim Clark did not knowwho they would be playing,or where.

The team won its firstgame of the league champi-onship November 4, beat-ing Chowchilla 12-4. Theylost their second game toKingsburg 6-9.

Clark said the team hada good year with a lot ofyoung players. He said theflu also really hurt the teamthis year with two or threeout ill or injured at times.

The best match of theseason was the SunnysideTournament where theBadgers took fourth, beat-ing Central 10-7 andRedwood 7-6 in overtime.

Senior starters are KyleOja, Antho

ny Smith, and J.J.Jackson.

Girls’ Water PoloThe girls’ water polo

team was unbeaten inleague, clinching the leaguechampionship November 4with a 17-8 win over Sierra

in the semi-finals and a 20-8 victory over Kingsburg inthe championships.

The girls were scheduledto start Division II Valleychampionships this pastTuesday.

Coach Brandon Brokawsaid he thought they wouldgo into the playoffs seededseven or eight out of 12teams.

“All of our starters havebeen great,” he said. Headded that he has abouteight girls who all play atthe same level, so therearen’t one or two outstand-ing players who the otherteams can cover and shutthem down.

Seniors on the team areMeghan Moons, ErinCasey, and Brittany Els-man.

Brokaw says he has astrong team coming up nextyear with “a lot of strongjuniors.” The team’s startinggoal is a sophomore, KaleyDeSilva.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CAROLE CALDERWOOD

Yosemite High School science teacherCarole Calderwood is shown on her horse,Zonna, after they won the First Level Elite divi-sion at the California Dressage Society’s AdultAmateur Regional Championships, which is thechampionship show for the region of centralCalifornia. Calderwood says she caught the“horse bug” as a young child and badgered herparents for a horse for years. “I finally worethem down in the sixth grade,” she says, “andthey purchased my first horse, a quarter horsepalomino I called Pepsi. I have owned manyhorses since then. My parents always won-dered when I would outgrow my horse passion,my father is still waiting.” Calderwood discov-ered dressage when she was a freshman atCal Poly Pomona and says “it is the perfectsport for me. It takes years to train the horseup through the levels. There is always room forgrowth. It is a sport where you can ride thesame horse for years and keep learning andworking as a team.” Zonna is a five-year-oldDutch Warmblood.

Coach Ellen Peterson

says she loves cross country“immensely”. She says thatas a kid she wasn’t able todo cross country becausewomen were not allowed tocompete in any sports, soshe ran on her own.

She has been coachingcross country at YosemiteHigh School for 25 years.Her favorite part of crosscountry is that she gets tobe outside and run and sheloves that. She also likescross country because it’s anindividual sport where peo-ple can motivate themselvesto achieve great things, shesays.

Peterson runs from fiveto eight miles every day tostay in top physical condi-tion.

Cross country practicesevery day except Sundaysfrom August to November.

Everyone gets to com-pete in the events as a team.If there aren’t five people inthat group then it isn’t con-sidered a team but it is con-sidered a group of individu-als. There are about 40-50people who participate incross country every year;they run from two to threemiles a day and then do

other types of workouts andstretches. Their workoutsare based on running anddifferent types core work-outs.

The reason cross countryis such a great sport,Peterson says, is because ithas intrinsic rewards andpeople are self-motivated.Everyone has their ownpersonal goals that theydetermine.

They have a total of 14meets and they have otheractivities like the cornmaze, team meals, and roadraces.

Coach Ellen Peterson

Yosemite High School ishome to four new studentsfrom other countries thisyear. There is one foreignexchange student and threewho have moved toOakhurst with their fami-lies.

All four say that lan-guage is their biggest strug-gle, but all do speak Englishand have been studying thelanguage since first grade.

Yang SenSen Yang is a senior and

a foreign exchange student.He notes that in China the

last name is used first, so hegoes by Yang Sen.

In China he would be asophomore; when hereturns at the end of thisschool year he will have twomore years of senior highschool. Their schoolingconsists of six years of ele-mentary school, three yearsof junior high and threeyears of senior high.

Sen’s family lives inBejing. While he says thatOakhurst is “very quiet,” headds that is okay. He likesthe quiet conditions and helikes the conveniences ofthe larger stores andChinese restaurants.

American food is notnew to him since someAmerican restaurants are inChina, including McDon-alds, Starbucks, KFC, andSubway. He says he isdrinking a lot of Starbuckscoffee here since it costsalmost $10 a cup in China.

His favorite Americanfood is macaroni salad.

Sen says all of his classesare his favorite but he espe-cially likes English, history,and his Advanced Place-ment classes (chemistry,physics, and calculus). He

finds US history andEnglish “pretty hard.”

Students begin studyingEnglish in first grade inChina and some have extraEnglish classes after school.“Most Chinese parentsreally emphasize Englisheducation,” he said.

Sen hopes to return tothe United States to attendCal Tech where he wants tostudy mathematics andbusiness.

A new experience forhim at YHS is the crosscountry team. They do nothave cross country inChina. He says he likes thesport but “it’s not easy.” InChina he played ping pongand tennis. He thinks hemay learn to play golf here.

Sen says he went out forthe cross country teambecause it’s new to him and“my coach is my historyteacher (Ellen Peterson)and she’s very good to me.”

He also likes the team:“They are very good to meand encourage me a lot, it’sa nice team,” he says.

School in China has adifferent schedule everyday. They have a one monthwinter break and a twomonth summer break andsometimes there are daysoff for festivals.

Sen says some of theyoung generation my cele-brate Christmas by having ameal with friends. TheChristians in China go tochurch that day to cele-brate. Some stores havesales at that time of year.

While he is in America,Sen stays in touch with hisfamily through an Internetprogram.

Li XiangXiang Li, who goes by

Li Xiang, is a freshman atYHS this year. He and hisfather moved to Oakhurstto live with his aunt anduncle. He says they camehere for his socializationand so he could receive abetter education.

He says he sometimesmisses his family memberswho are still in China, but“I will try to do well in mystudies and make a brightfuture for myself. There aremore opportunities herethan in China.”

Xiang is from Jiamusi,China which, he says, is nota large city.

Language has been hisbiggest problem at YHS. “Itis very hard for Chinese

people to learn English,” hesays. When he is home, hespeaks Chinese to his fatherand his aunt and English tohis uncle and cousin.

At first school was pret-ty difficult, he said, becausehe couldn’t understandEnglish, but now “it’s pret-ty easy.”

He was used to eatingAmerican food in China,noting that there was aMcDonalds and KFC.Now he eats Chinese andAmerican food at home,with pizza being hisfavorite.

Xiang plans to continueto live in America, go tocollege and work here.Math and science are hisfavorite classes but he is notsure of his career plans atthis time. “It takes time todecide,” he said.

He enjoys his classmatesand is feeling comfortableat YHS. “Most of the time Ican communicate with theother students,” he says,“but there are some words Ican’t say in English.”

He has not becomeinvolved in sports but helikes to play tennis.

One of the big differ-ences he sees betweenOakhurst and China is thesize of buildings. In China,buildings have many floors,here he sees one or maybetwo floors and, he says, theshort buildings are moreconvenient.

Xiang says it’s veryinteresting to go to schoolhere. “It is more relaxinghere,” he said. “There is notso much homework and itis not so difficult. I like ithere better.”

Aman and RoosiDharwar

Amanpreet (Aman) andHarpreet (Roosi) Dharwarare sisters who moved toOakhurst in June fromPunjab, India. Prior tomoving to Oakhurst, theyhad lived in San Franciscofor five months.

They moved to Oak-hurst because they have anuncle living in Fresno.Here, their parents own agas station, where Amanworks part time.

When they moved toAmerica, they came to jointheir father who has beenhere for seven years.

Aman, who is a junior,and Roosi, a freshman, bothsay language is a problemalthough they have studiedEnglish since first grade.“All students in India studyEnglish,” they explain. Athome, they speak Punjabiand as they talked to eachother during the interview,they spoke Punjabi.

They like clothing inAmerica but they say theIndian clothing is verycomfortable.

They are vegetarian andeat mostly Indian food athome. Aman says she hastasted American food acouple times and she likespizza but not burgers.

In India, school is in ses-sion about 300 days a year;they go to class six days aweek and they have a halfmonth off for summervacation.

School is “so easy” herefor both of them; it’s “verytough” in India and theylike it here.

Roosi says her favoriteclass is math and Amanlikes the tutoring centerwhere she goes one period aday for help with English.

They both plan toattend college in America.“My dad says I should be adoctor,” Aman says, “Iwould like to also but I’mafraid of blood.” Roosiwants to be a pilot.

Aman says she does not

have a difficult subject andfor Roosi it’s science. Theylike the students at YHS,finding them “friendly andhelpful.”

Their one complaint?“Too much cold.” They likethe summer.

They enjoy wearingtheir native clothing whenthey attend festivals inFresno.

Roosi Dharwar, left, and Aman Dharwar in theirnative clothing; which they wear to festivals inFresno.

Yang Sen

Li Xiang

Aman Dharwar, left, and Roosi Dharwar, YosemiteHigh Badgers.

YHS seniorscarved pumpkinswith a theme of theUS Constitution andFederalism to begiven to eighth gradestudents fromCoarsegold andRivergold schoolsduring a recent jointproject between theseniors and eighthgraders. The seniorsdescribed how theUS Constitution andFederalism came tobe and then fieldedquestions from theeighth graders. Atthe conclusion, theyoung students wereable to chose one ofthe more than 100pumpkins the sen-iors had carved.Shown working ontheir pumpkin areLauren Miller andJackson Glines.

Photo courtesy ofDeborah Brown