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Published on 02/22/1999 All articles from this issue

Schools Roundup

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

Math 'counts' at Blach School

Blach Junior High students Justin Hsia, Kevin Roy, Neal Bruins and Karen Logan will be crunching numbers with some of the state's top junior high math students next month at the annual Mathcounts State Competition in Davis.

The four-member team placed second in the regional competition Feb. 6 in San Mateo, where 15 school teams competed.

The state winners will be eligible to move onto the national competition in Washington, D.C. this spring, where President Bill Clinton has traditionally met with past winners.

Joan Goslow, competition coordinator for the past 14 years, said "Blach has been one of the strongest teams regionally. They have consistently done quite well."

Goslow said teacher Marron Honigman has been coaching Blach's four team members and two alternates for the event since October. She said competitors must know how to solve "an endless range of really challenging stuff" including calculus problems.

In the state competition, about 400 students are expected to compete in individual and team rounds that include oral and written tests.The excitement comes at the end of the third round when the top 10 students must compete one-on-one in a timed, oral competition until all but one student have been eliminated, Goslow said. The team with the highest overall score wins, she said.

"It just blows me away to see what those kids can do," Goslow said. "Boy, I couldn't even begin to do what they do."

Goslow said the intent of the nationwide program is to spark students' interest in math and help them discover what math can do for them.

Jeff Chiu, from Egan Intermediate School, is also scheduled to compete on the All Star Team, which includes the highest scoring students from the regional competition who are not already on a winning team.

Safe Ride expands

Local teens who are in need of a sober ride home now have access to a new toll free number through Safe Ride.

The teen-run program to prevent drinking and driving operates through the American Red Cross in Mountain View.

The Red Cross was able to expand its services recently thanks to a $25,000 donation from the soap box derby, the Sand Hill Challenge, which is held annually in September to raise funds for the nonprofit program.

The Red Cross will also use the money to market materials that promote awareness on high school campuses, said Pilar Furlong, associate director of development at the Red Cross.

During the past year, more than 500 teens, including 65 from Mountain View High and 101 from Los Altos High, have used the program, Furlong said.

"It's really a popular program," Furlong said. "I'm glad to see students aware and willing to use it."

Furlong said a group of students from Gunn High School in Palo Alto and the Red Cross organized the program in 1984 after teens from Gunn and Palo Alto high schools were involved in a fatal, alcohol-related auto accident.

"The students approached us with this idea as a way to prevent (an accident) from happening again," she said.

Through the program, a teen may call for a free, confidential ride within the boundaries of Daly City and Mountain View from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., Fridays and Saturdays.

Furlong said about 200 local high school students currently volunteer in the program as sober drivers.

When a call comes in, an adult supervisor dispatches two teens along with a cellular phone and a Red Cross vehicle to pick up and drive the caller home, Furlong said.

Furlong said she believes that using teen drivers has been essential to the program's success.

"Students relate better to their peers," she said.

For a free ride, call 1-888-550-RIDE.

To become a volunteer, call 688-0415.

Gunn dedicates new art center

Expect to see bigger pieces of work coming from the art department at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, where about 150 Los Altos Hills residents attend.

The school opened its new arts center last month, which provides students enough space as so not to cramp their creative process.

"Space has always been a problem. That's why you never see anything over a certain size," said John Robinson, supervisor for the visual and performing arts at Gunn. "Size isn't going to be an issue anymore."

Robinson said the building's large, outdoor enclosures will allow students to think big - a difference that should be apparent in the school's sculpture program.

He said students will have enough space to be able to work on large pieces without having to worry about where to store them.

The new arts building is located at the back of the school at the site of the school's former arts building, which burned down in April 1997.

The new building features a whole new design and enough space to hold five classes concurrently, Robinson said.

Robinson said the building was extended to include the photography department, which used to be located across campus.

"This makes a lot more sense," he said. "Before, it was such a fragmented department. Now it's been pulled together as one. We can interface with one another."

He said, for example, the computer lab is next to the photo lab so students may reproduce photos digitally.

Funds for the new building came from the district's fire insurance and the Building For Excellence program, which initially allocated money for upgrades on the 30-year-old arts building before fire destroyed it.

Robinson said parents created the Phoenix Fund to raise money to fund the equipment in the computer lab.

Residents may get a first-hand look at the new building from 4-6 p.m., today, during the opening ceremony, where students will be working on projects.

IN BRIEF: As part of their studies about the day-to-day life of the American colonists, fifth-graders at Oak Canyon School in Palo Alto learned first-hand how to spin and weave when Ruth Herron, who is 101 years old, demonstrated textile handicrafts.

Herron has taught handicrafts at Rochester, New York's Museum of Art.

Members of Foothill College's Music Theatre recently captured eight Dean Goodman Theater Awards for outstanding musical production, male performance, musical direction, choreography, scenic design, costume design and direction.

Members were honored at a ceremony Feb. 8 in San Francisco.

Sixth graders at Loyola School in Los Altos dissected lamb hearts recently as part of their science unit on body systems and the function of the heart.

The hearts were obtained from animals that had been butchered for meat.

Students wore rubber gloves as they worked on the hearts.