The abrupt end of face-to-face learning this school year has presented many challenges to educators. Teachers and administrators in the Renton School District have been constantly adapting to meet the needs of students. 

Hazen High School in Renton was the first school in the country to close due to a student that was tested for the coronavirus in early March according to the Renton Reporter. In a statement from the superintendent, the school closure was, “out of an abundance of caution.” Governor Jay Inslee officially closed schools on April 6. In the weeks that followed, the district has been tasked with solving many problems for staff and students, one of them being providing online education.

Amy Charles, a language arts teacher at Hazen, said that teaching through the internet has been challenging, “trying to build relationships, which I think is a key factor of teaching, has been really tough.” Charles added that the timing of Hazen closing also worked against teachers, “The other high schools had closure with the end of their trimesters, they got to set things up, they knew it was coming, with Hazen it was just abrupt, so that was not easy.”

Getting students the resources to access their online education has been a major obstacle for the district. Harland Warrior, an assistant principal at Hazen said, “it’s been frustrating because it’s an inequitable system. We cannot ensure that 100% of our student population will have access to the things that they need…we have no understanding of what it’s like for some of our families that are struggling.” 

Warrior said that the administration at Hazen has encouraged teachers to alter their normal teaching style to accommodate students that are struggling due to the virus, “teachers are asked to connect first, connect with our students, be supportive to our students, don’t necessarily worry about content, make that be the last thing.”

At the district level, Superintendent Dr. Damien Pattenaude has a more positive outlook on the transition to remote learning, ”one of the successes is how quickly we got up and running,” he said, “on the whole I think it’s going as well as can be expected.” 

Dr. Pattenaude has been very complimentary of the district staff and their adjustment to distance learning, “the success has been the flexibility and ingenuity of our staff, that this is something that none of us have ever experienced, and we didn’t even necessarily have a lot of time to process on what we might do.”

The flexibility of district staff has been paramount to the success of online learning. “The greatest challenge from a superintendent’s perspective or a district’s perspective has been the changing guidance or rules and regulations from the state,” Dr. Pattenaude said.

The future of education, especially among public schools, is undetermined and there are a variety of solutions being discussed. Harland Warrior said, “I think the fall is still up in the air right now, if they can accomplish something, some kind of immunity and protection in the next three months, we could maybe have school in the fall in the actual building.”

Dr. Pattenaude said, “I would bet today that we for sure won’t be back in a normal situation as a whole district.” He added that political decisions could also affect the reopening of schools, “If we open back up certain aspects of the economy, and if childcare and schools aren’t open it’s really going to be difficult for people to go back to work”

With the wide age range of students within the Renton School District, the administrative staff has had to make decisions for students ranging from preschool to high school. As of right now, the district is planning for a wide range of scenarios, “best case scenario is you’re back and it’s like normal, worst case scenario is we’re out for the entire year and we’re doing things remotely,” Dr. Pattenaude said.

Regardless of when schools open up again, students and teachers alike will be ready to see each other in person. “I’m looking forward to seeing students, I’m looking forward to the energy of students,” Amy Charles said, “one of the things that makes me truly happiest in my job is being around kids and watching what they can do and the humor that we share…along with the infinite possibility of what they can create”

I want to do a story on the impact that the corona virus has had on education. I have worked as a para educator previously and my mom also works in education. We are well connected with a lot of people that work in Seattle-area school districts and since the virus has impacted the way school works and how people receive meals and other aid through schools, I thought it would be interesting to talk to a few educators on how they are adjusting to school during the virus and what their plans are moving forward as next school year is also in jeopardy.

I plan on talking to Renton School District Superintendent Damien Pattenaude, Hazen High School Assistant Principal Harland Warrior and Hazen Language Arts Teacher Amy Charles.

Drum Corps Dreams Turned Reality

“I don’t think there was any way I couldn’t be addicted to something that taught me so much,” she said.

Julie Drever has been performing with different drum corps for the past two seasons. Her next season will be her last, and she will be marching with a group only two years removed from being DCI champions.

Julie’s career as a musician began long before she ever auditioned to join a drum corp. She has participated in her school’s band since she was in high school in Sumner, Washington. During that time, her friend Gavin Hutcheson, whom she has known since fourth grade, introduced her to the drum corps scene. Gavin was a member of the Colombians, a group that Julie would later join. The Colombians are an open-class corps from Kennewick, Washington.

Gavin showed Julie a video of the Blue Devils, the most decorated drum corps in the history of DCI, and Julie was impressed. She also learned that the Blue Devils had “Blue Devil for a Day”, which would allow her to experience what it was like to be a part of a drum corps. Her mom surprised her by sending her to the camp and she went to Concord, California to experience being a member of the Blue Devils. “I still talk to people from that camp,” Drever said.

Drum Corps International, referred to as DCI, has amassed a cult following around the country, with different corps from around the country performing shows for thousands of fans across the US over the summer. Each corps has a drumline, a horn line, and a percussion pit. There are two classes of drum corps, open-class and world-class. Open-class corps are smaller and perform fewer shows, where world-class corps are much larger and tour the entire summer. This culminates at the DCI Finals, which take place in at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis every August.

That summer, Julie auditioned for the Colombians, and earned a contract to march with them. But being a member of a drum corps turned out to be much more difficult than she had previously thought. “It was the first time I had ever wanted to quit something so badly, because I legitimately believed that I would never be able to do it,” she said, “It was the most intense and physically straining thing I had ever done.”

But once she got on the field to march shows, she was hooked. “Performing gave me so much purpose,” Drever said, “It was so amazing to me that anything could push me that far and still make me fall in love with it.” After thinking she would only try drum corps for one summer, she decided that she would return the next summer for another season.

For her second season, Julie wanted to audition for a world-class corps, so she decided to try out for the Santa Clara Vanguard, one of the top corps in the country. “I was coming from Colombians and going to Vanguard, and that was the biggest leap you could make,” she said. Unfortunately, there was only one open spot that Drever was auditioning for, and she was cut during auditions. She said she only focused on music before auditions, rather than marching, which was why she was cut.

But Drever’s hope of playing for a world-class corps was not lost, and she was able to audition for the Seattle Cascades, her hometown corps. She performed well enough at auditions to earn a contract with the Cascades. “I didn’t really value being good at marching, I thought that it was something that wasn’t that important, but that’s something that I learned at Cascades, is that it’s equally as important, if not more important than playing,” she said. Once the season started, Julie started to see her hard work pay off. Now that she was playing with a world-class corps, more people started to take notice. “I remember seeing my band director at our home show in Renton, and I was like ‘I just want you to see me and the work I put into stuff,’” she said.

Sadly, Drever did not get to march a full summer with the Cascades, as multiple injuries kept her from performing. She still traveled with the group and got to watch finals but she was disappointed that she didn’t get to play all of the shows. This motivated her to come back for another summer, and she once again set her sights on getting a contract with Vanguard. She focused more on her marching technique as she prepared for auditions.

Drever’s long-time friend, Beth Siltala, who marched with her with the Colombians, helped her prepare for her second year of Vanguard auditions. “During winter break we would be out on a high school field every day when it was 35 degrees,” Siltala said.

Vanguard had nearly an entirely new staff in 2019, so there were many unfamiliar faces, but Drever impressed at auditions and got a call back. “Every time I got positive feedback, I had butterflies in my stomach,” she said. There were 12 spots up for grabs, with around 100 people auditioning, but she defied the odds and was awarded a contract to march with her favorite corps. Drever said, “It literally felt not real to me, and I feel like there’s no way to have made it real unless I actually got to be marching with them.”

Gavin Hutcheson, who was the person who inspired Julie to start drum corps in the first place, had nothing but praise when Drever found out she would be joining SCV. “It’s been crazy seeing her go from not being able to hold her instrument up, to seeing her go be a part of one of the top five groups in the world,” he said. Beth Siltala also remarked at the hard work that Drever has put into drum corps,” seeing how she’s gone from being such a fangirl about it to being at that level, and seeing how she’s gotten so much better from wanting it so bad has been really awesome.”

Sadly, the feeling was short-lived for Julie, because the DCI season was canceled due to the coronavirus. She wasn’t surprised to hear the news, “I sort of eased into it because I was in another performing group. For some reason DCI hadn’t been canceling anything even though everything else was getting canceled.” But all is not lost, as Vanguard extended all members’ contracts through next season, as well as DCI giving all members who would have aged out this season an extra year of eligibility, but that extra year will not be extended to any other participants. Drever said, “knowing I will only get one year to march with them, it’s sad.”

Source List:

Gavin Hutcheson: gavin.hutcheson@wsu.edu

Beth Siltala: elizabeth.siltala@wsu.edu

Julie Drever: 253-279-4322

For my profile, I want to do a story on my friend Julie Drever. Julie is a sousaphone player in the WSU marching band and she is also very involved in drum corps and indoor percussion and she has participated in DCI and WGI. This summer, Julie received a contract to play contra for the Santa Clara Vanguard, one of the top drum corps in the country. Julie has also marched for the Seattle Cascades and the Columbians, as well as Impact Percussion. Even though the DCI season has been canceled this summer, it is still noteworthy that Julie received a contract from the reigning DCI world champions. Other sources I could interview are her friends Gavin Hutcheson and Beth Siltala, who marched with her during high school, with the Cougar marching band, and with Impact Percussion. 

For my visual story, I covered the most recent WSU Wind Ensemble concert. I thought this would be interesting because some members of the group will be making a trip to South Korea to perform in a wind ensemble festival. The music they performed at the concert on Wednesday is also the music they will be performing in Korea. The wind ensemble also had a variety of guest directors and soloists at the concert from the school of music, including Drs. Martin King, Chris Dickey and Yuna Roh. The concert included quintessential wind ensemble songs such as Rhapsody In Blue and Stars and Stripes Forever.

Source List:

Ryan Wheeler, Euphonium and Beth Siltala, Trombone

Alcohol Sold for the First Time at Beasley Coliseum

Beasley Coliseum is selling beer and wine for the first time at basketball games, with the opening of the Cougar Den January 2.

The athletic department’s reasoning behind introducing the Cougar Den was to create a better fan experience for those attending basketball games. Cougar Basketball has experienced a decline in attendance over the past few years, and selling alcohol at games was a way to boost attendance. 

Vice President of Communications and Marketing, Phil Weiler said, “we’re competing with TV, and we want to make the experience better than staying home.” The Cougar Den is offering catered food from Fork In The Road, in addition to beer and wine.

In a press release from WSU Insider, Athletic Director Pat Chun said, “based on the success we have had with Cougville at Cougar Football games, we are excited to provide similar amenities for Cougar Basketball games.”

The reaction to the Cougar Den has been positive, and the Den reached capacity the first night that it opened during a men’s basketball game against the University of Southern California. 

The interest in the Cougar Den called for the athletic department to increase the size of the Den after the first few games it was open. Bill Stevens, associate director of athletics said, “we have also expanded capacity since the first few games…the response has been great.”

When the Den first opened, some were concerned that serving alcohol at basketball games would lead to more alcohol-related crimes, such as drunken driving. Assistant Chief of the Pullman Police Department, Steve Hansen, said that there has been no big impact on the number of DUIs since the Cougar Den opened. 

Washington State has put a priority on raising attendance at basketball games, and the Cougar Den was one of many improvements the athletic department has brought to Beasley. 

A kids zone was recently opened at the coliseum and a kids meal was added to the food selection. Weiler said WSU hopes this will attract more people from Pullman and the surrounding area to buy tickets, especially for weekday games that have had low attendance in recent years.  

Many college athletic departments have trouble breaking even on basketball games, but WSU is hoping that by adding new concessions to the menu and more features to Beasley Coliseum, they can sell more tickets and generate more revenue. 

A new court was installed with a design that includes landmarks from across the state of Washington. Weiler said the court is meant to reflect that WSU is not just Pullman, and the Pullman campus is part of a system that stretches across the entire state. 

Weiler added that selling more tickets and generating larger crowds would be good for the players, and interest in buying tickets starts with offering a great fan experience at basketball games. With the new amenities that have been added to Beasley this year, the athletic department is hoping to see attendance rise soon. 

Source List:

VP of Marketing and Communications for WSU: Phil Weiler 509-335-4742

Assistant Chief of Pullman Police: Steve Hansen 509-335-4212

Associate Athletic Director at WSU: Bill Stevens 509-335-4294