Posts in category Final Project Main Stories

Racism in Korea – Main story

Jul27
2012 Leave a Comment Written by tduryea

Seoul, South Korea

It could be an off-handed comment. It could be a look. It could be fists in your face. It could even be on prime-time TV. Regardless of where it comes from, it is a cold reminder for foreigners that not all are accepting.

When Warren Neiland first moved to Korea he said he never noticed racism.

“Korea is great,” he said, and he plans to live here indefinitely with his wife Na Hana.

“We love it here and we want to live here.”

However, when he started dating Na he said he noticed it right away.

“Adjossis [Korean term for older men] would say things to Hana all the time,” said Neiland. “Things like slut, bitch. Just us standing on the sidewalk.”

It hasn’t stopped either, even though they’ve been married almost three years now. “We just ignore it,” he said. “We have to.”

Just being seen with a Korean woman can cause problems. Jonathan Fowler, an English teacher in Seoul, introduced one of his former coworkers to a new school for a job. Walking back to the station, some Korean men said something to her. He saw the look on her face.

“What’s the matter?” he asked his friend.

“They said I was a whore,” she said.

Education

One of the most prevalent stigmas is that Korean women date foreign men to learn English. Even though Na studied in Canada before she met Neiland, she feels she is still sometimes cast in that light.

“I get so mad when they say I speak well because of my boyfriend,” she said.

Na’s best friend from middle school, Kang Yu Mi, and her husband Kim Yun Kuck say they love Neiland but see where some Koreans get it from. They say the stigma comes from the education system.

“Education is centered around learning English,” said Kim.

The importance of English makes some Koreans feel their culture is second-class.

“It makes them fell inferior,” said Kim. “Like they aren’t good enough.”

Education also emphasizes the importance of a united community.

“We learned since the first grade that we are the only country that has one blood,” said Kang. “We learn in school that we shouldn’t mix blood.”

This one-blood mentality is prevalent throughout society.

“We all heard that so many times,” said Na. “One-blood, one-blood, one-blood.”

Fuel to the Fire

While it is easy to ignore the occasional comment, it is hard to ignore prime-time television. On May 28 the Korean cable station MBC ran an investigative report called “The Shocking Truth about Relationships with Foreigners.” Many foreigners in Korean feel the video casts western English teachers as HIV-spreading playboys who care only about drugs, money and sex.

“I was absolutely outraged,” said Fowler. “I couldn’t believe it.”

For him this brought the issue to another level.

“This was done officially by a news organization,” he said. “It made it that much worse.”

Fowler and many other foreigners said they have been unfairly stereotyped, especially when there are already required to give up what they consider basic rights. The visa for English teachers in Korea, called the E-2, requires every applicant to provide an HIV check, a federal criminal background check and a drug screening. A DUI in one’s home country prohibits an applicant from being accepted.

“How can they say that about us?” he said. “When we are the least likely to have HIV.”

The vocal opposition feels there are no facts to back up the report. While MBC aired the show, it was actually bought from a production company. All of MBC’s writers have been on strike since January, protesting government involvement and censorship. This has forced MBC to outsource their news.

The response from MBC has been unapologetic. While the report paints a broad picture, constantly using the term foreigners instead of more specific this foreigner or that person, the show’s producers feel they were just talking about a small group of people. In a Wall Street Journal blog, one producer described why most foreigners shouldn’t be angry.

“Foreigner-Korean women couples are living happily,” said the producer, who wanted to speak anonymously, “but why are they angry over an issue that has nothing to do with them?”

The report, from the producer’s perspective, was a warning of such to Korean women about the dangers of dating foreigners. Just as Korean men don’t call Neiland and Fowler names, they save the names for the Korean women. As Neiland said, this makes him even angrier.

“It doesn’t bother me as much if they say something about me,” he said. “But when they say something derogatory towards Hana, I have an issue.”

Neiland said he is able to let those comments go, but his wife has a harder time dealing with them. After an altercation on the subway in the southern city of Busan, she was shaken up. A Korean man called Na many names and then tried to fight Nieland.

“Hana is a very proud Korean and was excited to show me around,” he said. “Up until then, Koreans were very welcoming.”

The Future

Neiland’s friend Ian Highley is also married to a Korean. He says he has been well accepted by most people, but he has also experienced some forms of racism.

“I think many people will always regard me as a foreigner or a guest,” he said, “and would never accept me as a true resident.”

He said he was more disappointed than angry at MBC’s report.

“Disappointed that there are Koreans that feel that way about Westerners in this country,” he said, “and that they would try to portray my wife as my victim.”

Highley says he isn’t so concerned about being accepted personally, but has reasons to worry about the future.

“Our first child is due to be born in Korea soon,” he said, “and I fear that he will have problems being accepted as Korean due to his background.”

Neiland and Na say they hope to start a family soon too. They say support from Na’s families and friends has been important.

“Hana’s family have accepted me with open arms,” he said. “They actually said that they feel unique and fortunate to have me as a part of their family.”

For Neiland, the negative aspect is separated from Koreans he knows personally. He said he choses to focus on the positives and has hope that the dirty looks and snide comments will eventually disappear.

“I believe the tide is changing here in Korea,” he said, “slowly.”

The Way the Music Died: Schools’ Fine Arts Budgets Continue to Shrink

Jul27
2012 Leave a Comment Written by nclemens

Levi Gerke will major in vocal music performance at Central Methodist College this fall. He successfully auditioned for Missouri Fine Arts Academy, a prestigious fine arts summer camp. He just wrapped a run as the male lead in Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta “Iolanthe.” He’s never taken a single choir class in school.

Like many other schools around the country, Gerke’s reduced its music program significantly in the past several years. Vocal music courses were not even offered at his high school; the casualties of budget cuts, primarily.

Gerke’s alma mater, Pilot Grove C4, is a K-12 district in rural middle Missouri. The typical graduating class is around 30 students. The entire district is housed in a single building. There is only one music teacher in the district. He teaches elementary music, middle school music, music appreciation, and seventh-12th grade band.

In 2005, as Gerke was entering middle school, the district could no longer afford to employ a separate teacher for elementary and secondary music. Staffing cuts were made to balance the budget. In a district that already employed a single high school math teacher and a single K-12 physical education teacher, this led to the consolidation of the music positions.

Finding a highly qualified teacher willing to take on a K-12 program is difficult, said Gay Baer, Pilot Grove’s K-12 counselor. Often the teachers who apply are inexperienced or have experience only in instrumental music, note both Baer and Gerke. The last three music teachers at Pilot Grove, each with an average tenure at Pilot Grove of around 2 years, have all been trained as instrumental music teachers.

Consequently, vocal music fell by the wayside. It was obvious to students that vocal music was not a priority for the teacher or the school, so it was not a priority for the students, said Gerke.

Because finding time in the music teacher’s schedule became increasingly difficult after the consolidation, students were discouraged from pursuing music other than band. Only a choir which met weekly during a 20-minute study hall remained.

But, said Gerke, it was “not enriching. You’d show up if you wanted to, you could tell the teachers were instrumental teachers who were kind of insecure about teaching vocal music. It was never a big deal in my life.” The study hall choir eventually disbanded.

By the time he reached high school, Gerke said he had “given up on Pilot Grove as a choir.”

The plight of music programs is not limited to rural schools. According to The Wallace Foundation, in urban schools, the decline of arts education has been occurring for a generation. In Detroit, only 55 percent of public schools have music teachers. Since 2008, 40 percent of public schools in Texas have cut fine arts offerings. In 2010, Music Trades magazine suggested that a five percent decrease in state education funding would be enough to end some fine arts education programs.

Because music education is not a core subject, and, therefore, rarely the subject of high-stakes testing. The ubiquitous No Child Left Behind legislation requires testing only in reading, math and science. Few states test fine arts at the secondary level, even fewer test through performance evaluations.

To combat the lack of music education in schools, students must look beyond their schools for fine arts instruction. In Missouri, 200 of the most gifted 10th and 11th grade musicians are invited to supplement their school education at Missouri Fine Arts Academy. MFAA is a three-week program run by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as a program for gifted students. As a junior, Gerke was accepted as an alto saxophonist, but spent much of his time at MFAA studying vocal music.

Recently, funding for MFAA was a point of contention in the state’s budget. In fiscal year 2012, $200,000 of appropriated funds was withheld from MFAA. The governor’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2013 included no monies for MFAA and Scholars Academy, which appear as a single item in the budget.

Though Missouri’s K-12 schools were budgeted a record $3.009 billion, $5 million more than in 2012, the governor proposed permanently cutting 100% of MFAA and Scholars Academy funding. Additionally, funding for Blues in Schools, which was originally appropriated $800,000 for 2013, was vetoed from the Missouri budget.

The trend of cutting fine arts budgets echoes across the nation. A 2011 study by the National Endowment for the Arts found that the percentage of 18-year-olds who received any fine arts education as students declined 15 percent from 1982 to 2008. In 2008, less than half of all respondents, 49.5 percent reported receiving arts education. While 57.9 percent of white respondents reported access to music, drama or visual art education, the percentages of black and Hispanic respondents who had access to these classes were less than half of their white counterparts.

While schools in Missouri and nationwide are forced to continue making tough budget decisions, often at the expense of fine arts, students who wish to pursue the arts must adapt. Gerke’s sister, Brenna, attributes his successes to their parents’ willingness and ability to “seek out the best people to help Levi do what he wanted to do.”

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in 2010 that America should not be a place where fine arts education is reserved “for privileged students or the elite.” He remarked that President Obama “recalls that when he was a child ‘even in the poorest school districts everyone had access to music and other arts.’ Today,” he continued, “sadly, that is no longer the case.”

Though top governmental officials lament the decline in arts education, students like Gerke continue to feel the effects of shrinking budgets and shifting priorities in their schools.

Young Upstarts: Recent high school grads start parkour business

Jul26
2012 Leave a Comment Written by jderryberry

As recent high school graduates, Michael Graef and Kent Johns are spending a lot of time at the University of Montana campus. They’re studying and practicing business. But they haven’t enrolled in any courses. Neither of them has entered any of the buildings on campus. Yet those buildings are the main reason they’re there, and the business they’re studying is their own.

Graef and Johns followed the advice of many successful business owners and created a livelihood from something they love: Parkour.  Parkour is a method of moving from one place to another by finding a pathway through obstacles and making your way around them by climbing, jumping, vaulting, etc.  Freerunning is a close cousin to the practice that involves more tricks. Those who practice parkour are called traceurs.

Graef and Johns are traceurs and entrepreneurs.

In 2008, the friends were inspired by a YouTube video of parkour founder Frenchman David Belle. For Graef and Johns, parkour became a passion, a way of life and, now, a living. What started out as rough movements on couch cushions has turned into Unparalleled Movement, a full-fledged business founded on teaching parkour, only four years later.

And while there may not be an apparent connection between the unconventional, alternative culture of parkour and the conventional, conformist culture of business, the traceurs’ philosophy behind the former pervades that of the latter, but in two distinct ways.

Johns’ approach to both movement and business are summed up with “flow.“

Kent Johns says he “lives for parkour.” He was recently sponsored by Move to Inspire, an organization promoting the parkour community.

As a traceur, Johns has the ability to see pathways through obstacles and move over them with ease and artistry.  He has quick reflexes that allow him to adapt and continue without pause.  He faced starting a business the same way.  When the classes Graef and Johns were teaching through a Missoula gymnastics gym, Mismo, lost insurance coverage, the two were forced to make the business they’d dreamed of starting in the future a reality.

“We didn’t really have a choice in the matter,” Johns said. “We just had to flow with it.”

Though Johns said what the future holds and the long-term success of Unparalleled Movement do cause momentary stress, he conveys the same adaptability he does when practicing parkour.

“No one really knows what they are doing,” Johns said. “They just flow with whatever happens, and the people who can make the most out of their opportunities will be the most successful.”

Michael Graef says he will forego his original intent to attend business school now that his business, Unparalleled Movement, is up and running. In the process of starting the business, however, he has found an interest in law.

Where Johns takes a more easygoing and adaptable approach, Graef said his approach to parkour and business involves specific goals and pushing boundaries.  There’s a linear sense to Graef, who developed and executed the company’s start-up plan.  As a black belt in Taekwondo, his movement is deliberate and sharp.  He follows linear, methodical paths.  His responses are appropriate and calculated.  And calculations are what worry Graef.

“Taxes,” Graef said.  “I’m still not sure how I got them filed.”

The differing approaches and viewpoints might have been an obstacle for some, but Graef and Johns said they balance each other well.  Johns has taken on the creative direction of the business.  He maintains their web and social media presence, creates videos for both instruction and entertainment, and manages branding and marketing.

Graef, on the other hand, takes care of the legal and financial side of the company.  He was responsible for obtaining the business license and insurance, filing the taxes and continues to manage the company’s rental agreements and budget.

While admitting egos can sometimes get in the way, as friends first, they said their relationship is an asset.

“It’s a challenge when business becomes one of the primary reasons we communicate,” Graef said.  “The stress of money and liability puts a strain on the friendship, but we’ve gotten way better at taking a step back to look at the bigger picture and get on the same page.”

The two are on the same page in their long-term vision, and the bigger picture is big.  Graef and Johns plan to move into their own facility in the fall and expand their parkour offerings as well as expand instruction to other related movement forms like tricking and break dancing.

“I see the business evolving into a large regional parkour and freerunning hub, ” Johns said.

Graef added, “I see it being one of the largest gyms of any sort or genre in the entire northwest.”

Posted in Final Project Multimedia

Mineola Nature Preserve: land conservation in the rural South

Jul26
2012 Leave a Comment Written by jphillips

 

A lone cattle egret lands in a tree near a pond. A worker driving a Kawasaki Mule stops, gets out and picks up a sign out of the back. Wearing a cap, he interrupts the tranquility with a drill.

After attaching the Wyatt’s Pond sign to some posts, he climbs slowly back into the Mule. This worker, Mayor Bo Whitus, begins another early morning at the Mineola Nature Preserve on the Sabine River.

 

Mayor Bo Whitus attaches the Wyatt’s Pond sign at the Mineola Nature Preserve. Whitus spends many mornings making the rounds of the 2,911 acres.

 

After sitting fallow for a few years, it has become Mayor Whitus’ baby, but he didn’t always feel this way.

“The preserve was deteriorating physically. It rejuvenated me, and I like to think I’ve rejuvenated it,” he said. “I like the quiet, to get on the Mule, go to the river bottom and envision how it can be. Sunrise is the best time of day.”

The land is located between the Pineywoods and Post Oak Savannah regions with hardwood bottomland along the Sabine River. Camping is allowed, but most of the overnighters are birds, snakes, alligators, coyotes, bobcats and deer. Visitors have spotted otters, great horned owls and painted buntings.

However, the preserve didn’t begin that way. It was created in controversy, although its bucolic beauty extinguished the conflict and won approval from rural residents.

The beginning

In 1997, the city government had effluent issues with its wastewater treatment plant.

Celia Boswell was mayor and found the city trapped. The state found the city to be out of compliance on the plant and was forcing a purchase of property to remedy the situation. The state fined the city once because it was marginally out of compliance.

“We had to purchase the Caruth property because it was our cheapest way out,” she said.

The city only needed 100 acres for the plant, but the Caruth estate was asking the city to purchase all of the 3,000 acres. The estate claimed the rest of the tract would be ruined by the plant.

The opposition, which included Whitus, was against the large purchase and the use of any tax money for it. Ironically, Whitus would later become mayor and the park’s administrator.

“The litigation would have cost more than we could afford,” Boswell said. “Then, I thought what are we going to do with it? Can it be a golf course? A development?” Boswell looked at options with the state.

“The state had to help us finance this thing. We had to borrow the money and figure out what our options should be,” she said. “At the end of my term we were still not settled on an option.”

The city offered $1.5 million that was added to the $4 million estimated cost to construct the state-mandated wastewater treatment plant.

Boswell credits her successor, Mayor Gordon Tiner, with bringing the preserve to fruition.

Tiner, a former Scoutmaster and Silver Beaver Award recipient, was primed for the opportunity. Boswell was just ending her term and Tiner’s was just beginning.

Following a Wood County officials meeting at Holly Lake Ranch, Alan Haynes had a suggestion for Tiner. Haynes was state Sen. David Cain’s chief of staff and his contact for Van Zandt, Wood and Smith Counties.

“I suggested a park because Tyler State Park is one of the most popular in Texas,” Haynes said. “I thought it would be an economic asset to Mineola to have a first class state park.”

A few years earlier, Haynes helped create the Old Sabine Bottom Wildlife Management Area just a few miles down the river.

Tiner and Haynes met with the Texas Department of Transportation and Andrew Samson. He was the executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Haynes said that TP&W told them they would love to have the property but there was no money to develop it.

“They did, however, pay half the bill,” Haynes said.

This wetland acreage, with very little commercial use, would then become a preserve.

 

The front entrance to the Mineola Nature Preserve is on Greer Road.

 

“This was the preserve’s genesis,” Tiner said. “And we retained Mark Spencer of MHS Planning to help us.”

The development

After the city was stuck with the property, Tiner and Whitus followed in the footsteps of other conservationists. An American movement that began in the 1800s to preserve land and its natural beauty had finally arrived in Mineola.

“We had a lot of support beginning with an $800,000 grant from the Texas Parks and Wildlife,” Tiner said. “After that, grants and donations started rolling in from corporations and some individuals.”

Corporations include Nestle Waters that funded Pullen Pond.

Grants from groups like the East Texas Water and Woods Foundation funded observation piers like this one on the International and Great Northern slough.

Tiner and the council created the final plan and the 2,911 acres of preserve opened April 8, 2002. Once people had access to the preserve, the beauty of the hills and wooded property ended the opposition.

“I love it, thanks to Celia for purchasing the wetlands,” Tiner said.”There were opponents like Bo, who didn’t like it, but I asked him to be patient. He has since become a bigger advocate than I am.”

From loyal opposition to chief advocate, the turning point for Whitus became about healing. He was against any public expenditure on the project.

“I had cancer, was trying to recover and I was going out with a cup of coffee early in the morning to the preserve,” Whitus said. “I was starting to languish a bit and this just rejuvenated me with the attitude of this thing is actually worth saving and finishing.”

During Whitus’ tenure as mayor, the parks board added equestrian trails, some bridges and a windmill. The original master plan has been accomplished, but Whitus has a short list of goals to complete the project. This includes a telescope and an outdoor education center to be sponsored by Jarvis Christian College.

The popularity

Although, it may have initially seemed like Seward’s Folly, the preserve increases in popularity each year. Popular activities at the preserve include camping and use of the trails.

“I jog there, mostly. Quite often. I use the railbed loop trail. It’s flat and shady and a soft surface. It’s great for running and I also like the scenery,” Mineola Elementary School Principal David Sauer said.

Residents of all ages are finding the preserve a picturesque setting for many activities.

The top of the hill is used for wildlife viewing and photo opportunities.

“It’s a great picture spot for prom and other events. It’s really pretty out there. My favorite part would be the trails,” Candyce Dobbs, a recent high school graduate, said.

What was once seen as a liability has become an asset. Few remember any conflict.

“It’s important to the city because it is the crown jewel of Mineola and we have visitors that come in to shop, hunt and tour,” City Tourism Director Lynda Rauscher said. “The preserve is going to become an even bigger tourist draw.”

Over 20 different groups have used the site since its opening. Among the groups are schools from Wood County and surrounding counties.

“I liked riding around with the parks and wildlife guy when he was identifying the endangered plants he saw. He was so excited to find an area which still had the native Texas plants,” science teacher Joyce Williams said. “I also like the wildlife viewing of alligators, beavers, birds and wild hogs.”

Groups have used the preserve for weddings, memorial services, retreats, Bible studies, church social events, team building exercises and corporate meetings.

Volunteers like Jay Heppner and Sandy Tibbs have donated time to the preserve. They own Lost Creek Gallery, a nature, birding and gardening store.

Jay Heppner and Sandy Tibbs of Lost Creek Gallery sponsor talks and walks for birders.

“It’s a great resource for birding. We get a lot of weekenders from Dallas through here. We love it,” Heppner said. “We’ll sponsor bird walks and talks in the fall and spring that many people enjoy.”

Still, there are future plans.

Whitus said, “there is not a whole lot left to achieve. I hope my final project will be to finish the Jarvis Complex with a telescope and a nature education center.” The complex is a proposed meeting center with educational facilities and telescope.

“The more we do out there like the equestrian trails and the aquatic trail loop it brings in more people. I think as a community we finally realized what’s out there and it’s important that we hang on to those things. Once residents visited, they saw what they had and liked it,” Rauscher said.

Whitus believes as Texas continues to become more urban, public lands will be a destination for groups to adventure in a preserved natural environment.

“It’s not something we would have done on our own, but for taking this lemon swampland and preserving the wetlands–it’s quite remarkable,” Boswell said. “Imagine 5,000 people with a nature preserve of 3,000 acres.”

Tiner likes to quote William Wordsworth, who once wrote: “Come forth into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher.” These civic leaders had a vision of seeing people gathered at the preserve. Campers, joggers, hikers, birders and students who will someday use an outdoor classroom in the beauty and wildness near the Sabine River.

“We were building this for tomorrow and a lot of tomorrows,” Tiner said. “For our grandchildren and future visitors.”

Those future visitors, passing through like Canada geese in the winter and goldfinches in the early spring, will discover a bit of nature in an urbanized state.

 

Photo Gallery

A common snapping turtle suns itself on part of the International and Great Northern railroad trestle near the Sabine River.

With its stocked waters, Pullen Pond has become a destination for grandparents to fish with their grandchildren.
The 2,911 acres include Post Oak Savannah and forest such as these old growth hardwoods in the early morning fog.
The preserve includes acres of marsh and swamp.

There are wildlife viewing areas in the preserve. The most common animals seen are birds, white-tailed deer and feral hogs.

Volunteers converted an 1873 I&GN railbed into a trail down to the Sabine River.

Posted in Final Project Multimedia

A Family Tradition with Deep Roots

Jul26
2012 Leave a Comment Written by jabbott

Like so many games before this one, two generations of Youngs were sitting high in the bleachers cheering on their Lansing Lions. Fifteen years in the making and tonight, it finally happened.

With seven minutes and 20 seconds to go in the first half, Trevor Young, 15, and Clay Young, 17, stepped onto the basketball court. Each firmly planted on the blocks across from one another, the two 6-foot-5 brothers played their first varsity basketball game together.

“We’ve been dreaming about this moment happening for 15 years,” Tom Young, the boys’ 6-foot-4 father, said. His sparkling blue eyes and huge smile only began to illustrate his immense pride.

“We didn’t think that this was going to happen even a year ago,” Gene Young, their 6-foot-4 grandfather said.

Last season Clay scored 162 points in his third season as a varsity starter. He hit numerous clutch shots throughout the season; none bigger than his 12 straight points in a dramatic come-from-behind victory in double overtime against conference rival Bonner Springs High School. Clay hit two three-pointers and six free throws for the victory.

However, Trevor fought to find his niche as a member of a fourteen member freshman basketball team.

“It’s been in the last year that Trevor has started accepting Clay’s coaching,” Teresa Young, the boys’ mother and an accomplished athlete said. “His (Trevor’s) mindset has changed from ‘He’s (Clay’s) my big brother’ to ‘He’s my big brother and he’s really good and I’m going to learn from him.’”

Gently holding her elbow, Gene guides Ada, his wife of 62 years, down the bleachers to the gym floor. Once on the wooden court, they hustle to the door to wait for their grandsons. Watching their every step, Tom and Teresa patiently escort them.

As the family comes together, the boys discuss their first varsity appearance as teammates.

“He wouldn’t pass it to me, even though I was open,” Clay said smiling at his younger brother.

“Yeah, I didn’t pass it to him,” Trevor said looking slightly down at his older brother.

“That’s because you didn’t even look for me,” Clay said grinning.

As many large schools continue to dominate the Kansas basketball scene, one small town has its roots grounded firmly in one family’s tradition of love for basketball and community. The Young family has represented Lansing High School on the basketball court since 1943.

“My great uncle, grandfather, and my dad all played at Lansing, so yeah, it’s pretty much a family tradition,” Clay said in a local newspaper article.

Bill Young, Clay’s great uncle, represents the first generation of Youngs in Lansing’s 500-point club. As the No. 4 all-time scorer in Lansing’s history with 1,024 points, Bill remains the only four-year varsity player to start every game of his high school career in the school’s history.

Tom, Clay’s father, also represents the family on the 500-point club as the No. 22 all-time scorer with 607 points.

“My first ah-ha moment was during my senior year, when the coach said ‘Tom’s going to get his 20, the rest of you do your part,’” Tom said. “It was this first time I really thought of myself as a star.”

Although a prolific scorer, Tom’s favorite part of basketball was rebounding.

“I loved geometry and calculating where the ball was going,” he said. “It was like I had an advanced warning before anyone else knew where the ball was going. It was kind of like cheating.”

Coaching: Another Young Trait

Just like their DNA, the love of coaching has been a generational trait passed from one Young to the next since 1942.

As a sophomore, Gene coached his younger brother’s (Bill’s) team because “it was the natural thing to do.”

“My older brother, Tom, coached me and I coached my younger brother, Bill,” said Gene. He was only two years older than the players he was coaching. Bill would later be inducted into the Kansas State High School Activities Association’s Hall of Fame in 1992 for his coaching accomplishments.

The team Gene coached as grade schoolers eventually played in the 1950 Kansas Class B State basketball tournament and lost in the championship game. They had the longest winning streak in the state and after losing the title game, their record for the season was an impressive 29-1 overall.

“I planted the idea that they’re going to win state,” he said. “And they went twice.”

That team still holds the school record for the most points scored in a season with 1,780 points. Their 70.4 points per game average easily topped their opponent’s 29.1 points per game average.

Coaching one another extends to every relationship of this local family. Advice flows from brother-to-brother, from father-to-son, and from grandfather-to-grandson.

“My grandpa (Gene) always says put the ball in the hole more than other team and you’ll win,” Clay said.

With his video camera in hand, Tom films each basketball game and coaches from home.

“I film the games and Clay watches them that night or the next day to really become a student of the game,” Tom said. “It’s important to be a student of the game. I also tell him ‘Don’t be late for weights. Set an example and be a team leader.’”

Becoming a student of the game must be passed through the genes as well.

“If you have seen someone do something, it’s a whole lot easier to believe you can do it,” Gene said.

Coaching from the sidelines seems to be a trait extended to the Young women as well. Ada, the smallest member of the Young family stands a mere 5-foot 6, but cheers and coaches from the sidelines equally as well.

“I remember watching Tom play in college (Baker University) and his mom would yell ‘Arch it T-Y’ whenever Tom was shooting free throws,” Teresa said of her mother-in-law. “She would wait until the quiet right before he would shoot it and the whole gym could hear her.”

Teresa also coaches her boys how to become more competitive by teaching them sports psychology.

“I always tell the boys to get in the right mind set so that when they’re on the court, they own it,” she said.

Trevor agrees that his mother’s wisdom impacts his game.

“She tells us to get our game faces on,” Trevor said. “Yeah, I play better with them there coaching from the sideline.”

Demonstrating their game faces, Clay growls and squishes his lips, while Trevor scowls his eye brows and glares at his brother.

Goals that Unite

Common goals unite this family.

Just as the 1949 and 1950 teams, Clay’s team goal this season is to play in the Kansas State 5A championship. Winning a state title would be the first in school’s history. The last two years, the Lansing Lions placed fourth in the state tournament.

“A personal goal is to be a member of the 500- point club,” Clay said. Currently, the senior has 373 points in his Lansing career and needs just 127 more to reach his milestone. If he achieves his goal, he will join his great uncle and father on the elite list of top scorers in school history.

Trevor’s goal too is to go to state with the varsity team.

“My goals are to make the varsity (team) and letter,” Trevor said.

Lansing High School Varsity Basketball Coach Rod Briggs said, “It’s really neat to see a core group of people playing in one place since the ‘40s, especially when there are so many new families in our community each year.”

 

Directory of Links:

Clay’s Statistics This link provides statistics for Lansing High School’s Varsity basketball team. I used this site to verify Clay’s statistics in this article.

Lansing Historic Museum This link provided me with the contact information for the Lansing Historic Museum’s Site Supervisor Laura Phillippi. She supplied me with photographs and information. She also verified information and statistics from historical documents and yearbooks.

Kansas State High School Activities Association This site provides an overview of rules and regulations related to Kansas high school activities. I used this site to compare current basketball rules with older versions.

History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes This site provides an extensive list of rule changes including the year the rule changed. I used this site to verify information from interviews.

KSHSAA Hall of Fame This document was used to verify Bill Young’s induction into the Kansas State High School Activities Association’s Hall of Fame.

Tom and Teresa Watts Young’s Induction to Baker University’s Hall of Fame This site provided me with more background information about the couple’s induction into the Hall of Fame.

Young Sign Company This site provides information about the family-owned and operated business built by the Young family. It also provides glimpses into the family’s artistic side as well.

Gene Young’s Column: A Look Back As a journalistic, Gene Young wrote more than 375 articles about Lansing’s history. This article describes the changes in the gymnasiums. The short ceiling was the cause of Bill’s unusually flat shot.

Title IX This website provides information about Title IX. This law provided women academic and athletic opportunities. Teresa Young (sidebar) capitolized on these opportunities.

Federal Fitness and Wellness I used this document to verify information discovered in Teresa’s interview.

Girls’ Rules I used this site to verify and understand the concepts of “Girls Rules.”

 

Posted in Final Project Multimedia

Providing a need

Jul25
2012 Leave a Comment Written by kpraser

Providing a need

LaGrange, Ill. Two days ago a single mother left the hospital with a healthy baby boy. Today, she realizes that she has run out of the package of diapers she was given. She has no money to buy more. No family to turn to for help. No way of getting assistance. A friend of hers stops by and informs this overwhelmed young woman that St. Cletus Parish has a food pantry, which diapers are a part of.

Under the direction of Mary Beth Ford, St. Cletus organizes community services like the food pantry, in addition to the annual events: advent giving tree, hunger walk and rummage sale to provide for those in need. These needs are often expressed in phone calls directed to Ford.

“Just this morning, someone called needing help paying her ComEd bill, and that she has two kids,” Ford said.

Fearing that this mother’s electricity would be turned off, Ford and another volunteer visited this single mother’s house to assess her situation. After learning about her family’s story and discussion of a plan to remedy her situation, Ford and the social concerns committee met to develop a bridge of assistance to matche her circumstance’s needs.

“We provide [our clients] with referrals for other assistance. We try to work with other agencies as partners whenever possible,” Ford said.

By developing partnerships with other local organizations, Ford is able to direct those needs in a new direction to find help.

“We provide financial help as we are able, like direct payments to landlords, utility companies, etc. We never give cash directly to a client. But even more, we provide Christian encouragement, a caring ear. Sometimes it just helps someone to know that they are not alone in their struggles,” Ford said.

Concerns Remedied

“At first it was too much, but as time when on, I developed a passion,” Ford said.

Ford has been the social concerns director for six years. She began her 14-year career as a youth minister for the confirmation program, and helped direct the food pantry and the advent giving tree. In 1998, Rev. Raymond Klees asked her to join the staff full time as the director of youth and social concerns.

“That is when I told him I was interested mainly in Youth Ministry and he would need to find someone else for social concerns,” Ford said.

Eventually Ford gravitated towards solely being the director of social concerns when the community’s needs grew. The St. Cletus food pantry itself began in 1987, when Rev. Charles Gallagher uncovered a need within a group of apartments in Hodgkins, Ill., and acted in accordance with the Catholic faith.

Stella Szczepaniak, a life-long parishioner, remembers the condition of the apartments and how Gallagher brought this need to her and other parishioners’ attention about 25 years ago.

“There was a lot of gang activity. Poverty was high. These people hardly had any food. It wasn’t unusual to have 10 to 15 people in an apartment. My one co-worker had to leave due to the crime. His apartment was broken into twice,” Szczepaniak said.

As a result of Gallagher’s focus,  St. Cletus parishioners provided food, open the religious education program to the apartment residents and even adopted Spanish services and classes to accommodate their language needs. This small apartment complex of need has now grown to include all of Lyons Township.

“To best serve the needs, on average we provide 200 to 250 bags [of food]. In the fall, this service increases to 300 and 400 by Christmas,” Ford said.

During the second Thursday of every month, 25 to 30 volunteers distribute the food pantry to clients at the church. The client presents his or her food pantry ID card or a current photo ID. The number of adults and children in a household are confirmed, as is their address, which must be located within Lyons Township.

“Since June, we have had a produce table that is given to us by an anonymous donor. Each client is able to get one fresh item. These could be tomatoes, greens, apples; whatever we have that particular day,” Ford said.

Ford said she hopes to keep this fresh produce an ongoing part of the food pantry.

Finding a Permanent Solution

“Charity is providing a basic necessity that is one step of the whole. We need to address the real causes and change them,” Ford said.

Ford is working to find solutions by increasing the awareness of local, state and federal governments. She wants to see permanent solutions being made though the Farm and Dream Acts.

“Simple fixes are not so simple.  Of course we need food and funding, but unemployment and providing for people who are on a fixed income, like seniors, is the other half of the problem,” Ford said.

Two years ago, food pantry volunteers, along with Ford, met with other Chicago food agencies. Together, with the Chicago Food Depository, they traveled to Springfield to explain the daily needs they encounter when providing food assistance.

According to the Chicago Food Depository’s website, the House Committee on Agriculture passed a new version of the Farm Bill July 11. This version requests a reduction of budgets for three federal programs that subsidize those in need.

“The face of poverty is changing; now the middle-class is coming down,” Ford said.

Ford recommends unemployed clients to look for assistance from the Interfaith Career Network (ICN). This organization is one of the components of the life plan for each client.

“We don’t judge choices others make. We do not forget our obligation to look at the root cause of things and be active. We are always looking for a need and responding to it,” Ford said.

Bloomingdale photography students find success as alumni

Jul25
2012 Leave a Comment Written by hhanks

When Alexis Vazquez wakes up in the morning, she stumbles on to the computer like most teenagers. She doesn’t check her Facebook and she doesn’t get started on her neverending workflow of portrait sessions to edit.

She logs on to Twitter and tweets Tim Tebow eight times, a daily ritual. She doesn’t want an autograph, and it’s not about meeting him.

“I’m going to keep tweeting @TimTebow until he responds and sees my video for his foundation!! #notgivingup,” she tweets, ending in a smiley face and a YouTube link.

Alexis is one of many Bloomingdale High School photography graduates with a vision and a message to share. Her photographs are only the beginning of her philanthropic efforts. And when she finally gets him to watch the video, she’s convinced Tim Tebow will share her vision.

Kruger wins portrait award

Photo courtesy of Jordan Kruger

Announced on July 25, Jordan Kruger won best indoor casual portrait at Leonards Photography for July 1-7. A studio photographer for Leonards, Kruger received the weekly award given to the best portraits taken in their studio.

“I never expected as fresh as I am that I’d win first,” Kruger said.

Kruger has been an employee of Leonards since June. A former photography student at Hillsborough Community College, he also shoots for Full Access Magazine.

“It wasn’t even my best work there, probably my second best,” he said. “It really helps when the subject is photogenic to begin with.”

Three photographers in the company judged the portraits based on lighting, technical aspects, focus, creativity and posture. First place winners received a $50 gift card.

The Juggling Photographer

Meanwhile at 7 a.m., Jordan Kruger is stumbling as well, but home from the Ultra Music Festival. As a concert photographer for Full Access Magazine, he works late hours but has to quickly change and get ready for his day job: a portrait photographer for Leonard’s Photography.

Like Alexis, Jordan got his start in photography in 2009 by taking Creative Photography I at Bloomingdale High School. He also went on to develop his talent as a photographer on the yearbook staff.

“In journalism I learned when there’s work to be done, step up and do it,” he said. “And if there’s no work to be done, ask if there’s anything you can do to help someone else.”

This work ethic has followed him throughout his photography career. Originally inspired to do nature photography after his mother gave him a Sierra Club calendar as a child, Jordan still chases his National Geographic dreams in an eclectic assortment of photography jobs. In high school, he sold framed fine art prints for $100 each.

“I met the woman that runs Florida Modeling Network,” he said. “Now through the end of the year and into the next, I plan on spicing up my portfolio with high-fashion modeling photos.”
One of his modeling portraits featured Jenn Cavaluzzi with ladybugs as freckles on her face. This surrealistic image won him the Dali Museum award of excellence, the top award in their student show. His modeling portfolio isn’t just limited to people. He also does work on the side for a real estate agent shooting clients’ homes.

Though he’s shot high-profile DJs like Skrillex, Rubble Bucket and VNV Nation, Jordan isn’t interested in celebrities as he is everyday people. Brandon Stanton, better known for Humans for New York (HONY), inspired his love of street photography.

“Stanton captures portraits of everyday life in the city of New York and posts them on Facebook,” Jordan said. “This idea is one that I’ve had for two or three years, around the same time he started HONY. The only problem is that there is no diversity here in Tampa compared to New York.”

By staying in Tampa, Jordan had the opportunity to take a couple of photography classes at Hillsborough Community College. With a small class size of nine students and an emphasis on critique, he’s developed his portfolio.

“Any time that professor Weeks went over our work, he spent a half an hour verbally on each student’s critique, not to mention a typewritten full page of comments on each student’s critique,” he said. “I felt that [Bloomingdale High School teacher Heather Hanks’] class was a prequel to my college photo class. The only difference was that we went far more in depth in specifics.”

Jordan has no intention on graduating, only on filling out his portfolio with more opportunity.

“There are many companies out there that don’t seem to care about a degree. They just want to see skills,” he said. “In addition, taking on the expense of a college education for my profession isn’t worth a degree.”

With a self-induced lack of sleep, Jordan takes on assignment after assignment, juggling a handful of photography jobs looking for his place in the world of photography at 21 years old.

“I have an eye for nature photography already. Over the past year, I’ve been working on concert photography. Now with the new job at Leonard’s, I’m working on my portraiture,” he said. “All of this plus more to come is to be ready for anything Nat Geo may ask me to do.”

The Developing Journalist

When Kayla Hayes took photography class at Bloomingdale High School in 2008, she was just looking for a creative outlet for her photography.
“I have always had a strong creative side,” Kayla said. “So the first time I picked up a camera I knew it was going to be a fun outlet for me.”

She joined the yearbook staff her senior year to get a chance to practice her photography more. Her portfolio earned second in the state in the Tom Pierce Photojournalism Portfolio contest, and she earned an honorable mention in the “Starting Right, Now” contest. Despite her success, her biggest obstacle, she says, is her own confidence.
“I’m still learning to judge my work based on what it was versus what it has become, rather than comparing it to others,” she said.

Kayla started to attend the University of South Florida as a mass communications major. Instead of pursuing photography as she had in high school, her advanced expository writing course encouraged a love of journalistic writing.

She took an internship with the Osprey Observer in September, where she’s covered everything from wedding dresses to hot air ballooning. Her favorite story is about another photographer who shares her Christian faith at a mission called “Project Hope,” where BayLife Church built a village in Uganda to care for children recovered from the Lord’s Resistance Army.

“He was raising money to travel to Uganda and photograph the children at Village of Hope,” Kayla said. “He went to photograph the children and compile their pictures and personal drawings in a coffee-table book, which will be given completely over to Village of Hope for fundraising purposes.”

It’s this spirit of giving that inspires Kayla’s work. She includes the Project Hope photographer and Alexis Vazquez as two of her inspirations because of their ability to use their photography gift for philanthropic work.

“I like a fun, candid style and photographing with the goal of serving others,” she said.
She also sees her newfound passion for journalistic writing as a way to serve the community.

“The same is true with my writing,” Kayla said. “Writers who focus on exposing truth encourage me to do the same.”

The Portrait Philanthropist

For Alexis to be inspiring older photographers at only 18 speaks to the acceleration of her career. She took photography class at Bloomingdale High School in 2009. She started her portrait photography business, Alexis Marie Photography, at 16, with a supportive family and her mother driving her to shoots.

“Sometimes if I bring props or a reflector, my mom comes along and plays assistant,” Alexis said. “I’m glad to have my Economics-major dad and my bookkeeper mom. I couldn’t do it without them. They’re supportive, and they have the brains.”

While her family has supported her vision, she’s struggled with criticism about breaking in the profession so young.

“Do you know how many times I’ve heard, ‘Photography won’t pay the bills,’ ‘You’re too young to be a REAL photographer? Do you even know what an f-stop is?’ and ‘My mom said she won’t let me take pictures with you, because you’re not professional,’” she said. “I have even had other photographers tell me this. I’ve heard it from peers at school and parents, too. It hurts to be doubted. But I have had to look at it in a positive light and use my haters as my motivators. It just pushes me to prove them wrong. So what? I’m young. I have my faith and my family behind me, and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”

Her photography work has already earned her five state awards from the Florida Scholastic Press Association, best of show from the Southern Interscholastic Press Association and second in the U.S. for advertising photography from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. Also a talented artist in other media, she’s won first in the state in the PTSA Reflections contest and a Congressional award for her art. Her high school art teacher, Diana Speedy, credits her photography success to her creative eye and her passion for her work.

“She’s a lot like her idol, Tim Tebow,” Diana said, flipping through Alexis’ sketchbook, pointing out pages of doodles embracing concepts of hopes and dreams. “She works hard for her art and doesn’t give up. She’s also passionate about helping others.”

Though she served as a photography editor on the yearbook staff in high school, Alexis credits Speedy for showing her the storytelling potential of photography.

“I think as far as photography goes, she has always taught me to give each piece a story behind it,” Alexis said. “All my art pieces have stories behind them as do all my pictures. It forces me to be creative and allow my subjects to have movement and rhythm while still maintaining balance.”

She’ll have an opportunity for storytelling in the fall job she’s been offered. She’s been hired by a family to photograph their European vacation.

“The husband worked for my mom when he was 18. They reconnected over Facebook, and I saw that his daughter had leukemia,” she said. “I offered to take their family photos for free. It was when I realized how fragile life was. It’s now a free service I offer to all families with a child suffering from a life threatening illness. Almost a year later, we’ve kept in touch and they gave me this crazy invitation to Europe. It was one of those ‘You reap what you sow’ moments, but I never expected anything in return when I photographed them. They were just a blessing.”

Her philanthropic vision extends beyond local kids. She’s donated her proceeds to UNICEF, Haiti relief funds, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

“I have such a heart for them whether they are poor, sick, hungry or orphaned,” Alexis said. “They are just so innocent and so full of hope. I don’t want anything to rob them of that. I want to see them lead their generation in love and hope.”

She currently donates 10 percent of all of her fees to the Tim Tebow Foundation. His philanthropy supports her charitable goals, and his character supports her ability to keep pushing on.

“He works hard, but he stays humble,” she said. “People mock him for being bold in his faith, and he doesn’t care. People say he sucks and he still goes out there. And most importantly, he gives back. I admire his character, and I love what his foundation stands for because it is the very foundation of my life: hope, faith and love.”

Though her photography has taken her many places, she takes to Twitter to get her work where she wants to go for now: on Tebow’s computer screen. What if he actually replied to one of her tweets?

“I would love to have the opportunity to talk to him someday and just thank him for being a positive role model in my life,” Alexis said. “There are so many kids that the foundation is trying to reach out to who all just need a little love.”

Posted in Final Project Multimedia, Final Project Sidebars