Senator Square

The NIAA and Lifetouch Photography selected Nick Smallman as one of the Top 10 Student-Athletes in Northern Nevada. Nick was chosen not only for his contribution to sports at CHS, as he is a member of the baseball and tennis teams, but for his other contributions on Link Crew, National Honor Society, peer mentoring, a 4.0 GPA, and overall good citizenship.

He also wrote a paper for the NIAA on what high school athletics have meant to him over the past four years. Upon interviewing Nick for this article, I was blown away by his modesty, humility and sincerity.

Nick said all the coaches and teachers at CHS, especially Pat Houlihan and Diane Baker-Roberts made high school a positive experience for him.

"School and athletics have been a good time and never a burden on me" he said.

He encourages all students to get involved. CHS does not get this selection every year, so this is quite an accomplishment for Nick as well as Carson High.

Lisa Midboe was also nominated by the CHS Athletic Department for females athletes

In other news, senior projects came to an end this week, as seniors presented their projects to a panel of community members. Almost 350 community members and another 100 teachers/staff at CHS volunteered their time to listen to the student presentations. There are more than 400 seniors at CHS and all of them were required to do a project. Here are some examples of projects that were done.

• Chris Robertson became a mentor through the Mentor Center of WNCC, which is also affiliated with the Boys & Girls Club. He mentors a boy named Jahyson, who I think he sees every week. Chris has really enjoyed the experience and believes in the importance of mentoring.

• Ashley Boyd put her mandatory hours into learning about nutrition and helping a friend learn how to eat right, exercise, have a more healthy lifestyle.

• Tony Roberts helped out at a thrift store in Dayton called Community Threads and Things, which supports a variety of social services in Lyon County. Tony became an eBay entrepreneur.

He collected items such as classic Barbies, a few nutcrackers, and some vintage clothing. He sold them on eBay for the thrift store and trained someone at the store on how to sell on eBay. The money raised went to youth programs, fire victims, soldiers in Iraq, coat drives, women's shelters and after-school programs.

He listed 12 items and made $336. The name of his eBay account is communitythreadsnthings if you are interested in checking it out.

• Luis Fuentes learned how to paint and do upholstery for his car.

• Jordan Miller, fashion designer, created and sewed for a teacher at school, then put on a fashion show at the Children's Museum complete with DJs from Sacramento.

• Mike Barnes and Jerry Allred built surfboards from scratch.

• Brittany Cook created a huge replica of a Jackson Pollack painting, which was used as part of the set for Sweet Charity.

• Candice Rutledge spent her hours at a kindergarten class and volunteered there all year, taught them lessons for her project, and then wrote a great paper on the all-day kindergarten debate.

• Brittany Stahl volunteered in a classroom of mixed-ability children at Bordewich-Bray and wrote an incredible paper on autism.

• Will Adler learned to be a stand-up comedian and performed three times in the community.

• Lauren Easby created five items of clothing out of recycled materials for the recycled art show at WNCC. She professionally photographed all the clothes being modeled by her friends and gave a live talk on it at the recycled arts show.

• Meredith Adler has raised about $2,000 to create a library for the elementary school in the village she worked in last summer in Honduras, El Naranjito. She also volunteered in a classroom at Empire Elementary School of mostly English-language learners.

She would love to raise more money, so if you would like to learn more about her project and donate money, please contact Sarah Adler at 283-1645.

• Chad Shroy started an after-school running club at Carson Middle School, in which he was able to teach middle school students about the joys of running and overall fitness. His project ended with a Run-A-Thon at CMS.

Senior projects give the students the opportunity to pursue a passion or a career field. You can see from the above examples, that there will be some fine citizens graduating this June who will be great additions to our community.

• Angila Golik is a teacher at CHS and a member of Senator Pride.