Tomorrow is June 1. Thus begins graduation season. At high schools across Clark County, seniors are preparing to cross the stage to collect their diplomas and commence their next chapter. To mark this journey, The Columbian is profiling six outstanding seniors from the Class of 2015, as recommended by their teachers, counselors and principals.
Mason Bruce, Seton Catholic College Preparatory High School
When Mason Bruce signed up for his school’s website design class, he kicked it up a notch. He designed the required website, but he kept going. He began learning computer languages. Then he learned to write code.
Eventually, he designed a grading app called A+ that calculates grades based on various grading sales. Bruce’s app took first place in the Southwest Washington division of the 2014 Congressional Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Academic Competition.
Jessica Ekeya, Columbia River High School
Jessica Ekeya traveled to Alayi, Nigeria last summer with her mom, Agnes. Mother and daughter spent nearly a month visiting relatives and immersed in the culture. Although Ekeya was born and raised in Vancouver, both of her parents are from Nigeria.
“Being there in the culture was the most life-changing experience I’ve ever had,” Ekeya said.
It whetted her appetite for travel. She’s studied Advanced Placement Spanish for four years, and hopes to have an opportunity to study in a Spanish-speaking country during college.
Blake Johnston, La Center High School
Blake Johnston’s budding career in rock music began with a little karaoke and the high school jazz band.
Now, the 17-year-old La Center High School senior has his mind set on a much bigger platform: the world stage.
Unlike most who dream of reaching rock stardom, though, Johnston may get there someday. After graduation, he’ll ship off to Boston to study in the most selective of guitar programs at the most prestigious contemporary music school in the country: Berklee College of Music.
Daniel Rodricks, Union High School
To say that Daniel Rodricks is an accomplished high school senior is an understatement.
In Mumbai, India, he spent two weeks volunteering with slum children during the summer after his sophomore year.
At Oregon Health & Science University last summer, he completed a 300-hour research internship focused on virus vector gene therapy.
As a winner in the prestigious Young Artists’ Van Buren Concerto Competition in Portland, he recently performed a piano solo with an orchestra comprised of musicians from the Oregon Symphony and Oregon Ballet Theatre. He’s played piano since he was 6 and practices 13 to 14 hours a week.
Sophie Shoemaker, Camas High School
When it comes to lab experience, Sophie Shoemaker has a leg up on other students pursuing careers in medical science.
The 18-year-old Camas High School senior has had a number of research-based internships at Oregon Health & Science University. She recently lent a hand in a study at the Oregon National Primate Research Center on the placental response in rhesus macaques exposed to nicotine.
Ryan Sturdivan, Woodland High School
The highlight of Ryan Sturdivan’s high school years is the kind of happenstance that makes him the envy of professional sports stars.
In December, the 18-year-old Woodland High School senior stunned his teammates and fans alike when he sunk not just one but two buzzer-beating half-court shots in one game to edge out Kelso High School’s basketball team 49-47. To his surprise, the astounding feat became the talk of ESPN sports analysts and viewers across the country.
Vancouver City Council candidate Justin M. Forsman hopes voters will overlook his felony criminal record in November’s election.
Forsman, 27, a part-time student at Clark College, filed May 15 to run against incumbent Councilor Bart Hansen, 40, a key accounts manager for Clark Public Utilities who has served on the council since 2010.
Forsman is surprised and dismayed by The Columbian’s interest in his past, he said Thursday, arguing that bringing up his criminal record served no purpose. He’s “just an ordinary man trying to stand up for my community,” he stated in an email to the editor.
Forsman said he’s learned from his mistakes, which began at age 14 with a burglary conviction, followed by convictions for reckless burning, burglary and escape from juvenile detention, according to court records. As an adult, he has been arrested multiple times on allegations of theft and driving with a suspended license, most recently in 2013.
In 2008, Forsman, then 20, was convicted in Clark County Superior Court of trafficking in stolen property in the first degree and sent to prison. The case involved stolen laptop computers belonging to gas utility company Northwest Natural, according to court records.
“It took me going to prison for two-and-a-half years and giving my life away to sit and think and find out who I was as a person. I wasn’t happy with what I’d become, and my family wasn’t proud,” Forsman said. “In order to change, I had to change everything, because I didn’t want to be remembered as a criminal if I died.”
From Sunday morning music and art along an extended walkway to highlighted historical preservation, visions to revitalize the Port of Vancouver’s Terminal 1 waterfront property are beginning to take shape.
“Everything’s on the table at this point,” said John Savo, principal of Seattle-based consulting group NBBJ, during a brainstorming workshop Tuesday at the Port of Vancouver commission’s meeting.
The port has hired NBBJ for up to $300,000 to write a master plan outlining potential commercial, retail and public uses at the 13-acre downtown waterfront site between Columbia and Esther streets.
The workshop, which included NBBJ staffers, commissioners and community members, was a bit of a “brain dump,” in Salvo’s words — a conversation about what type of transformation the commissioners and the public would like to see at the Port’s Terminal 1 property.
The workshop was the first in a planned series of public input meetings aimed at completing a master plan for the property by late fall. While the three commissioners want NBBJ to come back with a “menu of choices,” their direction was clear. The port wants the site plan to include both commercially viable and new improvements, as well as a nod to the historical value of the site.
“It’s mainly a place of both the past and future coming together to help tell the story of Vancouver,” Savo said, summing up input from the workshop and previous meetings with community stakeholders.
The port has also hired Leland Consulting Group of Portland for a contract not to exceed $250,000 to help develop a mixed-use building at Terminal 1. The new structure is to include space for Red Lion Hotels Corp., which now operates the Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay at the port-owned site. The port is meeting with Red Lion to negotiate a new financial agreement.
No longer do residents and visitors need to cross the bridge to find locally sourced and chef-inspired menus or a vibrant food-truck scene.
From Vancouver to Battle Ground and Camas, restaurants are breaking out of the cookie-cutter mold that defined Clark County for decades and keeping diners — who used to hightail it south in search of a culinary experience worthy of their hard-earned dollars — closer to home.
To write a foodie-in-Vancouver piece without mentioning Brad Root of Roots Restaurant & Bar would be bordering on sacrilege. With more than 30 years of restaurant industry experience, this former Portland chef moved into the Camas neighborhood more than 11 years ago and laid the foundation for a culinary shift.
“When we first came here, it could be at times a little bit difficult, but I’ve seen Clark County and what my customers want. They want fresh, in-season, local. They want changes on the menu,” Root said.
Ask and you shall receive is Root’s motto. He’s inspired by mixed salad greens coming from a local farmer with whom he’s been dealing for more than 20 years, as well as by halibut, asparagus, fiddlehead ferns and morels. Root said that the true joy of restaurant work is the creative aspect, and now is an exciting time to be a restaurateur serving farm-fresh entrees to an open, educated audience.
From Sunday Supper to Chef’s Table extravaganzas to elevated bar food, the north bank of the Columbia River is turning mealtime into an event to be savored. Even the burgeoning food truck industry is an opportunity to support micro businesses kicking out fresh menu options with an emphasis on sustainability and locally grown ingredients.
Hundreds of people joined the party Saturday to celebrate a milestone for Vancouver’s Marshall Community Center.
The center celebrated (a few weeks early) its 50th birthday by inviting the whole community to a family fun day full of free activities. Marshall Center, named for Gen. George C. Marshall, was dedicated to the community on July 2, 1965.
In the 50 years since, hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of people have come through the doors of Marshall Community Center, said Andy Meade, the center director. Meade often hears stories of how the center has affected the lives of people in Vancouver. Many people who grew up in the area learned to swim in the center’s pool, the original shell of which is still in use, Meade said.
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Count Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt among those young swimmers.
“This is where I learned how to swim,” Leavitt told visitors and dignitaries in a brief ceremony. “This is where I learned to play pool. This is where I played a lot of basketball and volleyball.
“It’s a very special place in my life, as well,” he said.
Leavitt and former Mayor Bruce Hagensen — with the help of about a dozen kids — cut a ceremonial ribbon at the center’s entrance to celebrate the occasion. Former center employees and current and past elected officials joined the group outside.
Inside, hundreds of people took advantage of the free activities.
In the pottery studio, Kaylee Gibbs, 7, tried her hand at the pottery wheel, molding a lump of clay into a small pot while her younger sister twisted pieces of clay into small flowers.
“These activities are great,” said Kaylee’s mom, Courtney Gibbs of Vancouver. “Whenever they offer free, family activities, it’s fun.”
