Mead Target Shooter Has Sight Set On Olympics
Hidden behind Rachael Westergren’s shy smile is a deadly eye.
The Mead High School junior is one of the top young target shooters in the Inland Northwest. She spends as much time with a .22 caliber rifle as many other 16-year-old girls do at the mall.
“This is basically my life - shooting and school,” Westergren said calmly, despite the steady pop of gunshots behind her at the Spokane Rifle Club.
A shooter for just four years, Westergren is a natural. Her room is adorned with medals from Eastern Washington shooting competitions and she has been encouraged to think of “the O-word.”
She met 1992 Olympic gold medalist and Cheney native Launi Meili last fall at the Cheney shooting club of which they are both members.
“I got to hold a gold medal and everything,” said Westergren, bouncing on her seat and sounding for a moment like an adolescent.
“For me, I was always thinking that (the Olympics) would be impossible. She said, don’t be afraid of the O-word.”
She has mapped out the Olympic path as precisely as you would expect from a student with just one B in high school. “Ninth grade modern world class. Eighty-nine percent. I’ll never forget it.”
She will compete next summer at the top level at the biggest Eastern Washington shooting contest. She has won lower categories the last two years. The 2000 or 2004 Olympics seem a reachable dream.
She plans to apply to colleges which have the best shooting teams - Marquette University, University of West Virginia, University of Alaska-Fairbanks and the Air Force Academy.
Her parents are behind her. Shooting is discipline, not violence, they say. “You’ve got to do your homework done so you can get out shooting,” said Debbie Sheehan, Westergren’s mother. “I didn’t want to come down here at first, but then I saw what it was about.”
Westergren agrees. She has never hunted and thinks repealing the assault weapon ban is misguided. Her first experience with guns was on Saturday afternoons at the shooting range.
“I could never hunt,” said Westergren.
Contrary to the Hollywood image, women tend to be better shots than men, according to a target-shooting magazine. “I can beat all the guys on the team,” Westergren said, shyly.
School starting earlier at Garry
At Garry Middle School, seventh-graders voted almost unanimously last spring to start school an hour earlier. They will get their wish April 8, when the school will start at 7:45 a.m., an hour earlier than usual.
Garry started early eight weeks last spring because of construction problems. During that time, there were fewer discipline problems in the classroom and on buses and more students got their homework done, principal Don Miller said.
How to spend $1,000
How would you creatively spend $1,000?
Teachers from seven Spokane schools answered that question as they told the school district how they would spend their Good Idea Grants from the Washington Water Power Co.
At Rogers High School, the grant will be used to help 90 biology and English students learn about DNA, genetic engineering, viruses, natural selection and ecosystems.
Willard Elementary will use its money to help underwrite an accelerated reading program.
Bemiss Elementary will open a Family Learning Center to buy books, computer software and computers for the use of the students’ families.
Holmes Elementary will buy Wiggleworks Interactive Computer Software to help students from kindergarten through the third grade improve their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.
Congratulations, Margaret
Congratulations to Midway Elementary sixth-grader Margaret Hall. She was one of just 171 students to get a perfect score on a national language-arts competition that had 175,000 entries.
Mead boundary vote April 9
Parents concerned with proposed attendance boundaries changes in Mead, have one more chance to be heard before a decision is made.
The Mead School Board will likely vote on the proposal Monday. The meeting will be at 6 p.m. at Mead Junior High School.
The proposal would alter the boundaries for most attendance areas in the school district.
A committee of parents and educators drew up a pair of plans and held community forums. Based on responses from the forums, the committee recommended the school board approve Plan A.
For a copy of the plan, call the school district office at 468-3000.
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