Riverside Students Mix Fire Beepers, Books
They look like typical teenagers, with their jeans, tennis shoes and T-shirts, but the beepers clipped to their jeans give them away.
They don’t have overprotective parents, and they’re not involved in illegal activities.
Jared Hansen and Tim Quaschnick are firefighters at District 4.
They’re also juniors at Riverside High School.
“We treat them as adults, and they are,” said Mike Ellsworth, captain at Hansen’s station and also a teacher at Riverside Middle School. “They’re both going to be good firefighters.”
Hansen and Quaschnick, friends for 13 years, decided about a year ago that they wanted to volunteer at the fire district. A few other students have done it, but they’ve been seniors.
These two turned 18 last year and graduated from fire training this spring. That means they’ll be firefighters during their senior year.
They started 90 hours of classes in January, four hours every Wednesday night and at least eight every Saturday. They learned how to drive the trucks, work the hoses and save lives.
At any minute, their beepers may go off - in history class, in English, at 3 in the morning. Most of the time, they’ll respond.
Quaschnick lives close to school and his station, so he runs home to grab his gear. Hansen carries his with him everywhere he goes. It’s all in a bag containing a coat, helmet, gloves, pants, boots and other special clothing.
They’ve been on medical calls, home and barn fires and brush fires. They were both called out of English class for a trailer fire.
Hansen was reading, “Where the Legends Die.” Quaschnick was in the bathroom.
“There was a dog in there,” Hansen said. “We saved the dog.”
In the trailer, his partner’s foot broke through the floor which was burning below. Hansen stuck his hose down the hole to cool off his partner’s foot.
His partner had to pull his foot out of his boot and then rip the boot out from the boards.
“It was kind of dangerous,” Hansen said.
Other students are fairly accepting of Quaschnick and Hansen’s new activity.
“They think it’s sort of cool you get to leave school,” Quaschnick said.
But firefighting isn’t for weekend warriors or flighty teenagers, they added.
“It’s not really for people who want to slack,” Hansen said.
Both said they liked the work because they can help people, earn extra money and learn some lifesaving skills.
There’s another reason.
“It looks good on a resume,” Hansen said.
Shooting for the top
Students at St. George’s and Shadle Park high schools gave a photo contest their best shots and clicked their way to place among the top four schools statewide.
St. George’s, which hosted the Washington State High School Photography Competition, placed third of the 38 schools in the contest. The school sent in 104 photos.
“For our size, I think I have more to offer here than any other art program,” said Mike Kelly, who teaches art in the middle and upper schools at St. George’s. “I work really hard to make sure my kids get a lot of stuff.”
Shadle Park tied for fourth. The school was tops for several entries, however, after sending 248 photos to judges, who received a total of 1,053 entries.
“We were pretty strong for this side of the mountain,” said Nina Stoddard, vocational photography instructor at Shadle Park High.
The contest featured 12 categories, each with six places and nine honorable-mention spots.
St. George’s students who placed were:
Computer category - 2nd, Jaime Appling; 5th, Paul Biggs; 6th, Jaime Appling.
Handcolor - 2nd, Anna Stricklen.
Animal - 1st, Ty Garland; 2nd, Anna Stricklen.
Still life/flora - 2nd, Noelle Smith.
Landscape/seascape - 2nd, Ty Garland.
Shadle Park students who placed were:
People - 6th, Luke Dollar.
Abstract - 2nd, Marnie Lee.
Manipulation - 1st, Matt Kenall; 2nd, Casey Perry.
Although Kelly is impressed by his students, he reserved some praise for a student at rival Northwest Christian. Junior Jenny Bartow swept the color photo competition, taking the first six places and two honorable mentions.
“She’s the only student there who does photo,” said Kelly, admitting that he’s tried to recruit her for St. George’s.
Mead gives helping hands
Several schools in the Mead School District pitched in to raise money for the American Red Cross to help families in Oklahoma City.
The students dumped their piggy banks, recycled cans and asked family members to help raise money.
Meadow Ridge Elementary raised $1,515; Mead High School, $1,348; Shiloh Elementary, $1,060; Midway Elementary, $721; Evergreen Elementary, $499; Brentwood Elementary, $118; and Farwell Elementary, $57.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo