Cascadia College rock-solid about its boulder

Another huge rock story gets some big attention.

Herald Writer Eric Stevick wrote Feb. 2 about a big rock at Jefferson Elementary School in Everett “Boulder as big as a VW complicates Everett school’s construction.”

Crews unearthed a huge boulder where they planned to place a grease trap for a new school kitchen.

“We think it’s about the size of a VW Bug,” said Jennifer Collins of the Everett School District’s facilities and planning department.

That rock was going to be demolished.

Here’s a boulder story with a more happy ending—for the rock.

Students at Cascadia Community College saved a large boulder on their Bothell campus says Dan Rinder, assistant director of communications and marketing.

They noticed the rock was being jack hammered into pieces. It was thought to be a glacial erratic, a large rock picked up and left behind by the movement of glaciers.

Professor John Van Leer says “It likely originated in northern Washington or British Columbia, and was deposited here about 12,000 years ago. Ever since the college opened 10 years ago, it’s been a teaching tool for a variety of classes and has become a place for reflection and contemplation by students and faculty alike.”

The rock was in an area being cleared for a new activity field.

Students of Van Leer and Dr. Nader Nazemi sat on the boulder to quiet the jack hammer.

“Saving the erratic wasn’t just about learning the science of something, or the ethics of something, or the politics of something,” Van Leer says. “It was all of those things together.”

The “sit on” worked.

Big wigs met with protestors and determined the boulder will have a new home, near campus wetlands, and will never be destroyed for future development.

Yeah, rock.

  • Joe Trieu with Evergreen Beauty and Barber College in Everett pats two backs.

    Evergreen students won awards as two top business students of the year for cosmetology and aesthetics, so named by a training company called Nuts and Bolts.

    Rachel Chambers was third for cosmetology students and Julie Fulcher was second for aesthetics.

    Trieu says contestants were scored on such things as attendance, grade point average, service and a presentation.

    “There’s no doubt these students will be successful in their careers,” he said. “There were 74 campuses that competed in this national competition.”

    It’s never too late to go back to school, he said.

    Both women are retraining for new careers.

    Chambers, a mother of three, worked with her husband in construction in Idaho.

    “The construction business went sour and she moved over here to start a new career,” Trieu says. “She has 100 percent attendance and is at the top of her cosmetology class.”

    Fulcher was laid off after 12 years in the hotel industry.

    “She took the risk of jumping back into school while working and raising her kids.”

    Trieu says the biggest take away from this event was competing against the largest and top cosmetology colleges in the United States.

    “And here we were,” he says, “Sending two of our top students from a small family-owned beauty school to compete at a national level and somehow winners came from our college.”

  • Leslie Young, spokeswoman for the Central Puget Sound Council for Square Dancers, says a special dance is planned for Sunday.

    “One of our dancers, Joe Bahr, lost his brother to early-onset Alzheimer’s,” Young says. “When his brother developed this disease, Joe, along with his club, Sky Valley Whirlwinds, hosted the first Alzheimer’s Dance.”

    Last year they raised more than $7,000 for the Alzheimer’s research.

    Another dance is planned for noon to 6 p.m. at Edmonds Masonic Lodge, 515 Dayton St.

    Young says drop in anytime. There is no admission charged, but a donation is appreciated.

  • Students at Northshore Christian Academy in Bothell have emptied piggy banks, sold pancakes and worked hard to raise $11,000 for Haitian relief efforts.

    They aim to pack up 40,000 meals Wednesday for Haitian orphans.

    Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.

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