<strong>The</strong> <strong>Spectrum</strong> . <strong>Redwood</strong> <strong>City's</strong> <strong>Monthly</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> Sequoia Students Commemorate Memorial Day Katherine Ehat Student Writer On Thursday November 10, Sequoia High School held a memorial service at the recently erected Veteran’s Memorial on campus. <strong>The</strong> memorial was opened in a beautiful dedication service on September 17, 2005, which was attended by hundreds of people from the community and the school, as well as Veterans, family members and members of the military. <strong>The</strong>re were guests in attendance that traveled from other states in order to be a part of the day’s events. <strong>The</strong> event on Thursday was held to honor the Veterans of <strong>Redwood</strong> City and past Sequoia students in honor of Veterans Day. Students from the Sequoia Leadership class participated in the ceremony that took place at lunch time. Catherine Keithley sang the National Anthem, Anna Borden read “On Flanders Fields”, and Alisha Chavez read a letter from former Sequoia student David Callis which was published in a book called Letters from Vietnam. David Callis was also the son of former Sequoia faculty member George Callis. Haneen Saideh, Anna Borden, Mary McDonald, Niveeta Sharma and Shanika Badoya-Mulkerin read the names of the men on the Gold Star list. Ben Southward played Taps, and an antique canon was fired in memory of the soldiers that served for our country. A purple and white floral wreath was placed in front of the monument. <strong>The</strong>re were students, staff and community members present to honor the men and women who gave their lives for this country while members of the Armed Services. It was once a long standing tradition at Sequoia High School to hold a Memorial Day Program to honor former Sequoia students who had given their lives in war. <strong>The</strong> tradition was stopped during the Vietnam era. During its time, the ceremony was attended by the entire student body and included participation by staff, student body and class officers, the school’s A Cappella choir and the school band. Hopefully this tradition will be revived with the building of the new memorial. This year’s event was a new beginning and a step in the direction of bringing traditions back to Sequoia. A Woodside Athlete Who’s Testing His Limits By Nick Markwith Student Writer Two, the number of touchdowns Zack Test has made for Woodside High School this year. Eight, the number of interceptions he has made this season. Nine, the number of sports he has played in his life. Twenty-two, the number of completed passes he has caught. Seven, the number of times he had to rewrite his essays because of his dyslexia. <strong>The</strong>se are only a few numbers of his sports and school career. Zack Test, a junior at Woodside High School, has been playing sports throughout his life. <strong>The</strong> first sport he played was soccer at age seven, and ever since, he has continued to play a diverse variety of them. Other than soccer, Test has experience in other sports such as basketball, baseball, rugby, football, hockey, racquetball, tennis, swimming, and water polo. With such a wide range of talent, it is not surprising that he excels at two specific sports: football and rugby. With three years of high school football under his belt, Zack Test, has only begun to show enormous talent on the football field. This is Test’s second year on the varsity football team and as Woodside’s starting wide receiver and free safety, he has twenty-two catches and is leading CCS (Central Coast Section) with eight interceptions. He has also gained an impressive two hundred and ninety-five yards for the Woodside Wildcats. Although he may be a key player on the varsity football team, Test shows even more talent on the rugby field. Outside Woodside High School, Test plays rugby for the Peninsula Green Beavers along with other Woodside students. On the rugby field, he plays wing and side center. This is only his second year and yet he has been chosen to play for the under nineteen development Eagles, a national team that prepares for the Junior World Cup. “Scouts were at a tournament at Stanford and they thought I had some talent and they invited me to there high performance team,” said Test. In December, Test goes to a training camp in Arizona and in April, he flies to Washington D.C. to play in a tournament. If he gets picked, he then joins the junior world cup team. <strong>The</strong>re will be two hundred athletes who will go to the camp in December and out of them, eighty make the first cut. Out of the first eighty, forty make the second cut to make the team. “It’s an honor to have a chance to be on this team,” added Test. Although it might seem at a glance that a starting wide receiver and star rugby athlete has a lot going for him, Zack Test has problems of his own to deal with. He is dyslexic. For those who do not know, dyslexia is a learning disorder that impairs the ability to read or comprehend written words. At his middle school, Charles Armstrong School, their main priority is to treat dyslexia by teaching different methods to overcome their disorder. Test has picked up little tricks to deal with his dyslexia, either by sounding out words or being made to rewrite his essays six or seven times to make sure there wasn’t any mistakes. It might not seem that big of an issue for an athlete, but there is more to football than shown on the field “I have to visualize the plays in my head in order for me to understand what I have to do on the field,” said Test. Even after finding out he had a disorder, Test has never given up and always puts forth his best effort. He is living proof that even if you might have a disadvantage to others that you can achieve your goals through determination and hard work. Test also tries to teach others what he has learned. “In my RSP classes, I help other kids with their homework and help them understand, “ said Test. “I try to do that in all my classes.” Test hopes to take rugby and football to the college level, and some day make it professionally. With all his determination, hard work, and natural talent, it is obvious he will be able to do just that.
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Spectrum</strong> . <strong>Redwood</strong> <strong>City's</strong> <strong>Monthly</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>