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Show ous The SaltLake Tribune UTAH Sunday, May 28, 1995 Germans Make Up BBY ROA PEON buses Pre bres mi 7 believe every dayt a holiday: Nerfomea/ Two-Thirds of the Smallest Class of ’95 Kick Butt By Samuel A. Autman THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE TROUT CREEK — Alexander Lyssy flew 5,500 miles from Germanyto Salt Lake City expecting he would attend a colossal American high schoolwith thousands of students. During an orientation for foreign exchange students in Cambridge, Mass., he discovered he was destined for West Desert High School: 36 students and three teachers at the end of two hours ofdirt road “Oh crap," recalls the lanky 18year-old, “I wantedto go to a big town, and they put meright in the desert.” While sitting at the airport in Minneapolis on his way to Salt Lake City, he met Conny Schuffenhauer, When she started to talk, he recognized her German accent, Schuffenhauer,a native of Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Germany, was on her way to Trout Creek, too, Lyssy, Schuffenhauer and Sarah Butler are the entire West Desert senior class, This triumvirate FOR THE RECORD SHOT IN STOMACH Jeff Salazar, 31, was shotin the stomach early Saturday morning after a confrontation at a pre-Memorial Day party in Salt Lake City. Salazar had gotten into an argument onthe front porch of a homeat 812 W. 700 South.He left with his girlfriend and then punched out a window ofa car belonging to a man he had argued with, accordingto a police report. ‘The man andtwoothers followed Salazar. The owner of the damaged car allegedly pulled out a gon pistol and fired four or five ots, One bullet struck Salazar. comprises Utah's smallest gradu- ating class this year, and proportionately its most international, School principal Edgar Alder has found having two foreign-exchangestudents to be a lesson for all parties. West Desert High Schoolis located at the base of the towering Deep Creek Mountains, about 250 miles southwestof Salt LakeCity, With the 20 elementary students next door, the whole complex serves 56 students, Trout Creekis a community that went without electricity until 1972 and telephone service until 1986. Most area residents arein cattle ranching, and their interactions with foreigners have been few. Alder graduated from WestDesert High School himself in the 1970s, He returned after earning a teaching certificate ai the University of Utah. He now wears several hats: administrator, teacher and coach. He's committed to keeping the students busy with sports, activities and musical productions. He believes small in- Police werecalled at 4:59 a.m. Sa- Tazar was taken to LDS Hospital. Hewaslisted in serious condition. Police identified the suspect, but hadnot located him Saturday. Qo ROBBER SHOOTS, MISSES A robber who held up Provo's Best Western Motel at 70 E. 300 South Saturday morning walked out with a bundle of cash, then turned andfired his 9mm pistol at the motel clerk when henoticed the employee following him, The clerk was not injured, but the gunshot captured the attention of several witnesses, who dialed 911 and gave Provo police a description of the gunman andhis car. Severalblocks from the motel, officers found the suspect, who gave up withouta struggle. Police found a gun and cash in the man's car. The suspect is as a 44-yearold Las Vegas resident. He was booked for suspicion of attempted murderand robbery. a) Katie Hunter, 6, Provo, re- Oo 1,000 HITS OF ACID Police say a 13-year-old Glendale Junior High student who ran away from homepossessed about 1,000 hits of LSD, a hallucinogenic drug called acid. His parents found him Friday at the Days Inn, 1900 W. North Temple in Salt Lake City. They called police and an officer found the drugs inside the boy's wallet. The teen was treated at a hospital because he was stoned, Oo BODYIDENTIFIED A man whose body was found by a gardener under a pomegranate tree in the yard of a Tucson, Ariz., homehas beenidentified as a Utah transient. Myron W. Abbott II, Highland, was found dead Tuesday, He was identified Thursday. Sgt. Michael O'Connor of the Pima County Sheriff's Department said Abbott had been sleeping in the desert north of Tucson, living out of his car. Determination of the cause of death was pending. “Tortured Everyday”: Lyssy's appearance in Trout Creek was a surprise. Another family had contacted the Educational Foundation, opening their home as well, Had the 6-foot-5 teen-ager known he'd beliving in the desert for a year, he would have remained in Germany, “T expected nothing much,but I wanted to go to a big town,” he says. ‘When they brought me out here, I was really, really disappointed.” He came to the United States to learn English and get a reprieve from the his hometown school in Rurhand, in the former East Germany. In Europe, he arose early in the morning for school and studied until midnight to keep up with the rigorous program. All the tests were essays and could not be retaken. German students are on a three-track system. Only the top third will qualify for college. The remaining two-thirds will finish earlier and go onto trade schools American students have more choice, he says. As a result, they take morepridein their schools. “In Germany, it’s not ‘my’ school. It is ‘the’ school where you go and get tortured every day,” he sighs. Whenhereturnsto his homein early June, he will start getting By Samuel A. Autman THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE SANDY — It is hard for a senior at Alta High School to stand out in a crowd of nearly 1,000 classmates. So Mike Holmesgot busy. Aside from immersing himself in the student body vice presidency, he stays active with the French Club, Health Occupation Students of America, National Honor Society, Drama Club and the parentteacher-studentassociation, “IT am always working on projects and helping with different things,” he explains, Holmes, 18, will join more than 900 other seniors Thursday night for the ceremony for whatis expected to be Utah's largest graduating class this year. Alta has producedthe largest graduating class for five years in a row. Bingham, Brighton, Davis, Viewmont, Northridge, Cottonwood, Hunter, Kearns, Skyline and Taylorsville high schools haveseniorclasses of 500 or more students. With classes so big, involvement plays a critical role in helping students create niches to avoid oblivion. And for those who enjoy obscurity, the bottlenecked hallways are excellent places to blendinto the masses To lighten the load of leading Utah's biggest high schools, principal Linda Sandstrom has five assistants and staff of 125 teachers. She is used to it, having been at Alta for eight years, thefirst six as an assistant principal, Each senior class has had its owndistinct personality, “What I will remember most about this class is the way they have come together and expressed support for one another,” she says. ‘They have had a wide variety of interests. Most of all, they have excelled in school." The class’ academic achievements are impressive. Some 142 students have high honors, meaning a grade-point average of 3.75 or higher. There are 177 National HonorSociety members. Four seniors have a perfect 4.0 GPA, That is why Alta does not have a valedictorian, explains Sandstrom. Any formula for picking one would seem too arbitrary. Theyavoid superlatives such as the smartest, most popular, most athletic or even class clown. Thosetitles are too hard to pin down on a class this big. Instead, the student newspaper creates prank superlatives such as; most likely to replace Enid Waldholtz when she takes maternity leave, moatlikely to appear on ‘‘American Gladiators” or the mostlikely to kiss up. Senior AndreaZollis one of two head cheerleaders for the Hawks, whose boys basketball, girls softball and boys tennis teams won state championships this year. Drumming up spirit with thousands cheering a team on comes easy, she says. The challenge is jumpstarting the masses who never volunteer to lead organized NOBODY Beats R.C. Willey On Pagers... .NOBODY! arvoctateeaaftordabis ertoneca REC eset +8 Message Capacity * 20 Digits Per Message * One Button Control * Automatic Lighting » :s s k ‘;: * Clock and Time Stamp * 4 Programmable Alert Options Including Silent Vibration Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune The graduating class of West Desert High: Sarah Butler, Alexander Lyssy and Conny Schuffenhauer. The school is about 250 miles southwestof Salt Lake City. ready for school again, Although he will have graduated from the American high school system, at homehe will have two moreyears of high school, He hopesthis oneyear break won't damage his chances of getting into college. He eventually wants to become a psychologist. “Here, I learned I can stand on my own two feet,” he says about living in America, “Sound of Music” Star: Like Lyssy, Schuffenhauer came to America to learn English and take a break from the rigors of the Germanschool system, In her hometown, also in the former East Germany, her classes began at 7 a.m.and, depending on the schedule, could keep her in schoo! until 6 p.m., allowing a three-hour break. German high schools are more like American colleges, she says. Students are expected to take notes without disturbing the lecturer, “I wanted to just get out and go somewhereit's not hot,” says the 17-year-old, “I wanted an ocean or water.I really did not expect to get that. I just figured whatever came, oh well.” While Americans don't seem to be as preoccupied with punctuality as Germans, American liquor laws are much morestrict than in her European homeland. Sixteenyear-olds may legally drink beer and 18-year-olds may imbibe lijuor. School spirit is so much more important to Americans than she had realized. “Sports becomes a central rallying point for the whole school to get together and cheer, German kids are not as likely to do that,” Herobservations go beyond the four walls of the school. She realized that German pop culture is heavily influenced by American culture, with television shows such as ‘Full House,” ‘Married With Children" and ‘Melrose Place” enjoying high ratings, Almostall of the music on the German radio stations is American. Wordssuchas ‘shopping center” and “talk show’’ have crept into the Germanculture. She graduated Thursday as salutatorian, Her biggest lesson was overcoming fear. “You never should sayit’s impossible or I can’t do something,” she says. “I have done so many things I never suspected I would do, I would have never played basketball or starred in the ‘Sound of Musie.' I did it here because they needed everybody.” Sckuffenhauer will return homein June to finish her two years of high school, If she gets into college, she plans to pursue art studies. “This is the World”: Sarah Butler was SO glad the German students joined her, Had they not arrived, she would have been the only senior, “I had never really dealt with anybody from another country,” explains the 18-year-old. “Since they have beenhere, ! have realized that they are us, People are people. Everywhere you go, this is the world,” Herfamily moved to the area a few years ago to escape “the bigcity life” of Brigham City. Duringthe years, she has worked hard to keep a 3.9 grade-point average. She doesnot feel cheated because of the smallness of her school. “We come from the desert, but I would never think of us as hicks,” she says. ‘Every one of us is smart. We will find a place in society.” The redhead with a big smile has been admitted to Southern Utatr University in Cedar City whereshe will pursue a degreein biochemistry, Alder gained from the German students. “T learned that our schools are a lot easier,” he says. “I really worry about the fact that American seniors will be out competing against people like these foreignexchangestudents.” You Get Busy or You Get Lost in Alta’s Teeming Hallways GIRL INJURED mained in critical condition at Utah Valley Regional Medical Centerafter a fall Friday at the Historic County Court House in Provo, Lt. Ron Fernstedt, Utah County Sheriff's Office spokesman,said Katie was at a wedding in the building and on the upper balcony of the rotunda watching the dancing below when she apparently leanedouttoo far on the railing and fell 18 feet to the floor, terwoven communities are ideal learning environments because they feel like a family. “T lived in Salt Lake City for years and I never even knew my next-door neighbors," he says, wearing a black cowboyboots and bluejeans, “Out here I know everybodyin a 50-mile radius." Now that his two oldest children are attending the U., he decided to host a foreign-exchange student in his home, None had ever attended West Desert High School, He told Frank Garner, a regional representative for the Educational Foundation foreignexchange student program, that he wanted to participate. Garner arranged for Schuffenhauer to live with Alder, Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune It is tough to stand out in a graduating class that is pushing 1,000,but Andrea Zoll and Mike Holmes have managedtorise from the Alta High School masses by getting involved. Andrea is a head cheerleader, while Mikeis seniorclass vice president. schoolevents, “They think it's really hard to get involved,” she says about the uninvolved students. ‘We do everything we can to make them involved, But they kind of have a grudge against us." Trent Eyre, 18, knew it would be easy to get lost in the shuffle without some student activity. A of nem damaged knee cost him a spot on the basketball team and he made unsuccessful runs for student body officer, He now is a leader with the Men's Association of Spirited Hawks. That makes him feel connected. “You don't know anybody when you come to a big school like this,” he says, “It's hard to meet You've just entered the World of Uurd—oom ort SPORT Ii” $9999 VISIT ANY OF OUR FIVE F.C. WILLEY people.” Time and again, Don Ward,student governmentadvisor and history teacher, has seen a pattern among active students, They almost always have a higherseifesteem, says the 17-year veteran. Active students end up becoming successful in adult life, He preaches the gospel of involvement, “It does not matter what niche you find, as long as you find a niche,” he gays, “It's part of the school's responsibility to create a lot of niches, Obviously we don't mean drug or alcohol niches,” Advanced Placement English teacher Judy McAllister, also a 17-year veteran of Alta, has been amazed at how each senior Class gets larger. Students don't get to know manyoftheir peers, She has seen seniors struggling with names as they pass back papers. “It's impersonal to walk down the halls every day seeing people you don't know," says senior Brian Johansen, Tn one of Cindy Dahle's last senior English classes for the year, students are talking loudly to drown out the Channel One news broadcast. But every head turns to watch the promo for the upcoming movie ‘Batman Forever.” Senioritisis in the air. “Last year I cried whenthe seniors signed my yearbook," says senior Dena Sween. “Now just can't wait to run out of this place." If you like walking,-. let your feet enjoy it: as much as you doy. The Walking Sandal The finest in European comfort shoes for men & women Burdcombort® Crossroads Plaza 538-0724 South Towne Center 5538283 4pas SEBE> 62 Fe Beas B2 Cottonwood Mall 277-4404 |
