Volume 1, Issue 3
PO Box 13261
Des Moines, WA 98198-1004
|
Fourth Quarter 2003 Volume 1, Issue 3 PO Box 13261 Des Moines, WA 98198-1004 |
| News for Alumni, Parents, Teachers and Community | |
| Sponsored by the Mt. Rainier High School Foundation | http://www.mrhs.info/ |
During the Vietnam War six Mt. Rainier alumni lost their lives in combat and are memorialized in the 200 Hall: - Jim Aarde '62, Michael Cady '66. Lance St. Laurent '67, William McCall '64, James McCarthy '67 and Tony Vigil '66. It is with heavy hearts that we now add the name of Ben Colgan '91 who died in Baghdad Saturday, November 1, 2003. Brian Cartwright remembered his classmate with the following tribute:
"All those good things people usually say when someone passes away, we said those things about Ben before he passed away. He was my closest friend in the world. And there are probably a dozen people who felt the same way. There's nothing he wouldn't do for you, and nothing you wouldn't do for him."
Ben is survived by his parents Joe and Patricia of Kent, seven siblings, his wife Jill, daughters Grace (age 2) and Paige (age 1), and a third child expected in December. A fund has been set up for the Colgan family and donations may be made at any Washington Mutual Bank branch.
Since its debut in 1990 this event has been dubbed "Clash of the Classes". The first year the Class of '77 won it all. For the next several years the Class of '84 dominated the tournament. Their winning streak didn't come to a close until the roster filled up with younger players from the Class of '90 and Class of '91. From the high points of League Championships in the early '70's and early '90's to the truly tough times when the JV and Freshman basketball programs were threatened by budget cuts, a dedicated succession of coaches ("Boots" Wooten, George Grant, Karl Cordes, Rod Wallis and currently Brian Johnson from the Class of '97) have kept the RAMS dribbling. Relive the memories. We hope you will be able to join about 200 other alumni participants for some serious déjà vu. Pre-registration is required. Contact Chuck Laycock at (206) 878-2225. This event is sponsored by Today's Chiropractic.
Boy's Swimming at Mt. Rainier HS is the stuff legends are made of. Leading the team to four State Championships since 1990, Coach Rick Wertmann noted, "Relays are key. They bring out the team element of the sport and that's where we flourish." If swim team was an important part of your high school experience, be sure to mark this date on your calendar. For more information, contact Rick Wertmann on his cell phone at (206) 372-2906.
Join old friends and new in "celebrating the past and building the future" here at Mt. Rainier High School. Indulge yourself with a healthy serving of nostalgia as well as a sneak preview of our brand new school building. Architects BLRB and the design committee will be bringing you up to date on the design process. You won't want to miss this exciting and elegant evening. The Mt. Rainier High School Foundation sponsors this event and proceeds of the auction will be used to support the mission and goals of the foundation outlined below. Ticket information will be enclosed with your next newsletter and will also be made available online at http://www.mrhs.info/ in mid-January 2004. To make this event a success we still need more enthusiastic party planners. To volunteer contact Auction Coordinator Petrina Lance (Class of '76) at (206) 763-0249 or Petrinasl@comcast.net.
| Mt. Rainier High School Foundation | |
|---|---|
| Vision: | A foundation to advance the educational aspirations of all Mt. Rainier High School students. |
| Mission: | Strengthen our community by fostering, encouraging, and promoting the achievement of excellence at Mt. Rainier. |
| Goals: | To provide leadership in gathering resources for the adademic, artistic, athletic, extracurricular, and enrichment needs of students at Mt. Rainier High School. |
| To enlist support from a broad coalition within our community - alumni, students, parents, teachers; business, civic and service organizations; local city, county, and state government. | |
| To develop an endowment sufficiently large to make a difference. | |
I am writing this letter to persuade you to consider donating an item or service for the Mt. Rainier HS Charity Auction. If you are asking yourself, "What do I have to contribute?" please allow me to offer a few suggestions. It is not necessarily the big-ticket items that create the most excitement or generate the most competitive round of bidding. Often it's the uniquely ingenious idea or that special personal touch that proves to be most memorable. Case in point, at our inaugural Foundation Auction, Scott Creek and Steve Mahon (Class of '69) donated a Duck and Goose Hunting Trip in Eastern Washington. Mt. Rainier Principal Toni Pace and her husband Sam were the lucky winners with the highest bid.
"The foundation Dinner and Auction was a wonderful evening. There were dozens of really great items to bid on, but I had my eye on this particular hunting trip that Steve and Scott donated," said Toni. "Sam and I enjoy the outdoors, and hunt and fish whenever we can. Steve and Scott put together this fabulous trip and we even got to take along our brand new little Labrador retriever. Scott and Steve were excellent hosts, and extremely capable duck hunting guides. Not only were we able to harvest our limit of ducks, but we were also treated to a gourmet lunch that they prepared on the BBQ right at the duck blind. To top it off, we even harvested a banded mallard!"
Do you have an avocation or vocation you are passionate about and would like to share? Include guests on a favorite family outing. Offer a behind the scenes tour of your workplace. Host or cater a dinner party, picnic, or luncheon.
If you provide a product or service, a donation publicizes what you do to other alum as well as the rest of the Mt. Rainier community.
Do you have any Mt. Rainier memorabilia stored in your attic? Even if you are not ready to part with them, photos could be copied, framed, and assembled into an album or collage. You could include reminders (i.e. hit song, Ram's Horn, most popular hairstyle) from the Class of (insert your year of graduation) in a gift basket.
Do you hold series tickets for sporting events, symphony, theater, or ballet? Donate admission for games or performances you will be unable to attend. Donate vacation accommodations at a cabin, condo, or time-share, which you are unable to use.
I would also like to persuade you that your contribution can make a real difference. Even in the booming '90's it was apparent that many public high schools across this country were in trouble. Individual communities unwilling to give up on public education, sought to address the challenges by establishing charitable foundations to support curricular and extra-curricular programs in their high schools. Subsequent fundraising efforts allowed these foundations to step in where budget cuts threatened valuable existing programs, invest in teacher education and certification, and support academic initiatives such as the various academies being developed at Mt. Rainier HS. This model for success is one we aspire to.
Given all the public expenditures competing for your tax dollar, when making a tax-deductible donation you set the spending priorities. If public education is high on your priority list, please consider helping us out with a contribution for the auction.
Our sincerest appreciation,
Gretchen Morgan (Class of '69)
More than 13,000 students have graduated from Mt. Rainier since it opened its doors. The printed newsletter will reach only about 2,500 of them. If you know of alumni (i.e. siblings, classmates, coworkers) who would enjoy receiving a FREE printed newsletter or need to correct your own address information, forward mailing addresses along with year of graduation to: Alumni Data Base c/o MRHS Foundation, PO Box 13261, Des Moines, WA 98198-1004 or e-mail gretche413@aol.com.
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