High school journalists raising money for trip

Douglas High School senior Elizabeth Rice brought by a magnetic tiger paw the yearbook and newspaper students are selling to go to the Journalism Education Association convention in San Francisco during spring break.

According to Kim Turner, the advisor for both programs, the students need to raise $5,000 to make the April 19-23 trip and are selling the tiger paws for $5 each during lunch. The money will allow 10 students to attend the conference without having to pay for accommodations or registration.

Hopefully they aren't just relying on the magnets, because $5,000 translates into a lot of magnets.

I've written quite a bit about the Paws in the Press newspaper, which is looking pretty good these days.

I'm not sure but I think the March issue was supposed to be for April Fools. It was entertaining, but a little disconcerting. Maybe I've just hit the point where I don't get it anymore.

The Paws in the Press kids are getting a lot of support from their parents, who have formed a booster club.

Kim said the yearbook will have a new format this year that will include more than 99 percent of the student population. Yearbooks are still on sale for $75, but the price goes up in June to $85. I've heard an 1806 Douglas High School Year book was appraised at $500 on Antiques Roadshow.

Elizabeth has been a yearbook editor for five years and has been accepted to the Don Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, next year. She is the daughter of Andy and Ellen Rice.

I'm thinking that if the folks in Reno are smart, Elizabeth will be drafted into their yearbook program pretty quick.

Anyone interested in helping the kids out, should contact Kim at kturner@dcsd.k12.nv.us or call the high school at 782-5136.

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Sometimes you have to just publish something to find out what it is really about.

I received a Jobs Peek item about Gardnerville resident Betsy Rezner attending Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, but that was about all the college knew about her.

I exhausted my usual resources looking for Rezners and there wasn't one. I wrote the college, but didn't hear back.

Rather than let it sit for another month, I ran it in Wednesday's newspaper. That did the trick.

Betsy is the daughter of Beth and Bob Swanberg, who have lived in the Valley for three years. She is on the rowing team at Lafayette, which her mom says is often confused for either the California or Louisiana schools.

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I received a note from a woman in Portage County, Ohio, who works for the Record-Courier in Portage County, Ohio.

Apparently, Debb Guziak's daughter was in an accident in Minden on Feb. 23. Debb said her daughter is a Marine who was driving on the "expressway," which I interpret as Highway 395.

"She lost control of her car after swerving to avoid an animal on an expressway in Minden," Debb wrote. "She spun a few times before going off the side of the road."

The woman called 911 and an officer came and helped her get a tow truck, which took her car across the highway to a truck stop (Silver City RV Park?).

"At the truck stop, the officer hosed off the undercarriage of the car so he could check for damage," Guziak said. "He also checked her brakes and tires. My daughter didn't know if it was police, sheriff or highway patrol, but after mentioning she was a Marine on her way to see her fiancé, also a Marine returning from Iraq, the officer said he had been in the Air Force for 20 years. Whoever the officer is, I cannot thank him enough for taking care of my daughter."

n Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 215.