Senator Square: Carson High School goes lime green in support of freshman with cancer

Lime green is a bright and light green color resembling the skin of a citrus fruit, and it links closely with nature and represents high vitality, freshness, liveliness, and imagination. Carson High School's Nate Thornton, who obviously loves the color lime green, was moved to act when his friend, Chris Coulam was attacked by this merciless and wicked disease called cancer.

CHS Freshman Chris Coulam was recently diagnosed with Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma when two cancerous brain tumors were found. Lymphoma is a rare type of cancer which affects the lymphatic system; it can strike at any age and has no gender preference.

As with all diseases, celebrities are not immune, and the following six have battled lymphoma. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’s Gene Wilder, Dexter’s Michael C. Hall, The A-Team’s Mr. T, Jackie Kennedy, and American football player James Connor.

No one is immune, and most have to go through surgery and chemotherapy. Chris underwent surgery to remove most of the tumors, but rigorous chemotherapy had to follow. In order to support Chris, his CHS Senior Nate Thornton started a Support Squad and hashtag #Kindness for Chris Campaign to show Chris and his family he is not alone in his struggle.

The student and community challenge is to perform a daily act of service, record each act, and take a picture during or after each act in order to build a project. A sentence or two may also be written up to add to the post. Any act of service or kindness to anyone, small or big, counts.

Ultimately, Chris and his family would greatly appreciate as many prayers and positive thoughts as possible to be sent their way at this time to help support him. Send pictures to @KindnessforChris on Instagram, use hashtags #Kindnessforchris, For further information, reach out to Nathan Thornton at 775-434-4253.

Pictures are due Sunday, March 13th by 5 p.m. The project, a collage, will be constructed at the end of the week, and all received photos and sentences will be shared with Chris and his family. A grateful thanks goes out to Nate Thornton, the students and staff of CHS, and the community of Carson City for their kindness.

NJROTC AIR RIFLE TEAM COMPETED AT JUNIOR OLYMPICS
Very quickly, after the Carson High Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps air rifle team returned home from Aniston Alabama having competing at the NJROTC nationals, they dominated the Junior Olympics postal. The first team took second place in the match, with two shooters being third and fourth out of everyone, and the second team placed well with one shooter being second overall. In total, the team took home nine medals, and they are excited to see what the future holds. The cadets who shot are Kiana Hillis, Allison Gerow, Mackenzie Tackett, Lisette Topete-Nunez, Leondre Long, Hawley Peterman, Noa Blann, and Alex Wells. Those are in no particular order, and, as to the photo, it is just everyone who shot. — Contributed by CHS Air Rifle Team Commander Kiana Hillis

CHS BAND ATTENDS UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO DAY OF PERCUSSION
CHS Band Director and Capital City Community Band Director Nick Jacques took the CHS Band March 4 to UNR’s School of the Arts “University Percussion Ensemble” to participate in showing off their percussion performance pieces. Registered participants of the “University Percussion Ensemble” received private coaching from Andrew Heglund, Ph.D. The ensemble performs on the Nightingale Concert Hall stage at least once per semester, often with distinguished guest artists.

According to CHS Senior and band member Brett Barbarigos, “This event definitely helped me consider pursuing a percussion degree.” Barbarigos added, “I enjoyed watching the performances from other schools, too.” CHS participating band members were Brett Barbarigos, Reagan Belnap, Aiden Blandford, Zach Carpenter, Dylan Cooley, Christian Galvez Hernandez, Morgan Malen, Cody McWilliams, Cannon Myler, Sam Radford, Brandon Thompson, Nathan Thornton, Jonah Toral, William Wright, Tessa Payan, Anthony Bezama, Anthony Harris, Ash (Anjolie) Fajayan, Jordyn Deusenberry. Jaques said, “Thank you for supporting our hard working band students.”

CHS ORCHESTRA EARNS TOP RAITINGS AT NORTHERN NEVADA FESTIVAL
Not only did these high school musicians enjoy their time at UNR March 4, these CHS Band and Orchestra members earned top ratings at the Northern Zone and Orchestra Festival March 9 at the Carson City Community Center. The Cadet Band, Concert Band, and Wind Ensemble performed.

According to CHS Orchestra Director Brian Fox, PhD, “High school bands and orchestras from across Northern Nevada, not including Washoe County, gathered for this day-long event. The Carson City School Orchestras were among the highest rated groups, receiving three Superior ratings and one Excellent rating.

The CHS Concert Orchestra performed pieces by Telemann, Mosier, and Newbold; they brought energy and precision to the stage. The CHS Chamber Orchestra performed pieces by De Beriot, Manuel, and Meyer, and they met the challenge these difficult pieces provided. Cristian Rodriguez Contreras soared across the top of the ensemble as viola soloist in "Air with Variations No. 14."

The ensemble played sensitively on "Alleluia" and expressed that piece's stately elegance. On "Incantations" the group took listeners on a journey through haunting and jaunty themes. The CHS Orchestras are grateful to have participated in the festival and are proud of their achievements.

CHS participating Orchestra members were Brett Barbarigos, Ryan Barbarigos Ian Bowman, Troy Bruhn, Viviana Castro, Mason Cherpeski, Sam Davis, Jordyn Deusenberry, Esmay Harger, Kailee Johnston, Victoria King, Alexandra Llamas-Cruz, Izabell McCullen, Marisa Mendoza-Romero, Deandre Paplia, Nathaniel Parsons, Diana Lizete Quintero, Christian Rodriguez Contreras, Ty Rubalcava, Noah Sa, Pablo Salgado Gutierrez, Eanna Louise Santiago, Emma Thomsen, and Karla Vallejo Gomez.

NEW WESTERN NEVADA COLLEGE ACCESS COORDINATOR TO HELP CHS
Western Nevada College has a new Access Coordinator, and CHS announcer Aurellia Bailey interviewed him in order to connect CHS graduating seniors with the individual they will need to get-to-know if attending WNC after graduating from CHS.

Adrian Barrera is the new WNC contact for all Dual Enrollment Jump Start students as well as the Nevada Promise and Bridge to Success access programs for next year’s seniors. Also, Director of Counseling Services at Western Nevada College is Piper McCarthy.

Western Nevada College is always available to help with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, FAFSA as it is commonly known. The FAFSA is an application form used to apply for financial aid to pay for college. It is not the financial aid itself. Some of this money is free money, some must be earned through work, and some must be repaid. Parents and students, please be sure to bring parents’ income tax records. For more information, call CHS Counselor Fawn Lewis at 283-1604, or set up a Digital Office appointment at http://bit.ly/flewisoffice.

UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO REPRESENTATIVE TO VISIT CHS
Seniors, UNR representative Justin Bouldt will be at CHS March 17 to help students complete the application process. For further details, contact CHS Counselor Fawn Lewis at flewis@carson.k12.nv.us.

SENIOR AD DEADLINE EXTENDED
The Senior Ad deadline has been extended to March 20 or until the reserved space is unavailable. Parents, it is not too late to create a Senior Ad for your graduating senior. Go to yearbookforever.com, search for Carson High School, select shop, and select ad. There, you will find the sizes and the prices. You can also buy your yearbook there too. For the first time, the yearbook staff have added 40 additional pages to the yearbook for the same price. “The theme this year is "Together Again," and we are also celebrating 150 years of Carson High” said Yearbook Adviser Cynthia Mills. Please email CHS Language Arts teacher and Yearbook Adviser Cynthia Mills at cmills@carson.k12.nv.us for more information.

MULTPLE SCHOLARSHIPS OFFERED BY GREATER NEVADA CREDIT UNION
GNCU has expanded its annual scholarship program, which began in 2000, to help even more people pursue their undergraduate, technical, or trade school education goals. GNCU will award $2,000 scholarships each to 30 qualifying individuals for the 2022-23 school year by offering two different categories. Visit gncu.org or any branch for details. Applications are open.

Twenty-five $2,000 scholarships will be available to GNCU members, or the child, spouse, or parent of a GNCU member, and age 24 years or younger at the time of application deadline. Five $2,000 scholarships will be available to GNCU members with a valid account number, and age 25 years or older at the time of application deadline. Selection criteria will be based on the financial need of the applicant.

Additional criteria include academic performance, school and community involvement, and written recommendations from school and community leaders. Applicants are not limited to attending Nevada schools. Successful applicants will be limited to receiving only one scholarship, and recipients will not be eligible for this program in subsequent years. Scholarship recipients must attend school as a full-time student during the 2022-23 school year, scholarship funds will be paid in two $1,000 installments, all and spring, directly to the school of the recipient's choice, and scholarship monies may be used for tuition, course registration, special class, lab fees, room and board, textbooks, and class materials.

Completed applications need to be postmarked, submitted electronically, or hand delivered to a GNCU branch on or before April 1, 2022. For further details, please contact GNCU Education Branch Coordinator Julie Slocum at jslocum@gncu.net or call her at 775-886-1440.

10TH ANNUAL SAFE GRAD RUN AND WALK IS HERE AGAIN
CHS’ Safe and Sober 5k Run and Walk is April 2 beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the CHS track. Interested walkers and runners may find the application at carsonhighsafegrad.com. The Safe Grad Committee is looking for sponsors and raffle prize donations too.

This is a great opportunity for individuals and businesses to get their name and products seen in the community. Register early by mailing in a form and check payable to Carson High Safe Grad Booster, PO Box 486 Carson City, NV 89702. Regular fee is $35 and $25 for students or younger. After March 20, there will be a late fee per category plus $5 processing fee and no t-shirt guarantee.

Check-in is from 8:30 to 9 a.m., and the 5K begins at 10 a.m. Safe and Sober 5K is organized by volunteers of the CHSGB. The CHS Safe Grad program has been an annual tradition in Carson City since 1988, providing graduating seniors with a safe and sober all night celebration on the eve of their graduation, followed by a trip to the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom amusement park in Vallejo, California.

This event has been a tremendous success in that not one graduation night fatality for a CHS graduate has occurred since its inception. Officers and coordinators are still needed for the Safe Grad 5k annual fundraiser as well as replacement board members. For more information about Safe Grad and the 5K, go to carsonhighsafegrad.com/index.html.

UPCOMING EVENTS AT CHS
Carson City School District is hosting a student job fair with at least 1000 students attending April 6 from 9 to Noon at CHS. This will be a great opportunity for business owners to meet potential student employees, for students to find out what job opportunities are available and how to apply. This will be a great time for employers to showcase their business to the students of CCSD as well as a great time for graduating seniors to find employment. For further information, please contact Coordinator Marc Rodina at carsoncityschoolswbl.com, mrodina@carson.k12.nv.us, or 775-283-2055.

STUDENT OF THE WEEK
Congratulations to CHS Senior Emma Thomsen on being named Student of the Week by two of her teachers. Emma’s CHS Ceramics Teacher Alisa Kuniya said about her, “Emma is incredibly creative and focused in the ceramics classroom, and aside from her passion for the arts, what stands out for me is her compassion for her peers and teachers; her kindness has made an impact.”

According to CHS Band Director Nick Jacques, “Emma Thomsen always strives to achieve her very best in all her musical endeavors; she participated in honor band since middle school, led the marching band as their drum major, performs in as many groups as possible, and, as a performer in the Capital City Community Band, Thomsen earned the Richard Doede Music Scholarship last Sunday and wishes to continue pursuing music at the University of Nevada.” Congratulations to CHS Senior Emma Thomsen on gaining the attention of not one, but two of her teachers who thought so spectacularly of her they together nominated her as Student of the Week.

— Senator Square columnist Phil Brady is an English teacher at Carson High School in Carson City, Nev.