St.
Louis People 365
Musial wins on salary; Rams win on
field
(Sixth in a series)
A couple of sports notes highlighted historical
happenings in Januarys past in the St. Louis area.
Stan Musial had to get approval of a federal agency
in 1951 get a pay raise to $85,000. The St. Louis
Rams won their Super Bowl victory in 2000.
Among other historical highlights in January include
the famous Lindbergh baby trial of Bruno Hauptman
and the christening of the U.S. battleship Missouri.
These items are just some of the historic people
and events listed in the January chapter of "St. Louis
People 365." It is a trivia book written and published
by St. Louis author Joe Sonderman.
(Sonderman has given permission to Young Saint
Louis.com to quote selected items from the book.
If you'd like a copy of the book, check local book
stores or go to www.booksonstlouis.com.)
Here are 10 of the 124 items listed in the January
chapter:
Jan. 1, 1867: Charles Udell Turpin was born.
Turpin owned the Booker T. Washington Theater at 2248
Market Street. It was one of the first theaters in
the country built and operated by African-Americans.
In 1910, he was elected as constable, the first black
to be elected to a St. Louis political office. Charles
Turpin was re-elected twice. His brother, Thomas,
was an early ragtime musician and composer known as
the "Father of St. Louis Ragtime."
Jan. 2, 1935: The "trial of the century" was
underway in Flemington, N.J. Bruno Richard Hauptman,
an illegal German immigrant, was charged with the
kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby. Hauptman
would be convicted largely on circumstantial evidence.
He went to the electric chair on April 3, 1936.
Jan. 4, 1937: Grace Bumbry was born in St.
Louis. The opera diva attended Sumner High School.
Bumbry won a KMOX talent show in 1954 and went on
to appear on Arthur Godfrey's "Talent Scouts." She
debuted with the Paris Opera in 1960. Her appearance
at the Bayreuth Festival in 1961 marked the first
performance given by a black artist there. She also
won the Richard Wagner medal.
Jan. 6, 1963: Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom"
made its debut. St. Louis Zoo Director Marlon Perkins
hosted the television show, which developed many of
now-familiar nature show concepts. Field correspondent
Jim Fowler usually ended up facing the dangerous creatures.
The show ran in prime time until 1971, when it went
into syndication. Original episodes were produced
for another 19 years.
Jan. 10, 1862: Both U.S. Senators from Missouri
were kicked out. Trusten Polk and Waldo P. Johnson
were expelled for their pro-southern sympathies. Missouri
was without representation in Congress for 46 days
during the most critical period in U.S. history. Polk's
family was banished from St. Louis. He went on to
serve with Sterling Price in the Missouri State Guard.
Jan. 12, 1951: Rush Limbaugh III was born
in Cape Girardeau. His father was a well-respected
judge who heard the custody case stemming from the
Nellie Muench scandal in the 1930s. The young Rush
shined shoes before working at the Top 40 station
in Cape. After he became a successful host in Sacramento,
Rush applied for a position at KMOX. He was not hired.
In August, 1988, he launched his syndicated show on
58 stations. Today he is heard on over 660 stations,
including KMOX.
Jan. 16, 1951: The U.S. Standardization Board
relaxed the rules so Stan Musial could get a pay raise
to $85,000. There was a wage freeze in effect because
of the Korean War. The board allowed teams to raise
salaries within a complicated formula based on salaries
over the past four years, plus 10 per cent.
Jan. 18, 1909: George H. Rawlings died. In
1887, George and his brother Alfred opened a sporting
goods store in downtown St. Louis. In 1919, Cardinal
spitball pitcher Bill Doak asked the firm to manufacture
a glove with a leather web between the thumb and forefinger.
The Bill Doak model revolutionized glove design. Today,
the Rawlings plant at Ava, Missouri, is one of two
major glove manufacturers left in the U.S.
Jan. 29, 1944: Vice President Harry S. Truman
spoke at ceremonies marking the launch of the battleship
Missouri. Truman's daughter Margaret christened the
"Mighty Mo" with a bottle of champagne. General Douglas
MacArthur accepted the Japanese surrender aboard the
Missouri on September 2, 1945. She fired her last
shot during Desert Storm in 1991 and is now a tourist
attraction at Pearl Harbor.
Jan. 30, 2000: The Rams clinched the first
Super Bowl Championship in St. Louis history, by just
one yard. Kurt Warner fired a 73-yard touchdown pass
to Isaac Bruce to give the Rams a 23-16 lead with
1:54 left in Super Bowl XXXIV. But, the Tennessee
Titans fought back. On the final play of the game,
Mike Jones of the Rams pulled down Kevin Dyson just
short of the goal line to preserve the win.
Places
to Go, Things to Do
Eagle
Days is a must in January
If it's
January, it must be time for eagle watching. When
winter's cold and ice hit northern states, eagles
move south where rivers stay open so they can hunt
for fish.
The St.
Louis area is ideal. The locks and dam near Alton
keep the ice from closing the Mississippi. That open
water brings the eagles and then people who watch
the eagles.
The 11th
annual Eagle Days at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge
will be held Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 14-15.
The Jefferson
National Expansion Memorial Arch and the St. Louis
Science Center have a couple of indoor events that
focus on past outdoor adventures.
If you
want to prepare for outdoor activities, the Missouri
Department of Conservation is holding hunter education
certification classes in January. Completion of the
course gets you ready to qualify for Missouri hunting
licenses.
And then
there's a chance to tap maple trees and learn how
maple syrup is made.
Each month,
Young Saint Louis.com samples some of the events
that would make good outings for you and your family.
YSL.com doesn't try to give complete details.
Rather, we include links or phone numbers for further
information.
Here are
some of the interesting Places
to Go, Things to Do for January:
Eagle
Days at Chain of Rocks Bridge
The Old
Chain of Rocks Bridge across the Mississippi is an
ideal spot to do your eagle watching. During the Jan.
14-15 Eagle Days, the bridge is outfitted with viewing
scopes and lots of other fun things to do.
A highlight
this year will be Lewis & Clark re-enactors who will
have a camp set up. Visitors will get a glimpse of
what it was like during the 1804-1806 exploration
of the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.
The bridge
is just south of the area where eagles find concentrations
of fish. Also, nearby, there are big trees where the
eagles roost after their food searches.
Free parking
is available on both the Missouri and Illinois sides
of the Mississippi.
For more
about eagles, visit www.mdc.mo.gov/nathis/birds/eagle.
Titanic
"camp-ins" at St. Louis Science Center
The St.
Louis Science Center will start a series of overnight
"camp-ins" that focus on the sinking of the ocean-liner
"Titanic." The first is Friday, Jan. 27 but others
will follow throughout 2006.
Bring
your sleeping bag and get lots of information about
the liner said to be unsinkable.
There
is lots of information about the Titanic and its demise.
But, there are also hands-on experiments about ship
construction and looks at how to recover Titanic artifacts.
For information,
visit www.slsc.org
and get details on registration. Also, you can find
a list of future overnight "camp-ins" by linking to
the Just4Kids section of the website.
Lewis
& Clark film at The Arch
The Arch
Odyssey Theater at the Jefferson National Expansion
Memorial is showing a film about the 1804-1806 exploration
by Lewis and Clark.
The film
is titled "Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West."
The film
is shown on the theater's giant screen in the museum
area under the Arch.
For more
information, visit www.gatewayarch.com.
MDC
hunter education classes
Missouri
Hunter Education Certification classes are being held
in January at both the Busch Memorial and Henges Outdoor
education centers.
The Busch
classes will be Tuesday through Thursday, Jan. 17-19.
The Henges classes are Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 28-29.
Completion
of the classes is mandatory if you plan to obtain
a Missouri hunting license.
For information
about the classes, call (636) 441-4554.
Maple
Tree Tapping
Although
it's winter, the maple trees are getting ready for
spring. One of the ways is to start the sap flowing
into the branches.
There's
where humans get into the act. They tap into the maple
trees and collect some of the sap. Then, by boiling
off excess water, they can create that maple syrup
that goes so well on pancakes and waffles.
A "Maple
Sugar: Tree Tapping" class will be held Monday, Jan.
23, at the Rockwood Reservation in western St. Louis
County. The class is from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and
open to kids 10 and up.
This class
isn't about making syrup. It's about gathering the
sap from maple trees in the Rockwood Reservation forest.
For information
and reservations, call (636) 458-2236.
St.
Charles Boat Show
The first
boat show at the new St. Charles Convention Center
will be held Jan. 20-22.
Ten boat
dealers will take part in the show. All sorts of cruisers,
pontoon and deck boats and personal watercraft will
be on display. Also fishing gear will be displayed.
For information
visit www.letsgoshows.com
or call (314) 355-1236.
Arbor
Day Poster Contest
Missouri
5th graders still have time to enter the 2006 Arbor
Day poster contest. The contest is sponsored by the
Missouri Department of Conservation.
The deadline
for entries is Feb. 17.
The Missouri
winner will be entered in the national contest.
Check
with your 5th grade teacher for information that was
sent to all public and private schools.
Stock Market Game
Grandma's tip helps kid stock pickers
Fourteen-year-old Kayla Appleton got a hot stock
tip from her grandmother. Her teammates chipped in
with ideas to buy stocks of companies where they like
to shop.
With only three stocks in their portfolio, the all-girl
team from Green Park Lutheran School posted the second
highest gain among Missouri K-12 schools in the fall
Stock Market Game Program.
In just 10 weeks, the Green Park team's initial $100,000
investment rose to $128,341.23. Only a middle school
from Smithton, Mo., in western Missouri posted a higher
increase.
In the Stock Market Game, teams across Missouri
start with an imaginary investment of $100,000. They
"buy" stocks and then see what their investment value
is 10 weeks later.
During the Oct. 3-Dec. 9, 2005, the Green Park team's
portfolio had increased in value 28.3% increase. In
the same time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose
only 2.3%.
(If you'd like to know more about the Stock Market
Game Program, visit www.umkc.edu/mcee.
There's still time for your school to sign up for
the spring game, which will run from Feb. 6 to April
13.)
Kayla said she asked her grandmother for investment
advice because "she's big into stocks." Her suggestion
was to buy stock in Amylin Pharmaceutical, which recently
had come out with a new diabetes drug.
The Green Park 8th grader said her grandmother has
diabetes. She was considering a real investment in
that stock. She also asked her doctor about switching
to that drug.
Kayla has a vested interest in her grandmother's
investing. She added, "My grandma tells me I'm going
to get all her stock when she dies."
The other two stocks in the Green Park team's portfolio
were Best Buy and Apple.
Thirteen-year-old Meghan Rezek said the team bought
Best Buy stock "because it's one of the big electronics
companies and everyone goes to their stores on the
holidays."
Teammate Katie Hoy agreed with the Best Buy purchase.
"I buy all my Nintendo stuff there," the 13-year-old
she said.
Thirteen-year-old Allie Antle said she liked the
Apple stock "because I like their products." The computer
company recently also has brought out new products,
including the popular IPod.
The team purchased only three stocks and kept them
for the entire 10 weeks. Under game rules, teams can
sell initial stocks and buy other ones during the
game's 10-week cycle.
Fourteen-year-old Christiana Zipay said the team
almost reduced its stock holdings in Amylin about
mid-way through the investment period. The stock price
had dipped.
Christiana said, "We almost sold half of the drug
stock and bought Coca-Cola. But, then the drug stock
started to go up and we decided Coke's price was unstable."
She was the only one of the Green Park team members
who had had actual experience in stock market investing.
"I used to have shares in Walden Books, which was
my favorite store. But, the company closed down. My
stock went down a lot," she said.
Meghan Rezek said, "My mother would faint if she
found out I had invested in stocks."
Christiana Zipay said she had taken part in stock
market games previously.
Most of the girls said they had only a passing interest
in the stock market before entering the Stock Market
Game competition.
After their success, most said they now have a higher
interest.
That even included Christiana. She said she wasn't
discouraged by her Walden Books experience. "I really
like stocks and I'd like to try again," she said.
The girls were only one of several Green Park teams
entered in the fall contest.
Their sponsor was Wayne Hesse, the assistant principal
and math teacher at Green Park.
(You might remember Mr. Hesse as Mr. Math Puzzler
on Young Saint Louis.com. He created the monthly
math competition for two years. He had to stop doing
that because he was given assistant principal duties
in addition to his math teaching.)
Allie Antle said, "We'd look at our stocks all the
time." Then the team members held informal sessions
between classes, at lunch or at recess to decide whether
to make any changes.
In the end, standing pat and keeping their investment
portfolio small turned out to be a good investment
strategy.
First-time team wins Lego League
title
A four-member team making its first start in
First Lego League competition won the Missouri
state title last month. That earned them a place
at national FLL meet at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
The four members of the Children of the Square
Table team knew each other from their west St.
Louis County neighborhood. But, all attend different
schools.
The members are Brian Roth, Ian Pittwood, Vineeth
Bhuvanagiri and Linsey Button.
Brian is a 5th grader at Truman Elementary School.
Ian is a 4th grader at Ridge Meadows. Vineeth
is a 6th grader at LaSalle Springs Elementary.
And Linsey is a 6th grader at Selvidge Elementary.
Ten-year-old Brian said he's worked with Legos
since he was 4 or 5 and has "tons of Lego pieces."
But, his interest in programming the "brain" of
Lego robots was sharpened last summer at a camp
on St. Louis Community College's Meramec campus.
After the camp, he told his parents he wanted
to participate in First Lego League competition.
But, his school didn't have an advisor and he
didn't even have any teammates.
It turned out school sponsorship wasn't a must.
And he only needed three other kids to make up
a team. He and his friends held their first planning
meeting last September.
That gave them only three months to build the
robot, program its RCX brain and teach it to run
a complicated obstacle course.
Everything turned out just fine as the Square
Table team won the Director's Award at the state
FLL tournament early in December. They competed
against 27 other teams.
During each of the three rounds of the competition,
the robot was handled by two team members. Brian
and Ian ran the first round. Vineeth and Linsey
handled the second and Brian and Linsey did the
third round.
By winning, they got an automatic bid to the
national meet in Atlanta on April 27-29.
Brian said the path to the state championship
wasn't always a smooth one.
Because none of the team members had much Lego
robot experience, he said the first brain programming
efforts were "pathetic."
Even at the state meet, the team got caught trying
to make late repairs. "We had it apart and had
to just jam it back together just before the contest,"
Brian said.
Nine-year-old Ian Pittwood said the team never
did get the robot's gears to operate correctly.
The machine tended to "drift" on some legs of
the obstacle course.
Like Brian, Ian said his basement "was flooded
with Lego pieces" but he had no robot experience.
He said his biggest Lego project was building
a "big Ferrari car about a foot long and six inches
high."
Twelve-year-old Vineeth Bhuvanagiri said he
has built about 20 Lego kits. "But, I just made
each kit and I've got them on display in my room.
I didn't play with Lego pieces," he said.
He added he'd done some programming at the Rockwood
Center for Creative Learning.
He said he's also taken apart broken computers
and printers "to see what was inside."
Eleven-year-old Linsey Button said her only experience
with building things was "making castles out of
Styrofoam."
She said her work on the robot was her first
effort at programming. "But, I'm interested in
doing more," she said.
Linsey said she's used to working with computers,
mostly playing games. She said her favorite game
website is www.addictinggames.com.
Her favorites are Bubble Trouble and Water Slides.
Brian's dad, Matt, helped build a competition
table in the Roth's basement. That way the kids
could try out their robot on the same course they'd
have at the state meet.
Right after the state tournament victory, the
team was back at work on its robot. They want
to make improvements before the national tournament.
The first order of business was to find out
why the robot "drifted" and strayed off course.
They are checking the programming, the light sensors,
the gears and the track treads.
The Square Table team also is looking forward
to entering the FLL competition again next year.
All members still will be eligible in the 9-to-14-age
classification.
Brian said the team members picked up "some pretty
good design ideas" from teams in this year's tournament.
Downtown church helps kids with reading,
homework
Twelve-year-old Geneece Gandy goes to the Third Baptist
Church twice a week. But, she doesn't go to the worship
sanctuary. She heads for the 4th floor computer lab.
The 7th grader at EHL Middle & High School Academy
attends twice-a-week tutoring sessions with the YRead
reading program.
She's one of a growing number of city kids who find
Third Baptist a good place for extra help with their
education. The church's 4th floor has several individual
rooms as well as a lab room that all are equipped
with computers.
The historic church is located right in the middle
of the city's Grand Center Entertainment District.
It is flanked on Grand Avenue by the Fox Theatre and
the Saint Louis Symphony Hall.
Vicki Swyers is the director for children and youth
programs at Third Baptist. She coordinates the tutoring
and homework outreach efforts.
The downtown church has had a tutoring program for
nearly 15 years.
But, the church's effort got a big boost recently.
A church member who died left money in her will to
remodel the 4th floor. From a storage area, the space
has been turned into a series of study rooms and a
computer lab.
Money from the will also financed 16 new computers.
Now, the computers are used to run literacy software.
A next step is to link lab computers to the Internet.
YRead is a unique tutoring program sponsored by the
YMCA of Greater St. Louis. That program started in
1990 and now has about 70 tutor-student pairings.
The tutors and the kids' parents agree to meet twice
a week for a year to help the kids learn to read better.
YRead began collaborating with Third Baptist about
two years ago. Tom Frillman of YRead said Third Baptist
facilities are a "perfect match" for YRead's tutoring
efforts.
The church also has formed a partnership with the
Rockwood School District and Saint Louis University
to offer homework help. The students are city kids
who attend Rockwood schools under a volunteer integration
program.
When kids finished classes at Rockwood, they come
to Third Baptist before they go home. For two hours
twice a week, they get homework help from SLU students.
SLU provides enough tutors so that other kids from
the community also can get homework help.
The SLU tutors are business school students who take
part in a Service Leadership Certificate program.
That provides volunteer community service opportunities
for SLU students.
Ms. Swyers said her church is big enough to provide
an added after-study "perk."
When the two hours of homework study is done, the
kids get a chance to let off steam in the 5th floor
gym. There's even a snack time.
Ms. Swyers said the goal is to have one tutor for
each student, just like the YRead program.
The backbone of both the SLU program and that of
YRead are the volunteer tutors.
Geneece Gandy meets twice a week with her tutor,
Toni Love. Ms. Love's "day job" is as an information
specialist for Ameren, the local electric utility.
She volunteered when YRead came to Ameren looking
for new tutors.
After some tutor training, Ms. Love was assigned
to tutor Geneece. The two have been together since
May, 2005.
Geneece said, "I love it here." She added, "There's
stuff I didn't know last year that I know now."
But, she added, "I know I need to practice more."
Ms. Love said she likes to do volunteer outreach.
She said she also teaches Sunday School at her church.
SLU senior Mary Kate Morley is the coordinator of
the Service Leadership tutors.
Ms. Swyers said between 15 and 20 college tutors
are available each homework session. She said the
development of the tutoring and homework outreach
has been an "exciting thing" for Third Baptist.
To learn more about 3rd Baptist's outreach, visit
www.third-baptist.org.
To learn about YRead, call the Carondelet YMCA at
(314) 353-4960 and ask for Kathy at Ext.
33.
Clark Elementary kids get book gifts
Nine-year-old Morgan Burton and her
3rd grade classmates are getting a special gift each
month this school year. The Clark Elementary students
can thank customers at the Left Bank Books store in
the nearby Central West End.
A group of bookstore customers have
agreed to buy a book every month for a kid at Clark
Elementary. The program runs from last October through
next May.
Each month, about 40 Clark students
get a gift-wrapped book. Each package is addressed
to a specific student and includes the sponsor's name.
The kids then send thank you notes.
The book-of-the-month for December was
"Come Look with Me," by author James Rolling. The
book provides explanations of different forms of African-American
art. That was the third month in a row for the gifts.
(Rachel Smith coordinates the Clark
book gift program for Left Bank Books. To learn more
about the store, visit www.left-bank.com.
If you have questions about the gift program, e-mail
Rachel at Rachel@left-bank.com.)
Morgan said the Left Bank books go into
the family's home library. "We have a lot of books
at my home," she said.
But, she said she also borrows books
from her teacher's classroom library. Kids borrow
those books for one week at a time.
Fifth graders Fredricqua Haynes and
Kenisha Bense also have been recipients of the Left
Bank books. Both said they read a lot at home.
Eleven-year-old Fredricqua said, "If
I don't have any homework, I read before I go to bed.
My mother says I don't need to be laying around doing
nothing."
Ten-year-old Kenisha said she gets
a lot of her books from the city library branch which
is near her home.
Cynthia Warren is the principal at Clark
Elementary School. She said the Left Bank Books program
helps the school put "extra emphasis to reading at
home." The Left Bank books aren't given to the school;
they are for each student to take home as his or her
own.
Clark school, like all Missouri elementary
schools, puts heavy emphasis on reading during the
early grades. In 3rd grade, students are given a key
state achievement test to measure how well they are
being taught, especially in reading, language arts
and math.
Principal Warren said the 3rd graders'
MAP test for reading put emphasis "on reading for
understanding."
She said reading proficiency is a prime
building block for learning in all classes. "You need
reading to be able to understand all other subjects,"
she said.
Morgan Burton said reading is one of
her favorite subjects in school. She said her class
has been studying about "cause and effect" situations.
They try to find a "cause and effect" in a particular
reading example.
"Then, we have to write a story with
a cause and effect," she said. One of her stories
involved a turtle and some fish, she said.
Morgan said she likes to read books
in the Judith B. Jones series. She said she likes
them because they are funny and everything comes out
well at the end.
Fredriqua Haynes said she also likes
"happy stories where people get along with each other."
She said she has a "whole shelf of books at home."
Fredricqua and Morgan said they sometimes get books
as gifts for birthdays and holidays.
But, Kenisha said she's on the lookout
for books when she's shopping with her mother. "If
I see something I like, my mom sometimes will buy
it for me," she said.
Of course, reading is only one of the
activities for the kids.
Fredricqua said she likes to play basketball,
football and soccer. She said "tackle football" is
her favorite.
She said she wants to be a teacher when
she grows up. "I want to teach young kids and help
them learn," she said.
Morgan takes dancing and modeling lessons.
She has dancing lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Then, she said she takes modeling lessons at her church
on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
She wants to be a dancer and model when
she grows up "and also a first-grade teacher."
Kenisha also wants to be a dancer when
she grows up. She doesn't take dancing lessons but
gets help from a cousin who does. "When my cousin
comes from her dancing lessons, she and I practice
what she learned in class," Kenisha said.
Kids learn lessons from blind author
Twelve-year-old MacKenzie Clemonts wants
to be a writer or a poet when she grows up. Last month,
she got an unusual opportunity to hear a blind author
explain how he did it.
MacKenzie and her 6th grade classmates
at Bayless Intermediate School participated in a multi-state
videoconference with author Jim Stovall. The Bayless
students have been studying Stovall's book, "The Ultimate
Gift."
The students are all in the language
arts class of teacher Tim McAvin.
Mr. McAvin signed up with the videoconferencing
opportunity from the Cooperating School Districts.
The videoconferencing linked the Bayless
students with a group of 8th graders from Michigan
who were studying the same book. The two classes even
established an internet "blog" so they could critique
each other's essays about the book.
Then, early in December, the two classes
joined with students from two other schools on an
hour-long videoconference with the author. Mr. Stovall
answered their questions about his life, his books
and his experience of going blind while in college.
He said, "If you want to be a great
writer, be a good reader. Read lots of books." He
said he reads a book a day now, using high-speed audiotapes.
Mr. Stovall said, before he went blind,
he had never read a book all the way through. "I was
going to be a pro football player," he said.
But, he said his sight began to deteriorate
and he finally went blind while a student at Oklahoma
University. He said, "At first, it was a disaster."
But, since then, he has become an author
of 12 books, an investment broker and co-founder of
Narrative Television Network. That's an information
service for the blind.
The book, "The Ultimate Gift," tells
the story of a grand-nephew of a rich man who gets,
along with a big legacy, a series of explanations
on 12 life situations. The 12 include friendship,
giving, dreams, money, work, laughter, day, love,
gratitude, problems, family and learning.
When one kid asked about his problems,
Mr. Stovall said, "My blindness is no more of a problem
than the ones you'll face in your life." His actions
since his blindness indicate he actually has broadened
the scope of his life.
(If you'd like to buy a copy of
"The Ultimate Gift," from Amazon.com, click
here.)
Twelve-year-old Edina Karahodzic said
she was most interested in the chapter on work.
"I haven't had to work much. After
I read about work in the book, I started to help my
mother more around the house," Edina said. She said
the willingness to work surprised her mother.
"I even cleaned my brother's room,"
she said.
Twelve-year-old Jessica Jackson said
she was interested in the friendship chapter. She
said, "If you're without friends, you'd have nothing
to do."
She said she learned how important it
was to thank friends for good deeds.
Jessica said the 6th graders at Bayless
Intermediate are going to write a long report on the
videoconference. They'll then put it on the internet
"blog" and share it with the 8th graders in Michigan.
Earlier, the kids in both schools posted
essays they'd done about chapters in Mr. Stovall's
book. Then, each kid was to critique the writing of
an individual kid at the other school.
Jessica said she wrote about friendship
but hasn't received her Michigan critique as yet.
(If you'd like to see what the Bayless
kids and those in Michigan are writing, you can visit
their "blog" at http://www.visitmyclass.com/blogs/ultimategift/)
During the videoconference, Mr. Stovall
said a movie based on "The Ultimate Gift" will be
released in 2006. He said actor Drew Fuller (from
the WB show, "Charmed") will play Jason Stevens. He's
the kid who got the "ultimate gift" lessons.
James Garner, a long-time movie and
TV actor, is playing the rich uncle, Red Stevens,
Mr. Stovall said.
He said he is also planning another
book about life's lessons. "This one will be about
what happens to Jason after his uncle's gift," Mr.
Stovall said.
He said he'd also like to create a
reality TV series where real people tell how they
cope with life's lessons.
He said, if he were to add a chapter
to "The Ultimate Gift," it would be about patience.
Young girl tries to advance her tennis
game
Twelve-year-old Katie Smith of St. Charles
hopes this month to take another step in her development
as a tennis player. She will play in a regional U.S.
Tennis Association girls tournament at Joplin, Mo.
Although highly rated in the St. Louis
area, she hasn't reached the Sweet 16 level in USTA
competition. She missed by one match in the Omaha,
Neb., regional last spring.
She advanced to the Joplin regional
by winning at a qualifying meet in Belleville, Ill.,
early in December.
Unlike some other top-ranked young players,
Katie doesn't take private tennis lessons. Much of
her instruction comes from her dad, Ed Smith, who
works with her twice a week, rain or shine.
And there's plenty of other tennis in
her schedule. She plays in Gateway Grand Prix mini-meets.
Also, each summer, she and her family visit a resort
in Dustin, Fla., where tennis in the main order of
business.
She was introduced to tennis when she
was eight. Her older sister, Lindsey, was in a summer
camp at John Burroughs School so Katie's mother, Karen,
signed her up as well.
At the first camp, the Burroughs varsity
coach Toby Clark ran the camp. Now, Terry Ward is
the Burroughs varsity coach and his son, Corley, teaches
the summer camp.
Now, Katie is a 7th grader at John Burroughs
and hopes to make the school tennis team next year.
The current star at John Burroughs is three-time state
champ Susan Sullivan.
Katie said her serve and her volleying
are the strongest parts of her game. On the weak side
is her tendency to make too many unforced errors.
She said the opponent who gives her
the most trouble are ones "who can get to every shot
I hit." With a scrabbler like that, the number of
times you have to return the shots per point is extended.
That means more chances for unforced errors.
Katie said her practices with her dad
involve working on various parts of her game, not
just playing games.
The practice usually opens with a warmup
session of hitting short volleys. Then, they work
on her groundstrokes, followed by longer volleys and
serving. She also works on her approaches to the net
after serves.
Then, she works on the stroke accuracy.
She uses her tennis bag as a target.
Katie said she usually doesn't work
much on her footwork. But, she said she noticed the
tennis pros at her summer camp last summer emphasized
that.
"I found out my dad told them to work
me hard on that," she said.
Like many young girl tennis players,
she uses a two-hand backhand stroke. She uses a one-handed
forehand stroke.
Katie said she doesn't make noise when
hitting her shots. Following the example of women
pros, many girls make loud noises when they hit a
shot.
Katie said, "I don't grunt."
She shares another interest besides
tennis with her father. Ed Smith has a basement woodworking
shop where he will make pieces of furniture and other
things for the house.
Katie said, "I like to make things
with my hands." She takes an industrial tech class
at John Burroughs. One of her projects was to build
a wooden racecar. She said she liked the way the car
looked.
But, when she gave it a running test,
Katie said, "It was really slow."
This year, Katie mixed her interest
in tennis and her ability to work with her hands into
an unusual project-a tennis ball Christmas tree ornament.
First she cut a tennis ball in half.
Then, using one half, she spray painted the inside
white. She glued cotton balls inside to mimic snow.
She added a hand-drawn Santa and Christmas tree.
Then, she attached an ornament hanger
so it could be hung on the family Christmas tree.
She uses an oversized tennis racket
now. Her first racket now hangs on the wall of her
bedroom and is used to display her tennis ribbons
and medals.
Although she has a poster of men's
tennis champ Roger Federer on her bedroom door, she
said she doesn't have any tennis players as role models.
She's just trying to build her own tennis
reputation one step at a time.
Career Choices
$1 million grant for MU professor
to study deer
As a kid, professor Josh Millspaugh
grew up hunting and fishing with family and friends.
He's now a principal investigator on a $1 million
grant to study habits of Missouri deer.
The associate professor in the University
of Missouri in Columbia grew up in upstate New York
with lots of opportunities for outdoor activities.
He said, by high school, he knew a career in wildlife
conservation "was an automatic fit for me."
Now 36, Professor Millspaugh is heading
a multi-campus study of how to use modern technology
to give conservation officials better information
on how to manage the state's deer population.
Recently, the New York Times featured
his study in the Science section. The article included
a cartoon illustration showing a deer with a video
cam hooked to its antlers facing an on-coming car.
The cartoon depicted real life. Professor
Millspaugh has been outfitting deer with cameras to
give researchers a better idea of how they live in
the forests and fields.
"The cameras allow us to see things
that we never would have known with other studies,"
he said. Previously, the researchers could use radios
and GPS devices to plot deer locations and movements.
"But, we never understood why the deer
were in that location," he said. The camera views
allow the researchers to see what the deer are seeing
and doing, he said.
Millspaugh is working with Dr. Zhihai
He, a professor of electrical and computer engineering
at MU. In addition, they are collaborating with data
transmission experts in Florida.
The NSF grant will allow the professors
to expand on a pilot "deercam" project. Millspaugh
has had a 4-year camera information project with deer
at a 10-acre fenced area south of Columbia.
He admits the pilot project was definitely
low budget. But, he got plenty of help from Missouri
Department of Conservation field biologists. They
designed and built waterproof cameras that could be
mounted on deer.
Then, using feeding stations to attract
deer so nearby receivers could download the pictures
for analysis.
The first cameras were mounted on antlers
of male deer and on collars on females.
The antler-mounted cameras give good
pictures but were good for less than a year. Buck
deer shed antlers every year and grow new ones. The
collar-mounted cameras don't provide very good picture
angles.
Millspaugh said one improvement in the
larger study will be newly designed "helmets with
chin straps." That way, both male and female deer
can be fitted with longer-lasting head-mounted cameras.
He said the researchers will start
field-testing the new head-mounted cameras this month.
Experts in Florida are working on ways
to allow for downloading cameras from longer distances.
The researchers also want to be able to download information
from up to five deer at one time.
Millspaugh said pictures from his earlier
study turned up some unusual information.
"One deer was walking in the forest.
Every time he spotted a mulberry leaf, he'd stop and
eat it. He didn't eat anything else. Apparently, mulberry
leaves were his food item for the day," he said.
Another deer kept returning to the same
tree time after time. He said, "We could see that
water had been trapped in the crotch of the tree and
he came back to drink. We'd have never known why he
was returning without the cameras."
Millspaugh said researchers are hoping
the visual information will answer some important
wildlife management questions. One problem is the
number of accidents that occur when vehicles hit deer
that are trying to cross highways.
Conservation officials hope to find
out what causes deer to cross roads at certain places
but avoid other possible crossing sites, he said.
They also want to find out how diseases are transmitted
between animals.
Millspaugh said early camera images
showed deer regularly have "close mouth-to-mouth contact
with each other." Many human diseases are transmitted
by close contact.
After his career decision in high school,
Millspaugh obtained degrees from universities in New
York, South Dakota and Washington. He said he applied
for a position at MU because the state has a national
reputation for support of conservation.
About his career decision, Millspaugh
said, "It was the right choice."
This month's book reviews
Adventures of a young boy who
lived
in the Tower of London of the 1730's
Forrest Harper was eleven years
old and lived with his family inside the walls
of the prison fortress known as the Tower of London.
His father had the job of taking care of the ravens
that lived in the Tower and were kept there under
the King's protection. Forrest lived in a small
cottage that he shared with his father, mother,
and younger sister. His whole life, however, was
pretty much spent inside the walls of the Tower.
Once in a while, his family would venture outside
the walls, usually on days that there was a public
hanging or beheading.
Forrest took after his mother,
who was short, and not his father, who was a tall
and imposing man and sometimes responsible for
guarding some of the prisoners locked up in the
tower. Forrest was kept busy all the time, helping
his father take care of the ravens, taking food
to prisoners, running errands for his mother,
and performing various other chores. Of course,
being an imaginative boy, he thought he was overworked.
He often tried to imagine living outside the Tower
walls. He liked to play pirate or soldier when
he had a chance to pretend. His best friend was
his pet raven that he was trying to teach to talk.
Forrest didn't like to watch hangings
or beheadings. He felt sorry for the victims,
but knew that he was supposed to be glad when
traitors were executed. So he was really bothered
when a pretty young Scottish girl from a family
of rebel nobles was brought to the Tower and put
under his father's watch. As he came to know her,
he realized that she was not the evil traitor
that she was accused of being. He knew that she
was eventually going to be beheaded. He also knew
that if he helped her to escape and was discovered,
he would be hanged and his family disgraced. Would
he dare to play any part in an escape plan that
a member of the girl's family was trying to put
into effect? Without Forrest's help, the plan
would never work.
Could an old house that dad wants
to fix up
really have ghosts in it?
There are two girls in this story
who have unusual powers. Charli Bellard is cousin
to the Crandalls, a family that includes includes
four-year-old twins, a two-year-old, and a sixteen
year-old brother. Their parents, Charli's aunt
and uncle, are very laid back people. Their house
is always chaotic, but they all enjoy life. The
father, Uncle Will, has bought the old run-down
mansion in town and wants to fix it up and make
it a bed and breakfast. Charli's unusual power
is an ability to sense the presence of spirits
or ghosts that other do not see. She really doesn't
want her uncle to buy the old mansion.
Sophia is a fourteen-year-old orphan
girl from another town. When her elderly guardian
is hospitalized, she is sent to her nearest relatives
- the Crandalls. Her strange power is the ability
to foresee events - especially bad things - before
they happen. Once she sees the old mansion, she
has really bad vibes about it. Unfortunately,
she and Charli get off to a bad start. At first,
they don't like each other, so they do not share
their uneasy feelings about Uncle Will's plans
regarding the old mansion.
Charli is really disturbed when
her Uncle Will offers her a summer job helping
to fix up the old mansion. On her first time in
the house, she senses the presence of some kind
of disturbed ghost or spirit. She is really alarmed
when one of the two-year-olds reports seeing a
figure in the old house that Charli knows could
not be a real person.
It turns out that many years in
the past the mansion had been the scene of a murder.
Could the ghost of the murderer still be in the
house? Could the ghost be a danger to those entering
the house, especially the little children? Can
Charli and Sophia combine their strange powers
in a way to keep anyone from possibly being killed
by the ghostly presence in the old mansion?
A story of the potato famine
in Ireland
and the struggle to reach a new life
The "Maggie" in "Maggie's Door"
is a young woman who had already reached America
from her home in Ireland and was settled in Brooklyn.
This little book tells the story of Maggie's sister,
Nory, and her efforts to reach Brooklyn. Paralleling
her efforts, are those of Sean Red Mallon, a neighbor
of the girls who is trying to complete the same
trip.
The reason these Irish immigrants
to America are leaving their beloved Ireland is
because a terrible blight had ruined the one crop
that kept the poor people in Ireland from starving
- potatoes. The blight caused the food crop to
rot in the ground. At the time, nobody knew how
to stop the destruction. Every ship possible,
including old, leaky, unsafe vessels, was being
pressed into service to transport these unfortunate
people to what they hoped would be a better life
in America.
Nory's story is that of the poorest
passengers traveling in the worst quarters to
be found on the ship. Conditions were horrible.
People were crowded in leaky sections below decks,
ill to the point of many of them dying, and without
adequate food to eat. Sean's story is just a little
different. Since he seemed healthy and able to
work, he was given a job in the galley or cooking
part of the ship. He was able to get food, but
he had to endure the cruel treatment form the
head cook, who was not beyond killing his helpers
in his blind rages.
As their tale is told, we are never
sure whether the two young Irish travelers are
going to make it safely to America or not. We
can be sure, however, that their story is similar
to that of thousands of Irish immigrants who made
their ways to our country. Some of these young
people may be among our own ancestors.
A sequel to "Sarah, Plain
and Tall"
carries on the story of a pioneer family
For those of you who have read "Sarah,
Plain and Tall" or saw the Hallmark Special on TV,
you remember Sarah was the woman from Maine who
traveled to a frontier town to marry Jacob. Jacob
was a farmer whose wife had died and left him with
two kids, Anna and Caleb. The kids had loved Sarah
and accepted her as their new mother. Sarah and
Jacob had a new little daughter named Cassie. When
this sequel starts, Anna has moved into town to
get a job and finish her schooling. She had turned
her journal writing duties over to Caleb, who is
a reluctant writer.
When "Caleb's Story" begins, winter
is coming on and the family is getting ready to
endure the harsh cold of the Great Plains. While
Caleb was playing hide-and-seek with Cassie in the
cold outside in the barnyard, little Cassie said
she saw a man. At first, Caleb didn't believe her,
but he spotted a strange horse in a stall in the
barn. When he heard a cough, he turned and saw an
elderly man wrapped in a blanket and leaning against
the wall. Who was this mysterious stranger?
It turns out the old man wouldn't
talk much. When Caleb brought Sarah out to the barn
to meet the stranger, she discovered that he wasn't
sick, but just cold. Jacob had taken Anna back into
town, so he wasn't there. Sarah talked to the man
and determined that he wasn't a threat to the little
family. Even though he said he would stay in the
barn, Sarah insisted he come into the house. She
gave the shivering old man hot tea to drink. He
did admit on questioning that his name was John.
Then she told Caleb to take the man up to Anna's
room and let him try to get some sleep.
The next morning, when Jacob came
home from town he was surprised to find the old
man, John, at the breakfast table. Sarah and the
kids were surprised at their father's angry reaction
to the stranger. The old man turned out to be Jacob's
father, the kids' grandfather. He had deserted his
family years before, and all had thought he was
dead. Jacob stormed angrily out of the house. The
kids were ready to be happy that they now had a
grandfather. On the other hand, Jacob could not
bring himself to accept that a father, who had deserted
him when he was still a boy, had any right to come
back into their lives. The rest of the book deals
with how Caleb finds a way to bring peace between
the two men and gain himself a grandfather.
Math Mania goes cartooning
in January
Math
Mania creator Amy Ruzicka is taking another
unusual twist in putting together your math problem
for January. She wants you to think about math-but
in terms of a comic cartoon.
Two months ago, she posed a problem of writing
a 500-word story with a plot that revolved around
mathematics.
Last month, she was back to the more standard
math questions that required answers in number
terms.
Now, this month, she wants you to think of about
math in terms of a comic storyline. She wants
you to express your contest entry in the form
of a 5-panel comic cartoon, with a math theme.
But, you don't have to be a finished artist
to enter.
Entries will be judged on creativity and originality.
Artistic ability won't be a major consideration
in the judging.
Ms. Ruzicka teaches math at St. Gabriel's School
in south St. Louis County. She's very serious
about her math teaching. But, she also likes to
mix in fun with the serious stuff.
Humor might just grease your "math gears" and
help you learn.
The entry process for the January Math
Mania is the same as previous months.
There will be up to three $10 Borders gift certificates
awarded to kids who create the best comic strip
with a math theme.
How to enter:
-
Print out the following entry
form.
-
Fill out your name, address
and telephone number.
-
Draw your entry in the form
of a five-panel comic strip
-
Put your completed entry into
a stamped, addressed envelope.
-
Math Mania Contest
Young Saint Louis.com
813 Rotherham Dr.
Ballwin, Mo. 63011
(All entries must be postmarked
by the
15th of the month to be eligible.)
-----------------------Clip
here to make entry form-----------------------
Entry for January 2006, Math
Mania Contest:
Name: __________________________________
Age: _____
Address: _________________________
School: ___________
City: _____________________ State:
______ Zip: __________
Contact phone: (_____) _____________________
January Math Mania Comic Challenge
Design a math comic with a maximum of 5 frames.
The comic may be in black and white or in color.
The punch-line should be based upon mathematical
ideas.
Entries will be judged for creativity and originality.
More specifically, judges will look for a clever
(and accurate!) application of math concepts.
Artistic ability is not a major component of this
contest.
**IMPORTANT**
Please make sure any captions or dialogue balloons
are written clearly and neatly.
The winning entries will be scanned and uploaded
onto the website, so neatness is of absolute importance!
Before you get started, you may want to search
math comics on the internet. That may help get
your creative juices flowing!
Three winners in Math Mania
writing contest
The return to the number problems for the December
Math Mania brought a lot of entries.
And a lot of winners: 14 to be exact.
You'll remember that in November, math teacher Amy
Ruzicka went away from number problems. She called
for a 500-word story with a math plot. This was the
first time for a non-number Math Mania contest.
Then, in December, Ms. Ruzicka went back to six problems
that could be answered with numbers, not words.
The number of entries increased. And, there were
more kids than ever who got all the six problems correct.
A total of 14 kids got all the problems correct.
They were:
Martha Burke, 12, Clayton; Oscar Grandos-Martinez,
11, Clayton; Lauren Hill, 12, St. Louis; Eric Hsu,
12, Chesterfield; Phillip Hsu, 13, Chesterfield; Radhika
Jain, 13, St. Louis; Beth Johnston, 12, St. Louis;
Jackie Leong, 12, Clayton; Meghan McCann, 12, St.
Louis; Jenny McWeeney, 12, St. Louis; Claire Meyer,
14, St. Louis; Katie Shirrell, 13, St. Louis; Joe
Xi, 12, St. Louis, and Rachel Wotawa, 13, St. Louis.
Under the Young Saint Louis.com contest rules,
if there are over three winners, we hold a drawing
for the Borders book certificates. The drawing winners
of the $10 book certificates are: Martha Burke, Radhika
Jain and Joe Xi.
The December problems introduced some new terms such
as "primorial" and "twin primes." There was one answer
that went into the billions. One question had a number
of correct answers.
There was even a problem that was made out as a
poem. But, many of the contestants handled all these
unusual situations with ease. Congratulations!
(For the January Math Mania, Ms. Ruzicka
is shifting to a new format. This time, she's asking
for a 5-panel comic strip with a math theme. To enter,
click here.)
Here are the answers for the December Math Mania
problems:
1. A primorial is where you multiply
a prime number by all of the prime numbers less than
itself. For example, 5 primorial, written 5# = 5 x
3 x 2 = 30. What is 29#?
Answer: 6,469,693,230.
29# = 29 x 23 x 19 x 17 x 13 x 11 x 7 x 5 x 3 x 2
2. Fifty is the smallest
number that is the sum of two squares two different
ways. For example, 
and 
What is the next number
that can be written as the sum of two squares two
different ways? Hint: It's less than 100.
Answer: 
and 
3. Three and five are
twin primes, a pair of primes that differ by 2. Find
two more pairs of twin primes less than 100.
Answer: This problem
has many possible solutions. They include such pairings
as 11 & 13, 17 & 19, 41 & 43 and 59 & 61.
4. One way to write 27
as the sum of 3 squares is 
.
Find another way to write it as the sum of 3 squares.
Answer: 
5. Replace x and y with
different values to make a true equation.
Answer: 
.
The famous Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (pronounced
Oiler) proved that 16 is the only number that can
be written in reverse notation.
6. There is a young lady
of Lee,
Whose age has its last digit three.
If you total the two,
Which is easy to do,
One less than a square you will
see.
How
old is the lady of Lee?
Answer: 53. 5+3 =
8, which is one less than 9, a perfect square.
