Viewpoints

David Gillespie

davidgillespie — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:25:32 +0000

David Gillespie is one of the new additions to the sub-government politely referred to as Viewpoints Staff. Here are a few facts of the mystery, the man.

- David once defeated a 13 foot crocodile using nothing but a tub of crisco and a butter knife

- In Zimbabwe, David is considered a shaman and witch doctor.

- David has published several books, and if you haven’t heard of them, you’re probably not qualified to even get your hands on them

- Superman wears David Gillespie underwear

- The Dalai Lama still owes him $15 bucks. Don’t ask why.

- On March 17th of every year, every 2nd child in Russia fasts and writes the sentence “To David Gillespie we are grateful” for the entirety of the day. Neither the Discovery Channel, nor History channel has been able to figure it out.

- National Geographic did an expose on David in 2004, and the issue was prevented from being published by PETA. No one exactly knows why

David plans to attend Central Washington University to get a degree in Music Education. He will then teach high school music by day, and fight crime under the alter-ego of the street wise vigilante known as General G Major by night.

His activities in high school include Symphonic Band, Leadership, Cross Country, Track, and underwater jousting. He has attended WIBC (Western International Band Clinic) for three years, achieving a spot in the top band for two of those years. He has attended District Honor Band for three years straight, and was 2nd chair in the State Honor band this last year. He was captain of the cross country team, and does research to protect the endangered Narwhal.

Sonia Vargas

soniavargas — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:10:03 +0000

Born on January 14,1993 in San Diego California, Sonia loved San Diego but after living there for 6 years her family decided to move to San Francisco it was ok, but not great so once again her family decided to move, this time to Bend. She loves Bend and everything there is to do here, even if it’s not much. Her favorite thing to do is to be with her friends and family, they mean everything to her. She enjoys photography and she enjoys writing stories about what is happening. She hopes that being in newstaff can help her write more about what is going on, and whats better than writing about a school she loves?

Ryan Soderquist

ryansoderquist — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:01:44 +0000

Ryan Soderquist is a new member of the Viewpoints staff. He is currently a Senior at Mountain View, and does soccer, tennis, and he manages the boys basketball squad. He loves to read, write, play video games, and travel. He loves to watch sports, and can play any sport known to man. His favorite movie is undecided considering he has a lot of good choices. His favorite music is Christian, and techno. He is involved with FCA (fellowship of Christian athletes), and has chosen to go to OSU-Cascades next year.

Kara Schouw

karaschouw — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:59:58 +0000

Kara Schouw is currently a 15 year old sophomore at Mountain View. She likes photography, shopping with friends, and listening to music. She’s shy at first but very loud once you get to know her. Once she starts laughing she can’t stop. Kara’s favorite type of music is John Mayer and Death Cab for Cutie. Her favorite color is yellow. She’s more than obsessed with CSI Las Vegas and wants to pursue a career in Crime Scene Investigation and Law. Kara is a fun person to be around and can always make you smile.

Tyler DuFresne

tylerdufresne — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:08:39 +0000

Hey, my name is Tyler, born 11/21/91. Photography is my life and I plan on making a living out of it. I love being with my girlfriend, music, playing drums, snowboarding, and biking.

Whitney Denfeld

whitneydenfeld — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:03:17 +0000

Whitney Denfeld is a junior at Mountain view high school. she likes Photography, riding quads and reading. she used to play Basketball, Volleyball and Soccer in middle school. she is planing on going to COCC or OSU for collage. she wants to become a teacher and teach at Tumalo elementary school. her favorite kind of music is country, and classic rock. she is the kind of girl who can sit in her room for hours on end and read a book. Whitney is a regular at Jamba juice, they all know her name. she had a dog named Sarge, a cute little mini Dachshund with a temper. she had four dogs and three cats. she couached volleyball to middle school students and was a student aid in a first grade class. she is glad she is attending mountain view high school.

Matt Curran

mattcurran — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:35:25 +0000

Matthew Curran was born in San Francisco, California and is a senior at Mountain View High School. He writes amazing feature stories and occasional sports stories. In his free time, he likes driving ridiculously fast, nature, and going to awesome movies. He plays basketball a lot and participates in track & field. When he is not playing sports, he enjoys watching basketball or South Park. After high school, Matt plans on attending college somewhere in Oregon or California with a major in business or broadcast journalism.

Kat Gretemeier

kathringretemeier — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:33:51 +0000

Kat Gretemeier is an exchange student from Germany and is supporting the news staff team now. She enjoys learning foreign languages, such as English, French and Spanish, and set her goal to learning Japanese next. She also likes playing soccer, writing and traveling. She loves, loves, loves, Hannah Montana, but not Miley Cyrus. (At least that’s what Fox wishes. But: “Hoert nicht Hannah Montana!” (”Don’t listen to Hannah Montana!”) )

Brandon Umbarger

brandonumbarger — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:42:41 +0000

Brandon Umbarger is a new addition to the Mountain View News Staff. He is a sophomore and he plays ultimate frisbee. He enjoys bands like Black Moth Super Rainbow, Grizzly Bear, Matisyahu, and Beck. Mr. Umbarger also has an uncanny resemblance to Jim Carrey, and he hears that a lot. Mr. Umbarger enjoys his life and enjoys writing.

The Tree Dwellers

miryssaespinoza — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:43:03 +0000

Miryssa Espinoza

666 Votes away from winning the title of the year’s best road song. Mountain View’s band the Tree Dweller’s is just one of many bands at MVHS, but is more commonly known for their song “Destination Unknown.”

The Tree Dwellers is a four-man band who have been playing together for quite some time now. Jake Munsen, Forrest Grenfell, Kyle Pickard, and Ian Newbaur are all the members of the band. With Jake on guitar, Forrest on the keyboard/synthesizer, Kyle on drums, and Ian on bass, the Tree Dwellers music is a well balanced mix of new jazz and their own creativity.

This fall, the Tree Dwellers sent in a recording to a competion called Garage Band Playoffs to win the “next road song.” When the band made it into the first round, the voting began. The band made flyers and went around MVHS telling people about how much their votes count to get them into the finals. Garagebandplayoff.com was where the voting all took place. After the first round, the Tree Dwellers were exstatic to find out they made the top list for the next round.

After another long session of votinig and more copies of flyers, the band was working to win the finals. 666 votes shy, the Tree Dwellers sadly lost to one of the competition bands. Though their song wasn’t the new road song, the band was still proud at where they stood, and of the fact that they got so far.

“Our band has gone a long way to make it to where we are. We practice and take as much time as we can for our band. This will not be our last competition.” Says the Tree Dwellers.

Most students and teachers would say that it was very cool to see a school band be a part of a nation wide competition.

What really must have been challenging was keeping school and their band balanced out. Many people have trouble keeping school and an extracuricular activity at the same time because their school work will fall behind, but the Tree Dwellers did a good job making time for homework and still getting in practice time.

After this experience, the Tree Dwellers know what it takes to go the distance and get to where they want to be musically. MVHS can definitely say this will not be the last time we will hear of their music. With school and the band balanced, the Tree Dwellers will not be slowing down anytime soon.