Vol 3, Issue 3 Spring 2009

Nawa News
N A W A S T U D E N T S A N D S T A F F
G E T I N T O T H E “ S P I R I T ” O F
T H I N G S
SPECIAL
POINTS OF
INTEREST:

 Nawa’s first Spirit Shortly before everyone left for Spring Break, the Nawa campus celebrated its first
day is a great suc- ever Spirit Day. Each cabin dressed up a staff member to show their spirit—as you
cess can see from the picture they did a great job!
 International Acad-
emy reports on their From left to
final trip of the year right : Program
to China staff Leanne for
 Trips galore wind up New Cabin;
the school year Principal Jan for
Edgewood;
 Nawa Seniors—the
next step
Program Super-
visor April for
Hideaway;
Teacher Michael
for Siberia and
Teacher Jenn for
Hole in the Wall
I N S I D E TH I S
I S S U E : Check out Page
6 for more fun
1st report from China 2 photos of the day
Laurie Milko
A visit to the Smokejum- Class of 2012
3
pers

Cultural diversity in North- E x p e d i t i o n a r y t r i p s f i l l b l o c k 4

4
ern California
The final block of the 08-
More news from China
& Gateway Animal Clinic 5 09 school year has seen
visit the campus students par-
ticipating in a variety of
Spirit Day 6 fieldtrips.
World History and Geog-
raphy students spent a day
Media fieldtrip 8
appreciating different cul-
tures when they visited
4th Annual Olympics 10 the Chagdud Gonpa Bud-
dhist Retreat and the Joss
House temple.
All students participated
in at least two Expedition-
ary Learning trips. The
focus this year was Ca-
reers. Students got to see
some interesting options,
with trips to the smoke-
jumper base, a veterinary
clinic, the local newspa-
per, a local TV station and
finally, Win-River Casino
(where students realized
just how many different
career opportunities there
can be under the same
roof).
Our Spanish students also
hosted a Cinco de Mayo
fiesta on campus which
was thoroughly enjoyed
by everyone—check out
the pictures on Page 8.
P a g e 2 N a w a
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
Even before this trip began
we experienced the country
to come- China. We drove
down to San Francisco long
before our flight to meet
with the Consulate General
of China for a tea cere-
mony. The Chinese Consu-
late gave us a brief over-
view about China and an-
swered most of our ques-
tions. An hour later we left
the Consulate armed with
knowledge of China.
An uneventful 16 hour
flight brought us to the is-
land and city of Hong
Kong, our first stop in
China. Hong Kong isn’t a
normal Chinese city, it's
more like the business dis-
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
B y R o b
What are you going to miss about Nawa?
Kevin
KevinG12 G12 Hunter
Hunter G11G11
Fire
FireTech
Tech The
Thekids
kids
classes
N ew s
A c a d e m y i n c h i n a : 1 s t R e p o r t
a c a d1 e m y ’ s f i r s t r e p o r t
f r o m c h i n a
trict of Asia. China signed took the metro through Hong Kong all the way to the
the island over to England a mainland. We entered customs right off the train and
100 years back in the late finally entered China. That night we traveled twelve
1800's, making Hong Kong hours on a sleeper bus to our next stop: Yangshuo. The
the best place to trade with bus was big but the beds were small and cramped and it
Westerners. The island has was very hard to sleep. When we arrived in the new city,
its own currency and is the first thing we noticed were the hundreds of moun-
more capitalist compared to tains looming all around the buildings, jutting up like
the rest of China. We
stayed in the city of Kow-
loon which is comparable
to boroughs in New York
City. The city was amaz-
ingly clean and everything
that could be touched was
sanitized. The four days
spent in the city were laid
back, spent mostly explor-
ing the area around our
hostel and finding good
restaurants. The streets
were lined with
shops selling sun-
glasses and
watches, and people teeth. The mountains give an ominous feeling, like
walking around in there's nothing but these mountains surrounding us. To-
suits. The city morrow we'll go for a bike ride through them, which
looked like New should be amazing.
York, so there was- Chris Hayden, Class of 2009
n’t much to see.
On the last day, we Photos by Clay Bedford, Class of 2009
B u r r o u g h s , C l a s s o f 2 0 1 0
Emily
Emily G10
G10 Jonathan K G11
G11 Kai G9 G9 Sophie W G7
G7
The
Theeducation
education The weekends The food The environ-
environment
ment
 V o l 3 , I s s u e 3 P a g e 3

Trip to the smokejumper Base

By Rob Burroughs G 11 & Francesca Jones G12
Two separate groups of students visited the Redding Smokejumpers Base, located by the Redding airport. The base provides
coverage for a huge area of Northern and Central California, as well as parts of Oregon and Nevada.

Right & Below: The in-

side of the plane is very
basic so there is room
for the smokejumpers
and their equipment.
They don’t usually fly
high enough to need
oxygen or a pressurized
cabin. The shape of
the plane allows it to fly
well at lower altitudes

Above: This is the parachute

room which is climate con-
trolled so the parachute mate-
rial doesn’t mildew and rot

Right: Brad, the pilot,

shows the special elec-
tronic equipment on the
Cobra helicopter

Above: Ty, a veteran smokejumper, shows us all the

equipment and gear a smokejumper carries. The
suit is made of Kevlar so branches won’t injure the
jumper. The total weight of all the gear is 125lbs—
and often the smokejumpers have to hike a long Above: The Cobra helicopters were also
way out from the fire area! used in the Vietnam war
 P a g e 4 N a w a N ew s

C h a g d u d G o n p a & t h e J o s s H o u s e p r o v i d e
u n i q u e c By
u Laurie
l t u Milko
r a l Class
e x of
p 2011
e r i e n c e s
Left: These are stupas. All stupas contain a treas-
ury filled with various objects. A very important
element in every tupa is the Tree of Life. It is a
wooden pole covered with gems and thousand of
mantras, and placed in the central channel of the
stupa. It is placed here during a ceremony where
all the participant hold colorful ribbons connected
to the Tree of Life. Together all make their most
positive and powerful wishes, which are stored in
the Tree of Life.

Below: Mark &

Chagdud Hunter in front Above: Jon K & Greg in
of the Buddha. the forest by the shrine
Gonpa is a This was hand
Left: The group in front
Tibetan carved by volun-
teers. The prayer of the prayer wheels.
Buddhist flags have differ- Every wheel has millions
of prayers inside that
ent prayers on
retreat in them which are were handwritten by
blown by the holy people from tem-
Junction City wind to spread ples all over the world.
the good will and
compassion eve-
rywhere.

Above: Sean & Top at a shrine which Above: Mike, Henry, Casey & Hunter
was hand built by a volunteer. enjoy lunch on the center’s lake.

The Joss House is the The Joss House is

oldest continuously
used Chinese temple a Taoist temple in
in California. It is
still a place of wor-
Weaverville, CA.
ship and provides a It is also known as
fascinating look into
the role played by the Temple of the
Chinese immigrants Forest Beneath the
in early California
history. The temple Clouds
was built in 1874 as a
replacement for an- The Joss House is a place where three of the most popular relig-
other that had burned. ions in Asia are practiced —Buddhism; Taoism and Confucianism.
V o l 3 , I s s u e 3 P a g e 5

M o r e n e w s f r o m i n t e r n a t i o n a l a c a d e m y
i n c h i n a

Our trip to China has been a blast!
Last week our group traveled to
Yangshuo from Hong Kong. We
went on a 10 hour sleeper bus. That
was another crazy experience. Once
we all woke up from our long bus
ride we got to the city.
The next day we rented bikes and
went riding though the city and the
amazing mountains. As we biked
into the mountains, we saw the old
Chinese houses, how they farmed,
and the little house-like stores. It
was about a 4-hour bike ride when
we stopped to rest and YT gave us a
lesson on Chinese history.
On our second day we went to
Curry's house, our tour guide who
has worked with Nawa for the past
three trips, and ate one of the best
meals we ever had. We all ate while
watching Back to the Future. After
the meal, we said she she (thank
you) and we all went on a 13 seat
boat that floated down the river. We
saw ducks, water buffalo and many
children playing. Once we got off
the boat we went and looked at
scrolls and fans at a local village.
On the third day, we went on a
small bike ride to the river where we
loaded on to two person bamboo
rafts. We each had our own Chinese
man who would steer the boat with a
bamboo stick. It was another out-
standing day to be in school.
Although we have been having fun on
bikes, boats and rafts, we also have
been reading a book called, Wild Grass,
by journalist, Ian Johnson. This book is
a good choice because we are reading
about China before everything was torn
down due to the Cultural Revolution.
We also are learning a lot about Mao,
because the book talks about him. So
far, China has been a great trip. As a
group, we are thankful to have YT and
Kalan as our teachers. They have
planned so much fun into this trip for
us and we are looking forward to seeing
more of China.
Michelle Cvitanovich, Class of 2009
Photo by Clay Bedford , Class of 2009

T r i p t o g a t e w a y
a n i m a l c l i n i c
that they had was an ultra-
sound for the dogs and
cats. We cold see kittens
moving in a pregnant cat -
that was pretty cool! The
digital x-ray was pretty
neat too. You could really
see objects in the animal’s
stomach. One of the x-
rays showed a rock that
“One of the
the dog had swallowed! interesting things
This trip was really help- that they had was an
ful to me because it made
ultrasound for the
me realize how much I
want to work with animals dogs and cats. We
and help them. I hope to cold see kittens
have a job that requires
working with animals. moving in a pregnant
Sophie Bottom Grade 7 cat - that was pretty
cool!”

Jon I, Fran, Jasper, Kevin,

Kelly, Steven, Sophie G and I
took a great trip to the Gate-
way Animal Clinic. In one of
the pictures you can see a
bulldog having a tooth pulled.
In another you see a pygmy
goat named Beadle that be-
longed to one of the vets.
One of the interesting things
 P a g e 6 N a w a N ew s

N A W A S P I R I T D A Y“Gan
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off
o th
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th nnDy,aM
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make
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y sohow
ay sh s Class of 2011 his debut at the t
Heidaewawa
Hid
TeTaemam Sophie B is “eggstremely” fo-
Nawa Spirit Day
cused in the relay race!

Sean finally gets his gummy worm

!
y worm
y f in d s a gumm
all
Sean fin Kevin, Billy & Emily get in the spirit of things

enjoy the day Sophie B is “eggstremely” focused in

, Billy & Emily the relay race!
Kevin

t as
s ou
” come
y race
unn
i nn er b e relay
’s “ n th
& Juni n line i
in w
Just hop do
th ey

T he f
inal e
v ent of
the da
y—a
h ard fo
ught t
u g of w
ar
V o l 3 , I s s u e 3 P a g e
T h e f i n a l w o r d f r o m i n t e r n a t i o n a l
a c a d e m y i n c h i n a
China has been like a dream so far with
its beauty and tranquility. I hope to re-
turn this summer, but even more, I hope
that I will be able to obtain a close
friend here like Curry, our guide and
companion. Curry took us to a village
three hours away from Yangshuo that
was surrounded by millions of rice ter-
races. It blows my mind to think how
much work and time the indigenous
people had put into creating those rice
terraces. The scene created on the hills
with the surrounding terraces I think has
become a national image for China and
so in return has brought tourism to the
small neighboring towns.
Corporations built tons of wood hotels
in a once silent community. I thoroughly
enjoyed the nice rooms and the feel of
the hotel but at the same time I have
come to realize that the tourism has been
strongly affecting their culture. Now
more than ever the residents rely on
tourism as their primary source of in-
come. The indigenous people seem to
still be devout to their beliefs but I
hope that their community will not be
changed any further as you can still
see most of their history by staying
there.
Each day we hiked once or twice
along the stone assembled paths to a
vista point where we could soak in the
scenery. Along with the view I believe
everyone enjoyed the exercise because
I heard no complaints. After our sec-
ond day we packed up and headed
back towards Yangshuo but not before
we got some hot-pot first. For those of
us who had never been to China be-
fore, it was a brand new experience.
Half of the group really like the hot-
pot and the other half was to focused
on their burning mouths, but alto-
gether we had fun.
When we arrived back in Yangshuo
we were expecting to kick back and
relax but we got word from Curry that
the river was going to flood and so if
we wanted to go to the renowned light
show, then we would have to go to-
night... in the rain. A little unsure but
up for the one chance to see it we ate
dinner and drove over. None of us
knew what to expect but I think most
of us would say that it blew away our
expectations. The illusions that the
hundreds of choreographed dancers
could perform were amazing and truly
an artistic spectacle. From the red sea
of banners to the LED suited people
flashing in patterns it is something I
will never forget. The person who
designed the light show also designed
the Birds Nest Stadium at the
2008Beijing Olympic games.
After all that was said and done, we
cracked the books open and efficiently
got our work done. YT and Kalan
were both impressed by our quality of
work and how fast we all did it. In the
third section of Wild Grass we learned
about the hardships that religious
7
groups in China face. Any religions
besides the five allowed (Christianity,
Islam, Catholicism, Taoism, and Con-
fucianism) are
all considered
illegal. Riots “From the red sea
have routinely
broken out in of banners to the
major Chinese
cities to ex-
LED suited
press peoples people flashing in
devotion to
their beliefs. In patterns it is
Wild Grass the
religion de- something I will
picted is a
form of Bud- never forget”.
dhism called
Falun Gong. It
is a evangelical religion which is
peaceful and incorporates daily exer-
cises to stay healthy. The character in
the story, Ms. Chen, is an elderly
woman who goes to Beijing to protest
twice and is thrown in jail, beaten, and
killed because she would not hide the
fact that she believes and practices
Falun Gong. In the story, the govern-
ment ends up declaring her death the
result of natural causes and won't re-
lease her body to her daughter because
it is proof that she was beaten and
killed. Reading and understanding the
story made me more thankful for our
freedoms in America and it opened my
eyes to the potential problems of cor-
ruption around the world.
The world is our tool, our problem,
and our gift and we will deal with it as
best as we can. I am glad to be aware
of what there is on the different faces
of this earth and feel gifted to have
had this opportunity.
Site Tsien (Goodbye) from China,
Dillon Ford, Class of 2009
Photos by Clay Bedford , Class of
2009
 P a g e 8 N a w a N ew s

M e d i a t r i p t o t h e r e c o r d
s e a r c h l i g h t & k r c r t v s t u d i o

By Rachel Remba Class of 2010

1.1. The
Outside
groupthe Channel
standing 7 News
in front of
building
the and7studio.
Channel News building.

2.2. Huge
Huge rolls
rolls of
of newsprint
newsprint
stacked up to the warehouse
stacked up to the warehouse
ceilingatatthe
ceiling theRecord
RecordSearchlight
Searchlight
newspaper production center.
newspaper production center.

3.3. Captivated
Captivated,as
aswe
wesee
seethe
the
newsroom
news roomfor
forthe
thefirst
firsttime.
time.

4.4. Watching
Watchingas asour
ourtour
tourguides
guides
1 explainthe
explain thebehind-the-scenes
behind-the-scenes
aspects of a newsbroadcast.
aspects of a news broadcast.
3
5.5. Dave,
Dave,our
ourtour
tourguide,
guide,ex-
ex-
plainshow
plains howeverything
everythingononthe
theset
set
2 works.
works.
4
6.6. Showing
Showingoff
offour
ourphotocop-
photocop-
iedautographed
ied autographedpictures
picturesofof
newsanchors
news anchorsChita
ChitaJohnson
Johnson
andColin
and ColinMcAvoy.
McAvoy.

7.7. Jonathan Knobel gets a

chancetotoman
chance manthethecamera
cameraas
as
Ryan looks on.
Ryan looks on.
5
8.8. Colin McAvoy,
McAvoy, the the news
news an-
an-
chor,shows
chor, showsJuniJunithe
thesuper-cool
super-cool
table they sit
table they sit atat during broad-
casts,which
casts, whichhashasaacomputer
computer
screen beneath the transparent
screen beneath the transparent
6 7 8 top.
top.
V o l 3 , I s s u e 3 P a g e
CINCO DE MAYO FIESTA
We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a
luncheon of food, music, and a piñata
full of treats. Cinco de Mayo (Spanish
for "fifth of May"), is a holiday in Mex-
ico celebrating Mexico's victory over
THE
9
France on May 5, 1862. The Spanish
classes of Maribel Lootens and Col-
leen Chess, put together a wonderful
“fiesta” in our club. The club was
decorated with Mexican artwork that
the students had made, and a beau-
tiful hanging piñata. The food was
delicious, and included homemade
quesadillas, guacamole, re-fried
beans, rice, and salsa. After eating,
our Spanish students sang a tradi-
tional Mexican song in Spanish. The
“fiesta” ended with several students
taking a whack at the hanging pi- cracked open and the treats went flying.
ñata (after being blindfolded and This was a great time for everyone who
spun around of course). It took them participated.
many tries before the piñata finally
SPRING PLAY
P a g e 1 0 N a w a N ew s

Nawa 4th annual olympics

The list of events —— not your classic Olympic sports!

The crazy bat spin race gets underway

The annual Nawa Olympics takes

place on the final weekend of the
school year and involves all students
in a truly unique variety of events.
As you can see, a natural athletic abil-
ity isn’t totally necessary for some
events! A sense of humor definitely
helps though!

Water balloon toss—perfect for a hot day!

Laurie says it all!

Great teamwork in the wheelbarrow race
 V o l 3 , I s s u e 3 P a g e 1 1

Nawa 4th annual olympics

Heading for the creek…...
The inner tube race is about to start

The egg and spoon relay … no “yolking about” here!

A Nawa favorite—the hot dog challenge!

Ho heave ho …. The classic tug of war

 FOR UP TO DATE NEWS, DON’T FORGET
TO CHECK OUT OUR
WEB BLOG
www.nawa-academy.com/blogger
www.nawaacademy.org/blogger

17351, Trinity Mountain Road

17351, Trinity Mountain
French Gulch, CA 96033Road
French Gulch, CA 96033 Nawa
Nawa Newsletter
Newsletter Staff
Staff
Sophie
Sophie Bottom;
Bottom; Rob
Rob Burroughs;
Burroughs; Tess
Tess
Gallagher;
Gallagher; Francesca Jones;
Francesca Jones; Laurie
Laurie
Phone: 800-358-NAWA (6292) Milko;
Fax: 530-359-2229 Milko; Rachel
Rachel Remba
Remba
Website: www.nawaacademy.org Staff
Staff Advisors:
Advisors:
Michael
Michael Kielich;
Kielich; Jan
Jan Kells
Kells

G o o d b y e a n d G o o d
G r a d u a t i n g
The Class of 2009 is the largest graduating class
Nawa has had, and although some are still
weighing up their options and are undecided on
their next step, many of the Seniors have solidi-
fied their plans for next year.
Clay Bedford, Chris Hayden and Marcus Gitt in-
tend to take Cabrillo College by storm; Top
Chowwiwatana is headed for National Univer-
sity; Michelle Cvitanovich has Marymount Col-
lege in her sights; Stephanie Driggs is headed
back to the east coast and Brevard College;
Tess Gallagher intends starting on the road to
becoming a nurse at San Francisco State Univer-
sity; Tim Gaytan will be showing Cal Maritime
what he’s made of; Francesca Jones is headed
to Pueblo Community College in
Colorado; Billy McElwee is moving
back to his home turf and going to
American River College; Chris Wiens
L u c k t o o u r
S e n i o r s
will be following in the steps of a number of previ-
ous Nawa graduates as he heads to College Excel
in Bend, Oregon, and Alexandra Wright is set to
join the US Coastguard. Jake Hagen, who gradu-
ated halfway through the year, has already hit the
workforce as a ski instructor.
Dillon Ford and Christian Weinberger are intending
to go to college, but have still to decide exactly
where given all the acceptances they have re-
ceived. Others still to decide on their next adven-
ture in life are Brian Fazio; Kyle Gowett; Kyle
Jennings and Jonathan Steen.
Congratulations Seniors on reaching this
milestone. We wish each one of you every suc-
cess in your future endeavors.
Go out and show the world what
you’re capable of!