NAMPA -- Bobby Powers is going to nationals.

The Nampa Christian High School student was named the 2004 Idaho State Scholastic Chess Champion two weeks ago.

Now he's thinking about Florida. Powers will represent Idaho at the Denker Tournament of High School Champions in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., this August.

"I'm hoping to be in the top half," Powers said. "Top 10 would be amazing."

But first things first.

Powers said he can't spend much time on chess right now because of baseball season, and he's thinking about running for class office.

"Some kids at school know me as the chess kid," Powers said. "It's not the only thing I do. People don't realize I also won the golden glove award on my J.V. baseball team."

And Powers said he'd like to run for student body treasurer because it seems a good fit with his interest in math.

Then he'll have time to focus on the tournament.

He said the biggest part of getting ready will involve raising money so he can go.

Each state winner receives a $100 stipend to help cover costs, but Powers estimated the eight-day trip could cost more than $1,000.

"I'm hoping to pursue private and team coaching," Powers said. "We're hoping for sponsors too."

And Powers' mom, Bonnie Powers, said the trip will be well worth it.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," she said. Bonnie pointed out that there aren't lots of kids who play chess competitively in Idaho, so many of the state's younger players know her son.

He's been a guest speaker at several local elementary schools and has coached as well.

"It gives him a chance to be a positive role model," Bonnie said. "There are a lot of little kids who look up to him."

Bobby explained why he values chess.

"A lot of kids have the stereotype that chess is the geek sport," Powers said. "But it's kind of like the golf of board games. It's one of the few chances you have to test your wits."

Find more at the
Idaho Press-Tribune.

NOTUS -- Students in an art history class have almost completed a mural at Notus Elementary School. And they've uncovered some of the town's secrets in the process.

The high school students say they've found stories of wagon trains, forgotten businesses, death and even a dance hall.

High school teacher Daylene Petersen said the town's renovation of an old building into a new community center offered an opportunity for her class to create a mural illustrating Notus history.

But developing the art required research.

Students read books on Idaho history, visited the Canyon County Historical Museum, combed through old yearbooks and even interviewed old-timers.

But when the research was done, the community center wasn't. The class then got permission to start work at the elementary school.

Lupe Delacruz, a senior, said the school was a natural location for the mural.

"(The school had) a lot of murals before," Delacruz said. "When I was in third grade, there was a fire." Because of smoke damage, many of the old paintings were painted over.

Delacruz said each student artist developed a portion of the mural. She painted the portrait of a woman and her son at the top of the creation.

Petersen said visitors often mistake the woman for Sacajawea, but Delacruz said the mother is actually Marie Dorion, the native-American wife of a scout who worked for the Hudson Bay Fur Company.

During a raid on Parma's Fort Boise, Marie's husband was killed, so she set off with her children for the safety of Portland, Ore.

"She made it to the Blues before her provisions ran out," Petersen said. She killed her horse for food "and tucked her boys into a cave."

Then she set out, snowblind, to seek help.

"Her story was really interesting," Delacruz said, "how she survived, feeding her kids horse."

And Delacruz said her research also turned up mention of a dance hall.

"We never had a picture of it," Delacruz said, "so we guessed what it looked like."

Lucas Graham, a junior, said it was sometimes difficult to determine how buildings should look because of fires and reconstruction over the course of the town's past. He completed a painting of a service station with a domed roof.

He said the building still stands, but the dome is gone.

"I live two houses down from this building," Graham said. "They turned it into a produce shop."

He said he finally found a photo of the original structure in the back of a high school yearbook. But it was black and white, so he had to look for clues such as the stucco finish to determine coloring.

Sophomore Caitlyn Peterson said students have worked on the mural since last year. And she said the hands-on project has made local history more interesting for her.

Graham agreed.

"All these things have happened," Graham said, adding that this mural might serve as a reminder that communities change. Even now, he said, new people are moving to town and building new homes, making history.

Find more at the Idaho Press-Tribune.

MARSING -- When Maria Paramo first moved to Marsing, she didn't speak English. But now she's the president of the National Honor Society and plans to earn a medical degree.

It was hard work that did it.

Marsing teacher Juanita de Leon said she first had Paramo in a class for students with limited English.

"She was my hardest worker at that time," de Leon said. "She was always questioning. I knew she would be something big. I know she's going to make it."

And Paramo said the work didn't end with mastering a new language. In her first year of high school, Paramo had to re-take pre-algebra. But she didn't want to fall behind, so the next year, Paramo took two math classes -- Geometry and Algebra.

Paramo also took on key leadership positions. Along with National Honor Society, she is also the president of Marsing's Future Hispanic Leaders of America.

Paramo said the National Honor Society provided Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets for needy families this year. Club members went trick-or-treating for canned food for the first round. At Christmas, students used their own money to purchase gifts for a local family with nine children.

The club's next project will be painting the playground equipment at the city park.

As president of the Future Hispanic Leaders of America, Paramo helps organize the town's upcoming Cinco de Mayo celebration. She said the event will include children's games and food.

Paramo said she is also keeping an eye on the future, and hopes her success will spur on others like her.

"A lot of Mexican students think high school's enough," Paramo said. "If kids see more Hispanic students going to college, they're going to want to go to, because they'll know it's possible. It's kind of like opening doors for them."

Paramo said too many students give up when success takes little more than effort.

"I think that's how kids fail," Paramo said. "It's not because they're dumb. They just don't do the work."

And she added that family support is what has kept her working toward success.

"I'm really lucky to have my parents," Paramo said. "They've always been there for me. They're going to be proud of me. I'm going to be the first in my family to graduate from high school. You just have to be determined."

Find more at the Idaho Press-Tribune.

NAMPA -- Rebecca Richards had a hard time speaking in front of people, so she joined debate.

And after only two months of competition, the Liberty Charter School sophomore is winning awards. Richards took second out of more than 30 competitors in her category at an Idaho Falls event, and she will represent her school at a national qualifier competition in Jerome, Idaho later this month.

"I pretty much didn't know how to speak," Richards said. "I'm not a very outgoing person."

But debate coach Joanna Hicks said Richards -- a straight-A student -- has changed.

"Every single time she participated in class, I would have to say, 'Becca, I can't hear you,'" Hicks said. "It's been phenomenal growth."

Hicks said it also helps in competition that Richards is a likeable student.

"She has a perpetual smile and such a warm, genuine demeanor," Hicks said. "Judges like her. They believe her, trust her. You can't imagine her lying."

Richards competes in Lincoln-Douglas debate, which requires her to know and be ready to defend either side of an argument. At one competition, she presented her case six times with each debate lasting about an hour.

Richards' topic is environmental preservation vs. economic development. She started the year believing in preservation but said her research has helped her appreciate the merits of development.

"It's good to look at something both ways," Richards said. "It helps you (realize neither side) is always perfect."

Richards said debate is important because you have to be able to present your ideas to people.

"Speech is the way people associate with each other," Richards said, and in her experience, being able to share ideas results in greater courage.

How debate helps

Rebecca Richards, a student at Liberty Charter School, said debate has helped her think and speak more clearly. She said students who compete in forensics and debate will benefit in the following ways:

Learn to present ideas publicly.

Gain confidence.

Practice study of an issue from multiple perspectives.

Find more at the Idaho Press-Tribune.

NAMPA -- A nationally-syndicated radio celebrity used to be a boy who wanted a horse.

Political pundit Michael Reagan visited Nampa's Ronald Reagan Elementary School Thursday, and he told stories about growing up with a father who would be president.

Michael said his favorite memory of his dad started with a golden palomino.

When Michael was still a boy, his father told him a man he knew had bought a horse as a Christmas gift for his son. But the horse wasn't ready for the boy, so the man had arranged for the Reagans to board and train it.

Ronald asked Michael to help him work with the animal. Michael said it didn't seem fair. He had begged for a horse for Christmas.

"I was really, really mad," Michael said, "but I did it."

He said they spent 45 minutes a day. Ronald used a long rein while the horse circled with Michael on its back. And Michael said he loved the palomino. He named it Rebel.

But the day came -- just before Christmas -- when the horse was ready, and Michael's dad told him the man would come for the horse that evening. He asked Michael to go make sure it was ready.

Michael said he cried "crocodile tears," but he did it. And when he got to the stable, he found Rebel with a red bow on his neck and a card:

"Merry Christmas Michael. Love, Dad."

Michael Reagan took questions from kids about his age and the flight to Idaho and the names of his brothers and sisters. He is 58, the flight was delayed because the plane's cargo door would not close, and he has three siblings.

And he talked about having a father who does not remember him any more because of Alzheimer's.

"Things happen to us," Reagan said, "and not everything that happens to us is good."

But he encouraged students to make the most of every situation.

"Holding grudges is going to hold you down," Reagan said. "Don't use excuses to fail. Look at the things that happen to you, and learn from them."

Students honor former

president Ronald Reagan

Students at Nampa's Ronald Reagan Elementary School presented Michael Reagan with a birthday card for his father Thursday. Former President Ronald Reagan turned 93 last week.

The students also presented a school T-shirt, a framed photo of the school and a U.S. flag they had autographed.

Michael Reagan told students the gifts would be added to a display honoring his father at the Young America's Foundation in Santa Barbara, Calif.

"I honor (these gifts) in the way you honor my father," Reagan said.

Find more at the Idaho Press-Tribune.