NAMPA -- When students in Business Professionals of America elected their state president this year, they didn't know his age.

The more than 1,200 high school members at the state convention chose Vallivue sophomore Kevin Tucker, making him one of the youngest state presidents in Idaho's history. And next year he plans to campaign for a national office.

Shari Webster, assistant adviser for the Vallivue program, said that is typical for Tucker.

"This student is absolutely driven," Webster said. "He's just a little bit ahead of his time, but he's able to handle it."

Tucker also placed first against all competitors at the state contest for legal office procedures.

Webster said she tried to dissuade him from entering the event because she knew nothing about the subject, and wouldn't be able to offer much help.

"I feel guilty about it now," Webster said. "He got on the Internet. He bought a book. I gave him sample exams."

And he won.

"I used a legal dictionary," Tucker said, explaining that the competition requires students to draft legal documents such as a power of affidavit. "They grade you on send-ability."

Tucker said the best part of winning the contest and being elected state president is the visibility it brings to the Vallivue club.

"My goal is to let more people know what BPA is, getting more community involvement," Tucker said. "It's one of the best student organizations."

Tucker said Business Professionals of America helps students build skills necessary for success in business with a focus on community partnerships.

Part of his job as state president includes working with other officers to create a statewide community service project.

"I'd like to do something with the Special Olympics," Tucker said.

And the student officers will plan and preside over next year's state convention.

"We've started to throw around ideas for the theme," Tucker said. "I have to make a script for everyone, what we're going to say."

Webster said that won't be a problem for Tucker.

"He has every single ingredient for a successful leader," Webster said. "His responsibilities are awesome, but he can do it."

Find more at the Idaho Press-Tribune.

I've heard the Christian myths. They start in Sunday School.

1) Christians fold their hands and close their eyes to pray. It keeps us from distractions.
2) Christians don’t run in church because this is God’s House.
3) Christians love everyone, “But don’t worry,” I was told. “You don’t have to like everybody.”
4) Christians go to church on Sunday.
5) Christians are always happy.
6) Christians don’t get angry, and they never hate, “Unless it’s the devil. You’re supposed to hate him.”
7) Christians don’t do drugs or smoke or drink. And most really good Christians don’t bowl or dance or listen to rock ‘n’ roll music either (though that’s mostly OK with God nowadays).

I started learning young, and every year, I’ve added one or two or five or ten. Until — just recently — I found a truth that didn’t fit the rest.

God created me, and He made me in His image.

The very character of Christ, therefore, is buried in the rubble of my busy, broken life. Tinged with sin and covered in the shadow of selfishness — at the center of my being — is God’s reality, the person I am meant to be.

Transformation, then, is not to something rigid and correct as myth or rule would have it. God does not give us Sunday straitjackets to limit life and force a church-day smile. Instead, He leads me into peaceful, carefree joy, more deeply myself than I have ever been. He makes me what I am designed to be, separate from the world of jump-on-the-bandwagon activity. He sets me apart in a church that too often defines itself according to the myth of comfortable conformity.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Find more at Barclay Press.

NAMPA -- Every year, thousands of dollars from the Mercy Community Sale help Nampa kids.

Proceeds of the sale have built a skate park, funded Boys and Girls Club programs, helped Syringa House and purchased materials for Nampa classrooms.

And kids know it. Sale organizers estimate that more than 100 local youth will volunteer at the event this year. Hundreds more have donated silent auction items and signed up to represent their schools at information booths in the Idaho Center mezzanine.

Event organizer Lynn Borud said at least 50 high school students will work through Friday to set up the sale. Saturday, Nampa High School football players will help people carry out their purchases.

After it is all over, more than 1,200 youth will take part in a free, thank-you concert for the community on Monday.

"We believe in the theme that 'all kids are our kids,'" Borud said. "We've been trying to partner with them. You can't put a value on a grassroots community campaign where people give back. They feel great about giving back to the community."

Jay Hummel, assistant superintendent of the Nampa School District, said the district benefits from the sale at least twice. The spotlight on what schools are doing is priceless.

"Teachers and kids are working really hard to do some great things," Hummel said, adding that the Mercy Community Sale provides a showcase for some of the innovative ideas in Nampa classrooms.

Schools also benefit financially. The Nampa Schools Foundation receives 25 percent of the sale's proceeds.

Jerry Jutting, chairman of the foundation, said the money goes back into Nampa's public school classrooms.

"We had 99 grant requests (from teachers) this year," Jutting said. "We were able to fund at least part of 55 of them."

The foundation has funded teacher-initiated projects, curriculum and supplies to the tune of a quarter-million dollars since its inception 10 years ago.

"A lot of teachers are asking for pretty basic things," he said. "That shows you how strapped our budget money is. We try to fill the gaps."

Hummel said money makes a difference.

"Every year, it's huge," he said. "The money comes back, and it goes very close to the kids, to the classroom level. It's a wonderful help."

If you go

The Mercy Community Sale will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Idaho Center, near the corner of Can-Ada and Franklin roads. Admission is free, but organizers encourage donations of non-perishable food items. Donated food qualifies the donor for a chance to win a 1991 Ford Aerostar.

Schools and youth-serving organizations will be featured in the Idaho Center mezzanine.

A live auction will take place during the last hour of the sale.

"Teachers and kids are working really hard to do some great things." -- Jay Hummel, Assistant Superintendent of the Nampa School District

To help

The Nampa Schools Foundation receives 25 percent of the money raised at the Mercy Community Sale, but the non-profit organization also accepts individual gifts.

To make a donation, contact Reese Verner at 465-1720 or mail it to the Nampa Schools Foundation at P.O. Box 874, Nampa, ID 83653.

Find more at the Idaho Press-Tribune.

CALDWELL -- Idaho's top-ranked competitive climber placed 20th at the National Bouldering Championship in Sacramento, Calif. last month.

Caldwell resident Matt Fultz is ranked 33rd nationally among all male competitors in the American Bouldering Series.

And the 12-year-old Syringa Middle School student started climbing only two years ago on a dare from his dad.

"My dad wanted to see me climb," Matt said, adding that his father offered him $10 to ascend a 47-foot climbing wall at a local sporting goods store. "And I got hooked."

Matt said reaching the top was a big deal because he hadn't believed he could do it.

"I was scared of heights," he said. And climbing helped him face this fear. "I wanted to try it again."

So Matt started climbing regularly and then to compete.

This time of year, Matt said he practices for competitions at least three hours a day.

"Comps are coming up, and I've got to train."

The sixth grade student took 8th place in the Open Men's competition at Club Sports in Tigard, Ore. in February. A month earlier, he placed first overall in a Nampa competition. Both events are part of the bouldering series.

And in the U.S. Climbing Big Sky Region, Matt has placed first in every single event and is ranked first, overall, for all male competitors.

Steve Fultz, Matt's dad, said his son works out at home about five hours a week and climbs at the Nampa Recreation Center for three hours a day.

"He climbs in here for hours and pushes himself," Steve said. "Something's got to drive him, and it's all internal. That's something I don't see in a lot of kids."

Matt agreed that he's different from his peers. He said he's quieter than most students, and the amount of time he spends training means he doesn't have many opportunities to develop friendships with kids his own age.

"Most of my friends are in their 20s," Matt said. "I have friends at school, but my closer friends are climbers. There are not that many kids who climb competitively in Idaho."

But Matt said his personality is perfectly suited to climbing.

"I'm pretty introverted," Matt said. "I like to be on my own. No one else is really motivated to climb indoors as much as I am. I'm usually the only person climbing, and I'm there for hours at a time."

Find more at the
Idaho Press-Tribune.

CALDWELL -- A local family is fighting the war in Iraq with balloons, more than 2,000 of them so far.

Dennis and Sharon Horst, of Caldwell, started sending balloons to their son when he first arrived in Iraq this January. Christopher Warren, stationed out of Ft. Bliss, Texas, makes balloon animals for Iraqi children in the Balad, Iraq hospital.

The Horsts say Warren started making the colorful creatures for his own three children.

Warren -- a radiology technician -- wrote in a February e-mail to his parents that his talent with balloons helped break down barriers with the injured Iraqi children.

"We had no way to get them to understand we were not here to hurt them since all their lives they have been told we are the enemy," Warren said. "I pulled out my bag of balloons and went to work."

Warren also told of a 14-year-old patient named Mariwah.

"She is paralyzed from the waist down from a rocket attack," Warren wrote in the February e-mail message. "When we got here and took over the hospital, she never smiled."

Warren said he taught Mariwah to make her own balloon animals.

But the number of injured children has taken a toll on Warren's balloon supply. He traveled to the country with 1,500 balloons, and his parents said they have mailed another 500 to 600.

"He sees children daily," Sharon said, adding that the work of her son proves there is more to the situation in Iraq than what most people see in the news.

"He always seems to be in good spirits," Dennis said.

Find more at the Idaho Press-Tribune.

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.