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High school students

Fall 2004

Big little man Bill Tomaras touched many lives

Father of Washington State High School Wrestling

 

Bill Tomaras discovered early there wasn’t much demand for a five-foot-three, 120-pound basketball player. So he turned to wrestling. The repercussions of that decision have been felt in Washington wrestling for more than a half-century.

World War II interrupted Tomaras’s athletic career. After fighting at Omaha Beach, he married a four-foot-11 Royal Air Force nurse. That union produced three sons. Bill and Dolly celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in January 2004 at Port Orchard.

Tomaras resumed his education at the University of Illinois (’47 Political Sci.), where he placed third in NCAA wrestling championships as … » More …

Fall 2009

Video: Garfield-Palouse students building PAL

A time-lapse video of Garfield-Palouse High School students, with support from Washington State University, building an award-winning lift to heft farmers with disabilities into combines.

“Sean Neal is good at math, but one bit of geometry he can’t master involves moving ten feet up and two feet over. The wheelchair-bound teen isn’t able to climb into a combine to help harvest his family’s wheat fields.

While Neal’s dad was carrying him up a ladder and helping him into the operator’s seat, his math teacher at Garfield-Palouse High School was pondering ways to nudge students toward careers in which they could use their number-crunching skills. Jim … » More …

Fall 2008

Powerful solutions from young minds

At Washington State University’s inaugural high school energy competition on May 10, Bohler Gymnasium on the Pullman campus buzzed with the ideas and enthusiasm of more than 350 high school students.

Teams from across the state were invited to present ideas for sustainable living in one of four areas: technology, design, personal behavior, or society/public policy.

Image depicting a light bulb sparking ideas and therefore solutions

Eighty-six teams gathered to share ideas that ranged from … » More …