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Journal
OJ
Middle school
celebrates the
cultures of
Shelton
By NATALIE JOHNSON
Food has a unique way of highlighting our cultural
differences and similarities, and bringing us together.
Students at Olympic Middle School saw that first-
hand on Wednesday night when more than 500 sixth
and seventh grade students got together at Olympic
Middle School to celebrate their diverse backgrounds
and heritage through performance, research projects
and of course, food.
The Olympic Middle School Celebrating the Many
Cultures of Shelton project culminated Wednesday
night in a school wide celebration. Through the project,
the students learned about different cultures that were
represented in their own classes.
"Each advisory class selected a country to do," said ii
assistant principal Fran Stevens. "They tried to pick an
ethnicity from within that classroom."
After an advisory class, which is similar to a home
room, picked a country to study, they had to draw that ....
country's flag, do a storyboard detailing the results of
their research, put together some kind of entertainment
native to their country, involve a community member in
their project and make food from their country.
The project is designed to teach students about how
diverse a community Shelton really is, Stevens said.
See Olympic on page B-5
Journal photo by Natalie Johnson
Rafael Loper, left, and Marissa Welles admire their class project on Germany for the Olympic Mid-
dle School Celebrating the Many Cultures of Shelton event.
Journal photo by Natalie Johnson
Theresa Gunter has been a certified kettlebell instructor at Anytime Fitness in Shelton for a
year. ,
Throwing her weights around
By NATALIE JOHNSON
Kettlebell instructor Theresa
Gunter has gotten used to throwing
her weights around in the last two
years ... her kettlebell weights that
is.
Two years ago, Gunter discov-
ered kettlebells as an alternative to
an everyday workout routine, and a
year later was certified and became
an instructor at Shelton's anytime
fitness.
"I was kind of looking for some-
thing new, I had been a member of
the gym for a year and I was just
ready for something new," she said.
"As soon as I did a workout that was
it, I was hooked, and I've been doing
kettlebell ever since."
A kettlebell is basically a cast
iron weight. Gunter described it as a
"cannon ball with a handle."
Kettlebells originated in Russia
more than 300 years ago, Gunter
said. She said the longevity and con-
sistency of the workout were encour-
aging.
"Nothing has changed in 300
years, the movements are all the
same.., it just never changes, so I
feel very comfortable," Gunter said.
"The Rssian strongmen -that's why
they've been kicking our butts at the
Olympics for so many years, because
they've been throwing these things
around for 300 years."
While researching kettlebell cer-
tification programs, Gunter said she
was startled to find that some were
as easy as an online questionnaire
and a credit card payment. Instead
of choosing the easy way out, Gunter
sought out one of the most strenu-
ous programs, but also, she said, the
most authentic and respected.
"You need to find somebody that
knows what they're doing because
technique and form are just vital
when it comes to kettlebell or any
kind of strength training," she said.
Gnnter ended up choosing a pro-
gram affiliated with Pavel Tsat-
souline, who she described as the
"gUru ofkettlebells," who introduced
them to American gyms about 10
years ago.
"I thought, this guy is the one who
brought them here - I want his certi-
fication," she said.
While the certification process
was grueling, Gunter said it was
completely worth it.
"It was probably the hardest thing
I've ever done in my life - eight hours
of straight up kettlebells, and then
they test you at the end and it's not a
written test, it's a physical one," she
said. "It's a pass or fail situation and
there's a 30 percent failure rate."
Gunter said that one of the things
she particularly likes about the ket-
tlebell workout is that it involves
your whole body.
"It's strength training meets car-
dio and I think that's one of the rea-
sons people love it so much, because
it's a big bang for your buck," she
said. "You'll get your heart rate up
a little bit lifting weights but you're
not going to get the cardio."
Gunter simply.oozes passion and
enthusiasm for her sport, and said
that while it took her until her for-
ties to find her real passion in life, it
was worth the wait.
See Cookin'on page B-5
Harstine Island
....... Community Club ....
meeting and more
The Harstine Island
Community Club had their
monthly meeting this past
Friday and there was a good
turnout, some 46 island-
ers were there. Judy and I
along with Dan and Brenda
Stainbrook were the host
and hostesses. I have to
tell you that it is
kind' a fun to host
because it really
gets you involved
with the hall and
community club
members. I men-
tion this because
there is a sign up
sheet and Jeff Ro-
berge, this year's
president, still
has a couple slots
open for host and hostess.
Another great thing about
being there is one finds out
about island events and
the wonderful people who
sponsor them. I don't know
if they have found a host
for April yet, but this April
they are planning the an-
nual chili cook-off and they
still might need someone to
sponsor it. This event is a
lot of fun with a lot of good
chili to be sampled:
Jim Anderson let every-
one know that the Garden
Club will be selling bat
houses this year. There
is usually a Sheriffs update
from John Strousberger
who has been keeping the
club informed for, well, for
a long time. He told every-
one that Sheriff Salisbury is
not the spokesperson of law
enforcement to the state leg-
islature - that will sure give
our county a voice. Nick
Neuerburg reported on Fire
District 5 and told us that
there have been 19 calls so
far this year. There have
been a number of continu-
ing improvements to the fire
stations. Nick also thanked
Neighborhood. Watch/All
Island Eyes for it's coopera-
tive community service and
getting helpful informa-
tion out to the communi-
MIKE
CALLAGHAN
ty. And in that regard Linda
Nickell let everyone know
theat269 members signed
up to the island watch net-
work.
There will be CERT team
meetings every other month
on the third Thursday of the
month at 6:30 p.m. at the
island's north fire
station.
There are still
advertising open-
ings for the 2011
island newslet-
ter. If you have
something let Shel-
leen know and you
can contact her at
katladysam@hot-
mail.corn
Tara Rigby
with AmeriCorps invited
the community to Pioneer
Middle School on Thursday,
Feb. 24 at 5:30 p.m. to find
out about needs and volun-
teer opportunities to launch
a mobile food bank for the
area. There was that great
article in the Journal last
week about the health of
Mason County. Seems hun-
ger is an issue that hurts
our health, so this project
would be a great way to help
in that area. I would think
that the healthier we were
as a community, the less
strain there would be on our
infrastructure.
The club also had a great
guest speaker Tammey
Newton from Habitat for
Humanity. She spoke of
the vast amount of services
including the ability to self-
finance and service zero in-
terest loans to Habitat occu-
pants. There is also a pro-
gram called 'A Brush with
Kindness' which makes
possible much-needed home
repairs for those who qual-
ify. The LUcky Dog Casino
and the Skokomish Tribe
have recently given them a
$500 grant to help support
the Brush with Kindness
program. If you want to
See Harstine on page B-5
Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011 - Shelton-Mason County Journal- Page B-1