Current Events

Drake Edwards, past business editor, dies in car collision

Elise Brown
January 9, 2013

Courtesy of Green & Gold

On the afternoon of Dec. 23, Drake Edwards, Class of 2011, was involved in a collision on Highway 35. According to the Oregonian, he was in the passenger seat of a station wagon whose driver lost control on the icy road. Edwards died at the scene of the accident.

At West Linn, Edwards took Journalism I as a freshman and Journalism II as a junior. He was a skilled writer and a friendly leader who worked as the newspaper’s business editor during the 2009-10 school year. His senior year, he was the historian of the Associated Student Body and a lively announcer on the weekly Live Roar.

Edwards was a member of multiple very supportive communities; he was a devoted Christian, a snowboarder and a business communications student at Seattle Pacific University. Following his death, his friends coined the hashtag “#shredfordrake” in honor of his passion for snowboarding.

An extemporaneous candlelight vigil was held Christmas Eve at Willamette Christian Church in response to Edwards’ death. On Dec. 29, WCC held a memorial service, and on Jan. 4, another was organized at the First Free Methodist Church on the SPU campus.

Edwards is survived by his twin brother Warner, his sisters Jennifer and Tammy, and his parents Jim and Julie.

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About the Contributor

Elise Brown, Co Editor-in-Chief

Elise Brown, senior, has always felt comfortable standing up and giving her opinion in front of everyone and for the most part, she enjoys it very much. That is one of the many reasons why she heads the debate team, and also why in June she earned a place in the National Speech and Debate Competition in Indianapolis.

Out of the 250 people entered in the competition, she finished 151st in the country. Before she earned her rightful place in Nationals, however, she needed to prove herself in Districts and State.

Her 10 minute long speech about socialism and its benefits took first and second in Districts and State, respectively.

“In the National competition the judges didn’t appreciate politics or controversy as much as they did in Districts and State,” Brown said. This was confirmed from one of the judges she conversed with in order to find out what she could do better.

Brown’s interest in current events started in the eighth grade. She then did the Amplifier, the high school newspaper to help communicate her ideas about the world with her fellow peers, she also did the debate team to better understand the problems throughout the world and learn how to solve them somewhat.

“Debate involves knowing what is going on in the world,” Brown said.

This year for upcoming competitions, she has a speech in the works that she feels will top her last one. This year’s speech is about interdependence inspired by the “you didn’t build that debate,” caused when President Barack Obama told business people that they did not create their businesses on their own.

Brown’s passion for debate has influenced what college she will go to, what she will study in college, and what she wants to do in her life. Brown’s goal is to graduate high school and then travel to Massachusetts and attend Wellesley College, a very well known and prestigious college, where Brown hopes to study political science.

To achieve this goal she has taken part in a number of rigorous courses and activities such as Speech and Debate, AP Government, AP Economics, Honors Law, AP English and journalism. Once Brown achieves her education goals, her next goal is to become a political commentator.

“I want to change people’s minds,” Brown said. Brown has chosen the path to become a political commentator because she believes political power lies with the media.

Brown has worked very hard throughout high school and continues to work hard through her senior year. She has taken many challenging courses to achieve her goal of going to Wellesley, and will need to continue down the very rigorous path to success to accomplish her goals.