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The independent student media site of West Linn High School

wlhsNOW

The independent student media site of West Linn High School

wlhsNOW

The independent student media site of West Linn High School

wlhsNOW

Kaleigh Henderson

Kaleigh Henderson, Managing Editor

In seventh grade, she wanted to be a teens’ fantasy author. She wanted to create new worlds and to escape the apocalypse around her that everyone else ignored. Kaleigh Henderson, now a senior, had never written anything nonfiction apart from school essays on books or science projects. Essays which she loathed with every fiber of her existence. She declared that she would never write nonfiction. Never. Not in a million years.

But just a few months later, Henderson learned of the Oregon Blue Book Student Essay Contest.

“It took me all of thirty minutes. I wrote it up, gave it to my grandma to edit, revised it once, and mailed it in,” Henderson said. “I never expected to see it again.”

But she did see it again. Her essay, which received an Honorable Mention, was published in the 2015 Oregon Blue Book. She won an all-expenses-paid trip to Salem, where she met the governor, sat in on a meeting of the Oregon legislature, and did a book signing.

“That was my first taste of journalism,” Henderson said, “and I was hooked.”

In the summer before freshman year, she became a member of the West Linn Tidings’ Student Writer’s Advisory Group, and in sophomore year was promoted to student columnist. Also in sophomore year, she became a student writer for the West Linn Living Magazine. In junior year, she joined the staff of West Linn High School’s Amplifier.

“Back then, I tried to escape my world,” Henderson said. “I tried to pretend that there weren’t problems in the world. Well, there are problems. Lots of them. And if I can educate just one person, expose them to what they might not otherwise have seen, then I will have done my duty to the world.”

All content by Kaleigh Henderson
Angelic Tosado, senior, models some of the necklaces she has made. Tosado created her jewelry business, Newmoon Jewelry, shortly after Oregon's shelter-in-place order was first issued.

Creativity in a crisis

Kaleigh Henderson, Podcast Editor
May 5, 2020

When faced with a shut-down school, shut-down social lives, and a practically shut-down country, students’ lives tend to, well, shut down. Some students take advantage of the extended period of...

Welcome to The Den, a WLHSnow news podcast! Tune in for all the latest happenings in the pride.

Welcome to The Den, a WLHSnow news podcast! Tune in for all the latest happenings in the pride.

The winning team, Team Esqueda, poses with their prize: a $150 gift card to Lil' Cooperstown. Team Esqueda won the final 1-0.

Referees and refugees

Kaleigh Henderson, Podcast Editor
March 4, 2020

On Feb. 5, the Model UN Club held a co-ed soccer tournament to raise money to support Venezuelan refugees. "We have six teams in the soccer tournament," Summer Tan, sophomore, said. "They each gave...

Seize the clay

Kaleigh Henderson
February 26, 2020

Students not in Clay and Animation might not know that the class has its own YouTube account where students post their projects. “It's nice to get the student work out there in a public place,” Wind...

Joe Juhala, senior, films B-roll for one of his YouTube videos.

Creating amidst the hate

Kaleigh Henderson
February 26, 2020

When Joe Juhala, senior, first started his YouTube channel last year, it was not immediately well-received. “A friend of mine, Will Glaunert, who graduated from West Linn last year, he kind of does the...

West Linn students and staff go beyond their roles in the school and into the realm of YouTube.

SchoolTubers

Kaleigh Henderson, Podcast Manager
February 26, 2020

There are 31 million different channels on YouTube, as of Jan. 31, 2020. In such a giant ocean of video and sound, it can be hard to grow your own presence on the global video-sharing website. But among...

Poetry Out Loud

Poetry Out Loud 2020

Kylie Zeman, Lily Frazier, and Kaleigh Henderson
February 13, 2020

All sophomores memorized and performed two poems in their English classes in the past few months, and the best performance of each class moved up and performed at a school-wide competition. The winner...

[Video] Lessons from one generation for the next

Kaleigh Henderson, Managing Editor
December 9, 2019

A high school teacher reflects on how parenting and teaching are similar and how one prepares you for the other, the best memories from her life, and her hopes for the future of her family. StoryCorps...

Kids and teens had the opportunity to participate in a variety of Harry Potter related classes and activities.

[Photo] Harry Potter day returns to West Linn Library

Makayla DeFrancisco, Staff Reporter
September 20, 2019

Kids and teens had the opportunity to participate in a variety of Harry Potter related classes and activities.

The plastic pollution problem is as good as solved, after Katarina Pejcinovic, junior, invented a safer plastic. Her project, titled Development of an Economically Viable, Safe, and Versatile Bioplastic, won 2nd place in the Chemistry category as well as the Oregon State University General Scholarship, a $5,000 one-time scholarship for students enrolled at Oregon State University.

Science-savvy scholars

Kaleigh Henderson, Current Events Editor
April 23, 2019

The Intel Northwest Science Expo was held on Friday, April 12 at Portland State University. There was two divisions which included 500 projects from 75 schools and organizations across the state. The West...

Students show their support for climate action, as part of an international protest, outside the Performing Arts Center Friday morning. Afterward, many marched to Oregon City City Hall.

Students march in global climate strike

Kaleigh Henderson, Current Events Editor
March 15, 2019

Students all over the world are striking school Friday to protest against climate change. According to Sarah Martin, senior, the plan was for all WLHS students who wished to participate to leave...

The recycling bins on lower A porch

The recycling revolution needs you

Kaleigh Henderson, Current Events Editor
February 12, 2019

The silent killer is among us. It’s easy, cheap, and conveniently deadly. It sneaks into our homes, into our seas, into our food, and into our own bodies. It kills us from the inside out, but no one...

[Video] A lifetime of love

Kaleigh Henderson, Staff Reporter
November 30, 2018

At first glance, my grandfather Larry Gaston looks like a guy you don't want to mess with: grizzled hair, an ever-present 5 o'clock shadow, war-torn scars on every inch of skin. But underneath the hard...

Vice Principal Anya Hershberger

CTE programs benefit from unexpected grant

Kaleigh Henderson, Staff Reporter
November 5, 2018

Editor’s note: Glenn Krake is the adviser to the Amplifier/WLHSnow.com It sounds like something out of a bad dream. Your classmates have been working on an essay for a statewide essay contest for...

Expressing themselves with bright colored pens; students create a protest art poster. This workshop titled “Art Expression” was also available last year, where students also made a poster, which has been hanging in the Honors Humanities classroom ever since. Ireland Johnson, senior, and Kendra Frankle, senior, led the workshop both years. “We started it last year for Unity Day, and at the time there was a lot of rep around protests being really bad, people  were not really understanding what they were and what they meant, we wanted to spread awareness and teach people what protest is, and how it is not just some terrible thing, it doesn’t turn into riots all the time, it actually is important.” Frankle said, “People should stand up for what they believe in.”

The truth about today’s teens

Kaleigh Henderson, Staff reporter
October 19, 2018

There are many misconceptions that adults have of teenagers, specifically from older adults. They think that every teenager is the same: rude, selfish, spoiled, and disrespectful. They think that just...

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Kaleigh Henderson