It's all about what the kids can do and what they do.

This hill used to be loaded with houses. In two years there's really going to be nothing.

It's the first year I've had a grade issue, period. We started with eight in trouble.

Mr. (Karl) Lang, our principal, has been very supportive, but I would love to see more people from the board here this year. It is so important for these students. It really teaches them a lot. They learn what it takes to put something like this together, and it helps them to learn to present. Some students have to moderate sessions as well.

It seems kind of selfish now, when I think about why I started this event. Ten years ago my son, Jacob, was a sophomore here. He had written a paper about John Steinbeck. He wanted to present this paper at one of the conferences I went to, but I told him they didn't let students do that.

This was big. To lose seven kids from last year, and have a bunch of sophomores step in and play. That's outstanding. I can't say enough about the effort.