Recently, I’ve become more involved in the “Save Darfur” campaign through Inglemoor High, giving me a broader view of the situation in Sudan.

As a student, I feel that our school community should be doing more to directly assist those in need. On the flipside, our efforts have not been enough to bring the issue to the region’s attention. We can talk about the issue, but this does not help us launch a more directed campaign, as much as we would like to.

I know people who genuinely care about the issue and want to help; also those who feel pity and simply move on. We’ve sent postcards to President Barack Obama asking for action to be taken, but I don’t think the public has heavily considered independent action is actually possible. IHS donates money to World Vision, which delivers foodstuffs to refugee camps.

Our only issue is awareness. The more people who devote a small portion of their time to the cause, the less we need a small amount of people to perform a financial miracle, especially in these tough economic times. I call on our community — our state — to take independent action by donating money or food to this cause.

We must help those who live under oppression back on their feet so we can all move forward as a civilized global community.

Elliott Jacobsen-Watts, Inglemoor High student

Kids open their minds with ‘Persepolis’

In the middle-school years, students’ intellectual development move from concrete, linear-based thinking to broader-based abstract thinking, including developing empathy with people outside their personal experience.

That’s why the portrayal of a culture, so different from our own, as in the novel “Persepolis” can be such a powerful learning tool. With the study of this story, students are given a peek into a new realm, and can begin to see themselves as citizens of the world rather than of one small corner of the universe.

“Persepolis” tells the story of an increasingly repressive regime that systematically restricts a 14-year-old girl’s life. She must now wear different clothes and cover her face in public. Her home has black-out curtains on the windows to block party music and dancing in the living room. Her parents even smuggle in a poster of a popular singer so she can decorate her bedroom.

And most powerful of all, the girl knows of people who have disappeared amid rumors of torture and death.

Curriculum that presents students with the inhumanity, as well as the humanity of people, in challenging times, forces them to look beyond their life and into a realistic world view. Isn’t that what education is supposed to do?

Janice Ohrenschall, Kenmore

Shocked by stand’s business plan

Having worked in Bothell for the past five years and living next to this wonderful city in Woodinville for 20, I have come to think of it as a family oriented, close-knit, caring community.

My shock at the Bee Hive Espresso Stand (formally Espresso Connection) sign, which reads “3-14-09 Bikini Baristas,” was one of outrage and amazement that this establishment in the Main Street area near schools and the Park at Bothell Landing would even consider putting their baristas up for sale as a gimmick to buy coffee.

Certainly, I am aware that there are rights of owners, but sometimes the rights go a little too far. Please, if you have purchased a coffee drink from this establishment in the past, unite as a community and refuse to contribute to this subtle form of prostitution and embarrassment of those that are employed there.

Keep Bothell’s reputation as a city that cares about its residents and families intact; let this owner know that putting bikini/lingerie on young women should NOT make a profit for his business.

Wendy Wands, Woodinville

Bothell High campus supervisor

Inglemoor, Bothell played a stellar game

I’m the assistant coach for the Inglemoor sixth-grade girls basketball team.

I thought I’d pass along that we played the Bothell sixth-grade girls team in the championship game at the Stanwood Presidents Day tournament. Exciting that both teams made it to the championship game.

The two teams played one of the best games I’ve witnessed at this age level. The game went back and forth from beginning to end. Inglemoor made a rather unlikely comeback in the closing minutes that included two 3-point shots and a three-point play to narrowly defeat Bothell.

For Inglemoor, it was its third tournament victory this year. For Bothell, it was its first appearance in a finals game, something the girls should be proud of since they did not even have a team last year. They’ve come an awfully long way very quickly in becoming a program to be reckoned with.

I expect we’ll see this rivalry continue over the coming years.

Dan Richards, Kenmore