Journalism 107

Foray Into Journalism

A paratrooper glides to the ground while displaying the American Flag that will be presented during the national anthem at the 2009 Reno Air Races.

The 2009 Reno Air Races is a yearly event where pilots from all over the world get a chance to display their honed flying skills while entertaining all those in attendance.

Everyone interviewed while at the air races brought up the same theme, a love of everything aircraft. There are a number of activities a person can do while at the air races, but all of them are geared toward airplane enthusiasts.

“I attended the event a few years ago, and kept trying to go, but haven’t been able to make it until this year,” said Nick Hoffman, a spectator of the events. “I keep trying to go because I love airplanes” .

The Reno Air Races were held from September 16-20 at the Stead Airport in Reno, NV. There are six classes that pilots compete in during the weeklong events: Biplane, Formula One, Sport, T-6, Jet and Unlimited. The speed of these aircraft range in speeds from 200 to 500 miles per hour and the spectators get to see all the races take place right in front of their eyes. There are also booths setup that have aircraft memorabilia, souvenirs and, of course, there are food and drinks.

Everywhere attendees turned while at the event, there were things to keep them busy. In addition to the grand stand seating, there were also Pit Passes, which allowed people to get up close to the aircraft, see the crews working on their planes and talk to the pilots.

“I think shows like this keep Reno alive, they are great for the local economy,” said Kris Henry, a spectator from Sparks, NV.

“My favorite part was all the history,” Kris said about what he enjoyed most while attending the races.

Some spectators see the Air Races as a way educate and enlighten about a subject that many may not have had previous experience with.

“It gives the public access to an event they might not normally get to see. Air Sports are very expensive, and very difficult, so the average person usually doesn’t get to interact with planes outside of the trip to see their mother,” Nick Hoffman concluded.

In addition to the race competitions, there are pilots who perform acrobatic feats in front of the crowds.

The Blue Angels are possibly the most famous of these performers, but there are others as well.

The Red Eagles are a pair of biplanes that perform together as well as solo, doing low flying trick maneuvers.

Patty Wagstaff is an Olympic-level medal winning aerial acrobat that flies the Extra 300S, a custom high performance plane.

The pilots of the air show perform a number of death defying and spectacular maneuvers. The Blue Angels fly in perfect formation while flying at extremely fast speed and do so with extreme accuracy.

The Red Eagles and Patty Wagstaff do a number of tricks that involve low altitudes, upside down passes and cork screw turns.

It is clear the pilots don’t let the spectators have all the fun.

“It’s phenomenal,” said Doug Bodine, a pilot from South Dakota who has been flying since 1985 and was competing in the Formula 1 Gold Division with his plane “Yellow Peril”.

“It’s about as much fun as you are probably allowed to have.” Doug Bodine said. Doug had an opportunity present itself to him as an officer in the U.S. Air force, and when it came up he didn’t let it go by. He has been flying every chance he gets ever since.

The prize winnings for each class do not make up for the cost of getting to and competing in the events of the week. Most if not all pilots do it purely for the thrill of it. The event itself also raises money for charity that helps assure the future of the sport and the advancement of aviation in general.

“Future plans include development of an Air Racing Museum, Science Center and Library, open to the general public and structured as an interactive learning center for both young and old,” said air race officials. The plan is to help young people become well-rounded individuals that will one day be a useful asset to the aviation industry.

Some crews work all year for this one opportunity that comes up every September.

Chris Dickerson is the crew chief of the plane called “Madness” that was one of the planes competing against Doug Bodine and his plane among others.

“A love of air planes,” Dickerson said when asked what made him decide to take them on as a full time job six years ago.

“Seeing the hard work get to actually pay off and fly,” Dickerson said, was the best part about his job.

The pilot of the “Madness” crew, Steve Temple, shares his love of airplanes with Bodine and Dickerson as well.

The Formula 1 division had 24 competitors that were divided into three subsections, Gold, Silver and Bronze classes. Steve Temple and Doug Bodine, competed on Sunday Sept. 20 in the Formula 1 Gold class, the highest division of Formula 1. That day another competing pilot, Thom Richard, bested both men. Steve took third place and Doug took fifth place out of eight.

The results of the Reno Air Races Formula 1 Gold Class race on Spetmeber 20, 2009, courtesy of http://www.airrace.org/ .

The flight course was 25 miles long, and is set up as a large oval. There are seven pylons that form the shape of the course and the pilots must fly around the outside them.

The first person to complete the course is not necessarily the winner of the race. The one to complete the course with the fastest speed is declared the winner. So the final pilot to cross the finish line could be the winner if he completed the course with the quickest speed and time.

2009 Reno Air Races Formula 1 Race Course, courtesy of http://www.airrace.org .

While Steve and Doug would both have loved to win first place in the competition, both men made it clear that they were there because they loved doing what they were doing, flying planes. It is their love of planes that keeps them returning to Reno every September for the Air Races.

“It is like flying with dragonflies,” said Temple, from Weselberg, Germany, who traveled across the world for the event.

“It’s all I can see me wanting to do,” said Temple, “I was born to fly”.

Breitling

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Smoke trails follow the Breitling airplane as it performs during the 2009 Reno Air Races airshow.

A number of students from the University of Nevada Reno said they are having to tighten their belts as the school cuts budgets and raises students’ costs.

Some students interviewed at the university’s Joe Crowley Student Union building have cut back on their usual spending habits in order to be able to continue their pursuit of higher education.

“If they continue to raise tuition I might go to another college,” said Emilia Groso, an 18-year-old freshman. “I’ve definitely had to reduce spending. Like I used to get coffee everyday. That had to go.”

Students concerns are well founded. Tuition costs have risen $19.25 per credit unit in the last two years and is scheduled to continue to rise in the years to come. Taxable sales numbers also show that students, as well as others, have cut back their spending and sales tax revenue of the last year has dropped 12.7 percent from June 2008 to June 2009, and 20.5 percent when comparing the month of June in 2008 to June in 2009.

Every student interviewed had some amount of concern about the economy and the effect it would have on them and their life as a college student. Students’ concerns varied from finding a job after the graduate to finding a way to continue paying for their classes. Many have had to lower the amount of courses they are taking in order for them to be able to afford a continued education.

“Tuition is so expensive now I can only take three classes instead of four.,” said Joe Schmo, a journalism student from Reno. “It’s definitely going to take longer to graduate now.”

Tuition hikes have students scrambling to find ways to pay for the classes they have signed up to take.

“I’m really worried about finding a job when I graduate,” said Jane Smith. “I’m done in December and there is nobody hiring out there.”

Layoffs are another factor that has thrown a wrench in students’ educational plans.

“I lost my job waiting tables last month,” said John Doe, a political science major from Yerington. “Not sure what I am going to do now.”

Cooper Johnson is an 18 year old, sophomore student from Gardnerville, Nevada that is currently attending the University of Nevada Reno and believes wholeheartedly in taking something you do for fun and turning it into something you do to make a living.

His major at the university is advertising with an emphasis on digital media and he wants to be able to design anything that a potential employer may need.

“Making a hobby a career is the best thing you can do.” Cooper said during an interview on Monday.

Cooper currently works for the Inkblot at UNR, which does all the tier one funding graphic design projects on campus. He also works as a disc jockey for weddings and other events on the side, as well as free lance work in graphic design.

Cooper’s goal is to have a long career as a free lance graphic designer that controls his own workflow. He is currently satisfied with his job, but would, love to be his own boss.

“Graphic design can be portrayed in so many different mediums”, said Cooper, so there isn’t a specific medium that he wants to work with.

As of now Cooper really enjoys what he does and is mainly looking to advance his skills and earn a college degree to show potential employers that he is well versed in graphic design, a field that is a growing job market.  He hopes that he can hone his skills and keep abreast in the ever changing and advancing world of technology that his career field centers around.

-A 22-year-old, male, UNR student was shot on Wednesday while walking his dog on the corner of Fourth Street and Lake Street police said.

-Reno Fire Department responded to a non-injury fire at the Meadowood Mall on Wednesday where the Sakura Health Spa burned to the ground.

-A boat with 116 passengers overturned on the Reese River near Battle Mountain, Wednesday, killing all aboard state officials said.

-A gang fight occurred Wednesday night in Sparks where  20 gang members were arrested during a territory dispute, police said.

-A small group of Sparks boys who ate butterflies while imitating a reality television show were admitted to a Reno hospital on Wednesday.

-The results of an investigation of a Fallon cancer cluster were inconclusive, Federal scientists said in a report released on Wednesday.

From 1890 until it closed in 1980, the Stewart Indian School in Carson City was the only off-reservation boarding school in Nevada for Native American children. Children from Nevada and throughout the West were forced to attend the institution through secondary school age. Students came from many tribes including the Nevada-based Washoe and Paiute tribes, as well as Hopi, Apache, Pima, Mohave, Walapai, Ute, and others.

In 1888 the Nevada Legislature passed a bill that authorized the sale of bonds to purchase land for an Indian boarding school. Once purchased, the land was conveyed to the Bureau of Indian Affairs who established the boarding school to train and educate Indian children with the ultimate goal of assimilation.

“Listen to an interview with Daisy Smith:”

The campus began with a Victorian-style wood framed dormitory and school house. As enrollment increased, new buildings included shops for training, a hospital, and a recreation room. A Virginia and Truckee Railroad stop was established by 1906 to deliver supplies and facilitate transporting students to and from the school. By 1919, 400 students attended the school.

Classes included reading, writing, and arithmetic but focused on vocational training in various trades, agriculture, and the service industry. Classes offered for boys included ranching and farming, mechanics, woodworking, painting, and carpentry. Students learned stone masonry from their teachers, including Hopi stone masons, and helped to construct more than 60 native stone buildings on the campus.

Stewart girls attended classes in baking, cooking, sewing, laundry, and practical nursing. Much of the school’s basic needs were supplied by students’ products or fulfilled by their newly acquired skills. Vocational training remained the school’s principal focus until a shift to academics occurred in the late 1960’s.

The Stewart Indian School was initially intended to assimilate the young people into mainstream American culture. Policies prohibiting speaking native languages and practicing native customs anguished both students and their parents. The Federal policy toward American Indians radically changed with the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, after which self-determination and self-government were supported.

1905. Organized sports began at Stewart Indian School in 1896. Teams competed under the school mascot ­ the Braves. The football team became Nevada State Champions in 1916. In the late 1920s Stewart became a member of the state interscholastic athletic league.  In 1937 a new stone gymnasium was built. Team sports such as baseball and football provided friendly interchange between schools and communities

Stewart c0ach Robbie Willis talks about the Old Gymnasium:

Stewart Indian School Band Marching on Carson Street.  In later years, the Bureau of Indian Affairs encouraged schools such as Stewart to let students speak their native languages and to promote classes in native cultures. Today, the State of Nevada Indian Commission annually hosts the Stewart Father’s Day Powwow, which presents traditional competition dancing, Stewart School alumni recognition, arts and crafts, special events and exhibits. Photograph courtesy Nevada State Museum.

Frederick Snyder, who served as the school superintendent from 1919 to 1934, began the practice of using colored native stone (quarried along the Carson River) for campus buildings; much of the masonry used in the vernacular-style buildings is the work of student apprentices working under Hopi stonemasons. The majority of the surviving buildings were built between 1922 and the beginning of World War II.

Text courtesy State of Nevada Indian Commission

Photographs courtesy Nevada State Museum

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