By Lillian Tucker

Just like the energy powder he created, Chris MacPherson is causing quite the buzz.

The Skyline 2010 graduate, along with his college buddy Andrew Linfoot, came up with a tasteless energy powder that adds boost to any liquid. So far the supplement has earned the two Purdue students a $10,000 award, national attention from Fox news and an investor for the new busi-ness.

And it all started with as a casual dorm-room conversation about caffeinated drinks, particu-larly the controversy caused by the popular alcoholic stimulant drink “Four Loco,” which has been banned in several states.

“People were buying up Four Loco and we were joking around about ‘why don’t they just put the energy pack on the side’,” said MacPherson, who added that soon after they realized they actually had come up with a good idea. “We were already big on energy drinks and knew which products on the market gave the biggest kicks.”

MacPherson, now a sopho-more in Purdue’s entrepreneur-ship program, and Linfoot quick-ly found that they could order all the ingredients that go into energy drinks over the Internet. Soon their dorm room became a test kitchen as the two tried out different ratios and measure-ment of ingredients like caffeine, taurine and guarana. It wasn’t

hard to find eager and willing guinea pigs on a college campus, said MacPherson. They tested the different energy concoctions on themselves and on friends until they came up with the right effect.

“Some of them had way too much energy - guys sprinted up and down the halls,” said MacPherson. “We realized it became a business when people came to us and asked for a batch of the stuff we had made the

other day.”MacPherson and Linfoot began

networking and spreading the word about their business idea until one day they got a bite – an investor had $50,000 and offered it to them to get the product out

there.Pure Kyk Energy powder

launched Feb. 8, MacPherson’s 20th birthday. To promote their creation, the two students turned to social media and offered free samples to friends of friends online. Word that they were giv-ing away free energy packs went viral via Twitter and within the first 14 hours the pair had 8,200 requests for samples. Pure Kyk Energy’s website was so over-loaded that it shut down and with a total inventory of only 50,000 MacPherson and Linfoot had to end the promotion. MacPherson estimates that 100 man-hours have already gone into filling all 8,200 sample orders. He even bribed his 12-year-old cousin to get in on the assembly line.

On Feb. 21, the two college students took second place at Purdue’s Burton D. Morgan Business Plan Competition and along with the honor were award-ed with $10,000.

“The student-led business concepts, both at the undergradu-ate and graduate levels, were among the most impressive and market-ready we have seen in this annual competition,” said Richard Cosier, Purdue’s Leeds Professor of Management, in a press release.

In order to devote themselves to their blossoming business MacPherson and Linfoot have become only part-time students. The pair pride themselves on

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ContributedChris MacPherson and business partner Andrew Linfoot pose with their $10,000 award after they earned second place in Purdue’s Burton D. Morgan Business Plan Competition for their new energy supplement.

Dorm-room recipe energizes entrepreneur‘s career

See ENERGY, Page 15

By Lillian Tucker and Warren Kagarise

The message from groups toiling to save a local fish species from extinc-tion is simple and stark: S.O.S., for Save Our Salmon.

Kokanee S.O.S. was the March 23 fundraiser organized by the Coho Cafe and Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery that raised nearly $10,000 to aid the diminishing Lake Sammamish kokanee salmon population. Money from the night will now be used to help pay for the emer-gency hatchery supplementation program that is working to restore the fish population.

“We are on the verge of losing the population,” said David St. John, Lake Sammamish Kokanee Work Group coordinator and chairman. “There is a range of things we are looking at and have to deal with. So as we try to make progress we need to also keep

our genetic stock.”In the program, experts deploy

along creek banks throughout the sea-son to collect fish in creeks near the lake. They then spawn the salmon at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, where the eggs are tended until the tiny fry can be released into local creeks. Despite broad participation by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, King County and the state Department of Fish and

Wildlife the kokan-ee spawning pro-gram — considered as a stopgap mea-sure for kokanee survival — operates on a limited budget.

“This possible extinction is literally happening right in

our own backyard and if a commu-nity as educated and affluent as King County cannot turn this critical situa-tion around, then I’m not sure there is hope for any people to protect a dwin-dling and important resource,” said Heather VanDorn, the Coho Café man-ager who spearheaded the fundraiser.

The rally to save the fish intensi-fied in October after the kokanee were denied placement on the endangered species list. In short, the reasoning for this, said Federal Fish and Wildlife Service officials, is because similar kokanee thrive in other waterways around the country.

Kokanee are native to the Puget Sound and today are functionally extinct in most places except Lake Sammamish and Lake Whatcom, explained Hans Berge, who has stud-ied kokanee for over 13 years, wrote his masters of science thesis on the salmon and now works as a fisheries biologist for King County.

Kokanee and sockeye are actu-ally the same species. But unlike the sockeye, kokanee are the only salmon that spend their adult life in the lake’s fresh water and never venture to the ocean.

File photoA boy examines a cooler full of salmon fry about to be released in a Sammamish creek.

Community rallies to save salmon

“We are on the verge of losing the population.”

– David St. John, Lake Sammamish Kokanee

Work Group –

See SALMON, Page 15

By Lillian Tucker

The Rock Star Readers from Samantha Smith Elementary School have lived up to their name by becoming the Northern Region Champions in the Global Reading Challenge.

The team, comprised of fourth graders Abhi Mantha, Anirudh Iyer, Caroline Oei and Ilana Poznanski and fifth grad-ers Elaine Zheng, Boyoung Yang and Russell Carmichael, first won the school reading chal-lenge by besting six other teams of its peers and then took first in both the east and west divi-sions before beating Shoreline for the northern region title and advancing to the Grand Challenge on March 23, where they finished third.

“I feel really honored to be representing the school and the whole north region,” said Anirudh Iyer. “Actually the whole team was nervous…we were really surprised.”

The Global Reading Challenge is a contest put on by the King County library system and local public schools to engage students in a “Battle of the Books” style challenge. This is the third year

that Samantha Smith has taken part in the program.

Hanna Chang, the fourth-grade teacher of Ilana Poznanski said that the teach-ers try to make a big deal of the announcement of the chal-

lenge’s reading list, which is released on the first day of school. The list is made up of 10 books chosen by the county’s children librarians that fit a wide range of reading levels and appeal to the interests of young

readers. Teachers form teams that mix fourth and fifth graders and boys and girls from all read-ing levels. The students then read the books in class and on their own.

“I think it’s a great promo-

tion of reading,” said Chang. She read some of the books aloud to her class and said the chil-dren’s’ favorite was “Escaping the Giant Wave” by Peg Kehret. “Whenever a teacher does a read-aloud it really gets the kids excited about the book and have a common experience.” Everyone got excited wonder-ing what would happen next to the characters, she said, and explained that the stories pro-voke a lot of class discussions.

The Rock Star Readers also often got together during lunch and practiced.

“They didn’t know each other before the practices began and now seem to be fast friends,” said the team’s coach and the school librarian Barb Regan. “They argue, laugh and put their heads together to come up with the answers.” They even, she added, have developed hand signals so

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Photo by Seong YangRock Star Readers Anirudh Iyer, Abhi Mantha, Boyoung Yang, Caroline Oei, Russell Carmichael, Ilana Poznanski and Elaine Zheng celebrate their team’s accomplishments, which include win-ning the Northern Region Global Reading title from King County Libraries.

Smith’s Rock Star Readers rock battle of the books“I feel really honored to be representing the

school.”– Anirudh Iyer,

Student –

See READERS, Page 17

By Lillian Tucker

From the wonderful world of pulleys to sweaty socks, the Discovery Elementary School’s science fair March 21 had some-thing for everyone. The elemen-tary students there were all tasked with posing a question, carrying out an experiment to find an answer and documenting the whole process to show off to their families, friends and teach-ers at the science fair.

Dora Versa, a fifth-grader, looked to her own feet to come up with her science project of fig-uring out which sock material is the most absorbent.

“Especially for me, I always get blisters on my feet. It’s because of sweat, my dad said,” explained Dora. “So, I wanted to find out which soaks up more.” To find the perfect sock, Dora and her friend put different socks in bowls of water, which repre-sented sweat. They then calculat-ed the amount of liquid that each sock absorbed and concluded that cotton stocks were best.

Erin Hiliker had always heard that dogs were color blind, but she still wondered if they pre-ferred certain colors to others so she devised a system to find out. Using her own dog, four of

her neighbors’ pooches, several different pieces of construction paper and lots of treats, Erin con-cluded that the dogs cared more about tasty morsels then the color of paper they came on.

Switching from living crea-tures to surface pressure Evan Sanders turned what he saw on YouTube into a science experi-ment.

The fifth-grader placed a bal-loon on beds of nails, each time changing the number of nails that pushed against the balloon’s sur-face. He originally hypothesized that the more nails he added the more likely it would be that the balloon would pop. But several experiments and many popped balloons later he learned the opposite was true.

“It was pretty fun just seeing if the balloon popped,” said Evan.

Second-grader Konik Mitra wanted to know if plants drank water too. To find out, he placed white flowers and celery in dif-ferent glasses of water with food-coloring in each. When the leaves and petals started to look like the color of the water, he knew that they did in fact soak up the water.

“Seeing the celery and the see-ing the color changing was the funnest,” said Konik.

Photo by Lillian TuckerEvan Sanders demonstrates his science experiment which shows that as the number of nails a balloon is pressed down upon increases, the chance of that balloon popping decreases.

Students find answers at Discovery’s science fair

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By Lillian Tucker

With five returning starters from last year’s state team and several promising newcomers the Eastlake Wolves are already off to a bright softball season.

“We had a great team last year and we have a great core of girls back this year,” said head coach Natalie Hardin. Already the play-ers have put a lot of effort into improving their game as well as building up their team work, she added. “With all that put together we should be in the top of the KingCo this year...It sounds like some of the other teams are look-ing good too so it definitely won’t be easy. But it will be a challenge and it will be fun.”

In order to make up for game time lost to the month’s hectic weather, the Wolves embarked on a jam-packed week March 19-23 and came out on the other end having won three of their four non-conference games. Eastlake kicked the week off on March 19 with a 8-1 win over the Auburn Trojans.

Pitcher Sophie Palenscar bat-ted one over the fence in the third inning to start the Wolves off on a homerun spree. After she rounded home plate to the

cheers of the team and crowd, Elizabeth Tracy stepped up to bat and answered with her own homerun. Before the inning was over Lexi Jaeger, who plays shortstop and second base, knocked out a home run of her own to give the team a com-manding lead that the Trojans never closed in on.

“I definitely think we will be a team to watch if we keep improv-ing,” said Palenscar. “Each day you come out you have to play better than you played the day before.”

The junior pitched the whole game against Auburn for six strikes outs. At bat she went two for four and along with her homer, had one RBI.

In practice, Palenscar said she has been working to better her pitching location and move-ments, and did a lot of weight training in the off season.

“It was nice to know that the work I’ve put in off the field has finally paid off,” she said. “My teammates really help me out a lot. Without their support and the support of my coaches I couldn’t get through it...when I am on the mound they are always there to

Photo by Lillian TuckerJunior Sophie Palenscar pitched her first win of the season on March 19 against the Auburn Trojans.

Eastlake softball claims strong start with 3-1 preseason run

See SOFTBALL, Page 19

By Lillian Tucker

Whether you believe tennis is a mental game or all about the perfect stroke, the Skyline tennis team has proven they are good at both.

The season kicked off with a non-league match against Bellevue, which the Skyline Spartans dominated 7-0, despite it being split between two separate days because of rain.

“It was crazy,” said team cap-tain and senior Alyson Opitz. “It’s kind of weird getting back into it; a lot of us don’t play in the off season. We are a very new team and I was shocked at how well everybody was able to compose ourselves.”

She added that even though many of them are freshman and they were all told how challeng-ing Bellevue would be, that each of the Spartans stepped on to the court with confidence.

The match began March 19 with the four varsity singles play-

ers taking to the court under gray skies. Before the final score was called the rain came down and forced Skyline and Bellevue to postpone the rest of play until a dryer day.

With déjà vu, the singles faced their opponents again March 21 and picked up, point-for-point where they left off. In the varsity number one position Theresa Huang bested Bellevue’s Sabrina Tu 6-2, 6-2. Ali O’Daffer won No. 2 singles 6-1,6-3 and Jasime Ye, No. 4 singles, beat Tracy Monte 6-2, 6-1.

Laura Parsons returned March 21 to the intimidating position of having to win her first set of the day in order to not lose her No. 3 singles match. In the end she came out on top 7-5, 6-4.

Varsity No. 3 doubles Kasumi Maeda and Kianna Bertolino won their match 6-0, 6-2 while Sonya Ye and Jinny Choi were on their way to taking their No. 2 doubles

Skyline tennis team drives home a 7-0 win over Bellevue

Photo by Lillian TuckerSkyline’s Ali O’Daffer volleys against Bellevue’s Karen Park before winning the No. 2 singles match 6-1; 6-3.See TENNIS, Page 19

Sammamish resi-dents Chris Moran and Aaron Kirby will be on the bill of a com-

edy show featuring Kermit Apio at 8:30 p.m. March 28 at Laughs Comedy Spot in Kirkland. Tickets are $10.

The Civil War in Washington Territory, this presentation will consider territorial atti-tudes toward race and slavery, agitation for northwest seces-sion, and federal suppression of freedom of the press, at 7 p.m. March 28 at the Sammamish Library.

Eliminate Chaos: The 10-Step Process to Organize Your Home & Life, in

this workshop, learn the steps to getting organized and leave feeling empowered to take action, at 7 p.m. March 29 at the Sammamish Library.

An Easter egg hunt sponsored by Re/Max Realty is scheduled from

11 a.m.-1 p.m. March 31 at Beaver Lake Park. The group is accepting food donations. The event will pro-ceed rain or shine.

Issaquah District Superintendent Steve Rasmussen will hold a series of coffees at high schools

around the dis-trict to discuss the district and education in gen-eral. The meeting at Skyline is set for 7:30 a.m. April 6.

Sammamish Family YMCA’s annual Easter Egg hunt will feature carnival booths, bounce

houses, a mini-golf course and egg hunts for toddlers and older children. A shuttle is available from Discovery Elementary School. The event is set for 10 a.m.-1 p.m. April 7.

Seniors Making Art, a free class about print-making will run from 10 a.m.-noon on Mondays

from April 9-May 21 at the Sammamish Teen Center.

To register, contact Allison Gubata at 295-0597 or agubata@ci.sammamish.wa.us.

A computer recy-cling event is being sponsored by the city of Sammamish. Bring

desktop computers and laptops, monitors (LCD & CRT’s) cell-phones, iPods, iPads, keyboards, mice, cables, speakers, print-ers, scanners, copiers and TVs. They will not accept DVD play-ers, old software, VCRs, CDs, microwaves, stereo equipment or appliances, Styrofoam, card-board and other packing materi-als. The event is from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. April 14 at City Hall.

Learn haiku during a nature

walk. Michael Dylan Welch, president of the Haiku Society of America, will join a guided nature walk and poetry writing session from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. April 14 at Beaver Lake Lodge.

Used book sale including children’s and adult’s books priced from 25 cents

- $1 and DVDs for $3 will run from 8-11 a.m. April 21 and 3-4 p.m. April 23 at Margaret Mead Elementary School.

The Sammamish Symphony will per-form “Requiem” by Verdi at 2 p.m. April

22 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.

Tickets are $30. Visit www.SammamishSymphony.org.

The ARAS Foundation will hold its annual bike drive to benefit

Ghana, Africa, April 29 at City Hall. Bikes can be donated at City Hall from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. that day. The group also needs volunteers to help prepare the bikes for shipping from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. To volunteer or donate, contact Mary Trask at mary@arasfoundation.org.

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March 28

Issaquah School Board meet-ing, 7 p.m. at district head-quarters, 565 N.W. Holly St. in Issaquah

April 3

Sammamish City Council meeting, 6:30 p.m. at City Hall

April 4

City Council office hour 5:30-6:30 p.m. at City Hall

Parks and Recreation Committee meeting at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall

April 5

Sammamish Planning Commission meeting at 6 p.m. at City Hall

April 10

City Council Study Session at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall

April 16

Lake Washington School Board worksession, at 5 p.m. fol-lowed by a business meeting at 7 p.m. at the L.E. Scarr Resource Center, located at 16250 N.E. 74th St., Redmond

April 17

Election Day for the Issaquah School District bond vote

April 25

Issaquah School Board meet-ing, 7 p.m. at district head-quarters, 565 N.W. Holly St. in Issaquah

Good Friday services — April 6

A community-wide Good Friday service, spon-sored by Sammamish area churches, is sched-uled for noon at Sammamish Hills Lutheran Church.

Sammamish Hills Lutheran, 4 and 7:30 p.m.

Pine Lake Covenant Church, 7 p.m.

Mars Hill Sammamish, 6:30 p.m.

Sammamish Presbyterian Church, 7 p.m.

Mary, Queen of Peace, 3 and 7 p.m.

Easter Services — April 8Pine Lake Covenant Church, 9 and 11 a.m.

Sammamish Hills Lutheran, traditional service 9 a.m., contemporary service 10:30 a.m.

Mars Hill Sammamish, 8:30, 10 and 11:30 a.m.

Sammamish Presbyterian Church, 8:15, 9:30 and 11 a.m.

Mary, Queen of Peace, 7:30, 9:30 and 11:30 a.m.

Community Church of Joy, 10:45 a.m.

Spirit of Peace United Church of Christ, 9:30 a.m.

Foundation Baptist Church, 10:30 a.m.

Easter services

PassoverFirst seder, 7:30 p.m. April 6, second seder, 9 p.m. April 7 at the Chabad of the Central Cascades house. Fee $36 per adult, $25 per child, but options are available for those who lack funds. Pre-registration required, visit www.chabadissaquah.com/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/846234/jewish/Passover-in-Issaquah.htm.

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Public calendar

To submit items for the Community Calendar, email to samrev@isspress.com. Items will be edited and must be received by the Wednesday before publication.