Clint Kennedy

Cascade High School is an unlikely setting for graduate-level science research. The Class of 2012 has just 27 students, and the science teacher brings his dog to school every day. But for 23 years, that teacher, Clint Kennedy, has been helping his small-town students discover how to do science that helps their community and the world beyond.

Through Kennedy’s advanced biology class, students plug into projects that have, in some cases, been going on for nearly 20 years.  Rather than learning science through a textbook, students do hands-on research with the help of professional mentors all across Idaho. They’ve also written grants and won awards that fund their work. “This is really science. They have problems that don’t have cookbook answers,” says Kennedy.

Take the Biocoil project, begun in 1994-1995 by the “Sewage Sisters,” four girls who tackled the problem of toxic algae blooms in Cascade Reservoir. It’s still going strong today, and a new generation of students is working to grow two types of algae to see which will be more effective for biodiesel production and removing carbon dioxide from the air near coal-fired power plants.

Students involved with the project will travel to the University of Idaho in December to talk with a professor who will help them use chromatography (a mass spectrometer) to analyze fatty acids, or lipids, in algae to assess biodiesel potential. In November, students involved with the longtime Thermus project went to the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls to work with a microbiologist who is studying brucellosis in Yellowstone National Park.

Another group of students works with Idaho Fish and Game to study why brook trout are threatening bull trout habitat in Idaho, and yet another group helps younger students learn about “Trout in the Classroom.” The most visible project of all is Fischer Pond, just off Highway 55 on the south side of Cascade. Over the years, Cascade High students have carried on the work begun by Idaho Fish and Game conservation officer George Fischer, transforming a trash-strewn pond into a prized community park with handicap-accessible boardwalks, improved fish habitat, and a fish-viewing window.

Not everyone in Clint Kennedy’s advanced biology class at Cascade High School will go on to a high-flying scientific career, though some do. But that’s fine with Kennedy. “My job is not to excite kids to go into science but to excite them about science so it will help them no matter what they do,” says Kennedy. “And no matter what they do, society benefits.”

Kennedy has the state science curriculum standards printed out in large type and posted in his room, yet they’re barely visible amid a sea of memos, photos, posters, and the many national and state awards that Kennedy and his students have won. This is Kennedy’s style: He says that while it’s important to hold students to high standards, it’s also OK to take detours, especially when it helps students find their own strengths. “ I’m a biologist,” he explains. “I believe in diversity.”

Teaching is a second career for Kennedy, who grew up in a Grangeville logging family. He was halfway through his senior year at the University of Idaho when he left to take some time to decide what he really wanted to do. He soon found himself married with twin daughters who were born six weeks premature, so he took up the family trade. “I logged almost 20 years to pay those bills,” he says. “I loved logging. It was good times.” But eventually, Kennedy made his way back to Moscow, finished his degree, and got his teaching credential.

Early in his career at Cascade High, Kennedy began bringing his dog, Keze, to work. His wife of 38 years, Marlene, has multiple sclerosis and can’t tend to the dog at home – and no one at school thought having Keze around was a problem. Eventually the big Samoyed passed on and was replaced by Sumi, a big five-year-old mutt who welcomes visitors and offers a furry friend to anyone who needs one. “This dog owns the school,” Kennedy says.

More than 80 percent of Cascade educators are Idaho Education Association members, and they worked hard to protest the bad education laws passed by the Idaho Legislature and put them on the ballot in November 2012. If you’ve seen the IEA’s slide show of the statewide marches and rallies from early 2011, you may remember a photo of people lining the highway as dusk fell in Cascade. They were serving as a “welcoming committee” for Tom Luna when the state superintendent came to town one Saturday night. It was midwinter, cold, and dark, but Kennedy and his colleagues showed up – on their day off, no less.

“Teachers just want to teach,” Kennedy says, though in fact most Cascade teachers also coach, counsel, and even drive a school bus.  “If we could eliminate the politics of the job, that would be most phenomenal.” But that’s not the world we live in. “We have to stand together,” Kennedy adds. “Union membership is our only hope.”

See more about the work of Cascade High School science students at http://advbio.cascadeschools.org/Home.html, a student-maintained website that documents the school’s projects dating back to the early 1990s.

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