By CASSIE MCKEE, Four Points News

A little more than a year ago, Steiner Ranch residents Michael Heldebrandt and Eric Hiduke remember looking in their garages and thinking, “What are we doing with all this stuff?”

That question led the two to create a website known as ShedStreet.com, which provides a platform for neighbors to lend and borrow items from each other.

“We launched the site based on our belief that people can experience more without buying more,” Heldebrandt said. “Over the past year, we have proven that to be true.”

L-R Michael Heldebrandt and Eric Hiduke on a trip to Japan in 2012.

For example, if a person has an urge to take up kayaking, their choice is to go to the local sporting goods store and buy one or rent one somewhere. If they buy one, they may use it once and then store it in their garage for the rest of the year.

With ShedStreet, someone who has a kayak is able to rent it to neighbors, which allows them to try it out and decide whether or not they like it. They can then rent it whenever they feel like going to the lake.

After its one-year anniversary, the Four Points area alone, has hundreds of items on the site available for rent. Kayaks and stand-up paddle boards are among the most popular items, Hiduke said. Continue reading →

By CASSIE MCKEE, Four Points News

Many Leander ISD high school students have found that taking classes that earn them both high school and college credit while still in high school can mean huge savings on their college tuition bill later.

Through the Austin Community College Early College Start program, high school juniors and seniors can take up to two dual-credit classes per semester and during the summer.

Sarah Spradling, transition coordinator at Vandegrift High School, oversees the program at VHS and said students could potentially earn up to 36 college credit hours before they even leave high school.

VHS has a high number of students in program, which may be in part to the school’s creation of the “Early College Start Plus” plan, which is a sequence of courses designed to fit student’s schedules all offered at the high school during the regular school day.

“To take that many hours at Texas State University, it would cost $8,000,” Spradling said.

While a three-credit hour class would cost $1,240.89 with mandatory fees at Texas State and the same three-credit hours at ACC would cost $249, students in the ACC Early College Start program pay nothing except the cost of books.

VHS had 284 students enrolled last year in the dual-credit program, more than any other LISD high school.

                        2012-2013 School Year       Total Unique
                                   LHS                                          167
                                   CPHS                                        213
                                   VRHS                                        268
                                   RHS                                          183
                                   VHS                                          284
                            Total LISD Students                      1115

Continue reading →

Photo Texas Photography

1 Nick Breining MF, FORW Sr.

2 Brandon Leck D Sr.

3 Jake Nowak FORW Jr.

4 Stephen Guastella FB, GK Sr.

5 Cody Walther So.

6 Curren Kelly FB So.

7 Jackson Harris MF, STRK So.

8 Jeff Willoughby MF Sr.

9 Jakob Schnell D Sr.

10 Culver Sumner STRK So.

11 JT Lackey MF Jr.

12 Marcus Codrescu MF So.

13 Yannick Heard D Sr.

14 Jack Porch MF Fr.

15 Jacob Riedel MF Jr.

16 Austin Morrow MF Jr.

17 Alec McKeand MF Sr.

18 Santi Munoz MF Fr.

20 Luis Keetley MF Jr.

33 Chandler Marr GK Sr.

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By SARAH DOOLITTLE, Four Points News

Part three of the Leander ISD Student Wellness series was presented last week at Vandegrift High School. The theme of the presentation, open to all LISD families, was “Mental, Social and Physical Well-being,” which covered suicide prevention and awareness, positive parenting and avoiding power struggles, and body image and eating disorders.

Teen suicide addressed

LISD Director of Guidance Adriann Ivey teaches parents to ask if they think someone they know is considering suicide. Photo by Sarah Doolittle

Adrian Ivey, LISD’s Director of Guidance, opened the evening with a comprehensive picture of the factors that can contribute to teen suicide. Leading indicators of suicide include substance abuse and mental health issues such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Other groups are also at risk, however; for example, those experiencing high stress situations (major trauma, family illness), those with a family history of suicide and those considered to have a preexisting vulnerability such as LGBT youth (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender).

The risk can can be mitigated by protective factors. Social and family support, lack of availability of lethal means (such as a gun), and access to mental health services are a few of the components that can be influential in preventing suicide. As Ivey stressed, someone contemplating suicide will often do so for only a brief window of time, meaning these simple factors can be key deterrents.

Texas has developed its own suicide prevention and response program, found at  www.texassuicideprevention.org, the main message of which is “ASK about suicide to save a life,” stressing the importance of asking if you think someone you know may be considering suicide.

“Asking a direct question and knowing how to refer will help to save lives,” advised Ivey.

She went on to dispel a common misconception. “Asking a direct question about suicide does not put the thought in someone’s head. On the contrary. Most of the time people will report that it made them feel good just to know that someone was listening.”

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By SARAH DOOLITTLE, Four Points News

James “Jim” Casey is living the American dream. It all started in a small, patriotic town out East where his immigrant parents sought a better life. Jim made the most of each opportunity in front of him, climbing the corporate ladder for decades, moving 15 times in 20 years before settling into River Place after working for Fortune 50 companies.

Jim and his wife, Peggy, moved to Austin in 1993. They chose their lot in River Place, a newly developing community, because they loved the view with its sweeping overlook of the hills around Lake Austin.

Jim and Peggy Casey met at the Boston Tennis club. It was love at first sight.

“In New England — I’m not sure if you ever went swimming — I one time foolishly ran right into the water. And my heart just went like this,” Peggy gestures with a lurch of her hands.

“And the only other time that ever happened was when I saw (Jim) across the other side of the tennis net.”

Photo by Sarah Doolittle

Continue reading →