Bella Benoit

Ryan Palmieri

By LYNETTE HAALAND
Four Points News

Three local volleyball players have had some impressive success at the 2017 Girls Junior National Volleyball Championship this year. Two graduated from Vandegrift and one is a rising senior.

The divisions from highest on down are: open, national, USA and American. Playing at this level and to medal in any division is challenging.

Recent Vandegrift graduate and four-year varsity member Katarina Mendez’s club team won the 18 USA Division on April 23 in Dallas.

“It was my proudest moment so far,” said Mendez, 5’10”. She started her volleyball career in Steiner Ranch with YMCA community sports at age 10 and she never stopped playing.

She was 2nd team all district and will continue her volleyball career at St. Edward’s University in the fall as an outside hitter.

“We are very proud of the 18 Austin Juniors Volleyball team Mizuno,” said Anthony Mendez, Katarina’s dad. “This age group has won this very prestigious National Championship twice and have also won many other tournaments. The entire team will be playing collegiate volleyball at various universities around the country.”

Another recent VHS graduate and Viper varsity letterman, Bella Benoit, won silver in the 18 USA division April in Dallas. She played on Austin Performance and left to join the West Point (U.S. Military Academy) volleyball team as a 6’3″ middle blocker.

“She loved her team and it was one of the best seasons of her career,” said her dad, Peter Benoit. “The club, her teammates and high profile tournament wins were so memorable.”

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Jason Dzubinski of River Place makes his way across Lake Austin in an inflatable kayak on his way to work in West Lake.

Avoids traffic while staying fit

By HADLEY HUDSON
Four Points News

In March, Jason Dzubinski decided to try a new method to get from his home in River Place to his job in West Lake Hills — kayaking across Lake Austin and hiking. Not only is he able to avoid the traffic for a couple of hours on the days he kayaks, but also he is able to train for an upcoming trip to Colorado.

“Earlier this year, I took my 3-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter on a canoe trip down the Brazos river,” said Dzubinski, who is chief operating officer at Westlake Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery.

He said it was during that trip that it dawned on him that water travel was not only possible, but a fun form of exercise. It led him to start looking for ways to cross Lake Austin on his commute.

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By KIM ESTES
Four Points News

Vandegrift High School will exceed capacity by about 10 percent this school year to house an expected student population of 2,630 in a facility designed for 2,400, said Cory Ryan, LISD communications director.

However, a recently proposed bond would expand the seven-year-old campus to accommodate 2,900 students. Prognosticators anticipate that VHS enrollment will reach 2,845 students in 2026 in the 2016 annual Demographic Update. But, the school is well beyond their 2010 forecast that said there would 2,175 Vipers by 2020.

Trustees are scheduled to discuss the bond proposition this week at their meeting on Aug. 3. They will vote whether or not to call for an election on the matter on Aug.17.

Meanwhile, as in the recent past and for the foreseeable future, VHS students will continue to walk one-tenth of a mile to Four Points Middle School where this coming year they will utilize 10 classrooms: six for Austin Community College dual credit courses, three for science labs and one for office space.

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Kevin and Lauren Foltermann in a recent family photo with Archer, 3, who had his last leukemia treatment in June, and their latest addition, Nate, who was born in May.

By SARAH DOOLITTLE
Four Points News

Archer Foltermann looks like a normal, lively three-year-old. According to his dad, Kevin, “He 03wants to go outside and play as soon as he wakes up and he enjoys his cartoons and toys… He is 100 percent boy, runs circles around us (and) is absolutely the happiest kid we know.”

Just over two years ago, however, on June 14, 2015, Archer was diagnosed with a childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), that due to his age was considered to be highly aggressive, with a survival rate of just 30-40 percent.

As his mom Lauren describes, there were few symptoms to alert her and Kevin to the seriousness of Archer’s disease. She’d been planning the 10-months-old’s birthday party when, “We thought Archer looked pale and then he started bruising on his legs. He was still playing and acting normally, but I decided to make an appointment for blood work.”

Before that appointment, Archer developed a fever and his parents took him to an urgent care clinic after hours. Doctors decided that, since they had a lab on-site, they would go ahead and perform the blood work. Tests revealed a highly elevated white count as well as depleted platelets (which allow blood to clot) and hemoglobin (which carry oxygen in the blood).

Doctors informed the family of Archer’s test results and had them transported immediately via ambulance to Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. His white count indicated leukemia, so the oncologist on-call was expecting them when they arrived.

Once there, “They immediately began to work on him. He was screaming and we had to hold him down so they could start IVs and get more blood to confirm his diagnosis,” said Kevin. Blood tests confirmed the ALL diagnosis and thus began the family’s two year saga.

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