Hello everyone, welcome back to another edition of Dog Dayz. I hope you had a good month and a great Thanksgiving with plenty to be thankful for.

This year I am thankful for my family and friends, God and the great community I live in.

The switch from fall sports to winter sports occurred this month.

With fall sports wrapped up, there are a lot of memories to look back on – plenty of seniors to be remembered and missed, and great seasons that will be hard to top. My football season came to an end in Bellingham vs. Meridian in the quarterfinals.

Soccer lost in a close one to Overlake after a great season and volleyball lost in districts. Cross country also had a great season.

There are some great athletes and great people that won’t be playing in the Bulldog uniform for these fall sports again.

As fall sports are behind us, winter sports enter the scene. This means basketball for me. Basketball is a huge change physically and mentally. While it is a contact sport, it’s not a tackling sport, but rather an endurance sport. With this change I’ve had to get in basketball shape, and basketball practice has helped with that. Games started at Eatonville. I am on the JV team and the only returning JV guy from last year, so we may take a few games to get in a groove. However, I am planning on us having a good season.

Academically I ended the quarter with a 4.0 GPA and hope to keep it until the end of the semester. It has been tough, however, because I’ve had to make up work from missing school for clubs and sports. I had my first FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) conference in Shelton. It really introduced me to the world of FBLA, which I needed, and I am preparing for the winter conference competitions in January or February.

I also have missed days because of Knowledge Bowl, which is always a blast for me. My team took 15th in the first meet and has two more meets before state. While it may not happen this year, I think making it to state is a great possibility for us in the next two years.

Also, the annual Food Bowl event just kicked off at the school and we are already making a lot of money. It is pretty special how our school and community can keep doing it every year. We have so many different fundraisers that at some point everybody in the school contributes to Food Bowl. From auctions to rock ‘n bowl and video game night, everybody has something they want to be a part of. I, for one, am participating in boy’s buff volleyball again this year. I’m on a pretty stacked team, and I think we’ll be taking the trophy this year.

Finally, I ask if you would like to donate to Food Bowl drop it off at our school and we will gladly take it from you. Or you can of course drop it off at the food bank.

Finally, I was fortunate enough to go down to Portland on the last day of the PK80 Invitational Tournament, and watch some fantastic college basketball. I saw Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State, Gonzaga, Florida and many more top teams in the country. I love college basketball, so this was an incredible experience for me. The tournament was celebrating Phil Knight’s 80th birthday, and I’ll be ready for PK81 if they make it happen.

I hope you have yourself a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you all next year.

Also, be sure to watch towards the end of the month where my youngest sister Audree will be writing the Simpson School column. She is excited.

Braden Dohrmann is a sophomore at Montesano High School. He writes about what it’s like growing up in Montesano. He participates in many school sports and activities, works hard in class and enjoys taking vacations with his family.