August 19, 2009 A monthly section for and by kids and families. SECTION A LSO INSIDE C ALENDAR 25 | C LASSIFIEDS 27| R EAL ESTATE 32 2 DISPATCHES from the home front Meet the ‘Chicken Lady of Woodside’ ight years ago, when house, but husband Jeff told her EJeannine Degnan and she had to stop. Chickens may her family of four moved be sweet, but chicken poop is to Woodside, she promised her very, very messy. daughter, Emily, two baby Jeanine still has one of her chicks. original hens, a handsome What Jeannine didn’t real- Rhode Island Red named ize, however, was that once she Squeeky, but by now the Deg- owned chick- nans have so many chickens ens, she loved it’s hard to keep track of them. chickens. She Except that it’s not, because was fascinat- Jeannine knows the name of ed by them, every chicken, even the newly and wanted hatched chicks. more, and The flock includes: Squeeky, BARBARA more. Today Roxy, Peanut, Sugar, Spice, WOOD Jeannine Bisquits, Gravy, Charcoal, could well Lola, Jezebel, Sugarpuff, Fifi, be called the Tiffany, Penny, LaFawnduh, “Chicken Lady of Woodside,” (from Napoleon Dynamite), with a house filled with chick- Charlie, Katrina, Rolla, Cup- Photo by Michelle Le/The Almanac en-themed items; and a yard cake, Goldie, Ruby, Cornelia Tech camp instructor Daniel Finley and student Charles Pun (in orange shirt) watch the video-game filled with an ever-growing Marie (named after one of the production of second-grade student Raphael Li (right). flock of chickens. boats on the Deadliest Catch), Jeannine’s head is full of Shasta and Ophelia. chicken facts, her Facebook They come in all shapes page is full of photos of her and colors and breeds: Amer- chickens. And when she wants aucana, American Game some time alone, to decom- Bantam, Booted Bantam, Summer press from her job and family Cochin, Cornish, Buff Orp- obligations, Jeannine hangs ington, Rhode Island Red, out — you guessed it — in her Silkie, Wyandotte, and Barred chicken coop. Rock. games She’s been known to lock the The cartons of eggs Jeanine door to her upstairs bathroom, provides to her friends and open the window, and let one family are unique. The eggs Thousands of kids head for camps Students take a single course during a five-day of her bantam roosters fly up to come in blue, green, the tra- where they can design — or camp session, and are placed in a course based spend some time with her. She redesign — computer games on age and level of interest. The most popular used to let the chickens in the See CHICKEN LADY page 24 courses are gaming, both 2D and 3D, says mar- By Alexandra Baum keting vice president Karen Thurm Safran. Other Special to The Almanac courses focus on such subjects as programming, Web design, robotics, and digital video editing. n a typical, sunny day at Stanford Univer- A five-day camp costs $779, or $1,199 if the sity, kids sit at their desktop computers, campers stay overnight. Many kids return to Ofidgeting in their seats, as they anxiously take several five-day courses over the summer, await instructions from their counselors. she says. Ranging in age from 7 to 18, they are eager to Kids don’t have to have technology experience put the skills they’ve learned at tech camp into to come to the camps, but only teens are allowed practice. Finally, once the counselor gives them to take the more advanced classes in program- permission, the students turn to face their com- ming and gaming. A programming academy puter screens, open the video games they’ve been is a two-week, overnight course that teaches working on all week, and continue to “mod” — or advanced coding techniques, Ms. Thurm Safran modify — the original designs. says. Students create programs that they debut Throughout this summer, a total of about 2,000 to NASA researchers or personnel from a Silicon students attended the camps, conducted at Stan- Valley company. ford by a private company, iD Tech Camps. (The At a gaming academy, students use the skills “iD” stands for internal drive.) Each five-day they acquire to design a 3D video game that can camp hosts approximately 250 kids. be played on their own Xbox 360 or a PC. Stu- In business since 1999, the company holds the dents also tour a gaming studio to see how the Photo by Barbara Wood/Special to The Almanac tech camps at more than 60 universities in the Jeannine Degnan bought a few chickens and found she couldn’t U.S. and Canada, a spokesperson said. See GAMES, page 23 stop. Now she’s the Chicken Lady of Woodside. August 19, 2009 ■ The Almanac ■ 21 6A7:GID DC8:=:A9768@ 7NL:><=I 8JGG:CIAN/ 9>K:HG><=I>C ?JHI6CDI=:GG:B6G@67A:96N>CI=:C:><=7DG=DD9# At 13 years old, Alberto was one of more than 2 million overweight kids in this country. The good news is, he chose to do something about it. Since he enrolled in the Packard Pediatric Weight Control Program last year, Alberto has lost over 30 pounds and is now an active and healthy kid. Rather than focus solely on © 2007 Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital calorie intake and weight loss, our program helps families maintain lifelong healthy eating and exercise habits. In fact, Alberto’s mom was so inspired, she lost 12 pounds herself. Alberto is still headed toward his weight goals. The way we see it, his loss is truly Lucile Packard his gain. To find out more about the Packard Pediatric Weight Control Children’s Hospital Program call 650 -725 - 4424 or visit pediatricweightcontrol.lpch.org. AT STANFORD 22 N The Almanac NAugust 19, 2009 FAMILY ALMANAC Elizabeth’s ‘Pampered Petz’ S ummer games Eleven-year-old animal lover finds a GAMES way to keep busy this summer diversity of the courses. “I feel continued from page 21 like I could use these skills to get a job someday.” By Katie Blankenberg Pampered professionals work. Kes Rushing, a 14-year-old Petz is also The tech camp maintains boy from Woodside, has been his summer, 11-year-old great service a 6-1 student-teacher ratio, coming to the summer camps Elizabeth Chadwick of for people who Ms. Thurm Safran says. At since 2005. “I’ve always been TAtherton channeled her love work and need Stanford, around 500 staff interested in technology, so I for animals into a summer job. someone to members were hired for the thought this sounded really Elizabeth has always wanted take their dogs summer sessions, including fun,” he says. pets of her own but has been for a walk or college students, teachers and His favorite class is called unable to convince her parents just come and professionals. “Game Modding: Unreal to let her get a pet. Her parents check up on Jonathan Taylor, a 10-year- Tournament 3,” where he also love animals but felt that them during old camper from Woodside, can alter aspects of one of his they were not ready to make a the day. says that one of the best parts favorite games. commitment to a full-time pet. Elizabeth’s of the camp is the quality of The camp isn’t entirely sed- So, as summer was approach- various tasks the instructors. “I feel like I can entary. Kids take occasional ing, Elizabeth found a way include walk- take what I learn here and use breaks from their computers to be around pets and make ing dogs, feed- it outside of camp in real-life and play outdoor games such some money as well. Instead ing the animals, situations,” he says. as Ultimate Frisbee, capture- of spending her summer at the going from The premise of the camp, the-flag, and soccer. various local summer camps, she house to house says Ms. Thurm Safran, “is Only about 15 percent of approached her family with the to clean animal Elizabeth Chadwick with her client, Lily. to engage students in technol- the campers are girls. “We are idea of starting her own business, cages, and, of ogy, by allowing them to use making an effort to reach out which would involve taking care course, playing products that the professionals to more girls, and to show of other people’s pets. with the pets. work does not interfere with her use.” One of the main goals, them that they, too, can play Her parents, Mary and George After each visit, Elizabeth studies at St. Raymond Catholic she says, is for students to real- a part in the future of the Chadwick, were impressed with writes down which days she has School. However, keep your eyes ize they can turn their interest technology industry,” Ms. her business plan taken care of them, what she has open for Pampered Petz flyers for in technology into a career. Thurm Safran says. A and helped her bought for them to satisfy their next summer! Elizabeth intends Alexander Summers, a put her dream needs, and how long she spends to carry out her business every 12-year-old camper from The iD Tech Camps’ Web site is into motion. with them. She uses this infor- summer and is considering add- Menlo Park, says he enjoys the at www.internaldrive.com. Elizabeth mation for her billings and to ing a few employees. A sent out fliers inform the owners of anything to friends and out of the ordinary in their pet’s neighbors. Soon behavior. she was flooded Elizabeth does all the work, with business.