Some people are simply born to roll and coast their way through life. Ms. Karin S. is just such a person. Our first reliable record of her passion for roller‑skates comes from way back in middle school where she was more than just delighted to take the fantastic Creative Expressions class, made as close to perfect as possible by its even more fantastic Master of Ceremonies, the Legendary Mr. Christopherson. This great educator tells us that he would not be a bit surprised to find out one day that this highly talented athletic young lady was born with those skates on. So we feel that, rather than ramble on about her continuing success in the skating arena at the present time, it would be of greater interest to all if we instead delve into Ms. S.'s middle school past.

She got herself off to a rolling start in the class the very first day by performing one after another skating miracle, beginning with doing a complete round of the classroom on one foot (the other being held straight up in the air at a vertical angle) at ninety miles an hour (with cheering spectators hugging the walls and bookcases and the Legendary Mr. Christopherson respectfully hunkered down on top of his ample desk), and ending with a giant leap across all of the room's lined up tables (except for the large teacher's desk which was, of course, riveted to the floor to prevent its unwanted creeping across the room during those moments of really deep, philosophical thought when the great teacher sometimes had a tendency produce a powerful, rumbling, snoring sound).

Young Karin's skating ability soon became near‑legendary (the unqualified word "Legendary" being reserved, of course, to refer only to those members of that great and dedicated group of human beings who daily devote themselves selflessly to the betterment of the young‑-namely teachers). This incredible girl was putting on electrifying shows throughout the entire school year. She couldn't even go from class to class without displaying her skills. One example of this is shown by her quick rolling dash from PE class to her next class in the 500's building. This event would begin with an adult watcher (hired by the district to stand guard at certain doors, through which young Karin would be rocketing, in order to shout a warning to all within the danger zone that they needed to take cover just as quickly as possible) yelling "Thar’ She Rolls!" Then would begin that mad dash which had students (and even the occasional legendary teacher) jumping into bushes and trees outside, and climbing into lockers and doorways inside.

There is little doubt that the pinnacle of her middle school prowess came when she performed the routine she had specially designed for the Creative Expressions class that winter of 1993-4. The fact that she had dedicated this fantastic demonstration of her skating skill to the Legendary Mr. Christopherson brought near‑tears to the great man's eyes (fortu­nately, those extra‑wise eyes were not occluded by real‑tears since each and every person in the room that day needed all their senses to keep themselves out of danger's way). For this special occasion, young Karin had perfected a new type of jet‑powered, clamp‑on drive‑units for her skates which would allow her to attain speeds approaching Mach one (the speed of sound, or about 700 miles per hour). She had also, with her great teacher's full approval, had a banked track built around the room (using only a small portion, $98,000, of her $270,000 student project allotment, for which she received a special award for good budgeting) which became totally vertical as it reached midway up the walls. Young Karin's stated goal was to set a new indoor speed record.

That day, students, legendary teachers, administrators including the Extra‑Legendary Dr. Jackson, Middle School Prin­cipal, and other assorted guests (such as the Mid‑Legendary M. Lowery, Governor of the State of Washington) all gathered in the center area of the Legendary Mr. Christopherson's room where they were assigned seating on the newly constructed tiers of bleachers (within the immediate vicinity of the great teacher's immobile desk, all seats were designated VIP and were of the finest quality available, being reserved for only legendary teachers, out of great respect for these hard‑working, often neglected individuals). The three major television networks showed up, unable to turn down an invitation from the Legendary Mr. Christopherson, knowing that whenever that great person suggested a newsworthy event would be happening, only a total fool would miss out on a chance to witness it. No one was in the least bit disappointed!

Precisely at 1:00 PM young Karin, having completed her final preparations, fired up her jets. All spectators (except those few errant sixth graders who had wormed their way in to watch this show of shows and whose hearing was of a question­able nature to begin with) had been issued sound deadening earplugs, since Karin's skates were powered by pulse jets which were soon making a totally deafening roar, with their rapidly repeating BAM‑BAM‑BAM sounds.

The Legendary Mr. Christopherson had accepted the position of flagman with good grace and now waved the green starting flag and simultaneously started the stop watch timer. Young Karin began to accelerate as she opened up the throttles and was doing close to eighty miles per hour going into the first turn. By the time she hit the second turn, she was already traveling halfway up the walls, parallel to the floor, and had attained a speed of four hundred sixty‑seven mph. The growing whirlpool of air generated by her rapid circling was beginning to suck dangerously at the watchers (indeed, later viewing of tapes made during the event show at least two, perhaps three, light‑weight 6th graders already stuck to the ceiling in a spinning eddy of air).

It was just as young Karin passed Mach one, having now become a solid streak of color, moving so fast that the human eye couldn't make real sense of what it saw anymore, that things took on a new twist (it must be noted that the Legendary Mr. Christopherson's superior eyesight led him to take shelter under his rock‑solid, fine old desk just in the nick of time). The whole world seemed to explode as the sound barrier was broken. The entire roof was blown off the building and a terrific thrust of whirling air shot upward, drawing all spectators up and out in a long and exciting arc; a wild trip which ended with a watery plunge into nearby Spannaway Lake.

And, as we all know, this wonderful event was only the beginning of Ms. Karin S.'s exceedingly successful skating career which has carried her (and often numerous spectators) to greater and greater heights.