European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 22, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday May 22,1989 the stars and stripes pages John Jordan a so nine Al Heidelberg High school in West Germany edits a tape if inc rap group Chroni Cle performing an informative rap Down on aids. The school was cited this year by the National i Arents a Lynda Sparks teacher association Tor its education program on inc deadly acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Top Frankfurt student just doing the Best he can by Dave  education writer Frankfurt West Germany no one would have complained if Robert Skidmore skipped a third year of chemistry. After All the Frankfurt High school senior had Al ready maxed the advanced placement chemistry exam last year and Why take another Tough course when your class schedule already includes advanced place ment English College prep physics and second year calculus my family has always stressed doing the Best that i can do Skidmore explained. There Are times when it s easier to do less. Hut my family has always stressed do what you re capable of doing " Skidmore s efforts have hardly gone unnoticed. Ear Lier this month he was chosen As one of i presiden tial scholars by National educators. Skidmore and senior Tiffany Madden of taken Heath High school in England were the Only Stu dents from the department of defense dependents schools to receive residential scholar recognition this year. The program which began in 1964, recognizes students on the basis of academic achieve ment leadership character and Community involvement. Dan Holmquist who teaches chemistry at Frank furl High school said Skidmore deserves the Honor. When you fill out recommendations for Good schools they Al ways have categories top 10 percent top 3 percent and a category tops in your teaching career you can t Check that  very Oflyn and be honest with yourself. Robert got that  grades have never been a problem for Skidmore who has been accepted to Vale in the fall with a full scholarship through air Force Roth. The school s valedictorian has never earned less than an a in any course except for the b he received in gymnastics. In addition to his courses Skidmore. Who turns 18 on june 10. Has participated in Model United nations future business leaders of America and the student Council where he serves As treasurer. He also produced a newspaper called Ultima Tum a satirical publication that he said was the most rewarding experience in his three years at the school. Skidmore also is a boy scout and an acolyte with the episcopal Church. His Mother said that religious values play a key role in the family. Robert has always been very Active in the  said Mildred Skidmore the army Community services officer for the Frankfurt Community. We think the Church has helped build Strong Christian standards in our  Robert s father is col. Jack Skidmore resource manager for v corps. He has a brother Jonathan 14. Who is a ninth grader at Frankfurt High school. Robert said the presidential award was a justification for everything i be done inside and outside of the school. We hear so much about America losing the Edge in education that our students arc the dumbest he said. As a presidential scholar we Sec that is not always the Case. We must be doing something  As class valedictorian Robert is still trying to decide what to say in a five minute address before the assembled graduates june 9. Last year there were five valedictorians and they got together and gave different parts of the same speech. Three hours later All i could remember was that it was very very Boring. I Don t want thai to happen when i gel up to  Stockton Healing slowly after attack on school ethnic differences create problems in dealing with trauma Stockton Calif. Not during recess at the Cleveland elementary school children cower near the building so they can run for cover if the shooting starts again. Teachers scan the adjoining streets wondering which stranger is an intruder and parents gather outside the Chain link Fence worried and watchful. Four it months have passed since a de ranged gunman stalked this schoolyard with a semiautomatic Rifle killing five children All of them of Southeast asian descent. But Healing has come slowly to this ethnically diverse Community. The school District is partly to blame for the lingering problems some parents and teachers say. They say officials mis understood the extent of inc trauma and were slow to provide adequate counsel ing and Security. But beyond what some see As bureaucratic sluggishness is a knot tier ques Tion that absorbs the mental health professionals at work in Stockton. How can Southeast asian and while families be offered appropriate Solace and safety they ask when the two Cul Tures have needs and expectations thai arc so Oflyn irreconcilable what one culture considers help the other culture considers an imposition or just Plain bizarre said Mary Ainsworth a psychologist with the Stockton unified school District. Seventy percent of the 970 students at the Cleveland elementary school Are the children of Southeast asian refugees mostly cambodians who flocked to the san Joaqun m Valley in the late 1970s Dur ing the murderous reign of inc Khmer Rouge. Four of the children killed on Jan. 17 were cambodian inc other was vietnamese. After the slayings. There was concern that the shortage of interpreters would impede the psychological recovery of the refugees devastated by this new trauma so soon after they had reached presumably peaceful shores. But the language barriers while considerable have been less troublesome than other cultural differences. For instance psychological counsel ing which is commonplace in-pos1 freudian America is uncomfortable or incomprehensible to most Southeast asian families Counselor and Refuge essay. We would rather go to a Friend a relative a Monk said Sophan thong a Counselor at the cambodian Community a refugee Center in Stockton. You keep each other company Lalk about this. Talk about that and forget your  Diane Batrus who runs an assistance program for crime victims in the san Joaquin county District attorney s of fice said their sense of Community is i hair