Thirteen Dowling students recently completed a class offered through the school"s special relationship with Tero International. Tero International is a company based in Johnston which teaches life stills classes for adults and kids. The Outstanding in Life program which strives to help children develop skills in the areas of personal communication, leadership, relating, personal effectiveness, and entrepreneurship.

The Outstanding in Life program was begun last year at Drake University and was expanded to Dowling High School last fall. Thirteen students recently graduated from the programs personal communication section.

Amy Duffy of Des Moines, said the class was very helpful. "They taught us a lot of things," she said. "We learned how to get out of a problem without blowing up." Mike Risewick was particularly impressed with the demonstration of how stress works. "We got in a group and they began throwing in tennis balls until there were too many for us to handle," he said.

On their final day of class each student gave a speech about what they learned. Nearly every student recounted their reluctancy to take a class that does not fall during regular school hours. But all of the students said they had learned a lot and we happy to have taken the course. Duffy said she thinks, "everyone should take the class.

Graduates are:
Brooke Alien, Des Moines
Eric Barnard, West Des Moines
Pac Cashman, West Des Moines
Taylor Cappola, Des Moines
Amy Duffy, Des Moines
Anna Gerleman, Norwalk
Meghan Menough, Urbandale
Theresa Murtha, West Des Moines
Mike Risewick, Urbandale
Jack Satterstrom, Des Moines
Kevin Sierant, Urbandale
Tiffany Summy, Des Moines
Nikki Vaughan, Des Moines