Tracks to ‘26: Now in grade nine, students answer annual questions

Jack Miller, Diego Bustos, and Nicholas Tuttle live in Hood River; Jayden Evans in Cascade Locks; Sophia Rodriguez in Odell; and Jess Aubert in Parkdale.

For most of these now 15-year-olds, childhood ways are turning to approaches to adulthood: Milestones or developments including learners’ permits, athletic physicals, quinceañeras, hunting licenses, and at least one body piercing.

For the first time, one of the Tracksters mentioned retirement; another expressed worry about losing a family member. We pared out a question or two and added two others, but one constant has been “What do you think of the future?” As yet, few have much to say about that, but college and “some kind of job” are thoughts that have settled in.

No question ever asked in the past nine years has dealt expressly with trauma, health problems, family difficulties and other painful human realities. Yet hints of such things emerge. Dyslexia continues as a learning challenge for Nicholas Tuttle. Jayden Evans (who we knew for the first eight years as Trinity) continues his transition from being biologically a female to a male. Jayden reports “not a lot new about that” other than now being on birth control in part “as the closest I can get to hormone blockers” until he can afford the treatment.

Since COVID protocols in the past year have made children medically eligible for the vaccine, each was asked their status — with the option to not answer — and two of the six said they are unvaccinated. One said it was a parental decision (and a firm one) but given the choice they would choose to be vaccinated.

All six students report being in good health, doing well or at least holding their own in school, and generally enjoying life. Some have new interests or pursuits, but generally the youngsters continue with hobbies and activities they have enjoyed for years. All seem genuinely happy.

Three of the guys — Nicholas, Jack and Jess — are regular fishing buddies. All six have certainly grown taller, with Jack and Diego an inch or two taller than me, measured standing back-to-back.

A slight shyness comes out with most of the Tracksters as we first start to talk, but it quickly fades and they all make regular eye contact, smile as they talk, and laugh easily. After 10 interviews, I’ve come to know each for what they are: Smart and sensitive young people, open to new ideas yet content in what they know and have experienced. I sense constants in their personalities, and many of their traits are shared ones: Sophie’s wide interests, a quiet confidence in Diego, Jack’s readiness to experience the new, Jayden’s understanding of his own wisdom, Jess’s plain-spoken loquaciousness, and Nicholas’ cheerful frankness. On Nov. 15 we got them together for the first group photo with all six; seeing them together was a powerful experience, and an opportunity to thank them for sticking with Tracks to ’26 and welcoming Columbia Gorge News readers into their lives once each year.

(Former co-editor Kirby Neumann-Rea, who moved to McMinnville in April 2021, got Tracks to ’26 going and continues the interviews for Columbia Gorge News.)

Sophia Rodriquez

CGN: How is high school going?

“It’s going well. It’s super different, but it’s good.”

CGN: What is a new thing you’ve tried in the past year?

“I did cross country, I did it in sixth grade but I didn’t really like it. But I did it this year and I really liked it. My brother, Jaime, said, ‘You should do cross country’ and I said, ‘Why not?’ After all my races I’d Facetime him, ‘I just raced!’ and he said, ‘That’s cool.’

“I wasn’t sure but there’s a (summer) camping trip with the cross country team and I said, ‘I’ll go on that,’ and we went on runs and camped together as a team and it was so much fun I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m doing it.’ “I joined late because I didn’t have my physical. I improved a lot. It was a lot of fun.”

(Sophie ran JV; the girls varsity squad took first in district.)

CGN: Will you run next year?

“I think so but I’d like to do the musical. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’ve been in theater before and I’d like to do that.”

CGN: What’s a good thing that’s happened to you?

“I had my quinceañera on Saturday (Sophie turned 15 on Nov. 22). It was so much fun. A lot of people went, my whole family. We danced the whole night. It was fun. It really showed me how much my family cares for me, I know they love me but they all got together and they all helped that day, it means a lot, knowing that they’re there for me.”

CGN: What does the occasion mean in your culture, and for you?

“It’s like a step into womanhood. It’s like you’re growing up. It was sad for my Dad, he was, ‘My babies aren’t babies anymore.’ (Sophie is the youngest of six children.) It was like I still feel the same but I know that to other people I don’t look the same.”

CGN: What’s a challenge to you these days?

“I’m a huge procrastinator, which is really bad, for my classes. I always stay on top of my work but it’s always last -minute. I would say that’s a challenge, getting stuff done sooner. High school is a lot different because you can have classes with no one you know in them rather than at least one person, and that’s kind of difficult, you don’t know anyone and you don’t feel comfortable asking questions and things like that, at least at first.

“I feel definitely more comfortable now and I definitely like the teachers I have, which helps a lot.”

CGN: What things do you like to do?

“I like to run, which is crazy. I tell people that and they‘re like ‘You run for fun? That’s crazy.’ I really wish I liked to read. I do it sometimes. I like when I’m learning but I don’t really like actually reading. I wish I liked to read because it’s a great way to expand your vocabulary, and stuff like that. I wish I could sit down and read a book and learn like 17 new words.”

CGN: How do you define success?

“Success … I think by improving myself. If I went on a run and I ran it one second faster than I did yesterday I would call it success because I was improving myself.”

CGN: What worries you?

“I think my grades a lot, because I don’t want to have anything but A’s on my transcript. I guess that worries me. And maybe losing family or something like that. That worries me a lot. Because it’s something realistic, like it’s not something that could never happen, so it’s something that’s in the back of my mind.”

CGN: What do you want to do after you graduate?

“Oh, my gosh. People always ask me this and I don’t know. I think something in the field of psychology, working with people, something helping people. I think almost anything contributes to helping people.”

CGN: What do you think about the future?

“I think it’s near. Everything I’ve ever looked forward to happens in a flash. I remember counting down the days to my quince and then it was ‘Whoa, it happened yesterday,’ and that’s how it is with everything that happens. I think it’s going to come closer than I expect.”

Nicholas Tuttle

CGN: How are you today?

“Pretty good.”

CGN: How is high school going?

“Pretty good. A little harder than I expected, but it’s pretty fun. I like it. Most of the classes I have sports right after and I don’t have time after to do homework, but I’m doing good in English Language Arts, and math, and other stuff.”

CGN: What’s a new thing you’ve tried or a new experience you’ve had?

“I’ve been fishing a lot more, sturgeon fishing. I’m the only one (of the three) who’s caught one. I released it. It was just for fun.”

CGN: What’s a good thing that’s happened recently?

“I can’t think of anything.”

CGN: What’s a challenge to you these days?

“ELA, reading like it’s always been. Dyslexia has been harder, especially since I’m in high school I just gotta try harder and pay attention more. There’s not much you can do.”

CGN: What are things you like to do?

“Play football, fishing, baseball, work out. This summer I played with the varsity (baseball) in a travel thing. It was fun, it wasn’t too hard either, but there was one dude pitching 85 or 90, on another team we faced.” (Nicholas was joined on the squad by fellow frosh Trevor Jacobs, Tristan Baker, and Bodie Stueben.)

CGN: How do you define success?

“I have no clue. I never thought about it.”

CGN: What do you want to do after you graduate?

“I still want to play football or baseball, whichever one works out for me, try to get to a college for football or baseball, or find a job.”

CGN: What do you think about the future?

“Yeah, I don’t know.”

CGN: What worries you?

“Sometimes school, like if I’m in a sport and I’m not doing very well in the class then I can’t play the sport and it worries me. I want to play the sport and I don’t want to fail the class. It’s good right now. Not worried at all.”

Jayden Evans

CGN: How are you today?

“Pretty good.”

CGN: How is high school going?

“It’s new. A little stressful but it’s going good. Just the new environment, more people.”

CGN: What’s a new thing you’ve tried since we last talked?

“I don’t really know. I do have a camera but I haven’t figured out how to use it, the best use of it.”

CGN: What’s a good thing that’s happened to you recently?

“Before school ended I met my boyfriend, who I recently got into a relationship. We’ve been apart since the end of September. At first it was just a break, he needed time to get better for him and for us but eventually it just grew into us just not being together. It’s really hard but with time it will get better.”

CGN: What’s a challenge for you these days?

“I think that everything that’s going on with my ex. All the feeling, the overwhelming feelings and things makes a lot of everyday things harder, like school, makes everything a bigger challenge.”

CGN: What are some things you like to do?

“Most of the time I sit in my room and listen music. Sometimes I’ll go out for a walk or bike ride into the woods and relax. I don’t do it as much because it’s gotten a lot colder, but I do try.”

CGN: How do you define success?

“Doing what makes you happy, just being your true self and being happy with what you’re doing in life. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing or how much money, as long as you’re happy doing it, I think that’s what success is.”

CGN: What worries you?

“Getting older. I’m worried about not being the person I want to be and doing what I want to do, because I don’t really know what I want to do. I’m worried about never really finding the right group of people for me, you know, and growing up not really having anyone there. I’m also worried about not finding the kind of love I look for in relationships again. What I had with my ex was something I didn’t think I would have and I’m just worried about never having it again.”

CGN: What do you think you want to do after you graduate?

“I haven’t really thought that far ahead yet, honestly. I try to focus more on what’s going on now, so I can try not to get my hopes up too much, in case it doesn’t go the way I want it to, because I know that life almost never goes the way you want it to go. It feels like what is best for me to do.”

CGN: How does it feel to make that choice in your life?

“It’s gone pretty well for me because I feel like I tend to get my hopes up a lot. If I plan for something, and if it doesn’t go the way I planned I get really upset about it. I am kind of sensitive, I will admit to that, so if I do make plans for something I try not to think too much about it unless I know for sure it’s going to happen because I don’t want to get my hopes up and then not have it go the way I want to. So I just think about it just a little bit, and focus more on what’s happening now.”

CGN: What do you think of the future?

“I think the future is a little scary, honestly. You don’t know what’s coming, you don’t know how the world is going to be. It’s terrifying but it’s also reassuring in a way, because it may be fresh starts, new people. You might find who you are and it might be better than you first think. Sometimes it’s nice to make up a scenario about having a nice future, but not hope for it so much that it’s like drilled in your head that that is what is going to happen.”

Diego Bustos

CGN: How is high school going?

“It’s pretty fun. I like building my engine in agriculture mechanics. It’s a four-stroke. We need to get it to run fast.”

CGN: What’s a new thing you’ve tried since we talked a year ago?

“Building that engine.”

CGN: What did you do for fun last summer?

“Played video games. NBA2K, and hanging out with friends. My favorite team is the Bulls.”

CGN: What’s a good thing that has happened to you recently?

“I’ve had a lot of tests and I’ve been knowing what to do on them. I did good. Mechanics, Spanish, Health.”

CGN: What’s a challenge to you these days?

“I don’t like to do homework. I have a lot. My Mom, like, tells me to do homework, like every day.”

CGN: What are things you like to do?

“Football and basketball. I played lineman in football. For basketball we had tryouts yesterday.”

CGN: How do you define success?

“Doing good in everything. In school, and sports.”

CGN: What worries you?

“Grades, sometimes. At the beginning of the year I didn’t do that much homework but I’m starting to catch up now.”

CGN: What do you want to do after you graduate?

“I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about that. Maybe real estate.”

Jess Aubert

CGN: How are you feeling today?

“Good. So far so good.”

CGN: What’s a good thing, or in some way interesting, that’s happened to you in the last few days?

“I got my permit on Oct. 14. I drive almost every day. I was able to drive on the farm, just not legally. Now I can drive legally.”

CGN: What’s high school like for you?

“Classes I think are a lot funner. And it’s a lot bigger. The first week I got lost a couple of times but I got it down pretty well.”

CGN: What’s a new thing you’ve tried this year?

“I’ve been really into fishing for the last year. Trout, bass, whatever, under the Hood River Bridge near the Columbia. A couple of years ago I wasn’t too into it. I enjoyed it but now I really like it. Fly fishing irritates me. I’ve tried and it’s gone like five feet so I’ve just gone to a spinner rod. I got a bait caster. It’s on top of the rod and you have to put pressure with your thumb and I almost broke my rod over my knee a couple of times but I finally got the hang of it.”

CGN: What’s a challenge to you these days?

“Staying focused in class. I get distracted pretty easy. But somehow I have the attention span to go fishing. I don’t really know how that works but …”

CGN: How do you regain that focus?

“Reminding myself to stay focused, and like take notes of what’s on the board and what’s going on. It’s going pretty well. Sometimes I just wander off. The little Jess in my mind goes that way. It just kind of leaves the classroom.”

CGN: What are some things you like to do?

“Drive.”

CGN: Stick or automatic?

“I know how to drive stick but currently we don’t have any stick shifts but my first car when I turn 16 is going to be a stick shift. I learned on motorcycles, tractors. Grabbing gear. I like hunting. I haven’t gone yet this year but I have an elk tag from Friend. Near Dufur.”

CGN: How do you define success?

“Completing your goals you have set, if you have any, and overall accomplishing what you wanted to do, and working towards that.”

CGN: What worries you?

“Falling behind in school, because then that would affect college.”

CGN: What are your plans after you graduate?

“College. I think I’ll try to get my pilot’s license, either by military or, I think I have friends and family who can give me some tips, for lessons. I want to fly.”

CGN: What do you think of the future?

“My future or the future of everybody?”

CGN: You can answer the way you want to.

“I think I’ll go to college or flight school, commercial, or Air Force, and do that until I retire.”

Jack Miller

CGN: How are you today?

“Good, doing well.”

CGN: How is high school going?

“I don’t really know. It’s a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I thought everything was going to be harder. I thought there would be so much homework. I really get no homework at all.”

CGN: What’s a new thing you’ve tried in the last year?

“I have no idea.”

CGN: In terms of activities, same as it was?

“Yeah.”

CGN: What’s a good thing that’s happened to you recently?

“I really have no idea. It’s too early.”

CGN: It’s almost 10 o’clock in the morning, Jack. Nothing really stands out?

“Not really, it’s been… boring.”

CGN: What’s a challenge to you these days?

“Not blurting out in class. I do that a lot. I just like, talk, way too much. I can’t sit still for a long time.”

CGN: Do your teachers come down on you for that?

“Kinda, not really. I try to just not do it, like think about what I do before I do it.”

CGN: What’s an example?

“This morning, she told me to go stand in the hall, and then she told me like five minutes later I could go back in. I don’t even remember.”

CGN: How did that make you feel?

“I missed notes, so I had to go do them when I got back.”

CGN: What are things these days you like to do?

“Fish. With Jess, and Nick. And mountain biking, up on Post Canyon. Football just got over. The freshman team was 6-3. That’s really it, video games.”

CGN: How do you define success?

“By succeeding at something that you do and be good at.”

CGN: What goes into success, and how do you divide between success or failure?

“Work hard, and put effort into something until you know you’re doing good at it.”

CGN: What worries you?

“What worries me. I don’t really know. I don’t know anything that worries me.”

CGN: What do you want to do after graduate?

“Play football, anywhere. I just want to play after high school.” (At 6-1, 185, he opted out of basketball this year.) “I just want to be on varsity my junior and senior year.”

CGN: What do you think about the future?

“I don’t know…. I don’t care. I’ll be older. I’ll probably have a job, work somewhere, hopefully play football somewhere.”

‘Tracks’ talk: Geography lessons and words from the heart

Tracks to ’26 questions remain consistent year to year, but side-line conversations naturally emerge, of both humorous and serious natures. Here’s a few samples:

Jess was asked about two things he mentioned in 2021, starting with braces on his teeth. He said, “I have hinges, it pushes my lower jaw forward.” (He’ll wear the hinges until this spring.) “ I have an under bite. I broke the hinge awhile ago and had to get it taken off for like three weeks, and they said that will put me back another month and a half.”

Asked about center of dilation, a scale-calculating lesson from math class he spoke of year ago, Jess admitted, “I have no idea what that means.”

•••

Jess and I shared a laugh when he was describing the area for his elk hunting license, around Friend, near Dufur.

“You got it … for a friend?” I asked.

“Friend is a town, kind of by Dufur,” Jess explained. I told him, “Yes, thank you for the geography lesson!”

The exchange also saw a first in Tracks to ’26: Jess pulled out his cell phone in that moment to fill me in further on his elk hunt plans. Checking his phone he said, “I’m hoping I’m not logged out on my account. I may not know the password …” He finds it. “My Dad has one for down in the river bottom. I have winter one so it would end sometime … It’s from Aug. 1 to Dec. 31. It’s my uncle’s place so he goes out there and looks around and stuff. We have three tags. Me, my Mom and my grandpa.”

•••

Nicholas and I enjoyed a shared memory, of summer 2020 when a truck owned by Tyson Jacobs, father of Nicholas’ teammate Trevor, got some window damage from a home run ball while parked over the center field fence at Hood River’s Jim Winter Field. I was standing a few feet from the truck, taking pictures of the game that day and Nicholas was playing third base at the time. “I think he’s caught some, to save his truck,” Nicholas said.

•••

Jayden has been refreshingly honest about matters emotional as well as medical in his continued transition from female to male, but started off saying, “It’s going pretty good, not really anything to add. Nothing’s really happened.

“I did start birth control just to help with hormones, it was the closest I could get to hormone blockers,” Jayden said. “But next year once I get a job and start earning money I might be able to get my own because my stepmother has found a doctor who can get me those. But I don’t think insurance pays for it and we can’t afford it but once I start earning my own money we can start getting me the hormone blockers.”

Jayden’s preferred pronouns are he/they. I asked him how that is going with other people, admitting that when it comes to such things, “I slip a lot; you’re used to saying one thing. Are people respectful of you?”

Jayden replied, “Most people are, most use he/him, and I get it, but some people slip up, especially people I’ve known awhile like family members, which I also get perfectly. But yeah, lots of people do.”

— Kirby Neumann-Rea