Nonprofit summer camp gives Tualatin rebel push for new start

BecomeX will hold its program camps at the Tualatin High School campus this summer

By Jennifer Clampet

The Times, Jun 14, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Jaime Valdez / The Times

BECOMING SOMETHING — Kassandra Honeywell, a former Tualatin High student, proudly holds her high school diploma she earned from an alternative school in Pendleton. Surrounding her is (right) Tualatin High counselor Carrie Leander who first introduced Honeywell to BecomeX, a program designed to help build self esteem in young women, and (left) Anca Solberg, a public relations representative with BecomeX.

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TUALATIN – At the age of 17, Kassandra Honeywell is a former rebel.

Two years ago, she barely kept afloat in school. She avoided math classes like the plague. She had fights with her dad. She carried around the burden of worrying about what others thought of her. She had no dreams and no ambition.

Honeywell was in the middle of a life she didn’t recognize or want.

“I didn’t think I could do anything,” she said. “I was just there for the ride.”

It was a flier on a Tualatin High School counselor’s door that skidded her into reality. The flier advertised a summer camp that focused on directing young women to live their lives by choice rather than by circumstance.

The 2006 summer camp was her turning point. She took classes on self-discovery, fitness, communication, self-defense, finance, personal style, career development and lunch and business etiquette.

By the end of the weeklong camp, Honeywell’s vision of the world changed slightly. In her “I am” speech presented at the closing celebration, she talked about “flying to the stars.”

One year later, Honeywell read from her speech again. She sat in the same room at Tualatin High School where she first discovered the flier for BecomeX.

Tualatin High counselor Carrie Leander and BecomeX Community Relations Director Anca Solberg fought back tears as Honeywell read aloud.

“I am strong. I am beautiful,” Honeywell said. “I am and will be everything I want to be.”

Leander, who was Honeywell’s counselor during her time at Tualatin High, barely recognized the attitude of the girl sitting before her.

Last week, Honeywell graduated from high school a year early, earning her diploma from an alternative school in Pendleton. Honeywell plans to attend community college and then the University of Oregon to pursue an accounting degree.

Leander smiled as she noted, “We couldn’t even get her (Honeywell) to take math classes when she was here, and now she wants to go into accounting.”

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