Math department chair Forrest Davis is now a published photographer. The October 2009 photo for the wall calendar, titled "Inner City Outings, Sierra Club 2009 Calendar" is his photo (pictured left, to view the calendar, click here.)  The photo was taken last summer as youth cleared brush at Clair Tappan Lodge to construct a fire break.  Forrest is a youth leader for Houston Inner City Outings (ICO), an outreach program for the Sierra Club whose mission is to take disadvantaged youth into the outdoors.  

Forrest helped to organize the three two-week trips for 95 disadvantaged youth, who hailed from seven high schools in four states.  The youth went to either Donner Pass (near Lake Tahoe), Yosemite National Park, or Glacier National Park.  At each site, Houston ICO led two one-week backpacking trips, while the rest of the youth stayed back at “base camp” where a local agency provided outdoor "hands-on" learning about nature, geology, eco-systems, etc. 

Forrest led the Donner Pass trip, where he also led one of the backpacking trips.  Forrest assisted with advance preparations, making sure that everyone had proper food and enough camping gear.  “I had my food dehydrator running 24-hours a day,” he recalls.  He drove the gear up for the Yosemite and Donner Pass trips, then drove it all back down to Houston.

In addition to teaching math, Forrest is the faculty advisor for both the student newspaper (the Verde Valley Voice) and the school yearbook   He is also a sports photographer for VVS.

The most recent editions of the Verde Valley Voice can be viewed here.