Tony Overman/The Olympian
Brad Whaley (center) volunteers his time to many causes, including the Boy Scouts, Junior Achievement and youth sports teams. Here Whaley works with Boy Scouts (from left) Ben Hales, Ben Draleau and Adam Anderson as they reconfigure the controls of an electronic toy so disabled children can use it.

Engineer shows youths value of service

RUTH LONGORIA, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- A love of children prompts Brad Whaley to a wealth of community service activities.

Whaley, 34, volunteers at his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his children's school, McKenny Elementary, and the YMCA.

"Brad loves kids; he'll do coaching or anything because he really enjoys working with kids," Whaley's wife, Lisa, said.

Whaley is an electrical engineer at the Intel Corp. Three years ago, Whaley was transferred from Chandler, Ariz., to the Dupont facility.

Whaley has become involved in several activities since moving to Olympia. He coaches beginner basketball, T-ball and soccer with elementary school children at the YMCA.

He also works with Intel's Junior Achievement program and promotes fun educational activities in middle schools.

In addition to being a Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 418, Whaley takes young people on camping and canoeing trips through the LDS church.

Prior to moving to Olympia, while he was a student at the University of Arizona, Whaley worked with an electronics club to reconfigure electrical toys for disabled children.

Whaley uses the same technology to teach young men in his Boy Scout troop to make toys.

"Sometimes it means making big buttons and switches that the kids can use from their wheelchair or on a table near them," Whaley said.

"It costs a fortune to buy these toys -- they're called adaptive toys -- but with a little work, we can make them," he said.

The adaptive toys project has been successful with his Scout troop, he said.

"It's rare to find an activity helping people that's fun. A lot of projects the kids get bored, but the Scouts love this stuff. It's a good project because it's high-action fun and it's useful," he said.

Some of the toys that Whaley and his Scouts have made are used in Kristi Ramey's special education class at McKenny Elementary School.

Ramey said she appreciates all of the time and energy Whaley puts into the toys and other projects for the school.

"Brad is very serious and knowledgeable about the things he does; he's a good parent, and very involved with his own children and the kids he works with," Ramey said.

"If I ever need anything fixed, he does it or gets his Scouts to do it," she said. "He's done a lot for McKenny and a lot for the community."

Ruth Longoria writes for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5435.

To suggest an individual or community group for spotlight as a Pacesetter, write to Jerre Redecker, The Olympian, P.O. Box 1219, Olympia, WA 98507. Include your nominee's specific accomplishment.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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