Remembering together
Rachel Cavanaugh
News Editor
Rifle sounds could be heard throughout town last Thursday as residents from Klickitat County gathered on Goldendale’s courthouse lawn on Sept. 11, to honor those killed in the terrorist attacks seven years ago. The group also paid tribute to local emergency responders. At noon, local churches held an inter-denominational prayer session and sang, and in the early evening, American Legion Post 116 sponsored a memorial, which included the national anthem, an Honor Guard rifle salute, and a march with the flag-draped stokes.
“I’m not sure how many dry eyes were there when the stokes walked by...but looking out into the crowd, I didn’t see many,” said Police Chief, Rick Johnston, on Monday. Speakers included Sen. Jim Honeyford, State Rep. Dan Newhouse, and County Commissioner, Ray Thayer.
Making art from odds and ends
Funky fabrics and oddball contraptions are part of an exhibit this month at the Golden Art Gallery, called Recycled: The Gallery Goes Green.
Ten artists are featured in a themed display area, which includes perhaps the biggest crowd-drawer - a musical instrument-inspired art piece featuring wheels, horns, and a variety of odds and ends, by Jack Cantrell.
The piece stands several feet on the ground.
“I have seen customers’ jaws literally drop when they see it,” said gallery co-director, Beth Poirier.
Another body of work is a collection of colorful, ceramic teapots and dishes snatched from garage sales and secured to stakes, called From Yard Sales to Yard Art, by Janet Crawford.
Dave Berg uses a burl harvested in Oregon in the 1930s to make a lathe-turned container, and Dorothy Walter has a painting with a view through a window into a garden area.
Sandra Choate makes skirts and aprons from old denim jeans and overalls by cutting them apart and adding other fabrics and trims.
The artist and gallery co-director also makes sewing kits using men's old neckties.
Both Joan Crice and Arlene Larison reuse paper to create new artwork. In Crice’ case, she selected photos in certain colors from a magazine, then cut up them into dozens of smaller pieces to form a floral collage “painting.”
Poirier has a basket woven from old educational film strips, as well as a silk scarf pieced together from old blouses and shirts.
Other artwork includes old paintings torn to pieces and incorporated into new work with collage.
“We're hoping our art viewers will see that unwanted or overlooked everyday objects can be transformed with a little ingenuity and elbow grease,” said Poirer. “The results run the gamut from elegant to funky but one hundred percent unique.
The exhibit runs through the end of the month. The gallery will also host a flea market Sept. 19 to 20.
GEAR UP shifts focus to High School
ANDREW CHRISTIANSEN
Reporter
Goldendale’s GEAR UP program hits third gear this year, focusing its effort in high school as the three targeted classes are now in eighth, ninth and 10th grades.
GEAR UP began in Jan. 2006, in Goldendale, as a program devoted to preparing low income youth for post-secondary education. It is funded by a federal Department of Education grant. The track record for the program, which has been in existence in other areas for 10 years, is 20 percent increase in high school graduation rate over comparable students who are not part of the program.
One reason for the focus, according to Goldendale GEAR UP coordinator, Molly Fahlenkamp, is that typical high school graduation rates are 75 percent for general population and 65 percent for low income students. While low income students are the focus, the program involves all students, regardless of status.
One of the new projects for 2008 is the Link Crew, which is supported by the GEAR UP grant. Principal Clay Henry promoted the idea, which is active in a couple of other South Central Athletic Conference schools. The program provides incoming freshmen with upper-classmen mentors, to ease the transition from middle school.
GEAR UP covered expenses for Fahlenkamp and Matt Merfeld to attend three-day training on Link Crew, in Blaine. They returned and began training juniors and seniors in August of this year. The students conducted the orientation for 104 freshmen, on the day before school opened. Theme tours and fun activities were used to put the new students at ease in their new school.
Other GEAR UP projects this year include math and science initiatives centered around clubs for robotics, rocketry, and math. Lunch labs to keep students current on homework, and leadership recognition through Character Counts are continuing programs at the middle school.
Summer school programs for math and reading, a leadership camp at Chewelah, People of the Valley cultural workshop at Yakima Valley Museum, Power of Hope workshop for positive dreams and goals, and a visit to the University of Washington dance class were supported by GEAR UP.
Once the current year eighth-graders graduate, the GEAR UP grant will expire.
According to Fahlenkamp, organizers are trying to extend the grant one year, to cover the students’ first year of college, often referred to as a “shake-out” year. She would also like the current programs in the school to become sustainable, which is a goal of the grant.
With the program moving to the high school, middle school principal, Dave Barta would like to see the program continue, too. Barta credits GEAR UP with helping raise awareness of parents about the need to plan for college early. He also appreciates the program for its effect on kids.
“The lunch lab has resulted in huge growth in math,” says Barta. “Seeing eighth graders realize they can do well in math and begin to believe they can be good students, is great.”
Some things are easy to continue, like the leadership program, where teachers see the value and have said they will find a way to make it happen. Others are more difficult, such as the camps and the after-school program, which require funds. In the meantime, the measure of the program success is fast approaching. The first GEAR UP students should graduate in the class of 2011.
If initial progress is an indicator, there will be a bump in college attendance beginning the following fall.
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