Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The Beautiful Creatures featured in the SL Enquirer

Here is an in-depth review of the Beautiful Creatures featured in the SL Enquirer, one of the preeminent news sources in the Second Life Platform. They like us. They really really like us!

Friday, May 15, 2009

The faint sound of trumpets, approaching the crest of the hill...


For the entire school year, I have been earnestly praying (yes, praying) for there to be "a new sherriff in town"--- The Honorable Scott Cooper is a judge. My cup runneth over. He is running for a vacant spot on our local school board. Here's what he had to say about our kids yesterday:

"Last night, I attended a meeting of the Crook County School District budget committee. This was the final meeting of the committee before it deliberates on how to cut $3 million to $4.5 million from its $28 million budget. Needless to say, the pain is real. This was brought home to me when I was visiting with a group of high school students recently who very articulately observed: “Everyone is talking about us, but no one is talking TO us.” I took it upon myself to take that message to the school board in my role as citizen (although I very well could have taken it under the Partnership under the banner of civic engagement.) The committee, especially the school board, was oddly reluctant to take on the meeting but finally agreed to do so.



Notwithstanding that, nearly 100 students showed up to speak. By and large they represented not the “jocks and cheerleaders” crowd, most of whom were involved in either a couple major out-of-town sporting events or away serving as camp counselors this week at the sixth grade outdoor school. Instead, those that showed up were but that group of students who perform at the middling level who are typically not heard from. Given the setting, the relative placement within the power structure of the high school of these students and the high level, highly technical, no-quarter-given financial overview with which the superintendent and business manager started the meeting, it must have been terrifying prospect for these kids to line up at the microphone to address their concerns.



But these kids were so motivated out of passion for saving the things they considered important to their lives and futures, that they overcame their fears and testified anyone. It was an awesome display of courage. Tears ran down my cheeks as I watched—not figuratively but literally. I don’t think I could have been more proud of our student body.



Their themes, some delivered passionately, some delivered creatively, some delivered succinctly but all delivered reasonably, responsibility and respectfully (the three R’s that govern student at CCHS) were clear:



They are aware of and concerned about the connection between trade skills learned while in high school and their career potential. These kids are not floating through life assuming the government or Mom and Dad will take care of them once they graduate. Many of them know that college is not in their future, and they know that they need competitive skills if they hope to find jobs and be competitive with a large pool of older workers competing for those same jobs. They rely on their high school to provide those skills from traditional vocational training to computer-aided design to public speaking skills to foreign language to give them the ability to find post-graduation work and they connect the loss of these programs with a diminished future for themselves.



They understand very clearly that they are the upcoming generation of leaders in their communities. They believe that without arenas such as extracurricular activities, school-based community service opportunities and the opportunity to compete on the athletic field that they will not gain the skills they need to provide leadership in their communities when they become young adults.



They understand very deeply and articulate well that success in core classes and the likelihood of their peers attending or completing school correlates directly to the financial stability of the school district and the well being of the entire community. They understand that creative outlets and athletic achievement make for well rounded adults and individuals and better communities. They understand that young people will vote with their feet if their schools are unable to meet their needs.



One girl stirred deep emotions when she explained that she lives in deep poverty and that the only thing that makes her day worthwhile are the two back-to-back drama classes she has in the morning where she can be someone other than herself for two hours each day. And then she added that she knows that when the drama teacher asks her some mornings, “Are You OK?” she’s the one person in her life who really means it. Humbly, she asked the committee not to take away that lifeline from her.



Two girls from FFA gave presentations that were so well polished and so well put together than none of us in this office could pull them off. And they talked about how when they put on their jackets and look in the mirror in their own minds they put on not just an article of clothing but the mantle of role models to other students. Take that away from them, and they simply sink back to obscurity with the rest of the student body.



Two young men from the NJROTC program described how the combination of military discipline and creativity expressed through choir and band class had given them purpose and direction, both in setting life goals and in improving their academic performance. Both have their sites firmly set on career goals of becoming music teachers—something that can’t happen if they don’t have a music program. I know the circumstances in which one of the young men lives. Without the motivation and opportunity that high school provides, his future is challenging.



A THIRD GRADER competently addressed the board and the room of 100 people and explained why her elementary school is special to her and why shutting it down would create discord in her family and her community.



A young man told the board that he couldn’t express in words his concerns. So he played his guitar and sang a song he had written in class expressing his angst over the diminishment of his opportunities.



For three and half hours this went on. It was one of the most compelling things I have ever seen in my public life, primarily because it came from such an unexpected place.



I came away admiring the courage of young people, the awareness that this generation has about how its welfare connects to the welfare of society as a whole and the passion that causes young people to be willing to stand up for something bigger than just themselves. I have administered public hearings for the past 12 years, and I can only wish that the adults in the community had half the skills and approach of these young people.



I can’t wait for the next person to tell me how our kids are underperforming in our schools. If anything, it is the community that is underperforming for its kids."



Scott Cooper

Director of Public Policy,

Partnership To End Poverty

521 SW 6th St.

Redmond, OR 97756

direct dial: (541) 923-9663

cell phone: (541) 420-1998

fax: 541-420-1399

scott@partnershiptoendpoverty.org

www.partnershiptoendpoverty.org

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Prineville Students to Present Poetry from The Nature of Words Creative Writing Program

Darkness and scarcity abound in our district, and yet...check out this article which features our students, as well as the great generosity from a solid local literary festival...

To Ellen Waterston, Margie Robberson and our Writer/Teacher in residence Jamie Houghton, we are forever in your debt.