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Wednesday, May 27, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Learning life skills in the garden
By diane goble
Correspondent
They love to work, to learn
and to help others. That’s the
spirit of Sisters High School
Special Education teacher
Josh Nordell’s Life Skills
class as his students spend
time each day working,
learning, and having fun out-
side the classroom.
Nordell and educational
assistant Sherri Hermens
have been leading this class
for the past four years and
have seen great progress
among their students with
teamwork, social skills, and
problem-solving. It is their
hope these motivated young
people will be able to live
independently and find jobs
to help support themselves
after high school.
The group starts each
week at Outlaw Martial Arts
with a class in Adaptive
Taekwondo with Marty
Kaczmarek. On Tuesdays,
the school bus takes them
to the community garden in
front of Sisters Airport where
Marvin Benson teaches
the students about plant-
ing and growing their own
food.
This week he had them
filling in a 20-foot-long
trench that was dug to bring
power lines into the newly
completed greenhouse to run
the lights and cooling fans,
watering and pollinating the
plants they planted inside
the greenhouse, and planting
tomato plants along the fence
line. “I teach them to care
about what they plant in their
garden,” Benson says, “and
about the pride and satisfac-
tion that comes from bring-
ing food from their garden to
the table.” Benson has also
started teaching them wood-
working skills in his Intarsia
workshop.
On Wednesdays, each
student gets to be the chef
for the week at Sisters High
School culinary class. The
chef learns to shop at Ray’s
for the ingredients on the
shopping list and prepare
a meal for the group. On
Thursdays they get to do
their favorite thing, play
golf at Aspen Lakes Golf
Course.
At other times, they may
be at Sisters Athletic Club
where they clean the exercise
machines and get the room
ready for the next class, at
Melvin’s or Ray’s where
they help with stocking and
REMEMBERInG
Continued from page 1
photo by diane goble
Sisters students at work in the community garden.
cleaning displays, or at City
Hall where they help clean
up around the office and
chambers. In all cases, they
get to interact with a vari-
ety of people, learn potential
job skills, and practice their
social skills.
In the future, Nordell
hopes to connect his class
with Harmony Farms, an
animal rescue shelter, and
Mustangs to the Rescue
where wild and abandoned
horses are rehabilitated. If
you have a business or a
nonprofit that could use a
little extra help or if you
have special skills you’d
like to share with these eager
learners, call Josh Nordell
at 541-549-3194 to make
arrangements.
Nordell says, “It would
be great if we could continue
these activities during the
summer, but right now there
are no funds for a summer
program for these special
students.”
Contact him if you have
any ideas for developing a
summer life skills program
or fundraising.
cohesion that was generated
in training among people of
disparate backgrounds.
“Without exception, every
one of those crews worked
together like they’d known
each other for years,” he said.
Williams reflected rue-
fully on the fate of his unit’s
new planes when they reached
their theater of operations.
“We took our new, shiny
airplanes to Wales, where we
promptly lost them,” he said.
“All the old-timers said, ‘we’ll
take the new stuff; you’ll take
what’s left.’”
Williams had two brothers
in World War II, and several
sons and nephews served in
the military during the Viet-
nam War. A total of 11 family
members contributed a total of
more than 50 years of service.
Williams continues to
serve, now working as a volun-
teer with Habitat for Humanity.
The observances concluded
with the traditional playing
of “Taps” by Boy Scout Seth
Roy. Lance Trowbridge and
Earl Schroeder raised the
American flag from its post
at half-staff and invited the
attendees to join in a barbe-
cue, reflecting on the service
and sacrifice of so many over
so many decades.
Bear Mountain Fire
• Tree Trimming • Hazard Removal • Thinning
• Mowing • MautiGating • Foreutry Conuulting
• Grantu • Fuelu ReduGtion
• PreuGribed Fire • Fire Suppreuuion
Your trees are a precious resource and a big part
of your quality of life in Sisters Country. Yet they
face many threats. This is likely to be a dangerous
wildfire season, and you’ll want to make sure you
have created your defensible space — thinning
stands, eliminating ladder fuels.
Bear Mountain Fire has been helping Sisters
Country property owners large and small for many,
many years. From creating fuel and land manage-
ment plans for larger properties, and securing grant
funds for projects, to taking out hazard trees, Bear
Mountain Fire has the experience and expertise
to help you maintain a healthy landscape on your
property.
Drought conditions are creating stresses on
trees, making them more vulnerable to insect infes-
tation. Once a tree has beetles, it must be taken
care of quickly — taken down and removed — to
protect your other trees.
Have Bear Mountain Fire do an assessment, and
know that your beautiful trees are in good hands.
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