Wednesday, April 6, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Students take on
Challenge Day
By erin Borla
Correspondent
Sisters High School sopho-
mores had the opportunity to
participate in Challenge Day
last month. This program, a
nonprofit based in the San
Francisco Bay area, helps
young people connect through
powerful, life-changing pro-
grams in their schools and
communities.
The program on a larger
level is designed for grades
7-12 and uses highly interac-
tive and energetic activities
run by two trained leaders.
Facilitators guide 100 youth
and 25 adults through a care-
fully designed model of ways
people separate from each
other and identify tools to
create connection and build
community.
“We are working on ways
to treat each other with dignity
and respect,” said Sisters High
School Principal Joe Hosang.
“We wanted to build a com-
munity here at the high school
within each class. We’ve
hosted Challenge Days before,
and there is an emphatic buzz
that happens for weeks after.”
According to the non-
profit’s website, the six-and-
a-half-hour program works
to create trust and connec-
tion by helping students step
out of their comfort zone.
Throughout the day partici-
pants begin to recognize ste-
reotypes and labels that exist
among them and discuss
the healthy expression of
emotions.
“For me the step over the
line (activity) was the most
impactful part of the day,”
said sophomore Cassidy
Ling-Scott. “The leader of
Challenge Day would say
something, and if it was
true for you you step across
the line and turn and face
everyone who hadn’t crossed
over. As an example, if the
leader said ‘step across the
line if you are under 18 years
old’ then the sophomores
would step across and face
the adults. During this activ-
ity the questions dove into the
hardships some people may
have experienced already in
life, including death in the
family, someone close hav-
ing an addiction, or parents
divorcing.
“Stepping across the line
and seeing that you were not
the only one who had experi-
enced whatever the leader had
said was really impactful for
me,” Ling-Scott continued. “If
I didn’t step over the line for a
certain hardship then seeing
people who did really made
me feel for them and helped
me to understand new things
about the people in my class.”
Challenge Day is one
of the most requested
from all of our students.
— Principal Joe hosang
Challenge Day teaches
students to “Be the Change”
in their school or community.
It incorporates their formula
for change — encouraging
students to notice, choose,
and act. Students who partici-
pated in the program left the
room inspired to seek ways to
contribute to the creation of a
positive school environment.
This year’s Challenge
Day at Sisters High School
was supported in part by The
Roundhouse Foundation and
other funds from the Oregon
Community Foundation.
“Challenge Day is one of
the most requested from all of
our students,” said Hosang.
TREATING SPORTS
INJURIES
Children & Adults
Three Sisters Chiropractic
270 S. Spruce St., Sisters
Dr. Inice Gough, DC, 541.549.3583
ThreeSistersChiropractic.com
Of a certain age...
By Diane Goble
Columnist
In some cultures, those
who reach a certain age qui-
etly walk way from their
villages and go off to die so
they won’t be a burden to
their family. I’d like to think
we’ve risen above that in
this day and age, but here I
find myself approaching that
certain age living in Sisters,
where it seems, though
unspoken, that’s pretty much
what’s expected.
We have developers here
who only think on the large
scale and argue over pittances
instead of asking people what
they want and making it hap-
pen. When I talk to my senior
friends and neighbors, they
lament over feeling they will
be forced to leave family and
friends, and regular activities
to seek housing elsewhere,
alone among strangers.
When we talk about our
housing needs, it’s for one-
story, smaller units at afford-
able rents for seniors on fixed
incomes. We talk about tiny
houses, studio or one-bed-
room apartments, not three-
story facilities with amenities
for a hundred residents. But
what we need is not profit-
able for the developers.
Those of us in our 70s,
80s and 90s do just fine
living independently at
Tamarack Village but these
are two- and three-bedroom
apartment homes and they
keep raising the rents until
they’ve become unafford-
able for single seniors. But
there is no where else to go
in Sisters. These are better
suited to growing young fam-
ilies who hope to find jobs
and populate our schools and
become homeowners.
The waiting list is a year
long because we have no
other housing options.
People are aging better
than they did years ago. We
eat healthier, we exercise,
we’re active, some of us still
have jobs, a lot of us do vol-
unteer work. We visit our
doctor regularly and catch
things early so we’re not
sickly. We don’t so much
need assisted living as to help
each other and if we have
elder communities of small
units, we’re more likely to
carpool, share community
meals, share coupons and
buy in bulk, spend less time
alone, stay involved in the
community, mentor young
people, be useful.
When I moved into
Tamarack Village, I was
told they couldn’t raise the
rent on my unit ... a good
thing because my rent was
already 50 percent of my
income. I’m one of those
“rent-burdened” people you
may have read about. It’s
my own fault. I choose help-
ing others over accumulating
wealth and possessions. Not
that I expect a reward, but
to become homeless at this
point seems cruel and exces-
sive punishment in return for
pursuing a spiritual path over
material goals.
I told the affordable-hous-
ing people last month that
Quality Truck-mounted
CARPET CLEANING
n
Quality Cleaning 13 years i
s!
Reasonable Prices Sister
ENVIROTECH
541-771-5048
11
I was 30 days from being
homeless if they raised my
rent. So guess what? They
raised my rent! It didn’t go
up much, but at the same
time my auto insurance
went up, my health insur-
ance premium went up, my
internet service went up and
my Social Security didn’t.
If I didn’t work odd jobs
to earn extra money, I’d be
gone already. I’ll be 75 in a
few months, how much lon-
ger will I be able to keep that
up?
Now, I realize that this is
happening all over Oregon
between gentrification and
the retiring rich folks from
the south moving up here to
take advantage of the lower
cost of living, abundance of
water, and wide open spaces,
but they seem to have no
regard for history or com-
munity or the natives. It’s
like Columbus discovering a
new land to exploit and wip-
ing out the natives and their
culture all over again.
It’s really a loss to Sisters
that people who have con-
tributed to the town’s vital-
ity and appeal as workers,
as volunteers, as mentors,
as caregivers, have to move
on by a certain age. Have
we outlived our usefulness
just because we can’t keep
up with the cost of living in
Sisters?
STRESS?
We can help you!
Sisters Acupuncture
Julia
l WielandTSmith
l d S h L.Ac.,
A LMT
T
Greg Wieland L.Ac.
521T523T1523
352 E. Hood Ave., Ste. E
Licensed • Bonded • Insured • CCB#181062
— Licensed since 1989 —
RESIDENTIAL • COMMERCIAL
Experience Counts!
SPRING SALE!
15 to 40%
OFF!
Selected men’s
and women’s
items!
541-549-6451 | ShopDixies.com
100 E. Cascade Ave. | Sisters, Oregon