Wednesday, June 8, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
7
Exceptional programs enrich students’ experiences
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
Despite tight budgets,
Sisters students have some
extraordinary opportunities in
Sisters schools — thanks to
community partnerships and
dedicated volunteers.
The Sisters School Board
heard about two of those pro-
grams at their Wednesday,
June 1, meeting.
Students of “The Dead
Programmers Society” (a
play on The Dead Poets
Society) offered up a presen-
tation on their video game
creation, which earned them
a “Best Design” award —
middle-school level — from
the Oregon Games Project
Challenge (OGPC) in April.
Ashton King (6th grade),
Grey Louvar (5th grade),
Taine Martin (5th grade), Ilya
Goheen (5th grade), Conrad
Irlan (4th grade), and Clayten
Heuberger (5th grade) de-
veloped their game “World
Traveler” over a period of
six months so they could par-
ticipate in the contest. World
Traveler used the popular
game Minecraft as a plat-
form; the students re-wrote it
in Java, also composing their
own music for the game.
The team also configured a
router at Sisters Tech Space to
allow for anyone, all over the
world, to access and play the
game.
The project took 214 hours
to build.
“There’s a way of learning
here that’s important,” said
school board member Stephen
King. “It’s not a teaching
exercise.”
In this endeavor, the stu-
dents set a goal, explored the
means to achieve it, figuring
things out themselves, with
support from their coach,
Tricia Louvar.
King urged his fellow
board members to push for
more support for the tech de-
sign program, pushing it down
into the elementary school
level.
“It’s almost like language
training,” he said. “High
school is too late.”
Sisters Folk Festival (SFF)
is partnering with the school
district to push arts and music
education down into the el-
ementary school level.
SFF Creative Director
Brad Tisdel and elementary
school artist-in-residence
Karen Williams presented
on the work students are
doing through the Oregon
Community Foundation
Studio to School grant
Arts and technology give students an extra boost in Sisters schools.
obtained by Sisters Folk
Festival.
Williams works with all
of the students on art proj-
ects, with an outlook that such
work is not “art for arts sake”
but as a vehicle for learning
critical thinking, creativity,
and student leadership as they
take on and teach to others.
School board member
Amanda Clark reported that
her own children have come
home enthusiastic about new
concepts they have learned
through the arts program.
The artist-in-residence
program has been working on
integrated arts curriculum in
grades K-8.
The program has created
a signature art installation for
the eastern entrance to Sisters.
During art classes at Sisters
Elementary School (SES),
artist-in-residence Laura
Campbell worked alongside
Williams with students in kin-
dergarten through fourth grade
developing a mural for the
school’s fence along Highway
20.
Campbell herself came
up through arts programs in
Sisters schools, with support
from Sisters Folk Festival, and
has returned to the community
to pursue her art and to edu-
cate students.
The mural is an extensive
installation along the elemen-
tary school fence, depicting
photo by Jim Cornelius
riparian habitat, fish, and the
landscape of Sisters. By im-
mersing the children in their
interest in painting their fish,
the project integrated natural
history and science along with
the artistic endeavor.
Tisdel explained the na-
ture of the five-year Studio to
School grant and noted that “a
lot of the implementation has
been input from staff — this
is what we want most.” And
what staff wanted most was
an art teacher on site at the el-
ementary school.
Williams’ presence has
clearly paid off, Tisdel says.
“The school is vibrant. The
school is beautiful and it’s
exciting.”