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Wednesday, June 24, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Gratitude for Sisters
community spirit
Joe Hosang
Sisters High School Principal
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer9s name, address and
phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions
not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a
response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items
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To the Editor:
I want to thank everyone who helped with
the Class of 2020 Street Banner and Keepsake
Project.
When Citizens4Community brought up the
idea with parents and the school, we knew it
was important for Sisters to come together to
honor our graduating seniors during a tough
time because of COVID-19. We were limited
as a community in how much we could sup-
port our Sisters High School (SHS) seniors
at graduation, but we could show our love
through these banners.
We had no way of knowing C4C would
get so much support for the project. This just
shows how, as a community, we really are all
in this together.
I9m a Class of 2021 student, and I had lost
a lot of hope for these last couple years of my
high school experience. Not knowing if or
when I would go back to school has been a
scary thought.
But after seeing how our community has
supported the Class of 2020, I know that, no
matter what, it will be a great year. I have
gained even more of a love for my commu-
nity while watching this banner project hap-
pen. We are all facing such tough times right
now, and seeing this kind of support from my
community truly warms my heart.
Olivia Bertagna
C4C Youth Board Member
s
s
s
To the Editor:
As two Sisters High School graduates
and community members of color who have
returned home before our final year in col-
lege, we are saddened by the racism under-
girding our nation9s historical and contempo-
rary actions towards people of color.
The murder of George Floyd by police
officers marks only the most recent wrongful
See LETTERS on page 15
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When our high school
team was told in April that
we would not be returning
to school for the rest of the
year, our hearts sank for the
seniors. There were literally
tears from a number of us.
This lasted for about two
days, and then we began to
rally. We had ideas of how to
celebrate our graduates com-
ing from everywhere, and
we put together a core team
of Lynne Fendall, Jillian
Frankl, and Mel Petterson
to collect ideas for a few
weeks.
These three were the
heart, soul, and energy of
graduation.
While we were collecting
ideas for graduation, a two-
person team, Lynne Fendall
and Mel Peterson purchased
<Class of 2020= signs from
the Grad Night Party fund-
raising account and deliv-
ered them like a covert Navy
SEAL team to each senior
home.
That same week VAST
Church and June9s Asian
Kitchen provided lunch for
our entire district. The fol-
lowing week was teacher
appreciation week. Since we
had great feedback with the
senior signs, we thought that
the teachers would appreci-
ate something similar. One
problem, no funds. Lynne
Fendall, having a <can-
do= attitude, reached out to
the community. Within 24
hours, our community ral-
lied and donated enough
money for us to purchase
signs and help us pay for
lunch for the teachers.
I still remember her giv-
ing us updates on an hourly
basis of how many people
were donating. Our com-
munity is amazing! A team
including Jillian Frankl, Tim
Roth and Lynne Fendall
went to work again deliv-
ering signs to the teachers9
homes.
Things really started
moving for graduation
when Roger Dwight and the
Rodeo Board offered to help
with graduation. They said
they would provide park-
ing attendants, build steps
and provide us with a stage,
while Matt Cyrus donated
his white trailer for us to use
as a backdrop to the stage.
Jerry Kaping and WellHouse
Church connected us with
Terry Cowen of New Life
Radio, 104.9 who then said
they would pay for our air
time. We now had a place, a
stage, and sound.
The next big piece was
getting a video screen. This
almost paused the produc-
tion because of the cost.
Lynne found Mark Stenied
of Northwest Video Wall out
of Seattle. This gentleman
really helped us out with his
knowledge, efficiency, and
cost. When we secured the
screen, it was game on!
I remember feeling so
overwhelmed by all the
technical questions. Enter
Brad Tisdel. Within a few
days of having an under-
standing of what we needed
him to do, he connected with
all the key production play-
ers, acquired Ethan Singer
from Nexus Productions
for sound, and calmed our
anxiety. There is no way we
could have pulled off gradu-
ation without Brad Tisdel.
We connected with Sam
Pyke from Hill Shadow
Pictures to organize the
videos as well as produce
the Senior Song along with
Rick Johnson. Samra Spear
rallied the valedictorians.
Tyler Cranor, Dan Schmidt,
and Cole Seymour produced
the introductory video of
the staff. Susie Seaney col-
lected all the senior pictures
and baby pictures to create
the senior slideshow. Susie
also took an unexpected
roll of acting liaison with
Citizens4Community (C4C).
About two weeks from
graduation Amy Burgstahler
and Olivia Bertagna from
C4C reached out and said
they wanted to honor the
graduates by purchasing an
individual banner for each
of the graduates. I remem-
ber thinking, <how cool, but
how can we take on another
initiative?= The answer was:
<Ya live in Sisters, just ask
for help.= So Susie Seaney
connected with Olivia and
Amy and another gift for the
graduates was in the works.
I9m still amazed at the
support to make gradua-
tion special and memorable.
C & C Nursery was bringing
in truckloads of plants and
trees to spruce up the stage.
Three Sisters Floral donated
flowers for each graduate.
The Rodeo Queens, Mikaela
Kollermaier and Riann
Cornett, carried our Outlaw
banner and our national flag.
I remember standing next
to Brad Tisdel on graduation
night, feeling this event may
have been a little bigger than
graduation. I felt like this
was something our commu-
nity wanted to make hap-
pen to feel some hope, some
love, some joy. And we truly
did it together. I love Sisters
and I am so very grateful for
your caring generosity.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.