FROM PAGE ONE
THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2021
THE OBSERVER — 5A
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
La Grande High School’s class of 2021 has been off ered a com-
bined total of $830,000 in college scholarships, according to in-
formation provided by La Grande High School.
SCHOOL
Continued from Page 1A
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Matt Henneke drives his carriage-for-hire through La Grande’s Riverside Park Thursday, May 27, 2021.
RIDING: ‘It made me feel like a princess’
Continued from Page 1A
driver for the rides, which
are pulled by Jill, a black
Morgan and quarter horse
mix, and Annie, a brown
quarter horse. Jill has 15
years of experience as a car-
riage horse and Annie was
trained over the year.
“Annie follows Jill,” Matt
Henneke said. “Jill is a little
bossier. She likes to be the
leader.”
Veronica Henneke
agrees with her husband’s
assessment.
“Jill thinks she is in
charge,” she said.
Matt Henneke directs the
horses with reins and verbal
cues. He says “gee” to have
them turn right, “ha” to turn
left, “easy” to slow down,
“whoa” to stop and “step
up” to start. His instructions
are always given in a quiet,
reassuring tone.
“They feel comfortable
receiving instructions from
somebody they already
know,” his wife said.
Henneke said his horses
normally work about two
hours at a time. They get
excited when they are fi tted
with harnesses for their car-
riage rides.
“They expect to work,”
GRANT
Continued from Page 1A
were prioritized to support
communities “dispropor-
tionately impacted by the
multiple crises in Oregon,
including Black, indigenous
and Latina/o/x communities,
people of color and rural
communities.”
Information specifi cally
on the Josephy’s funding
from OCF said the money
would be used to help build
the audience “through
rebuilding and restructuring
programs to address and
focus on (diversity, equity
and inclusivity) priorities
and issues in a rural, largely
white community.”
he said.
Annie and Jill are both
about the same size, some-
thing Henneke said is
important because it makes
it easier to drive them as a
pair. If one horse was sig-
nifi cantly larger than the
other, it would be more dif-
fi cult since the imbalance
would cause the stronger
horse to be overworked at
the expense of the weaker
one, he explained.
He receives a lot of sur-
prised looks from motor-
ists when he is driving his
carriage down a road. They
sometimes stop to take
photos, which makes him
nervous when they seem
more concerned with the
carriage than traffi c.
“I want to tell them,
‘Hey, keep your eyes on the
road,’” he said.
Kathyrn Kunkel, of La
Grande, a recent passenger,
said the rides are something
special.
“It made me feel like a
princess. It was so regal and
nostalgic,” she said.
Henneke said the best
part of providing carriage
rides is the response he
receives from passengers.
“It is fun to see the joy
they bring people,” he said.
A family on Saturday, May 29, 2021, pets Annie, one of the horses
owned by Matt and Veronica Henneke that are used to pull their an-
tique carriage down the country roads of Union County.
“It was asking about ulti-
mate success, and what
our ultimate vision of suc-
cess for these programs is
we’re helping nudge the cul-
ture of Wallowa County in
the direction of inclusivity
and understanding,” Sheehy
said.
Sheehy, who handles
grant writing for the center,
said it has received funding
from the foundation in the
past, and that it applied for
a grant from the foundation
because the values of the
two align.
“It does have to do with
that lean toward maybe
becoming leaders in the
community as far as intro-
ducing diversity, equity and
inclusion,” she said. “It’s
part of what the Josephy
board is integrating into its
plan.”
She added that many of
the groups that give grant
money, like OCF, want to
see programs run by organi-
zations like the Josephy con-
tinue their off erings.
“It’s because a lot of the
granters too, they want to
see programs started back.
They want to support the
organizations that are doing
that, just to restart and get
everyone connected again,”
Sheehy said. “Then adding
our diversity, equity and
inclusion and extending our
reach, those are all things to
do with our growth.”
She added improvements
in the Americans with Dis-
AWARDS
Continued from Page 1A
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
abilities Act’s accessibility
and audio guidelines in the
center also could be included
in “inclusivity,” and how the
center continues to present
its teaching about the Nez
Perce.
“We’re retelling their
story, but what does it mean?
Maybe it’s a drum circle out-
side,” that could be used as
a teaching mechanism for
visitors, or for a tool to help
tribe members feel more
welcome, she said. “I tell
people all the time, (Wal-
lowa County is) diverse
in our own way. We got
ranchers and farmers, but
there are other ways that we
can share that type of infor-
mation with kids and help
them learn about it.”
students received scholar-
ship off ers from multiple
universities and will have
to decline ones from those
they will not be attending.
Rohan credits the
school’s students with
persevering through the
application process, which
she said has been more
challenging during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The public health crisis,
for example, has made it
more diffi cult for students
to meet with counselors
in person to get tips for
fi lling out applications.
She said students ben-
efi ted when LHS was
opened to in-person
instruction earlier this
year after almost a year
of only online instruction.
The move made it easier
for counselors to get infor-
mation about available
scholarships to students.
Rohan added some stu-
dents can be overwhelmed
by all the information
they receive by email,
making it easy to over-
look scholarship applica-
tions emailed to them by
the school’s counselors.
Paper applications handed
to students, Rohan said,
are more likely to get their
attention.
The counselor also
noted it is easier for stu-
dents to get answers to
questions by talking to
someone at school rather
than relying on email
correspondence.
“It is faster for stu-
dents,” she said.
She also said that it is
sometimes faster for stu-
dents to talk to a coun-
selor than to have to go
online to fi nd scholarship
application information.
“They do not want to
have to click around on a
website for an hour,” she
said.
Rohan is proud of the
eff ort students put in while
applying for scholarships.
“They did a stellar job,”
she said.
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in being transparent,” he
said.
Patterson added that
board members make a
point of consulting state
offi cials to make sure the
board is following state
rules when it is hiring and
determining the appro-
priate way to follow
processes.
McDonald, when citing
examples of what he said
was lack of transpar-
ency, noted that one of the
fi nalists rejected an ini-
tial off er. He believes the
public should have been
told about this.
“We should have had
an open meeting at that
point to make our next
move public,” he said.
McDonald also said
that he was upset he was
denied the opportunity to
interview Hislop. He said
the interview was con-
ducted by the district’s
hiring committee.
“I feel that at a bare
minimum we owe an
interview process to the
school and community we
serve,” he said.
McDonald also said he
believed there was a con-
fl ict of interest issue since
the hiring committee,
which recommended
Hislop to the school
board, is composed of
people who are employed
by the Imbler School
District.
“It is my belief there
is a direct confl ict of
interest that exists within
the hiring committee as
it relates to the person
being recommended to the
board,” said McDonald
prior to the board’s vote.
McDonald said he was
thus recommending all
voting members of the
next hiring committee not
be current employees of
the school district. He said
this would prevent con-
fl icts of interest and pos-
sible division among the
district’s staff . McDonald
said it would be OK for
employees to be on the
hiring committee in an
advisory capacity only.
Hislop is a lifelong
school teacher and admin-
istrator. He was a teacher
and principal in the La
Grande School District for
33 years before serving
as the superintendent of
the Imbler School District
starting in 2004.
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