08
february
vernonia’s
voice schools
2009
Vernonia Students Get Books--
Increase Reading!
Vernonia students at Wash-
ington Grade School (WGS) have
received a wonderful gift-- actu-
ally, a whole bunch of gifts, and
are making great use of them.
Donations of books poured
into the community from schools
and other sources after the floods
of December, 2007. WGS Li-
brarian Glenda DeLemos has
made the most of the donations,
replacing about a third of her
book stock with newer, cleaner
and gently-used replacements
from the many boxes of books
that were received. “Most of the
books we took off the shelf were
Glenda DeLemos, Washington Grade School Librarian with
worn and tattered,” said DeLem-
some of the books donated last year after the flood.
os. It was a time-consuming job
to sort through the donations, but students are reaping the benefits of having nicer and
newer books in their school library.
“We went through and kept the best books for the library,” said DeLemos. “Then
we let the teachers go through and pick out anything they would like to use in their
classrooms.” There were still so many books left over that the school decided to let
each student pick out and take home ten books for themselves. “My goal is to encour-
age reading and this allowed us to get books into the hands of our students,” DeLemos
said. “Also, some of our families that were flooded may have lost their home libraries,
so this helped get some books back into some homes.” With about 250 students in the
school, that means about 2,500 donated books went out into the community.
DeLemos noted that the value to the library was probably “...in the tens of thou-
sands of dollars,” and also commented on the new types of books that the library added
to its collection. “We added beginning level books, and also non-fiction books about
dinosaurs and science that this age students really enjoy,” she said.
DeLemos extended a big thank you to all the people who made donations and
especially to Andrea Keifer at the NWRESD who spearheaded the donations of the
books for Vernonia.
DeLemos also organized this year’s reading theme for WGS-- “Route 66,” a very
successful program which rewarded students with miles for reading books and chap-
ters. The program included a highway theme with classic cars, road signs and a map
created by the High School Art Department on a hallway bulletin board that allowed
students to chart each class as they progressed across country with each book they
completed. A total of over 30,000 miles were “traveled” by the school. Delemos
kicked off the contest by bringing nine classic cars to the school, and also having the
high school art students decorate windows at WGS. Trophies were given to the win-
ning classes who completed the journey, and a lot of books were read in the process.
Vernonia Prevention Coalition
Offers Youth Leadership Activities
Beginning in December, high school and middle school youth were offered an oppor-
tunity to work with County Prevention Specialist, Leeann Grasseth, on a Leadership
and Resiliency Program. This Program is sponsored by the Vernonia Prevention Co-
alition and is shown to have positive results increasing internal strengths such as:
- the desire and ability to feel and understand the needs of others
- the desire to help others
- the ability to delay gratification
- a perspective focus on the future
- an internal locus of control
- the ability to genuinely accept one’s circumstances
- a strong sense of self-efficacy
- a sense of humor
-the ability to take appropriately managed risks
There are three main components of the program: in-school groups (held every
Wednesday), community volunteer experiences (locally and at the humane society),
and alternative adventures. Numerous research studies validate the impact animals
can have on people’s lives by boosting the immune system and reducing stress lev-
els. Other community volunteer opportunities offer youth a sense of pride and bond-
ing within their community that increase protective factors. The alternative activi-
ties provide the youth with an opportunity to participate in a healthy activity that
will lead to discussions that relate to the experiences. These activities are targeted
to increase resiliency and strengthen skills for positive development.
Twenty-seven youth signed up for the program and have attended a summit to as-
sist in the planning process. Allowing the youth to create their program gives them
ownership in the program functions. We are requesting that anyone who has any
volunteer work within the community please contact Leeann Grasseth at 503-728-
2659 or leeanng@ccmh1.com.
High School Calendar of Events:
February 6th: Community Service
February 28th: Alternative Adventure (Snow Trip)
Middle School Calendar of Events:
February 13th: Community Service
February 16th Alternative Adventure (Ice Skating)
Roger Whitton (top left) presents a check from the Vernonia American Legion Post 119 for $200 to Jerry
Butcher for Vernonia Youth Basketball. Vernonia Youth Basketball play as part of the Forest Grove League
on Saturdays from January through March.
Vernonia HS Band’s Big Day
“Has it been two years since Vernonia flooded?” one person sitting along the parade route
asked her companion. “No, it’s only been a year!” the man answered. Such were the com-
ments all along the parade route of the Macy’s Holiday Parade in Portland, Oregon, on the day
after Thanksgiving. Not only were parade watchers amazed to see a band from Vernonia in the
parade, but even more amazed considering where the town and school were just less than a year
prior to this day-- under several feet of water.
But let’s get back to the parade. The day began early on Friday, November 28, 2008, for
members and parent chaperones of the Vernonia High School Marching Band-- a group that
did not even exist two years ago. “It has been one of my visions for this band that people know
where Vernonia is and that we have some pretty talented kids out here,” said band director Rob
Izzett. “I wanted the kids to experience marching because, not only is it a lot of fun, but it helps
to build teamwork and unity among the kids.”
But the day began at 5:00 AM for many, if not most, of the students. They arrived at the
school in their newly purchased marching uniforms, with instruments, music, and-- oh yes--
Santa hats! As the bus pulled up to the front of Lincoln High School in Southwest Portland,
the parade staging area was already bustling with activity. The kids poured out of the bus
with instruments in hand and bombarded Mr. Izzett with hundreds of questions, all of which
he answered. “This event took a lot of preparation, not just in teaching the band to march and
play at the same time, but in making sure everything went off without a hitch. And if I did not
have the group of parent volunteers that I have, this would have been a chaotic nightmare,” said
Izzett. Parent volunteer Betsy Miller had spent Thanksgiving evening baking fresh muffins for
the kids to eat on the way in. “My son informed me a few days ago that granola bars would not
fly with teenagers that early in the morning,” stated Miller.
After all the kids had all that they needed, and uniforms were completely ready to go, Mr.
Izzett formed them up on the lawn of Lincoln High School. They warmed up for a few minutes,
played their song once or twice, worked on the drum cadence and roll-off, and then simply
waited their turn to step onto the parade route. All of the band entries were forming in the same
area, so the kids got to
hear other larger high
school bands warm
up. One of the VHS
flute players told Mr.
Izzett that he should
teach a drumline
class next year. “That
sounds so cool,” was
one of the comments.
And since receiving
a donation of march-
ing percussion instru-
ments over the sum-
mer from Clackamas
High School, “that’s
really more of a real-
ity,” Izzett stated. “The truth is, that we probably would not be marching in this parade were
it not for the generosity of schools around the state of Oregon. Through donated funds in con-
junction with fund raising efforts, we have the necessary uniforms and equipment to even field
a marching band.”
Finally, the moment arrived. The parade marshal instructed the band to get into place. They
barely had time to get lined up when they were instructed to start marching. They marched up
SW 14th Avenue, playing the song twice (once more than Izzett had anticipated. He and his son
had walked the parade route a week before, humming the song and cadence in their heads to de-
termine about how many times they would have to play the song), before turning down SW Alder.
At every block, it seemed, total strangers were cheering for the kids from Vernonia. But there
were many familiar faces in the crowd as well. “I saw several sets of band parents, our school
counselor, and even the band teacher that I did my student teaching under,” commented Mr. Izzett.
Oh sure, things went wrong. But they were things like drummers getting their sticks caught in
the sleeve of their uniform and dropping the stick. Fortunately, there were parent volunteers who
swooped in to retrieve them and get them back into their hands within a few seconds.
At the end of the 2 ¼ mile parade, the band headed back to the bus, where they were dis-
missed. A huge roar arose from the kids-- a mixture of pure pleasure, relief, and likely a little
pain (the last third of the parade route was a steady uphill climb). And after all was said and
done, and after the band had played their song at least fifteen times, many continued to play
their instruments. Drummers started up a spontaneous cadence. It had been a long day, and it
was just past 11:00 AM.
After handing off some students to parents who were there to take them home, or to some
family gathering, or, perhaps, to get in on part of “Black Sunday,” Izzett loaded up the kids onto
the bus and headed back to Vernonia, having experienced a sense of accomplishment.
Note: For their part in the parade, Macy’s donated $1,000 to Vernonia High School Band that will
go towards their trip to perform at Disneyland this Spring Break. If you would like to make a donation to
help make this trip affordable to all students, please make that donation to Vernonia High School Band,
and enter Disneyland Trip in the comments section, and drop off or mail to Vernonia High School.
