vernonia’s
voice schools
march
09
2009
VHS Band Prepares for Disneyland WGS Students Earn Reward
The Vernonia High School Marching Band is making final preparations for its trip to
Disneyland this month. Thirty-four students, along with band director Rob Izzett, were hard
at work practicing some of the numbers they will play during a live performance on the back
lot at the California Adventure Theme park. The students will get to spend almost four full
days at Disneyland, with some structured activities, including their live performance, but
also lots of time to go on rides and
enjoy just being kids.
One special planned activity
is a workshop in a recording studio,
where the band will learn, rehearse
and record a new piece of music,
which will then be set as the sound
track to a short film. DVD’s of the
film and their peformance will be
available for the students to pur-
chase and bring home as a souvenir
of their trip to California.
Senior Allee Chadek has
been to Disneyland twice before.
“I’m looking forward to going on
vacation with friends,” said Chadek.
The Vernonia High School Band is busy practicing for their trip This is going to be a fun year for
in March to Disneyland.
Chadek-- she is planning to go back
to Disneyland with the senior class later this spring.
Freshman Kaytee Burghard has been practicing a few extra hours each week to pre-
pare. “I’m really excited, it’s the first
time I’ve been to Disneyland.” Kaytee
said she wants to ride on a roller coaster
when she gets there.
Freshman Jackson Miller has been
helping with all the fundraisers for the trip,
and is excited to ride Splash Mountain.
This will be Freshman Jonah Oo-
ten’s first trip to Disneyland, and he’s
been working all the fundraisers to raise
money for his trip.
According to Band Director Izzett,
the band is still short “...around $1300
to $1400 dollars.” He said to watch for
upcoming opportunities to help the band
with their trip, including a Car Wash
sometime in the next few weeks-- weath-
er permitting!
The VHS Band is sounding good as they prepare
to head to Disneyland (right).
A Good Deed Gets Done
Jessica Llanos saw a chance to do something good, and she took it.
Llanos, an eighteen-year-old junior at Vernonia High School, helps out in the school
library as a teachers’ aide. While sorting through some books that had been donated, Library
instructor Dana Hyde came across an old yearbook from 1957. Inside the yearbook were
military discharge papers from the Coast Guard from 1961. Hyde, whose father was in the
military, knew the significance of the paperwork, and knew it was important to someone.
But Hyde wasn’t sure how to begin looking for the owner-- one Charles Ronald Grey. That’s
where Jessica Llanos stepped in.
“My Mom and I got on Zaba Search on line, and found him,” said Llanos. It turned out
that Charles Grey now goes by “Ron,” which made him a little trickier to find. But Jessica
was persistent, and, within a couple of hours, was speaking to Ron Grey on the phone. “It
was the best feeling in the world,” said Llanos. “It had all his personal information on it.”
Grey, who lives in Hillsboro, had recently donated some boxes of books to the Vernonia
Library. He never knew his paper work was missing until Llanos called, but he was happy
to get it back. Grey, who graduated from David Douglas High School in Portland in 1958,
spent eleven months in electronics school in Seattle with the Coast Guard, as well as one year
stationed in Italy. Grey has numerous connections to Vernonia-- his wife, the former Donna
Snyder, used to live in Vernonia, and he helped install a cellular tower in Vernonia just after
the 1996 flood. Now he has another connection.
While trying to figure out how to find Mr. Grey, Llanos noticed that Grey’s birthday was
coming up in a couple of weeks. She decided she should get him a birthday card, and had the
opportunity to hand it to him when they met the next day in mid-February. That’s the kind
of kid Jessica Llanos is. Grey in turn handed Jessica a thank-you card.
Dana Hyde and Jessica Llanos look on as Ron Grey opens a birthday card from Llanos. Llanos
helped return military discharge papers Grey had misplaced, and ended up in donated books in the
Vernonia school library
Vernonia’s Washington Grade School students earned a school-wide reward for accumulat-
ing over 2000 Bee Bucks as a school. The reward the students helped choose was a walk
around Vernonia Lake which took place Thursday, February 19, from 1-2 PM. 236 students
in grades Kindergarten
through 5th grade from all
12 classrooms took part in
the walk.
Bee Bucks are tickets that
students receive when they
are following school rules.
The four Bs are: Be Safe,
Be Kind, Be Respectful,
Be Responsible. They are
basically rewards for indi-
vidual students when they
are “caught being good.”
Students who receive Bee
Bucks can either put them
into monthly drawings for
Washington Grade School students earned a walk around Vernonia Lake prizes, or can spend them
for good behavior
at the Bee Bucks store
where there are varying levels of kid prizes (pencils, stickers, small games, notepads, bouncy
balls, etc.). When students “spend” their Bee Bucks in the drawing or at the store, they are
counted toward earning a school-wide reward. Every 2000 Bee Bucks earned by the entire
school earns a reward.
The idea for the walk
around the lake came
from one of the students.
In the past, there have
been root beer float par-
ties, hat day, a popcorn
and movie party-- all
sorts of ideas that come
from the kids and the
staff.
Washington Grade School
students enjoy an afternoon
outside. Students chose a
walk around the lake as a
reward for accumulated
points for good behavior.
Relationship Lecture Held For
VMS and VMS Students
By Brandy Fosdick
On February 17, the Tuesday following President’s Day, students in Vernonia were wel-
comed back with a little surprise. As they sat in their classes yawning and trying (or maybe
not trying) to stay awake, it was announced that there would be no classes after lunch. In-
stead, the high school and middle school students would be in the logger dome listening to
a lecture by Brad Henning. The lecture was on relationships and the issues that come along
with them. Mr. Henning focused on three main topics: the differences between men and
women, what love is, and the pro’s and con’s of sex.
He went over major personality differences between men and women, trying to help
each understand the other just a little bit better. He showed the different ways each thinks and
the way each perceives the phrase, “I love you.” He also pointed out some more technical
differences, such as the fact that woman say about 24,000 words a day while men only say
about 12,000. Mr. Henning also introduced the students to what his definition of love is. He
says that love is choosing the highest good for the other person-- meaning caring enough to
be selfless and willing to risk everything for the person you love.
The last subject he broached was probably one of the most important for high school kids
in this day and age--sex--and when and why you should or should not have it. He showed
that people who use abstinence have much longer and more meaningful relationships. He
also showed examples where people found that they actually knew the person they were with
much better when they spent time together on something other than sex. He also showed
examples of times where a person was later extremely guilty or unsatisfied in their marriage
because they did not wait. Along with this, he pointed out obvious and well-known, but also
commonly ignored factors such as teen pregnancy, abortion, the risk of getting STD’s, and
the consequences of a bad reputation.
Mr. Henning had given another lecture at our schools two years ago. There were many
students who were excited to get to listen to him a second time, and many who hope he comes
back before they graduate. He was very helpful and taught the students some important
things that may make high school just a little bit easier, and he did it in a fun and interest-
ing way. There wasn’t a time when everyone in the gym wasn’t either listening closely or
laughing themselves to tears. Any students who want a little more insight on sex, love, and
relationships might want to read his book, Don’t Take Love Lying Down. Students can check
it out at the school library or you can purchase it at www.bradhenning.com. If you want or
need some advice, or just want to comment on his lecture you can write him at: Life Re-
sources, P.O. Box 121, Puyallup, WA 98371. Or, you can e-mail him through his website-- he
answers ALL the letters sent to him. If you need more immediate or personal advice, you can
reach him or his wife by phone at: (253) 848-2239.