welcome
from the editor
The end of summer is upon us
and that means a variety of things for
many different people. All across the
country families are planning those fi-
nal camping adventures and trips to the
beach. They are finishing up back-to-
school shopping and breaking out those
hoodies, sweaters, and long pants in an-
ticipation of the cooler weather.
While the end of summer is al-
ways a bit sad, especially here in north-
west Oregon where it often feels like the
summer just arrived, the fall brings its
own anticipation and excitement. Here
in Vernonia our high school sports teams
have already participated in their first
competitions and youth sports teams are
gathering on the local community fields
to practice and play. Professional and
college football seasons are kicking off
and the rivalries are heating up, and all
the hunters are getting ready for their
seasons to start.
Soups and chili will soon re-
place burgers and potato salad, and
pumpkin spice enthusiasts are starting
to anticipate the arrival of... well, pump-
kin spice everything.
Fall means the kids are head-
ing back to classes again, with all the
excitement that brings. This year the
Vernonia School District started some-
thing new with a two week Kindercamp
for all incoming kindergarten students.
This gave these young pupils a chance
to get comfortable with their new sur-
roundings and routines before all the
bigger kids arrive. It sounds like this
concept was a big success as photos on
Facebook showed budding scholars ex-
cited from their experience in their new
school.
One of things that is most ex-
citing for me about a new school year
is the arrival of an entirely new group
of exchange students. The Vernonia
School District, and the entire commu-
nity, has made it quite a tradition over
the years to open our homes, school, and
our hearts to a large influx of high school
students from all across the globe. Host
families embrace these kids from Eu-
rope, Asia, South America, the Middle
East and Africa in what I feel is a truly
unique experience for our local students
and our citizenry.
This year 10 students from all
around the world will make Vernonia
their home for the school year and join
our kids in class, on sports teams, in the
stands, and at parties. They will join
our families around the dinner table, at
church, and in other social activities,
and will become brothers and sisters,
and sons and daughters to many of us,
with many lasting friendships being
forged. They will share with all of us,
through this cultural exchange of ideas
and lifestyles, their unique perspective
and a different world view, that citizens
and students in a small rural community
are rarely exposed to. Through these
foreign students we have a chance to
eat new foods, learn about different reli-
gious practices, experience unusual cus-
toms, and, in the end, find out that those
living in other countries really aren’t all
that different from us. These students
Vernonia’s Voice is published
on the 1st and 3rd Thursday.
Look for our next issue on
September 15th.
september1
2016
are an added bonus to the Vernonia
school experience, one our students and
our community are extremely lucky to
participate in.
Many families in Vernonia will
be welcoming their fourth or fifth ex-
change student; some have signed up
for this adventure even more times. For
many families hosting an exchange stu-
dent in Vernonia has become a way of
life.
Welcoming a stranger to live
with your family for nine months is no
simple task, especially a teenager from
a foreign country who speaks a foreign
language. This requires a special com-
mitment, a certain bravery, and especial-
ly an open heart. I would like to extend
a huge thank you to all the host fami-
lies, past and present, who have taken
this leap of faith and helped reward our
community with the special bond we
develop with these exchange students.
You might think that a student
traveling from the cosmopolitan cities of
Europe might find tiny, backwoods Ver-
nonia boring or uninteresting. In fact,
for some of these exchange students, it
is. But time and time again I hear from
these students at the end of their Ver-
nonia experience, and even years later,
that this was the best year of their young
lives. Many of them stay in contact with
their host families, and the friends they
have made here. Many come back to
visit years later and often consider Ver-
nonia their second home. Some of their
parents develop relationships with the
host parents here in Vernonia and also
come to visit, often for the graduation
ceremony at the end of the school year.
Many of our local students have had an
opportunity to visit exchange students
in their home countries, an opportunity
they would never have had if they didn’t
have a foreign friend to visit. Chase To-
lonen and McKenzie Titus both spent
time in Europe this past summer with
former exchange students. Exchange
students also often meet up with each
other once they return to their home
countries.
Each year, at the beginning of
their time here, I meet with the new
exchange students in small groups and
introduce them to the community in the
pages of the Voice. I then get to watch,
from a distance, as they grow, learn, and
mature during their time here. I also
tend to follow them on social media as
they go on with the rest of their lives
and grow into adults. I find the whole
process both encouraging and fascinat-
ing. What a fantastic opportunity for our
students and our citizens!
I find it extremely heartwarm-
ing that our little school and our com-
munity, tucked away in the northwest
corner of Oregon, through this excep-
tional exchange program, and through
the simple yet daring act of inviting
strangers into our lives, can have such a
positive and lasting impact on the lives
of our young people here, and other
families all across the globe.
3
Publisher and Managing Editor
Scott Laird
503-367-0098
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
Contributors
Karen Kain
Stacey Lynn
Dr. Carol McIntyre
Aaron Miller
Karen Miller
Leanne Murray
Photography
Karen Kain
Scott Laird
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Have an article?
Contact: scott@vernoniasvoice.com
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Vernonia’s Voice is published
on the 1st and 3rd Thursday
of each month.
Vernonia’s Voice, LLC
PO Box 55
Vernonia, OR 97064
503-367-0098
Scott Laird
Editor and Publisher
www.VernoniasVoice.com
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