schools
october5
2017
11
Bonamici Invites
Schools Update: Paper Tigers
Students to Compete
in Congressional App Challenge
Congresswoman Suzanne Bon-
amici (D-OR) announced that her district
is participating in the third annual Con-
gressional App Challenge. All students
in high school or younger who reside or
attend school in the district are eligible
and invited to compete. Oregon’s First
Congressional District includes all of
Washington, Yamhill, Clatsop, and Co-
lumbia Counties, as well as part of Mult-
nomah County.
The Congressional App Chal-
lenge is a competition for students to use
coding and computer science to create
and exhibit a software application, or
“app,” for mobile, tablet, or computer de-
vices on a platform of their choice. The
competition is an example of STEAM
education, which is STEM (science,
technology, engineering, and math) plus
arts and design.
“Participating in the Congres-
sional App Challenge will require cre-
ative thinking and technology skills
so students will be engaging both halves
of the brain,” said Congresswoman Bon-
amici. “This challenge is a great oppor-
tunity for students to participate in cod-
ing and design while raising awareness
about the value of STEAM education.”
Students entering the competi-
tion must submit their app’s source code
online during the Competition Submis-
sion Period before November 1, 2017, as
well as provide a YouTube or VIMEO
video demo explaining their app and
what they learned through the competi-
tion process.
A panel of local experts will
review the submissions. Winners from
each participating congressional district
will be acknowledged in a district awards
ceremony and featured on the house.
gov website. There will also be a display
in the U.S. Capitol Building to honor all
of the district winners.
More information about the
competition, including how to register, is
available at: https://bonamici.house.gov/
appchallenge and http://www.congres-
sionalappchallenge.us.
Bonamici is a founder and co-
chair of the Congressional STEAM Cau-
cus, which advocates for the integration
of the arts and design into STEM (sci-
ence, technology, engineering, and math-
ematics) education to encourage creative
thinking and engage more students. By
supporting and recognizing young pro-
grammers, Congress is acknowledging
the growing importance of these fields.
The U.S. House of Representatives orga-
nizes the nationwide Congressional App
Challenge each year.
By Aaron Miller
Paper Tigers is a documentary
film that takes an intimate look into the
lives of selected students at Lincoln
High School, an alternative school in
Walla Walla, Washington specializing
in educating traumatized youth.
A showing of the documentary
will be held at the Vernonia Schools
small gym from 6-8 pm on Thursday,
October 19, and is open to anyone who
would like to attend. This documentary
was also shown to all Vernonia School
District staff during their in-service
training prior to the start of this school
year.
Set amidst the rural community
of Walla Walla, the film examines the
promise of Trauma Informed Practices
that are implemented at Lincoln High
School. These Trauma Informed Prac-
tices are part of a nationwide educa-
tional movement that is showing great
promise in healing youth who struggle
with the negative effects of Adverse
Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
In conjunction with the St. Hel-
ens, Scappoose, Clatskanie, and Rainier
School Districts, as well as the NW Re-
gional Education Service District, the
Vernonia School District is involved
with a planning and implementation
grant to study Trauma Informed Prac-
tices and how they can be implemented
effectively in our local schools. The
showing of Paper Tigers in each com-
munity is one aspect of this grant.
In addition to the showing of
Paper Tigers, teams from all the Co-
lumbia County school districts will be
visiting other regional schools to see
how they are putting these Trauma In-
formed Practices in place with their own
students. Schools that have put these
practices in place effectively have seen
an increase in attendance, an increase in
student achievement, and a decrease in
negative behavioral activity.
Staff at Vernonia School Dis-
trict will continue to learn about these
practices, and will begin putting plans
in place for how to roll these initiatives
out with students for the 2018-19 school
year.
We hope you can join us on
Thursday, October 19, to share in this
learning, and partner in continuing to
develop our educational system here in
Vernonia to meet the needs of all stu-
dents.
VHS Fall Sports Update
continued from page 10
Clay have been pushing each other and
switching finishing positions for us each
meet.”
Roady says he has three wres-
tlers who have really helped the boys
team this year, which he sees as an ad-
vantage for both programs. “Two of our
top five runners, Mehki and Byron, are
wrestlers and they will show up for wres-
tling season in excellent shape. That can
really be a win-win for all of us.”
The girls squad is led by fresh-
man Jenna Handegard, who is ranked
sixth in the league and is challenging for
a spot at the state meet. “Jenna has run
real well and has her time down around
23:00,” says Roady. Roady says the rest
of the girls squad is pretty inexperienced.
Roady says the middle school
team shows a lot of promise, especially
eighth grader Sadie Gump, who won the
meet at Knappa, and took third at the
large Meriwether meet against around
100 runners.
“We’re seeing some hope for
the future by trying to build the middle
school program, developing a summer
program, and getting the kids into track
where they can work on their speed, and
I think that will help us in the long run,”
says Roady. “Jake Handegard is one of
the kids that really bought into our sum-
mer program, and he put in the miles,
and it’s really showed this season.”
Vernonia School Board
Meetings are held on the
second Thursday of each
month. The next School Board
Meeting is scheduled for
October 12 at 6:00 pm in the
Schools Library.
Vernonia’s Voice is published on the 1st and 3rd
Thursday. Our next issue will be out October 19.
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