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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 2017)
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, August 30, 2017 Page A-3 IVHS sports teams kick off fall season Jason McMillen IVN Contributing Writer As of last week, Illinois Valley High School’s (IVHS) fall sports season officially started with its first series of games. IVHS’s soccer and volleyball teams competed on Aug. 25 and Aug. 24 respectively while the football team is scheduled to have their first game on Sept. 1. In addition to soccer, volleyball and football, the season will also feature the girls’ cross country team. Unfortunately, it appears that there will be no boys’ team due to lack of interest. Bruce Reese, IVHS’s athletic director, will be the head coach of the football team for his third consecutive year. Although there is no shortage of coaches willing to help hone the students’ skills, there has been a lower than desired turnout as far as athletes are concerned. A shortage of players has admittedly become a pattern over the last couple years. “We’ve been beating the bushes and trying to find out where the rest of them are,” Reese said, summarizing their predicament. Efforts to expand the player base have primarily revolved around persuading students who’ve played sports at IVHS in the past to join up. Another potential source of athletes lay in a small handful of students that want to play but are ineligible, primarily because they are behind on credits. Reportedly, these students are doing their best to make them up so that they can get back in the game. The football team, along with the girls’ soccer team, are the least healthy when it comes to player count this year. For example, the football team only has 22 players in total when over 30 would be ideal. Because of the low turnout, football players who would have otherwise been on the JV team have been forced into varsity. “They feel like they’re going to get thrown into the fire when they shouldn’t be, which is true, and we don’t want that to happen.” Reese is hoping to find another 10 players and split the team so as to be more accommodating of the students’ variety of skill levels but success remains to be seen. Despite the season’s turnout being lower than average, Reese reported that the boys’ soccer team is of optimum size and optimistically added that once he gets the football team organized, even with a host of what should have been JV players, it should be a relatively solid team. Another unfortunate turn of events for the fall sports season was that Dick Matti, the well-loved eight year veteran head coach of the girls’ soccer team, had to temporarily come out of his recent retirement because his replacement decided, at the last minute, to take a job in Illinois. Since there was no other coach immediately ready to fill the position, he has agreed to continue his duties until a suitable replacement can be found. Reese said that he’s extremely grateful that Matti was willing to step up to the plate. (Photo by Dan Mancuso, Illinois Valley News) IVHS soccer teams prepare for the season by scrimmaging Wednesday, Aug. 2. Grant awarded to IVHS to give students job experience Jason McMillen IVN Contributing Writer In an exciting development for the Illinois Valley High School (IVHS), Gene Merrill, the college and career councilor, recently acquired a $134,000 grant to fund an intern program which aims to give students a chance to gain some real world job experience. The grant is through the Ford Family Foundation, the same organization that’s responsible for the creation of the Illinois Valley Community Development Organization, and will last for two years. It’s called the Illinois Valley High School College and Career Center Internship Program and has the potential to be renewed when expired, depending on results. “It’s kind of a huge name but we had to get the whole thing in there to make sure that it was differentiated from funding that would be used for other career centers,” Merrill said. Merrill is hopeful to get a very wide range of local businesses and organizations to sign up so kids will have a good selection of internships that might interest them. So far, as far as science careers are concerned, the Illinois Valley Soil and Water Conservation District and the Watershed Council is on board. They will be able to intern kids on environmental sciences and resource management. Mayor Daniel Dalegowski and the city council also gave him permission to let kids intern with some of the city’s workers in things like waste water treatment, city planning and maintenance. Students will apply to the internships just like they were a real world job so they get experience submitting resumes and acquire interview skills. The reason why the IVHS needed a grant to fund this program is primarily because some families are very low income and therefore don’t have the resources to travel about easily or afford proper gear. Not only will this grant give Merrill funding for transportation to get the kids to their internships but also will allow them to buy them work clothes, shoes and safety ware. It will also allow them to buy specialized equipment, workman’s compensation and training so that businesses won’t be burdened with additional costs. Lastly, it will fund dinner nights where parents and kids can come and see what the program is all about. “I think it’s a really exciting thing for the kids out here,” Merrill said, “It’s going to be something new, definitely groundbreaking, even on the state level.” Further elaborating, Merrill said that he hasn’t heard of any other program in the state that’s as comprehensive as the IVHS’s.
