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Wednesday,June2,2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
RIVERBEND
Students 'empowered
to make an impact'
Continued from page 1
District 21, returned to in-person
learning April 19. For another,
the school, which serves grades
9-12, officially moved out of the
Wahtonka campus on West 10th
Street and up to The Dalles campus
of Columbia Gorge Community
College on Scenic Drive. The school
signed the lease with the college
back in July 2020, but wasn’t able to
utilize the facilities until in-person
learning resumed this spring.
“It’s still kind of mind-blowing to
them,” said Riverbend Executive
Director Stacey Shaw. “I had one
student tell me, ‘It’s like we’re col-
lege students already!’”
But Riverbend’s uniqueness ex-
tends to far more than just sharing
a campus with a college, although
that is pretty unique. The school,
which does not charge tuition,
places an emphasis on STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Math) and CTE (Career and
Technical Education) curricula, but
also offers courses in journalism,
creative writing, media and visual
arts, and more (and of course, phys-
ical education). Students attend
year-round, Mondays through
Thursdays, and though it’s its own
entity, Riverbend has a sports and
club agreement with The Dalles
High School to give students more
extracurricular opportunities.
Riverbend is also very small, with
the student body capped at 60,
and class sizes no greater than 15
students, which allows teachers to
have more one-on-one time with
the students to help ensure they are
getting the support they need.
That small class size is es-
sential for fostering some other
unique components of Riverbend
Community School’s pedagogy:
Hands-on, project-based learning;
real-world applications of concepts
learned in the classroom, and
emphasizing the importance of
building relationships, both in and
out of school.
Kieran Connolly, who teaches
language arts, journalism, and
physical education at Riverbend,
said that he and other teachers at
the school largely eschew lecturing,
rote memorization, and textbooks
in favor of teaching students how to
find information, use that infor-
mation to help develop a project,
and then receive feedback to help
improve the project until they
ultimately demonstrate proficiency
— mirroring real-world processes
students might encounter when
they enter the workforce. He said it’s
important for students to know that
what they’re working on is practical,
not just theoretical.
“We want to flip on its head the
old-school mentality that a teacher
has all the knowledge that one
could possibly need, especially in
this day-and-age when there’s so
much knowledge and information
at our fingertips … it’s foolish for
us to think that we can offer the
students everything they need
to know,” Connolly explained.
“But what we can do is connect
them with the world, and identify
resources, and connect them with
resources, and I think that’s what we
do really well.”
For example, Riverbend teacher
Jocelyn Paris recently worked with
students on a landscape archi-
tecture project, where students
researched plant types and laid out
some designs. The result of that
project was getting to see their plant
designs installed in large containers
for a local client. A student in one
of Connolly’s journalism classes
was researching voting rights and
was able to connect with Oregon
Secretary of State (and The Dalles
High School alum) Shemia Fagan
for an interview for their project.
When teaching grammar, Connolly
Kieran Connolly uses a white board as he teaches journalism at Riverbend Community School in The Dalles.
Riverbend
Community
School
Language Arts and Journalism teach-
er Kieran Connolly reflects on a con-
versation with a student.
does so within the context of a
creative writing class — which gets
the students more engaged with the
material, and helps them improve
the syntax, grammar, and punctua-
tion of their own stories.
Riverbend’s format is beneficial
from more than just an educational
standpoint. Connolly noted that
the small class and school size and
emphasis on relationships means
both students and teachers are of-
ten more in-tune with one another
than what you may find at a larger
school.
“We know our kids so well,” he
said. “If you’re having a bad day, we
all know it, and we’ll check in with
you to see what’s going on.”
Bear Mahn, 17, of The Dalles,
who started at Riverbend a few
months ago and is thinking of
becoming an EMT First Responder
after graduating, said the school
feels like “one big family,” and that
it’s especially welcoming to new
students.
“I totally love it,” he said. “All the
teachers are nice. It’s a very respect-
ful and comfortable place.”
Reta Rincon, 15, of Mosier, who
started at Riverbend at the begin-
ning of the school year and wants to
be an orthodontist, agreed, and said
that her instructors are “really help-
ful” and take the time to make sure
students are having a good learning
experience.
“The teachers really know how to
focus on kids,” she said.
Additionally, students are paired
Riverbend executive director and math teacher Stacey Shaw works with student Ashlyn Jones on a math assignment
At left, Riverbend senior Graciela
Alvarez participating in a journalism
exercise for her class at Riverbend
Community School.
Photos Courtesy Sean O'Connor/Story
Gorge
with an adviser (one of the teach-
ers at the school) throughout the
entirety of their time at Riverbend,
the role of which Shaw describes
as a “social and academic family.”
Shaw says advisers check in with
their students almost daily, serving
as a kind of homeroom, but far
more in-depth, with advisers asking
students how they’re doing both
in school and in life, and whether
they or their family need anything.
Families, as well as others, are also
invited to Riverbend’s periodic
exhibitions of learning, where
students present their work to the
community.
Tying learning to community
is important — after all, “commu-
nity” is in the school’s name. One
of Riverbend’s most important
emphases is that the practical
application of knowledge isn’t just
for preparing students to enter the
workforce, but also for preparing
them to be engaged, civic-minded
adults ready to exact positive
changes within their communities.
“All teenagers come with
frustrations, so you take what
they’re frustrated with, you start
talking about how those things can
change,” Shaw explained. “And I
think our teachers do a really good
job of showing them, OK, this is the
knowledge you need in order to
make the change that you’re talking
about, and I’m going to help you
take that knowledge to people who
can help change these things. So,
if our students leave Riverbend as
graduates feeling empowered to
make an impact on their world, I’m
all about it.”
Riverbend Community School is
currently accepting new students.
For more information about the
school, including how to enroll,
head to riverbendcommunity-
school.org.
Story Gorge contributed to this
article.
July 2021
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