Committed lo Cultural Diversity
■ WU| tviuvporllandobserver.toin
February «S. 2006
Sportsmanship Grows
Riverdale Program
M etro
Newcomers compete in a tough league
page B7, inside
Îlîl ^tlnrtlanò OObscrucr
-
/Community
v ì i 1 e n d a r
Annual Chocolate Fest
Just in time for Valentine’s Day,
the World Forestry Center holds
its first annual Chocolate Fest
on Saturday, Feb. 11 and Sun­
day, Feb. 12 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
each day. For more information
visit www.worldforestry.org.
Valentine-A-Grams
Loaves & Fishes Centers will
host V alentine-A -G ram s for
Valentine's Day. The-Meals-On-
Wheels people will deliver two
delicious Cinnabons, a packet of
fresh ground Seattle’s Best Cof­
fee, orange juice from Sun Or­
chard, a jar of Cinnabon’s fa­
mous Makarra cinnamon and
more. Call 503-736-6325 or visit
www.loavesandfishesonline.coih
by Friday, Feb. 10.
Bike Riding Celebrated
Put on your yellow slicker and
join the Community Cycling Cen­
ter on Saturday, Feb. 12 for its
fifth annual Worst Day of the
Year Ride. The bike ride covers
18 urban miles and is perfect for
all skill levels. The ride starts at
the Lucky Lab Brew Pub on 9 15
S.E. Hawthorne and finishes in
the same spot. R egistration
starts at 9 a.m. and the ride starts
at 10 a.m. For more information
visit www.WorstDayRide.com.
Business Meeting
The North/Northeast Business
Association meets on the first
Monday of each month from 6 to
8 p.m. at Albina Community
Bank, 2002 N.E. Martin Luther
King Blvd. The general member­
ship and liason meeting is held
the last Wednesday o f every
month from6p.m. to7:30p.m .at
the Williams Business Suites on
the northeast corner of Fremont
and Williams. Call and RSVPat
503-284-9013.
Stay Healthy Naturally
Providence Portland Medical
C e n te r is h o stin g S tay in g
Healthy Naturally, Women and
Integrative Medicine, a forum
where experts will explain the
use o f complementary and alter­
native medicine to keep women
healthy. This will take place on
Thursday, Feb. 9 for free from 7
p.m. to 8:30 p.m.. at Providence
Portland Medical Center located
on4805N.E.Glisan.
Work Against Abuse
Community Advocates invites
those interested in protecting
children from abuse to become
an event volunteer, event out­
reach, technology expert, graphic-
artists or office support team
member. For more information,
call 503-280-1388.
Honor Others with Trees
Friends of Trees’ annual Com­
memorative Trees planting will
be held on Sunday, Feb. 12 from
9 a.m. to 1 p.m., along the Rock
Creek Trail at 20085 N.W.
Tanasboume Drive in Hillsboro.
For more information call 503-
282-8846, extension 17.
Kindergarten Round Up
Vernon Elementary Schix)l, 1044
N.E. Killingsworth St., holds its
Kindergarten Round Up on Fri­
day, Feb. 10 at 8:45 a.m. This
event is set up to learn more
about Vernon School and regis­
ter your child for kindergaten
starting in September. Children
must be 5 years old by Sept. 1.
Creative Space For Dance
Aurora Dance Studio, 5433 N.E.
30th, offers classes for children,
teens and adults at all levels of
ability.Call 5O3-249-O2OI.
years.,
•^community service
>
Empowering
SECTION
K irs for Generations
Youth advocate
gets Black
History honor
Track & Field club, and his
h o n o rary tic k e t se c tio n
hosted members of the Blaz­
ers Boys & Girls club.
A special center court pre­
sentation o f all the 2006 hon­
The Portland Trail Blazers
orees will take place at the
in partnership with the Bridge
T rail B lazers vs. C eltics
Builders youth organization,
game on Friday, Feb. 24.
tipped-off a month-long cel­
Teenagers from the Bridge
ebration of Black History by
Builders' Prospective Gents
honoring Phil Walden, a leg­
program, a local rites of pas­
endary local teacher, coach
sage program for African-
and youth advocate.
American youth, will present
W alden is credited for em ­
handmade tapestries to each
powering and developing gen­
recipient. The Gents crafted
erations of students and ath­
the wall hangings out of au­
letes in Portland. He has co­
thentic Kente cloth. It is cus­
ordinated and self-funded
tomary for rites o f passage
countless after-school and
participants to present elders
summ er programs over the
with handmade gifts to sig­
past five decades. His pro­
nify reverence and respect.
gram s have kept inner-city
In 1926, Dr. C arter G.
youth active while cultivating
Woodson, the second black to
their life-skills and job-readi­
ever receive a Ph.D from
ness.
Harvard University, inaugu­
At 75 years o f age, Walden
rated Negro History Week,
still works full-time as a popu­
Phil Walden has created and led after-school and summer programs for kids for more than 50 years. which laterevol ved into Black
lar substitute teacher in the
History' Month in 1976.
Parkrose and Centennial schools Marks, Former NBA players Mark a home game during the month of
The month-long celebration is a
while also donating his time to the Radford and Damon Stoudamire, NBA F ebruary. H onorees are selected time for Americans to reflect on the
Benson High School Track & Field All-Star Terrell Brandon, former UW based upon their outstanding achieve­ history and teachings of African-
program as a sprint coach.
Comerback Walter Bailey, Grant High ment and ongoing contribution to the Americans whose contributions are
Notable athletes that Walden has School Football star Richard Hollis and Portland community. Walden received still too little known. It is the month in
mentored include: Olympic Gold Med­ many more.
a $500 stipend during the Feb. I Trial which we bear witness to the progress,
allist & Basketball starCindy Brown,
W alden is one o f eight local Afri­ Blazer contest with San Antonio, to richness and diversity of African-
State Track & Field Champion Robin can-A m ericans that will be honored at be donated to Benson High School American achievement.
Meek Vocational Students Learn Citizenship
Setting up
shop at former
northeast
elementary
by L ee P eki . man
T he P ortland O bserver
Meek Vocational High School
has come a long way down since a
year ago when Vocational Village
moved from Cilenhaven Schtxil on
Northeast 82nd Avenue to the
former Meek Elementary School at
4056 N.E. AlbertaCourt.
The new location is a smaller
building with less access to mass
transit. It has no gym.
In the words of teacher Maggie
McSwiggen, its recreational facili­
ties consist of “a covered area open
to the wind and rain, full of pigeon
droppings and puddles whenever
it rains."
Yet faculty and students see the
new home as a triumph.
Meek works with young people
age 16 years old and up. typically
students who have dropped out or
been expelled from more traditional
high school programs. They learn
at theirown pace, regardless of age
or formal grade.
The old Glenhaven school had
long been eyed as surplus school
d is tric t p ro p e rty . W hen the
Banfield Pet Hospital chain offered
to purchase it in 2003, the district
sold, saying it couldn't justify the
estimated $1.5 million in needed to
upgrade the site.
McSwiggen said her co-workers
and students were shocked.
‘100 percent questioned the
need to move,” she said.
Students launched their own
campaign to save the school. The
effort was lead by a Project Citizen
class in the school's Center for
Civic Education, which encourages
students to apply their skills to real
life issues.
The classmates wrote to indi­
vidual members of the school board
and invited them to tour the school,
developed a power presentation,
and when several board members
came, the students who had issued
photo by I saiah
B oijie /T he P ortland O bserver
Meek Vocational High School Principal A. J. Morrison (from left) with Project Citizen students Hildamar Flores. Justin Lloyd. Jenny
Martinez, Justice Brown and Sharita Smith, and project teacher Maggie McSwiggin.
photo by I saiah
B oiie / T he P ortland O bserver
Shop teacher Paul Reets instructs Dustin Casey in the art o f
welding at Meek Vocational High School, the former elementary
school at 4056 N.E. Alberta Court.
>
i
the invitations personally escorted
the board members around.
In the end, the board agreed to
save the vocational school and
move it to Meek, a school that was
closed just months earlier because
of budget cuts.
Board member Bobbie Regan
said the Vocational Village students
were “a treasure of the district.
“They're at risk and disenfran­
chised," she said. "This is an in­
credibly valuable program that we
can and must continue.”
Project Citizen students were
successful in opposing initial ideas
of placing the vocational school in
some unused part of another high
school like Benson, Jefferson,
Madison or Marshall.
"W e’d be sending these kids
back into the same environment
where they’d demonstrated they
couldn't succeed," schtxil princi­
pal A.J. Morrison said. “Further,
one of the things that makes this
school work is its unique identity.
It’s not easy to maintain that in part
of a larger building. The culture of
the larger school would predomi­
nate.”
McSwiggen said being part of
another high school would make
her kids “second-class citizens," a
stigma they already fight.
The students took tours of the
empty Meek property. They con­
cluded that although it was inferior
to their current quarters in several
ways - it lacked Glenhaven's prox­
imity to light rail, it was smaller and
it lacked several ainenitics-it would
do with some modifications.
The chief of the concerns were
the addition of facilities for the
school's prized auto shop and in-
continued
on page H5