REGION
Friday, April 29, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 3A
Can you go screen-free for a week?
Hermiston, Pendleton will offer
events that focus on family, health
By JENNIFER COLTON
East Oregonian
More than a dozen events
in Hermiston and Pendleton
will work to keep Umatilla
County residents unplugged
next week.
Screen-free week is a
national event to encourage
people to “read, play, think,
create, get active and spend
more time with family and
friends instead of watching
TV, suring the web or
playing with apps and video
games.”
In Hermiston, events will
focus on family and health.
“Basically every evening
next week, we have an event
as part of screen-free week,”
event coordinator Angie
Treadwell said Wednesday.
“We’re very excited, and
everything planned is going
to be fun for any age.”
The week begins Monday
with Zumba and salsa
from 6-7 p.m. at Sunset
Elementary. On Tuesday
the city launches “Walk
Hermiston!” a monthly
community walking event
complete
with
prizes,
walking journals and infor-
mational booths.
The kick-off is 6-7 p.m.
at Riverfront Park.
“Our goal is to get
everyone together and
socializing so they can form
walking groups and continue
walking,” Treadwell said.
Walk
Hermiston!
continues the irst Tuesday
of every month through
October.
Wednesday’s
events
include disc golf, parachute
play and stories with the
Ready2Learn program from
6-7 p.m. at Sunset Elemen-
tary.
Thursday will bring the
family bike event with a
Star Wars theme. Partici-
pants can take one of three
bike routes — one for
families with children, one
for intermediate riders and
one for experienced riders
— and take a chance for
prizes including one of ive
bicycles, T-shirts, Star Wars
merchandise and bicycle
helmets. Registration for
the bike rides begin at 5:30
p.m., and the events begin at
6 p.m.
Children will also have
the opportunity to plant
lowers in pots, part of
a Mother’s Day activity
sponsored by the Hermiston
Breakfast Kiwanis.
On Friday, screen-free
week
continues
with
“healthy brain activities
for kids” from 4;30-6 p.m.
at the Hermiston Public
Library, followed by the
Eastern Oregon Art Festival
on Saturday. Events will
take place from 10 a.m. to
3 p.m. on Hermiston’s Main
Street.
The week ends with
“take a walk with Mom” on
Sunday for Mother’s Day.
All Hermiston evening
events will include early
childhood activities from
Umatilla-Morrow County
Head-Start. The Hermiston
program is a partnership of
the Oregon State Univer-
sity Extension SNAP-Ed,
Hermiston School District,
Good Shepherd Health
Care System and the City of
Hermiston.
In Pendleton, events will
take place each afternoon at
the Roundup Athletics Club,
Pendleton Center for the
Arts and Tamastlikt Cultural
Institute, culminating in the
opening of the Pendleton
Farmers Market on Friday,
May 6, and Yoga for Kids
on Saturday, May 7, at the
Pendleton Yoga and Dance
Studio.
———
Contact Jennifer Colton
at jcolton@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4534
EOU names irst
Handbell choir works in concert female provost
HERMISTON
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
When members of a
musical ensemble play instru-
ments that can only sound one
note, cooperation becomes
very important.
That’s the reality of the
Hermiston Handbell Choir
and Chimes, which rehearses
Wednesday evenings at
the First United Methodist
Church. Instead of one musi-
cian playing the entire melody,
each musician has only a few
notes of that melody that they
must play at just the right time
to create a seamless song.
“If you make a mistake,
just smile,” director Dean
Mason told the choir on
Wednesday as someone
played one of their bells a beat
too soon.
The choir — made up of
10 people playing 37 bells and
37 chimes between them —
was rehearsing for a concert
with the Heppner Handchime
Choir on May 7 at 4 p.m. at
the church.
Most of the choir attends
First United, but a few
members come from other
churches. The choir used to
be divided into a beginner’s
group (the Ding-a-Lingers)
and a more advanced group
(the Ringleaders) but these
days smaller numbers mean
everyone rehearses together.
“It’s a pretty social group,”
Mason said.
He said if people want
to join, it helps if they can
already read music, but it’s
not a requirement. One choir
member, he said, started out
with a bell in each hand and
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Pat Scott, left, and other members of the Hermiston Handbell Choir and Chimes, go
over their music in preparation for a concert May 7.
simply had someone mark
the pertinent notes on their
sheet music with a “Left” or
“Right.”
Dean’s wife Judi Mason
has been playing handbells
for about 35 years. It may
seem like a simple matter
of just waving the right bell
when pointed at, but she said
there is a lot more technique
than meets the eye. Musicians
must master the proper lick
of the wrist instead of just
“spilling the water” and they
must know how to create
different sounds by placing
a gloved thumb on the bell,
dampening the reverberation
against their body or plucking
the clapper inside the bell.
“The bigger the person,
the bigger the bell,” she said,
explaining how most people
end up with the speciic bells
or handchimes that they
usually play in concert.
Pat Scott, who has been in
the choir for about three and a
half years now, said before she
joined the group she already
knew how to read notes from
playing the piano, but there
was still a learning curve.
“It’s like when you play
the piano, and you can read
the notes, but you have to put
expression in,” she said.
Scott said her favorite
part of participating in the
group is the camaraderie as
they pull together to rehearse
every week. She also enjoys
bringing music to others.
“I like playing during
Easter and Christmas, when
we go play at nursing homes
and places like that,” she said.
The group’s next concert,
in combination with the
Heppner Handchime Choir, is
Saturday, May 7 at 4 p.m. at
Hermiston First United Meth-
odist Church, 191 E Gladys
Avenue, with a potluck supper
to follow at 5:30 p.m.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4536.
HERMISTON
Freshman accepted to Stanford summer program
By JENNIFER COLTON
East Oregonian
Even as a high school
freshman, Canden Gutierrez
has big dreams, and the
irst-generation
college
student is doing what he
can to make those dreams
realities.
In January, Gutierrez
applied for a summer program
at Stanford University. The
Hermiston teen was accepted
and will attend a pre-colle-
giate summer institute on
“Investigations in Bioscience
and Biotechnology.”
“I doubted I would even
get in, especially coming
from a background like
mine,” Gutierrez said. “I
come from a background
where education wasn’t
really valued because work is
considered more important.”
Both of Gutierrez’s parents
come from Mexico, and
neither is luent in English.
His mother works at Shear-
er’s Foods; his father works
for Boyd’s Tree Service out of
Kennewick. Neither attended
college, but Gutierrez said his
parents moved to the Herm-
iston area from Los Angeles
when Canden was 5 to give
their children a chance at a was going to get a rejection
letter.”
better life.
After submitting the appli-
“I want to take advantage
of the opportunity and show cation, Gutierrez felt relieved
and moved on to
them education is
one of his other
important,” he said.
passions: competing
“My parents have
at the Oregon State
always told me,
Family,
Career
‘Oh, you could be
and
Community
a doctor.’ I don’t
Leaders of America
know, but maybe
competition. It was
I’ll live up to that.”
at that convention
For now, Guti-
he borrowed a
errez is considering
friend’s cellphone
studying biology Gutierrez
to check his email.
and the sciences
“My phone died,
and already setting
his eyes on prospective and I asked the girl next to me
colleges, including Stanford. if I could use her phone for
When he found the Stanford ive minutes. I saw the noti-
summer institute, he decided ication, and I put my hand
to apply — even expecting over my mouth and started
to be rejected despite his screaming silently. I had to
4.0 grade point average and leave the room,” he said. “It
active school participation. was a really exciting moment
The application required for me. I wish I could relive
transcripts and letters of that moment.”
The excitement over-
recommendation, multiple
essays and a $50 application whelmed everything for
the next 24 hours — until
fee.
“It was dificult, especially Gutierrez’s mom asked how
as a irst-generation college he was going to pay for it.
student because you don’t The Stanford course costs
have that support. My parents $6,300. Gutierrez jumped
aren’t familiar with any of on the website and found
this, so I’m learning as I go,” information for a inancial aid
he said. “I kept expecting I package he had not applied
Live Music
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FRIDAY, APRIL 29
Dakota
Brown
8 S . E . CO U RT, P E N D L E TO N • 5 4 1 . 278 .1 1 0 0
for. The deadline was the next
day.
“I skipped school the next
day to go get the information
from our taxes and to ill out
the inancial aid application.
I turned it in seven minutes
before the deadline,” he said
with a laugh.
He received a scholarship
that will pay for part of the
program. With help from
extended family, Gutierrez
made the rest of the tuition.
The program makes for
a busy July for Gutierrez,
who will attend the FCCLA
National Competition with
the team from Hermiston
High School on July 2-8
before returning and attending
the institute from July 11-30.
Gutierrez works part-time
as a restaurant dishwasher,
and he uses his own money to
pay for his trips with FCCLA
and items like the college
program application fees.
“It was such a relief to
know I can make both trips
happen now,” he said. “I
haven’t had anything handed
to me, but I know you have
to work hard for what you
deserve. I’ve always worked
hard, and that’s how you
make things like this happen.”
for the opportunity to
serve on such a “critical
Rep.
Greg
Smith committee.”
“If done right,” he said,
(R-Heppner) joins 13
fellow lawmakers on the “a strategic transportation
new Joint Committee on package can invest in our
state’s aging and
Transportation
crumbling infra-
and Moderniza-
structure while
tion.
driving economic
Speaker of the
growth and job
House Tina Kotek
creation in our
(D-Portland) and
ports, counties,
Senate President
and communi-
Peter Courtney
ties.”
(D-Salem)
Smith
also
announced
said he would
Wednesday the
work with House
creation of the Caption
leadership
to
committee with
the job of creating a trans- make sure Eastern Oregon
portation package for the communities are on the list
2017 legislative session. of public hearing locations.
Smith also serves on
The package of bills —
which lawmakers from the Joint Ways and Means
both parties have declared Committee as co-vice
a top priority — is expected chair, on the Joint Ways
to make investments in and Means Subcommittee
repairing,
modernizing on Capital Construction
and expanding transporta- Emergency Board, on the
tion infrastructure across Small Business Growth
Committee as co-chair and
Oregon.
Smith said in a written on the Governor’s Small
statement he is thankful Business Cabinet.
Mother’s Day
Sunday, May 8 10am-2pm
Tom Phelan, CISR
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East Oregonian
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Longtime professor and
administrator Sarah Witte
has been named provost at
Eastern Oregon University
in La Grande.
Witte
has
been serving as
EOU’s interim
provost since
June 2014 when
she stepped in
following the
departure
of
Steve Adkison.
A d k i s o n
accepted
a Witte
similar position
at Henderson State Univer-
sity in Arkansas.
“I am thrilled to join the
leadership team at EOU,”
Witte said. “My role as
interim provost was mainly
focused on sustainability
planning, so I am looking
forward to working with
faculty, staff and academic
leadership to build on
the institution’s central
educational mission and to
create dynamic academic
futures for our students.”
EOU President Tom
Insko said Witte was
chosen from a national
search that boiled down to
three inalists. In the past,
Witte has served twice as
interim dean of the College
of Arts and Sciences and as
vice provost of Academic
Affairs. She joined EOU
in 1990, was promoted
to assistant professor in
1993 and then to associate
professor in 1995.
Witte is also
the irst woman to
serve as provost of
the university.
“With nearly 26
years of experience
at EOU, Sarah
offers a depth of
knowledge
and
a
perspective
that will prove
invaluable as we
work to reposition
our university to grow
and prosper in the coming
years,” Insko said. “On
numerous occasions she
has been placed in lead-
ership positions during
dificult times for the
university and she has
always accepted the chal-
lenge.”
Witte holds a bachelor’s
degree in English from
Creighton University, a
master’s degree in English
from Marquette University
and doctorate in English
from the University of
Iowa.
———
Contact George Plaven
at
gplaven@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4547.
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