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East Oregonian
HARVARD: Had a 4.27 GPA, 1390 SAT score
Continued from 1A
college when Michael was
four or five-years-old, a
frequent topic of discussion
while their father was taking
college classes of his own.
Michael’s brother Matthew
asked Amy what was the
closest college, to which his
mother replied Blue Mountain
Community College.
After Matthew declared
his allegiance to BMCC,
Michael asked what was the
best college to attend. Amy’s
answer began Michael’s
unwavering commitment to
becoming a Harvard Crimson.
Ann Vescio, Michael’s
fifth-grade teacher and now
the principal of Weston
Middle School, said the clarity
of Michael’s goal made him
stick out.
“I think when you have a
10-year-old saying he wants
to go to Harvard, it stands
out,” she said.
Vescio stayed in touch with
Michael as he ascended grade
levels and helped him hone
his admissions essay when
it came time to apply. Vescio
helped Michael develop his
essay’s theme around how
rural students needed to make
their own opportunities.
By that time, Michael
had created opportunities for
himself and his classmates.
When Michael jumped
from middle school to
Weston-McEwen
High
School, he wrote his own
grants to bring iPads to the
school.
By the time he finished
high school, he had compiled
a list of accolades worthy of
an Ivy Leaguer — student
class president, valedictorian,
4-H ambassador, holder of an
associates degree.
The extracurriculars were
matched by a 4.27 GPA and
a 1390 SAT score, a score
he had been honing since he
first started taking the SAT in
eighth grade.
Despite all of Michael’s
accomplishments,
there
was no guarantee it would
translate into a Harvard
acceptance letter.
According to the Harvard
admissions website, the
university admitted only 5
percent of the students who
applied for the class of 2021.
Complicating
things
further, only 15 percent of
Harvard’s student population
are first generation college
students, the rest having
parents who have graduated
from a four-year university.
John has an associates degree
from Walla Walla Community
College while Amy took some
college classes but doesn’t
have a degree.
In the days leading up
to Harvard’s decision, the
Shafers were getting mixed
signals.
John said Duke University
sent a letter denying admis-
sion, which shook their confi-
dence a little, but Georgetown
University gave Michael a
thumbs up.
March 30 was the day the
Ivy League schools sent their
acceptance emails, putting
any doubt to rest.
“I knew that with his work
ethic, if anyone was going to
get into Harvard, it was going
to be him,” John said.
While Harvard has been a
constant goal, his professional
interests are a little more fluid.
Michael
spent
time
wanting to become a doctor
and a lawyer but his focus is
now settled on politics.
It helped that his father
became the mayor of Athena
and the Shafers’ longtime
family friend was state Sen.
Bill Hansell, an Athena native.
As Michael’s interest in
politics sharpened, Hansell
said he began inviting him
to Salem, making him an
honorary page and having
him sit in on meetings.
Hansell said Michael’s
interests could change once
he gets to college. But if he
sticks with politics, the state
senator thinks Michael could
make a great government
official.
Harvard has an alumni
base that would make any
political aspirant excited —
eight presidents have attended
Harvard in addition to count-
less senators, representatives
and elected officials from
around the world.
Despite all his excitement
and career possibilities,
Michael
acknowledges
Cambridge is a very different
city than Athena.
Maggie Armato knows
that firsthand.
The Heppner High School
graduate was the first Morrow
County resident to ever attend
Harvard, a fact that didn’t
escape Michael.
Shortly after she received
her acceptance letter Armato
met Michael, then a sixth
grader, at the Great Pacific
Wine & Coffee Co. in Pend-
leton.
Back
then,
Armato
delivered advice on how to
build his résumé to attend the
school. Now, Armato now
has the benefit of hindsight
as a Harvard graduate.
Surrounded
by
legacy
students and magnet school
alums, Armato remembers
feeling like a Harvard official
would come to her dorm to
tell her that they had made a
mistake in admitting her.
She went from knowing
the same classmates from
preschool to high school, to
being surrounded by an inter-
national student body.
Now an operations worker
for a financial services startup
in the San Francisco Bay
Area, Armato urged Michael
to embrace the newfound
diversity Harvard has to offer.
For his part Michael seems
ready for it, having already
visited the campus a few times.
“I want to get my experience
on the East Coast,” he said.
When the summer ends,
John and Michael will pack
their bags and make the cross-
country road trip to Massa-
chusetts. True to form, they
plan on stopping at several
state capitals and presidential
libraries along the way.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
FARM: Final expo day features a ‘pancake summit’
Continued from 1A
tested in vineyards around
Echo, seeking to overcome
a chronic shortage of manual
labor in the wine industry.
Using the virtual reality
platform, skilled workers can
essentially take command of
the robot from anywhere in
the world — a Chinese office
building, for example —
potentially opening a global
workforce.
Young Kim, CEO of
Digital Harvest, said the
company tried a number of
different tools to operate the
ROVR, such as joy sticks and
game controllers. However,
none were able to duplicate
the same level of speed and
accuracy from workers in the
field.
“By using virtual reality
as an operator interface, we
not only improved manual
dexterity but also opened
up the possibility of human
workers being able to teleport
to work from anywhere,”
Kim said in a statement.
The ROVR will be fitted
with remote sensors to
provide real-time crop data,
such as the size of grape
clusters and estimated yield,
and moves via driverless
golf cart, which was donated
to the project by Yamaha
Unmanned Systems.
Like Digital Harvest,
Yamaha has set up shop at
the Pendleton UAS Range,
where they help to form the
backbone of the Oregon UAS
Future Farm program. Jeff
Lorton, Future Farm manager,
said adopting automated tech-
nology is key for agriculture
moving forward. Future
Farm exists to help bridge the
connection between Silicon
Valley-types working to make
those machines a reality, and
farmers who can best explain
the issues they face.
“The idea is to bring the
people who can develop these
solutions here, and give them
the benefit of agricultural
wisdom in the Columbia
Basin,” Lorton said.
For three days, the Future
Farm Expo helps to facilitate
a meeting of those minds.
“The whole goal is to
bring these two groups of
people together and create
an environment where they
can learn from each other and
form personal relationships,”
Lorton said.
Lorton, who also serves as
creative director for the Duke
Joseph advertising agency
in downtown Pendleton,
said this year’s Future Farm
Expo has assembled perhaps
the greatest ever panel of
farm automation experts.
The event’s keynote speaker
is George Kellerman, a
founding member of Yamaha
Motor Ventures & Labora-
tory, whose presentation is
titled, “How robotics and
automation will save farming
in the 21st century.”
In order for agriculture to
thrive, Lorton said farmers
need to be forward-thinking.
“Nationally,
we
are
bleeding off (individual)
farm owners every year,”
he said. “We have to turn to
technology.”
The final day of the Future
Farm Expo will also feature
a “pancake summit,” where
participants can learn more
about joining Future Farm
and accelerating the devel-
opment of farm technologies.
Lorton said he hopes to see
their industries run with the
program.
Registration for the Future
Farm Expo can be done online
at www.futurefarmexpo.tech.
The cost is $125 for all three
days, though participants can
save 25 percent by using the
promotional code “earlybird.”
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WAGES: Federal min wage has been $7.25 since 2009
Continued from 1A
If everyone paying
minimum wage to at least
some of their employees
raise their prices on
consumers,
Bumpaous
said the raise won’t make
a bottom line difference
in the personal budgets of
minimum wage workers.
Melissa
Troppmann,
who tends the bar at the
Pheasant, tended to agree
with her boss’s assessment.
“I think it’s all going to
get eaten up in taxes,” she
said.
She did say she didn’t
think that higher prices as
restaurants and bars due to
the increase would neces-
sarily cause people to leave
smaller tips, however.
“It hasn’t in the past,”
she said.
While most people
think of minimum wage
workers as inexperienced
teenagers, Troppmann is
married with children and
joked she has worked at the
Pheasant for so many years
she is “part of the furni-
ture.” The median age for
minimum wage workers
is 25, compared to 42 in
the general workforce,
according to the Oregon
Employment Department.
Some workers are
excited for the new
increase.
Audra Arias, who works
in housekeeping at Oxford
Suites in Hermiston, said
after 10 years with the
hotel she makes more than
minimum wage, but when
the new housekeepers get a
minimum wage bump, the
more seasoned employees
usually see a corresponding
raise to keep them from
sliding back down toward
the minimum.
“I live paycheck to
paycheck, so this is going
to be helpful for me,” she
said.
According to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics, about
63 percent of minimum
wage workers are women.
Arias is single but raising
her nephew, and she said
many of her co-workers
are single moms or married
women who are working
because their family needs
two paycheck to make
ends meet. She said she
feels a minimum wage
increase is especially good
for women and could help
address some of the pay
gap between the genders.
“I’m glad they’re doing
this for Oregon,” she said.
According to the Oregon
Employment Department,
the new minimum rule will
increase wages for about 14
percent of jobs in the state.
The department estimates
that 4,209 workers in
Umatilla County and 435
workers in Morrow County
were directly affected. It is
unknown how many jobs
may have been indirectly
affected by an employer
deciding to give compa-
rable raises to workers
above the minimum, or by
reducing their labor force.
Nakul Butta, manager
of the Rodeway Inn in
Hermiston, is one of those
employers who has been
paying his employees
above the minimum but will
be affected as the minimum
wage continues to jump by
50 cents each year.
He said he prefers to
have the discretion to give
his employees raises based
on their achievements,
rather than being directed
by the government to give
them a raise whether their
performance has improved
or not.
Butta is part of the Asian
American Hotel Owners
Association, and said he
has discussed Seattle’s
new $15 minimum wage
with fellow association
members who own hotels
there. The city’s minimum
wage was $9.47 in 2014
when the city council voted
to ratchet it up to $15 by
2017.
Butta said hotel owners
there have told him they
cut their employees’ hours
back, or cut employees
altogether, when the first
increases hit. Many then
raised their prices when it
went from $13 to $15 this
year for large employers
that do not provide health
insurance. Employers that
do provide insurance will
see a similar increase in
2018.
“The quality of work
is not getting better,”
Butta said. “The quality of
employees is not getting
better.”
While much has been
made of kiosks at places
like McDonald’s replacing
workers when they get too
expensive, Butta said even
hotels are finding ways to
replace their workers with
machines. Hiltons now
send people a digital “room
key” on their smartphone
instead of having them
check in with a live person
at the front desk.
Some studies have
determined that Seattle’s
large wage increases have
not had a noticeable affect
on the number of minimum
wage jobs available. But a
recently published study by
researchers at the Univer-
sity of Washington found
that workers’ hours had
decreased by an average
of 9 percent, resulting in
smaller paychecks than
they had been taking home
before the wage increase.
Studies on both sides of the
equation have been called
into question by proponents
and opponents of the Fight
for $15, and it’s too early to
say what the overall effect
of the 2017 increase has
been.
Federal minimum wage
has been $7.25 since 2009.
Oregon is one of seven
states that currently has a
minimum wage of $10 or
more in an effort provide
a “living wage” that helps
those working full-time
avoid having to rely on
government
assistance
despite having a job.
The new minimum
wage in Oregon seems to
at least be helping workers
keep up with inflation
that
might
otherwise
price them out of their
apartments. The Oregon
Employment Department
reported last year that
the “purchasing power of
Oregon’s minimum wage
today is similar to the
purchasing power of the
minimum wage in the late-
1970s, while nationally the
minimum wage has lost
purchasing power.”
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
dcKay Creek Estates
Caregiver SUPPORT
EDUCATIONAL SEMINAR SERIES
Do you wish you had this book?
“Be The Best Caregiver & Feel Fantastic Doing It”
Although this book hasn’t been written, we understand the caregiver journey can be stressful and
challenging. Our aim is to provide some clarity and support to caregivers helping seniors. Finding the right
information enables compassionate support and advocacy for a friend or loved one.
You are invited to attend a FREE monthly educational series featuring experts and professionals who
provide support to families and who are advocates for seniors and their care.
Thursday, day 18th at 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, June 15th at 2:00 p.m.
Brain Fitness for Seniors
Managing Chronic Conditions
Brain exercises are important to keep the
mind sharp.
Self-management support provides tools to
improve health.
It is important to encourage memory exercises when
you are a senior caregiver. Asking your loved one to
share a favorite memory or stories about their lives can
bring them joy, strengthen their memory and increase
their brain function. Learn about a variety of
techniques you can use to encourage brain fitness.
In the U.S., statistics reveal that one in four seniors over
the age of 65 are challenged with managing one or
more chronic medical conditions. Self-management
support tools can help you and your loved one better
understand how to manage their illness day-to-day and
encourage them to take an active role in their health
care.
Thursday, July 20th at 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 17th at 2:00 p.m.
Senior Finances, How to Help
Effectively Manage Chronic Pain
Employ strategies to protect the finances of
your loved ones.
Pain management is a crucial component to
caring for seniors.
As our parents and loved ones age they may lose the
ability to fully track their finances. When seniors are
unable to manage their daily finances they may
become susceptible to financial abuse, lose their home
or risk having their utilities turned off. Learn how you
can make arrangements for financial assistance to
protect your loved one.
As a caregiver, it can be difficult to know how to help a
senior minimize and manage chronic pain. Older adults
often encounter chronic pain as their muscles and
joints become stiff and they become less agile. We'll
provide tips to understand the various medications
used to treat pain and potential side effects.
Location: Classes are held at St. Anthony Hospital, conference room #1: 2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR 97801
Call us at (541) 276-1987 for more information or to reserve your seat(s). Hurry space is limited.
Refreshments provided.
dcKay Creek Estates
1601 Southgate Place
Pendleton, OR 97801
(541) 276-1987
www.PrestigeCare.com
®
The Strength of Advice
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Lisa Newman, CWS®
Mark Hales, CWS®
Senior Financial Advisor
lnewman@dadco.com
Senior Vice President,
Financial Advisor
mhales@dadco.com
• Wealth Management
• Financial Planning
• Investments
541-276-5053
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